Perspective

Sziasztok!!

Wow! Is it just me or do the weeks just go by quicker and quicker? I’m really not liking it actually… But at least I know it means I am so happy where I am. Every week I fall more and more in love with my new home, and I can’t even imagine what I will feel about this place by the end! So this week..

Tuesday: The day of miracles. We had TWO let ins while tracting! Like two in a row. Do you understand how amazing that is!? We were freaking out. The first one was Misi (Me-she), a boy probably about our age. When we first talked to him through the csengő, he said he wasn’t interested, so we just kept csengőing the rest of the building. Then a guy comes down and asks if we are the missionaries and then says “Well, actually I changed my mind. Come on in!” and happily leads us up to his apartment. He tells us all about how he knows about our church from someones youtube channel. He served a mission in Hungary and then married a Hungarian girl and the channel is just about their lives and what he did as a missionary here and stuff. I think it is so cool that we could be sharing the gospel and being an example without even knowing! Thankful for this guys youtube channel that opened Misi’s heart to want to talk to us about the gospel. Then, the second let in. We csengőd and he was like ummm I don’t speak Hungarian! So we did the whole thing in English and he said “Well ya sure, I would like to listen. Is it okay that I’m doing my dishes?” Hahaha and so he let us in. His name is Michael and he is from Nigeria, probably about our age too. We talked about the Book of Mormon. We didn’t have an English one on us at the moment and he was like begging us to bring an English one to him because he was so interested in reading it. Cool, huh? I get so excited when people want to read the Book of Mormon. I’m not much of a reader but, something about the Book of Mormon makes me have to read it every single day!! So that’s how I know it is from God. Haha if it wasn’t I would never want to read out of it 🙂 you should all read it too, because I know it has the power to change lives, just as it has changed mine 🙂

Wednesday: We had a super fun zone conference about finding! I was supposed to get my flu shot in Budapest, but I had a fever and so they couldn’t give it to me. That was sad. Then when we were tracting a man came out and started yelling at us and saying very horrible things. I wanted to just be really rude back to him, but I know that’s not what Christ would do haha (my comp always says she thinks she was called to Hungary because God knew she can’t talk back to people here, because the language is too hard hahaha). So I decided to just politely let him know we were just there to share a message about love and happiness, and I wished him a beautiful evening. We turned around to leave because he just kept screaming at us to get out of the area, and when we did, we saw the coolest member of the branch presidency standing behind us. He was just kind of standing there with his jaw dropped and we realized he saw the whole thing!!! He was so concerned and asking “ha mindig ilyen kedvesek az emberek” (if the people were always this kind) and we just laughed it off and told him that yes, this is basically a daily thing. He told us he was really proud of us and all these other nice things. That gave me a huge push to be better this week.

Thursday: We went flyering with the elders for a huge clothing drive our branch is putting on next weekend, so that was fun! We have thousands of them and we are trying to get them all passed out before next Saturday. Then while tracting a man was yelling at us again, which doesn’t bother me as much as it used to… but then he got too personal. He was like yelling words I didn’t understand this time so I was just smiling and saying “ok, thank you, no problem if you don’t want to listen to our message, but we would really like to share a message of happiness with the people in the area”. He just started getting really close to my face and saying that I didn’t understand a word he was saying. Which was true, but he didn’t need to take it that far 😉 hahaha and he was like saying that this is why he hates blondes, and I am just as stupid as the rest of the blondes in the world. WOAH take it back hahaha – but I just smiled and wished him a beautiful day and that made him even more mad I think… oops!

Friday: We got to meet with Kálmán and had a great talk about the Plan of Salvation. Actually the funniest thing ever happened in this lesson. I was drawing a diagram of the plan on the board, and I got to the part about Ádám és Éva, and I asked him what the knew about the fall. He gave a nice summary and then totally in all seriousness whispered, “That’s why I don’t eat apples.” I knew if I looked at Dyson Nover I would loose it haha so we kept on teaching and had a moment of appreciation for that comment after the lesson.

Saturday: We got to go out to Hódmezővásárhely to visit an old investigator we found in the area book, Tibor (Tea-bore). He has SO many questions, and I actually felt like I knew the answers to a lot of them, in Hungarian too!! That’s something that never happens, so the gift of tongues is a real thing everyone haha!

Sunday: Robi, a member from the branch threw us a madártej buli! (bird milk party) It’s like this cool dessert they have here, made of milk, eggs, cream, sugar and stuff! I have never tried it because of all of my allergies but I got to smell it and Robi brought me an orange instead 🙂 But it was a really fun night bonding as a district and members!

I was talking to someone this week about trials. I know that they are given to me from my Heavenly Father to help me to become who I need to be, but I was really lacking perspective this week, feeling like there was no way I could learn anything more from my sickness. He told me that he knows that I know hard things come as a gift from Heavenly Father. I teach people every day that this life is a time to be tested and prepare ourselves to live with God again. He said, “Sister Mason, look at your life. Take out the trials, and where is the test? You are on the earth to get through this hard thing!” I have been thinking about that a lot this week, and I actually just read a little bit about it in a friend’s weekly email home. I was thinking that it doesn’t matter if there are horrible people that make my life as a missionary really hard. It doesn’t matter if I am sick every day! I knew there would be hard things here, even if I am being kind and doing my very, very best job. Christ was the most perfect example of kindness, patience, charity, and every other good thing and He still was persecuted way more than I ever will be. He willingly suffered for us. He DIED for us. He was perfect and no one had any reason to do such horrible things to Him. But He did what He came here to do anyways. I am not going to let mean people, rude comments, hard days, stomach pains, and bad attitudes stop me from doing what I came here to do. I love my Savior and I love what He did for me. I am going to continue sharing the message of his perfect gospel with a huge smile on my face even if it means more people yelling at me. I am trying to be more like Him every single second. It is hard, and I mess up. Like, A LOT! But that is why I am so thankful for His atonement. Because of Him I can be happy. I can find peace. I can have my broken heart mended. I can become whole through my Savior.

I hope you all have another great week. Take a step back, and look at your life and your trials. Put it all into perspective for a second. Find a way to be grateful for adversity, and find a way to show your Savior that you love Him. He loves you!

Sok szerettetel,

Mason Nővér