Elder RJ Shipp

01 February 2012 Pictures (Szekesfehervar)

2012-02-01T10:35:00.001-07:00

30 January 2012 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2012-01-30T17:14:00.003-07:00

Monday, 16 January

Today was indeed more of a day of rest. We got dogged once, and then met with C. In our lesson with her we discussed the Law of Chastity, which doubled as both something that was good for her to hear again as well as a practice for our lesson with R tomorrow. My miracle today was an article President Baughman had forwarded of a non-member's testimony. He recorded a few of his experiences with the Church and its members. It was a great testimony of the truthfulness and amazingness of the Church.

Tuesday, 17 January

It snowed all today. I liked it; it wasn't cold. In addition to making everything white and brighter, it also made the ravens everywhere seem much more beautiful. Normally, ravens are fairly ugly birds, but their black feathers became slicker and they looked almost classy in the snow. Dogged thrice today, but B discussed the Restoration with us, and we reached the long-feared Law of Chastity lesson with R. It went smoothly. She had a question or two that were easily answered, said she understood the rest, my miracle today, without hesitation or resistance and agreed to start living it immediately. Wow! It was much easier than we had supposed, and needless to say, I felt very content afterwards. We are now completely out of all our Pass-Along Cards and fliers. In the evening we had a two hour meeting with the other Elders and our new Branch President. He wants to do things much differently than they've been done. He has some big goals; changes are coming. We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, 18 January

Like yesterday, we got dogged thrice; however, we only had three lessons planned...ouch! This morning I wrote over three pages for my talk to send home. This evening the Zone Leaders arrived for splits and we had a good District Meeting. The most interesting part is that there have been workers doing construction on the floor below us. Two nights ago we learned it will be a Night Club (Club Revenge). Tonight, during our meeting, they installed and tested the speakers. The entire floor of our Branch House was vibrating the entire time. The music speakers were loud and powerful enough that not only could we hear the music in the Branch House, but we could also see all the chairs in the chapel vibrating as well. When Elder Molnar and I returned to our apartment a couple minutes away, even up on the 9th floor with all the windows and doors closed, we could not only hear it, but could tell which song it was. Things will definitely be interesting to say the least. So, while we couldn't meet with the three lessons we planned, we had a miracle. Around 5:30pm we went out streeting, and the first two people we talked to, two men in their mid-to-late twenties, stopped to listen. One had never heard anything about the Church, while the other had met with the missionaries once before and had received a Book of Mormon. We talked for a few minutes, and then asked if they had a half hour to watch the Restoration Film. They answered yes. They came with us to the Branch House. So, we not only had an hour long restoration discussion with them, but they said they feel like visions and angelic visitations are possible, and while they aren't sure it's true, they at least think everything they learned is a possibility. We got their phone numbers and plan to meet again on Monday. Hopefully they stick around. They really helped save our day today.

Thursday, 19 January

Today we had two lessons and only one dog. However, both the dog and the second lesson told us that they don't care to meet in the future. In other words, they both dropped us. Interestingly, though, the second of the two said he read two chapters of the Book of Mormon, thought it was unique and wants to continue reading, just not meeting. Our other program was with G on dispensations. My miracle today is that he has become one of our two best investigators, the other being R. Last of all, today I found a cinnamon-orange-nut Milka, which is by far the most Christmas-y tasting chocolate ever.

Friday, 20 January

So, today was a day of failures, more so than any other day of my mission. Not only did we have another person drop us, nor did just all four of our programs today dog, nor did just one person show up to our "Big" Branch Activity that the Branch had been planning for 2 1/2 weeks, but we also biked an hour and a half to a store to replace a piping valve, only to be unable to find the size we needed; and also, we spent so much time trying to get something to work, that we didn't do any proselytizing. So, today we had no programs at all, lost an investigator, no streeting, tracting, flyering, or tabling, a branch activity outrightly failed, and our piping still isn't fixed. From all perspectives it was a failure of a day. Yet, strangely, and my miracle today, I don't feel bad. Not that I feel great about today, but I don't feel bad at all either. I'm sure in large part it's because we did what was in our power.

Saturday, 21 January

I only have one thing to write about today. It is that we met with K, N, and L again. This time we discussed the Plan of Salvation. They not only thought that the questions "Where did we come from?" and "Where are we going?" are important (L especially said she thought about it a lot), but they also all participated in the lesson, as well as each one of them prayed and read a part of the Book of Mormon. That was my miracle.

Sunday, 22 January

Today our Landlady came over. Things went a lot better than we thought they would, and she complimented us over and over on how clean our apartment is. Hopefully they can have our washing machine fixed by next week. R came to church for two hours today. We are still hoping to put her Bapt. Date in our next lesson. So, this week we were dogged eleven times, and didn't have any new investigators...however, my miracle today was that this evening we managed to arrange two lessons, with two different Is, successfully meet with them, arranged a second lesson with each, and finish last minute with two new investigators! We also have seven potential investigators lined up for next week.

Monday, 23 January

The water in our bathroom, in addition to our laundry machine, is not working, so we did laundry and showered at the other Elders' apartment. While showering for the second time in 3 months, I really, really felt like going swimming. My miracle today was Faith, the topic of my talk.

Tuesday, 24 January

Today was Zone Conference. I didn't enjoy it as much as past conferences. It was a very basic overview of “The Plan of Salvation” and “How to Teach Investigators”. I didn't learn nearly as much as past trainings, only a small handful of new scriptures. While there, we picked up another 44 Books of Mormon, and 500 Pass-Along Cards (half of what I wanted). Within the past couple days (5 or so), I have developed a love for oranges that didn't exist before. Lastly, (and the miracle today), Elder Crandall gave his departing testimony and I met and talked to Elder Runnells, who is also from Orem, and who, for some time, lived in my home-Stake. That makes three of us from Orem. Yay!

Wednesday, 25 January

Another half and half day: two dogs and two programs. We met with B and reviewed the Plan of Salvation. Our second lesson was with A, one of the people I spoke of in my talk on faith. We talked with him briefly and then went into a lesson I had prepared. He expressed last time that he likes short films with lessons or life teachings. So, I brought the Mormon Message CD and we watched 30 minutes worth of the spiritual thoughts and testimonies of the Apostles. Twice we stopped and asked him how he felt, and he thought a moment, then insisted we continue and he would tell us at the end. Three or four times during the clips, he took off his glasses and wiped his eyes (although, I never actually saw any tears or anything). After thirty minutes, we paused the video and told him we had one last one we wanted to watch. We said it was about Joseph Smith's martyrdom and the Book of Mormon. We then commenced watching Elder Holland's "Testimony of the Book of Mormon". After, we again asked him how he felt. I am sure he felt something. That much is certain. When we asked the question, he sat there a while in silence. We waited for over a full minute (though, less than three). Finally, he said there are a lot of churches, they all have good messages; then unfortunately, built into his same rant as last time, that God could be anything, that we can never know, that faith doesn't exist, nothing is important, etc. Dang. Well, Elder Molnar and I shared our testimonies. I told him we can only invite others to come unto Christ. I bore testimony that I know God lives, that He loves us; that I prayed and received a powerful witness that the Church is true, and that I invite time to learn and ask as well. After finishing our testimonies we quickly departed. I did, for some reason, ask if he learned anything from the Mormon Messages, to which he replied, "of course", and said that they all were good ideas and philosophies. He just doesn't count them as being alone in the truth, or more important than other theories of the world. My final impression, both in the lesson and looking back on it is that, as told to Nephi, the churches of the world would become a great stumbling block to many. I truly believe that the apostasy and the abominable churches and religions of the world have destroyed this man's faith. Other than that, I have had one thought and memory come to me that I never before thought about on my mission, nor while at college. It was my Dad's weekly Sunday evening call, "Waffles are ready!!!" (Sometimes with Jonathan running up and down the hall yelling it, and Buddy barking.) It's been a long time since I've heard that. My miracle is my family. One of, if not the greatest, blessing Heavenly Father has given me in this life.

Thursday, 26 January

Four dogs today. Our only program was with I (the second one we had met with last Sunday). We spent all 45 minutes answering questions he had about the gospel and our church. I thought it went quite well. Today was supposed to be the day that we gave R a Baptismal Date, but, she missed the bus and called us. Not only was she unable to meet, but we learned that something has come up and she has to travel to and from Pest every Sunday for the next several months. So, she won't be able to come to church until Summer or Fall. It definitely put a damper on the idea of Baptism and on our day. I'm still thinking about it trying to figure out what's best. Luckily, she's still keeping commitments, the commandments, and will continue meeting with us each week. My miracle today was that the repairmen came, and we have a working washing machine, as well as both hot and cold running water in the bathroom for the first time in several months or even longer. Also, it was Elder Peterson's birthday, so, I rebelled against mission rules and gave him a pet rock, along with a family of oranges with some funny faces drawn onto the peels. Last of all, while talking with Elders Molnar and Remy, I quoted and referenced some things that came out during my time at University of Pennsylvania, and when noticing they didn't react, I realized how many things they've completely missed or are unaware of during their isolation out here. It reaffirmed that I'll miss a thousand and one things during my mission. Oh well. They are all just insignificantly temporal anyways.

Friday, 27 January

Today was a day of dropping. One of the three Is dogged us for the third time, so we're dropping him for a couple weeks. We met with a different one, K, who said he was atheist, laughed at everything we said, then after twenty minutes, got up and left saying that "he was bored". Needless to say, we won't be contacting him again. A third person called and said they don't care to meet in the future either. In the evening we met with G. The big struggles with him are that he thinks Peter is the first pope and wants to read the entire Bible and Book of Mormon before committing to baptism. He said he thinks and feels the Church is true, but needs to make sure by completely reading everything. Gyuli Buli bombed again, with next to no one showing up. Lastly, in the late afternoon, we went streeting, and while the first person we stopped was actually a Catholic Priest, the second person we gave a Book of Mormon. That's my little miracle today. Hopefully it changes her life.

Saturday, 28 January

So, right now I'm pretty depressed. Although I charged my MP3 player this afternoon, it died a few hours later mid-song. I've tried charging it, and doing what I can to revive it, but have been unsuccessful. I'm not sure what all I'm going to do. Anyways, another dog and drop this morning. We met with K, N, and L. L read a little and K read the entire Plan of Salvation pamphlet. All three have begun to pray weekly. Things are going well with them. We tried to meet with I. We had scheduled a time with him, but, when we showed up at his house, we learned he had forgotten, and he asked us to return later. My miracle today was the opportunity to perform service. I have been hunting for opportunities to help with a bigger project, and one of the member's relatives needed help moving; so, Elder Molnar and I spent over an hour (almost two) helping a 60-70 year old man move.

Sunday, 29 January

Today in church Elder Molanr gave a talk on sacrifice. The main event today was a humbling miracle that was a sad way for me to learn a few of my weaknesses. This morning, my MP3 player was still dead. I had tried charging it overnight. This morning I performed the standard procedure of what to do when an electronic device starts failing and began whacking it against things. When it still didn't turn on, I whacked it some more and tried again. After that, I went N64 style: took it apart, opened it up, blew inside it, and put it together again. Nothing. After church, I tried it again; still nothing. Several hours later, before Weekly Planning, I simply picked it up, slid the button, and it turned on! I hadn't done anything. It is still working. It is a miracle. However, shortly afterwards the whole experience made me feel like a fool. I am a missionary. I try to be a good one. I pray for my investigators and my companion. However, when my MP3 player broke yesterday, one of the first things I did was pray. I repeated including that in my prayers this morning. I put a fair amount into worrying about how to replace it so I could listen to MoTab again. I was saddened, even at church thinking about it. I was so happy when it amazingly started working again...WHY?...Why was that so important to me? While I pray for many things, including investigators, why is it that I immediately drop into prayer over a $40 music device, when I never do or even consider doing so when someone drops or rejects us, putting eternal salvation at stake? Every time we get a phone call from someone who's not interested or doesn't want to meet anymore, why do I not drop onto my knees and pray for their heart to be softened, their mind changed, and the gospel suddenly becoming everything to them? Why do I not pray each time for each and every one of their salvations, yet I make it such a priority to pray for my MP3 Player? Am I that materialistic? Where are my priorities? I'm always asking and hoping that others will constantly consider these things more important, yet am so blatantly failing to do so myself. "Can [ I ] be so foolish?" Anyways, I'm happy I have my music back, but was just disturbed that I cared more about listening to "Come Thou Fount" one more time more than praying for someone to change their heart, pick up their phone, and call us back asking to meet. Hopefully this motivates me to be better. I'm still thinking and reflecting upon it all.

Overview for the last two weeks:

Just one thing to add in while writing these and looking back in hindsight; things are topsy-turvy. We had some really high points a little while back, however, now we're hitting some lows. Both weeks we had more lessons fall through than succeed. Also, G and R, who had become our top investigators, are vanishing. We haven't met with G for over a week and a half, and he hasn't picked up his phone since we last met with him. R is in a type of internship for training to be a police woman (her dream since childhood). She at least says she'll still be able to meet with us, but everything is being pushed back. Also, I wrote that this last week we started with seven potential investigators. Not a single one went through and they all dropped (with the exception of two who told us to call them later this week). Hoo-haa... Well, we are still finding new people, but it just goes to show, nothing is stable in predicting missionary work. On to this week!

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23 January 2012 Talk on Faith

2012-01-23T09:41:00.005-07:00

Dear Family,

So, I wrote the talk for Bishop Borup. I had thought that I had read that it should be “at least 10 minutes”, so I wrote a 12 ½ minute talk, went back later, and read “at least 5 minutes” (so I guess I had figured if I wrote a 7-10 minute talk I’d be good, but later combined the two)….oh well.

Tomorrow is a Zone Conference in Budapest. I’m sure I’ll write about how that goes in my next email. I’m about out of time. Hope you all enjoy the talk! =)

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

Faith

Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is great to have the chance to write you all while serving a mission out here in Hungary. During this short time that I've been enlisted by the Lord, I have had many opportunities and experiences to build and solidify my faith. Sometimes these take the form of more common circumstances that are constant in almost, if not, every day; such as witnessing the gift of tongues in this language, the daily miracles I remember and reflect on each evening, or simply feeling the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit on a regular basis. Other times it's a little bigger or less common event; seeing troubled hearts calmed by the hand of God, recent converts or maybe even non-members bearing testimony of the gospel, unexpected success in finding and teaching those we encounter.

With faith being one of the most recognized Christ-like attributes along-side Hope and Charity, I would like to share a few reflections as a reminder of what faith is, the different roles it plays, its importance within those roles, and ultimately, a few of the grand blessings for which faith is a requirement.

While in the Missionary Training Center, one of the speakers, Gerald N Lund, an Emeritus Seventy and well-known author of many books, such as The Work and The Glory gave a presentation of the process of gaining a witness of the gospel. Within the presentation, one of the first things he introduced were a few short points describing faith. He started with the words of Alma, who said, "Faith is a hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Faith is a principle of power and action, which is developed by obedience and righteousness. Faith is a gift we must earnestly seek. It is a process, not an event. Is it personal. It is something we need, to save ourselves as well as those around us.

While in the MTC, I also had the opportunity to devote much of my time to studying the book Preach My Gospel. Within the sixth chapter of the book lies my favorite section: a discussion of the nine Christ-Like Attributes, the first of which is identified as Faith. My favorite page in Preach My Gospel is the very last page of the chapter. The page is titled an "Attribute Activity", which contains a list of 57 short points that both summarize the chapter, as well as provide a way for the reader to evaluate themselves, learning their own strengths and weaknesses, then finding ways to improve. I spent many hours studying that page and would like to share the first nine points, which all focus on the reader's faith; and with each point, add to it many feelings that we express each week through our beloved hymns.

1) I believe in Christ and accept him as my Savior

"I believe in Christ - my Lord, my God! My feet he plants on gospel sod. I'll worship him with all my might; He is the source of truth and light." (Hymn #134)

2) I feel confident that God loves me.

"I am a child of God, And he has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear" (Hymn #301)

3) I trust the Savior enough to accept his will and do whatever he asks.

"I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands. I know that I will find a way. He wants me to obey."

4) I firmly believe that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can be forgiven of all my sins.

"In humility, our Savior, grant thy Spirit here we pray...Let me not forget, O Savior, Thou didst bleed and die for me, When they heart was stilled and broken, on the cross at Calvary." (#172)

5) I have enough faith to obtain answers to my prayers.

To this one I actually ask you all to remember Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration, to which everything in this church can be tied back. As a missionary, each day I am sharing the story of

Joseph Smith with the people of Hungary, telling them that God lives. He hears and answers prayers. He heard and answered Joseph's prayer, and He will hear and answer theirs.

6) I think about the Savior during the day and remember all he has done for me.

"I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified. That for me a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died." (#193)

7) I have the faith necessary to help make good things happen in my life or the lives of others.

"I would be my brother's keeper. I would learn the healer's art. To the wounded and the weary, I would show a gentle heart." (#220)

8) I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true.

"What glorious scenes mine eyes behold! What wonders burst upon my view! When Ephraim's records I unfold, all things appear divinely new." (#16)

9) I have enough faith in Christ to accomplish anything he wants me to do --- even miracles if necessary.

"Go forth with pow'r to tell the world the Gospel is restored. That all may gain eternal life, Thru Jesus Christ, the Lord." (#263)

The words of those hymns have often been a powerful reminder; a way to invite the Spirit of the Lord into my life; to both maintain and strengthen my faith. As the Lord said in Doctrine and Covenants section 25, "The songs of the righteous is a prayer unto me".

Here in Hungary, I have encountered a certain situation weekly, if not daily, which, I never really experienced in Utah. Out here, where our church is new, there are many other churches and religions that have been around for centuries, such as the Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical, or the most common having been dominant for over a millennium, the Catholic Church. While only the smallest percent possess much knowledge of our church, nearly everyone has some background in one of the other religions. In each of these different religions lie different views concerning Grace, Faith, and Works.

Like in Joseph Smith's time, many argue that by grace alone we are saved. For others it is through our faith; and the remainder claim we must save ourselves through our works and actions. I cannot begin to tell you how many times, in my short stay out here, I have heard people say to me, "Don't worry, God will save me", or "No thanks, I have enough faith," or "It's okay, I attend church". In the restored gospel, we are blessed to know, as taught in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, that we need all three. In the Bible it is recorded, "For by grace are [we] saved through faith" (Eph 2:8) and "Faith, if it hath not works is dead, being alone" (James 2:17). Just like the Godhead is made up of Heavenly Father, His son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, all together; or the present made possible by the Creation, Fall, and Atonement; or the mighty Plan of Salvation containing the past, Pre-mortal Existence, the present, mortal earth-life, and the future Kingdoms of Glory; so are Grace, Faith, and Works tied together, bound by the everlasting laws of heaven.

Faith is really such an important and powerful topic that it is knitted into nearly every aspect of the gospel, insomuch that it is hard to try to comprehend the gospel without it. Two weeks ago, on January 12, my companion and I taught a man who had a very disturbing view of things. During our time with him, he not only said, but heavily and aggressively insisted and pursued ideas that the scriptures are not important, but are ink on paper and nothing more; that the gospel is just a philosophy and is not important; that God may or may not exist, but if He does, then God is God, and there's nothing we can do about it, so He is therefore not important; that our families and actions are not important either; and that the only important thing is ourselves. Our own lives are the only thing we have that matters.

Also among the things he said was the statement that there is no such thing as faith. That it doesn't exist, either you know something, or you don't. We can try to imagine what we don't know, but we can't actually believe in it. He continued telling us that there is no way that we could even know that God exists, know that the gospel and scriptures are true, or know anything that we cannot see, hear, or touch.

I have two remarks that I would like to share about that experience. First, in the Hungarian language "faith" and "belief" are the same word, "Hit" (pronounced hee-t). To have faith or to believe are likewise the same verb "Hinni" (pronounced hee-nee). I've found many good thoughts within the idea that having faith and truly believing in something are one and the same. My second remark is that to those who have learned and embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, a life without faith or belief seems not only ridiculous, but also impossible.

Now, away from the grumpy man, and onward to a more joyous tale. Five days later, my companion and I taught one of our other investigators. Although she has progressed magnificently up to this point, keeping the commitments we have given her with excelling diligence, things had gotten slightly harder recently, and we finally felt like it was time to teach her the Law of Chastity, the lesson we had been most dreading, even from our first program with her nearly eight weeks earlier. Yet, she opened her heart. She not only understood everything we taught her after a question or two, when the time came after twenty minutes when we asked her to live it, without a moment to pause or doubt, and with only a promise of unseen blessings to come, she exercised the faith she had developed to begin living this great way, starting that very instant! What a change. What a marvelous and beautiful change in Spirit, light, and life from the faithless man. I know that these are only written words, not even verbally spoken, recounting these two encounters, but I hope anyone reading this can obtain a glimpse of the immense difference, the complete change that faith will make in each and every one of our lives, no matter who we are, where we're from, or what we do.

I have two last thoughts that I wish to write concerning faith. The first is that all things must be done in order. Long before faith can be obtained; there must first be a desire. In the eleventh chapter of the first book of Nephi, in which he recounts his great vision, the Nephite prophet records at the very start of the first verse: "For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen." In his letter to the Romans, Paul explains the next step. "How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" Hearing is necessary as the next step, whether it be through the scriptures, through other people, or through the Holy Ghost. In the same chapter, Paul writes that after Hearing the gospel, we can finally begin obtaining our faith. He wrote, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

The second and final thought is that even after obtaining faith; our faith must still be tried. Each one of us will face the refiner's fire. Brigham Young once wrote that anyone who desires exaltation must battle every day. I end with my testimony -- that maintaining our faith is not always the easiest thing. Sometimes we may be called upon to battle every step of the way; until we finally reach that glorious threshold, where our Heavenly Father will say to us, as He said to Enoch of old, "Walk with me".

These things I write and share in the sacred name of our Savior and Redeemer, even Jesus Christ. Amen.

16 January 2012 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2012-01-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Monday, 9 January

Today during our P-Day we visited a Catholic Cathedral, which, while not the biggest or the grandest, was still pretty sweet. We also went bowling in the evening as a Branch Activity. That was today's miracle. Despite bowling less than ten times in the past decade, and less than fifteen times in my life, I still managed to avoid the gutter (all but twice), and also break 100 in both games. We met with C today, who, I am happy to write, is returning to activity. Our other program was with a man named W, who seemed really cool, and we were really hoping to meet with him, but he dogged and we don't have a way to contact him to reschedule. Maybe we'll find him again someday.

Tuesday, 10 January

I finally got my bike fixed (one of today's miracles). It was only about $30 to replace both tires, the chain, buy a new cover (for the chain), fix the back brake, and tighten the front brake. With it being less than half of what I expected, I was very excited over it. We also spent today fasting for K to find a new job. While we had two dogs and only one successful lesson today, we received four new investigators with another three set up for tomorrow. (Another miracle today.) Hopefully they all turn out well.

Wednesday, 11 January

Yay! We managed to not only successfully meet with four of our five programs, but we also got our three new investigators. (Today's miracle.) We met with B, who taught us on the Restoration; J and her friend J for the first time; G also for the first time; and with C and L together in the evening, where we discussed the Plan of Salvation. Csaladi-Est failed miserably, and we did absolutely nothing tonight, so I went off and read. We also made over 2,000 Angolora and Pass-Along Card fliers. This week is going well so far. Hopefully it continues to do so and the fliers bring us some success.

Thursday, 12 January

We met with R today. We followed up on her scripture reading, then began to introduce her to the commandments, beginning with the Ten Commandments, which she committed to live. We hope to talk about the much feared Law of Chastity. I hope we are able to follow the Spirit and are able to teach her about it without scaring her off. Time will tell. We also had another lesson with a new L. We spent almost the entire time talking about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. He said he's not really looking to join a church, but he did agree to schedule to meet with us a second time, so I'm hopeful. He seems like a smart and happy guy. We'll see how the second meeting goes. I'm not going to mark a specific event as a miracle today, but I will remember how great and incredible it is that I'm able to be here in Hungary serving a mission. Last, but not least, here's just a line I found in the Teachings of Brigham Young that I would like to share, "The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day." We are always fighting against sin, and as members, we have an obligation to always do so. (Also, I smiled about wielding a sword every week before, and hopefully, after my mission).

Friday, 13 January

I spent all of today on splits with Elder Remy. We spent nearly six hours handing out fliers and managed to give out and share over 500 Pass-Along Cards and Angolora fliers. I don't think we quite reached 1,000, but we definitely broke 500 (and probably 800). That was my miracle today. Our one program was with a member, G, who said she didn't really feel like she knew anything about the priesthood, and that they haven't really talked about it in Relief Society. So, we abandoned our planned lesson, and I shared everything I could within an hour with her. She took particular interest in Patriarchal Blessings. She's been a member for some time and is an active, full-time member. However, she said she's never heard of a Patriarchal Blessing. If that seed of an idea was successfully planted during the conversation, then I would definitely consider the lesson a success. Patriarchal Blessings are amazing! Last of all, during Gyuli Buli, I learned how to play "Rummycube". I took an immediate liking to it. It's quite a strategic game.

