27 April 2013 Letter (Budapest)

Saturday, 20 April (600^th Day in Hungary; Two Months Left)

Another P-Day. We met with a man named V from English Class, but during the lesson he repeatedly expressed his lack of interest in religion, so we won’t be setting up with him again. Later, Elder Loveday and I explored the entire mall. In the evening, the two of us went up to Buda Castle. It was really cool and my first time to go up to Buda Castle at night time. I enjoyed seeing everything lit up. My miracles today are three good things that happened to three other people. Elder Headrick doesn’t need surgery after all. He’ll be in a cast for the next five weeks and then be coming out here on June 18. C from Szolnok is back and active again. Lastly, M from Nyiregyhaza was baptized today. Hurray!

Sunday, 21 April

Church today. A is not doing well at all health-wise and was unable to come. Later in the day we tabled for several hours. My miracle today is that I did a lot of thinking about the future today, and am trying to seek the Lords guidance in what I will need to do.

Monday, 22 April

One cancellation. Today we made our third trip to the Hivatal. This time we took Elders Haws, Judd, and Nelson to pick up their Residency Cards as well as check on and finish the process of four others. After returning, we met with G. We focused the discussion on prophets and obedience to the commandments. He said that because of finals, he won’t be able to meet again this week, but he plans on coming on Sunday. Later I merged the inactive, the ward, the home teaching, and the visiting teaching lists together. It’s finally time to look up the inactives. Today’s miracle is that I don’t have any Hivatal stuff for two weeks.

Tuesday, 23 April

This morning upon arriving at the office we found that my computer had shut off over the night. We tried turning it on, but were unsuccessful because the OS Files were not found. So, currently my computer is completely out-of-commission. How marvelous.  We had two programs get cancelled today. Due to the cancellation and my computer, I had plenty of time to study. We also made it out tracting for the first time this transfer. It is about as successful as last year. In the evening we met with a man named S. S met with the Missionaries over 8 years ago. Unfortunately he has very strong feelings about the fallen state of man and a truly depressing view of God. After the lesson we had a short choir practice. The miracle of this day is that Gods personality is not as S claimed. God has not washed His hands of this world like Pilate and left us to Satan. We know that God is our loving Father. And as Joseph Smith taught, this understanding of the persona of God is a necessary pillar to the foundation of faith.

Wednesday, 24 April

My computer is still not fixed and we have no idea when it will be. I can’t get a hold of the tech guy. We had one person dog us today. So, between no computer and no programs I got a lot of time to study and go finding today. Yay! The miracle for today is for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are booked. We have choir practice followed by the concert, English Class, and four programs. Hopefully they all go through.

Thursday, 25 April

Today was indeed a busy day. We had no time to be secretaries today. This morning we had choir practice for one hour. After a short break it was followed by the concert in which we performed for a class of sixteen students from a nearby college who are studying music and its effects. The singing lasted nearly two hours and was followed by an hour and a half question and answer discussion that was almost entirely about our Church and beliefs. We managed to get a quick lunch in before meeting with E and R. We talked about the Saviors ministry, the organization of the Church, E family members, and how to help them, especially using the temple as a goal. After E program, we went on splits with two members so that we could make it to two programs at the same time. Elder Loveday went to meet with P to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I met with two new investigators from Angolora, and we spoke about some basic beliefs of the Church. Following the two programs we split back for English Class. Unfortunately, my lesson plan was saved on my computer which is still not usable, so I had to wing-it. There is still no sign of when I might be able to get it fixed. After the class we traveled to the south part of Budapest to meet with a man. He met with the missionaries a few times a little over five years ago, until he got incredibly sick for over a month and hadn’t met since. He’s been a policeman for over 16 years, and is interested in religions, not being affiliated with a particular one at this time. While it seems he’s meeting out of curiosity and not thirsting for the word it was an enjoyable discussion and I hope he will progress in the future. My miracle today is our Heavenly Father and that out of all the titles we give to God, he asks that we call Him Father.

Friday, 26 April

We spent a long time in the office today. It’s hard for me to do my job as secretary without a computer. Germany is sending me some stuff to fix it, which should arrive around Wednesday. In the evening we met with L, an older gentleman from the Area Book. My miracle today is that our English Class is beginning to open up. Five more people this week said they’d be interested in meeting to learn about the gospel.

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