SHARING MY TESTIMONY

Well this week was pretty crazy... A lot of big stuff happened that I thought would never come. I hate “lasts”. I feel like every week there is something that is a "last" for me and it’s freaking me out. This week it was the last time I will be in the mission home until I go home so it was a pretty weird feeling. It was my last zone conference that I did and when it is your last conference you give a departing testimony... the lame thing is that I still have lots of time and it just happened to be that the zone conference was really early in the transfer so I had to give mine really early. It was still a really amazing experience and it was for sure a life-changing day. This week has been really cool and I have been able to receive answers that I have been searching for, for months, but I will talk about that later.

This week we did a lot of white boarding. This is when we take a big white board, go to the most crowded place, write a question on it and talk to everyone we see. We sometimes get groups of people and we just talk to all of them. I feel like I need a stool to stand on… haha. It’s lots of fun and is really successful. 

We had a great lesson with Norbert and we taught him about the Atonement and how important it is in all our lives and how it works. We read from the book of Mormon about mercy and justice. I found this out a year or so ago but this is one of my favorite pictures of Jesus Christ because if you look close you can see mercy and justice. Cover one half of his face. The right side is mercy and the left is justice. The faces are different but they are one in Jesus Christ. Its a really cool painting- I love it.  (attached piture)

We also went on splits with the assistants this week, which was really good. We worked hard and it was a pretty normal split. I always like working with them. 

I learned a really cool thing in church yesterday about Gods’ promises and how he lets us cheat. We were reading in D&C about The promises of God and how he will give us Knowledge and we learned that if we read the scriptures everyday before work, or school or anything, we will be smarter because the spirit will help us remember the answers and I can’t wait to use this in school. So to all those that are trying to learn something, read the scriptures for at least 15 minutes at the start of your day and your grades will be better. 

So we then had our zone conference. It was really good. We talked about how to learn Hungarian... because it’s flippin hard to learn. So we gave some tips to the missionaries and talked about making a plan. My companion and I are doing a thing where week by week we speak less English. So every week we add a days of speaking Hungarian. So this week we will speak Hungarian for three days. Then next week for 4 days. The last week will be the last week of the transfer and it will mean that we will speak Hungarian the whole week, so don’t make fun of me if I cant speak English when I come home.

Then my departing testimony came. I remember listening to a missionary give his when I had just got to the country and I was like... wow that day will never come. And it still feels like that, but then I stood up to give my testimony and it hit me that it’s all kind of coming to an end... I talked about obedience and how we need to follow God in all aspects of life an that’s when he will bless us with ALL of his blessings, I then talked about how Happiness is a decision and that in every situation we can find the happiness and I pulled that into the Atonement of Christ. It was a really cool experience to stand there and talk about the things that I have learned on my mission and to tell the missionaries that I know Christ lives and strengthens us. I talked about how the Atonement is there for sin, but also for strength. I have learned over my mission that anything can be overcome with the Atonement of Christ. I love my mission and I don’t want it to end! 

I love you all have a great week!

Ure Elder 

BELIEVE IN THE ONE THAT CONQUERED ALL

It’s been another busy week. The weeks are flying buy! It’s pretty crazy. Time just doesn’t even exist out here.  

Last week we went on an alpine slide for p-day, which was super fun. We had a good time and we were able to look around and see some super pretty stuff. 

Then that night we started tracting in a place I never had been and found a sign that said Vintage house. And I was like well we have to go tract that one. So we go knock on this house that is really nice and no one answers. So I look around and on the door there is a paper that says call this number to talk to someone... So what did I do? I called it. This lady answered and I was like well I am a Mormon missionary and me and my friend are going from house to house talking to people about religion and we wanted to know what this house is. So she explained that you can rent the house out and it is like a vacation home... So I then started talking to her about who I was and if she had heard of the Mormons and I ended up asking if I could send her number to the missionaries in her town so that they could call her and talk more and she said yes!! I was like ... uh this isn’t real life. So I passed it on and that was that. Sometimes calling random numbers is a good thing :)

The next day we went on splits in Debrecen and I was able to work with another missionary which is always super fun but weird at the same time because they treat me like I’m some old geezer that is all wise and like I know the answers to everything but I am actually still growing and learning to. So it’s a good time to work with young missionaries. We went to the city center and set up a white board and asked people what makes them happy and had some really great conversations. I was able to help him crack his shell and start talking to people using the couple words he new! He is actually from England so his accent is super thick and it was pretty hard for him but still went well. Later that night we got a ‘let in’ and it was his first one!! It was a really cool couple and hopefully something will come out of it. In the morning he made us a British Breakfast, which was super good. 