Saturday, 14 January

Today we had one dog and one program. We planned on teaching R about the Law of Chastity, but she was in Pest. So, that's been postponed to next week. We spent more time cleaning. My miracle today was a realization of my progress concerning cooking and playing the piano. Our one program today was with K, N, and L. I fear the latter two have little interest in the gospel, but K has been reading from the Book of Mormon like we asked, remembers the Restoration film in great detail, and seems fairly interested in learning more and wanting to believe in it.

Sunday, 15 January

So, in my first three transfers I found a total of 14 new investigators (not counting any of the tabling find in Nyiregyhaza. I heard that 13 came out of mine and Elder Moffett's efforts my last week there. However, I wasn't there for that, so....). This week alone, we found eight new investigators. That's a miracle to me. Other than that, today at Church Farkas Elnok was released as Branch President, and Tibi took his place becoming Szabo Elnok. We have also been asked and have received permission to begin teaching S, the excommunicated member, as he has expressed a desire to be rebaptized. It's an uncommon, but pretty cool situation. Separately, our washing machine broke earlier during this week. Elder Molnar and I have heard many tales about our landlady and are not looking forward to meeting her, but between our lack of cold water and the washing machine, we figure that we can't really avoid it. Tomorrow's another P-Day. I'm not sure what we'll do yet. It might just be a day of rest.

That's all for this week. I can only think of three other things to include:

1) I've heard multiple times that the nice weather we have been experiencing here is finally drawing to a close, and we're going to start entering that bone-chilling Hungarian winter that we heard about before I came out here. Luckily, I have yet to have to really bundle up, and have only worn my thermals once. It's also nice that I'm in the southern part of Hungary rather than the northern most part of it, like Nyiregyhaza.

2) Thanks for updating and keeping the blog for me. It's a good feeling to know that other people have the opportunity to get a glance at some of the experiences I'm having out here.

3) President Baughman sent out an article to all the missionaries. I plan on forwarding it. I thought it was pretty cool.

I'm not sure how much I'll get to write next week in addition to the story for Bishop Borup. Guess we'll find out. Talk to you then,

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

9 January 2012 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2012-01-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

I'm not sure what is so different today, but I am really tired. There are also many things I wish to bring up in my email today, so please bear with me as a jump around a little.

Monday, 2 January

We had two programs today. The first was with L on temples. The lesson made me realize how different things can be concerning temples while in a place like Hungary. It's been a great blessing and miracle of how convenient it has been for me to attend a temple prior to my mission. Out here, the nearest temple is a day's journey away in Germany. L, being young and the only member in her family, has not had the opportunity to ever visit a temple, nor is it likely that she will have that opportunity even in the next couple to several years. In Utah, it was so convenient that one afternoon, after finishing an AP test, I was able to make an impromptu decision with a group of my friends and we all went to the temple within an hour's notice. We were done within the next two hours, and still had half the day to hang-out. It's an entirely different scenario here. I pray that one day the people of Hungary can be prepared, receive, and then attend a temple in their own land. I pray that L will have those opportunities that I enjoyed with my friends and neighbors as a teenager.

The second lesson was with R. We discussed the importance of “Desire” and the role it plays in our conversion and testimonies. We asked her of her desire to be baptized and to become a member of the Church. She responded in the affirmative, with a "yes", but also said she doesn't feel ready yet and needs more time. We marked March as a goal to work towards, and challenged her to really make prayer a priority, especially concerning the authenticity and divine origin of the Book of Mormon. We have her promise that she'll begin tonight and work towards that knowledge and testimony.

Last of all, we had a District Meeting today. We were unable to plan everything, so we have another scheduled for Thursday. I cleaned our apartment for a couple hours and believe I'm the first one to have cleaned the bathroom in over nine months. I also sent out over eight pages of emails this morning. It's quite possible the most I've ever typed in that amount of time, the longest email I've ever sent, and the most exercise my hands have had on my mission. Unfortunately, I forgot to send my weekly email to President Baughman. Oops.

Tuesday, 3 January

I don't have as much to write about today. My miracle today was our one program. We met with a man named Z for the first time today. He's 30~ish, has a job, doesn't have many religious beliefs, but is interested in learning more. We already scheduled a second program. Having T at the lesson with us was a huge help. He and Z talked at a rate far beyond my level in this language. Other than the program, I took more time to clean the apartment and am about done for a while (only the kitchen is left). For the rest of today we tracted and streeted with only moderate success, collecting three phone numbers over the course of six hours. Hopefully these three prove promising in the future.

Wednesday, 4 January

We did not have any programs today. Today was my first real day of tabling because Elder Molnar is not at all a fan of tabling. However, within an hour and a half, I had given out six copies of the Book of Mormon, and collected names and numbers for five. This morning I finished "The Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith". It's a great book, and I have three parts recorded to look up again in a month or so. In the evening, we played Nephites and Lamanites again during Csaladi Est, and had a crowd of twelve instead of just eight this time. It went really well again. Last of all, and my miracle today, was a train of inspired thought that I had, recorded, and titled "I Know Ye Not!"

Thursday, 5 January

This week is continuing to look really good. We had a dog, but successfully met with three people. Our first was J. She's always so vivid and fun to talk with. B taught us our second lesson. She really enjoys studying "Preach My Gospel" and did an incredible job sharing the many things she learned in chapter six, my favorite chapter. R was our last and told us that she prayed about the Book of Mormon and didn't receive an answer. I talked about how most the time we don't receive an answer right away, how life is a test, and we need to continue in faith.

Angolora started up again today, but we only had five people come. At least all five were new. While streeting we found a man named W who really got into a conversation with us. We scheduled to meet on Monday. I really hope he shows up. A surprising miracle today was learning that after this week, we no longer need to record and report finding and working hours. It will feel strange and take some getting used to.

Two last things I have forgotten to mention in previous entries: after Christmas, all the Advent Shacks switched to masks and fireworks, with a few costumes. While Halloween doesn't exist here, they dress up for New Year's. Also, there is a small shack called "Sutikucko", meaning "Cookie Cottage", which I am quickly developing a small love for. The woman that owns it makes 15-20 different European pastries and desserts every day and sells them for the forint equivalence of 55-75 cents (where, in the States, they'd probably cost $2-3). I really wish there were more places like it, especially back home. I'm starting to turn into a regular customer.

Friday, 6 January

Today half our programs dogged, and due to last minute splits I wasn't in our two programs with Z and G. From what I was told, the program with Z went really well and he committed to come to church and has already read part of the Book of Mormon that we gave him during our last encounter. G had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that Peter wasn't the first Pope. During Gyuli Buli, we had a game night and a lot of members, but unfortunately, no investigators showed up. My miracle today was a series of thoughts on apostasy. Some reasons, if not the vast majority, of why people leave the gospel just seem plain dumb to me.

Saturday, 7 January

Today we once again had two successful programs and two dodge. However, my miracle was that in the first program we met with three 18-19 year old girls, which went fairly well. One of them has read some parts of the Book of Mormon already. (By the way, the three girls are all less-active Catholic.) The second lesson was also with a new person, L. He doesn't believe in anything, but that's something we are hoping to change. We scheduled to meet with both parties again next week.

Other than that, we had our first Profi Angolora class of this year, which consisted of four old members and one newbie. We gave the newcomer a Book of Mormon. He actually seemed the most legit (open) of anyone we talked to today. We'll have to see how far he goes. I'm already over a fourth of the way through the Teachings of Brigham Young. It's my experience that a lot of members are slightly afraid or evasive of Brigham Young and many of his teachings, but I quite enjoy them and find them very blunt and straight-forward. He was in many ways "The Lion of the Lord".

Sunday, 8 January

Not much happened today. I attended church and enjoyed the usual two hours, as well as the new third hour they added for the New Year, beginning today. While no investigators came to church, three of the less-active members we've been visiting attended. Our only program today dogged. Today was also the last day we needed to record working and finding hours. My miracle today was the third hour of church, as well as being over half done with reading the Teachings of Brigham Young.

I have a couple of last thoughts I want to include:

Here's a thought I jotted down in my planner that may be worth sharing: “Many, a lot smarter than me, have tried to disprove this church and all have failed. No one has ever disproved our doctrine and those who have tried to disprove the church and left, either left without having found any fault at all, or they have found their faults in the members.” This seems simply ridiculous to me. You cannot disprove a church through the faults of the members. To seek to do so means that the entire congregation would have to be perfect, which is impossible. We are human. We are not perfect. We each have our faults. The only way to improve a church is through its doctrine, and no one has ever or will ever disprove the doctrine of this church."

Here's a quote I read in the "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young" that I thought was pretty funny: "It is true that man is first. Father Adam was placed here as king of the earth, to bring it into subjection. But when Mother Eve came, she had a splendid influence over him. A great many have thought it was not very good; I think it was excellent."

Well, that's all I have for this week. Elder Molnar and I are going to try to visit some cathedrals today (I'll try to take some good pictures). Also, tonight we are going bowling as a Branch Activity. Hope you are all doing well.

Email you again next week.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

2 January 2012 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2012-01-02T11:48:00.002-07:00

Dear Family,

Happy New Year! It was great to talk to all of you over the past week. I enjoyed the five Super P-Days, but am ready for the work to pick back up. Things have been slow missionary work-wise for the past 2 1/2 weeks. However, people should now be able to start meeting again. Despite the work being slow, it's still been pretty dramatic and stressful (outside of the Super P-Days, thank goodness). Anyways, I have a lot of blog posts to do, and letter responses. Hope you enjoy the first email of the year!

Tuesday, 20 December

Today was the Christmas Zone Conference in Budapest. I'm only in my third transfer, but I'm already getting to know and become familiar with a lot of the missionaries. I received all sorts of Christmas gifts, including two packages from home, five letters, two Ensigns (one of which is the long-awaited Conference edition), a tie bag from Sister Hudspeth, and a hand-made leather bracelet from a White Elephant exchange. The packages and letters I won't open until Christmas. During the 2 1/2 hours of trainings before lunch, the Zone got into a large discussio, or rather, debate over the importance of numbers in missionary work. Afterwards we ate lunch and watched the mission slideshow for this year. Elder Saunders taught me a game he invented himself, called "100% Epic". Last of all, we returned, unwound, and I went through the 78 ties and picked out 14 new ties for myself. Yay! Today was full of miracles and many of them are talked about here. That's all for now.

Wednesday, 21 December

This morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise, along with a very, very crimson sun. We got dogged twice, but also had two good lessons with R and L on the Apostasy and Living Prophets. During Csaladi Est we played Hide and Go Seek, during which Elder Nealy and I were often the last two. At the end of the day the Zone Leaders came down for a District Meeting and to begin our splits: Me with Elder Krandall, and Elder Molnar with Elder Braman. Last of all, my miracle was that today was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I'm looking forward to all the days starting to get longer now.

Thursday, 22 December

Today I spent on splits with Elder Krandall. He and I took off this morning to go to Dunaujvaros, but upon arriving, learned that we had forgotten to get the keys from Elder Braman, so we couldn't get into our apartment or the Branch House. So we streeted. Between streeting, lunch, and the drives there and back, we had plenty of time to talk. Because he was Snyder Elder's trainer and is currently my Zone Leader, I knew somewhat about him, such as that next week he begins his last transfer. I had a great time talking to him and it was really cool to find that we had a lot in common. In the late evening, after splitting back, Elder Molnar and I scheduled a quick, unplanned, impromptu lesson with F. While there we discussed the Ten Commandments, the Word of Wisdom, and Revelation. It was great to hear that he doesn't smoke, do drugs, or drink tea or coffee. Last of all, Duna is the most densely populated city in Eastern Europe, and while there, I had my miracle today; my first "significant" amount of Hungarian snow (3/4 inch - 2 cm), enough to make a snowball. }:-)

Friday, 23 December

Today was a unique day. I set up a Facebook account and pages for all the activities in a third of the time it took in Nyiregyhaza. It still has some ways to go, but is looking good. We biked for over three hours today. The majority of the biking was to a hill overlooking Szekesfehervar. Overlooking everything for that matter. (The area is so flat here, that a hill that takes 2 minutes to climb is the highest point for miles.) We also biked out to the Super Tesco and Muller. The Tesco is the biggest store I have seen here, by far. Neither had LadyBaby, but I found four unique flavors of Milka. On the way back, as a result of a ditch, some ice, and my back brake being broken, I biffed it on my bike, breaking the aluminum cover for the chain into four pieces, kinking the chain itself, and popping my front tire. Luckily, I'm perfectly okay and just got a little muddy. Needless to say, it was a long walk back. Tonight our Branch had a Christmas Party. It went really well. There were treats, plenty of members, music; and R, N, and K all came. Elder Nealy made three batches of the cinnamon rolls again, and won over half the votes in the baking contest. Tomorrow begins the first of three Super P-Days. Yay for Christmas! J My miracle was the hill, which was significant not only because it overlooked everything, but because it was on the hill that the first European Constitution was signed and was the second step to democracy, only after the Magna Carta, which was signed seven years prior in England.

Saturday, 24 December

Tonight is Christmas Eve, and today was the first of my three Super P-Days. Elder Molnar and I went over to the other Elders' apartment so we could all open presents together, so I opened one of the two packages I received (and am saving the other as a surprise for tomorrow morning). Today we slept in until 10:00am, played games (mostly Monopoly), watched 'Mulan', and I experienced my first sajt (cheese) night. The four of us ate two kilograms together! Last of all, and my miracle today, I got to talk to my family. It was good to hear that they are doing well. It sounded like they peeked through the cracks of my package and knew most of what it contained, however, I'm sure they'll still enjoy it. They've been having an interesting Christmas Break, and I'm sure it will continue for the second half of the break. I really enjoyed hearing from them, and am sure I'll continue to hear plenty through their weekly emails. Despite their expectations of only speaking for 30-45 minutes, I somehow managed to help the call last for nearly two hours. Time is spinning by as always. It was interesting to me to hear that they also had a hard time grasping that it's been 6 1/2 months since we last saw each other, and almost 4 months since we last talked. That's all I have for tonight. It's after 12:30am and I'm ready for bed. Staying up past midnight becomes slightly weird and really tiring when you live on missionary schedule, going to bed at 10:30pm everyday for six months.

Sunday, 25 December

Merry Christmas! I'm currently in a small town called Karcag. Elder Molnar and I are out here visiting his relatives. This morning upon getting up I opened my second package. I now possess an entire hoard of American Candy. I also read the five letters I received. Church was only an hour today, but, due to transfer calls being this coming Tuesday, it may well have been my last Sacrament Meeting in Szekesfehervar. After church we watched 'UP' with the other elders. It was my second time seeing it, and while it is a good movie, I realized the greatness of the Disney Classics, and greatly preferred the much older 'Mulan'. Afterwards, Elder Molnar and I quickly departed to the train station and left for Karcag. We arrived around 8:30pm. I've had the opportunity to meet and talk with his aunt, uncle, and one of his cousins. We had a great Christmas Dinner and talked for several hours. Once again it is almost 1:00am. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! J (My miracle today is Christmas)

Monday, 26 December

Well, the Super P-Days and my Christmas Break are drawing to a close. Something I forgot to include yesterday was that in Szekes, it did not at all look like we would be having a white Christmas, but there was a fair amount of snow in the northeast and Karcag to grant us a white Christmas. This morning Elder Molnar's uncle took us on a tour of Karcag and to the cemetery so that Elder Molnar could visit the graves of many of his ancestors. Afterwards we met and visited with three more of his relatives, had lunch, and began our return journey to Szekesfehervar. The journey and experience of Karcag was my miracle. (This morning we actually spent an hour answering questions and talking about the Church. None of them were members, and we hope we left something there through our words, example, and the two Book of Mormon's we gave them). Upon returning we had 2-3 hours to play games with the other Elders. It's a little earlier than the past two nights, but still after midnight. Transfer calls come tomorrow morning. I guess we'll see what lies in wait for me in the coming weeks. Funny how much life can change by a quick two minute phone call.

Tuesday, 27 December

Whew, what a day. So, transfer calls came this morning: I'm staying with Elder Molnar. I'm about the only one that called that (but, even then, I only put it at 70%). In other news, Elder Nealy is going to white-wash train in Szolnok, Elder Remy is coming to replace him (Elder Remy greenie-d here, so he's familiar with the city), and Elder Moffett is going to be the Zone Leader in Szeged, which was his #1 choice, and one he never thought he would get. Other than that, two other defining things happened today: K lost his job, and two members who were in a long relationship broke off their engagement. We spent a couple hours at the Branch House trying to talk to and comfort one of the members. My miracle was staying with Elder Molnar for another transfer. We still are both needed here.

Wednesday, 28 December

Today's been an equally dramatic day as yesterday. As today was Elder Nealy's last day here, some members put on a large breakfast for all of us of waffles, fruit, palacsintas, and, at Elder Nealy's request, muffins. We also did our own short, private party with just us and the other Elders in the evening. After the breakfast we had a great lesson with B on our Heavenly Father's love. We also gave her a copy of "Preach My Gospel", and told her that we would like her and B to team-teach the two of us the first five lessons during the next couple weeks. It should go really well. We met with K and discussed the situation with his job. We brought up faith and trials. I hope everything goes well. We ran into L on the street and he asked to reschedule for tomorrow. We then spent two hours with the member again. She's still super depressed, but I feel like she's beginning to move towards getting better. Last of all, we taught R, N, and a new friend they brought, S. My miracle that I want to remember was the opportunity to serve around and my experiences with Elder Nealy. I get to meet my new district member, Elder Remy, tomorrow.

Thursday, 29 December

Today we met with L, where I conducted a lesson on "Knowledge". In addition to our one successful lesson, we had some (3) dogs today. We also tried going to the internet cafe so we could advertise the New Year's party on Facebook. However, their internet connection is currently broken. While our programs faltered, Elder Molnar and I experienced much more success than usual while streeting. Elder Remy came today and I got to meet him for an hour or so in the evening. Last of all, Elder Molnar and I found a Turkish restaurant today, and having lived in Turkey for five years, Elder Molnar insisted that we try it out. So, our District got to try some pretty good Turkish food tonight.

Friday, 30 December

Well, all of our lessons dogged today so it was a long day of finding. We had two people in different buildings yell at us and tell us that they were calling the police.

Saturday, 31 December: 200th Day and last day of 2011

So, today was yet another Super P-Day. We played games with the other elders this morning and afternoon, and I won every game (but not necessarily every round). I also saw "Prince of Egypt" for the first time. It was New Year's Eve, so there was a small branch party. Apparently fireworks are legal in Hungary. Yesterday and all throughout today people have randomly been setting off large fireworks. Tonight I watched out our 9th floor window as fireworks went off across town (and even could see some from neighboring towns). They continued pretty much nonstop from 11:30pm to after 1:00am. It's now 2012! A new year has begun. My miracle today is the start of a new year and that I've been on a mission for 200 days. Time's moving along!

Sunday, 1 January

It's 2012! Happy New Year! We went to church this morning (L came again), and then used the rest of our last Super P-Day to relax. For the rest of the day we played games. I won at least one round in each game and am still the undefeated champion of Scotland Yard and Monopoly since coming out here. 2012 is the miracle today.

Well, that's all I can think of to say today. It's been a long email and possibly the most exercise typing it that I've had in a while. J Hope you are all doing well, and excited for school to start back up. Have a wonderful new year!

Sok Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

19 December 2011 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2011-12-19T12:17:00.002-07:00

Dear Family,

I'm short on time today. It's not a real P-Day, because we this weekend to celebrate Christmas, so we need to get full working hours today. However, I do have some spiritual thoughts that came to me this past week:

About a week and a half ago, I stumbled upon an interesting thought. While teaching the Plan of Salvation and discussing the Pre-Mortal Existence, I tried thinking of why a whole third of the hosts of heaven would choose to follow Satan. The answer that occurred to me was a lack of trust and a lack of faith. Not a lack of trust and faith in Christ or in Heavenly Father, but rather in ourselves. I'm sure that when the plan was presented and explained during the grand council in heaven, that it was more thorough and better explained than a drawing and quick 40 minute lesson by two nineteen-year-old boys. We all knew what was lying ahead of us; what the temptations of this life would be like; the trials we would have to undergo. I really believe that during the council, many spirits felt like this life, that the plan would be too hard for us. That we might fail. That something may go wrong, we would fall into temptation and be lost forever. And because of that fear, spirits were willing to prefer Satan, who promised to force us to obey and that we would all be saved; they would rather have that forcing them through, than try to get through with Christ as our Savior. To a degree it is comparable to taking a hard class. They wanted a parent or teacher to force them to do all the homework and projects correctly, force them to study, and strictly force them to pass; rather than strive to overcome it through their own diligence, motivations, and choices with the tender love and support of a parent and guide like Christ and Heavenly Father. I think that's why a third fell away. It's hard, if not near impossible to doubt Christ or to doubt our Heavenly Father's love and power, but to doubt ourselves, and our own power, is by all means, a common thing.

I'm mostly done reading "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith". He truly was an amazing prophet of the Lord. The more I read and learn about the early years of the church, the more amazing he, and all the pioneers and saints, were.

Monday, 12 December

Another P-Day. Today we met with R and N to discuss faith, baptism, and repentance (the first half of Lesson 3). I felt like it went really well. During the lesson, we gave N a Book of Mormon, and the one Elder Molnar grabbed happened to be one of the two that I had written a short testimony in. Elder Molnar continued to make more decorations to spice up our apartment for Christmas. I finally got caught up on three weeks worth of emails. Also, I realized next week is the last week of the transfer. Last of all, and my miracle, is that we rode our bikes out to a castle today. It wasn't open for us to go inside...aww...but it was still really cool to see. I've now seen a real castle for my first time!

Tuesday, 13 December

Today was an interesting day. We went on last minute splits from 9:00am - 6:00pm, and I went with Elder Nealy. We spent most of our time organizing the Area Book and making cinnamon rolls for B's birthday tomorrow. All of it (including the frosting) was from scratch and turned out AMAZING! Those rolls are my miracles today. I hope to make more again later. While studying the teachings of Joseph Smith, I found some stuff about the 'Spirit of Elias'. I hadn't ever really heard of that before. Last of all, Elder Molnar and I went to a big civic center in the evening, where we heard Geza perform for half an hour, and two girls give a presentation on Christmas and Christ. It was a unique and fun opportunity. Also, afterwards, we got a lot of attention right before leaving.

Wednesday, 14 December

Well, today was very..."missionary-y"? We tracted for 4 hours and got rejected by all but one who said come back in January. We taught J again and gave her a snowman Elder Molnar had made out of rice, a sock, and some random decorations. We taught R and N on faith, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. They read Alma 32 like we asked them, and came prepared with some great questions. They're both progressing really, really nicely. They stayed for Csaladi Est (Family Home Evening), committed to pray daily, and also both said if they feel the gospel's true, then they'll be baptized. During Csaladi Est, we broke out the cinnamon rolls and celebrated B's birthday. Last of all, Elder Molnar, Istvan, and I spent 2 1/2 hours discussing deep doctrine, from Kolob, to the tribe of Levi, to exaltation, to the Second Coming, etc. It was interesting to hear some of the more abstract stuff. My miracle today is how logical and flawless the gospel is; how complete, deep, and encompassing; how we can understand so much and at the same time so little. It always makes me wish I could see into the minds of some of the Apostles or Prophets (past or present).

Thursday, 15 December - 6 month mark (my miracle)

I've now been on my mission for exactly 6 months. I'm not sure why, but today's really been a huge day of reflection and calling up great numbers of all sorts of memories, and now, for the past hour, pictures of the future. It's all so vividly powerful and wild.

Today, Elder Molnar and I had three programs. The first was with K. He talked about how he's trying to find a new job, committed to come to church, and we discussed the Plan of Salvation. Today we also rode back out to the M family, which, with today being the second to rainiest day since I came to Hungary, resulted in us getting soaked. However, after a very muddy journey, we made it, had a good lesson and they too committed to attend Sacrament Meeting. Last of all, at 6:00 two girls walked into the Branch House. They didn't realize that Angolora (English Class) doesn't restart until January. However, since they came, Elder Molnar and I were able to meet with them personally. N (20) and L (17) are sisters, religious, currently Catholic, but open to learning about other religions. They value family over everything else and the program went well enough that we were able to schedule again for next week. We're really having success with young women. P.S. N loves animals and has been working at an animal shelter for over 2 years, and L is ranked 2nd nationally in bowling.

Friday, 16 December

Today three of our four lessons dogged, and we had 2 1/2 long hours of unsuccessful tracting (not a single find). Yet, gyuli buli in the evening went really well. R and N came again. My miracle today is that a past investigator called us and said they wanted to meet us and talk about Christ. I like it when investigators find us.

