Keep Your Head Up

A lovely cathedral near our home

Our lovely paintings from the last YSA program. We did finger painting :)

Dearest Everyone,

It's was actually a pretty good week this last week. We unfortunately didn't find any new investigators, but we have seen progress with some of our current ones. Andréa is doing really well compared to last Sunday. She still doesn't have work, but she is able to eat and so on. I've been very impressed with how much she has come to love the Book of Mormon. While she says she hasn't felt anything special while reading it, she likes to talk about what she read, and she has been using the index too to do some extra research and such. We were also able to meet with Zsuzsa and her mother last night for the first time in a couple weeks (they were out of town). And now I'd like to comment on another investigator that I don't think I've mentioned before--- Roland.

We have been meeting with Roland for a few weeks now. We met him through the English classes, but is meeting with us just to discuss religion. Our first meeting with him almost made us go crazy because of all his crazy ideas (God is in the table and in the tree, Christ couldn't have done what the scriptures say he did, why didn't Jesus ever write down on his own, a little bit of reincarnation ideas, and so on). We thought that it would be better to pass him over to the elders. However, that didn't happen. We tried inviting a church member to attend with us for the next couple meetings, but that didn't help as much as we hoped it would. We then resorted back to meeting just with him alone. A miracle happened. We don't know if we needed to try all of these different things to try to understand Roland, or if we just needed to patient with him, but we have finally reached a point where we feel like we understand him as he has come to admit that he is personally confused with all of his own theories, and he has committed to try praying the way that we taught him to. After admitting that he is confused and that he feels like he's not on the right path, we were able to testify of our purpose of being here in Hungary, and that we are here to help him find the right path. His view of who our Heavenly Father is may not be correct, but he is now at a point where is willing to try and accept God as an actually being with a body and a gender. It may seem like a little thing, but him starting to pray and imagine God in this way is a huge step for him! Skipping a lot of details to make this short, I am so grateful that we stuck it out and didn't give up on him at the first signs of difficulty. It is so important that we really try to get an understanding of our investigators so that we can understand what their needs are. After our first meeting, I felt as though it might be hopeless to keep meeting with him. After our most recent meeting, I have high hopes for him. God knows each of us perfectly, and he knows our needs. I pray that my companion and I can continue to live worthy to have the Spirit with us in all areas of the work (let alone in all areas of our lives). I love the work, and I am so grateful to be serving here.

President and Sister Smith are now here! We haven't met him yet, but they sent out a wonderful email with all sorts of wonderful quote from their training at the MTC and so on. It's pretty crazy to think that President and Sister Baughman are gone--- I loved working with them. But I am also excited to work with President Smith and his wife. I'm sure that there will be things that they change here in the mission, but whatever happens, I know that it will be for the benefit of the work :) Change can be good.

Hmmm.... anything else note worthy..... We're going to buy a fan today for our apartment! It is sooooo hot that it can be hard to fall asleep sometimes--- and it's just going to get hotter (more hot? what's correct?) Anyway, that's exciting. Oh, another thing--- one of the Less-Actives that we've been meeting with that is now coming back to the church brought her cousin with her to church yesterday! His name is Joszi. We met him once before, but now we are actually going to start meeting with him, and I really look forward to that :)

Well, we're going to try see Parlament today! hopefully that works out. I hope you all have a wonderful day/week. Go make someone smile :)

Sok szeretettel,

Kimball nővér

Stories :)

Dearest Everyone,

It has been a good week! First off, there was a great rainstorm with thunder and lightening that woke me up in the middle of the night (I think it was Thursday night). I put my glasses on, and since my bed is right next to our bedroom window, I conveniently parted the curtains a little bit and just watched the lightening in the sky for about 10 minutes. It was beautiful! I loved it! And the sound of the falling rain outside was almost like music. Luckily, I was able to fall back asleep quickly :)

On Saturday, our ward had an activity--- it was Italian Night :) A ward member taught us some cool things about Italy, and then we ate a variety of pasta's. (I don't think they were very Italian though, haha). Sister Gallion and I had just planned to be there for a little bit since we had a program with Péter right before it (the Péter that is getting baptized in 3 weeks!!! :) However, to our surprise, one of our new investigators, Judit, showed up with her two daughters and her mother! Judits daughters names are Merci (13 years old) and Alexa (7 years old), and her mothers name is also Judit, ha. Don't get confused now ;) We met with Judit and her daughters earlier in the week, where we practiced speaking English (that's the initial reason they wanted to meet with us) and we introduced them to the Book of Mormon. So it was a wonderful surprise that they showed up to Itialian Night! Merci and Alexa enjoyed playing some games with Sister Gallion and me, and Judit and her mother we able to visit with a few members and talk to us more about our church. The evening ended great with them agreeing to come to church the next day :) Well.... they didn't come to church. BUT, we will be meeting with them tomorrow (Tuesday), so all should be well :)

Andréa (an investigator that I've talked about before), came to church yesterday :) This was a miracle to us! She wasn't at English Class on Thursday, and we tried calling her Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before church with no success-- the phone wasn't working. Yet 10 minutes before Sacrament Meeting was to start, she showed up! AND, she stayed for all 3 meetings :) It was great to see how she participated in the lessons willingly, and asked a lot of good questions. One of the talks in Sacrament Meeting was about forgiveness, which really touched Andréa. She told me about how her younger brother (who is 40 years old--- Andréa is 44 years old. They both live with their mom currently) was given 500 forint (a little more than 2 american dollars) and sent to get bread for the family but ended up stealing the money instead and didn't return home. Andréa is out of work and has no money, and says that if something doesn't happen soon (her finding work or something) they will be out on the street. After hearing the talk on forgiveness, she asked me how she can forgive her brother. After Sacrament Meeting, a church member, named Éva, came over to visit with us. I felt prompted to have Andréa ask Éva her question. It was really powerful. After some tears and meaningful conversation, Éva gave Andréa 500 forint so she could get some bread to eat. As I am typing this story now, I feel as though I can't portray how powerful this really was. Here we have a woman with serious health problems, who can't find work, and doesn't have money to simply buy bread--- no means to eat. Yet, she was able to make her way to church. There, she was fed by the Spirit, surrounded by friends, and recieved a gift of 500 forint so she could get bread to feed herself and her mother. I am grateful for Andréa's example of faith. She may not know a lot right now, but she believes in God and made the effort to come to church--- a place where she knows she can feel Gods love and be spiritually uplifted. I don't know what the future hold for this sweet woman, yet I feel humbled that God has placed her in my life so that I can serve her and help lift her as she goes through these trials. God loves us, and he places people in our lives that he knows needs our help---- as well and people that need to help us! We will be meeting with Andréa tonight. I want to thank all of you for praying for me, my companions, our investigators, and the Hungarian people. They need our prayers.

