Hungary Week 76

The transfer calls came!

I have been on the edge of my seat for a couple days now because I have no idea what's going to happen with the time I have remaining and the unexpected happened!  Elder Jones and I are staying together longer than any missionary companionship I have heard of coming from this mission.  We are staying together in Dunaújváros.  Everyone was prepared to say their farewells to us, but the Lord had different plans I guess.  We have already been together 12 weeks, so why not more!  It will be good though because we have many baptisms coming up this transfer and our investigators were scared to see us go, so we get to see a bunch more baptisms together.  

The strange thing is that I may be in Dunaújváros for a VERY long time now.  We have 9 week long transfers, but there are mini transfers thrown in the middle due to missionaries going home due to the big switch between 6 week and 9 week transfers.  Either way, Elder Jones goes home at the end of this 9 week transfer and if we stay together until the end, it means I get to stay here for 5 transfers and go home from here as well!  We will see what the Lord has in store for us though!

This last week, we saw MIRACLES.  We were able to find 9 new investigators and they all seem very excited.  We were able to find a lot of them from the area book, so they were people who met with the missionaries before, but for some reason or another stopped.  It was very nice!  We were also able to meet many people through tracting and referrals. 

I think the most randomly awesome people we found were some people from Detroit, Michigan!  It was a mother and son who have been living here for a couple years.  They were over at our investigator's house!  We walked in and saw them and introduced ourselves in Hungarian and then we realized the mom wasn't Hungarian.  Elder Jones then asked if they were from America, and the mom told us she was from Detroit.  She then called to her son and said, "Hey Americans" and the kid jumped up from the computer saying, "No way!  You are from America!"  It is awesome because they completely remind me of my aunt and cousin and Elder Jones' home town is only an hour away from them.  We are SUPER excited to meet with them again this week.

We also had a miracle as we tracted into an old investigator of the Sisters.  Elder Jones was going to baptize him on the day M was baptized, but he didn't show up to his baptism.  We never really knew what happened, but then on Friday night, the Sisters got a hold of him!  The very next day, Elder Jones and I looked up some investigators who met with the missionaries 1-2 years ago.  We were able to meet with them and set up a new appointment.  After meeting, we asked them if they had friends in the building we could talk to.  They didn't have too many referrals to give, but we still decided to tract out the building anyways.  On the last floor of the building, L opened up the door with the biggest smile.  Elder Jones and I started screaming and hugging him and he just laughed and invited us in.  He had some rough experiences in the meantime and just wasn't sure if the church was for him.  He started going to other churches and solidified his testimony that this is Christ's church!  He was at church the next day and going down the path again to enter into the waters of baptism.  AMAZING experience.

This week, we were also able to make mission goals for the year of 2014.  It is amazing to see the work going the best it has in YEARS.  We looked at spreads from the past 15 years and we are seeing unilateral increases in all aspects of the work.  It is just astounding to see the miracles the Lord has in store and has already made for the people here in Hungary!  We are getting more missionaries, the leaders in our mission are leading through example and we are seeing a zest for the work that is contagious.  Things really are picking up and there is nowhere to go but up.

I have been able to do a lot of reflection this week as well.  I am just so grateful for my mission and the strength it has already been in my life.  My faith is moving forward in leaps and bounds.  I see the blessings and miracles I am given more and more as the days pass.  I truly know, from the bottom of my heart, that this is the church of Jesus Christ and only through the knowledge and faith this gospel gives can one find that true and lasting happiness we all seek.  

Have a miracle of a week everyone and don't forget to smile!  

Sok szeretettel,
Elder Jake Nelson