Saturday, 17 December

Today was a day of pranks. This morning I pulled one on Elder Malnar by having him call an "investigator named Eszter", who turned out to be the Eszter in Nyiregyhaza. Then, later tonight, Istvan and Brigi called and said they had found someone interested in the gospel, so, we ran over and were actually able to have a program with a 20 year-old girl named Rebekka. Molnar jumped right into a 45-minute lesson on the Restoration with her. Within the first 5-10 minutes, I wrote a quick note in my planner. At the end of the lesson, Elder Molnar gave her a Book of Mormon and committed her to come to church tomorrow. He was so excited to find such a golden investigator. At the end, everyone else, including myself, burst out laughing. The small remark I had guessed in my planner was right. She told us that she's been a member for quite some time. She's been in England (we think at college) and came back yesterday (after the fall semester ended). Other than the two pranks (both of which worked well), we went streeting for 2 1/2 hours without a single find. L cancelled last minute on us again, but we did manage to meet with R and N. We discussed the First Vision and committed them to read daily. My miracles today were the pranks. Yay for harmless fun.

Sunday, 18 December

Well, I'm now entering the last week of this transfer. We had 3 investigators at church today: K, R, and L. We met with L afterwards to discuss prayer. We had two other programs scheduled, but they both called and cancelled. (They would've given me 'standard' for the first time, but I guess that will have to wait). How close we were to standard was my miracle today. Last of all, we were invited to attend an event and went not quite knowing what it was. Once we got there we learned it was a scripture story re-enactment of Christ's life by the 7th Day Evangelists. They have quite an established organization here, and it was pretty fun to see. It was a 2-hour event, but we only stayed for 45 minutes, and then left to a District Meeting with the other elders. Last email of the year tomorrow (as Christmas is a week from today and I highly, highly doubt the internet cafe will be open).

Last of all were three scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants:

D&C 78: 18-19

And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

D&C 6: 13

If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.

D&C 6: 36

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

(The second one makes me think of how salvation is the greatest gift. While thinking about it, I felt like part of what makes Salvation so great is that salvation isn't quite true salvation without containing the salvation of others: all the blessings to see friends, Christ, Heavenly Father, and family throughout time and all eternity).

Next time I email may be in a new year, with a new companion, from a new city; or all three.

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS (boldog karacsony!) and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Szok Szeretettel es Kivannasokkal

-Shipp Elder

12 December 2011 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2011-12-12T14:13:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

Monday, 5 December

Healed at last! We went emailing this morning, and tried to go to the castle afterwards, but couldn't get the bike fixed in time. So, we went looking at game shops for stuff to do during the Super P-Days in three weeks. I copies pictures onto some CD's in-case something happens when I send my package home. Last of all, Elder Molnar and I met with M, a member. He speaks good English and seems like a good member, but hasn't been to church in a while. My miracles were feeling better and the CD's.

Tuesday, 6 December

Today we met with K and F, both of whom are very good investigators. Both pray, ready, and said they will come to Sacrament Meeting. In other news, a bird pooped on my head while we were streeting. Also, we saw a group of ten school girls trying to take pictures. We offered to take them for them so they could all be in the pictures. While talking to them, we learned that they all spoke English, and none of them knew any Hungarian. They were here studying for a semester, but were actually from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Portugal, and Bolivia. They were really nice and open and two of them took Pass-Along Cards so they could visit LDS.org. It will be cool if any of them ever meet with the missionaries again. My miracle today was managing to finally send off my Christmas packages. Hopefully they arrive home safely.

Wednesday, 7 December

Today had a lot of potential, but not a lot happened. We had five lessons scheduled; all but one (who was a member) dogged, so we did some streeting and got my bike repaired. During Csaladi Est (Family Night), we all wrote testimonies in a dozen Books of Mormon, followed by practicing a new song to sing in Sacrament Meeting. My miracle is that today was my 100th Day in the country. It feels so fast. Yay timewarps!

Thursday, 8 December

Today was a good day. We met with J and got her to commit to coming to church for the first time in a couple months. We also met with R and Mt. Both lessons went well. V came to R's lesson with us and was a huge help. I'm pretty sure he did as much as Elder Molnar and I put together and almost doubled. We had two programs dog us...oh well.

Friday, 9 December

Today Elder Molnar and I tracted for 4 hours. We managed to get two phone numbers, but not much else. However, the evening was the interesting highlight for tonight. We had Gyuli Buli (a small ward party every Friday, similar to Family Night). R and her friend N had said they were coming, so we tried to put some more thought into the activity. I had the idea to play Nephites and Lamanites, a game (a sort of sock-war/capture the flag) that I had only played once while on a Fathers and Sons camp-out with Uncle Mike's ward about 8 years ago. We used stacks of chairs, leaned up tables, moved around the ping-pong table and the white boards to create obstacles and things to hide behind in each room. Although only two members came (less than usual), we still had enough to play 4 vs. 4 and it turned out really well. The two investigators missed their bus, so we stayed, played ping-pong, talked, and watched Mormon Messages until their next bus came two hours later. Hopefully the 4 1/2 hour Gyuli Buli helps them move towards the idea of the church. I'm glad that my idea worked and everyone else said it was a success. The Gyuli Buli was my miracle today.

Saturday, 10 December

Where to begin today...This morning we skipped our studies so that we could bike an hour and a half to a less active (probably inactive) family. When we arrived, they were there, but said two of their three children were sick, and they also didn't want to get us sick. (By the way, we had tried calling, but the only phone number anyone had for them was way out-dated and didn't work). So, we got their current number and said we would come back another time. We then had a woman call us saying that she was an old investigator, had met with missionaries in the past, received their help, and now needed our help. She said she had 10,000 Forint stolen and the police had refused to help her, then she asked us for a couple thousand to help her. Elder Molnar told her that we didn't have any money to give her, but that we could meet, talk, and see what we could do to help...When the time came two hours later, she didn't show up. Tonight we had our last Angolora for the year, which went well. Afterwards we met with L. My miracle of the day was that L brought his son, B. The two of them committed to come to church tomorrow and to read from the Book of Mormon for ten minutes every day. When we asked him, L also replied that if he gains a testimony that the church is right, which he hopes it is, then he will be baptized. Last, but no least, I finished reading "True to the Faith" and have begun studying "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith". It's a big book.
P.S. M's baptism had been schedule for today when I left Nyiregyhaza, but she leaves for Germany tomorrow morning. So, her baptism is currently scheduled for January 7th, a month away.

Sunday, 11 December

Today three things happened. The first was that we had our first palacsintas since I came here. (As a side note: We have not had a single meal appointment since I've been here...quite different from Nyiregyhaza). Second, we taught P on the Restoration and Priesthood. He's not one that we can meet with often. Last, an my miracle, was that we had invited five investigators to attend Sacrament Meeting, and three of them showed up. L came for Sacrament Meeting for the second time, and R and N came for both hours of church. The members were very good about it. They were excited and many of them talked to and welcomed our investigators. All three of them said they enjoyed it. J also came for the first time in several months. Yay for progress!

That's about it for this week. Despite having eleven lessons fall through, dog, or cancel, this week went better than last. (If the lessons hadn't cancelled, we would've easily made 'Super-Standard' and would've had one of the 3 best weeks out of the entire mission). Anyways, Christmas is only in two weeks. Europe is a fun place to be for the holidays. They really like to celebrate and party in the Belvaros (Town Square). We didn't make it to the castle last week, so we're trying again today. Also, I almost have "Come Thou Fount" memorized on the piano. That's it for me this week.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

5 December 2011 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2011-12-05T08:11:00.002-07:00

Blog posts (much, much shorter than last week)

Monday, 28 November

Today was a Super P-Day, although, many of our plans fell through. We went to a pekseg (bakery) and took a tour of part of the town, where we found a cool hideaway park and the coolest clock ever, which is my miracle today. Finding a clock that does an entire show each hour, tells the second, minute, hour, day, month, constellations, Zodiac, sunrise, and time of the sun set (and is also hooked up to a dozen bells).

Tuesday, 29 November

Today was average, well, except the evening. We met with K, G, and B today. I felt like K's lesson on prophets, priesthood, dispensations, and apostasy was the most successful. I had herbal tea for the first time at G's. My miracle today was the funnest part. This evening, Elders Nealy, Peterson, and I recorded a bunch of videos of us singing. It was pretty 'inspirational'. Also, we streeted a Neni that had met with and loved meeting with the missionaries before. It will be cool if something comes out of that.

Wednesday, 30 November

Today was a busy day. We met with a 17 year-old girl named R. We weren't sure how interested she actually was in the gospel, but she seems to be pretty interested. We set up another lesson and hope to move things along at a good pace. While tracting we found an old investigator named G. The missionaries never got a phone number for him, so no one had been able to meet with him for a while (that was my miracle today). We met with a less active Neni, and talked to her about the importance of the sacrament, and she committed to come to Sacrament Meeting.

Thursday, 1 December

It's December! Things are still continuing to get colder. Today we met with M and discussed dispensations. We also had Angolora and met with R, where we discussed the Book of Mormon. I woke up this morning sick. My miracle today was only a half miracle. Elder Molnar got a call from a new investigator, who really seemed legit, and is the first person I've had who's actually looked us up (as opposed to the other way around). Unfortunately, Elder Molnar thought it was a prank call at first, said some things he shouldn't have, and we lost her. She also used a private number, so we can't call her back. Hopefully some missionaries find her in the future.

Friday, 2 December

Today was Interviews and a Conference in Budapest. It was long, but good, focusing on Christ-like Attributes. My miracle today was that, despite not getting the Conference Ensigns yet, we did receive new Christmas Pass-Along Cards. My sickness is getting worse, and I think tomorrow will be the worst day of it, so I'm going to bed. (A second miracle was that I saw my first skiff of Hungarian snow while in Budapest)

Saturday, 3 December

Well, I'm still sick, and, as I guessed, I feel even worse than yesterday. I'm tired, ready for bed, but, I do have many great things to write about. Today was Elder Nealy's Birthday. A member baked him a cake, we brought ice cream, and another person brought soda, we sang and played "Deal, or No Deal". We set-up with three investigators today, but only met with R. We did a long discussion on the Plan of Salvation, and at the end, she committed to coming to church. We also called up some of our other investigators, and two more said they would come. So, we have a potential of 3 coming to church.

Sunday, 4 December

Well, I'm finally feeling better, but still have an inconveniently annoying cough and runny nose. By tomorrow they should both stop. Two highlights of today: We had french toast as a District, which was really good; and my miracle was that L, an investigator we were seriously considering to drop, was the one investigator that came to church. He said Sacrament Meeting was interested and that he wanted to meet with us on Thursday night. We are a little disappointed that R and F didn't come, but are happy L chose to and that we are scheduled to meet with all three this week.

Some other random thoughts:

I spent half of this week sick and am just now finally recovering. I also spent some time this week pounding in the basics and the amazingness of the simplicity of the gospel (I read True to the Faith, Gospel Principles, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, The Living Christ, and parts of Preach My Gospel). Still no Conference Ensign, but we should be receiving it this month.

It's Christmas season! Yay!

Today we are going to try to fix my bike, and then go to the white castle, and go bowling afterwards. I'm hoping to have my Christmas package sent off by tonight. Let me know when you receive it. Also, I received my visa while in Budapest earlier this week.

Last of all, this is a short thought I remembered this week: At the MTC we learned about the declining of the idea of "repentance". Originally in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "schub" was used, meaning "turn (from sin towards God)." In the New Testament, it was changed to the Greek "metanoia" meaning simply "a change of mind". Around 400 AD, it changed again to the Latin "paenitieve" for "to feel regret or contrition". The speaker spoke of how over time, the efforts of the devil had changed the general opinion of repentance from good to neutral, to bad, where it is today. He asked us all to look at repentance as a good thing, the partaking of the atonement and turning towards our Heavenly Father. I think that sounds right, and like it is a great perspective to view and approach the abandoning of our sins.

I hope you are doing well, and I will email you again next week. Have a great week!

Sok Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

28 November 2011 Letter (Szekesfehervar)

2011-11-28T16:23:00.003-07:00

Dear Family,

So, with my moving to a new area and having a new companion, I have a lot to write about today. Get ready for a long series of blog posts that I hope will answer questions you have.

Monday, 21 November

Wow. I am tired, and today has been a long, stressful day. First of all, I guess I should write that on Wednesday I will be going to serve with Elder Molanr is Szekesfehervar. During the first three of the four transfer meetings, it had been decided that I would stay here and that Elder Moffett would go to Miskolc, but last night, at the last meeting, President Baughman decided to change everything. In the entire mission, only four companionships (not including senior couples), are staying together. Elder Moffett was changed and will now be staying a fifth transfer in Nyiregyhaza, and I'll be going to Szekesfehervar. Oh, Elder Swett, my MTC companion, is the one coming to take my place.

I have very mixed emotions about this transfer call. I am excited to explore a new city and am happy to be able to serve with Elder Molnar, but, at the same time, I love Nyiregyhaza, I won't be around to see what happens to our investigators, I'll miss M's baptism, I now have one day (actually, only a few hours) to pack, and I know absolutely nothing about my destination. I'm sure I'll be more excited and happy once I actually get there and the initial shock and surprise pass. For now I think my biggest concern is just packing.

This evening we visited the S's for my last time. The lesson was long, but good, focusing on the Restoration. I'm hoping that prayer and sleep will help comfort and calm me, so I'm going to go do both. My miracle today is my new transfer call. "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." The Lord knows what I need better than I do. I can only try my best to follow Him.

Tuesday, 22 November

Well, today's been full of ups and downs. Currently, I feel at peace leaving Nyiregyhaza and going to Szekesfehervar. I have a good amount of feelings I'd like to write about today, but am not sure how organized I can make them. First of all, winter is my least favorite season, not because of the cold or because it usually means I'd be in the middle of school, but because it can get dark and gloomy. The weather really can suppress everyone's mood, including mine. At this point, I'd gladly welcome snow. In past winters, I've always loved the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and especially Christmas; it provides plenty of excuses to stay inside with family and friends; you are able to do many winter-only activities, like sledding, snowball fights, ice skating, and see ice castles and sculptures; it's better weather to snuggle up, and, when it snows, it can become far brighter than even a midsummer day and I would gladly welcome those white, bright, snowy (and if lucky, sunny) days that I've loved in the past. I have many great memories of winter, and I know there are going to be times when it's just the gloomy, dark days, but I still can't help but hope those white, lightening days come.

Today we were supposed to meet with Z, but he called and said he couldn't come and would be returning to England two weeks early, so, in two transfers’ time, we will have only met with him once. We did manage to meet with M. It sounded like I would have been asked to take part in her baptism and confirmation if I had stayed instead of Elder Moffett, but there's nothing that I can do about it. M accused me again of spoiling her cats by petting them and said she only took them in, fed, and took care of them, but now they all want to be petted and "cry" if she doesn't. And supposedly it's all my fault! I thought crazy-cat ladies were supposed to spoil their cats more than physically possible, not the other way around! Anyways, she said she was really sad to see me leave and offered to take us out to lunch at McDonalds (although we didn't end up going. We had other things to do).

Well, today I decided whoever said "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" really hit the nail on the head. It also makes you appreciate what you had/have more. It really seems like I just got here yesterday, not twelve whole weeks ago. It's ridiculous, and feels much faster than the MTC or school ever went. My time here is gone after the blink of an eye, yet I still have a long ways to go. Tomorrow, I will have a year and a half left on my mission. It's nearly 1/4 done, yet 1 1/2 years is still a very, very long time in some aspects. Well, I now end my last entry from Nyiregyhaza. My miracle was my many happy memories of winters past and also that I packed all my stuff in under 3 hours. Oh, I also got a haircut today. Time to bring this to a close. Tomorrow I will be in a completely different area. I hope one day, when I speak the language better, I'll be able to serve here again. Whew. Here we go; on to Szekesfehervar!

Wednesday, 23 November – One and a half years left! Woah! (still a long time):

Welcome to the start of my Szekesfehervar entries. It's going to be a busy transfer. First off, something I forgot to write yesterday; it is much, much colder outside with 15 weeks-worth less of hair. Anyways, this morning we were up by 5:00 to catch an early train, but missed it by five minutes because we chose to wait for Elders Wright and Forsyth, who were running late due to a half hour shower by Elder Forsyth, with an additional 15 minutes styling his hair. While it was annoying at first, it did give us an hour at the train station to take pictures. I had my first real transfers today. It went well and I saw a lot of missionaries, new and old. I saw my entire district, my Osi's entire district, half my Kicsi's district, among other missionaries. At the train station, after visiting for a good amount of time, Molnar arrived and we started getting to know each other. After about 4 1/2 hours in Buda, we departed with Elders Nealy and Peterson to Szekesfehervar.

Once here, we dropped off my bags and headed off to Csaladi Est (family night). There I met five members, including the Elder's Quorum President and the Branch President, who is a 23 year-old RM from Germany. He's married and can speak English fairly well. For Family Night, we found three boxes of the new hymn books, that they've been working on for 15 years! So, we sang new hymns until 9:00 at night.

As far as the city goes, I still have much to see. It's slightly bigger than Nyiregyhaza. I'm pretty much unpacked, with only my backpack remaining tomorrow. About my companion, I am now with Elder (Jacob) Molnar. His dad's in the Air Force and he's lived all over. He attended BYU, trying to major in Business. His last name is Hungarian, and he's half Hungarian (like Elder Swett). He loves to talk about Elders Moffett, Braman, and especially Elder Wright. The craziest part is that he's as ambitious as a greenie.

Tomorrow we have a ton of programs planned, it's my first full day here, and Elder Molnar wants to SYL (Speak Your Language; so speak just Hungarian all day long), do full studies, give the phone and all the calls to me, as well as give me three people to always be in charge of teaching. He also wants to do a bunch of memorization, role plays, and other things. So, yeah, things are going to be busy. At least it will help me grow. Well, I've already been roped into being the pianist for the next two weeks. I'm happy and much more relaxed to be here, but despite tomorrow being my first day, as well as Thanksgiving, I have work to do and am very, very tired, so I am going to bed. Today my miracle is changing areas and that missions are able to so smoothly and quickly transfer areas.

Thursday, 24 November

So, today was Thanksgiving, but was no holiday for me. Today we had 7 programs. The first was with a less active member of the Branch called B. We focused on the Book of Mormon and on testimonies. The lesson went well, and I felt like it was the best one today. The second was with a man named F. After five minutes, I knew everything he was going to say and do. Elder Molnar had found his number in the Area Book from a long time ago. About five minutes in, the guy said "all roads lead to heaven," and, almost immediately, I realized he was one of the investigators Sister Moody had talked about dropping and he had been dropped twice before. He openly admitted that he will never join the Church and is only meeting for English, so we'll be dropping him soon.

Our third lesson was just as unique. We met with the Branch President because he said he wanted to talk with us. When Elder Molnar asked him what was up, he said he didn't feel like the Church was true, that he never had a testimony, and that after reading some things online, he had no idea how the Book of Mormon could be true. He and Elder Molnar got in an argument and shortly after, the Branch President shoved a pile of hymn books off the table and stormed out of the room. Elder Molnar chased after him, and then I heard a bunch of laughing. I quickly learned it had all been a prank. Pretty much everything had been a lie. The man is a member named Istvan, is 20, not an RM, not married, and not the Branch President (although, he is first counselor in the Elders' Quorum). Anyways, he, Elder Molnar, Elder Nealy, Tibi (the Elders' Quorum President), and two other members had decided to pull a prank on me. It didn't work quite as well as they had hoped, but it definitely surprised me. They hope to improve it and do it again if Elders Nealy or Molnar train next transfer. Poor Greenie. It was an interesting experience and made me think about what I would do if something like that ever happened. I really hope it never does. Still, I guess it's a way to grow.

Out other lessons were with M, L, A, and L. They all went okay, but none were fantastic. However, we'll continue trying with all of them. At Angolora we talked to a crazy bacsi, who refuses to come to church or do anything religious.

I have three last thoughts and miracles. The first is in Hungarian "bun" means sin, "buntetes" means punishment, and "bunbanat" (literally meaning 'sorrow of sin' or 'sin sorrow') means "repentance". I think it's cool that punishment, sorrow, and repentance are all directly tied to sin. The second is thinking about how amazing salvation and the celestial kingdom are and contemplated how important and how desirable it is to take the straightest, shortest path there. Third of all is Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, P.S. During Angolora, we spent some time on the alphabet, and came up with 3-4 words beginning with each letter. When we reached 'G', I wrote, pointed at, and loudly said "Gooorilla". The class repeated it back, to which I replied "Gor-ril-la". I am able to write with a smile that someone in the audience got the reference and yelled back, "GOR-RIL-LA!" Yay Tarzan. I thought it was funny and it got everyone else there to laugh. J

Friday, 25 November

I'm going to predict right now that today's going to be another long entry. First off, one thing I forgot to write about Szekesfehervar is that my one problem with it is the apartment. Many times you hear about places with no running hot water. Well, we have no running cold water. To drink water, you need to cool it off in the fridge first, and showers scorch and burn your skin, so I think I'll just have to stick to baths and give the water 30 minutes to an hour to cool down. We also have very few working light bulbs (just like when I first arrived in Nyiregyhaza) but that shouldn't be hard to fix, and we don't have a microwave, a strainer, or any big pots (and our fridge is half the size of our last one). So, much is to be desired, but it's still a fairly nice apartment, has good chairs, good beds, as well as working heaters.

Couple random thoughts: today was the coldest I've been on my mission. It was cold, windy, and humid. A little disappointing for me was the news that it snowed an inch in Nyiregyhaza, right after I left, and I'm the only missionary I know that wants snow! Also, now that it's after Thanksgiving, it's time to break out the Christmas songs. In music is my miracle of the day. Among the new songs in the Hungarian Hymn book, I discovered "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"! That's not even in the English hymn book! It's a miracle, and now I get to learn how to play it on the piano! Yipee! =D

Today we had five lessons planned, but three of them fell through, so we only met with K and M. According to Elder Molnar, they are our two best investigators. Both are receptive to our message and K's been searching many religions for the truth for a long time. We committed both to continue reading the Book of Mormon and to pray about it tonight or tomorrow. The hard part about them is that they both work on Sundays, so K can only come to church every-other week, and M says he can't come at all. In the evening, we were sitting in the Branch House, and a Bacsi came in asking about Angolora. We told him that we didn't have it today, but I told him we could teach him personally right there. So, we did. He told us his life's story, which was saddening for him since his mother died at a young age and his grandparents soon after, his father abandoned him, he never heard from his siblings or cousins, and has only talked to one cousin in the past 14 years. I was very happy to tell him about heaven and eternal families. He said he had never been a part of any church, which I was glad to hear, as well as that he hadn't opened up like that for a long time. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he asked if we could meet again. We scheduled again for tomorrow and said we would be happy to meet often, to which, he asked if we could meet every day. So, he's showing intent and interest. I was happy that he happened to wander in today, while we were there and available. Hopefully he really is sincere and goes somewhere. (The man's name was F).

Saturday, 26 November

Today we only had one program which was with F. It went well, I thought, but it's hard to read what he's thinking. He did read the first seven chapters of the Book of Mormon since we met last night, and he asked many thoughtful questions. He's definitely interested. The biggest flaw I currently see is that he wants us to prove it with science.

I have three short notes today: 1) "The Fifth Elephant" is a very, very strange book. 2) Szekesfehervar means "Chaired, White Castle". It was the capitol of Old Hungary, back when it was an empire, and the castle contains the Giant Throne, which was the "seat of power", like other nations, such as the Nephites and their "judgement seat". 3) The Hungarians celebrate the advent, but stranger is they spend one day (not Christmas) celebrating Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, and then they spend 2-3 days (including the 25th) celebrating Christmas, during which Jesus Christ brings the toys and presents! It's much more different than the US, and the small varieties celebrated there. My miracle was the 2nd and 3rd points. That's all for today.

Sunday, 27 November

First Sunday in Szekesfehervar went well. Today, our Branch had a Primary Program that was cute. We spent a couple hours weekly planning in the evening, and this coming week looks fairly good. Two things happened back in Nyiregyhaza: President Baughman went today and spoke, but the exciting part for me was hearing the M came to church and joined I and the Baughman's for dinner. She's coming back! The last thing I want to record are the 4 baptismal covenants that are listed in the "Gospel Principles" book: 1) Come into the fold of God; 2) Bear one another's burdens; 3) Stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all places; 4) Serve God and keep His commandments. While I believe and know that all four are important, I feel as though the second one is often forgotten. I hope I can help others, and remind myself, that serving and helping others is part of our Baptismal Covenant, and one we renew with the Sacrament each week. That's all my thoughts on the matter. My miracle is the amazingness of the sacrament and the opportunity I've had to partake of it. Tomorrow's my first P-Day here!

How was that for length? I'm about out of typing energy, and out of time.

Last notes:

Elder Molnar and I are getting along great and started talking with each other right off the bat. He's more aggressive than any of the missionaries I've served around up to this point, but at the same time, he gets embarrassed the easiest. The work here is slightly better than our success in Nyiregyhaza. Despite there being big celebrations to the east, south, and west today for Thanksgiving, I'm not going to get to celebrate it. All the places the various zones are celebrating it are a little too far to be worth it as it would take up too much money and time. Concerning, Elder Nealy, he has had a very had mission, and experienced very little success. He's only had one to two new investigators in the past three transfers, and has never been in a companionship that has baptized someone, or even found someone who was baptized latter. With him being more than half done with his mission, he's a little depressed about thinking if he'll ever get, or even find a single baptized investigator. Elder (Eric) Abram was one missionary that you have mentioned about being from Orem. He's currently Elder Wright's companion, and as soon as I heard his first name, I realized, he went to Oak Canyon and PG with me. I never really saw him at PG, but at Oak Canyon he was in my Honors Biology Class with Mr. Curtis. So that was fun to talk to him.