Another story: Sister Gallion and I were out tracting yesterday in the late afternoon. We had plans to travel to a certain neighborhood, however the villamos that we were traveling on was unable to make it to our stop. We were forced to get off a few stops early. Our plans were thwarted, so we made a back-up plan. We walked around a park near a cathedral, fliering for English Class. After talking to a number of teenages, we decided to go tracting down a nearby street. We tracted down the street for about an hour with no success (a few random conversations here and there), and then we thought it would be best to tract back up the street on the other side of the road and then call it a night. However, something inside of me wanted to keep tracting down the street, at least for another block--- so at the last moment, I told Sister Gallion that we should keep going down a little further. It was on that block that we found two people. At one home, we visited with a women named Kati perhaps in her late 50's. At another home, we spoke with a girl named Krisztina, in her early 20's. While neither of these women let us into their homes, they were genuinely interested in our message as we spoke at their gates. Krisztina didn't used to be religious at all, until her grandfather recently passed away. We told her about how Christs church has been restored to the earth, and we testified about how we can live with our families forever if we live according to Christs gospel. Both Kati and Krisztina accepted copies of the Book of Mormon and look forward to meeting with us again soon.

It was really powerful to me to see how the Spirit was able to guide us a little further down the street through a simple 'gut feeling' I had. If the villamos we had been taking didn't stop working, we probably would have never met these 2 women. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and the Spirit is here to guide us and help us do the work. A lot of the time, we may not realize that it's the Spirit guiding us, but He is here, and He is helping us day by day as we live worthy and listen closely.

Alright, off to some more P-day stuff! I wish you all a wonderful day :) Go make someone smile :)

Sok szeretettel,

Kimball nővér

It's Been A While....

A Baptism in Miskolc--- Nisrin :)

A cute wall in Miskolc :) ("This is my city")

A beautiful view at Eszter Gom

Balancing on a wall with Sister Gallion (Slovakia is on the other side of the river!)

Visting János Hegy with some other missionaries :)

Dearest Everyone,

It has been very long time since I have lasted posted! I apologize! But I must tell you, it has been incredible transfer with Sister Gallion in Kispest. We will be staying together for another transfer too :) Just to touch on a few things that happened this transfer:

1. I got to Skype with my family on Mother Day :)

2. We put one of our investigators, Péter, on bap. date! He will be getting baptized next month!

3. We met a lot of our neighbors that live in our building and developed some good friendships :)

4. Sister Gallion and I found a total of 11 new investigators in a 3 week time period (that's really good for here!)

5. We visited a lot of cool sights in Budapest

6. We attended a wedding of two church members :) (They were then sealed in a temple later that week--- I think the London temple)

7. We went to Miskolc for a baptism of a girl I know--- Nisrin. It was the first convert baptism I have seen in Hungary!

Many more things have happened during the last transfer, and it has truly been incredible. I have learned a lot, we've worked hard, and I have had a great time! I will do my best post at least a few times this next transfer :)

The gospel is true! God loves you :) Go make someone smile :)

Sok szeretettel,

Kimball nővér

Changed For Good

Playing on the Castle ruins

















Lillafüred
















In the Anna Barlang (cave)



















In a castle window/wall thing :)















The Palace












Dearest Everyone,

I am going to Kispest! My time here in Miskolc is up! It is sad to say goodbye to so many wonderful friends, but I do look forward to serving in my new area with my new companion :) Her name is Sister Gallion. I have met her a number of times, and she is a really sweet, cute girl. When my Mission President called and told me of my new assignment, he told me to go find a lot of people and baptize them! He probably tells everyone that (that's what we're here to do! haha), but I do plan to go do just that. I believe Sister Gallion is a hard worker too, so I believe we will set some good goals together that help bring about miracles. It really has been great serving with Sister Orme. I have already learned so much on my mission. I look foward to continuing to learn and applying old lessons.

This last week, I learned more about how the Lord doesn't need much time at all to perform a miracle--- or more! Sister Orme and I had blocked out some time to go contact some finds who we didn't have phone number for, so we would have to go to their actual homes. While we were on our way to contact one find, another family that we had found came walking down the street! We enjoyed a brief visit with them, and then set up a time to go visit them at their home. So what could have turned into an hour of contacting time became only 15 minutes (or less!) We were then left with more time on our hands to do more finding-- which included a wonderful woman at a bus stop that was more than willing to give us her information and invite us to come to her home to teach her more. We would not have met her if we hadn't met that family on the street. It was incredible. The Lord works miracles, and we are so blessed to see his works every day as we serve here in one small portion of his vinyard.

