Week 50: The Random Irish Man

Dia dhuit,

So that beginning wasn't Hungarian it was Irish, but needless to say it was a pretty interesting and fun week! I was on splits with one of the APs, Elder Fitzgerald and we decided to go out streeting the first day. We were waiting at the stop light and this Irish man with his two daughters came up and, as they were dancing, Elder Fitzgerald starts asking where he was from and the conversation went something like this:

(In an Irish accent)"We are from Ireland my young lad. And who are you?" 

"We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ or the Mormon church! Have you heard about us?"

"Oh yeesssss. You should come to Ireland! It is the promised land!"

"Wait what haha"

"In fact the reason why you are here is because of us! We are Gods! You believe in us!!!"

"We talk about Jesus Christ"

"YES exactly we are Jesus Christ! You should come to Ireland! WE LOVE YOU GUYS!"

We were dying at the end of it. He ran away before we could talk to him some more but lets just hope he meets the missionaries in Ireland and becomes converted. 

We tried this new finding approach by talking about some influential people in the world. We printed out a lot of pictures of influential people and we talked to people on the street about them. We made a booklet with some pictures and the last one was Jesus Christ. It was super cool because the discussions were super meaningful and we taught a lot about the church and about the gospel!

For P-Day, we went to Esztergom and Visegrad! We went with the AP's and the senior couple! Esztergom is right next to the border between Slovakia and Hungary! Super cool experience!

We met with Bence this week and he is doing super well and he is looking forward to the 19th! We are super excited! I need to go but thank you for the emails and prayers! This church is true! Have a wonderful and fantastic week!

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Ballard

Look closely and you will see some white shirts up there!

Always eating!

Week 49: Heaven is Cheering you on!!!!

Szóval,

This week was dandy as usual but I learned a lot! I am trying to set goals during personal study to make the studies more efficient. You get out what you put in.

On P-day, we went up to castle hill and went to some museums up there. It was super crowded especially this time of year but we visited the labyrinth, the same museum I went to a couple of months ago in Kispest. I decided to show Elder Shepherd and it was cool. We ran into some members from Finland along the way as well! 

This week we met with our Chinese investigator Jia You! He is super cool and is really willing to read all of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. We taught him the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and he is asking a lot of really good questions about different things. Super smart! Unfortunately he is going on a trip to the Czech Republic for a conference but he will be reading out of the Book of Mormon!

We also met with Enrique! I am not sure if I talked about him yet but he is from Mexico and speaks Spanish, English, and Hungarian. Really cool guy and loves the church! He just has two concerns and one of them is understanding the reason why Nephi killed Laban. We challenged him to pray about it and he said he would. 

I listened to Elder Holland's talk about how heaven is cheering us on! He said that we often, after times of feeling the spirit in abundance, we dread the coming of tomorrow. But never fear because heaven is cheering us on always! Even though we may fall short, the Lord always gives us credit for trying and trying. The atonement is efficient for each and every one of us. I love this church and this gospel. I wish you all a great and happy week!

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Ballard

Week 48: Bence is on Bap Date!!

Heystzok!

Sooooo, super awesome week this past week! By the title, you  may know Bence is on bap date! We had a lesson with him yesterday and it went really well! We talked a little bit about baptism in our previous lesson with him but he was not sure. Yesterday, we helped answer his questions on different things he had concerns about. We bore testimony of the atonement and repentance and Elder Shepherd asked him about August for his baptism. Bence looked at his calendar and was like "yea August sounds pretty good." We are super excited! 

For P-Day we went to this look-out place called Érzsebet kilátó. You could see all of Budapest from it! It was super windy (as you can tell from the hair) but it was a beaut. 

We also have a new investigator! His name is Jia You! He is from China but he is super interested in the gospel! He met with missionaries on the street once and he got a card from them. But he lost the card! But...he ran into Elder Shepherd and Elder Stephens at Deák Ference Tér! What a miracle that the Lord led him to them! He is super prepared and we are excited to work with him! 

We went on splits twice this week so it was pretty busy but I learned a lot! I was in this city called Érd. I went on splits with my old comp Elder North and it was awesome! We talked to a lot of great people! It is funny because there are a bunch of graffiti around Érd that says EDS. As missionaries we kind of interpret that as "Érd Doesn't Suck" haha.

We also had a dinner appointment with the Stake President and his family yesterday and it was super good! The Stake President is American but his wife is Hungarian and their kids speak both English and Hungarian. Super funny because they combine the two languages so we call that "Hanglish." His wife's mom is not a member but we were able to share a scripture and a spiritual thought about the life after this one!

I am super grateful to be a missionary and to feel the spirit! If you can, participate in missionary work because it is the greatest work here on the earth today! I love you all and have a great week!

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Ballard

Week 47: Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth everyone!

The fourth is not really celebrated in Hungary but we had a delicious Fourth of July meal the senior couple did after district meeting! Senior couples are the best!

This week we went to Gellert's Hegy on P-day and there was an air race going on over the Danube river! The planes were super loud but they were doing tricks and other stuff over the river while we were hiking up. The things that happen in Budapest...

Life in the office is doing well. We are currently searching for apartments and making sure people stay legal so it has been fun!

Bence, our most progressing investigator is reading in Alma right now and he is doing super well! I don't know if I mentioned this before but Alma in Hungarian means apple. He has not mentioned anything about that yet but other investigators have. Funny how sometimes languages correlate in different ways. Anyways, we planned to bap date him yesterday but he said he will pray about it! He believes that each church has truths in it which is totally true and so he has a hard time believing that the truth has been restored in one church. But we have faith he will make the right decision and that he will receive an answer! 

We also met with our new investigator Király István (King Stephen) and he is doing super well! He committed to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it! He is really interested in our message but more so in the reason as to why we are here, giving two years of service to Hungary, out of all places. Super nice guy and is willing to read and learn about the church.

This week I have been reading in the Book of Mormon, this time in Hungarian and it is super good! There is definitely power in the book! I feel a lot better throughout the day after I read it! I speak a lot better and I am able to feel the spirit more! Read the Book of Mormon and follow the prophet's council to read it everyday! Your day will be so much better! Thank you for the prayers and emails and I will talk to you all next week!

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Ballard

Szent Gellert's Hegy Pictures.

Week 46: A Trip to the Land North

So,

This past P-Day was super fun! We got to go to this village north of Budapest (that is why the title is what it is) named Szentendre. Super fun and perhaps the prettiest village I have ever been to! It reminded me of the castle kingdom in Tangled (my Disney knowledge is still going strong ;) ) We got to visit some of the museums there like this museum about the Serbians and their occupation of Hungary and this chocolate museum. There are like super large statues and everything created out of this chocolate in Szentendre. Super impressive and one of the coolest things I have seen! 

Anyways, transfers were this week so, as a result, the life of a secretary becomes super crazy! Well, Elder Shepherd is more busy since he has to deal with a lot of the legal stuff besides finding new apartments and doing other paperwork. 

After transfers, things cooled down and nowadays we are back to normal with stuff. We met with Bence and he is doing super well! He has not smoked in 5 weeks! He reads the Book of Mormon all the time and he prays!! We will be working with him and getting that bap date!

I love you all thank you for all the prayers! I hope you all have a great week! 

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Josh Ballard

Demi, one of the members from Debrecen came to visit!