MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well this week has been unforgettable. My last Christmas in Hungary. I have no words to describe how much I loved being here and I would not have wanted to be anywhere else. I will start from the beginning.

This week we started the week off by going caroling to church members, which was so much fun. We went to this one really old woman’s house and I about started crying when I saw her face as she opened the door. Pure joy. It was so cute and I was so happy that we could bring some happiness into her Christmas spirit.

Then the next day was Christmas Zone conference which was so much fun and so funny. We had a talent show that we had to do in front of the whole zone and I seriously died. Ours was so awful it wasn’t even funny; we tried to make a remix of tracting in a winter wonderland. WOW it was awful, yaaaa never again will I try something like that haha. It was great though. Still had a whole lot of fun. Sister Szabadkai fed us and she made us fruit soup and this chicken and rice type of thing. It was incredible. I loved it.

Then we were able to watch a movie. It was the same movie I watched last year when I got into the country just this time it was in English, which was kind of lame because now I can actually speak Hungarian to a point where I would have understood it haha. If you have not seen the movie the little prince go watch it. It has a lot of cool symbolism and is a really great movie! We then got to have Santa come which is actually just one of the AP’s dressed up as him but we still got to sit on his lap and got a super cool pen with our named carved into it. So it was a really cool day!! 

Then when we came back from the zone conference we went to this one old lady’s house where we helped her move. This is the lady that gave us coffee and this time she gave us a candy doll of Satan... which was really weird. I think she is up to something but who knows haha. So we took it home. Tried it. It was like fake chocolate and then broke it and threw it away. It was pretty creepy.

Then for Christmas Eve we decided to make a ton of cookies and go visiting and give out our cookies. It worked really well, either we are really cute and they like us, or we make super good cookies. Probably both. haha just kidding it was the spirit touching there heart to let us in. maybe all three??? Who knows haha. That was really fun and we were able to meet with a lot of people!

This week we have been riding bikes everywhere and so on Christmas Eve and Christmas we rode bikes all over the place. So we started the day by going to church and yep... the road was frozen so I ate it super hard and crashed on my bike. I was fine and I didn’t get hurt but it was a great way to start Christmas! With a BANG!

Going back to Christmas Eve we got to have dinner with a member and it was really good. She fed us a traditional Hungary meal for Christmas... fish soup. I actually didn’t die because I usually hate fish but it was actually super good. Missions will change you. haha We also had stuffed cabbage which is like my favorite. So it was a really great Christmas Eve.

Then on Christmas after church we had planned to go to a church member’s house for lunch but their son got chicken pox the day before and so we couldn’t go over there so instead we made a couple more cookie runs and went tracting. During tracting, a man in a mansion let us in and we got to teach this really cool lesson. We sat down and he started to tell us about how he is searching for the truth and wants to know who God is. We had the chance to teach him the restoration and gave him a Book Of Mormon. It was really amazing to see that people are looking for the truth. We set up a follow up appointment and are going to go back and visit him soon. I know that God is preparing people for the Gospel we just have to do hard things like tracting on Christmas.

After that, we went to Bences house and skyped, which was so great it was so good to talk to you all!! I loved skyping at their house and I am so happy I was able to be with them on Christmas. Bence gave me a really cool picture frame with pictures of us in the last couple months. It was a really cool way to end Christmas! The best part was that I didn’t know Bence was going to be there because Ise told me he had to work but he got it off and then surprised us!! It was so cool! 

I want to finish with a little thing that happened this week. A member let us in and I was asked to give a blessing of comfort to her and in the blessing I talked about her strengthening her relationship with her Heavenly Father and coming closer to Him. I want to make this a goal in my own life. I want to make my study of the scriptures more personal, to pray with more heart and to grow closer to my Father in Heaven. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. 

Happy New Year!!

Elder Ure

I love my Savior and I love Christmas

This week has been super sad but super great at the same time. I was able to say goodbye to Elder Howard and send him on his way to the homeland... it was really sad haha. I will miss him lots but this week was also super great because I got my old companion back Elder Gentry. We had a great first half week and I think it will be a really great transfer. 

Before I get ahead of myself I forgot to write something in my letter last week about something we did! We were able to go to Bences house and watch the first presidency’s broadcast! All us guys sat down on the couch and cuddled and listened to the apostles. It was so great! I loved it! ha-ha. 

This week on Wednesday we went up to Budapest and I was able to say goodbye to a lot of my companions. I said goodbye to Elder Lee and Elder Howard. They are the only companions that are older than me in the mission that I had, and now I am one of the oldest! It’s really weird. I found out that 2/3 of my mission is under their half way mark which means we are a really, really young mission. We have third transfer missionaries training! It’s awesome!