So we had a Super P-day this last week. We went to Lillafüred, in the mountains. I went there when I was here with Sister Barnhart back in January, but it is so different now! The world is green! It is so beautiful. I will be attaching some pictures. We played around in the castile ruins, took a tour of a cave, walked part way around the lake, and also drove further up the canyon to a place called Szentlélek (that means Holy Ghost in Hungarian), and we took some pictures by the sign, ha. The place used to be a Nunery (however that is spelt). So it was fun to go there too :) I also had my very first Hungarian Ice Cream Cone :) It was really good! I enjoyed it. They have so many unique flavors here! Every day, I see so many people on the street just eating ice cream cones, so basically I crave one every day, haha

Well, I wish everyone a fantastic week! Go make someone smile :)

Sok szeretettel,
Kimball nővér

Music For The Soul

Dearest Everyone,

Sister Orme and I had a really neat experience yesterday. We went with an investigator to go visit her mother in the hospital (who is suffering from a stroke that happened a few months ago) (this is the same investigator I mentioned in last weeks email). There were 5 other patients in the same room as the mother, so we ended up sharing our spiritual message with everyone. We shared Matthew 11:28-30 (I believe it was), and then we sang a few hymns from the new hymnbook (Where Can I Turn For Peace, Be Still My Soul, and There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today). The patients loved it. There was one old woman in the far corner that sat up in her bed, and her face was just beaming with a smile as we sang the last song. Before leaving, I felt prompted to give a pass-along card to each of the women--- the card with Christ on it (the portrait type picture). I didn't pass it around with the idea that these women should call us, but more that they could have a nice picture to look at while they were in the hosipal--- to remind them of Christs love for them. They were each so grateful to recieve the cards, and the same woman that was smiling in the corner kissed Christs picture when I gave it to her--- she was full of the Spirit. This was a very neat experience for me. We are here to share the gospel, and there are so many ways to do it! We couldn't approach people in the hosipal the same way we do with people on the street, but we were able to share a powerful message about Gods love with those women in the hospital through music. It was amazing to see the way the messages in the songs touched the hearts of these women. All of these women were quite old, and some of them may never leave the hospital, but I believe our visit yesterday was something very special for them because of the way they felt the Spirit--- and they will never forget it.

Go make someone smile!

Sok szeretettel,
Kimball nővér

Charity Never Faileth

A funny little random door at a pizza restaurant--- just my size :)
















Cooking with Sister Orme--- I made tortillas :)
















Elder Gallands birthday party :) We decorated paper Easter eggs and ate brownies.













Flowers from an investigators garden (their little children picked almost all of the flowers to give to us! Oops!)
















Someone was tuning the piano at the branch house so we secretly took some pictures :)








Dearest Everyone,

Greetings from Hungary! It has been another great week. I keep a little record of tender mercies/blessings/miracles in a little notebook, and I always love recording those special events and things at the end of every day. So even though some days may seem rough, there are always blessings to keep record of. I am amazed by how many tender mercies the Lord gives us every day. All we need to do is look for them, and then we see that they are everywhere! Here's a miracle story from last week:

A miracle:
Sister Orme and I had an appointement to go with one of our investigators, Margo, to the hospital to visit her mother who has suffered from a stroke. When we got to Margo's home, we learned from the children (Balazs and Dia) that their mom and dad (Zsolt) had already gone to the hospital but should be home soon. We decided to wait around so we could share a spiritual message with the whole family. When the parents arrived home, there was another woman with them--- the mothers sister (Juli). While at first we didn't think too much of it, we got the whole story from Margo.
The story: Margo had been struggling with some bitter feelings towards Juli because she wouldn't come to Miskolc to visit their mother in the hospital. Juli is from a village an hour outside of Miskolc (Encs). The last time we had visited Margo's family, we taught a lesson about charity, and shared the scriptures from Moroni 7 about charity. This lesson stuck with Margo and she re-read the scriptures we shared over and over again. One day she decided she needed to clear things up with Juli, so she traveled to Encs to fix things. This act of charity and love changed everything, so the day that Orme and I were at their home last week was the day that Juli decided to surprise Margo and visit her and their mother!
In the end, Margo requested to get a Book of Mormon from us (good thing we always carry extra's in our backpacks!) so she could personally present it to Juli, and we had the opportunity to pray with the whole family, including Juli. Juli really looks forward to us visiting her in Encs and teaching her about the gospel. We already teach another family in Encs, so it will work out perfectly.
(I hope this all made sense!)
Charity never faileth.

Another story about Juli (the sister) (this one is funny)--- While we were just getting introduced to Juli, she started going off about how I would be perfect for her son! I was thinking "Okay, that's totally random since you just met me and don't even really know me!" As the discussion went on, she started assuming we were about the same age. When I told her I am 21, she said, "Oh yeah, he's about your age--- he's 38!" Everyone just started laughing, haha. She tried to convince all of us that age doesn't matter (usually it doesn't--- but that big of an age gap?! haha) And Juli and Margo's family claim that he looks like George Clooney. So if I come home married to a 38 year old man that looks like George Clooney, you now know the story behind it ;)

So yesterday, I was blessed with the opportunity to the play the piano in sacrament meeting. I did prelude music and then did all of the music for the meeting. (Opening Hymn: There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today Sacrament Hymn: In Humility Our Savior Rest Hymn: Lead Kindly Light Closing Hymn: Nearer My God To Thee) It was fun to do There is Sunshine In My Soul Today because it has been so rainy and gray this last week :) (Unfortunately, the congregation had never sung that song before, nor Lead Kindly Light! Oops, haha) I have actually been scared of learning sacrament hymns all my life because they have flats and crazy stuff, but this hymn actually wasn't bad :) I picked it on Friday (when I found out I needed to play in sacrament meeting) and then practiced it a few times before Sunday. So it all went well :) And there is an investigator that the elders have, and her favorite hymn is Nearer My God To Thee, so I picked it for her :) She was a happy to sing it.

Things are going great here, and we are set to have another good week :) Take care everyone! Go make someone smile :)

Szeretettel,
Kimball nővér

Expect the Unexpected

Sister Orme and me with a church member :)
















Sister Orme and me wearing some clothes that a member gave to us :) (The blue jacket and the green vest)













Ready to go preach the gospel!


