Later that week we went to a family night put on by the senior couple here and we translated for them and it was a really cool experience. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed us and one of the members shared her story and it was really powerful to hear how much the Gospel had blessed her life. No matter where you are the Gospel can still reach you and that’s the best part about it. It’s true, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from or where you are going. 

We also had some crazy people talk to us this week. One dude made us hold his hand and he said a prayer and did some like weird which craft in front of us and then told me I was faithless... I was like uhhhh what, I am the one talking to you about God. I think he might have drank a little but we gave him a card and went on our way. 

We went on another split this week with some other elders from NYiregyháza where I started my mission and one of them is from Lone peak! We had a good talk and it was fun to catch up on how things are. 

We had a miracle happen this week while we were tracting. We knew we had a lot of people to call to set up with so we sat down and started calling people and Elder Durney called a kid that wanted to meet and he was actually able to set up right then and there and we met with him an hour later. We taught him and his girlfriend and it was really powerful. They are both orphans and have been left by there families and still believe in God. They are really cool and could be some really great investigators. So I will keep you updated on that.

I was standing on the street this week talking to a woman and it hit me. I realized that I am so small and that if I zoom out and look at what I am doing; Gods work is so much bigger than me and how amazing it really is. I was on a street in the middle of Hungary. A totally different land than my own, I was speaking in Hungarian.... uh What??? Who even speaks that language and what even is that? Two years ago I couldn’t even say hello. On top of that I was talking about the most important thing in the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The one thing that can change people. The one thing that makes families be together forever. The one thing that over comes death. I was teaching someone that. That’s when I realized that this feeling right here is the reason I love being a missionary. It’s hard. It’s been long, but it is all worth it and for the next couple weeks I get to do that everyday. I have to make it count, because this is when it really matters. There is a quote by Muhammad Ali that I really like it. He was once asked how many sit ups he does and he said, "I don’t count my sit ups, I only start counting when it starts to hurt, because that’s when it really counts." When we are in pain, when life has us at the end of our rope and we think we can’t go any further, that is when we grow the most. The only way we can do that is through Jesus Christ. Let Us believe in the One that Conquered all.

Elder Ure

LOVE GOD AND PUT HIM FIRST

This week wasn’t too crazy but we still had a good time and worked hard. We had some cool stuff happen but our investigators are working a lot and some just not progressing so we are finding new people. 

Last P-day we went to a castle, which was super cool. That’s for sure a perk of serving in Hungary because p-days are awesome. We got to look around and they actually had armor that you cool put on so it was a super cool p-day. I sat in the king’s chair.

After that I went on splits with a new missionary. This guy has been reading my blog ever since he got his call and was like wait what... you are the elder that I have been reading about, it was wack haha. I’m famous. It was super crazy because we were talking about when I started my mission and he was like... that was the beginning of my junior year pretty much. I was like wow... I’m super old. We had a great split and it was super fun to see him give it his best with the language and see the gift of tongues in action. He was pumped up and so we got a lot done and had a great split. We actually found a less active member that ended up coming to church... it was a crazy story.

So we knock on her door and she lets us in and we sit down and start talking to her and she starts telling us about why she hasn’t been coming to church and how she has been sick and in the  hospital... then she starts talking about how there are little things or bugs or something in her apartment that at night like torment her and bite her and stuff and how she has had people come and clean her house and sleep in her bed and they can see them or feel them, soooo I was like well she might just be hallucinating so I was like well we can say a pray to bless your house that the sprit will be here. So we knelt down and said the prayer and I like cast out the spirits and stuff. I have never done anything like that and it was a cool feeling of peace that entered the room after. So that was a really interesting experience. Then she came to church and we are going to try to help her to become active again!

This week was my last MLC. The missionary leadership meeting that we have every transfer. It was kinda sad but it was really good. The spirit was strong and it hasn’t even hit me that it was my last one. I love being together with the leaders and talking about how to make the mission better. It was great and the spirit was strong. On the way down there we talked to a girl from Bulgaria and she told us all about her country. It sounded beautiful and she said there is awesome snowboarding there so I am going to have to check that out later. She was really nice but didn’t want to really talk about the church but I learned a couple Bulgarian words.

