Boldog Karácsonyt!

Boldog Karácsonyt! Merry Christmas!

Can I just say that Christmas as a missionary in Budapest is the most magical thing that I have ever experienced. Happiness everywhere this week!!

Tuesday: We had sportnap (sports day) at the church. We get to switch off weekly with the elders. Lots of investigators come and it is super fun. My comp, Hughes Nővér, has been teaching me all she knows about basketball (which is a lot) and I had so much fun playing with everyone! I even shot a few baskets! woohooooo 🙂

Wednesday: I had a doctor appointment to check up on the situation with my muscles. Long story short, the test results all came back completely normal with no trace that the medicine had ever hurt me. SAY WHAT!? It was a fasting miracle! Hughes Nővér and I cried and danced out of that doctor’s office. I have the strongest testimony of fasting.

Thursday: We got to go on splits in Kispest. I got to go with Sister Cribbs which was super duper fun. We had some awesome heart to heart learning about how to fill ourselves with charity. I love these people!!

Friday: We got a call from the office that we needed to be at the train station at noon for a guy to come pick us up. It was honestly pretty sketchy because no one knew who this guy was and he just randomly called the office and told them that he wanted to take the sisters to lunch. We said a prayer and hopped in this guys car… and he explained that he is Hungarian, but he has been living in Germany. His girlfriend was there too, she is Philipino living in Germany and they are both members. His parents live in Budapest, and have never met the missionaries, so he invited us over to a big holiday lunch to introduce the church to his mother and grandmother. It was the coolest lunch appointment ever!!!!! We had a delicious lunch, and they gave us gifts and a ton of food to take home. We got to share our basic beliefs with them and the spirit was so strong. We shared the Christmas video with them and bore our testimony of the Savior and our families. We explained to them that the reason we are so far away from our families at Christmas is because we love them. We want other families to feel the same and to experience the joy that the knowledge of forever families bring! Dávid and his girlfriend went back to Germany, but his mom and grandma invited us to come back over and we are SO excited about it!!

Saturday: We got to go over the a members house for Christmas eve 🙂 So in Hungary they do Christmas a little bit differently. On December 6th Santa comes and leaves treats in the kids boots. They don’t put up and decorate the tree until Christmas eve, and in the evening the kids wait upstairs after dinner until baby Jesus and the angels come and leave all the presents under the tree. It is super cute!! And then Christmas day and the 26th are just family days with tons of food and other family gatherings. I think its really cute the way they do it here. So we went over to the Kövágoék and had a great lunch with them and helped them decorate their tree. Then we went upstairs with little Eszter and waited for baby Jesus to come bring the presents. When we got the okay we came downstairs and opened them! It was super cute! He even left us some gifts under the tree and we had a really fun time with them. On the way home the wife asked if we had a Christmas tree at home, and we said no. She told us she had an extra one with some extra ornaments and lights if we wanted to take one home to decorate! We freaked out and of course took it home and decorated it right away. It was super thoughtful and really brightened our day 🙂

Sunday: CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We woke up super early and opened all our presents. I FEEL SO SPOILED! I love you guys and thank you so much for all the love! I was super happy. Then we had church…which I actually missed because I was too sick. So that was really sad but its ok. Then we went to the Palmer’s house for lunch and skyping. They are the coolest family ever. The mom is Hungarian and the dad is American but served his mission here. They have 4 teenage kids who are hilarious and we had SO MUCH FUN together. It felt like we were at home!! Really I felt like I was with my family and it was the best. We got to have delicious food that tasted like my mom makes it and there was ranch dressing and BROWNIES and other fabulous American things I had totally forgotten about. Wow. And the we got to skype!!!!!!! WOOHOO I had the best time talking with you guys. Really I just love you a lot and miss you like crazy but am SO happy with where I am. It was so good to hear your voices and to see your faces!! Chase is huge and Austin sounds like a man and I am scared to go home to that hahah 🙂 But I had the best Christmas ever and I am honestly really sad I won’t be in Hungary next year for Christmas 🙁 I might have to make a trip back haha!

Monday: A really slow day because they are still celebrating on the 26th. But we just did a ton of tracting and had not a ton of success but its okay because Christmas 🙂 happy happy 🙂

Randoms: We almost burned down our apartment…. well so glad we avoided that. Scariest moment of my life hahahaha!

So this week was really slow with work, but really really good anyways. I am still LOVING my companion. We have gotten so close so fast. She will for sure be one of my best friends for the rest of my life and I am feeling so blessed to be serving with her. I am just feeling a really full heart right now and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary in Hungary. It has been the hardest year of my life… with lots of blood sweat and tears put in. But I have truly never felt so close to my Savior and so sure of who I am. I know that I am a literal daughter of my Heavenly Father and that He loves me. It is easy to feel like an inadequate servant, especially when I have sickness weighing me down. But I have felt an assurance this week that I have done God’s will for me and that He is filling in the gaps that I am not able to fill myself. And I know He loves you and does the same for you.

I hope you all had the best Christmas!! Talk to you in 2017!!!!!!!

xoxo

Mason Nővér