Week 50: Miracles

 

Sister Danneman and our sweet friend.....

If I had to pin just one Christlike attribute to my companion it would be virtue.  In my perspective, the word virtuous means to desire to do the right thing. Sister Danneman has rightous desires. She wants so badly to speak with the members, even to the point of tears. She gets nervous to speak because she wants to do it well. She makes sure to compliment me and tell me how great I am doing or even apologize for having to take things slow. She has a fire for the gospel and a strong testimony. Because of this, she follows spiritual promptings and announces what God told her we should probably do, even if she doesn't want to do it. I LOVE HER!

Sister Danneman is studying to be a professional ballerina! We have so much in common😊

This week has been a week of miracles, really crazy people, strange old men, and unexpected events! Let's start with the miracles and then I'll explain all the weird people we met. Sometimes I forget how strange things can get in a small city

This is the miracle of following spiritual promptings. A couple nights ago, we felt like we needed to sit down and talk about what the Lord needed us to do in order to find more people. We discussed our resources, places, ideas, and people. My companion had a prompting that we should hold all of our studies outside. Personal and companionship. We decided to sit on a bench in front of the Basilica and across from the university. The first day we did it, we happened to see a woman on a park bench that we had met the previous day! We had a conversation again and she introduced us to her friend. The second day we did it, we had 6 conversations with people and gave out a Book of Mormon. 

One of the people from the second day was a man named J. He told us we were glowing with light! He came to church the next day, brought his mom, and bore his testimony!! On the 3rd day, we had a man come up to us. This man's name was G. He had heard us speaking English and came to ask us if we were English majors because we spoke so well We taught him a shorter version of the restoration, made a genuine connection and got his facebook. This guy was seriously so cool. He told us he'd never joined a religious group because they never felt completely right. By the end of our conversation, he thanked us for our thoughts and pointed out that his beliefs were very similar to ours. The best part is he lives in Budapest and we have an exchange there with the Pest sisters on Wednesday! So we got his facebook and we will be meeting up with him then! 

Now for the assortment of strange goings-on.

1. A man from Siberia came to our English class. He talked over everyone else and then tried to take pictures of us while we were teaching him. We concluded that a group picture would be best. 

2. The man who came up to us on the bench was so friendly, a little too friendly. He gave us both unexpected hugs during our conversation and said our eyes were very beautiful..

3. We struck up a conversation with a couple and they thought we were awesome! So they gave us a tour around the inner city and explained all the memorials.

4. Had a lesson with our homeless friend who plays the steel drums. We sat right next to him while he rolled up a joint and smoked it in our faces. He explained how he was the king of the kingdom in his mind, so technically he was God as well? 

5. We gave a street musician some coins. He was an thin old man with missing teeth and a long goatee wearing tattered traditional Hungarian clothing. He stared intently at our tags and then asked us many many questions. Like, "Is America just full of corn?" and "they aren't all stupid in America? They don't just shoot each other?" He made us sing a Hymn in the square while he played and made us promise his that we would be there next week with more hymns for him! He is trying to collect hymns from all over the world. By the end he asked us if we had husbands.. we laughed and said no then pointed to me and told me I should have 5 children and my companion should have 4. 

Our new apartment in Egar is really nice!

This week was difficult in some ways. Coming from just serving in Pest where we were always extremely busy to now finding things to fill our day has been a big contrast. We have not had many lessons since being here, only 3. The rest of the time is filled with finding or contacting members instead of lessons which is hard for me, but we both have faith to find! There are times when the work feels slow, I feel full of doubt or discouragement, and even inadequate in my abilities. But overall, I know God hears my prayers, and I prayed fervently this week, I tried to be confident and follow spiritual promptings. We saw many many fruits of it!

 Watercolor of Christ I painted

My mission means everything to me! I cannot imagine my life without it. I thank God evey day that I still get to be serving here.