Out as a district one last time before transfers :) (Getting hot chocolate with one of our investigators)














Our 3 investigators that came to watch General Conference on Sunday :)









Dearest Everyone,

This last week was wonderful :) With transfers (we got a new elder here in Miskolc, Elder Gallond--- he goes home this August! So soon!), General Conference, finding new investigators, and finding opportunities to teach and serve others, we have seen miracles this last week-- great and small. Some miracles have simply been being able to get into 10-stories to go tracting. The 10-stories are just that--- huge 10-story buildings with tons of little apartments in them. They are all over in Miskolc (one of the marks from the communist era). Usually, we have to stand outside and "call" people on this little pad outside until someone will let us in--- and that usually doesn't happen. But there were many times this last week that people leaving or going into the building would hold the door open for us so we could get it. Once inside, it is a lot easier to get people to listen to our message, all though it is still hard. In one 10-story, you have about 50 apartments (5 on each floor), and our regular is maybe 1 or 2 people that will listen to our message. So it is always a tender mercy to get into one of these buildings, and then a miracle of itself to find someone that will listen to us :) There was one teenager we spoke to last week in a 10-story that we will be with this week again, and another man that has set up to meet with us again later this week too. Miracles :)

Another miracle has been helping one of our investigators gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. She (Edina) is very sweet and doing her best to be in tune with the Spirit. As it has been a struggle at times to teach her, I have learned so much from her! Something that I didn't expect. She has been working (last transfer and now this transfer) to obtain a testimony of Jesus Christ. She has such a powerful testimony of God, our Heavenly Father, but has a hard time accepting Christ for all that he really is. As Sister Orme and I have been teaching her over the course of these many weeks, I have felt my own testimony of our Savior growing. The three of us (Sister Orme, myself, and Edina) all share scriptures with one another that we find about Jesus Christ in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, so we are all helping each other grow. Then yesterday, right before watching one of the sessions of conference, Edina requested to meet with us briefly. She then told us that she had recieved personal revelation that morning that Jesus really was a great prophet. We were so grateful to hear this. She is on the road to developing an unshakable testimony of Jesus Christ, one step at a time. I am so grateful for her and for the example she sets for me and for all that she teaches me. I came to Hungary imagining myself just teaching and teaching and watching others grow in the gospel, but I feel so blessed now and I can see that my investigators are helping me to learn and grow as well. The gospel is true :)

As for Conference this weekend, it was wonderful! I really enjoyed it. It was a blessing that we were able to listen to it in English here in Miskolc so I was really able soak up every moment of it! Our elders (Elder Jackson and Elder Gallond), Sister Orme, and myself got a room to ourselves at the church while everyone watched the sessions in the chapel in Hungarian. Saturday night, we got to watch the Saturday morning session live :) Then on Sunday morning, we had the Priesthood and YW session. They were both offered in Hungarian, but only the Priesthood Session was offered in English, so Sister Orme and I watched it with the Elders. It was really good, of course--- the first time I've ever watched that seesion :) Then in the afternoon, we watched the Saturday afternoon session, and in the evening, we got to watch the Sunday morning session live. So it was really good :) It wasn't possible for us to see the Sunday afternoons session, but I will be downloading everything onto my iPod so Sister Orme and I can listen to them every morning as we get ready for the day :) There were so many wonderful talks that were applicable to me and the questions I had prepared, and I also heard a lot of great things that would help our investigators. So overall, it was incredible :) Plus the Relief Society here provided some food for lunch, and some yummy cake before we watched the last session. What a day :) (Plus we had 3 investigators present! So good.

I will be finishing the Book of Mormon this week! So I will get to tell you all about it later :) And now that it is a new transfer, I have chosen a new Christlike attribute to work on: Faith. I can already feel that this is going to be a powerful experience. Sister Orme also chose to work on Faith! So we will be helping each other this transfer as we study faith from the scriptures and modern day prophets, and apply it to our everyday lives :) So my experience with "humility" last transfer went well I think. I will be doing a write up about it and hopefully I can share some of what I've learned in a future post :)

The gospel is true. God loves you. I hope you all have a fabulous week :) Go make someone smile!

Love,
Kimball nővér

Maradni-- to remain

Dear Everyone,

Transfers are upon us! Sister Orme and I will be staying together another transfer :) I really look foward to this! She has taught me so much, and I really look forward to working more with her. We have had a lot of sad, funny, spiritual, and you-name-it experiences together, so it is nice to know that we will be together another transfer :) So as put in the title of my email: the Hungarian word "maradni" means to remain :) Maradni fogok Miskolcon--- I will remain on Miskolc (yes, "on" Miskolc :)

This last week, we were out tracting near one of the famous castles here in Miskolc, and we found a young little family. The parents have 3 children all under the age of 3! While their living circumstances are very humble, they were very warm and welcoming to us when we came. It was a miracle that 2 of the children were asleep when we arrived and the little newborn (1 1/2 months old) was very calm. It was a great environment to invite the Spirit and really get to know the family. The 2 year old woke up part way through the lesson, but it was amazing to see that as we all prayed together, the little boy (2 year old) knew exactly what was going on--- he folded his arms, bowed his head, and meaningfully said "amen" at the end of the prayer! It was so obvious that this family really is involved with their relationship with God. We really look forward to going back to teach them next week. We believe that we were led to this family for a reason, and we feel it an honor that we have the opportunity to teach this family about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last week was really great. We started teaching our English classes again, and had some really neat people in attendance that we will be meeting with personally. Edina is still working hard to obtain a testimony of Jesus Christ, and it is such a special experience to assist her with this. It is teaching me so much! It causes me to reflect on my own testimony of Jesus Christ and how I have felt His hand in my life--- the strength of my relationship with Him. We also went back to teach that old woman that I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we met on the bus, but then miraculous found her when we were tracting in a 10-story. She was actually quite sick when we got there, but we were able to talk a bit about the Restoration. Although she is very Catholic, I think this will actually go somewhere :) She is a very sweet woman. We are working hard to find people to teach and to teach with the Spirit those we have already found. We had a good experience streeting yesterday after church. We met a lot of really sweet people, and we were able to give away one Book of Mormon to a man that we will be setting up with to meet with this week. So all in all, it was a really good week :)

