Week 66: Boldog Karácsonyt! Kellemes Ünnepeket kívánok nektek

 

Nekem, annyira furcsa, hogy tudok írni magyarul. Egy évvel ezelőtt Pápán laktam, trainer voltam és most, haza jövök 6 hét múlva! Repül az idő.

This Christmas was special because it was small. Because I come from a place with a big yard, big house, big family, big ward, in my mind I have felt that if there is not a turnout of 40 people at an event it is not successful. We tried every day leading up to our Christmas party to act in faith and invite people to it. I seriously talked to so many people. We passed out may flyers, posted on facebook, spent hours prepping and baking and planning and setting up. Only about 15 people came. I had to come to terms with what we had, and make it a good experience for the people that did show up. I had that realization as our little Christmas program began and that thought calmed me. It was totally ok to not buy 30 dollar tablecloths for the party and use wrapping paper instead. It was ok to just have a couple missionaries sing and try our best to uplift one another and not a professional violinist. The whole night was focused on singing, reading and talking about Christ. It was a small group but I felt like despite that, God was very proud of our efforts.

This week we also had Christmas with our friend "E," her family and her childhood friend. We originally planned this with our other friends "D" and "DA" as well, who we taught a while ago but haven't been able to meet with. They both canceled and we were initially frustrated, but it ended up being perfect! We made gingerbread cookies, sang Christmas songs, took pictures.

They also have one of the nicest homes I have ever seen here in Hungary. As the night went on it got better and better. "E's" friend came and she asked us many questions about our beliefs and lifestyle. "E's" sister came home and was so impressed by what we do as missionaries. I talked to her and their mom for about 45 minutes just in the kitchen. It felt like I was at home talking to my sisters. I don't know how to describe it other than everything was so natural.

They loved that we were open to meeting new people, exploring new things and willing to go so far for our faith. After talking for a bit someone pulled out a guitar and I started playing. "E's' mom brought out a little candle and we all sang Christmas songs around the little flame. Then we watched the Christ child video and I saw them shed a couple tears. They even gave us a ride home at the end of the night. I will never ever forget their family! How cool is it that the night went differently than we planned, but so much better because we got to meet her family.

I had exchanged with my MTC companion Sister Jensen! She came to Eger and we went to visit this guy who let us into his house the time we went door knocking a couple months ago. 

They weren't home so we knocked on the neighbors door and she pulled up in her car as we knocked. She was a sweet old lady who spent the next 30 minutes trying to help us get into their house. She even knocked on their window with a long white pipe and yelled their names repeatedly.  

Eventually she called them on the phone and the man told us to leave our "gift" ( two Books of Mormon) with the old lady. So the woman let us inside her house and we talked for a while. We left the Book of Mormons with her and who knows. Maybe she will get curious and read them! God has a way for miracles to take place. 

We had Christmas eve dinner with Érszi and her Társ. They fed us fish soup which was extremely veszélyes because of all the bones. We ate carefully and I definitely avoided the fish eye. Then they brought out töltött kaposzta, mák and díos beigli, and szalon cuckor. We were stuffed! We sang Christmas carols with her and she also pulled out a guitar! Who knew she had one? I am realizing what a gift it is to be able to play and sing. It always brings the spirit.

On Christmas day we had a new friend come to church and we had lunch with one of our members named Ottilia. We had a 4 course meal at her house. Töltött kaposzta again, húsleves, a big plate of hungarian meats and cream spreads and toast, then 3 plates of süti. Dios süti, mézes kalács gomboc and türos torta. ( I'm sorry for all these weird Hungarian food names. please look them up if you are curious what I ate haha.)

I drew pictures of the Elders 

Overall a wonderful Christmas! When members and friends ask me if I am homesick, or how I can bear to be away from family at this time, I tell them that it is hard but there is really no where else I would rather be this Christmas. It is so special to spend time with people I now understand, who live different lives. I love to see their strong faith even though they are few. I loved the opportunity to go to mass at 1 in the morning and see what these people hold dear. It also made me very grateful for the family-like feeling in our church, and the love that I feel from God and the closeness I feel to him in church on Sunday. I love our members and the experiences I am having!

If you feel like this past Christmas did not live up to your expectations or it was not as grand as you would have liked it to be, that's ok. Remember Christ was born in a manger. The humblest of all places. What do you think God was trying to tell us by that? Couldn't he have made it so that Christ was born into a family of royalty? How would that have changed the way Jesus grew up? Now I am off on a tangent, but the point is that God wants our best efforts and he will deal with the results and outcomes. Merry Christmas and Boldog Új évet!!