5 February 2013 Letter (Szolnok)

Monday, 28 January

P-Day today.  I only have twenty of them left on my mission!  Weird.  The main event of today was emailing.  College registration and re-registration ends this week, so I had to finalize everything on my end today before the dead-line.  Luckily, my parents are doing the vast majority of the work.  Without them, I'd be in trouble.  (Then again, that's the way it's always been).  I got the shortest email I've ever received from Dad, "Dear Elder RJ, Thank goodness for women!  Love you lots.  DAD"  In the evening we had Csaladi Est.  Z and E came. 

My miracle today is with Dad.  Thank goodness for women indeed.
   
Tuesday, 29 January

We met with I today.  We discussed how his talk with President Smith went.  Different parts stood out to him than to me.  We refocused on baptism, listed out every point we could think of that he should know before baptism, and then went through one by one asking him his thoughts.  He said he felt fully prepared on 36 points, but would like to learn more about 8 points before committing to baptism: 1)The Savior's Earthly Ministry, 2)The Great Apostasy, 3)The Atonement, 4)The Spirit World, 5)The Kingdoms of Glory, 6)Repentance, 7)The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and 8)The Word of Wisdom.  I'm afraid I will leave before finishing these things, but at least hope to help him commit to baptism within the next three weeks.  We then met with A.  We talked with him about the first half of the Plan of Salvation.  He committed to read and pray daily, and meet every week, but like J, he has a problem with organized religion.  As he learns, we need to pay attention to helping him understand the importance of the Church.  In the afternoon we were dogged by A, which was a surprise.  However, in the evening she called, apologized, and rescheduled for tomorrow.  In the evening was Angolora.  We had 6 total (5 in Halado).  Hopefully the newspapers will help. 

My miracle today is the progress being made towards I's baptism.

Wednesday, 30 January

We went to the high school today.  It was Elder McCurdy's first chance to teach and lead a lesson or class.  We later met with A.  Z came to the program.  We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and focused on repentance and baptism.  Today during the lesson was the third time A said she would like to be baptized, but still doesn't want to yet choose an exact date.  However, she accepted the commitment to pray as many times as needed until she finds when a good date to aim towards would be.  In the evening was Seminary.  A was there for it.  After, we met with H.  E came to help.  We only talked about faith, but learned that she doesn't know whether or not she actually believes in God, or if she even wants to.  To think about it and decide was the commitment we extended to her. 

My miracle today is that I'm so close to being done with the Area Book.  Just a little more!

Thursday, 31 January

This morning we took the Sisters to Tiszavarkony with us so I could show them where A lives and so we could pay her a surprise visit.  It worked.  She was there and let us in.  A said that the main reason she hasn't come to church at all is that she is not on good terms with her mother-in-law (who is also a member), and has been trying to avoid her.  However, she appears to have continued to read and pray, and she promised us that she will come to church and seminary again.  Elder McCurdy and I met with E.  She had a lot of questions for us, such as what the Holy Spirit is, and how to sue the footnotes?  We reviewed the Restoration with her trying to make her understanding be more solid.  While we were there, we had a very short chance to meet her son and his wife.  Thirdly, we met with B and Z.  My miracle today is that yesterday Z threw out all the cigarettes he had.  We're making progress.  We talked about the priesthood and eternal marriage, thinking about their marriage last June 30.  Z is continuing in his preparations and pushing forward to his baptismal date.  Lastly, the first English Class advertisement went into the paper today and I've already received several phone calls from people wanting to come.  Hopefully our classes explode!

Friday, 1 February

One dog and one cancellation today.  This morning we went to Kecskemet for District Meeting.  During the meeting, we had a training on the Book of Mormon and two sets of role-plays.  We also discussed briefly our eight investigators who have a baptismal date.  After lunch we came back and immediately took off to the S's.  Between the train rides to and from Kecskemet and the hour bus ride each way to Cibakhaza, we had a lot of traveling today. 

My miracle today is that Kecskemet is doing so well work-wise.  Seven baptismal dates between two companionships is a lot.

Saturday, 2 February

One dog today.  This morning we had with A.  After helping him with English, we began to teach the Plan of Salvation.  Z came in to help.  When we asked him what he remembered from last week, he replied, "nothing."  So we restarted the second lesson.  Hopefully this time things stick better.  We also learned that while A prays daily, his scripture reading has dwindled to almost non-existent.  In the evening we met with the Herd's and the Sisters.  Similar to the start of the transfer, we spent two hours dumping information about the work and the Branch. 

My miracle today is that I finally finished our Area Book.  All 800+ names, numbers, addresses have been called, rewritten, organized and copied.  Overall I made over 3000 calls.  I hope Missionaries in the future use and appreciate this!

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