Yesterday for church, we had District Conference here in Miskolc. So it included all of the members from Miskolc, Eger, Debrecen, and Nyiregyháza. An area 70 (Elder Matti T. Jouttenus) joined us, as well as our mission president and his wife. It was a wonderful conference. I participated in a musical number with some other missionaries, and it turned out really nice even though I only had maybe a 1/2 hour of good practice time together. Since my mission president and his wife will be wrapping up their work here this summer, it was really special to hear them bear their testimonies to the Hungarians in our area. They were very heartfelt and full of love. Following the actual conference meeting, food was provided for everyone in attendance, and there was an additional little meeting for new converts and investigators. Our sweet Edina was there, so our branch president got to talk about her and introduce her to everyone else. She loved it. It was so neat to see all of the new converts and investigators that made it out to the conference.

Well, here's saying good-bye to this transfer, and hello to a new one! The work is going great, and we are working hard to fulfill our calling as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is true!

Love,
Kimball nővér

Surprises :)

Our washer kind of broke, so we had to scoop water out of it with jars and bowls!















Dinner with the Elders on Elder Jackson's birthday :)















Making dinner for the elders with a giant wooden spoon!
















The pinata we made for Elder Jackson's surprise birthday party :)














On the main street of Miskolc


















Me and two darling little girls :)










Dear Everyone,

This last week was consecration week, so the mission had the goal to get as many referrals as possible, and to get as many investigators and RCLA's (Recent Converts/Less Actives) in church as possible. It was a great week :) Here is a portion of my email to my mission president this week:

"Things are going well here in Miskolc :) It's quite ironic that during consecration week, we got 0 referrals and 0 investigators at church. BUT our efforts weren't wasted since we got 7 RCLA's to church and we made a great breakthrough with one of our investigators that has been investigating for almost a year now! It's great to know that at the end of a week, we have the opportunity to report to the Lord on our efforts. And even when we see where our flaws and mistakes were in the last week, we get to repent and do better the next week. So all in all, things are going well in Miskolc and we are seeing progress :)

We've never had problems with our elders here, but this last week, we were able to develop deeper friendships with the elders that we have been wanting since we got to Miskolc. It was one of the elders birthdays, so Sister Orme and I planned a surprise birthday party for the branch game night on Friday, and then last night, we made dinner for the elders at the church and brought cake. So we had a couple good birthday celebrations. It was neat to see how a little extra effort and showing love towards the elders made a world of difference. Again, we never had problems with them, but we are now on a level of friendship that makes both myself and Sister Orme happy and grateful :) This concept of just putting in a little more effort I think applies to everything in missionary work as we always want to be pushing ourselves and our investigators. We get out of things what we put into them, and as I try to apply this concept better this week, I have faith that the Lord will continue to work miracles here in Miskolc and we'll see more progress :) "

Again, it was a great week :) We really tried to get better numbers for the referrals and number of investigators at church, however, things went a different way :) We just saw success in different areas of the work. It was also fun celebrating Elder Jacksons birthday :) Sister Orme and I made a pinata for the Friday night party, and we ate some good food on Sunday that we prepared... it was good :) There was also a holiday this last week, so we had a Super P-Day. On that day, Orme nővér and I got to walk around the city and see some cultural booths with handiwork, and we ate some yummy Hungarian bakery items. It was a really nice day :) However, the holiday was actually three day thing, so when we got back to work the next day, all of the public transportation was on a different schedule--- and we didn't know! So we ended up needing to cancel programs because we couldn't get to the homes of these people :( That was very sad. But this next week, we will get to see those people, so all should be well :)

We watched Finding Faith in Christ with another investigator this last week. So that was my second time seeing it here on the mission. It is so good! I remember watching it as a family once. It's really something special, and it's neat to see the way the film touches the lives of our investigators. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that this is His true church restored to the earth once again. I know that it is through the Atonement of Him that we can repent and progress and make it back to the presence of our Father in Heaven after this life. We are so blessed to have this knowledge and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives!

Well, the weather is getting better and better here :) We shouldn't be seeing anymore snow. However the rain is on its way! I am told that we should be receiving a lot of rain in April. I am so excited! I love all of the different seasons that we are blessed with at home and here in Hungary (even though I haven't experienced them all yet). I can't imagine living in a place where it is always hot or always cold. It is the opposition in the seasons that causes me to love all of the seasons. So now that we are wrapping up a beautiful winter, I look foward to getting into this springtime season. It's going to be great :)

I wish you all a wonderful week :) Go make someone smile!

Sok szeretettel,
Kimball nővér

My Side of the Ocean

Me, Edina, and Sister Orme at Mives (Tibor's cafe)
















My hot chocolate (73% chocolate with raspberries! yum!)














Me and Marika néni with her kézi munka (handiwork)


















Us, trying to find people in the little village of storage units!



















Tibor, Me, Edina, and Sister Orme in Mives (Tibor's place)











Dearest Everyone,

How is everyone?!?! I hope you are all just doing wonderfully :)

Yes, our church is now officially recognized in Hungary!!! I actually didn't know before that it wasn't.... how did I miss that? But yeah, this is really an incredible thing :) There used to be only 14 different churches recognized in Hungary, but they recently added 18 more churches to the list, us being one of them. So now there are 32 authorized churches here :) What a blessing that we are recognized now! And it is really neat that Elder D. Todd Christofferson is coming this week to meet with the embassy people and so on. I look forward to seeing how this helps the church grow here :)