That's all I really have for this week. It will be December next time I email. Hope you enjoyed the long blog posts and had a Great Thanksgiving!

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

21 November 2011 Letter

2011-11-21T15:03:00.002-07:00

Monday, 14 November

Another unique P-Day. Today, my companion and I tried to meet with a new investigator with whom we had scheduled a meeting, but when we arrived at 9:00am, she wasn't home. We taught M in the evening about Service. Her Baptismal date was moved to December 17. I met my first "Hit Gyuli" today at Tesco. (Hit Gyuli is the only religion we aren't allowed to visit or associate with). She was aggressive and pretty rude. The main event of today was that I went Christmas shopping. Lastly, we cleaned our apartment for inspections tomorrow. My miracle was getting Christmas shopping completely done in a single afternoon. J

Tuesday, 15 November

We met with Z today. He did quite a bit of reading while in England, came back with questions, and is still Golden (although I wish he didn't cling to the Bible as much). The H's came for inspections in the afternoon. Our only flaw was forgetting to defrost the freezer. In the evening, we ate dinner and shared a lesson with the S's. Currently the AP's are here, will be with us until tomorrow night, then with the other companionship until Thursday night. My miracle was meeting with three awesome people today. Just a fun fact: One of the biggest regions in Nyiregyhaza is called "Sostohegy" meaning "Salt Lake Mountain", and the giant zoo we went to last transfer is called the "Sostozoo" or in English "Salt Lake Zoo". I found that really ironic, and a reminder of home that I can see "Sosto/Salt Lake" multiple times a week.

Wednesday, 16 November

Well, splits with the AP's are over, and I really liked it. Today, I tabled with Elder S for about four hours, during which the two of us gave out 48 Books of Mormon, as well as collected 42 telephone numbers, far more than I've done in my mission so far (the previous eleven weeks combined). I managed to give out 20 and get 20 of the numbers, although with three of them Elder S had to step in and help a little. My companion isn't too happy about us giving away so many Books of Mormon, but I figure that the AP's are better suited to make the calls, and with only 2-3 investigators, we need all the numbers and work we can get. In the evening, the AP's left and Elder M and I split back. We taught M about the Word of Wisdom again, mostly trying to convince her that it doesn't matter how smart her doctor is, or what he says; Heavenly Father still knows better. Afterwards, we traveled out and met with S. The lesson went well and we luckily made the bus back. For my miracle today, it would have to be the results of us tabling. It was the most solo I've been for a while (outside of my talk) and I felt like five of the finds may prove promising.

Thursday, 17 November

Today we didn't get near the results of yesterday. This morning, I spent a long time on my knees and had a great experience with prayer. I really do need to always put more effort into my prayers. My companion and I went streeting today, but didn't give away any Books of Mormon or collect any phone numbers. We met a guy who said he would meet us at the same spot an hour later, but we watched him hop in a taxi and drive off, figuring we probably would never see him again. However, I made the decision to keep streeting and be there, just in case. An hour later, he didn't show up, but I saw a Neni in our Branch, I went over and talked to her a little, until my companion caught up. Then we learned she was trying to meet two other members but was lost. We discovered she had come to the complete wrong part of town and we walked with her the hour and fifteen minutes until we met up with the other members. I guess it's a miracle that the guy had told us to be back there an hour later, or we would never have been able to help her. It truly was a miracle.

Two last notes: the ravens all gathered together in one part of town. I tried to estimate them, and counted over 200 ravens in a single tree, and the horde had filled over 80 trees with more on the buildings and in the air, so I'm guessing there may have been up to 20,000 ravens in a couple block radius, by far the most I've ever seen. It was incredible! My two regrets are that I didn't have my camera and that a car never drove down the road honking a really, really loud horn. It would've been stunning to see them all take flight. Last of all, we taught M tonight about church callings. It went pretty well. I feel good about her baptism. Her Baptismal date is a month from today.

Friday, 18 November

I'm on splits yet again, this time with Elder F. Today I went tabling for another hour and gave out three Books of Mormon and received three numbers. Our only scheduled program was supposed to be with Z, but he cancelled. However, on splits, Elder F and I met with B; and in the evening we met with L's two daughters. Other than that, while tabling, I streeted five Jehovah Witnesses (whoops). There are so many more of them here in Hungary than in the US. My miracle today was just finding ways to be happy.

Saturday, 19 November

Splits are once again over. Today, the only real event was a Branch Activity where we sang, listened to some quick spiritual thoughts, and ate desserts. Also, for the first time, M's baptismal date moved forward. It is now on the 10th, because the building is not available on the 17th (so it is just three weeks from today)! My miracle was that Z's sister randomly showed up at the activity today with I. Random, but now we've met and can setup a lesson with her.

Sunday, 20 November

Transfer calls are tomorrow. Today at church, Elder F gave a 10 minute talk on obedience. M didn't come this week, so we're pretty nervous about what's going to happen with her. Next week President Baughman is coming to visit and will be speaking in church. Elder M and I spent some time this evening helping V apply to BYU. Last of all, my miracle today was finding a couple answers to questions I had, while reading the "Gospel Principles" book.

Monday, 21 November

Whew! Today has been and is going to be a crazy day. First off, transfer calls came this morning. With transfers, the AP's, secretaries, and President Baughman meet 3-4 times to discuss and decide what happens. This time all four meetings were held, and up to the very last one, Elder M was leaving and the rest of us were staying, just as I had guessed. However, around 9:00pm last night, during the second half of the fourth meeting, President Baughman decided to try a new tactic. This morning, when we received the calls, we learned that I am leaving to serve with Elder M, Elder W is leaving to serve with Elder A, and Elders M and F are staying to serve with Elder S (my MTC companion) and Elder D (who is on his last transfer). So, I'm leaving.....didn't see that one coming. I'm a little stressed out about packing, and I didn't say goodbye to anyone in the branch, but there's nothing I can do about that now. I'm excited to serve with Elder M, but also know absolutely nothing about the new area. I've heard other missionaries talk about over half the areas in Hungary, but never heard anything about that area. So, I'm more surprised and anxious than anything else. I'll just have to wait and see what happens. At least it should be warmer there (although, not too much. Probably somewhat comparable to moving from Salt Lake down to Orem), and the work should go a little better, but I won't really know until I go. The reason I said earlier that President Baughman is trying something new is that, at the last minute, he decided to move nearly everyone around. Only four companionships in the entire mission (outside of senior couples) are remaining together. Nearly everyone is moving cities or changing companions! So, that's what my morning has been like. Craziness. The only additional information I've been able to find out about the new area is that the Branch is slightly bigger and that the other missionaries in the area are Elders N and P. So I'll get to meet and work with one who Dad asked me about, and the other is one of my Osi. Anyways, that's all the thoughts I currently have on that subject. (Once the initial shock and surprise passes and after I get past the annoyance of packing, I should be more excited). Oh, the other parts about it are that I won't get to see what happens with our current investigators, what happens with the 56 Books of Mormon we gave out this week, and I'll be gone for M's baptism. L

Well, I'm really not sure what's left to write other than "Happy Thanksgiving!" I hope you all end up doing something fun and enjoy the holiday (and the break from school). President Baughman decided to not give a Super P-Day on Thanksgiving, so I'll be spending my holiday working outside with a new companion.... =P. With him not giving a Super P-Day for Thanksgiving, like usual, all the missionaries are wondering if we're going to lose our P-Days on Christmas and New Years too. Only time will tell.

Have a great week, enjoy the holiday, and I'll email you next week from the new area.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

14 November 2011 Letter

2011-11-14T09:26:00.002-07:00

It's starting to get colder here. This morning we woke up to frost on the ground, but still no snow thankfully. I'm going to jump into the blog posts. I don't have too long of posts this week, nor too long of letter responses.

Monday, 7 November

I feel great! Today was a good P-Day. It was relaxed, but nice and things still got done. My companion and I cleaned our apartment, got more supplies, printed off some pictures at Media Market, and stopped by the Post Office where I found how I'll be sending Christmas packages home.

Tuesday, 8 November

I guess pretty much every day in Hungary is an adventure, although, today we didn't get much work done because of it. We borrowed the other Elders' bikes to travel to our program with X, but within the first five minutes, my companion collided with a Gypsy on a bike. Both bikes had some minor damages, but weren't bad; however, the man was a drama queen and was trying to get money out of my companion for about any excuse he could come up with. We ended up losing over and hour and a half because of the whole affair. Luckily, X was okay having the lesson an hour later, and we talked about the Restoration, watched the 20 minute Restoration video, gave her a Book of Mormon, and challenged her to read it. In the evening we went to meet with the Ks, but they had forgotten and weren't there. The worst part was that the returning train didn't come until over an hour later, so we lost another 2½ hours on top of the 1½ from the biking incident. I guess in a way it's a miracle that I wasn't the one that (and that I haven't yet) had a biking accident. Something else, I learned I'm much, much better at biking when I have a real reason to ride.

Wednesday, 9 November

This morning we began splits. I'm currently with Elder W. We had two programs scheduled, but both fell through (sadly, they both were with members too). We spent a lot of time at the internet cafe, and I made a fair amount of progress on the Facebook profile. For a miracle today, I would like to write that we had two people stop and show real interest while we were tabling, the most we've had in several weeks. Hopefully we actually hear from either of them again. Lastly, we finished our evening by eating palacsintas and talking about fencing. It's been quite some time since I last fenced and will prove interesting after my mission.

Thursday, 10 November

I liked today. We all left at 7:00 in the morning to go to E's High School. There we taught English for 2 1/2 hours, and did a good enough job to be invited back in the future. I continued my splits with Elder W until the afternoon, and then in the evening we all went to Angolora. Today was the last Angolora for the next 3 weeks, but 3 good things happened: four people in my class showed interest in meeting privately, Z returned, and I met a group that had found out about the class via Facebook. (The last two are both my miracles). The last two things today are that the Zone Leaders are staying with us for the District Meeting and M's baptismal interview tomorrow. Today Elder W dropped M as an investigator to give her some time to think about baptism. I talked to her at Angolora and she was really depressed, but said she was still coming to church this weekend to hear me and my companion speak. Hopefully things work out with her.

Friday, 11 November

What a magical day today. There are only two times a century when there are twelve of the same digit in a row between the date and time, and they both happened today. Some people say you are supposed to make a wish at 11:11:11, so I guess that today must've been a super wish at 11/11/11-11:11:11, especially since it's 36,160 times as rare! I'd love for my wish to come true. (The rarity and speciality of today was my miracle). Today we spent most the day with our Zone Leaders. We held a District Meeting, followed by M's baptismal interview. She seems to have a slight struggle with the Word of Wisdom, but she passed! We went tabling and streeting with Elder D, and then had Out-Reach. My talk for Sunday is mostly done, but one page still needs to be translated.

Saturday, 12 November

Today had three main things happen. We taught D for the first time today. The lesson went well and he said that he's interested in hearing more about the gospel. We had a big Out-Reach Program today that went from 3:00pm – 8:00pm. The first two hours consisted of a talent show, followed by a short ping-pong tournament, then V spent two hours teaching dance lessons, and we ended with an hour of food and mingling. I enjoyed it, but wish that any of our investigators would've shown up. We had about 20 people there, but 9 were missionaries, and the rest were members. Last of all, I finished my miraculous talk.

Sunday, 13 November

My talk has been given. Yippee! I really didn't feel any stress about giving it. Writing it was the harder part for me. I'm glad to write that it lasted the full 15 minutes. The sad part about church was that M didn't show up. Hopefully dropping her doesn't backfire on the other companionship. This afternoon I went on splits with Elder F to visit H. For all that I heard about her, she was pretty lively, and when she talked she was very, very vivid. I really enjoyed taking the sacrament to her. This evening we went tabling and the only people we talked to during the two hours were a group of nine 18-23 year old boys. It was strange, but we talked to them about the gospel for over half an hour. My miracle today is that after Sacrament Meeting I got many congratulations, and when E congratulated me, she shook my hand. Sounds silly, I know, but E rarely, rarely shakes hands with missionaries.

Lastly, my calling as pianist disappeared as quickly as it came. I may still practice little bits and pieces from time to time, but I won't be playing during church any more.

That's all I can think of this week. I hope you're all doing well. Talk to you all again next week.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

7 November 2011 Letter

2011-11-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Monday, 31 October

Well, I'm honestly not sure what I feel. First off, we had a lesson with M today, and after the program my companion said he's seriously considering dropping her. M has good intentions, but there are many key principles that she just doesn’t understand. We've been over and also reviewed all the lessons, yet she still thinks that baptism is sprinkling a baby's head, that other churches have the priesthood, and is willing to keep the commandments, although she doesn't really understand why. I hope we don't lose her, but we also don't want to baptize her in ignorance.

Tuesday, 1 November

November 1^st is a national Hungarian holiday. During the day and evening it's sort of like a Memorial Day, where they visit graveyards, but they leave lit candles on the graves instead of flowers.

Today I thought I'd record some points unique to Hungary and my mission. The entire country of Hungary is a valley, so the weather is fairly consistent. This past week and a half, smog rolled in and has been trapped in since. In Hungary, the trains provide a lot of public intercity transportation and the buses and vilamoses provide plenty of local transportation. Food is a lot fresher in Hungary, but perishes quickly, forming a cycle where you have to shop on a regular basis and buy fresh food multiple times a week rather than buying in bulk. Meats and oils are guaranteed in almost every Hungarian dish. Just like as in the states, building size varies. In central Budapest there are hardly any buildings with less than 5-7 floors, and many are over 10 stories tall. In Nyiregyhaza, the vast majority of buildings are 1-2 stories, all the ones in the center are 3 stories (almost without exception), and then about 30 minutes away is a 10'er district with about 12 buildings between 10-12 floors. One has 14 and is the tallest building in this part of the country. While tracting (with the exception of the 10'ers), we never knock on the front door. There is always an 8-9 foot tall metal gate and a csengu (doorbell) to ring. With the metal plate gate, you almost never know if someone's going to open it or not or who they may be. Last of all there are two main classes in Hungary. The vast majority of the population is either Hungarian or Gypsies. That's all I have concerning Hungary for the moment.

My companion and I met up with twelve other Elders in Budapest this morning. After visiting for an hour we broke up into two groups. One group started going to the Chinese Pioc and the other went to the mission home. Elder F, Elder M, and I ran to hand our bags off to the mission home group and then went to join the Pioc group. However, I was the last to hand off my bags, and got stopped by a red light. When Elder F and I finally crossed, we couldn't see anyone. So....Elder F and I were lost in the middle of Pest, an hour and a half away from the Mission Home, by ourselves, without a phone, without directions...yeah...so, we went exploring. I got some pictures of St. Istvan's Basillica, saw the Opera House, and also the only Subway restaurant in all of Hungary. After two hours of wandering we finally found a place to break up some change, find a pay phone, call our senior companions to learn the name of the metro station nearest the Mission Home, find a map, figure out where we were, and finally figure out our way back to the Mission Home. Elder F speaks even less Hungarian than I do and has absolutely no experience with public transportation, so I got to be in charge. Well, at least we made it.

I met many of my Kicsi and Osi today. It was Sister C's birthday and Elder F and I went with her and her trainer, Sister B, to an enormous graveyard and saw the many thousands of candles that had been put on the tomb stones. I loved the experience. The graveyard was unbelievably big and went up and down multiple hills. The tombstones were all different and many had designs or even full statues. The only light was from the stars and the candles (otherwise everything was completely dark) and because of all the candles everything smelled really nice. This has been one holiday I think would be cool to have in America. Well, Zone Conference is tomorrow. My companion and I are sleeping over with some other Elders here in town. My miracle today was having everything we needed when we got left, and being able to make it back to the Mission Home. On to tomorrow! (I almost forgot: the name of the holiday was "Halottak Napja" meaning "Day of the Dead".)

Wednesday, 2 November

Today was my first Zone Conference. President Baughman started the conference by talking about 11 highlighted points concerning "The Inevitable Apostasy". He was followed by Sister Baughman, who spoke on stress and relaxation. After a quick break for lunch, the AP's gave training on Area Books, the Zone Leaders did training on helping our investigators receive revelation, we did some role playing, listened to the testimonies of all the departing missionaries, and finished with some concluding remarks from President Baughman. I enjoyed it, but it was long, taking over 7 hours! The miracle for today: as President Baughman was talking about the apostasy, things made so much sense, and appeared so obvious; and the Restoration and the gospel we have today seems all the more wonderful. As you strengthen your testimony and understanding in one area, the rest build and grow as well.

Thursday, 3 November

E spent most of the day with me and my companion. She came to the internet cafe, copy center, and tabling with us. We taught her in the evening, and then she stayed for a member-present lesson with A, who committed to read and pray. E even stayed for Angolora and then hung out afterwards. Only one week of Angolora left this transfer. My miracle today will actually be fulfilled over this next week and a half. I was volunteered by Elder W to give a 15 minute talk next Sunday. So, trying to actually do so will be my miracle.

One last thing: Today I spent some time wondering "What is Love?" How would you define it? Are there different kinds of love? What are they? How are they actually different? How does Heavenly Father love? I'm going to end there and I hope you (the reader) dedicate some time and thought to thinking about those questions.

Friday, 4 November

Today my companion and I had to stand guard at the Branch House while a worker changed all the locks. It took several hours and gave me enough time to read nearly all of 2 Nephi. We met with X today, who is progressing along nicely. Our other lesson is with M and went much better than the previous lessons. Personally, I think she just needs a stronger testimony that President Monson is a true, living prophet, then she should be ready for baptism (although my companion is still somewhat considering dropping her, he's not sure if he wants to try to push her baptismal date back or just leave it instead). We'll see what the Zone Leaders say next weekend. I found some good scriptures in the Isaiah chapters to keep me thinking for the next while.

Saturday, 5 November

So, first off, a random note – about a week ago, something unexpected happened: the city became filled with Ravens. A bunch of massive black ravens can be seen nearly anywhere you go, and since they appeared, I've seen less and less pigeons. I see ravens multiple times a day; they're big, and also smart from what I've seen. I have no idea how long they will stick around.

Today we had Besyelgetesi Club, met briefly with N, and then spent the rest of the day (3:00-8:00) at M's. We spent three hours helping put together a new bookshelf she bought, ate dinner, talked with her, and spent more time with her cats. The two highlights for me were that we met her sibling that she lives with and takes care of, and that during the past five months my companion has assumed it was a brother, when we learned it's actually her sister! The other was at the end, M brought out and showed us a really cool Bow (with 22 arrows), a Pistol (from colonial times; Pistol and Ball), a set of 11 Daggers, and coolest of all, an old Crossbow. Fast Sunday is coming tomorrow and we began Fasting with lunch today so that we can go with M tomorrow after church.

Sunday, 6 November

Another Sunday, another good feeding day. While it was Fast Sunday, we broke our fasts early to eat lunch with M, and two hours later we ate dinner with T. The other Elders left for Greenie Training. One week until my talk in church. My miracle is that I am able to communicate with my family every week and know how they are doing, even though I'm spending two years on the other side of the world. A second miracle is that we can always learn, and I'm guaranteed to find something new each time I study the scriptures.

Only two other things I can think to include: I'm pretty sure I only have two weeks left with my companion and that he'll leave at the end of this transfer. The other thing is I asked some questions about love, and I'm actually curious to hear someone else's opinion of them. If any of you would like to try to answer any of them and send them to me, I'd be interested to read them.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Hope you're all doing well.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

31 October 2011 Letter

2011-10-31T09:46:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I don't have an incredible amount of time today, but at the same time I don't have too much to say.

Monday, 24 October

During today's P-Day I had the opportunity to do something I haven't really done before. My companion and I went with the other Elders to the Botanical Garden for over two hours. M had arranged for the head caretaker to give us a tour of the entire place and explain about many of the plants as we went along. The three parts I enjoyed the most were the Carnivorous plants, a hedge maze, and most uniquely, a plant (looked like a normal tree) whose petals would close if you touched them. Similar to the zoo a few weeks ago, the diversity and beauty of the many plants Heavenly Father created was my miracle today. The night finished with dinner at M's and I am stuffed again.

Tuesday, 25 October

We had two lessons dog us, and two went through. Both D and R failed to meet today, so we tabled instead and were unsuccessful. However, we did teach B, where we got fed lunch and in the evening we taught M. Tonight was the first time that we've taught M at her house, and will probably be the only time. While she claims to only have two cats, she's picked up 12 strays for a total of 14, and spent much of the time showing us them, and trying to give one to H. We didn't even manage to talk about baptism. Afterwards, we went over to the other Elders' apartment and had palacsintas for the first time since my first week in the country. For a miracle today I chose to think about Heavenly Father's unlimited love and power, and likewise, our endless potential as His children.

Wednesday, 26 October

Another two programs fell through today, but we still managed to teach J (who brought us donuts), M (no cats this time), and S along with her daughter. S is a member of the Branch, but isn't very active and as far as I can tell, her daughter has never been a member. Lastly, a funny miracle is that I had to actually cook a real dinner for myself for the first time is five days.

Thursday, 27 October

Well, things are continuing to go downhill. Finding has still been ineffective, and, while we only got dogged once today, we did manage to meet with B. However, she brought the Book of Mormon we had given her back, said she wasn't interested, and that her mom had enrolled her in a "language school", so it would be the last time we would meet with her. So, we got dropped. M is now our only progressing investigator. To make things worse, I somehow got called as our Branch pianist, and was volunteered to play four songs this coming Sunday. So, now my companion and I will get 4-6 less hours a week while I practice, and with there being little to no member missionary work, and only two missionary companionships, things are going to start going even worse each week. My only consolations about the calling are that I am supposed to dedicate all my time, energy, and talents to the Lord (although I've never counted piano among my talents), and that I'll get to learn piano out of this.

Friday, 28 October

Well, our hours are already starting to hurt. I have tomorrow to learn how to play 4 hymns (I did get started today, but have a ways to go). I missed our program with K so I could practice, and will miss another 2 programs tomorrow as well. We did manage to meet with X today and spent 45~ish minutes talking about prophets and the scriptures. We'll give her a Book of Mormon next time, but currently it's hard to tell if she'll keep commitments and read it or not. Lastly, the miracle for today was that all 4 of us went to M's work and had a 18 minute interview on Live TV, where we briefly talked about Halloween in America, then also why we are here. It was a cool experience, and I'm hoping we get something out of it. Now I can officially say I've been on Hungarian television. Funnily, they spelled all of our names wrong except Elder W's. They spelled mine as "Roys". Oh well. Long day ahead tomorrow.

Saturday, 29 October

Our working hours for this week stink. I'm constantly busy, but am not actually getting any proselyting hours. This morning we played soccer with B again and shared a quick spiritual thought and two lessons. The first was with M where we (actually, just my companion) talked to her about baptism. She started crying when he told her how big a commitment it is and that she'll have to break some ties to her previous Evangelus church. However, she did say she wishes to continue with her baptism. The second lesson was with A, but I had to go on splits, and Elder F went to the lesson with my companion so that I could stay at the Branch House and practice piano for tomorrow. Last of all is my miracle. Today we were not completely obedient and broke some fairly basic rules. Also, all of today, my piano practice didn't go even half as well as yesterday, when things just started to flow. I can't help but think that these two are connected to each other, and that it also shows just how weak I am without the Lord and how much I need His help. (Which, if that is the lesson I need to learn, struggling with playing the piano in one Sacrament Meeting isn't a terrible situation to learn that lesson from).

Sunday, 30 October

Looks like I'll continue to be the Branch Pianist. They originally said they were going to try to call someone else, but apparently that effort never got made. The only other significant thing today was that we went to one of my companion's Angolora student's place for dinner. Pasta was served as an appetizer and that was the first time I've been served noodles at a Hungarian's house. We came back with enough food to last us two more meals.

Well, after typing up the blog post, I realized how negative this week sounds. It's been interesting recently. Our hours have decreased and work has about stopped. Yet I've been having the most unique experiences (like more meal appointments, Botanical Garden, TV, ect.) In a way we're back to square one. Our only progressing investigator is M....exactly how it was when I arrived here nearly two months ago to the day. Anyways, this week will be fun, but not much work is going to get done. Today's not an actual P-Day, but we have 2 hours to email and shop. Tomorrow's a Super P-Day, and Wednesday is Zone Conference in Budapest.

That's all I have for this week. Love you all.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

24 October 2011 Pictures

2011-10-24T10:48:00.000-06:00

Bearer of the Torch

Buda Castle

Hero Square

24 October 2011 Letter

2011-10-24T09:42:00.001-06:00

Monday, 17 October

Another P-Day come and gone. Today we had 3 lessons. Although it was a P-Day, we met with L in the morning, tried to meet with A, who would've been a new investigator, in the afternoon, but we got dogged, and we had FHE at H's in the evening. While it was nice to have work, it did break our P-Day into shorter segments and made it harder to do shopping and email. In our lesson with L, she continued the whole "saved by grace alone" thing, and then we got held up talking about tithing. I plan on limiting our lessons with her to less than one hour in the future. Lastly, we watched "The Road to El Darado" today, the first movie I've seen while out here. For a miracle I would have to choose the slightly warmer weather we had today.

