THANKSGIVING—Be Worthy Of The Holy Ghost

I won’t be able to talk about a lot this week because not much has happened because I am emailing so early in the week! I have to email today (Monday) because of Thanksgiving and it just so happens that my p-day lands right on Thursday!

The great thing is that I get flight plans for Hungary on Friday!!!! I only have 2 weeks left!!! It has honestly gone by so fast! I have no idea where the time has gone. So I will try to tell you all about the last couple days even though it has only been a couple days since I wrote. The mtc has kinda gotten pretty boring because it is all the same now!

We did have an amazing experience during a lesson this week. We were having a really hard time with an investigator because she was smoking a lot of cigarettes every day, her family hates the church, and she doesn't believe anything we teach is true soooo pretty tough person to teach right? So in preach my Gospel there is a Jeffery R. Holland Quote about if you truly listen to someone while they speak and ask them about themselves you will always be able to teach a gospel truth to them. So that is what we did. We went in there with only a couple scriptures and our Hungarian Book of Mormon and went and taught. It was the best lesson we have ever taught. We were all flowing off one another and teaching perfectly. It was such a testimony to me that if we listen to he spirit we will be guided and know what to say. Also that Jefferey R. Holland knows what he is talking about. It was really cool.

 We had a Devotional Last night because it was Sunday and it was pretty good. The guy that spoke was super funny but also taught a lot of good stuff. Nothing really hit me super hard though but later that night I received some really awesome personal revelation about some things that I would like to share. I was thinking about my Companions and how they are always with me and how weird it will be when I don’t have one anymore. Then the thought came to my mind that I always have a companion as long as I am living the way I am supposed to. The Holy Ghost is always there to lead and guide us in our lives. We can be led and guided every day of our life as long as we are worthy of that. It is an amazing gift to have. Without the Holy Ghost I would not be able to be a missionary. He is the teacher, I am the tool. I can’t learn Hungarian, But with the Holy Ghost I sure can speak it even if I don’t even know what the words mean that I am saying. Be worthy of the Holy Ghost. It will guide you and bless you in your life more then we can even understand.

 Last I want to say, never let your faith be difficult to detect. I wish I was better at this before my mission. There are a lot of things that I would have done, But me telling you now, let your faith show. It will changes lives.

Tell next week!

Sziastok! Szeretek Titeket

Elder Ure 

Middle elder is from Hungary

Our pregnant teacher

MTC WEEK 6

Well it has been another week already. I can’t even believe where the time goes. So much has happened this week I don’t even know or probably remember all of it. So this is my schedule everyday. 

Wake Up: 6:30

Get ready: 6-7:05

Breakfast: 7:10

Class: 7:35-11:30 Which is when we study for an hour and then have a teacher who we usually teach as a fake investigator or learn a lesson in the language. Once again our teacher only speaks Hungarian. 

Lunch: 11:30-12:20

Class again: 12:20-3:30

Gym: until dinner

Dinner and then personal study, companion study, and language study until 9:30 

Then go back to the dorm and get ready for bed and sleep and then do it again!

This obviously changes depending on if we have a devotional or not but not by much it is usually pretty much the same.

We have choir practice on Sundays before the devotional and Tuesdays. We perform on Tuesdays. This Tuesday we sang “Have you done any good” and it was so awesome!! We sing in the tenor section which I don’t even know what that means but hey I like it so it works for me! The Choir director is the same one for the tabernacle Choir and he is literally amazing. He tells the best stories and is so spiritual. I love him. 

So Thanksgiving is coming up and it will be a different p-day for me because obviously that lands on a Thursday. I think I will be emailing either Tuesday or Wednesday. I am not sure. We get to do a service project and I am so excited! It will be so fun. We are going to serve food I think to people. I don’t really know but I know it involves food and people hahaha. 

An update on the accents. I fooled them!! They totally believed me and thought it was real. I lasted all the way until Thursday night before I told them that I am actually a normal mormon Utah boy haha. I was still proud of myself that I was able to make them believe me. When I told them, they all freaked out and laughed and thought it was awesome!! 

This week my package from home included some "Walking Dead, Zombie nerf guns"  It was awesome! (Thanks Dad!!)  I loved the Guns! We took them and before we gave a devotional to the Albanian Distirct one night, we sneak attacked them and shot them up. It was great!

