Week 63: ⭐LIGHTING THE WORLD IN EGER, HUNGARY 🌲

December 05, 2022

Week 63: ⭐LIGHTING THE WORLD IN EGER, HUNGARY 🌲

Christmas markets are in full swing here in Eger! Our apartment is a 2 minute walk away from them! We seriously have the best apartment location ever. This week we took a big poster and put it right in the square. We handed out flyers, calendars and posters to invite people to church, meet with us, and to spread the light of Christ! I carried around lights in my bag to literally "Light the World" ⭐

Home made pizza This week we met with N again. We took the 1 1/2 hour bus to her house in the middle of nowhere. A tiny village called Átány. It was a miracle we made it there. Again she had snacks for us. Little chocolates + cookies and fruit tea.

Her husband was also there and we got to meet him. He seems pretty cool, but not super interested in the gospel. So we had planned a Bible study plan with her and the 1st thing she asks us is about the Book of Mormon. I made it clear that we know she signed up for a Bible ad and we didn't want to give her something she didn't sign up for, but She was VERY curious about the Book of Mormon. She told us about the conversation she had with her daughter. Her daughter was pretty skeptical of us after her mom said that two young girls came to their little village to teach about Christ. Her daughter told her that we were probably just some strange sect. N stood up for us and said that she would give us another chance and if what we said was about truly about Christ and the Book of Mormon was really another testament of Christ, she would listen to us. She asked many many many questions about where the book came from, who were the prophets, what was happening at this time in the Bible...etc.

A few treats they made for us

I've been in very few lessons like that on my mission where for almost 2 straight hours without breaks I teach. She just kept asking and asking! I continued to try my best to teach with the spirit. She really is focused on God and loving Christ. She is seeking them and I know she will find them. I think it may have been one of my favorite lessons ever! N promised that she would read 1st Nephi Ch 1. and our job is to find a map of how Bible & Book of Mormon events line up. It makes me stoked for our future lessons with her. We just got the chance to share so much with. And it felt so good. Then, after we concluded with prayer, we all had a little bonding moment.

-Do NOT try the grey stuff. It is NOT delicious!

Her husband asked if we ever tried Kocsonya (pig fat jello.) If you ever hear this word "Kocsonya" while in Hungary. I warn you.. STAY AWAY! I was happy to have avoided this unappetizing dish until now... but I also wanted to say that we tried it. They pulled out a Tupperware of jiggly clear jello with pig parts inside it. My body was already rejecting it. I didn't want to eat it. At least she pulled out some bread to eat with it. I tried to get a lot more bread than jello. But I received a good spoonful of it onto my plate. It was salty and just tasted like... really salty meat flavored jello. Not good.

Then they pulled out another one! N said if we didn't like the first one it's ok because we would like the second one more. Wrong. It was much worse. It was grey... solid grey. It tasted like solid bacon grease. And they eat bowls full of this stuff! Tupperwares full at Christmas. I'm usually very polite with every food, and I almost always tell people what they give us is pretty good. But I didn’t lie this time..We straight up told them we didn't like it and they just laughed. Hungarians like some good honesty. It was a good bonding moment with them.

Our friend R from Brazil invited us to her concert in the beautiful University right by where we live.You can hear the acoustics in this video. It was unbelievable!!

One of this week's miracles has to do with the miracle of members. Preach my gospel always says to use members in order to work with inactives. There are many many inactives in this area and I have yet to be successful with any of them. K is an incredible member who is helping us.

But we have an awesome relationship with the members here. On Saturday we went to K's house to give here some cookies, a calendar, and to do the Light the World challenge with her. The challenge for that day was to go on a walk with a friend. We asked her if we could walk her dog with her. As we walked, she casually mentioned all the inactives that lived around her. We got to one building and she asked if we would like to go in and visit them. Most of the inactives have been contacted by so many missionaries that they don't let them in. But rung the buzzer and said "Hi I'm here with the sisters and they would like to come in and give you all something!" There was silence for a moment, but then she let us in. K went back to her house because she had some work to do and we went up alone.

This family was baptized 20 years ago! The husband still pays their tithing. These people have nothing and barely have proper clothes to wear. But we got to know her for a while and found out that she always works on Sunday. We shared a scripture with her and she was very touched. We invited her to the Relief Society Christmas party and she said she would only come if K came with her. K has been such an amazing missionary and friend all these years. She has sent her scriptures every week and never fails to invite her to every event. Members truly are the best way to reach inactives!

This week was full of ups and downs. I'd say it was one of those weeks where even though there were many miracles, the challenges were real. It is difficult to be away from family during the holidays. Missionary life is difficult because you cannot cope with hardships by talking it out with your mom or just taking the day slow or telling your friends you aren't in the mood to meet that day. I guess it's all preparing me for real life. But it helped me to realize something. Christmas really is about Christ. And it is about making the unseen feel seen. Whenever I feel sad about missing family or life not being the same as it was at home, my mind turns to the people we meet with who are struggling to even have food for that day. Or the old ladies that live alone. It makes my problems feel so very small. So even though it I'd hard, there is no where else I'd rather be this Christmas season than in our little city in Eger. If you read this far... thank you. Go LIGHT THE WORLD!!!😇😇🌟