We also met with another less active and she gave a really cool painting of Jesus that her friend did based off of a Liahona picture. It wasn’t the original but we put it up in our apartment. She didn’t want us to come back, which was sad, but we had to respect that and just said for her to call if we can help in anything.

Another crazy thing that happened this week was I got something called Puszi from a drunken man... This is the Hungarian was of saying the like French kiss on each cheek because that’s a thing here. See... I can reject girls when they come up and want to give me Puszi... but when a guy says he wants to give me puszi, which is totally normal here, it’s like a part of the Hungarian bro hug. So I had to accept it. He was a cool dude and we had a good talk with him but the only reason we stuck around was because his friend wasn’t drunk and was actually interested so we had to take one for the team and talk to the drunk dude while one of us talked to the legit guy. It was funny and I am kinda mad it happened because I almost made it my whole mission without receiving man puszi but its okay it was good experience haha. 

We also got a let in this week and taught this lady that is into healing people with energy... it was pretty interesting and I am sorry I only talk about interesting people here but most Hungarians are interesting haha. It was cool to talk to her but will be kind of hard to teach her but she is willing to read the Book of Mormon so we are going to go back and teach her. It was cool.

I want to finish with quick thought. I love God. This is a simple sentence, but this week I realized what it really meant to me. I Know that God will lead me in my life and that he will lead all of us, and if we put him first and have him be the number 1 person in our life that we love, then all the other people in our life that we love will be blessed. He will pick us up and carry us. We will not need to worry. He will take the trials from our shoulders... so if you really love something it will be first in your life, so let us all put the most powerful and loving being in our life first.

I love you all.

Ure Elder 

LIFE IS SO GOOD

This week has for sure been a mix of feelings. I feel like I have said a ton of goodbyes. One, because Elder Robinson left and we said goodbye to all of our investigators and stuff but also going to transfers was weird. I don’t know anyone anymore and there are a lot of new faces. It’s great but kinda weird. I feel like a grandpa... I am now the oldest mission- time wise in my mission… Well me and Elder Veres. Pretty crazy.

This week was really great. We had some amazing stuff happen and I like my new companion. He is from Broomfield Colorado. I’m finishing with a boy from the motherland!!! It’s going to be really good. He goes hard so we are going to do work this transfer. He likes to run so we are going to go running and it’s going to be great.

We met with Norbert this week. He is our investigator that is a tattoo artist and is a total homie. He is really cool and doing really good. He just needs to make some more steps to get closer to baptism. We taught an awesome lesson about how a tattoo artist has to follow rules to give a good tattoo and then applied that to the gospel and the commandments. I think it hit home with him and he really liked it. So that was really cool. The Gospel can apply to anything that’s for sure. 

We also had a cool teaching with Monkia, she as on baptismal date but was still drinking coffee but she hasn't drank coffee in a couple days and is now only drinking the Inka coffee stuff... its super cool and a miracle so we are pumped about it. 

This week we went home teaching and got fed a 5-course meal.... best day ever. ha-ha It was so great and yummy and we got lucky that they invited us to go.  On the way home, we found this like memorial place where they executed people... it was pretty nuts and it was surrounded by crosses and had signs saying it was like life-threatening because it was so old. It was cool, the stuff you find in this country is nuts. 

The main thing that happened this week was we were finally able to meet with Sára. She is the woman I talked to on the bus that came to church. She met with us and it was such a cool experience. She sent me a text during the week but I never got it and so I read it right there and it was talking all about how she is in the hardest time of her life and how she feels like something is missing from her life and that this could be what she is looking for and how grateful she was that I talked to her and how she was looking for her path and stuff like that. So we bore strong testimony of how this really can help her and this is the path that she is looking for and that God loves her and she started crying and it was crazy because I told her that when I saw her on the bus I got prompted to talk to her like three times but I didn’t want to because I was tired and it was super hot but then finally I followed the prompting and talked to her... and I started tearing up and it was just really powerful to see her feeling the truth touch her and she even asked towards the end how becoming a member works, so we are going to have an awesome teaching with her tomorrow. God really does guide us. That’s one thing that I for sure have learned over the last little while. I love being a missionary. Life’s just good when you trust in God. Life is SO good.

Ure Elder