I am feeling really old now a days because everyone in my district is super young. It’s kind of weird ha-ha. We had our first district meeting and it went really well! It was a lot of fun to get to know the new missionaries and make some new friends.

Also, this week we went up to Budapest and we are going to be having a new focus as a mission. In the leadership meeting we talked about ways we can help inactive members come back to the church and for this transfer we will be making a bigger effort to bring them back and to look them up! 

One really funny thing that happened this week was when I got the sisters and us lost in the middle of nowhere on our way to our ward mission leaders house. I thought we were supposed to get of the bus but we got off way too early and ended up walking in the middle of no where ha-ha. It was actually really fun and totally worth it so I am happy about it to be honest ha-ha. We walked and then after a while he came and got us with his car. Even the missionaries need saving sometime ha-ha.

Yesterday in church I was able to give a mini talk about the new push that we will be doing to help the inactive members come back to church and to find their testimonies again and it went... ehhh. I wish it went better but I had no time to prepare because they asked me during sacrament pretty much. So that was really exciting and I just explained it and then bore my testimony about the work and that’s about it. 

This week has been crazy and has flown by and I wasn’t able to even write in my journal sometimes because I would be up late making calls to all the missionaries until it was time to go to bed so it has been a crazy week and I am hoping I will be able to write more next week.

Our work is going well. We have a couple people that will hopefully be progressing in the upcoming weeks and that we will be able to help come unto baptism. I hope they will make the decision to follow their savior.

I would like to finish with a little Christmas message. At this time of year I find myself thinking a lot about my Savior. It’s a given because this is why we are celebrating Christmas but I usually think of it in a different way. Whenever my mind thinks of Christmas I think of the reason why my Savior came to the earth and all he has done for me and I think about the Atonement. I remember 2 years ago, the last Christmas I had with my family, I had an overwhelming spiritual experience while thinking of my Savior and having the feeling come over me that he died for me personally and how grateful I really am for what he did for me. I am so grateful and I would not be here with out Jesus Christ and the baby that was born in Bethlehem. I love my Savior and I love Christmas. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope it is merry and bright. Remember your Savior this week because He loves you.

Love,

Elder Ure

The license says "mom" "28" ( His football #)  

ONE-YEAR IN COUNTRY

Well this week has been crazy! The transfer is over and we are already starting a new one. It is so crazy. I don’t even think it is real. 

This week I was able to see my trainer Elder Murdock and it was so fun! We were able to hang out for a little and the even better part was when we were in the mall and out of no where bence and his whole family came up to us and I was able to introduce Murdock and we got a picture together! IT was so fun and made me feel like I was back in Nyiregyháza as a greenie!

This week I had some really fun stuff happen. First off, we helped a lady move one day and it was really easy. She had us move a couch and that was about it and in return she said she wanted to make us hot chocolate and was like it’s not coffee I promise... Well she brings it out and it is the exact smell and look as coffee and Elder Howard and I just look at each other and are like uhhhh… Well what do we do? So Elder Howard takes one for the team and tried it and I can tell right when he tastes it that it is pure coffee. I don’t drink any and just hold it... well minutes go by and we don’t know what we are going to do because she is right in front of me... but the window was open to my left... sooo ha-ha no I did not throw it out the window. Trust me I thought about it a million times but I didn’t. Luckily she just took it back and said sorry that we didn’t like it, I felt bad but we just explained that we don’t drink coffee and that we thought it had some in it. Kind of awkward. 

This story I am about to tell you is one of the scariest, sad, hilarious, and down right awful things I have had happen out here. We were walking on the street after a teaching and I saw a really old women in a wheel chair going up over the bridge and making her way down on the slopped part, so I said we should help her, so when she got close we asked if we could help her, well this made her distracted and she stopped holding onto the wheels to make her not move so she took off down the bridge... So I start running after her for the life of me and I see her headed straight for an electric box... well I got there right after she made contact with the box and I hurried and pulled her away but she already hit it.... So we turn her around and she has a huge smile on her face and is totally fine... she says, “Well I can’t forget about that”, laughs and then rolls away. She stopped herself and was totally fine. We turned around in pure just confusion and couldn’t help but laugh. It was so funny but so scary, so when helping old people make sure they cant go anywhere! 

Then the next day we went out to Narnia. Which we call a really small village that is far from town. We have to take a bus and it is out there. Far away. So we meet with the person that we planned to meet with but only 1 bus comes once every so many hours... So I look at my watch and see that our bus leaves in 10 minutes and we are a 15-minute walk from the bus station. So we hurry and end the teaching and start walking... Well, we see the bus drive up to the bus stop and start waiting for people. So I take off and run all the way down this street and we made it onto the bus right before it started. It was fun ha-ha it’s always an adventure with buses. 