Things are going great here in Miskolc :) The work is still having a rough start, but it is moving. My companion and I actually picked up our very first 2 investigators together, that we, ourselves, found :) That is exciting. We have been teaching investigators that other missionaries found, but now we have some we found! The mission standard is to get 2 new investigators every week, so we hope to continue doing that and maybe even get Super Standard one of these weeks! So yeah, the work is coming slowly but surely :) We typically go out streeting and knocking on doors for at least 2 hours every day. This week, we have plans to go "tabling" and targeting families. So we will set up a table on the main walking street somewhere for a few hours and have Books of Mormon, The Family proclamation, pass-along cards that talk about families, and so on, and we will just talk to as many families as possible! Then since we are taking a little break from teaching English, we are going to go out and "flier" like crazy to advertise our English class. We will hopefully get a lot of young adults to come. The youth and young adults here really want to learn English because it helps them with getting jobs. So yeah, we have some nice plans for this week and the week to come :)

Here is just a little something that I sent to my mission president that you might like to read too (it is just part of my weekly email to him):

"It has been a rough few weeks in Miskolc as we have been trying to get things rolling (find people to teach and getting the ward involved in the missionary work). But I have been grateful for my companion and her desire to just keep pushing forward and not losing hope. We have been a great team as we have been striving to find people and be good examples to the branch members. In the last few weeks, we have been blessed to develope some great relationships with branch members, including the branch president. Yesterday we saw the most people in church than we have seen since being here! Almost all of the seats in Relief Society were filled, and we went into over time in Fast and Testimony meeting because so many people wanted to share their testimonies. It was incredible. While we are still working hard to find people to teach, I am grateful for the time I have right now to really focus on the relationships we have with the branch members. I believe that what it states in our mission purpose is true. It is two fold. We are not here just for the investigators or just for the wards and branches. The are both connect so strongly! I know that the Lord has something great in store for Miskolc. We may not know what it is now, but as we continue to work hard and not lose hope, the work will indeed start rolling. It is like the story of the the man and the rock. (I don't really know this story, but I will give it a try.)
God came to a man and gave him instruction to go push on a big rock/boulder with all of his might. The man faithfully went out to the boulder that had been shown to him, and he began pushing. He pushed with all of his might, from sun-up to sun-down, and then returned to his home to rest for the night. He did this again and again for a few days. When he felt that all of his strength was spent and he noticed that the boulder hadn't budged even the slightest, he cried unto the Lord, wondering why he couldn't fulfill this task. The Lord then told him, "I never told you to move the rock, I just told you to push it. And now you are stronger. The muscles in your arms, back, and legs have been made more firm and strong for pushing on the rock. You have done what I asked you to do."
Okay, so that probably isn't really how the story goes, but I like it. I feel that my companion and I are being made stronger as we continue to work hard here in Miskolc. And I like to think that one day, the Lord will help us move the rock (he's already helping us, little by little), and the work will start rolling here. I am grateful to be here, and again, I am grateful to have a companion that is full of hope and faith and is there right along side me as we do this work together."

There are definately funny that happen to us as missionaries, haha. For example, the other day, we were out knocking on doors trying to find someone to share our message with. We eventually ended up on hill, and we were surrounded by all of these cute little homes. It was very quiet, and we didn't really see anyone. But we still knocked on a few doors. Eventually we did see someone at their home, way up on the hill! We tried to share our message with him, but he didn't have time. But then we found out that all of the little homes were actually storage units! It was so funny, haha. No wonder no one was answering the door, haha :)

There was a neat experience this week as we were meeting with one of our investigators. She has been meeting with missionaries for a long time, and we have been praying to figure out what her needs are to help her get on track for baptism. She has already had all of the lessons! Well, this last week, we felt prompted to give her the "First Lesson" about the restoration of the church. Just as we were getting into the lesson, talking about dispensations and Christ's ministry, she confided in us that she doesn't have a testimony of Jesus Christ! What a major break through! Before meeting with the missionaries, she had never read the Bible. Now she soaks the Bible up and prays fervently and has developed a good relationship with Heavenly Father. Yet, she has missed the importance of having Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. We are still pushing to get her to read the Book of Mormon as much as she does the Bible (if not more). So anyway, the Lord really blessed us as we came to learn of her need. She is on the first step in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). Now we are praying that we can do all we can to help her develop this testimony and faith in Jesus Christ.

Last little spiritual note: I was reading this week in Alma about the counsel that he is gives to his sons. Multiple times, he refers back to his experience with the angel and then being born again through Christ. I love that story! I remember reading it a week ago in Mosiah, but there is just something about reading it from his own point of view as he is speaking with his sons that just hit me with the Spirit. We all need to have this personal experience of being born again---- spiritually being born again. We won't all see angels and go through the exact same thing Alma experienced, and for some it takes a lot longer to have this change of heart. I am so grateful to be on this mission in Hungary. As I am focusing on others and try to do what I can to help them, I know that the Lord is chipping away at those parts of me that need to be done away with it.


I wish all of you a fabulous week! Go make someone smile :)

Love,
Kimball nővér

The Ups and Downs

Dinner at the Branch Mission Leaders home :)











Hey there!

What a week last week! Orme nővér and I were so excited to do a lot of hard core streeting and such, when all of a sudden--- sickness came upon us. I haven't been that sick in years! While I won't go into detail about all of that, we physically couldn't leave the apartment for 2 days. I think my stomach can finally handle a normal diet, so I am really grateful about that :) I am also grateful to have a fresh start this week as we are no longer sick and are ready to go out and find people who are searching for truth!

