Hungary Week 59

Hello!

This week was so great!  I had some great experiences with putting on a fun zone training and helping out some Elders in the city of Bébéscsaba on splits.  Things are going great here in Szeged and I am as happy as I could be!

Our zone training was one of my favorites.  We had the whole zone, the Sisters from Budapest and the senior missionaries were so involved.  We started off by using Sister Kovács, the new Hungarian in our mission, to the fullest for a great language tip and we heard a mini training from some Sister leaders on the spirit's role in the companionship.

As for our training, we addressed the 4 basic questions regarding the spirit: 1) What is it?  2) Why is it important?  3) How do we invite it?  4) How can we recognize it?  We started with a great object lesson when we invited 2 missionaries to the front.  We had them close their eyes and try the new Milka bar.  Their task was to describe the taste.  After a while, we all realized the importance of helping others tasting it for themselves.  We related that to the importance of helping others "tasting" the spirit for themselves.

The training was fun and the Spirit was there.  We finished with some great goals in regards to referrals, baptismal dates and starting the transfer off strong with a big push in what we call "Bombs away."  We are encouraging the zone to push it to a new level this week and make an extra effort to make English class more fun and effective. 

We had some goofy Elders on the piano playing "Silent Night" for our closing hymn, but it was fun and it was a great training and a great role play with the help of the members and our investigators here in Szeged. 

We also had a fun Zone lunch by working with the Mormon owner of a new Mexican restaurant.  We ordered burritos for the whole zone and ate together in the church building.  It is always fun to get together and have some good bonding with the missionaries.  I was just shocked by how much the zone training has grown.  We had 28 missionaries at our training as compared to the 20 when I first came here.

I had a great split with Elder Squire in Békéscsaba as well.  We were able to work hard and have a lot of fun out in this tiny city.  We found a new family in the first 10 minutes of tracting, we set up a bunch of new programs, exchanged information with many and I had the best burger I had yet to taste in Hungary.  It was exciting helping out a bit in the city.  SUCCESS.

Things are great here in Szeged as well.  We have many baptisms coming up!  There is more people asking about setting baptismal dates as well, so good news is coming next week!  This transfer is going to change this city!  The only thing I am scared of is the mini transfer right in the middle of all the baptisms.  The mission is an adventure; all I have to do is trust!

In other news, we had a lot of fun in a huge apartment complex we went back to.  I wrote about it last week, but more things happened in this magical building.  We met 8 university students who all invited us back, a random old woman complimented my teeth and hugged me, and all of this happened in one day!  Miracles!

We had a great P-day last week by visiting the Jewish synagogue.  We had a fun time and it was so pretty!  It was just interesting being dressed up as a missionary with a yamaka, but it was a cool look into the Jewish culture though.  

Life is great and I am happy!  We had 9 investigators at church and the branch is excited right now.  Great things are happening in Szeged!  I am so happy to be a missionary.  The only scary thing is that I have 8 months from this day left in my mission!  I better make the most of it.

Have a great week everyone!  Make sure you smile!  

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson