Hungary Week 15

This week was wonderful.  We saw some hardships, but we are always being blessed with miracles.  

This week was hard in the sense that we had to stop meeting, drop, five of our investigators.  They were people who we were meeting with that just weren't willing to use those answers we were working to help them achieve.  That is probably the hardest part of missionary work, when a missionary sees someone who knows that these things are true, but isn't willing to do anything with that knowledge.  As missionaries we read the Book of Mormon daily because if we don't continually strengthen our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, we will lose it just like an unexercised muscle.  The simple things that in which we do each and everyday are what make the real difference.  The simple acts of reading, praying and going to church are the foundational concepts in which we can begin to gain and maintain a testimony.  A prophet once said, "It is easier to prepare and prevent, than repair and repent."  Endurance is the hardest step of them all.

This week was also kind of a reality check for me as well.  I realized that I'm going to hit my six month mark this week and also that my chances of leaving Veszprém, my first area, in the beginning of December are pretty high.  The fact of my likely leaving of Veszprém was kind of a hard thing for me to realize.  I will be honest, I was feeling discouraged because I realized the chances of me leaving here without helping someone into the waters of baptism are very high.  It is not all about baptizing while I am here serving, it is just such a wonderful opportunity to help someone to the point in which they decide to give it all to the Lord and truly change through taking those steps into the water.  It was a hard realization for a moment, but then I remembered all the good I have helped the Lord do among this people.  I am just so grateful I can serve in Hungary and give these people my all.

Some happy news from this week is that we have helped three new investigators commit to working towards a baptismal date, two in January and one in December.  It has been quite an adventure with these people this far, I just can't wait to see what lies in store for them in the future.  

Bowen elder and I had a funny experience with our mission leader this week though.  We told him about our schedule and we ended up discussing our preparation day, the day in which we rest and prepare for our week.  We explained to him that we have been working quite a bit on those days in which he responded by commanding us to rest this preparation day.  So for some fun, we took a bus with two elders from Székesfehervár, including my MTC companion Gould elder, to Lake Balaton in which we saw the sites and just had fun exploring.  So beautiful. 

Another great week here in Hungary,

Elder Jake M. Nelson