Tuesday, 18 October

I'm currently on splits with Elder F. This morning we met with M for the first time in weeks. She really is kept busy by her new job at the factory. We're going to meet again next week, and also start meeting with her daughter on a regular basis for English. She offered us wine multiple times during our visit and had a hard time understanding that we will not drink any alcohol.

Met with D agian. She's progressing, but so, so slowly. We got some pizza from a restaurant tonight, and Elder M and I found 19 bone fragments on our slices, each about the size of half a dime. Last of all, while streeting I decided to turn onto the campus of a nearby college, and we spent nearly an hour walking around, and trying to see if we could advertise the Church or Angolora there. While there we ran into H. It's quite a small world. My miracle came as a realization about the great blessing of America's standing, past and present, on religious freedom. That's something that has existed from the founding of our nation, and will hopefully continue to last for a long time.

Wednesday, 19 October

Today I spent the day filling the role of senior companion while on splits with Elder F. Today was a good and successful day. We started by teaching L who informed us that she will be out of town the next couple weeks, so we won't be able to meet. We swung by R's reestablished contact with him, spent 40 minutes talking to him, shared a quick lesson, and set up a lesson for next week. While he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon, he has been praying regularly. I also started setting up our Facebook finding efforts. We went tabling and found a Neni who said she knows a member of our Branch, said she likes what she's seen of our Church, and hopes to attend Sacrament Meeting this weekend with two of her sons. Today's miracle also happened during tabling when a man with a camera walked up. In short, he runs a page in the local newspaper, and wanted to advertise our giving away free books, so he asked a couple questions, brought a young woman to pose with us, and took a couple pictures. Hopefully that actually gets advertised. That would be quite fun.

Thursday, 20 October

Two more programs fell though today, but luckily we still taught four. With M we reviewed the Plan of Salvation. Luckily her hand is starting to do better. We also taught B and A a second time; however we aren't sure how interested in the Church they actually are. And last of all we had Angolora. This week went better than last week's class, but it is still taking some getting used to. I know I've written about memory before, but the miracle I want to remember today is still having my Patriarchal Blessing memorized and always being able to think of the blessings in it.

Friday, 21 October

We met with two new people today. The first was X, who we are meeting with in part to teach English. We aren't quite sure how interested she is in the gospel yet, but will find out in future lessons. We also met with S, who's one of the oldest members in the Branch (in how long she's been a member, not actual age). She's been a member for 16 years. Her conversion story, of a friend simply inviting her to church is today's miracle. While at her house, one of her cats kept staring up at the ceiling light. It was fun and interesting to watch its pupils shrink to 1/5 of their normal size, and get the cat-eyes with the little slit. On our way back to our apartment, a Neni chased us down on her bike. She said all kinds of strange things, and grabbed our hands to make a prayer circle. It freaked us both out a little.

Saturday, 22 October

Tracting and streeting are still proving unsuccessful. After eight weeks, and several dozen hours, we've never managed to meet with a single person we've found while streeting, and M is still the only person we've really found while tracting, and she's been able to meet less and less lately. The only lesson we had was with M2. I was in charge of the lesson today. It went well for the first 30 minutes, but during the last ten we started talking about baptism and learned that she still believes in the Catholic version of it. It made it really easy to choose a topic for our next lesson with her. The miracle today was having someone from Angolora call and say they want to start meeting for private lessons, outside the usual class, which will mean we can give her a 30 minute spiritual thought each time we meet. Tonight we got with the other Elders and made Tacos. That has been the most American food I've eaten while out here.

Sunday, 23 October

I am so stuffed, and feel both content and a little miserable (but that part is getting better). We had a lesson at 3:30 with a woman who fed us the biggest meal I've eaten on my mission. It was 5 courses and she was so pushy about having us eat it. It was so good, but also so much food. The hardest part though, was that within 40 minutes of finishing we went to another lesson where we were fed again....why?....why couldn't we get those kinds of lessons on different days? Anyways, it was all great food and now I'm going to go experience the miracle of sleep. (Also, the Neni that Elder F and I found while tabling didn't come to church with her two sons, nor did the advertisement appear in the newspaper).

That's all I have for this week. Talk to you next week.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

17 October 2011 Letter

2011-10-17T13:56:00.002-06:00

Dear Family,

It's halfway through October! How are you all doing? I wanted to start this email with just a brief reflection on my mission so far, and then let you know what's new over here.

Last transfer I came here to my first area. I met my trainer as well as the two other Elders here. When I first got here, the Branch began to revitalize, in large part due to the returning of two members. We started our transfer with only one investigator but found six more during the past six weeks. Last transfer, we had little to no long-term success streeting, tracting, flyering, or tabling, with only one investigator that came out of any of those activities (and we haven't met with her in over 3 weeks)... My language skills have improved during my time in the country, but I still can't speak too well. My cooking skills are much like the language; better, but still a ways to go. J One of the things I've enjoyed the most while being out here has been learning new ways to teach. It's always interesting to hear different views and perspective on many of these subjects I'm teaching and finding out how people best accept them.

So, with this transfer so far and things that are new: we have a new companion in our District. He's been pretty fun to work with so far. Also, it's incredibly cold over here. All of this week has been pretty chilly weather, and unlike most Utah weather where it can vary from hot to cold to hot on a day-to-day basis, the cold has been consistent, and it rains half of the time.

Monday 10 October

Today was my Dad's birthday, and his role and influence in my life is definitely worth using my miracle to remember. This morning two things happened: we taught an investigator for 2 1/2 hours in the morning, during which I had the "fun" opportunity to hear, learn, understand, then explain some of Brigham Young's talks on African Americans; the other was receive transfer calls.

Tuesday, 11 October

Today wasn't good, number wise. We only got one lesson. We had two lessons set up, but one wasn't there. Also, today was one of the other Elder’s last day, so we spent half the afternoon planning and getting things from him before he leaves. We went on a visit in the evening for dinner and a lesson. It went great and her apple dessert was delicious. Lastly, my Kicsi are in Hungary, and one will join us tomorrow.

Wednesday, 12 October

Today was a fulfilling, good day. We started by teaching an investigator, and we spent most the time reviewing questions we'd already discussed and solved during the first two lessons. The most annoying is that since day one she's kept saying that "we are saved by grace alone", but said the only reference for that is Ephesians 2:8, which says we are saved "by grace through faith", which connects to James 2 "Faith without works is dead, being alone", so we know it is by grace, faith, and works we are saved. However, she keeps disagreeing. It's annoying that she expects us to explain everything with the Bible, when she doesn't listen to some of the main things the Bible teaches.

We should have had a second lesson, but he dogged us. So, we went streeting for two hours and got two finds, the most successful for quite some time. With an investigator we reviewed the Restoration which was basic, but good. We also taught another, and ended by talking about referrals.

Thursday, 13 October

Today was fairly wonderful. My companion and I started our day with two lessons planned, but finished our day having taught five! In the morning we got a call from someone asking for English help, and we taught his wife afterwards. Then another called, who invited us over for lunch and a lesson. We got two new investigators in the evening, and then we finished our night with Angolora. I must admit that teaching Halado really stinks after being in the Profi class all of last transfer. We would have had a sixth lesson, but one called us and cancelled until next Tuesday. Other than that, we had invited an investigator to come teach and advertise during Angolora, but she called us half an hour before and cancelled as well. Oh well, at least we tried to do some service. I reviewed a large part of the beginning of my journal and reflected on many other memories this morning. It made me happy, but it also took a lot of energy out of me. It's also been consistently rainy and cold the past four days. Last of all is today's miracle which is receiving two new investigators in one day; something we can't usually do in an entire week.

Friday, 14 October

Another day on my mission. We only had one lesson planned today, but she called and cancelled. She told us she had been bitten by a dog and had to go to the hospital. We completely understood, told her not to worry, and that our prayers would be with her. During studies, my companion and I went into deep doctrine, talking about the 12 Tribes, the Millennium, and Predestination. Later we had a fairly unhelpful District Meeting with the two other Elders where they just repeated some of the things we had already discussed. I called President Baughman this morning and received permission to use Facebook as an advertising and finding tool. Also, after the District Meeting, we went streeting yet again, but this time we got two names and numbers!

Last of all was a thought that I developed today and is also my miracle. It was the realization that my life is good and that I have made a lot of good choices in life. Granted I've made some bad ones too, but the good, happy times and things in my life are the results of good, right choices that I, or others, have made. In fact, nearly everything I thought of could be broken down into a combination of both results of my choices and of someone else's choices. Fencing, school, and the mission I am currently serving; I have made many, many good choices to start, continue, and put forth effort in each one of them. Each class I chose to attend, each fencing practice I showed up to, each day I go out and proselyte is a good choice that improves my life. Likewise, without my parents, I never would've put forth the same effort, or even be able to take part in any of those activities. My friends never would've become friends if they had not each made efforts and choices on their parts. The Gospel that I am trying to share would not be the same without the choices and contributions of Joseph Smith, and every other prophet in the Church. I would not even be alive if my parents hadn't made some choices. Choices in life really do make a difference, and will continue to make a difference in the eternities beyond this life. It truly is important to remember this and always try to "Choose the Right".

Saturday, 15 October

Today was a unique day in my mission so far. My companion and I had not planned any lessons this morning or afternoon, so that we could spend our day tracting, which we managed to do for four hours (more counting travel time). The fun parts were that we didn't get a single let-in or telephone number, and it was raining all of today. It has been so consistently cold this week, and rain comes and goes on a daily basis. Luckily, we did manage to place a Book of Mormon and five Pass-Along Cards.

The miracle I saw today was modern clothing, to help keep us warm and dry in the cold winters. In a way they allow us to conquer the elements. It also reminded me of a story I heard while in the MTC of when President Hinckley was a counselor to Howard W Hunter, and he travelled to a Mission Zone Conference. At the start of the meeting he made some announcements and finished, in short, by saying, "As you all know, it is currently snowing outside and has been predicted to continue to do so for the next couple days. However, we have an important event tomorrow afternoon which will be held out on the pavilion, and we need the weather to be good. Elder _____ will now give the opening prayer, during which we ask him to ask the cold weather to stop." And he sat down. They told us at the MTC that the missionary did pray, after a brief heart-attack, and despite the snow the weather-forecasts had predicted, the next day was sunny and warm.

This brought the scripture Matthew 17:20 to my mind, as well as 1 Nephi 17:50. If I had been that missionary who had been called to say that prayer, it is hard to know what exactly I would have thought or how I would have felt. Hopefully my being and my testimony contain a "mustard seed of faith" that I could perform whatever the Lord commanded me with the same surety, hope, and faith that Nephi and others did in times of old.

Sunday, 16 October

Today we only had church, which went well, and we tracted for another hour, during which we actually managed to get a phone number, more than we could receive all of yesterday. The only other noteworthy thing today was the remembering of President Eyring's and Elder Holland's video "Missionaries and the Atonement". I encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to look it up. In it lies my miracle for today. (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y )

I also came up with two other spiritual thoughts this week. The first is the video where Elder Holland and President Eyring talk about the Atonement and Missionary Work. I just thought it was a powerful video and has a message that extends far beyond a full-time mission. The second is I read the first chapter of 2 Nephi two days ago, and noticed some fun things in it. Verses 5-12 talk about some visions and prophecies concerning the Americas in our time, some of which have come true (immigration was an interesting one), and others that have yet to come to pass. Verse 14 has an interesting quote from Lehi, "Awake! And arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent". It really helped me realize just how powerful Lehi's words and love for his sons and desire for their welfare was, and how closed their hearts had to be to not heed that love. Likewise, I was also a little surprised by verse 25, in which Lehi says he would have blessed them above Nephi and Sam if they would just harken to the councils of the Lord. In verse 30 is one of my favorite quotes when he is talking to Zoram, "I know that thou art a true friend...forever". Lastly, the part that connects to my blog post is actually between chapters. In my blog posts I talked of the blessings of choice. In the heading for 2 Nephi 2, it says "Freedom of choice (agency) is essential to existence and progression." That's just something I felt tied in really well to a thought I had dwelt on the day before.

The last things I'd like to share this week is that earlier this week I reflected on my journal and on many of my past experiences and memories. Memories are one of the things I've always appreciated and been the most thankful for. They allow good times and events to last forever, far longer than the short moments during which they happen. I'm glad for some many events and memories in my life, and for Heavenly Father’s great gift to us to allow us to remember them in our memories. I love remembering the many fun times we've had together and the memories we've shared.

That's all I have this week, both to say and also time-wise. Talk to you next P-Day.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

10 October 2011 Letter

2011-10-10T08:45:00.000-06:00

It's P-Day again, and the last one during this transfer. There have been a lot of calls going back and forth between companionships to see who is going where. My companion and I are staying together. One of the Elders in the other companionship, however, is leaving. The other Elder is staying and is actually getting a Greenie, so I'll get to serve with one of my Kicsi!

Monday, 3 October

Today was a fun P-Day. Started off with shopping and emails and used some of the new MSF =D. Then, this afternoon we went with the other Elders and one of the members to the zoo. The zoo here is pretty big and has a fun variety of animals. There was a baby otter that was really cute. The strangest were the seagulls, and they had a small pen with a dog house in the middle, in which laid the saddest basset hound I've ever seen. We all felt so bad for it. Near the end we fed some llamas and their tongues tickled. Despite moving through it fairly fast, we didn't have enough time to quite make it through everything, it was quite a big zoo. I'm not sure if I'll ever get the opportunity to return and go through the last parts. Still, it was very enjoyable and I got to take a lot of pictures.

After spending a couple hours at the zoo we went to a member’s house for dinner and a spiritual thought. As always, her food was amazing. She stuffed us with a four whole courses, and I somehow managed to eat two plates of each.

Lastly, the miracle of the day was looking online and finding that six new temples were announced. Although, I must admit, the variety and design of the few of God's many creations we saw at the zoo helped put into perspective how amazing and creative Heavenly Father is, which is another miracle.

Tuesday, 4 October

My companion and I taught three lessons. We were also fed both lunch and dinner. Other than that, not too much happened. We tabled for a couple hours in the morning, had a program with an investigator who never came, and swung by another’s to try to re-establish contact but he still wasn't there. Luckily, today we finally managed to create a good opportunity to give one a Book of Mormon.

Wednesday, 5 October

Today was a unique and fairly hard day. We waited for our first two lessons, but no one showed up. We had three other lessons, one on Fasting, a 15 minute one with a Neni who we gave a Book of Mormon to, and who said she'd like to meet again next week, and a 2 1/2 hour lesson with the last. This last one is American, but has lived in Hungary for the past 6 1/2 years.

Thursday, 6 October

Time is still continuing to be distorted. Today I spent some time setting goals for myself during the next couple weeks. Very few were actually language goals. We taught 3 lessons today. We met with a woman for 15 minutes to discuss, talk about, and give her a Book of Mormon. In the evening I taught my biggest Angolora class yet, with nine of us taking part in the discussions.

My miracle is tied into the spiritual thought I shared. We are all sons and daughters of God. We each have limitless potential, and Heavenly Father has an infinite love to help us reach that potential. In the words of President Uchtdorf, "knowing all that changes everything. It changes us, and it can change the world."

Friday, 7 October

Today we got dogged again, and our only lesson was on obedience. Tabling has really died out, so we went back to streeting today. While it wasn't too successful, we did get one phone number and that is my small miracle today. Last of all, it started raining this evening, and neither of us had jackets, so we got soaked. Although, now that it's over, and I'm dry again, it just provides another memory that I'll have to smile about.

Saturday, 8 October

Today was a good day. We taught two lessons, and both lessons went better than usual. We knew more of what to expect with the first, and planned accordingly, and with the second we reviewed the entire fourth lesson, which I'm very glad to write, she understood, remembered, and follows. This week we had more lessons fall through than show up (which actually is true for our week overall as well), but we still taught more than the past 2-3 weeks, so while we suffered greater rejection, we also had greater success this week. Tomorrow we are going to watch the first two sessions of General Conference in Hungarian. I guess I'll have to see how much, or possibly, how little, I actually understand.

My miracle is that we were able to plan better and more closely follow our teaching plans than usual.

Sunday, 9 October

Today our Branch watched General Conference. While I was able to figure out and understand the topics of nearly every talk, that's about all I was able to understand. Sadly, only about 10 members came today to watch the sessions. Miraculously, I stayed awake and focused all four hours, which is usually hard for me, even when it is in English and I could understand it. After General Conference, my companion and I went tracting for a couple hours but didn't get a single find.

Well, that's about it. I just have some quick concluding remarks.

I'm at the end of my first transfer and nearly 1/6 of the way done with my mission, which is crazy and hard to believe. It feels like I've done so little out here, but I know that while this feels like it's way too fast, I still have the vast majority of my mission ahead of me. Reflecting on this transfer makes me really appreciate our one true investigator, and makes me glad to teach her. She's still the only one we have on a Baptism Date, but it's so exciting to think about her baptism.

Here's a good, final quote from the scriptures:

"Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live the gospel." - 1 Corinthians 9:14

That's all for this week,

I love you all!

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

3 October 2011 Letter

2011-10-03T18:01:00.000-06:00

It's October! (I think in the future, when I have more stories, or at least can understand more of what's going on around me, I might change the style of my entries to more of a weekly overview with a spiritual though instead of these excerpts of my daily journal entries. While I could start doing short spiritual thoughts, the experiences are something that is still in the process). Anyways, I'll figure out if I'm going to change that or not later, in the future.

Monday, 26 September

I went whipping for the first time today. I can get the whips to crack, but still have a lot to learn. Next time I plan on taping my wrists, as half of my wrist is now yellow and purple. I also have two nice lashes on my right shoulder and just above my elbow. I'm sure I'll get progressively better each time I do it. Lastly today, my companion and I set a goal to try to increase our obedience by choosing three rules each week to find ways to follow more closely.

Tuesday, 27 September

Today we taught two investigators. I don't have much to say about either lesson, other than that we failed to extend the planned commitments in either one. We went tabling today, and at the end two kids came up asking us for money. After they pretended to cry and act pitiful, we told them we had none, but told them about the Book of Mormon, and gave them one after hearing them say they read the Bible regularly (which they did have some knowledge of the scriptures. By the way, it was two 12-year-old boys). At the end, they turned around and found that their Mom and Dad had happened to walk into the park, see them, and had been standing behind them since the second half of their "crying for money" scene. They were both very surprised and there was a bit of an awkward silence. It made us all laugh later. Anyways, we figured we made the best of that situation, and who knows, maybe since their parents were standing there nearly the whole time listening in (we didn't know it was their parents until the kids turned around and they started talking), they heard our message as well, saw us be nice to their sons, and maybe they'll take a slight interest in the church, or read the Book of Mormon we gave their sons. Truth be told, you never know.

Today a miracle was having a teenager join me, my companion, and a member while playing soccer. He played with us for almost an hour, and then spent over an hour talking. He said he'd come the Branch Activity on Saturday, and seemed to enjoy spending the evening with us. Hopefully we'll see him again.

Wednesday, 28 September

Today was a much better day. I'm on splits again; this time with one of our Zone Leaders. It's been interesting and good to work with him for a day. He's on month 23, and will be going home in a month and a half. We had three lessons planned today, but no one showed up for the first two. The third was a great, short, simple, and spiritual message (and we stayed on topic the whole time). Lastly, we went tabling for 3 hours, and got two finds out of it.

My miracle of the day was communicating with the others more often and better than I usually do. Hopefully I can continue to push and grow.

Thursday, 29 September

I left the MTC a month ago. So far, things are going great. Today we had a full schedule. My companion and I finished our splits this morning and went to teach an investigator. It went well, and we learned that he's read a fair amount of the Book of Mormon. Upon finishing his lesson, we were approached by a girl on the street who said she's from Washington State, and would like to meet and talk some time. We taught another investigator, and had an unplanned discussion on the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. In our third meeting of the day, we taught about tithing and followed up on the commitments for keeping the Sabbath Day holy. She said she won't have a problem with tithing, but that it is hard for her to attend all three hours of Sacrament Meeting.

Angolora went well and contains my miracle for today. We had a small group. The cool part was they stayed for half an hour extra to continue talking. Out of the hour and a half I told them about many parts of the gospel, and only 5-10 minutes were not focused on the gospel. That's it for today. Currently on splits.

Friday, 30 September

Splits are over again. I'm tired and ready to sleep so I'm going to make today's short. We taught one lesson and tabled for 3 1/2 hours during which we got four finds. I memorized 22 verses of scripture today. Also, tomorrow is the big activity that I'm really hoping is successful. In the last three days, more lessons have fallen through than succeeded. Last of all, today I read many conference talks, and nearly all were on the Atonement or on Love, both of which were good for me to hear. They really are both basic, yet important fundamentals in the gospel.

Saturday, 1 October

I'm still tired...oh well, today was a good day. This morning we spent two hours harvesting Sunflowers. It was a unique and memorable experience. They were all ridiculously tall (8-10 feet) and we were working in a large field full of them. The beautiful part about them was when the seeds would all be covered with yellow balls of flowers. There were so many (one per seed) and looked like golden raindrops as we brushed them off. However, on the older sunflowers, the balls of petals had fallen off and left little spikes. They actually made my hand bleed in three places. At first everyone would bend the stocks down to reach the flowers at the top to harvest them, but I took my sickle (yes, I had a sickle) and started felling them in one blow, which allowed me to work 2-3 times as fast as anyone else. I felt like a pro. Also, a fair amount of the flowers themselves were nearly a cubit in length (almost 1 1/2 feet). Afterwards we came back, made brownies, and went to the activity at the Branch House. There weren't many members there, and only one of our investigators attended. We watched the Other Side of Heaven, ate desserts, and talked to everyone.

The miracle of the day was the uniqueness and beauty of the Sunflowers. Also, another fun miracle was that I saw my first Ladybug since starting my mission, sitting on top of a giant sunflower. It made me sort of wish I had my camera to capture the irony.

Sunday, 2 October

General Conference was this weekend, but I didn't get to see any of it. We'll watch the first two sessions next week instead. We had another Fast Sunday today and an hour and a half meeting after church. It was really hard for me to stay awake today. During weekly planning, I discovered that my companion and I can get up to eight new investigators this week. Hopefully it works out.

My miracle today was the great success we had in scheduling appointments for 8 of our 9 finds from last week. (Also only 3-4 days left until my wrist should be completely recovered from whipping last week).

Lastly, everything else

How was Conference? Did you all enjoy it? Did you do the tradition of brie and baguettes? I haven't gotten to see any of it yet, and although we will watch the first two sessions this coming Sunday, it will all be in Hungarian, so I won't actually understand all the Conference talks until the end of next month when we get a Liohona.

Something I found strange and funny is that the Hungarian Parliament has passed a new law concerning Churches. Because "Church" organizations have been exempt from certain tax laws, it sounds like groups have been labeling themselves as a "church" to save money. So, Parliament passed a law where they decide who can hold the title of "church", and have given that 'permission' to the ten oldest churches in Hungary and to the three biggest ones outside of the original ten. So, currently, our church is not recognized as an official "church". However, there is a petition to get us "Churchdom" that is currently being processed, and it should go through just fine. However, if something really crazy should happen and they deny it, we'll have to change all our signs and refer to ourselves as "The Organization (or Community) of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints".

I enjoyed receiving Griffin's letter. Sounds like he's having great experiences, miracles, and success. I can't really say that I can match those miracles or success, although maybe there are more miracles than I can realize that I just haven't seen because of the language barrier.

Well, that's it for today. We're going to take off and meet six other missionaries at the Zoo for the afternoon. Supposedly, it's a fairly big and nice one.

Talk to you next week.

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

26 September 2011 Letter

2011-09-26T09:37:00.001-06:00

I don't have very much to email this week as this was a pretty dead week and there's been less time than usual since my last email.

Wednesday, 21 September

Not a lot got done today. We had personal and companionship study for the first time since Saturday. We visited a really kind, old Neni for an hour and a half, missed our program with a family, and finished our evening with a meeting. Because we missed our P-Day, we were able to email a little bit today, although, not for too long. I sent an email to my Kicsi, and hope they enjoyed it. My miracle today was that, although we missed our lesson with a family, they saw us driving, pulled over, and we were able to reschedule for tomorrow afternoon. We'll get to teach them after all!

Thursday, 22 September

Today we taught two people and did a whole lot of streeting. The first lesson was mostly review, followed by obeying the law of the land. The second lesson was good, although I only had a class of 3 today, and none were new. Despite going streeting for 4 1/2 hours, we only found one person who seemed even remotely interested. However, that is also when my little miracle occurred. We found a man again we had met last week, got a new phone number for him, and will try calling him again later to see if he'll keep the reading commitments. (We were also supposed to meet with the family from yesterday this afternoon, but we showed up 3 times at half hour intervals, and no one was there).