We did get out to do some streeting this weekend, but it was really hard! There was this HUGE festival going on called Kocsonyafesztival (or something like that), and it was probably the funniest things I have seen yet in Hungary :) The theme of this festival was frogs... yes, frogs. There were people dressed up in crazy frog costumes, and there a lot of booths selling a sorts of food--- meat, cheese, candies, pastries, and so on. There were also booths selling jewelry, woven baskets, little kid toys, frog hats, frog costumes, and all sorts of other frog stuff. Quite funny, haha. And there was this little group of people dressed in clothes like from the 1400's walking up and down the streets playing music on their little drums, violin, and flute instrument thing. But anyway, we tried doing some good streeting during this, hoping to find some families and other people that would be interested in our message. However, most of the people said they were in a hurry, and then slowly walked away, haha. Oh people. Unfortunately, I don't have any picture for you since we aren't allowed to take pictures while proselyting (how is that spelt?). Just trust me--- in was a delightful festival to observe :)

From streeting, we do have some people to contact. We have called a number of them and some said they would call us when they want to meet and others haven't answered the phone, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and sending up our prayers that someone will pull through :)

So all in all, there is so much work to be done! I would love to see all of our investigators progress and to pick up new investigators! Coming back to Miskolc, people would have said that there isn't very much work, however, that is completely wrong. When people say this, they are referring more to how there aren't many investigators. However, those are the times I think that there is even more work to be done, haha. I am excited to be here. I am happy to be with Sister Orme, and I really look forward to seeing where we can get this place during our service together. We have a vision. It may not be exact with numbers and specific goals right now, but there is a vision, nonetheless :)

I picked up something from Papritz nővér when serving with her in Szeged. (Actually, I picked up a lot of good things from her, haha). She does something called An Attribute a Transfer. She chooses a Christlike Attribute to specifically work on each transfer. So this is the first transfer that I have been doing this, and the attribute that I have chosen is Humility. This transfer has only just started, but I already have so much to say about this attribute! There are some scriptures that I have found in personal study that have caused me to reflect the on the personal I am. In Alma 1:26-30, we can read about the examples of the faithful people during "the first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi". They were so blessed and so humble! Then in Alma 5:14-16,19,26 Alma is teaching the people with questions--- and they are great questions! (The questions are all throughout chapter 5, but those are the verses that I really like.) Then aside from reading, I have had some great conversations with Orme nővér that have caused me to ponder Humility more and more. I may not have been strutting down the street in the lastest fashion and mocking people as I go (acting as the prideful people in the Book of Mormon), but I definately haven't been the humble follower of Christ that we have all been commanded to be. So I am currently repenting of my ways. And that is the beauty of Gods plan. We are here to learn and to grow-- to experience progress. I am so grateful for our Saviors atoning sacrifice so that we can repent of those mistakes we make every day and strive to become more like our Father in Heaven.

I wish everyone a fabulous day! Go make someone smile :)


Sok szeretettel,
Kimball nővér

Banana Bread

Having lunch at a members home in Szeged with our Elders :)















Papritz nővér with all of the missionaries she has trained so far :)

















Banana Bread!















We made Banana Bread together :) (Sister Orme and I)



















Out to eat with our Elders in Miskolc

Tender Mercies Along the Path

Greetings from Miskolc! I am back :) Coming back to Miskolc was definately an adventure, haha. Our elders (Elder Vandormark and Elder Jackson) were able to bring 1/2 of our luggage to Miskolc for us in the car, so Sister Orme and I still had to take one of our own bags with us on the train. What a day! We hiked through the falling snow to one of the train stations in Budapest, just to learn that we had been misguided and that we were at the wrong station! So we then hiked to another train station, with 5 minutes to find our train after purchasing our tickets! Once on the train, we searched for our seats, being misguided by a train assistant guy and we ended up in the wrong section of the train. But there was this sweet old woman that let us join her in her little train box room. After a nice 2 hour ride, we arrived in Miskolc at about 6pm. Our elders couldn't come pick us up because they had to teach English, so we found a vilamos (kind of like 'tracks' in SLC) and used the best photographic memories I could summon in the dark evening to find our home. We made it! The Lord blessed us a along the way with friendly strangers and arriving places with barely enough time and so on. What a day :)

My new companion, Sister Orme, is really sweet. She is from Nephi, UT, and she comes from a family of 10 kids! (She is located in the middle, haha). She is really sweet and smiles a lot and is always trying to serve in little ways. She was companions with Barhart nővér and Papritz nővér in the MTC, so now I will have served with all three of them :) This is her 4th area in the mission, and so far she likes it. It was like of a stressful thing for her coming out here with me because even though I was here before, I didn't ever really get to know the city, so it has been kind of like "white-washing" (starting fresh basically). But luckily, our Elders are really nice and patient with us as we call them every day with questions, haha. But yeah, Orme nővér and I are getting along really well and we are sure to laugh multiple times each day :) She knows the language pretty well, and she likes to teach with visual aids, so I think this is going to be a great transfer. Chances are we will be together next transfer too, but there is no way to really know, haha.

Things are a little different now than they were before. However, we have been able to pick up all the same investigators that I had before, which has been a great blessing. We have also be able to visit a lot of less actives and innactives so that has been good to. We did a bit of streeting last week, gave about 4 Books of Mormon, and recieved about 3 peoples information so we can contact them (unfortunately, 2 of them gave us email addresses, so hopefully we can write them today, and tell them to call us, haha).

We will be in the process of changing some things here in the next few weeks. In about 2 weeks, we will be taking a break from teaching English and go crazy with advertising English classes (hopefully bringing in a new back of investigators). And we will be starting up the music night again in a few weeks, and really work hard and trying to get the members to start helping with Family Night and Game night. So there is a lot of work ahead of us, but I think it is going to really help the work here in Miskolc :)

Before coming back to Miskolc, I had some mixed feelings about it-- good and bad. While I won't go into detail about what caused specific feelings, I was sure to keep a prayer in my heart and to stay in contact with Heavenly Father about my feelings and about my plans to overcome certain challenges. I can definately feel the Lords hand in my life. I am grateful to be here, and my relationship with Heavenly Father is definately growing. Even though times can get hard, the Lord very lovingly places tender mercies on my path and sends me the Holy Ghost with feelings of peace and love. I love being a missionary. I love being here. I love my companion. I love the work.

I wish everyone the best for this coming week!

Sok szeretettel,
Kimball nővér

SNOW!!!