I have officially lost three pounds at the MTC. The food here is keeping me alive slowly. I think I would die if I had to stay any longer than 9 weeks though! I actually have become more fit from working out and eating all the time so that’s nice. 

So this week I got very humbled with the language and just Hungarian in general. Our teachers told us that they have been teaching us the foundation of the language and not really how to speak correctly. So I have been saying everything wrong this whole time technically. That is Okay though because they now are teaching us the harder things that make how we actually speak  correct. We will get there sooner or later. haha. 

We Skyped a real member straight out of Hungary the other day and it was so cool but the hardest thing I have done yet that is for sure. She was a member right in Budapest and spoke so fast. Add that on to a bad Internet connection and it equals me not knowing one word she is even saying. So I will hopefully learn more in the next two and half weeks so I can understand so I don’t die out there. It was really cool to hear a native speaker and ask her questions and bear my testimony to her!! 

So in a lesson this week we almost made our investigator not interested anymore by sharing a scripture from Isaiah on accident. We looked up the wrong chapter and verse and we thought it was about something completely different but didn’t know what it said because it was all in Hungarian obviously so our investigator asks "what is the house of Israel?" In Hungarian and our jaws just drop so I just tried to say that it’s the church and changed the subject. It was so funny but could have been bad. haha. 

Well I will finish up with some things that I have learned this week. The first is Love. Love is the most powerful thing in the world and if we love who we teach we will teach with a new purpose. I heard a quote that said "when you don’t know what to say or what to teach put yourself in the shoes of your investigator and convert yourself." I really love this because it is so true and has really helped me think about what the needs of the people I am and will be teaching. 

Next quote is "The most powerful thing is what you do, Not what you say" Being a missionary is a lot about how I act and who I am. You have to have the attitude that you are a representative of Jesus Christ and that people see that. This applies to everyone’s life. When I have a family I have realized the way that I am going to teach my children is by who I am and what I do. We can all teach people through our actions. You are always being watched. Be who you would want your children to be. 

Last I realized something about prophets. If you truly believe that The prophet of the church is a true prophet of the gospel and he testifies that Jesus Lives and God loves us, How can we doubt? I have no doubt that this Church is true. It has been testified unto me by the The Holy Ghost and has changed my life. I love this gospel and I love all of you.

Love,

Elder Ure

All my food packages under my bed!!!!

Elders going to Albania

Elder with the same CTR ring

 

MTC Week 5

This week has been Awesome!!

I have learned so much in the language but it also gets harder and harder every single day so that is always a challenge. I also am always super tired. Pretty sure that’s how Satan is getting me here at the MTC because that’s about all he can do. I am studying hard though. Dont worry! 

Grammar for the language is a killer though. I don’t even know what some of the grammar rules are in English so put that in Hungarian and it does not mix well. There are so many conjugations and vowel harmony and linking vowels and plural k's and agglutinated Post positions sooooo ya, it will come sooner or later. That is a work in progress. 

The best dinner ever happened a couple nights ago. They gave us Chick-fil-a and I about died eating it. It was so good! (Shout out to Stockton, Peyton and Heather for that one day when we went and got it). It pretty much saved me and also reminded me what real food tastes like. 

It also snowed for the first time and I loved it. Snow is my favorite thing in the world so I was a happy Elder Ure that day. It was also funny to watch my companions because they are Cali boys and never had really experienced snow before so that was funny so see them get all bundled up in their coats like it was Negative 3 degrees out.    

I was able to host new missionaries this week also! This is when you get to pick them up off the curb and take a picture for the family and then rip them away from their family for two years:):):):)

JK it wasn't bad at all it was actually really fun and I was able to help out some new guys that were having a rough time saying goodbye. I was able to show them around and give them advice and kinda see what it is like from the other point of view!! It is still hard seeing moms cry leaving their son but cool at the same time. 