Another funny thing that happened this week was when we were tracting on splits. I saw a really small cute little kitten (keep in mind I do not like cats very much) but this little guy was so cute, and I am pretty sure it was freezing. So I walked over to it and it loved me from first touch. I picked it up and put it in my coat and then walked around from house to house tracting with a little cat in my coat. It was great. I would set it down at times but it would just walk behind us and then when we would stop at a house it would run up to me and rub up against my leg. It loved me ha-ha. So that was super funny ha-ha. 

This week was also my ONE-YEAR in Hungary mark and we had a little party because I had two sisters that are from my MTC group in our district meeting this week. So we had cookies and blew up balloons and had some fun! Its crazy I have already been here from a whole year. Time is flying its not even funny. 

This week we had splits twice so I didn’t really work with my own companion for the last week of his mission. It was fun. We had one split, then two hours together, and then went on splits again ha-ha it was really funny. 

We also were able to have a really cool experience and I was able to give a blessing to one of the sister’s investigators! It went well and it was really cool. I love giving blessings. It is just a really cool feeling to be used by God to bless others.

This week the ward threw a Christmas party that was seriously so awesome! I loved it. It’s called Mikulás and it’s their version of Santa. They had all the kids sing songs to him and then he gave them treats. They even made us go up there and do it. It was so great ha-ha. After they had this huge carriage with horses pulling us around the city and the horses had reindeer stuff on them and we sang Christmas songs and yelled Merry Christmas at people ha-ha it was one of the coolest things I have done here!

I would like to finish with a quick thought about Jesus. We are talking a lot about Him this time of year and he really is a big part of everyone’s life. He can bring light into anyone’s life, light that we sometimes didn’t even know could brighten our day. I love my Savior and I know he makes me happy. I love you all have a great week.

Elder Ure

This time of year is about LOVE

Well this week flew by and I don’t even know where it went. We have been going all over the place and it’s super fun but I think it got me sick. Kind of lame. 

This week we had splits with the APs, which was super fun. We were able to meet with one of our investigators and we had a lesson about repentance. We did a magic trick for him with fire and a pen that you can erase and he was freaking out. He loved it and could not figure out how it worked. We wrote things that were bad and sins on the paper and then if you hold a fire below the paper the pen’s ink disappears. It was super cool. He loved it and it’s really true. I love the atonement and am so grateful for its healing power.

This week I had a goal to have more faith. So I made a goal to find the miracle in every situation no matter what it was. So this week we were visiting a family and it was a hard meeting and I walked out of it trying to think of how I can help the family. So I decided to try and find the miracle. I prayed about it and even had the opportunity to talk to my mission president about it during my interview with him. I was able to have a really good talk with him and got some really good ideas from him. I know what I talked about didn’t really make any sense because it’s really hard to explain but the point is, we can always find good in every situation. No matter how good or how bad. It’s always still going to help us learn. 

So I already talked about this a little but this week was interviews for the next transfer. I don’t know what will be happening with me and I am really excited to find out. I am hoping I will stay for Christmas but that would mean I would be serving here for more than 8 months which is fine with me I love this place! So before interviews I was sitting talking to Sister Szabadkai my mission president’s wife and she had to get up and go give President Szabadkais phone to him. I hear them whispering in a different room and then she comes back out with the phone and says its for you! I was like uh.... that’s my mission Presidents phone and whoever is calling him to talk to me must be someone that I should be freaking out to talk to... So I answer the phone and all I hear on the other line is HEY IT’S YOUR DAD!!! ha-ha It was Elder Murdock my trainer! He came to Hungary this week and I am actually going to get to see him in a couple hours! He talked to me for a little bit and it was a huge surprise! I am super excited to see him and it’s going to be so fun. It was super funny though because it was right before my interview and my mission president knew all about it. Other than that nothing crazy happened during my interview, it was pretty normal.

After that, we went on splits for the rest of the week and I went with an Elder named Elder Szuch. He is a really cool kid and we talked a ton about going home and hanging out together because we both like sports and stuff like that. It was a really fun split but nothing crazy happened during the split to report about. 

Sorry this email was kind of lame. This week wasn’t that crazy but this upcoming week should be supper great with my companion going home and he will want to say goodbye to lots of people so we should have a lot of people to meet with! 

I want to finish with a quick thought about loving those that annoy you. This is really hard and I have had to learn to do this throughout my mission. This time of year I feel like love is really important so I hope you are all loving because I love you all. It’s hard to love those people that we don’t get along with or those we don’t agree with but in the long run, if we love, we will be blessed. Have a great week!

Elder Ure