Wednesday, 3 August
Today was a very successful day. I'm feeling like with God's help I'm improving towards my goal to being more Charitable, and something I've started doing to help is smiling more. We went to the temple and did endowments for what seems like the first time in forever. It was a very spiritual session today. Also, at the end I realized that they hung up the pictures of the First Presidency wrong. The temple has been open for 8 days now, so I'm surprised that no one's noticed. I told the two workers at the front desk that Eyring was on the right and Uchtdorf on the left. It will be interesting to see if that is changed next week (of course, there is a chance that it's that way on purpose, but I've just always seen the first counselor on the Prophet's right side, and the second counselor on the Prophet's left).
Swett Elder and I taught a quick lesson to Gyula today, checking up on the Word of Wisdom, (he's decreased from a pack of cigarettes to half a pack a day), but while he's making great progress, we told him that we'll have to push back his baptismal date a little. We also had time at the end to discuss the first 4 of the 10 Commandments. Lastly, we welcomed a new district tonight. 5 are going to New Zealand, and 6 to Australia. It was interesting that 3 were from within 3 blocks of the Orem/Lindon border, one went to PG & Oak Canyon with me, and 2 of the other Elders (both going to Australia, but not companions) were identical twins. That was the most interesting part. I wonder what some investigators will think if they are taught by one, then the other.
Thursday, 4 August
It's official; I have a fourth tie. Daybell Testver heard that I only had 3 and insisted I take one of his. He was quite stubborn about it, but I really enjoyed it. We taught Lilla today on the Word of Wisdom. She doesn't smoke, but she drinks on occasion and doesn't understand why she can't have her daily coffee. Luckily, I think that's something we can handle. We also had TRC tonight. Gabor was here again, but the other companionship taught him. We gave a lesson for the first time using the new curriculum, giving a lesson on "How to Better Receive Answers to Prayers". It went pretty well. We gave a tour to the new district today, along with a planning orientation. And lastly, tomorrow is our 3rd time going "Hungarian Only" all day long.
Friday, 5 August
Today was our third time speaking only Hungarian for an entire day. Each time it keeps improving, but, despite the improvements, I still don't feel ready to get to Hungary quite yet. =) I've felt a lot better about my attitude today (smiling often and feeling like I care more about others). We also taught Gyula about the second half of the 10 Commandments and also the Law of Chastity. I'm very happy to write that Gyula doesn't have a problem with Chastity or any of the other commandments we discussed. He has also further improved concerning the Word of Wisdom, to the point where he said he doesn’t drink alcohol, coffee, tea; and the last remaining concern, smoking, has decreased to 5 cigarettes a day.
Lastly, we have three new investigators: Zoltan, Aaron, and Hinjalka. We spent some time just getting to know them, and covered the first half of the restoration. (They are all siblings, 2 brothers and 1 sister, the brothers live together. The sister is very religious, but the two brothers aren't quite sure what they believe). I don't know how often we'll meet with them.
Saturday, 6 August
This next week is going to be crazy; we are doing 2 days of Hungarian only and are going to teach at least 12 lessons! We taught Gyula on tithing and fast offerings. He was very interested as to if the "blessings that we have not room enough to receive" include more money. I'm happy to write that as of 12:00, he had not smoked a single cigarette (so next time we may be able to set up a new baptismal date) and he's also begun looking for a new job which will allow him to go to church each Sunday.
Sunday, 7 August
Today was my second Fast Sunday since beginning my mission. Fasting went great and I'm sure I'll receive help on all I fasted for. This morning we had Mission Conference, during which both President and Sister, Nally and Brown spoke. I enjoyed President Brown's talk on the Holy Ghost (the Light of Christ, Personage of the Holy Ghost, its Power, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost). In the evening, Merril J Bateman (Emeritus Seventy) spoke during the Fireside on "Developing Faith in Christ", a talk which, while really good in doctrine, didn't have anything really hit me. We finished the evening by watching the film, The Testaments, for our second time.
Other than that, two things happened. The first was that we had Fast and Testimony Meeting, but it was way too packed for me to bear my testimony, so instead I made the resolution to share it through example and actions during the next 7 days instead. The second thing was Swett Elder and I discovered that we are being released as Zone Leaders next Sunday. We'll find out who the new ones are on Tuesday.
Monday, 8 August
So, a couple things happened today: We taught Lilla about Following the Prophet, and checked up on how she's doing concerning the Word of Wisdom. She's given up everything, including coffee! Also, she was able to get off work last minute on Sunday and went to Sacrament Meeting. It made me so happy =) We also taught Gyula, talking to him about the Word of Wisdom (he's down to 3 cigarettes), how his search for a new job is going, and checked up on his BoM reading. We used the time we had left to read most of Alma 7 with him, and I committed him to read the part we had left.
Also, two last things. Today was another Hungarian Only day, and while it was good, I didn't feel it was quite as successful as Friday. Also, Barker Nover is back from Washington, so we have our all three of our teachers again.
Tuesday, 9 August
Today we taught Lilla. We were very short on time, but we set a baptismal date for the 27th! Finally! We also talked about the first half of the 10 Commandments. Funnily, the only concern she voiced with us was that she said she was worried about there not being many young men to marry at the church. I think we'll find a way for things to work out. They called new Zone Leaders today: Pendleton and Cox Elder. They will be replacing us on Sunday.
Tonight the Devotional was given by Cecil O Samuelson of the Seventy. He spoke of being "an example of the believers", a topic I'm very familiar with as it was our ward's young men / young women's theme for a year.
That's the end of the blog post. 7 seconds left. Love you! Bye!
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