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!!!