Friday, 23 September

Today I went Tabelling for the first time. We found out that it's more effective. Scripture Masteries are incredibly long, especially Joseph Smith History 15-20. My fun miracle today was that my companion and I only had to fix breakfast today, as we were fed both lunch and dinner, neither of which were planned, nor were either expected. I also learned horse Kolbasz tastes good.

Saturday, 24 September

We had only one lesson today, which was on the Law of Chastity. As usual, we quickly got off topic. Luckily, a memeber was able to come, and she really helped the lesson become refocused. We went fliering and streeting for an hour. We didn't manage to street anyone except one old Neni. We're also almost out of fliers. Tonight we had some Szalona. It's average on taste, is unique, but is super unhealthy. (It's basically the fattiest part of pig fat (around the part that's usually used to make bacon), and it's smoked, then you heat it up over a fire and drip the melting fat onto bread, like super fat butter). For my miracle, it would be managing to give a pass-along card to the Neni, the only one we managed to street today.

Sunday, 25 September

It's hard to street or tract on Sunday. Sacrament meeting today went well, but we weren't able to meet with anyone today. We went fliering for three hours, and as we passed through a neighborhood, we saw a member riding past. We stopped and talked for a little while. She recently got a new job and works the night shift. That was my miracle for today. Lastly, the other Elders went out tabling this afternoon, and they had an angry drunk guy (in his early 20's) come up and shout at them, punch one Elder in the face, overturn their tables, and spit repeatedly on the Book of Mormon's. The two Elders picked up the books and table and just walked back to their apartment with the guy still standing there yelling at them. I'm not entirely sure what I would've done if I had been there.

Random thoughts:

- I had a bit of an idea during personal study earlier this week. When teaching the "Word of Wisdom", why not read verses 18-21 first, make those promises of specific blessings that come from the commandment, and ask them what they think the commandment might be that promises such large blessings? (I'm assuming that they'd guess something pretty big). Then tell them what the "Word of Wisdom" asks us to do, and show them how easy it is. If wanted, it's a good opportunity to share the story of Naaman, and show that we don't always need to go on big quests for miracles, but sometimes just small, easy things.

- Scripture Mastery are incredibly long, and they don't teach all the parts of most of them in seminary, but I figured there's a reason why all the verses were chosen, so I've been trying to start to look at those. For example, in JSH 1:15-20, most people focus and memorize just the first vision, but there's more in there than that. For example: the thought never occurred to Joseph that all the many churches could be wrong. Joseph was a lot further spiritually than most of the people I'm encountering, and it's really making me wonder how many of them have even considered that all the other churches could be false, and the importance and significance of finding the one true church.

That's all I have for this week. I look forward to reading all of your emails that I printed out.

Talk to you all next week!

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

21 September 2011 Letter

2011-09-21T18:49:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone, I'm sure you wondered why I didn't send an email on Monday. I was attending Greenie Training. We all missed our P-Day, but we have been allowed a short time today to send some shorter emails. So, I'm going to do a quick blog post. Thanks for bearing with me. J

Monday, 12 September

Another P-Day, another email, another shopping trip, and another fast: completed! Tonight my thoughts spent some time drifting to fencing. I hope I'll be able to build my fencing skills back up as fast as I hope. I also hope my teammates at both Utah and Penn are doing well, and also that I'll have some amazing new teammates to meet when I get back.

A highlight of today was breaking my fast and eating dinner with a member. She is a great cook and made fruit soup, Hungarian-style loaded potatoes, and some kind of really good dessert. Also, her house and garden were amazing. They both looked like something out of a movie (sort of like the Weasley's house in Harry Potter, but only 2 floors).

Before going to bed, I first need to get in my little daily miracle. One of my little miracles today was not being very hungry, tired, or thirsty during my fast. It was fairly uncommon and helped make my day even better =).

Tuesday, 13 September

Today was a very busy and very tiring day. We cut our studies short this morning, and left at 8:30am so we could meet with an investigator and her daughter. Her daughter just returned over the weekend after being in New York, DC, and Miami for two months, so we talked to her about it for the first while, but most the time we spent discussing the Restoration. We ran twenty minutes late, so we got to jog for half an hour again to get to our next investigator.

We discussed the Restoration again. He leaves for London this weekend, so we'll only get to meet with him one more time. However, he asked us if it was alright for us to continue to communicate via email, and said he'd continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray every day while he was in London. I really hope things work out with him. He is a great, smart, and mature person. That lesson lasted over an hour and a half (although the first 30 minutes was the English part), so we got to jog to our next appointment as well.

The lesson with this investigator went well as we talked about the Plan of Salvation. He has a good personality and gives a lot of thought to important things in life, but, unfortunately, he rarely does the things that he needs to and we aren't quite sure how we are going to get him to read the Book of Mormon or keep commitments. Also, because we started late, we finished late, and got to jog to our next lesson (if this keeps up for the rest of my mission, then I'll be in great shape).

She told us today that she doesn't like to read, so, while we haven't given her one yet, it will make asking her to read the Book of Mormon harder. She's putting more effort into her prayers, and I am hoping to see some progress there. Next time we plan on giving her a Book of Mormon.

We had a fifth lesson planned with a member of the Branch, but when we called her a couple minutes before, we learned she had forgotten and also decided to back out. It was a little strange to have my first cancel be from a member. We instead spent the time with a different member who was having a rough day.

Lastly, my miracle today was the blessing of a healthy body, having the energy to jog from lesson to lesson, and not getting incredibly stinky while doing so. =)

Wednesday, 14 September

Today we spent the day in RCLA's, teaching 3 lessons (all members). All three lessons went well. I am on splits right now and will be teaching four lessons tomorrow. Lastly, today the little miracle was finding out that Joseph Isaac won Junior Epee at Summer Nationals. Congratulations Joe! It will be fun to see how I do against him when I return.

Thursday, 15 September

I have now been on my mission for exactly 3 months, and am 1/8th of the way through. Yet, I still have a long ways to go concerning the language, the work, and just about everything. I spent today on splits and am still on splits until tomorrow evening. Today we taught five lessons. We taught two lessons on Charity and Service, taught one on the Kingdoms of Glory, and one on scripture reading. I taught the English class again tonight, and, while there was only one person at the start, I had a class of five by the end. Unfortunately, none were interested.

My miracle today was having money for bus tickets, even though I rarely take money with me, and I had grabbed enough to cover two tickets before I knew about the splits and also before I knew about the bus.

Friday, 16 September

Splits are now over. The damage to my food supply is bearable, although the dishes have built up again. I didn't have any programs today, and I feel like we accomplished very little. We planned a little bit of the "PMG" class for Sunday, got in hours of studying, and went streeting for an hour, but did not manage to get a single person to listen to our message for more than ten seconds. =P We finished the day and splits with Out-Reach, where we once again played ping-pong. One day I'll be able to speak the language better and help make it more creative. I may try to sooner and try to have one of the other missionaries interpret for me.

The miracle today was learning how vast a majority in our branch are the only members in their family, yet are still active. Despite all but a few being from part or no-member families, it's amazing to see their testimonies and their efforts, even during just these first two weeks.

Saturday, 17 September

We taught four lessons today. The first two went well, but the last lesson was even worse than last time. We didn't feel the Spirit, nor did we even manage to teach a lesson. The whole 50 minutes was just them yelling, with the exception of my companion getting in one sentence. That was literally all either of us said.

The other crazy thing was that we went to play soccer with a member for a little while, and within 60 seconds of playing he ran into a post and left a 1 1/2 inch gash running down his forehead and another below his eye, that were as wide as about 2-3 times the thickness of a fingernail. We took him home, from where, he went to the hospital. As a result, we met with him again in the evening to check up on him. He got 5 stitches, but should be okay in a couple weeks.

So, that is my miracle for the day, modern medicine.

Sunday, 18 September

We had Sacrament Meeting earlier today. A senior couple came and both spoke. It's amazing that they're both here serving the Lord. I also learned that one of the Elders here is blind. His determination and commitment is definitely my miracle of the day.

Monday, 19 September

Back in our apartment finally. I spent today sitting in lines and at Greenie Training with the rest of my old District. It was fun to see them all again, and hear what experiences they've been having across other parts of Hungary. Our "networking" plan here in our city is definitely the most unique, which isn't really a bad thing. I know I've enjoyed my time here a lot. As nice as it is to be done with the long train rides, we need to get up nice and early again tomorrow to catch the 7:00 train for Interviews. So, I'm going to bed (before 10:30 I might add). J

Today’s miracle: Being so busy, but also enjoying it.

Tuesday, 20 September

I know I've written this before, but time is so distorted while serving a mission. It truly feels like I just got here, yet, I'm halfway done with my first transfer. Stranger still, everyone I've talked to has said that, like the MTC, it will only start to go by even faster! I spent the day in Interviews. It went well, but also took all day. This week doesn't feel like it's really begun. During the entire week we are only going to be able to meet with one of our five investigators. We got back to our city in the evening, went shopping, ate, and are now at 10:30. My mission so far has been busy, tiring, and also enjoyable. It's more unique than what I used to believe missions were like. (I'm sure it'd be different if I served elsewhere). Get to email again tomorrow as we missed our P-Day.

Miracle: How far and how fast we can travel with modern technology. It really does make so many more things possible and much more convenient.

Since coming out here, I've begun to glimpse more of how awesome missionaries are, and that only the best are sent to serve in Hungary (that doesn't mean all the best get sent here, but just that everyone here is counted among the best) =D

Love you all. I'll be sure to email on Monday when we are actually able to have our P-Day!

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

12 September 2011 Letter

2011-09-12T10:44:00.000-06:00

Monday, 5 September

Today was my first P-Day in Hungary. It was very enjoyable. This morning, we started by going to TESCO, the Hungarian version of Wal-Mart. While there, we got light bulbs to try to lighten our apartment, but they were all the wrong size....oops. We also planned on going to the zoo today with the other Elders in our district, but we received a call from a member that needed help, so an hour and a half was devoted to that instead. I also went to an Internet Cafe for the first time, but due to the instructions being in Hungarian, the workers only speaking Hungarian, and having my computer freeze twice, it took almost an hour just to get started! We ended our P-Day with FHE with 8 other members. I got to try Fruit Soup. It tastes great! Also, I learned that "What If" is hard to play and isn't as funny when you can't speak the language well.

Tuesday, 6 September

Today was a busy day. My companion and I have been really blessed. We taught 4 lessons today (far more than usual). The first was to a man. He's 25 years old and is an incredible person, and a golden investigator. He does not have a very religious background, but is very mature and has clearly thought about many of life's harder questions. He believes in God, believes that He loves and wants to help each and every one of us, knows about and cares about everything in life, and that everything happens for a reason, even if we don't always understand it. The biggest foreseeable trial is that he goes to London every other month for work, helping an incredible man he told me about. (The man has been paralyzed from the shoulders down since he was a teenager. Yet he's worked hard, holds a leadership position in a company, and most importantly, chooses to always be happy and out-going, despite his hardships). We scheduled to meet with him again tomorrow, something I'm really excited about.

Our second lesson was to a man I met just this morning on the street. He lives a ways away from us, but comes into town fairly regularly. He speaks English very well (which he learned when he spent 3 years in LA), and was the first to fulfill the many tales I heard at the MTC and out here in the field of older Hungarians loving to complain, debate, and complain some more. He has a very negative view of life and of others, and thinks everyone's main thoughts and concerns are how they can take advantage of their friends and neighbors. He said he already has a Book of Mormon, so I challenged him to read Mosiah 2-5 on service and love. I also got his phone number, so we can check-up and see if he wishes to continue meeting.

Our third lesson was with a girl. She's 15, and her mom contacted us to help her as she is struggling with her English class at school. She knows English about as well as I know Hungarian. At the end, we talked about religion and found that she doesn't believe in God or anything else, but has never thought about it. We're scheduled to meet again on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how she progresses.

Our last lesson was with a lady on the Word of Wisdom. She only had a problem with Coffee, but like the great investigator she is, she committed to follow it. She also asked the fun question of where Zarahemla was located. To my great amusement, my companion and the member we were with both pulled out maps and tried to find it. =) However, they couldn't see it labeled anywhere.

The gospel is true. I feel myself growing. It feels great. =)

Wednesday, 7 September

Today I fasted again. It's always a good experience and worth it at the end. We taught two lessons today. Neither one went well lesson-wise, but both were over an hour in length (we're to blame for any problems). We taught one about the Restoration, but made it a little more confusing than it needed to be. However, I still feel great about him and he kept his commitment. The other, we also planned on teaching the Restoration, but instead spent the time listening to some of the many incredibly hard things she has gone through. It was good to remember today that often it is more important to listen than to talk. She didn't read the intro to the Book of Mormon, so I recommitted her to read it. We ended the night and my fast with omelets, which were delicious.

Thursday, 8 September

I am currently on splits. It is the first time I've been on splits or been to the other companionship's apartment. We taught 5 lessons today. The first was to a man. We had some incredible fruit soup with him and his family, taught him a great lesson, and spent only an hour there this time. The lesson was great and he had some incredible thoughts and beliefs about how God created everything with a purpose, and also that there needs to be opposition in all things.

Our second lesson was with the girl from Monday. We had a shorter lesson today, during which we found out that while she doesn’t really believe in God, she somehow prays every day, so we challenged her to think more about the purpose and reason of prayer and to pray for specific answers.

We taught the lady from Monday an interesting lesson about following the prophet, and tried to answer her many questions about the Word of Wisdom.

I taught the English class again, but this week there was only one person there, a man. We spent the hour having a good conversation, and after the spiritual thought he asked for a Book of Mormon, said he'd read the introduction, asked when Church usually is, and also said he really loved "Come What May And Love It", which I showed during the spiritual thought, and said he wanted to and will look up more Mormon Messages. While I wish more people had come, I guess 100% of my class showed good interest, so I'll count it as a success for now.

Friday, 9 September

Today I was on splits again. We went streeting for 30 minutes, but did not find anyone. We also taught a lesson to a man on Temples (he is getting baptized in 2 weeks!), and we taught a woman on Trials.

Saturday, 10 September

I did some real exercise in Hungary for the first time today. We went jogging for 30 minutes, and then met up with the other missionaries to play soccer for another half hour. Afterwards, we had to quickly jog back and get ready for our lesson with an investigator. We reviewed the Word of Wisdom, as she is still struggling with coffee, and also discussed following the prophet. I was in charge of our lesson with some members tonight. The man is middle age and married, and has a daughter about 15 who was baptized only 8 months ago. He, along with his wife and mother, loves to talk, and talk, and talk. I still managed to squeeze in a couple minutes before we had to leave. Afterwards, we went back to the Branch House where my companion and I labeled and stapled over 300 fliers. Hopefully we'll get to use them soon. Tomorrow we get up at 5:00 so we can catch the train to Zone Conference. Lastly, today I thoroughly studied 1 Nephi 11, learning the cycle, process, and progression of following the Spirit and receiving revelation.

Sunday, 11 September

Today was our Zone Conference, so we got up at 5, and took the train, making it onboard literally within 30 seconds of it leaving (because we waited 15 minutes for a member to come). At the conference, there were many speakers who I couldn't understand. However, I did understand when President Baughman spoke. He spoke about a meeting he was at in Copenhagen just recently (within the past couple weeks) with the other 29 European Mission Presidents and Elder Bednar. He shared how Elder Bednar said that while many speak of the highlight of the Atonement being the power to cleanse sins, the greatest blessing of the Atonement is its power to Elevate; to raise us to far more than we ever could have been before. Each time we take part in the Atonement, we improve ourselves. Also, as two side notes, the church here is an actual, large, and nice church building, and the Hungarian countryside is mostly just fields of corn and sometimes sunflowers.

The last thing for today is that I'd like to try to start recording just one little miracle a day. I don't plan on writing some incredible story each day, but I do hope to better see and appreciate the Lord's hand, constantly in my life. For this first night, I noticed and remembered how close the train was, both there and back. It was a great blessing to not be a minute late and miss it.

Random facts and other things:

· It feels like it was just 2-3 days ago that I was in here emailing. The days are already starting to zoom by.

· There are four missionaries in our District.

· While we only had one progressing investigator when I arrived here, we are now up to five!

· I sleep like a log every night, and long for when I'll be able to sleep in until 9:00am again.

· I cooked eggs again. I'm getting better, but still have room to improve. J

· I found a street on Saturday called "Ship Street"

· Missionaries in Hungary do less streeting and tracting than most missions I think. It just doesn't seem as effective here, but I'm hoping that will change with the hundreds of fliers we put together. Instead of streeting, we've been focusing our energy into strengthening the Branch. In addition to trying to get referrals and help from the members here, we're also really trying to just keep them active. From what I've heard, within the past couple years, the Branch here has shrunk from 80-90 to the 25-30 it is today!

That's it for my email today. I look forward to reading all of your letters and responding next week.

Love you all, Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

5 September 2011 Letter

2011-09-05T21:46:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, 24 August
Consecration week is over! I can speak English again, although, I actually found it quite difficult to speak just English, as I'd always want to react and start talking in Hungarian. I'm glad I can speak English and finally was able to talk to Elder Powell. I had a good temple session today, last one for two years. We also met and taught Istan Maria the first lesson. Oh, at the temple we met Rosen Elder's grandmother again, and also discovered that "CTR" means "Choose the Red-Head" (which was taught to us by an 85 year old lady at the temple).

Thursday, 25 August
3 days left! Today we said goodbye and took pictures with Barker Nover and Stromberg Testver; they've both been great and really helped all of us learn the language. I finally talked to Elder Dastrup in English, and learned from him that Elder (Spencer) Arneson is already serving in Finland. Also, I ran into Zack again, and learned that while his call is still in "Limbo", Devin received his mission call to Washington! Also, we have In-Field Orientation tomorrow, and today taught a lot of lessons. Due to time, I can't write much, but we taught our last lessons to Hajnalka, Zoltan, and Aron and our last TRC (They all went great, TRC especially. We completely left the lesson plan, but felt it went better). We also taught Lilla, along with Christenson and Kramer Nover.

Friday, 26 August
Today was a long day of meetings. I had "In-Field Orientation" from 8AM to 9PM. It was good, beneficial, and I had the opportunity to be taught by 8 of the missionaries from the "District" videos. But, it was still long. I'm mostly packed and finally got a haircut. I'm excited to head out. The MTC's been great and I've learned a lot, but my country needs me and the Lord has called me, and "I must obey. Amen." =)

Saturday, 27 August
Today Lilla and Edit (the other group's investigator) and also Gyula all were baptized. We had all three in a row and did a 45 minute service for them. I'm completely packed except for a few last things which I need for tomorrow. Classes are over and I said goodbye to all my teachers. Only one full day left! It's finally here!

Sunday, 28 August
We leave tomorrow at 5:00 AM. We took lots of pictures on the temple walk, said goodbye to the Noverek and Branch Presidency. We had a Departure Devotional by President McIff and President Brown, followed by a Fireside, also by President McIff. All 3 talks were great. =) In the evening we explained and passed down both the Ark and the Talpra Magyar. I failed to get a recording, but it was a good experience. I can't believe the time is finally here. I'm nervous, but also so excited to reach my mission field of Hungary. I'll do an entry during the flight tomorrow, but soon my entries will be from Hungary.

Monday, 29 August
Halfway to Hungary! I'm having to write this during our flight as we arrive at 11AM. This morning we got up at 3:45, showered, got ready, said goodbye to the Kicsi, and left. During the flight to New York, I sat between another missionary and a guy named "Mick". Mick was Catholic and from Russia. He also started chewing tobacco as we spoke. After arriving in New York, we each got to call home. I only got to talk to my family for 30 minutes, but it was still great to hear from them. I loved hearing their voices and that they are all doing well. Next time I'll get to speak with them won't be until Christmas in 4 months. Like I wrote earlier, we're on our way to Hungary. Only 4 hours left!

Tuesday, 30 August
It's amazing how much a mission can distort time. First off, I arrived in Hungary safely. This morning we landed around 10:30, got our luggage, and met the mission president, his wife, and their assistants. Upon landing, and even walking out of the airport, it didn't feel like a different country. I don't think that (along with everything else) will really hit me until tomorrow. Although, on the drive from the airport to the mission home, we talked to the AP's and as they talked about what things were going on two years ago when the left, it hit me pretty hard about how long two years is. It made me a little frightened, almost, and pretty homesick for a couple hours as I tried to imagine the many, many things that happen in two years. At the same time, thoughts have been coming into my head from the other side of the spectrum. While each day at the MTC felt so incredibly long, now that I'm gone the twelve weeks I spent there seem to have been a blink of an eye. Nor does it feel like it's been a full year since I first went to college. I'm sure that like the MTC or UPenn, my mission will feel incredibly long and feel very difficult and tiring at times, but once it's over, it will feel like it went by so fast. Also, talking to the AP's, it sounds like, similar to the MTC, the longer I'm here, the more it will blur and the faster it will go.
On a final note, we did some fun activities tonight. We all went out for dinner. At dinner, President Baughman accidently almost ordered beer for all of us (by answering a Hungarian question "do you want anything to drink?" with the English "sure", which the waiter understood as "sor" (sh-ore), which means "Beer". Luckily the AP's caught it and fixed the problem before we were all served beer). I tried Hungarian food for the first time, and I found that I love it, but it is very, very filling. And we finished our evening with a visit to Hero's Square and also to a look-out point where Russel M Nelson first opened Hungary for Missionaries. I took plenty of pictures. Tomorrow I meet my trainer, start streeting, and head out. I pray it will be an amazing experience. My fears, anxiety, and homesickness have already begun to fade, perhaps because I am tired. Luckily I know God loves me and that he will take care of his missionaries. =)
Thus ends my first entry from Hungary!

Wednesday, 31 August
Part 1: Hello again. I decided to do two entries today (This first part I'm writing just after getting up). This was my first time waking up in Hungary, and there are 5 thoughts that came to my mind: First off, the mission home is really nice and comfortable, and also big. It has 7 floors. Secondly, I forgot to actually write yesterday, because I just sort of assumed, but this morning decided I should be sure to write that the AP's and the Mission President are all really nice people. Third, today's a big day and by tonight I'll likely be in a different part of the country. Fourth, I'm really here. I'm really in Hungary and will be here for the next 21 1/2 months! And lastly, this morning, upon waking up, I felt better and more calm compared to yesterday. Hopefully these better feelings continue throughout the day.

Part 2: So, a lot has happened today. We went streeting this morning where I gave someone a Book of Mormon. Afterwards I received my debit card and sat through a discussion about missionary funds. We don't really get much, and it's going to be fun to budget it. At 12:30pm I met my new companion and trainer, and found that I will be serving in the Northeast corner of the country (the furthest area from Budapest). My companion’s a great teacher and a good missionary. He has been patient with me, knows the language very well, is the District Leader, and has obviously made a strong effort to go out of his way to meet and get to know all the members in our branch. We got pictures and stopped by a McDonalds for lunch. (McDonalds are pretty nice and have an entire bakery section in Hungary) and then we caught the train to our area. Upon arriving we went straight to the Branch House for a District Meeting, where I met the Branch President and his First Counselor. They spoke way too fast for me to understand. It sounds as though the Branch here is 25-30 people. I'm sure I'll get to meet most of them on Sunday. We arrived at our apartment around 9:30pm where I got mostly unpacked, did some quick planning, and I ate a bowl of cornflakes for dinner. Our apartment is nice in size, but needs some upkeep. Fourteen of the twenty-two lights in the apartment are burned out, so the rooms are all dark. We only have one progressing investigator. There are four missionaries in this area. I'll be teaching an English class each Thursday night. Tomorrow’s going to be yet another full, unique, new day. It is past 11:00pm already, and I still need to adjust to both the time change and the life style, and need whatever sleep I can get. Hope you enjoyed part 2.

Thursday, 1 September
Today was my first full day with just me and my companion. This morning the other companionship in our District came over, and we all ate policsinta's. They're basically Hungarian crepes. We taught two lessons, one to a man. He has 6 dogs (4 are bulldogs), he fed us lunch, and his dad joined in the last half hour of the visit. The second lesson was with a lady. It was short, simple and sweet. She's a kind, elderly woman, is our only progressing investigator, and has a baptismal date way out on November 26. Soon after her lesson finished, we started "Angolora" (English Lessons), and I taught the advanced class for slightly over an hour. Only 4 came, but one was interested in the gospel, so I guess 25% is a good statistic. It looks like I'll be teaching again next week. Lastly, tonight I discovered that I really am a terrible cook. I nearly messed up scrambled eggs! Hopefully my cooking improves a ridiculous amount on my mission, preferably at a ridiculously fast pace. If not, I may end up with many sad stories to tell concerning my food. That's all for today.

Friday, 2 September
As like every day we'll have in this transfer, my companion and I began with 4 hours of studying. We went streeting for a couple hours this afternoon, and passed out pass-along cards, but didn't get a single find. Nor did we teach any lessons today. However, this evening we had a "Welcome Home" party, where I discovered Hungarian treats are delicious.