What a week! First off, there was no snow here on Thursday. Not a spec. Between Friday and today, we have received well over a foot of snow! Well over a foot. Another missionary said that it has been cold enough here to make it into the news in America. Is that true? But yeah, it has been incredible! Yes, it has been cold, but we have been toughing it out, and all is well. We are just fine in our apartment and at the Branch house. We just have to bundle up really well before heading out for the day. Two years ago, I didn't really like snow. But last year, I decided that snow is actually quite beautiful! I am glad I learned to appreciate it last year, so now that I am here surrounded by it, I can actually look at it with great appreciation rather than with complaints. Hooray for snow :)

I had a great discussion with one of my companions, Papritz nővér, this past week in which we talked about our relationships with Heavenly Father. She brought up the idea that we each had personal Pow-Wow's with Him before coming to earth where we discussed what our lives would be like on earth and perhaps even made specific plans together for our lives. I really like this idea. We all lived with God before coming to earth, and He knows each of us so well--- even better than we know ourselves. So this week, I have been trying to focus more on my relationship with Heavenly Father and really trying to make it something special. I know that He knows me so perfectly and loves me. The same goes for all of you! God is our loving Heavenly Father and he is very aware of what we are each going through in life right now. Some of us are doing just fine right now, while others of us are really struggling. He knows this. This is part of why prayer is so important to me. Even though everything else in life may seem to be falling apart, He is always there and always ready to listen to us. Prayer is so powerful! Sometimes, all we need to do is ask and he will grant us those blessings that we are in need of and then some. He lives. He loves us.

So I invite those of you that are not already praying daily or have lost the habit of praying daily to start now. I promise you that you will notice a great difference in your lives as you better develop your relationship with Heavenly Father.

www.lds.org

In a Jewish synagogue with the other missionaries serving in Szeged (so basically me and my companions and the two elders, haha)

(In the synagogue)

Outside the synagogue with Suranyi nővér.

SNOW!

Me with my mission president (President Baughman) and his wife after Zone Conference.

SNOW!!!

Miracles

There have a been a number of miracles this past week, but I will only touch on a couple here.

On Saturday, as my companions and I were preparing to leave the apartment to go teach a program, I became aware that my wallet was not in my backpack, where it should have been. We searched everywhere we could think of in the apartment for it, but it was nowhere to be found. As we mentally reviewed the places we had been to the day before (Friday), we figured it could be on a valimos, at the branch house, at a Catholic church (where we atteneded a funeral), or someone had stolen it. With an earnest prayer in my heart that my identity would be kept safe wherever my wallet was, we went ahead to the program we had planned rather than canceling it, and made plans to continue the search later if there was time. A couple hours later, we ended up at the branch house, and it was nowhere to be found there either. One of my companions (Papritz nővér) needed to go off to participate in a Young Womens program that was happening, so my other companion (Suranyi nővér) and I were left to think about where to go search for my wallet. I began praying once again to recieve some sort of inspiration as to where my wallet could be. I needed to find it if possible--- it had my drivers license, my public transportation pass, debit cards, my health insurance card, a copy of my passport identification, and of course, money. The thought then came to me to reflect on the places we had been to on Thursday. Two places came to mind-- a pékség and the place we go to to use the internet. It was worth a shot. Suranyi nővér and I hurried over to the pékség. I was sure my wallet would be there! It wasn't. I couldn't think of a reason for why I would have had my wallet out at the internet place since I had a prepaid login, but we faithfully made our way to the internet place. As I approached the counter, I had only just begun to tell the man we had been there a few days earlier, and he immediately pulled my wallet out from a shelf and placed it on the counter. A Miracle! Everything that should have been in my wallet was still in my wallet. God had answered my prayers. I still don't know how my wallet ended up out of my backpack at the internet place, but I am so grateful for the way this story ends :)

The other miracle I will mention is that my companions and I achieved Super Standard this past week--- and beyond!!! With 12 Books of Mormon placed, 10 new investigators and so on... how could this week alone not be a miracle? And this miracle was just packed with miracles! For example, on Sunday, we went to visit a less active, anticipating to meet with him and his wife. When we arrived, we learned that he was divorced from that wife, and we met his fiancé, two little children, and his niece. We will now be teaching his fiancé and niece about the gospel, and they are so

excited. What a miracle.

I am continually amazed with the way that missionary work goes. It's better than I imagined! I love my companions-- they are so good to me. We work hard, and we have fun together. A great combination.

There is a woman that we have been teaching named Erika, and she is so prepared to recieve the gospel!! In the words of Papritz nővér (this quote comes from last weeks email that she sent to our mission president):

"I wanted to share an incredible experience from this week. We were really close to meeting mission standard - all we needed was ONE PERSON at church. So my companion must have prayed really hard, because on Sunday in walks this woman. She had been living across the street from the church and had been attending a bunch of churches looking for the truth. She had been looking for "my family, my home, my friends" as she told me. Then, on that day decided she would finally investigate the church right across the street. MIRACLE!! So, we met with her, she loved church, had many of her questions answered in church...and then in meeting with her later she just talked over and over again about how she and her husband have been looking for the correct path for them and that in every other church they just felt sadness and felt like they were surrounded by people who didnt live what they teach. So, SUNDAY she had found her path... she was a little shocked that we could so confidently testify that she had been prepared for this, and here it was right in front of her, the VERY THING she had been searching for! So, she was excited to go home and tell her husband that she had found it. We are excited to see where this goes. I havent found someone this prepared in a long time...I love these miracles. "

So yeah, this woman is incredible. We are really praying hard for her, that she will receive an answer soon to her prayers about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We have taught her about the Restoration, and have spent the last two visits talking about the Plan of Salvation-- which blows her mind! She didn't understand that our Spirits are more than just little ghost like things without a form or gender or anything. I am so glad we could clear up that and other questions :)

The gospel is true-- God loves you :)

With love,

Kimball nővér

A lovely cathedral in Szeged

Out to dinner with the senior couple in our area, the Adams :)

Outside the cathedral with Papritz nővér