So we had some very funny experiences with the new Finnish elders in my zone. When they first get here they have to go through an orientation by the zone leaders and we tell them all about the MTC and give them a tour. So my comps and I decided to try to pull off accents and pretend we were from other places again. This time we had to talk though. So I was British, Veres Elder was a Hungarian that only spoke Hungarian and a little English and we would translate for him, and Dixon Elder was Australian. So we go in there and because Veres elder doesn’t speak english and Dixon was too scared to actually use the accent I was stuck speaking the whole time pretty much. The funny part is one of the new guys was from lone peak and he recognized me and asked if my name was Cameron and I was like no I have never heard of that name before, my name’s max. Then later that night one of them asks me where in England I lived and I was like... UHHHH so I get on the computer and you can look at maps on there and I find a random house and say that is mine. They all still believe me so I am going to see how long I can last!! It has been so funny. 

Also some funny stuff happened teaching lessons this week too. We messed up the words and said 'God dies our prayers' instead of 'God hears our prayers' and our investigator just started laughing at us and we were so confused. Then this same lesson we gave her a card with our number saying for her to call us if she ever got the urge to smoke so we could help her not (she is a smoker by the way) but we didn’t know how to say that in Hungarian so we said "call us if you ever want to smoke" hahah it is was funny when we figured it out but we got the point across. 

I will end with some quotes that my Dad sent me…

"Because of the Atonement all failures are changeable and temporary, Except the one that occurs when we give up, so whatever, you do, Don’t you ever give up," I love that. Don’t ever give up when it’s hard. And last, "If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?"

We all go through hard times. Those are the ones that test us and make us better. I know through the Savior and with perseverance we can do incredible things. I love you all so much. 

Elder Ure 

first zone leader

Favorite elder going to Finland

snow day!

MTC Week 4

First Companions in the World

Well this week has been a rollercoaster of emotions and events. It has hands down been the best week of the MTC yet though. Such a hard but rewarding and just awesome week. 

So I will start off by saying that we successfully made the sauna and it was very nice. It didn’t get super hot but we where able to still sit in it and feel good and relax. We plan to make a better one next week though. The blankets we used let in too much cold air so we are using thicker ones tonight probably. 

So this week both of my companions and I got new callings because the Finnish Elders are leaving Monday!! I will miss them. They are all such great guys. So I have been called to be a Zone leader with my companions, A district leader over our district, and a Sacrament coordinator. So that is going to be some crazy new responsibility. I am very excited though! It will be all  new and I can’t wait to take on the challenge. They said that no one has ever had as many callings as I am so that's a first. Pretty cool right?

I had to say goodbye to Kade this week and that was tough. He is going to be such and amazing missionary and I am so excited for him to be out there already though!! I miss having him to have talks with at night already though! 

I had such an amazing fast Sunday though. Best one I have ever had in my life. I wasn’t even that “Hungary” all day and that in itsself is a blessing. Anyway, the most amazing part was after sacrament when all the elders meet and talk. The lesson was on repentance and it pretty much blew me away. I have always been really hard on myself and could never get myself to forgive myself for anything. I would always just dwell on it and it would be awful. Well while I was sitting there listening, one of the Finnish elders said something that changed my life. He said, "when you have truly repented and done everything that is necessary and you can feel the spirit again that is when you know you have been forgiven." Right when he said that I felt literally arms of love rap around me and the spirit poured over my body more then it ever has in my entire life. I have never felt the spirit more than in the MTC and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I know that my Savoir lives and died for me. He saves me. The witness I have of this after this experience is unshakable. I know the atonement can heal everyone. I love my Savior. 

The language took a leap this week. I was able to start understanding more and saying more. I still am having a really hard time but it is getting better. I am studying so hard and praying for the gift of tongues. I will get it sooner or later. I am not too worried. 

Halloween was a little hard. Missed everyone so much because I know how much fun you guys where having.

Thanks to Grandma Ure, all the elders in my zone where able to enjoy a awesome Fiesta Night. Me and another elder put our chips and salsa together and pigged out will all the Elders!! It was so much fun. 

Well I will end this week’s email with a quote from a devotional that I liked. 

 "Jesus Christ and God The Father were the first missionary companionship". this blew my mind. I am acting in place of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I am doing what they did in the beginning. This changed my perspective a lot. It made me realize how special I am and how important this work is. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I love you all so much. Another week down!! Half way to Hungary! 

Love, Elder Ure