Saturday, 3 September
Today went well. We started off with 4 hours of studying this morning and I learned some new things about King David during Companionship Study. Lunch wasn't very well planned with the other companionship, so I ran into a store and bought rolls and cheese. I'm happy to say that there is some really yummy cheese over here, and will probably become a common lunch for me. Afterwards we went tracting several hours, and at the very end we got accepted into a house where we gave a 40 minute lesson. We left the two women we taught a Book of Mormon and a Pass-Along Card, and received their phone number to set up another lesson next week. I'm really hoping it works out. After finishing the lesson we realized we were running late, so my companion and I jogged for 35 minutes to our next appointment, arriving 15 minutes late....oops!...It is hard, hot, and tiring to jog in a white shirt, tie, church shoes, and dress pants. Luckily, our investigator understood and we were able to have a good lesson with her on the 10 Commandments, which she was familiar with and already follows. We held a District Meeting for 2 hours afterwards, and then came back here for dinner. Luckily, I'm proud and able to say that I did a much better job cooking spaghetti, peas and carrots, and bread than I did with scrambled eggs. My cooking's improving already. =)

Sunday, 4 September
Today was my first Sunday in Hungary. I got to meet all the members of the ward, and of course, it was Fast Sunday, so I got to fast and share my testimony (in Hungarian =)). After church we took the sacrament over, and I went inside a 10'er for the first time. We finished the evening by having the other Elders come over for Policsinta's, but the pan was ruined, so I luckily had some food left from last night, so we improvised, planned, and shared stories. Also, my companion and I had weekly planning for 2 1/2 hours this afternoon. I'm looking forward to P-Day tomorrow. =) I sleep like a log each night!
One thing I've learned at the MTC and this first week in Hungary is to better appreciate all the little things. Not only to appreciate them, but to find joy and happiness in them. Heavenly Father really has given us so much to be grateful for. During personal study I've also had the time to find many fun and cool scriptures. These ones made me think of missionary work, and my time here, although, I hope they will continue to apply through all of my life.
2 Tim 2:3
"Though therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (For that is whose name is on every missionary’s nametag. We are his missionaries! =D)

Romans 12:21
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

1 Tim 6:12
"Fight the good fight of faith, to lay hold on eternal life"

And by the end of my mission, and again at the end of my life, I want to be able to say:

2 Tim 4:7-8
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished by course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me in a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

That's all for the scriptures. While I was experiencing a whirlwind of emotions and feelings when I first got here, they've pretty much calmed out now. And, with them faded, I am happy and excited to be here. I know that this is the right thing I need to be doing and is also what the Lord wants and has instructed me to do. The country of Hungary truly is in the dark. I've heard 3 missionaries now describe the country as being run by "the carnal man", and that's pretty much held true. At the same time, the members here are amazing, and have taken such leaps of faith for the gospel and have gained powerful testimonies of it. "The worth of every soul is great in the sight of God". One of the sayings that has continuously come to my mind is that to those who are in darkness, the smallest glimmer of light seems as bright as the sun, as long as they have their eyes open to see it. I know the Lord put me here for a reason, and even if baptisms aren't high, there is at least one person here who I need to bring that glimmer of light to, even if it's to me.

I have to get going. I'll be sure to send another email next week. Until then, I'm going to quote one last scripture from the very end of the book of Matthew: "And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

24 August 2011 Letter

2011-08-24T09:16:00.003-06:00

Wednesday, 17 August

Wow. It is a weird feeling to start consecration week, realize there's only one more P-Day at the MTC left, and also know that in a week and a half I'll be in Hungary. Hű-ha! Today I had a great temple session (only one more left for the next two years!) and ran into multiple people. I saw Zack during lunch (his mission call is still in limbo) and at dinner, within 5 minutes of starting Consecration Week, I met Elder BJ Powell (going to the Philippines) and Elder Blake Dastrup (Finland Mission), but had a hard time communicating with either of them, as I can only speak Hungarian. Luckily, I know they'll both be here for quite a while, as they just arrived today. Still, it was very fun and made me happy to see them. Lastly, we taught Gyula today. He'll be on vacation until next Thursday, so we'll only meet with him once more before his baptism on the 27th, and then we leave on the 29th. Our work with him is almost done. The rest relies on him, the ward members, and the Lord, so I know he'll be in good hands.

Thursday, 18 August

First full day of Consecration Week: complete! Today I found Elder Powell and Elder Dastrup again. Once consecration week is over I'll be able to actually talk to them. We taught Lilla today on Temple Marriage and Eternal Families because we were able to have a member, Bogi, come. Being married, and having had many experiences, Bogi was a great help during the lesson, and was able to relate a lot of good thoughts and stories....Swett Elder and I don't quite have any marriage experiences yet, or tales of being heads of our own families, so we stuck to the doctrine. During TRC we taught Daybell Testver about the importance of going to church. Lastly, something I forgot to write yesterday; during consecration week, I have given up English, Milk, and we're all wearing ties from "The Ugly Tie Rack".

Friday, 19 August

I was tired today. Enough so that I nearly fell asleep in the middle of a lesson. This morning I had the idea for us to use "District Study" to all write letters to Harvey Elder; which we did. Hopefully he's doing well and enjoys them. We taught Lilla about Moroni 6 and the baptismal questions today.

Saturday, 20 August

Halfway done with Consecration Week. Today we taught 2 lessons: one to Lilla about the importance of church, prayer, and scripture reading, and one to Hajnalka, Zoltan and Aron on our purpose here on Earth. Both were improvements from yesterday.

Sunday, 21 August

Finally, a day with plenty of personal study time to read a decent block of the scriptures. =) Only one Sunday left here. We had the long-awaited departure lesson today. The reality of everything is finally starting to sink in. I had a great time during the temple walk, and finished the day with a Fireside by Stephen B Allen. Like always, his talk was great. He choose to change his talk to focusing on Obedience and the Holy Ghost. (I say "change" because he was very guided by the Spirit. He was supposed to speak in 2-3 weeks, and had planned on teaching about something else, but a couple days ago, he felt prompted to ask President Brown if he could speak this week, and this afternoon, within hours of the Fireside, he felt prompted to change subjects). He obeyed both these promptings, and it resulted in a very enjoyable, very relatable, and very powerful talk. He finished by having all missionaries memorize the end of 2 Nephi 33:15, in which, Nephi writes his very last words on the plates: "I will obey. Amen." A very good motto for everyone.

Monday, 22 August

We didn't teach any lessons today. Gyula's still out of town, and Lilla was short on time, so the five of us spent nearly an hour practicing teaching each other. We woke up at 5:30 today so that we could be sure to sign up for haircuts, and even then, there were only 6 spots left (and we took 4 of them). The MTC is just way too crowded. (Although, I guess that's a good thing, as it means there are lots of missionaries). This morning we did our last service assignment. Only a day and a half left of Consecration week! That's all for today =)

Tuesday, 23 August

Today's been an interesting day. We taught Lilla this morning about Charity and Service. It is strange to teach someone about 2 of the things you feel weakest about yourself, although, at the same time, it makes everything seem to relate to yourself as well, and can provide another source of motivation and desire to teach. We also had a Devotional tonight by Claudio D Zivic of the Seventy. He was quite possible the most powerful speaker we have had yet. He spoke of ways to view life and our missions, and things to do to help or to do when we see either a certain way. Just a sliver of his talk that I would like to quote (although, now I think of two) is, "It takes 3 things to make a Man: Know where you are; Know where you want to go; Make every effort to get there". The 2nd was a quote from Ghandi, "Total Dedicational is Complete Victory".

I hope everyone enjoyed this week's post. My next one will be from Hungary.

I love you all!

Szeretettel,

Shipp Elder

19 August 2011 Pictures

2011-08-19T22:57:00.003-06:00

"Best Friends on the Lord's Errand"

"The Osi and the Kicsi"

17 August 2011 Letter

2011-08-17T22:54:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, 10 August

My entry today is going to be brief. We welcomed a new district of 10 Elders going to Tallahassee, Florida tonight. They seem like a fun group. We also taught Gyula today. He's promised to give up smoking by Friday and to ask his wife to attend our lessons. Hopefully we can baptize him before we leave.

Thursday, 11 August

Today I taught a 20 minute lesson solo and two 7 minute lessons by myself. The lesson with Lilla (the 20 minute solo) went well. I talked about the second half of the 10 Commandments, the Law of Chastity, and following the Law of the Land. She's continued to read the Book of Mormon everyday and follow the Word of Wisdom. She's progressing towards her baptismal date nicely. Also, we had TRC tonight, during which we gave a good lesson on how to better receive revelation through reading the Book of Mormon. We finished our evening with our last planning orientation and tour as Zone Leaders, along with half of our final set of interviews. Also, today I memorized the first five paragraphs of my patriarchal blessing.

Friday, 12 August

Today was another "Hungarian Only" day. We also taught two lessons today, the first to Hinjalka, Zoltan, and Aron, and the other to Gyula. Both went well. The lesson with Gyula was interesting because instead of reading Alma 30 & 31, like we asked him to, he read Alma 32, which we had prepared to read during the lesson. So, I got to improvise. Also, he's completely given up smoking, so we set a new baptismal date for the 27th, and also asked him to come see Edit's (a different companionship's investigator) baptism on the 20th.

Saturday, 13 August

We taught Gyula today, reviewing the first part of the Plan of Salvation, and we also taught Hajnalka, Zoltan, and Aron on the atonement and baptism of Christ. Earlier this morning I noticed that my prayers have partially died out. I'm working to try to rebuild some of my good habits. The last two things were the most unique ones for today. Swett Elder rolled his ankle during gym. Also, I have the first 10 paragraphs of my patriarchal blessing memorized.

Sunday, 14 August

As always, I love Sundays. Today was our last day as Zone Leaders. I'm going to enjoy the extra time. Priesthood Meeting was led by Brother Thompson on the Plan of Salvation, and President and Sister Gamette both spoke during Sacrament Meeting on Enduring to the End. The Fireside was given by Richard I Heaton, who spoke on "Success". This was the 2nd time I've heard him speak, and I enjoyed it. Lastly, I'm almost done with my 3rd maze, Elder (Tyler) Stapleton leaves tomorrow for his German-speaking Alpine mission, and consecration week begins on Wednesday.

Monday, 15 August

Yet another "Hungarian Only" day completed. We taught Lilla about the laws of tithing and fast offerings (to which she was open to the idea of fasting and fast offerings, but said she had a hard time with the idea of tithing, and would need a day to think about it), and we talked to Gyula about the second half of the Plan of Salvation. The only other things I have for today are that the picture machine is finally fixed (hopefully I get my pictures by Wednesday), my third maze is complete, and I only have two paragraphs left until I'll have my entire patriarchal blessing memorized. Lastly, something I forgot to include in yesterday's entry was during Sacrament Meeting, Elder Tialino (a Polynesian Elder going to serve in Tallahassee) passed the sacrament. I loved the way he did it. He handled the tray differently than I've ever seen in passed before, but it really looked like he "revered" or "respected" the sacrament, more so than any other way I've seen it passed before. I really enjoyed it.

Tuesday, 16 August

We taught Lilla this afternoon, checking up on how she's doing. She said that since our last lesson, she has decided to pay tithing after she's been baptized. A really good Devotional was given by David F Evans of the Seventy, who spoke on the role of Heavenly Father. It was actually really surprising to realize how much he really does for each of us.

Out of time…

Love you!

-Shipp Elder

10 August 2011 Letter

2011-08-10T20:01:00.002-06:00

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!

3 August 2011 Letter

2011-08-03T14:35:00.001-06:00

Hello again! Guess who this is? =D ME!!!

Wednesday, 27 July

Today was a great P-Day. The temple was open today and Elder Swett and I had the opportunity to participate in sealings, which I've never done before. I enjoyed it a lot. It made me look forward to when I'll be able to be sealed with a family of my own, but for now, that is several years away. (The next day, we found out that if we had come to the temple 5 minutes later, we would've been in the same sealing session as our teacher, Moody Nover. That would've been funny to have us be sealed to her as our mother. =D) We also found out tonight that Stromberg Testver is going to be a dad.

We taught Gyula a very brief 15 minute lesson. We mostly asked questions, working to find out how his testimony is growing. At the conclusion we got him to repeat his commitment of working towards August 15th as a baptismal date. Lastly, we received our Kicsi today: 4 Elders and 4 Sisters. They are all social, with the two most outspoken being Johnson Nover and Forsyth Elder. I look forward to getting to know them all better. Lastly, I left my CTR ring in the computer lab, and it was missing soon after. Hopefully I can find it soon.

Thursday, 28 July

Today was the second day with our Kicsi. They are all great and we're all getting to know each other really fast. Tonight we gave them the planning orientation and tour of the MTC. This morning we had an amazing and spiritual lesson with Lilla, just discussing and talking about the basics and finding out how her beliefs and testimony have grown. She still doesn't have a baptismal date, but each lesson we're obviously getting closer. We also had TRC where we went shopping for clothes and met the clerk, Tibor. We talked to him about the Savior, Restoration, and Book of Mormon, taught him to pray, and gave him a Book of Mormon and he committed to read and pray about it. Tomorrow is "Hungarian Only". Hopefully it proves helpful and works out. It will be fun to see how much we can communicate to the Kicsi with body language. I also found out that I have a new cousin. Corinne had a new baby girl; her name is "Ivy". Sadly, I won't see her until she is almost 2. That just adds another thing to look forward to. =D

Friday, 29 July

I'm not sure how to begin today's entry. Things are moving along. Today we tried our second time to go a full day only speaking Hungarian. This time we were much more successful, and only stopped for a couple minutes to speak English when we had to read something and in a short interview with Barker Nover in the evening. The Kicsi learned how to pray today, and are slowly understanding bits and pieces of our conversations. Also, today Swett Elder and I found the first thing about which we don't get along: 4-Square. We're both competitive in sports and see each other as threats, so we're constantly killing each other in the games.

Saturday, 30 July

We taught Lilla today, beginning with Swett Elder and I singing "There is a Green Hill Far Away" in harmony, followed by a lesson on the atonement, emphasizing the Savior's sacrifice so that we can repent and be saved. We asked her to think if there's anything in her life she feels guilty or bad about and testified that no matter what it may be, she can repent, and receive forgiveness. I'm feeling progress in the language again. I also filled my day to the brim with what I tried to make earnest, sincere prayers, during every open moment. I'm striving to be more specific in what I ask for, always be full of thanksgiving, and always remember the Savior. I'm also trying to give time to hear and feel the Spirit and make prayers a 2-way conversation, not a monotone order for blessing, paying with a couple lines of thanks.

Sunday, 31 July

Tonight at the Fireside, the hymns and topic focused on "Love", and the speaker, Robert P Swensen, spoke of Love and Charity being infinite in potential, and that we should not "attempt" to hold any back to try to "save" it for something else. That is not how love works. We need to exercise and express our love so it will grow. Also, we should remember that the greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord, thy God" with all thy heart, might, mind, and strength." And the second is to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." With being surrounded by children of our Heavenly Father, there are endless opportunities to love.

Finally, we got pictures with our Kicsi at the temple today. I also got pictures with Elders Ethan Shipp, and Wilson Ormsby, as they both are departing early tomorrow morning.

Monday, 1 August

It's August! I leave later this month to Hungary! During lunch we had an unexpected guest come sit with us. President Brown joined and talked with us for nearly 20 minutes. It was very interesting and enjoyable to get to talk with him in a setting like that. He has an amazing memory. Upon sitting down, he was able to remember where all 8 of our Kicsi were from. He also knew all of our Branch Presidency and talked to us about them. We had to leave him at the end, excusing ourselves, as we were already 5 minutes late to class.

Lastly, we taught Gynla. It was our first time teaching the Word of Wisdom, yet the language and the lesson just flowed. He has a problem with every part of it, but was very humble and committed to try to change all of it. The only thing I see him having a really hard time with is smoking, but the Lord can do many wonderful things. I’ll just do my best to do my part, and let the Lord do the rest.

Tuesday, 2 August

We taught Lilla on the final part of the Plan of Salvation (which we’ve never taught before), and finally are close to pinning a specific date on her. The Devotional was given by Gerald N. Lund, Emeritus Seventy and the author of “The Work and the Glory”. He gave a great talk on Faith, teaching how to exercise and learn from it.

I'm out of time. Bye! =D

2 August 2011 Pictures

2011-08-02T15:05:00.035-06:00

Hungarian Book of Mormon & Name Tag

My District in the classroom

Missionaries going to the Provo Temple

My District

Cousins (RJ) Shipp Elder & Elder Shipp (Ethan)

July 4th at the MTC

(Glowsticks compliments of Mom!)

1 August 2011 Testimony

2011-08-01T14:56:00.003-06:00

27 July 2011

2011-07-27T16:46:00.001-06:00

Hello Family!!!

Here's my weekly email, beginning with the blog posts:

Wednesday, 20 July

The Residence Hall is crowded again. Elder Swett and I welcomed 19 new missionaries, including the new Albanian District. We checked the Narnia holes (Narnia does exist, but I must refrain from saying more, lest I lose my memory of it, or cause harm to fall upon it), and passed along the boxes from the previous Albanian District. They seem like they should be a good group, although, for now they walk into their rooms and close their doors (aren't very sociable). They'll probably open up and socialize over time. This afternoon we cleaned the temple for 4 hours, wiping down walls, dusting shelves, cleaning lockers, and moving furniture. Elder Swett and I got lucky and the worker we were with gave us a tour for a short break halfway through. We got to see all over the temple including the furnace and ventilation room, the Sealing Rooms, stand directly under the chandelier in the Celestial Room, find the workshop in the basement, see the Brides' Room, and we also stopped to talk to three of the workers and hear what they did and how it was going (for example, in the Celestial Room we spent about 10 minutes talking to the man in charge of all the gold leafing on the ceilings and walls, and heard some cool stories). Lastly, we taught Gyula today. We had another member join the lesson, Bea, and we asked about Gyula's prayers, reading, and testimony of the Book of Mormon. Most importantly, we finally got him to commit to working towards being baptized on August 15! Happy Day! =) We plan on working hard to help make sure he's worthy and ready by then.

Thursday, 21 July

Today was yet another, full, busy day. Funny how life is actually busy during a mission... Anyhow, we taught Lilla this morning, focusing on Christ, his baptism, resurrection, atonement, and love, and concluded by asking her to be baptized, to which she again replied "possibly". This evening we had TRC, where we taught Jared, Cece, and Gabor about the restoration. We finished the evening giving the Day 2 orientation and a tour of the MTC to all the new missionaries in our Branch. I'm starting to remember their names and faces.

Friday, 22 July

Surprise! Yet another busy day! We taught Gyula tonight, checking up on his feelings and commitment concerning baptism and taught him about listening to and following the prophet, as well as keeping the Sabbath Day holy. We also talked about stress this morning and ways missionaries can recognize and cope with it.

Saturday, 23 July

Not a whole lot happened today. I've started memorizing the First Vision in Hungarian and we taught Lilla the first part of the Plan of Salvation (Pre-Mortal through Earthlife) and tried to set up a baptismal date (third try in a row). She's changed from "possibly" to that she would like to, but not for another 2-3 months. At least we're progressing.

Sunday, 24 July

Today was Pioneer Day. I gave the District lesson (an hour long) on Humility. Just as its opposite, Pride, is the universal sin, Humility leads to all other Christ-like attributes, including the magnificent "Charity". This evening we watched "Legacy" (not my favorite church film) and listened to a Fireside given by Stephen B Allen (one of my all-time favorite speakers). He used multiple Mormon Messages in his lesson, and finished by having us sing "Come, Come Ye Saints" with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (on CD). The second verse stood out to me especially: "Gird up your loins, fresh courage take, our God will never us forsake. And soon we'll have this tale to tell, all is well. All is Well!"

Monday, 25 July

41 days down, 35 to go! I have officially mastered behind-the-back shots in 4-Square, and wrote my testimony in Hungarian. Tonight we taught Gyula about following the prophet. Today was Sister Barker's Birthday, and the night ended with me creating a new fencing drill: popping bubbles with the collapsible pointer. =D

Tuesday, 26 July

Today we taught Lilla about the purposes of our Earthlife and keeping the commandments. I retook the Christ-like Attribute Assessment, and saw a lot of progress. It's good to see how I'm improving in more than just the language. Tonight the Devotional was given by Dennis M Simmons (Emeritus Seventy). (We seem to listen to a lot of speakers that are Emeritus Seventy, which isn't a bad thing, just something interesting I noticed). He spoke of the two purposes of a mission: Serving the Lord, and Sanctifying Ourselves. He mostly focused on the latter, listing the long cycle of sanctification, using the "gift" of the Holy Ghost, and remembering who we are; Children of God, each containing a spark of deity. I'm looking forward to tomorrow: going to the temple (since it's finally opened again), getting our Kicsi, and sending off letters and emails.

Oooh! Our first Kicsi just walked in, and I have 30 seconds left. Tell you more about him later!

Hope you enjoyed this email. Please keep sending me mail. J

Love you all,

Shipp Elder

20 July 2011 Letter

2011-07-20T10:26:00.000-06:00

Hello again!

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Today we taught Gyula and asked him to be baptized. He's having a hard time understanding that other churches don't have the priesthood. We'll have to continue trying. Our temporary companion, Elder Kay, received some really exciting news this morning. They announced over the intercom that he will be leaving tomorrow morning for Albania! He'll arrive only two days after the rest of his district. Tonight (literally two minutes before I started writing this) I heard someone call my name, "RJ?". I turned around to find Elder (Cyrus) Penrod, who arrived earlier this afternoon. He is serving in the Los Angeles, Spanish Speaking mission and will be in my hallway for the next nine weeks, so I'll definitely be seeing him around.

Thursday, 14 July 2011

We started off today by playing kickball, Kicsi vs. Osi. Although this was their last gym time and found hard, we still managed to win =). We didn't teach any of our usual investigators today, but in the evening, we had TRC (Training Resource Center), where we met James and his wife, Zaphne. We helped them move a little, and ended by teaching them the first half of the Plan of Salvation. The rest of the evening was spent as Elder Swett and I helped Elders Knight and Walker give a planning orientation to the new missionaries, along with a tour of the MTC.

Friday, 15 July 2011

Today felt long and empty. The Osi spent all day in departure lectures, which made gym especially empty. Elder Swett and I taught Andi today. It was not our most spiritual lesson, but I managed to lead a discussion of the Plan of Salvation, teaching about everything from the Pre-mortal Existence to the Atonement (the furthest we've gotten in one lesson). We also taught Gyula about Gospel Dispensations, the Apostasy, and the Priesthood. We are continuing to work towards baptism, and committed him to come to Sacrament Meeting. We ended the day interviewing the District Leaders, yet another step towards taking over as Zone Leaders.

Saturday, 16 July 2011

We had the opportunity to teach Lilla, in which the lesson was really short, but went well. We had a chance to discuss Alma 32, focusing on faith and how, if we pray, attend church, and read the scriptures, our faith can grow like a seed. Like a seed, faith needs to be nourished and cared for to not only grow, but to survive.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

Today was our last full day with the Osi, but I'll come back to that at the end. Branch Council this morning went fine. We'll have two new districts (and 19 new missionaries next week). In Priesthood, Brother Thompson talked of the Atonement, and the three things that block peace: Our Sins - lifted through repentance; The Sins of Others - lifted through forgiveness and thinking of Christ; and Circumstances Out of Our Control - lifted by being thankful and finding happiness in the many blessings each of us have received. During Sacrament Meeting, the Osi sang a Hungarian Medley, and President and Sister Gamette spoke on repentance. During the Fireside, President and Sister Sonne spoke on staying focused and "unweariness". So, tonight was goodbye and the transfer of power from Osi to Kicsi (we also went and took group pictures at the temple). We received that Flag and the Ark, learned of Hungarian History, visited one last time, and finished with the "Talpra Magyar". Overall, a very powerful and draining night.

Monday, 18 July 2011

The Osi are gone. Our hallway is empty. However, Elder Rosen and Elder Snyder moved in with us today, and Wednesday we'll be receiving 19 new missionaries (17 Elders, 2 Sisters) into our Zone. We also had the blessing of teaching Gyula today. We had a good lesson, and I was able to do plenty of talking again. We finished the lesson (which was on the Spirit World, Baptism, and the Holy Ghost) by asking him to be baptized, to which he replied that he would think about it and talk to us on Wednesday. Hopefully the spirit touches his heart and convinces him to be baptized.

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Today was a full day and tomorrow will be as well (despite it being P-Day). This morning we gave our first lesson with a member present, as we had Christy attend our lesson with Lilla. Lilla attended Sacrament Meeting and committed to coming to waffle night later this week. We talked about the blessings the gospel brings to families, gospel dispensations and apostasies, and Christ's Baptism. We asked her to be baptized, to which, she replied "probably". While I know Hungarian well enough to give the lessons, I wish I knew it better so that we could've asked her if it was alright to set a day 3~ish weeks down the road to work towards. Hopefully it all works out.

During Personal Study Time, I looked up Bednar's talk on "Choosing to Take Offense", Uchtdorf's talk on "Potential", and Wirthlin's talk "Come What May and Love It". All of which are talks that I have, and will continue to remember.

