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