Saturday, 6 April
We taught the English Classes today for the other
elders. It sure has grown since Elder Reese and I started the Saturday
class, going from around two a week to forty. With it being Saturday,
today was also our P-Day. In the evening was the first session of General
Conference. This will be my last Conference in the country. That’s
my miracle today. I got the fireman picture today. We found out the
Assistants are currently out-of-commission; Elder Headrick broke a bone in his
foot and Elder Orban has become really sick. Lastly, I finished preparing
the Hivatal packets today.
Sunday, 7 April
Today was General Conference. We watched three of
the five sessions today. A came to the final session. A newcomer, R,
showed up looking for the English Class. I talked to him for a while; he
stayed for the Priesthood Session, and at the end said he’d be willing to meet
and gave me his name and number. There were more missionaries there to
watch the session than investigators and members combined. In the third session, President Monson spoke
and shared a story about a Hungarian and German. The pronunciation of
“Debrecen” was a wee-bit off, but everyone here loved the story. The
Sunday Morning Session was by far my favorite and stood out to me the
most. I found it interesting that 80% (or so it seemed) of the stories in
Conference had been shared before, President Monson’s included. I
actually used that story in one of the talks I gave in Szombathely (which I
found in an Ensign for a past conference). Elder Pendleton and Elder Larson
came down tonight for our Hivatal trip tomorrow. Tomorrow’s one of my big
days as secretary. My miracle today was R. It’s terrific that he
just walked in and was willing to stay.
Monday, 8 April
This morning was the big Hivatal run. Elder Bowen
and I took off early to get to Tibor’s in order to receive the last of the
forms. After we got them, we tried to catch up to everyone else, but
“took the scenic route” showing up nearly an hour late. However, they
were waiting in line the entire time. Overall, it was really easy, went
smoothly, and very well. A lot of the new missionaries asked how old I am
in the mission and how long ago I got here. It caused me to remember my
first day here. It’s been nearly two years, but also hardly any time at
all. Later we went out tabling. I
want to find a better place to table. In the evening, Elder Bowen and I
had dinner with W and T. I finished watching the Bible Videos in the
afternoon.
Tuesday, 9 April
Guess what, my dear reader? My mission world has
been turned upside-down once again. To start, Elder Headrick will be
going home to have surgery on his foot. It is currently expected to be
six weeks of recovery, and he hopes to return to the mission on June 18, the
same week I return home. All my senior companions have been home for
awhile now, and now my junior companions are beating me home. I hope he
gets better and can come back out here quickly.
As a result of Elder Headrick’s departure, Elder Swett will be coming in
as the new AP. I’ll get to be around my MTC companion for the rest of my
mission. To replace him as Zone Leader, Elder Bowen will be leaving the
office. Surprise! Again! So, I will be getting a new
companion, who will be… Elder Loveday. Elder Loveday will be coming up
from Bekescsaba to be my new companion and secretary. All of these
changes will be happening tomorrow morning. That not only means it’ll be
quick, but Elder Loveday will not be receiving any training on how to do his
job as secretary. So I’ll get to help him wing-it. Well, no one saw
any of this coming. At this rate, I will probably leave the office too in
3 ½ weeks to white-wash train a third time.
Elder Bowen and I met with A. A member who was with her at
conference was going to come but forgot. We taught A the first half of
the Plan of Salvation. We invited her to be baptized, but she wants to
think about it for a while. She did, however, receive an invitation to
come to church. G cancelled his program because of finals. In the
evening we took time to give Elder Bowen the opportunity to pack and prepare
for tomorrow. The office is really about
to change, mid-transfer. My miracle today is gratefulness that I’ve been
blessed with good health during my mission. Just as I wasn’t very
actively thankful for my sight until the fireball incident in Szolnok, I
haven’t been terribly thankful for my feet until today. We’ll see which
other body parts I become grateful for in the future.
Wednesday, 10
April
Well, I have a new companion now, Elder Shawn
Loveday. This morning Elder Headrick headed home, the AP’s, Zone Leaders,
and Elder Bowen switched, and later, in the afternoon, Elder Loveday
arrived. President Smith was interviewing missionaries today, and one of
those who came in was Elder Channell. So he was able to help me train
Loveday for nearly an hour as he waited for his interview and train-ride back. Later, we met with M, a man we’d been
emailing back-and-forth with for a week now. This was the first time he’d
ever met with the missionaries. He’s an interesting person, and wants us
to also teach him English. We talked about the first half of the first
lesson today. In the evening was a Stake YSA Coordination Meeting that I
got to help translate for slightly over two hours. My miracle is that
I’ve pretty much got the hang of being secretary.
Thursday, 11 April
One cancellation today. I actually got a fair
amount of studies in today while Elder Loveday was reviewing the secretary
handbooks. We also went out streeting for a couple hours. In the evening was Angolora. The
Szuperinfo Ad actually began to be released and distributed tonight.
Hopefully our class will explode during these next 2-3 weeks. After
English Class, R introduced us to E. We had half a program with her and
learned that she, as well as her four children, are all baptized members, but
have been inactive for 8-9 years. E expressed that she has recently felt
a desire to come back, and we got her number, address, and arranged another
time to meet. This encounter is my
miracle of the day for many reasons. First, because it’s a family.
Secondly, because it was arranged and accomplished through the member
missionary work of R. And thirdly, it is my miracle that they were found
because they have been inactive for so long that they are not on the ward list,
the in-active look-up list, or in any of our area books. Up until tonight
we had no way of contacting them, or even knowing they existed.
Friday, 12 April
Busy day today, although it failed to live up to its
potential. We had one dog and two cancellations today. In addition,
we had to unload a shipment of nearly 1,250 lbs of Book of Mormon’s that came
in, followed by a 3 hour 15 minute Zone Training. Later I practiced a
special musical number with T and Elder Quinton for the baptism tomorrow. Elder Loveday and I had our second program
with M. We watched the Restoration film and talked about the First
Vision. He already prays daily and has read around 15 pages in the last
two days from the Book of Mormon, and accepted a challenge to pray about Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon. M is still too focused on the English part,
although today’s lesson was 40/20 (minutes gospel/English). At “Youth
Night” we gave the spiritual message on Faith. I’m a bit disappointed
that we did not get a single call today about English Class. I’m not sure
what’s going on with the newspaper. It’s starting to bug me.
Lastly, my miracle today is that next transfer at Zone Conference I will have
to be one of those giving a departing testimony.
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