The Devotional tonight was given by F Melvin Hammond (Emeritus Seventy). His wife, Bonnie Hammond, spoke of Elder Peterson from BYU's football team, leaving their championship team to serve in Bolivia, and his interviews with Sports Illustrated, telling them why he chose to serve a mission. She also asked all of us to always "Be Cheerful". Elder Hammond spoke of how the Book of Mormon is the Keystone to our religion. He mentioned the 4 promises made in the introduction that come from reading the Book of Mormon: Knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World, gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and know that the Church is the Lord's Kingdom on the earth. He also told of Parley P. Pratt's conversion and finished with a story from Bolivia. These two lines stuck out to me the most: "How do you know the Church is true?" "Because I have the Book of Mormon. Read it. You can know too."

That's everything. 10 seconds left!

Love you all!

- Shipp Elder

13 July 2011 Letter

2011-07-13T15:22:00.015-06:00

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

I have now been in the MTC for three weeks! I saw another familiar face today, Sister Perry, who is preparing to serve in the Argentina Mission. Also, and more importantly, all the Osi came into our class today and each bore their testimony on the importance of the work and our Lord, Jesus Christ. It was a very powerful and spiritual experience. They started their Consecration Week after lunch, and will only be speaking Hungarian until next Wednesday, so communicating with them will be fun and probably involve lots of body language.

Thursday, 7 July 2011

Today was a very emotional and crazy day. Everything from this morning feels a little distant. I’ve always liked to think of Jesus Christ as the Only Begotten Son, and Heavenly Father as our Eternal Father. Sometime soon I hope to explore Mosiah 15 and better understand how the Nephite prophets referred to them, so I can better understand the scriptures. This morning one of my companions, Elder Harvey, received word that something has come up back in Michigan which required that he return home. We spent the evening taking pictures, singing, hugging, and wishing him the best of luck. It is strange to think that I’ll be in a companionship of two tomorrow. It feels strange and sad, and made me wonder if this is partially what some of the transfers out in Hungary will feel like.

Friday, 8 July 2011

This morning, at the start of class, we just sat in silence and thought for a little while before moving into the lesson. Near the end of class, President Gamette came and pulled a couple of us aside. Sister Hudspeth has been called to be a coordinating advisor; Elder Rosen has been called to replace Elder Swett as District Leader, so that Elder Swett and I can replace Elder Walker and Elder Knight as Zone Leaders. I’m excited for the opportunities this calling will bring to work with new missionaries, but am also a little sad to lose the many hours of Personal Study Time each Sunday.

Elder Harvey should be in Michigan by now. In three days all of the Albanian District will be leaving, and the following week all the Americans in our Zone, and all our beloved Osi will be leaving, leaving the four of us: Elders Swett, Rosen, Snyder, and me as the only ones in our Zone! Quite possibly the smallest Zone in the MTC! However, these next two weeks won’t be completely sorrowful and empty. Two days after the Osi leave, we’ll receive a new Albanian District and probably a new American District. The following Wednesday our Hungarian District (our future Kicsi) will arrive, filling our hallway once again. But, for now, that’s 2½ weeks away.

Last, but not least, Elder Swett and I taught two lessons today. The first was with Andi. The lesson was great and both of us did a lot of talking with very little confusion or misunderstanding. It was the most spiritual lesson we have taught since our second lesson with Jozef. The other lesson was with Gyula. That lesson proved equally as spiritual, with both of us talking large amounts as well. While the language was not as fluent as with Andi, we accomplished everything we aimed for, and he has started keeping commitments! He read the scriptures, prayed, and committed to continue reading, praying, and plans on coming to Family Home Evening, as he cannot attend Sacrament Meeting.

Saturday, 9 July 2011

There was little out of the ordinary today. It was our second day in a companionship of two. We taught Lilla her second lesson, teaching her of prayer, faith, the Holy Ghost, and the Atonement. She seemed to understand what we were trying to tell her about prayer and the Atonement, but at the same time, she said she wasn’t sure if she actually has faith in Christ. We’ll teach her again on Thursday. Today was also our last gym time with the Albanian District, and resulted in an amazing game of 4-Square, which I was able to stay in the King’s Square 21 turns in a row! J I will miss their District. Tomorrow’s schedule seems incredibly busy as I will have to attend five additional meetings for being called as Zone Leader. Finally, I wish we got mail on Saturdays. (And I’ve found the downside of Girls’ Camp.)

Sunday, 10 July 2011

Today was a busy, but good, Sunday. Brother Pinegar was the speaker during our Priesthood Meeting. I really enjoy him as a speaker. This week he spoke of Adam and The Fall, explaining that Adam was preordained to be the first man, the first Prophet, the Archangel; presiding over mankind and over the priesthood, both Aaronic and Melchizedek, and preordained to fall. It was under his instruction that John the Baptist, along with Peter, James, and John restored the priesthood to Joseph Smith.

The fireside proved equally as interesting with Richard Heaton being the speaker. He spoke of Daily Repentance and how over time Satan has changed the sound of it from the positive Hebrew “Schub” meaning “Turn towards God”, to a neutral Greek “Metanoia” meaning “A change of mind”, to a negative Latin “Paenitieve” meaning “To feel regret or contrition”! Lastly, all the shadowing of Elder Walker and Elder Knight at Zone Leader meetings went well. We also found out Elder Kay will be heading to Canada to serve until his Visa comes through.

Finally, I found the answer to my question of Christ being referred to as “The Eternal Father”. While Heavenly Father is the father of all things spiritual; Christ, as the creator, is the father of all things physical.

Monday, 11 July 2011

Today was the last day with the Albanians. 4-Square was empty and many pictures were taken this evening. Also, my pictures and multiple letters came today =). Elder Swett and I had a chance to teach Gyula today. We focused on the Creation and Purpose of Our Life Here on Earth, and introduced the idea of baptism. As with the previous couple lessons, I was able to teach as much of the lesson as Elder Swett. I think I've finally caught up with many parts of the language (but he still has better grammar and a slightly bigger vocabulary).

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Today we received a third companion again. While it will only be for the next two to six days, Elder Kay (one of the Albanian missionaries) will be in mine and Elder Swett's companionship. This morning we had the opportunity to teach Gábor. Once again, it was a good lesson, and I was able to keep up in all the conversations, and give a large part of the lesson (which was on the Restoration and Baptism). Unfortunately, Gábor is not a religious man, and it looks like it may be some time before he even considers baptism. The Devotional tonight was by Richard H Winkel of the Seventy, who spoke on the Atonement and Crucifixion. While it is incredible (overwhelming) how much physical pain Christ endured, it is even more unbelievable what spiritual pain he must've gone through.

Wednesday 13 July 2011

This morning, Elder Kay, our temporary companion was called over the intercom in our residence hall. They announced that he has been cleared and will leave tomorrow morning to Albania, arriving only two days behind the rest of his District! He's been excited ever since.

Serettel (with Love),

Shipp Elder

9 July 2011 Pictures

2011-07-09T12:35:00.019-06:00

Posing with "The Missionary" statue

Us and our Osi (minus the Sisters)

Having a lightsaber battle!

Our District at the Temple

6 July 2011 Letter

2011-07-06T17:30:00.001-06:00

It's P-Day again, and time for another email. Here's an update from this last week:

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Today was our second P-Day, which was much less stressful than our first. Today we did laundry, got haircuts (my hair is super short), and had our second trip to the temple (and our last one for 4 weeks, as the temple will be closed). We also taught Gyula how to pray. I have now been in the MTC for exactly two weeks and have exactly two months left.

Thursday, 30 June 2011

Thursdays are not nearly as relaxed, fun, or fast as the first half of the week. Today we had our first TCR. It went fairly well, and we taught Ashley (our newest investigator) an hour long lesson on the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. I am definitely starting to pick up and understand the language, but at the same time I have a whole lot that I don't know (the majority of the language) and am in dire need of expanding my prayer vocabulary.

Friday, 1 July 2011

Today I got to show off my fencing skills by going against the rest of the Hungarian missionaries in a fencing drill for 40 minutes. We also taught Andi today. I didn't have much to say at all in our lesson. We'll teach her again tomorrow. Hopefully, it will go better. It just goes to show that the Spirit is not a constant thing. Today was, hopefully, just one of the lower fluctuations.

Saturday, 2 July 2011

Today went much better than yesterday. While there was no gym today, we started our day by teaching Andi. Although our lesson was short, Elder Swett decided that after yesterday's lesson, he'd do less talking, so I gave the majority of the lesson, and we managed to find out a lot more about her personally, and take some time to better introduce ourselves and explain our purpose. By the end, we all thought it was a successful lesson. Because there was no gym, we had an hour at the Residence Hall. We decided to play a giant game of Sardines, with the entire building acting as the boundaries. Finally, tonight was the Stadium of Fire, a special devotional, and our 4th of July Celebration. We started by singing "Yankee Doodle" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy", which, when women were mentioned, caused a lot of shouts. The speaker for the Devotional was Steven Stutterd. He served as an assistant to three Presidents (US Presidents, not Church Presidents), and is currently a Branch President here at the MTC. He gave a very powerful talk about the Spirit of God being behind Freedom. He spoke of our nation's motto: "In God We Trust". He spoke of a couple marine stories and of their faith and dedication, and also a very sorrowful story of a Serbian family, whose father had to strangle his three year old daughter so that the other fifteen members of their family could remain hidden, and eventually live in freedom. We finished with a parade of flags and a group on the bagpipes as they played, and we sang "Praise to the Man". Afterwards, we headed outside, got ice cream, put on a bunch of the glow sticks my family sent me, and watched the fireworks from Stadium of Fire.

Sunday, 3 July 2011

Today was Fast Sunday. The day started with Mission Conference, at which President and Sister Bratasso spoke. President Bratasso spoke of Enduring to the End and being saved by grace, something members tend to overlook the significance of. During Sacrament Meeting, all the Albanians, and some of the new missionaries, got up to share their testimonies. This past week has amazed me at how many missionaries come here while being the only member in their family. The Fireside tonight was a little different. The speaker was Jenny Oaks Baker, who is a renowned violinist, and Elder Oak's daughter. She played "Amazing Grace", "I Need Thee Every Hour", and two other songs, and her three daughters (ages 6, 8, and 9) played a violin/piano/cello trio of "I Am A Child Of God". We finished the evening by watching "Mountain of the Lord" on the building of the Salt Lake Temple. Lastly, while we no longer sing "Called to Serve" or "I Believe In Christ" at every meeting, we have switched. We now have sung "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" at three meetings in a row, and "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet" at the last four meetings in a row!

Monday, 4 July 2011

Today was the 4th of July! Yay Independence Day! Other than that, nothing impressive happened today. The main event of the day was the 20 minute lesson we gave to Gyula on the Plan of Salvation. Unfortunately, he claims to have forgotten how to pray, so we'll have to teach him again when we see him on Friday.

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

I love Tuesdays. They go by fast, you learn a lot, and get a short, but great, Devotional. Today we got a new investigator, Lilla. She is from Pest (in Hungary, the residential side of Budapest), is 21 and a student studying Psychology. One of her friends, Nefi, is a member of the church, and gave Lilla a Book of Mormon. Although she has not read much of it, she's interested in learning about the church, and we've already scheduled our next lesson for Thursday morning. Lastly, we had an amazing Devotional tonight by Cree-L Kofford (Emeritus Seventy). He spoke on obedience and the Spirit, teaching that faith is given as a gift from Christ for being obedient, have regular silent meditation to hear, feel, and recognize the Spirit, and also that success in a mission will come through sharing Feelings of the Spirit. He finished his talk by sharing the journal of Colonel Kain and his visit to the abandoned Nauvoo. Those entries are something I'd like to look up when I come home.

It's hard to believe that I was dropped off here exactly 3 weeks ago. The Osi (older Hungarian group) leave in a week and a half (they started their Hungarian-language-only week today), all the Albanians on Monday, and my group leaves in less than 2 months.

Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll talk to you all again next week.

Love you!

Elder Shipp

29 June 2011 Letter

2011-06-29T14:30:00.000-06:00

Well, this week´s update is much shorter than last week´s, due to it no longer being my first week here, and only having to talk about Saturday through today.

Saturday, 25 June 2011

Today we received a new investigator, Gyula. He is from Northeast Hungary. He's in his 50's and has 5 children (2 sons and 3 daughters). He lives here in Utah with his wife, while his five kids live in various cities back in Hungary. He also works in a factory, reads the Bible, and prays regularly.

Sunday, 26 June 2011

Today was our second Sunday here. We took a few light-saber pictures this morning, and then a lot more pictures on our temple walk this afternoon (it was sunny this time =D). We had a combined priesthood and a combined sacrament meeting. I've learned that they really like to use the same songs over and over here at the MTC, as we've sung "I Believe in Christ" and "Did You Think to Pray" three meetings in a row and "Called to Serve" in nearly every gathering! The fireside tonight was very lively and entertaining. The speaker was Stephen B Allen, who involved the audience throughout the entire devotional, as he talked of Satan pushing our buttons, being unafraid of repentance, and how little we've really given up to be here on our missions. There was also a beautiful quartet sung by 4 Elders in harmony that ended up actually singing twice, with the rest of us humming along the second time. The Priesthood combined meeting was given by Roger Conners who spoke of the gift of prayer and "Having our own 'Sacred Grove' every morning." Lastly, we watched "The Testaments", a movie I've been wanting to see for some time now, and one that has been, and continues to be, one of my favorite church movies.

Monday 27 June 2011

We got another new investigator today: Andi. She's 27, single, and knows a little about the church because she's been taking English lessons from the missionaries. She wants to become a Biology major, and currently works at the zoo. We only had 15 minutes to talk to her today, so we introduced ourselves, and gave/introduced her to the Book of Mormon. We also had a 40 minute lesson with Gyula today. He had a bunch of questions from reading the introduction, (which we asked him to commit to reading the previous lesson), and we were able to answer most of them. I felt like that lesson went very well, that we definitely had the Spirit, and that it was by far the best in language and communication. I think I finally caught up to Elder Swett in how often we speak during the lesson. That part only added to the joy. Also, on a side note, the second half of the cafeteria, and the gym, are both open to missionaries again.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Today I received a letter from Heather that contained an uncommon, yet good scripture: 2 Peter 1:4-8. Also, we had another devotional tonight, given by Elder William R Walker of the Seventy. He spoke of the "Ten Keys to Being a Successful Missionary".

That's about it for this email. Looks like I managed to include everything in this week's email (with three minutes to spare!) =D

Talk to you all next week!

-Shipp Elder

27 June 2011 Letter

2011-06-27T17:52:00.001-06:00

Sorry this week’s blog post is a bit late. There was a miscommunication with some of the other companionships, resulting in us arriving to our 30 minute session, and me being journal-less. But, while the sharing of my experiences may be a little later, it does not at all change what has happened.

Friday, 17 June 2011

Today has been the hardest day yet. We spent over 10½ hours in the classroom, and even though we learned the most today, I feel completely overloaded. We taught our first lesson today to Joszef. The lesson lasted 15 minutes. I said the opening prayer, four lines of a brief testimony, and read two verses, but his answers and questions were, of course, unrehearsed and I got lost immediately.

Saturday, 18 June 2011

The gospel is true and prayers are answered. I felt much better this morning. I tried to keep a prayer in my heart as we studied Hungarian this morning, and while we memorized fewer lines for our lesson with Joszef, all three of us felt like it went much better. (On a random note, I found that Hebrews 11:34 talks of Flying Alien Armies! First time I’ve heard that one before.) Studying on the computer has been my fastest and most successful way of memorizing vocabulary. Unfortunately, we only get three to four hours per week.

Sunday, 19 June 2011

Today was my first Sunday here at the MTC. Sundays are my favorite days here. It is a day of rest (from both Hungarian and classes) and allows plenty of time to personally study the scriptures. We have to remain in suits all day, but it’s not too bad. It rained today, and while it limited opportunities to take pictures of our first temple walk, it was still a nice experience. The fireside was enjoyable. The speaker was Kay McIff, the younger brother of a counselor here, and we finished by singing a powerful version of “Called to Serve”. We finished the evening by watching the “Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration” movie. Also, during sacrament meeting our Branch President asked me to give a five minute talk on the Holy Ghost. After the sacrament, he got up and said: “We will next have a five minute talk by Sister ____, followed by a talk from Elder Shipp on the Holy Ghost.” Lucky for me, I was able to remember enough parts of my farewell talk to give a good impromptu lesson. Apparently, in three weeks it will be someone else’s turn.

Monday, 20 June 2011

I’m just going to start by saying that today was AWESOME! After doing our first service assignment this morning, we started just talking about and discussing fun scriptures. Gym was outside, where I played Frisbee (but not Ultimate, as it is not allowed for some reason), ladder golf, and 4-square. I covered about thirty sections of the Doctrine & Covenants during personal study. While I failed completely at reading the Book of Mormon in Hungarian (A Mormon Konyve), we still had a great lesson with Joszef. Days are starting to go by faster and I feel the Spirit more strongly.

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Random Fact: Today was the Summer Solstice. Things are starting to be blocked off for the Mission President Orientation that is happening the second half of this week. We learned past-tense compositions and conjugations today. Also, tonight we had a devotional by Elder Paul Sybrowski of the Seventy. He spoke of Moses 6 “Walk with Me”, preaching of the strength of missionary work. These past two days I’ve really come to notice the importance of the Book of Mormon. It is the physical manifestation that each missionary, each member, can carry and hand out to show that there is modern day revelation, there is more than just the Bible to testify of Christ, and that it shows there is an important difference between us and other churches. We are not “just another Christian Chruch”. Tomorrow is our first P-Day. I look forward to a day of rest, going to the temple, and replying to letters.

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Today was my first P-Day here at the MTC. Looking at the schedule and from what usually happens on a P-Day, we expected it to be a fairly relaxed day… it wasn’t. At all. Within half an hour of waking up, we began cleaning and vacuuming our rooms. Quickly went and got breakfast, ran to sign up for haircuts, did laundry, ate lunch, experienced that fastest 30 minutes ever trying to email, went to the temple, ate dinner, gave a 45 minute lesson to Joszef and his wife Tundi, had class, followed by planning, and now I’m back here (in my room).

The trip to the Provo Temple was good. Tonight we taught our lesson to Joszef and (for the first time) his wife, Tundi, on the Restoration. We didn’t, unfortunately, feel the Spirit nearly as much as we would’ve liked, but we have a new plan to try teaching tomorrow. I did find it really cool that three to five minutes into the lesson, Tundi asked me if I spoke French. Apparently, I have a very French accent when I speak Hungarian (in addition to my English accent too, of course).

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Today we had our fifth and final lesson with Joszef. It went much better than yesterday’s.
We read only a couple scriptures, then continually testified of the Holy Ghost, God’s love, the importance of families, and of baptism. We opened our lesson by singing “I am a Child of God”, and closed by inviting him to be baptized. He said he wasn’t sure, but he would try to be later. Things are crowded with the 600 missionaries that arrived yesterday.

Since my last letter, I have had many more opportunities to get to know all the other Hungarian missionaries. One of my companions, Elder Harvey, is 23 and is from Michigan. He’s already graduated from BYU-Hawaii in automobile mechanics/repair, and spent three years in Japan. My other companion, Elder Swett, is from New Hampshire. When he was born, his family lived in Denmark, but they moved to the States while he was a kid. He attended Tuff’s (?) College near Boston this last year, has studied French for six years, and has close ties to Hungary. His grandparents are both Hungarian, and his older brother served his mission there.

There are three other missionaries in our group. Elder Rosen is from Sandy, and is the tallest in our group. He enjoys mountain climbing and attended the University of Utah for a year. His companion is Elder Snyder, a short read-head. He’s from near Atlanta, Georgia, and attended BYU this last year. The last missionary in our group (the Kisci, pronounced “Kee-chee”, meaning “young ones”) is Sister Hudspeth, who is from a small town about an hour and a half south of here.

The Osi (pronounced “oo-shee”, meaning “old/ancient ones”) is made up of seven missionaries, who will all leave for Hungary in three weeks. Elder Walker is the District Leader of the Osi, making him pretty much the head of the Hungarian Missionaries. He’s originally from Idaho. His companion is Elder Knight, who is from England and is very competitive. Elder Peterson is from St. George, and lived in Texas this last year. His companion is Elder Johnson from San Antonio. Elder Orban and Elder Bullock form a companionship. Elder Orban is from Idaho. He’s the shortest of the male Osi, but by far the strongest. He works out every morning, gym session, and evening. Elder Bullock is the tallest of all of us. He is from Alberta, Canada, and has played baseball and basketball. Last is Sister Hall, the only sister missionary in the Osi and is Sister Hudspeth’s companion.

I have also seen many missionaries who I’ve know before coming here, including some new ones in this last group of 600 that arrived Wednesday. Now that I’ve had a chance to get into the groove of things, I get an enjoyable half hour of personal time before bed. This week and next we’re having a variety of teachers as our main one is getting married! J There is also a no-handshaking rule still in effect.

Finally, because of the New Mission President Orientation, we have heard that many General
Authorities were here. We just barely finished a special fireside, at which, half of the Apostles were present, including: Elders Nelson, Oaks, Ballard, Scott, Holland, Bednar, and Anderson (along with their wives). Elder Bednar was the speaker during this devotional, giving an amazing and inspiring talk which he titled, “Becoming a ‘Preach My Gospel’ Missionary”. He divided his talk into five main steps, and concluded by repeating his testimony that “we can do this!”

I think that about finishes this letter. While it was late, I think that it was much longer and more detailed than I ever could have typed in a 30 minute email. Talk to you next week!

- Shipp Elder

18 June 2011 Letter

2011-06-19T11:52:00.001-06:00

June 15, 2011 Day 1 in the MTC

After being dropped off, the Elder that was there immediately rushed me to registration where I picked up my nametag, and a packet of forms. Then we headed over to the bookstore where I received a giant package of things, including the "Green Monster", followed by swinging by my room, dropping off both suitcases and my backpack and immediately went to class ten minutes late. There are six of us in the class together: five Elders and one Sister. We have two teachers. Unfortunately, because I was rushed around and told to leave my backpack in the room, I didn’t have any paper or pens to take notes today. Afterwards, we had a fireside and ate dinner. After dinner, we spent two hours role-playing with fake investigators, followed by another thirty minutes in the classroom and a quick tour of where the mailroom and the gym are located.

I am in a group of three. Our P-Days are on Wednesdays. We are allowed to wear casual clothing during gym, P-Days and while in the Residence Halls. I got unpacked, but can’t hang much up until I buy hangers next Wednesday. On that note, missionaries are only given $6 each week.

Along other notes, I am surprised at how much security there is at the MTC monitoring the missionaries. The buildings all look alike, so it’s easy to get lost. Finally, schedules are packed, only allowing ten minutes to move between activities (some no time between, and gym is the one exception, giving thirty minutes to shower). This first day, and even the next couple days, is the easy part. A couple days are easy to pass off as a vacation, camp, or fencing tournament. It’s once the realization that it really is a full two years strike that this will really become difficult.

June 16, 2011 Day 2

Got up at 6:15 this morning, showered, and immediately headed over to the classroom for half an hour of personal study. Afterwards, we sang a song and went to get breakfast. The breakfast here has a lot more variety than Penn, but also a lot bigger crowds. We had an hour and a half workshop, then 45 minutes of gym. The thing I found strange about gym is they have Frisbee out on the field, but no Ultimate. Anyway, it looks like my MTC gym experience will involve a lot of 4-square. After showering, we all went to finish immunizations, where I received a typhoid shot as expected. They also said that the Tetanus…

(I started a new page because I left the notebook in the classroom on accident, and with free time being non-existent, I need to continue writing without it.)

So, immunizations were today. I got the expected typhoid shot and also a tetanus booster, since, even though it’s supposed to last ten years, the MTC only allows five year intervals, with my fifth year being in a few weeks. So, tomorrow I need to swing by the office and pay $100. Would’ve it been cheaper to receive the shots beforehand?

In class today, we learned basic phrases and greetings, such as, “Hi, my name is Elder Shipp”, “How are you”, and “Good morning”. Personal study was cut to only 15 minutes, due to the introduction and visit of our Branch Presidency. So ends day two. I think that not being able to shake hands or have any physical contact with anyone is only adding to the feelings of isolation.

June 17, 2011 Day 3

I plan on sending this letter this morning, so I won’t get a chance to tell you about most of today’s events. Just a couple last things I wanted to be sure to include. While I can receive mail every day, I can only send letters on Wednesdays. Please keep these letters in good condition (possibly scan them). As free time is so limited, I have yet to even open my journal and will use these as my entries.

Also, today we learned how to pray in Hungarian and will teach a 30 minute lesson tonight.

Talk to you on Wednesday, and let me know how you are all doing.

Hear from you soon!

Love,

~~R.J.~~

Shipp Elder

15 June 2011 Pictures

2011-06-15T14:14:00.004-06:00

In the car headed to the MTC

Double line of cars entering the MTC with Missionaries

Families all saying good bye to their Missionaries

Elders were ready to help unload

Valet service at the MTC

Family goodbye

Our last view of Elder Shipp