I hope you've all had a wonderful week at school, home, work, etc! This week at the MTC has been busy, but I have been consistently thankful for all of you. Thank you for the Mary Engelbreit calendar cards in the package last week--they made me so happy and I hung some above my bed! Thanks, Nico for the cute lego man! Allen nővér and I love it so much!
We also hung up all of the fun fall decorations and put the baby pumpkin on our windowsill! It smells like fall and we love coming home each evening to our cozy room.
Every time I walk outside, the view takes my breath away--the towering mountains, the vibrant tree colors, the scent of fall, etc. We have affectionately named a particular towering orange tree "Imre a fa" (Imre is a Hungarian grandpa name). We walk under this tree as we go to every meal and have watched the leaves change from bright green to light green with yellow tips and then to bright yellow. I wonder if we will also get to see the leaves fall!
In class yesterday (Tuesday afternoon), Squire testvér led us in a "Gospel Study Review" about Jesus Christ's Atonement. In these, we first learn and discuss the gospel principle in English, then learn all the terminology and sentence structure in Hungarian and practice teaching the topic to fellow missionaries. As we learned and talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I reflected on the past 5 weeks at the MTC. I have never focused so much energy and effort on a single subject of learning before, nor have I ever filled each day quite this much before! The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to repent and become better. It also includes an enabling power that strengthens us to do things we could not do individually. With His help, all things are possible.
This week, Allen nover and I prepared and taught a lesson to our MTC investigator, Matyas, as well as a few TRC's. The only people in Provo, UT who speak Hungarian are returned missionaries, so our lessons are usually more about sharing uplifting spiritual messages with members of the church. We spent our morning studies (personal, companionship, and language) focused on preparing for this lesson. After lunch, we went to a classroom down the hall for the lesson. Our lesson was very simple and straight-forward, yet I felt the presence of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is always present when we testify of truth, even if it is in basic, simple Hungarian.
NYELVTAN, NYELVTAN, NYELVTAN! (grammer!) If you were to walk past our classroom at any given moment, there is a good chance you might hear this being chanted! Our Hungarian grammar lessons always start with a mini-pep rally led by some pretty enthusiastic Hungarian learners :) Hungarian is sort of like a big puzzle: fitting various pieces (endings) on a word to explain all the things that are happening to that word. Certain pieces only fit other certain pieces (based on vowel harmony), and sometimes they even need to be cut or adjusted to fit unique pieces. For example, "I love you" is "Szeretlek" built from the base word "szeret". The -lek ending means that it is an action going from me to you. Szeretjük a magyar nyelvtant, mert szeretjük a magyar embereket!
Many of our foreign-language friends left the MTC this week. We have become really good friends with the Persian elders, the Czech and Slovak sisters, the Finnish district, some missionaries learning both French and Tahitian (!), and so many others! It's sad to say goodbye, but exciting to think of the adventures ahead for them! We are now the 'oldest' missionaries on floor 5 of T-2. It'll be exciting to meet the incoming missionaries who will fill the empty classrooms!
Two of my favorite Hungarian words of the week are "Napsugár" (sunshine, and a common girl name) and "Mosolyogj" (keep smiling)! During class, our teachers take 'Hungarian culture breaks' and let us ask questions about Hungary, their missions, etc. These breaks are so fun and inspire us to continue our efforts!
 |
| High school friend Taylor Stagg. |
The subject line scripture for this week, "Be of Good Cheer," ends with a call to action: "...And ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come" (D&C 68:6). This is why I am serving a mission. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn a language, to make wonderful friendships, to study the gospel, etc., but the purpose for all of these--the "reason for the season" in a sense--is to bear record of Jesus Christ and to invite others to follow Him.
Tudom, hogy Isten a Mennyei Atyánk, és Jézus Krisztus Isten fia.
Hálás vagyok az evangéliumáért.
Love,
Emma Rae
Francis nővér
No comments:
Post a Comment