Blue Skies and Happy Smiles - December 16, 2019

We had a beautiful blue sky day last Tuesday and it felt so good! I think I had forgotten how beautiful a bright blue sky is. Most days are cloudy, foggy, or smoggy, but on our morning run that day, I looked up and knew it would be a good day 😊

FEF (YSA) with two new friends. We wrapped boxes of chocolate for volunteers at a local animal shelter.

That being said, the next day we woke up to rain so decided to do 'bus finding' instead of normal street finding. We chose a bus and hopped on! Kellmer nővér sat in the seat behind me, so we both had an open seat next to us. Pretty soon, a nice Hungarian grandpa sat down next to me. At first my heart dropped a little because most Hungarian grandpa's are pretty stubborn and set in their ways. Regardless, I turned to him as he sat down and said, "Jó napot! Hogy vagy?" (Good day! How are you?) He turned to me with a big smile and started speaking Hungarian I didn't understand. I did understand (thank goodness!) his questions about my accent and why I was in Hungary, etc. But later Kellmer nővér told me that he had turned to me so surprised at first and asked how we knew each other and I guess just assumed we were already friends from somewhere :) Isn't that so cute? I invited him to the special Christmas sacrament meeting on December 22nd, then we jumped off that bus to catch another and start another conversation. The adventures you have on a mission :) 

Kellmer nővér and I wrapping 40 Book of Mormons for our district Christmas finding activity. 

I also found out this week that I've been pronouncing 'hálás' (grateful) the wrong way, so in my prayers I've been saying 'I am a fish, The Book of Mormon' or 'I am a fish, my family', instead of 'I'm grateful for The Book or Mormon and my family'. Whoops... Thank goodness I was corrected haha!

We love our crock pot and warm soup 😋

Linh is still doing so well. We met with her randomly last night and asked if we could stop by for a minute. We ended up teaching her about dispensations, apostasy, prophets, priesthood power, and so much more! In the MTC we only practiced these lessons in Hungarian, so I was nervous to teach in English. I was suddenly SO grateful for the time I spent reading Preach My Gospel and taking notes and paying attention in Seminary and Mission Prep (thank you brother Kohler)! "Knowledge carefully recorded is knowledge available in time of need" (PMG xi). As we talked about the Atonement, Linh shared her Buddhist beliefs about reincarnation and how in each suffering in life is for transgressions of past lives. However, as we compared the two beliefs, she said, "Ya, I definitely prefer what you are saying!" I still am so in awe about how someone can literally come from ground zero, and gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only something true can cause a change like that! The Savior strengthens, enables, redeems, and guides us every day and in every situation. 

District finding activity! We talked to so many people about Light the World and by the end had given out 50 wrapped Book of Mormons. 

Boldog Karácsonyt 🌲

There were multiple days this week that just could not have been planned. Well, actually, they were planned, but obviously not the right way because we ended up in very different places. One of those days was Saturday. We had received a request for "The Christ Child" DVD, so went to a neighborhood on the edge of Pest to deliver it. When the lady answered the door and said she didn't want the DVD because she's Catholic, we were so confused why we needed to be there. We went down the street ringing csengő's (knocking doors, Hungarian style), and a sweet lady let us in. We taught her and her 93 year old mother the whole first lesson about the Restoration of the gospel, and left them with a Book of Mormon and "The Christ Child" dvd. As Kellmer nővér turned to James 1:5 in the Hungarian Biblia, we both panicked because it was not there! Then I realized that JUST THAT MORNING I had learned that James in Hungarian is actually Jakab! I feel like every time we're about the share The First Vision, something goes wrong right as we're about to. However, Satan didn't catch us this time! I know that wasn't a coincidence that I'd learned that word just hours before. We shared the scripture and I recited the First Vision. In that moment I just couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that I was in Hungary, in a little house, sitting in front of two sweet old women, teaching about Joseph Smith. Their eyes were glued on us and I just wanted to hug them and say, "thank you for living a good life even though you didn't have the truth! This is finally your chance to have it!" if anything, they now have some idea what is waiting for them after this life ❤️

The Ward Christmas party. On the plate is a Hungarian sandwich: Bread, butter, salami, cucumber, peppers, and paprika spread. 

Days seem long but when I write these weekly emails and squish everything into one reading, our life sure sounds exciting :) It's so hard to fully convey these experiences and feelings and moments. It's also hard to express that these aren't the norm either. We talk and walk and study and wait a whole lot, and these moments are like little sunbeams from Heaven, reminding me that everything is worth it :) 

What made this week even better was the ward Christmas party on Saturday night! It started with a musical program where one of the elderly ward members played his guitar and sang and his friend sat at the piano and played. He sang Hungarian Christmas songs and others he'd wrote himself, and ended with 'Halleluiah' in Hungarian. It was such a fun performance and one of my new favorite memories of Hungary. 

We found a Book of Mormon in Vietnamese on a self in our apartment so gifted it to Linh for Christmas! This, as well as all of the other random, yet perfectly timed happenings of this week were a sweet reminder to me of God's power. And of this C.S. Lewis quote:

"If we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggests that we were created for eternity. Not only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it. We are always amazed by it--how fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone. Where, we cry, has the time gone? We aren't adapted to it, not at home in it. If that is so, it may appear as a proof, or at least a powerful suggestion, that eternity exists and is our home.” 

Enjoy this life we've been given! 

Love, 

Emma Rae

Francis nővér