Hungary Week 70

Sziasztok!

This week was absolutely insane!  It was full of miracles and moments of joy and happiness.  I just love my life, especially right now as a missionary!

From Monday until Sunday, we have been experiencing non-stop experiences that will last a lifetime.  Monday is actually the best example of this.  We planned on having a full Preparation day, with rest and fun activities, but then we meet this amazing guy at the library!  He asked to meet there on the spot!

After that, we were invited by members and non members to many Family Home Evenings.  We saw some great things as the referrals started to flow and we were also able to put some members on track to receive their patriarchal blessings.  

After that, we were able to bless even more people who were having struggles with sickness.  The members were also VERY supportive this week, calling US with referrals.  Even in splits with the Elders from Kaposvár, we were able to keep the work going strong.  

I was able to go with Elder Miller's new missionary, Elder Giacalone.  I was his zone leader when he first came in the country about 4 transfers ago.  It was so much fun because he is so similar to Elder Jones.  Our investigators kept telling him that as well!  It was a great split as we just met with person after person, learning one from another. 

Our split was also a great time to let all of our investigators know about Elder Jones' birthday!  This last Wednesday was his birthday and it was awesome to see everything the people of Dunaújváros did for him!  M, our investigator getting baptized this month, baked him a cake, A, our American investigator from Ohio made him pizza, and J, a member here in Duna, made him pizza and bought him desert!  The gifts even continued to Friday when one of our neighbors gave Elder Jones a very expensive bottle of wine!  The irony was the fact that we planned on teaching this investigator the word of wisdom on the very same day!

It was a great birthday for him because we were also able to make some breakthroughs with many investigators.  We were also able to find a new family as we made our way out to a small village to meet with another investigator.  One of our programs fell through, so we had the feeling to head out to the village early.  As we began walking down the empty streets, we saw a yellow house on the corner and smiled at each other.  Behind the door was one of the kindest men I have ever met, Z.  We have already met twice and he introduced us to his kids!  He is a great man and is going places!

Then, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving of tracting and teaching.  We then pulled a little dinner together with the Sisters where I made a soup and they made chicken, broccoli and mashed potatoes.  We then went around the table and said why we were grateful.  I was and still am grateful for my mission!  Oh the mission memories.

Other than that, we had some great experiences getting members involved in the work.  We were able to match up our investigators with their friends in the branch and we were also able to get the branch even more excited about the missionary work.

Our week built up to our amazing church experience of having 4 investigators at church, along with many less active and new members.  It was just awesome seeing the joy in the church member's faces as they looked at the congregation with such joy.  Many people got up to bear their testimonies and felt a little overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people that were there.  The work is going in Dunaújváros!

Sunday night, we had an interview with an amazing 30 year old man getting baptized this Saturday, T.  We were also able to meet with his family and invite them to T's baptism.  This man met the missionaries when he was 10 years old and he has finally found us again and is just so ecstatic to finally have the chance to step and be baptized.  We have only been meeting for about a month, but he is so ready!  We are VERY excited for him.

Today, we were able to have another unbelievable experience and render service to T's mom and introduce the "Mormon's" to a local school during their "Bible week."  It was fun to stand in front of a class and just bear testimony of the importance of Christ in our lives.  

I am having the time of my life and I am in love with my mission.  I just can't wait to see what the next week holds in store for me.  I am sure that there are only more miracles to be had.  Life is great!

Sok szeretettel and smile this week everyone!  

Elder Jake Nelson

PS There will be pictures next week!