Goodbye Hungary!

Szervusztok!

Welcome to my very last letter home! Wow. This is so strange. How in the world is it time for me to go home already? I feel like I was just writing my first letter in the MTC!! I have come a very long way since then. When I first arrived to Hungary, I honestly had a really hard time. This country has been so oppressed and you can see it in the people you meet. The people here can be negative and sad sometimes… I mean they have good reason to be! They have lived very hard lives! It was cold and dark and I was so far from home and I didn’t understand any more than 2% of what was happening around me. I wanted to give up so many times. I didn’t think I could do it and I felt scared and alone and very incapable…but as I stopped focusing on myself and learned to lean on my Savior, something amazing happened. I began to see these people through God’s eyes. I started to feel like I could make a difference even though I couldn’t really communicate with anybody. I learned to share love through hugs and smiles.

I have developed an amazing relationship with my Savior through relying on Him and turning to Him in everything. I have developed relationships with the people and my companions that are stronger than any I have had before. I am so grateful for the last 18 months of my life. They are the biggest blessing that I have ever received! I have grown to love this beautiful country more than I thought I could. I love these people like they are my own family. I had so many learning experiences that I know I could not have learned any other way, and I know that I am exactly where God wants me to be. The last 18 months have been some of the hardest times of my life. There have been times where I have felt so low and wondered if I could hold on anymore. My faith has been tested, and tried, and I have been pulled to uncomfortable lengths that I never thought I could be stretched to. I have never been so happy and I’ve never been so confused. I’ve never felt more stupid, but I’ve also never felt like I understand God’s plan so deeply. I have never felt so distant from my Savior, but I have also never felt Him so near. It’s a hard and confusing concept that not even I understand… and I am grateful for every. single. second. I would not change one tiny thing about the last 18 months of my life. God knows best, you guys. He really does. I could not have designed a more perfect and personalized mission. Every single second was exactly what I needed. I know that He knows me. He knows my needs, and He knows what I struggle with. Sometimes we want something that we think is good. And sometimes we don’t get that good thing, and we are sad and hurt and confused. But I promise you that God withholds good things from us because He has something better planned. He always has a better plan! I have the strongest testimony of that.

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for Him and His atoning sacrifice. He lived and He died for us. And I know that He lives for us now. Because He overcame death, we too, will live forever. Because He died for our sins, we are able to partake of joy in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom. That is the greatest gift I have ever received. Because Jesus Christ suffered for us, He knows us each personally and perfectly. He knows what we feel and he knows how to perfectly comfort us. And sometimes, even though it might feel like He isn’t there with you, I promise that He always is. I know that because I feel Him with me. I feel Him guide my every footstep, and I love what I have accomplished through Him. I have developed a strong relationship with Him here in Hungary, and because of that, there will ALWAYS be a huge piece of my heart here in my most favorite place on the planet.

I am beyond devastated to leave my home away from home, but I know that God has some good plans lined up for me back home. I trust Him to create a perfect plan for me because its worked out pretty nicely up until now 🙂

Tudom, hogy ez a Úrnak a munkája. Ő vezet ezt az egyházát. Tudom, hogy Jézus a Krisztus. Ő él. Azt tudom. És mert ő él, mi is élhetünk mind örökké. Neki van tökéletes terve. Hálás vagyok azért, hogy én is részesülhetek ebben a tervben. Isten jó. Ő szeret minket. Tudom, hogy ő szeret engem is. Kaptam sokat Istenemtől, és annak őrölök. nem tudnék semmit csinálni itt a földön ő nélküle. tudom, hogy a Mormon Könyve igaz. Ha csak követnénk azokat a tanításokat amiket vannak benne, akkor nagyon boldogok legyünk. Nagyon hálás vagyok a missziómért. Mindig emlékezni fogok a Magyarországra mint a legjobb hely.

(laughing because I put this into google translate… and not even google can speak Hungarian. I promise this actually makes sense hahahaha)

I love you and I’ll see you in two short days <3

sok SOK szeretettel,

Mason Nővér

P.S. Please be nice to me when I get home even though I speak English like an alien and don’t know how to be a normal person 🙂 and prepare to be squeezed to death! xoxo