TRANSFER WEEK AND MIRACLES...

Well this week was crazy!!! So much cool stuff happened and so many miracles so I will try to put it all into one email. I am staying in Pest and getting a new companion named Elder Leavitt!

At the beginning of the week I went on splits with an elder and we had a super cool miracle happen. We went tracting and I felt like we should tract a whole street all the way to the end but it was getting pretty late and Hungarians do not like us when it is late. Like 7.30 was past their bedtime and we were tracting at like 8.30. So we kept going and I just knew we needed to keep going. Don’t know why but we did. So we got to the end of the street without getting killed and were waiting for the bus and out of nowhere a man that we talked with turned the corner and had come out of his house and walked down the road looking for us. He came up to us and told us that his daughter was actually interested and asked if we had anything that we could give him for her to be able to learn about us. We asked if we could go back and meet her but he just wanted a card and then left. It was so cool and we were pumped because that never happens. So that was a really cool miracle. 

We also found a new investigator a couple weeks ago but just this week were able to meet with him and he ended up being a really cool young guy. He listened to us and told us that he would like to meet again because the plan of salvation interested him so we set up for this week! We are super excited about it. 

So one of the best things that happened this week was when we taught Attila and Dora the plan of salvation. We taught the whole thing and the spirit was so strong and at the end we asked if they would be baptized and they said yes!!! We didn’t put a date on it because they still have a lot to learn but in the next month or so we think we can have them ready to be baptized so that is seriously the coolest thing ever. I am so happy about it and I was about jumping for joy when Dora said that she totally wants to be baptized. They are seriously so cool and I love teaching them. Most prepared people I have ever met on my mission. 

Later in the week we had a very interesting experience. We went to a gypsy funeral, which is a very interesting experience. They play very loud sad music and pass around vodka and smoke a lot and it was really sad but I learned a lot from it. The reason we went was because the woman from two months ago that I gave a blessing to had passed away from her cancer and it was really sad but at the same time amazing to know that she accepted Christ in her life and that there is life after death. So we were able to go to that and we even were able to bless the gravesite with one of the members, which was also a very cool experience, defiantly something I will never forget.

We also took suit coats off this week so we are free!!! Its super nice to just walk around in short sleeves. I also made cookies for Attila and Dora because I had all the American ingredients and they loved them. So I can give myself a pat on the back for that haha. 

We had a really cool thing happen one night when we went out streeting and couldn’t find anyone on the street and just didn’t have any success but Elder Veres has a motto that you can’t leave the court until you make a 3... so before we went in for language study we said a prayer that we would find one person that would be ready for our message and we only took one card with us because we prayed about the card we needed to take and we hit the streets. We walked around for a little getting rejected and keeping the one card until we felt it was the right person. So we couldn’t find anyone but we talked to everyone that came in our path and it was getting pretty late so we decided to head home and had faith that the person would be put in our path. And that’s what happened. We turned the corner and saw a young boy and his mom pretty much playing tag down the street so we waited for them and stopped them and we had a really great talk. We bore testimony and she took our card. No she didn’t say she wanted to meet but that’s not the point because when we gave the card to the little boy it had a picture on it of Jesus and when he looked at it he turned to him mom and said, “who is this?” and she said that’s Jesus and he said oh with a big smile on his face and then they walked away. We left and felt like God had answered our prayers. It was pretty amazing even if all we needed to do was show a little boy who Jesus is. I know that will stick in his head. 

This week I was able to bless the sacrament in Hungarian for the first time on my mission and it was really cool. I love blessing the sacrament and it was even better in Hungarian. 

We also got two new investigators this week that are pure gold. They were a referral from church head quarters and we went and looked them up and gave them a Book Of Mormon, which is what they ordered. They have learned about all types of churches and haven’t felt like they have found the truth because they want to feel it not just know it. So we taught and amazing restoration and the spirit was strong and I know they felt it and we set up to go back this Friday so that was really cool and we are just having miracles out the wazoo up in here. It’s awesome. 

To finish one last story of this week. We watched the life of Joseph Smith movie with Attila and Dora and it was so powerful. The spirit was there and we could tell they learned a lot from it and at the end I asked them if they would pray about the movie and ask if it was true and if Joseph is a true prophet and Dora without hesitation answered and said I already know it’s true. I was stunned and just so happy she could feel its truth and the spirit touched her heart. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he restored the Gospel to the earth in these days. I know its true, I would die for it and that’s what pushes me to serve everyday. I love you all so much have an amazing week.

Look for the miracles that God gives to all of us, they are all around.

Ure Elder

"I HAVE NOW SERVED A SISTER MISSIONARY MISSION..."

This is going to be a short but sweet email. 

This week was awesome and we saw so many miracles. I am so grateful for the hand of God. 

So Attila and Dora are doing so well. They are seriously the coolest people I have ever met and they are progressing super well. This week Dora asked how people are baptized in our church and if she really likes the Mormon Church what does she need to do to be baptized.... I was juts like uhhh well… and explained it to her that she needs to live according to the church standards and she agreed and so this week we are going to give them a baptismal date!! We are super excited and had some really great meetings with them. They love us and made us this unreal Hungarian dish that I am serious.... I DIED. It was so good. It was like hay stacks with a Hungarian twist and I was in heaven. So don’t worry mom Dora is watching out for us and she is my “Pest” mom. I love them!! 

Also this week was interviews because next week is transfers so I won’t be emailing next week on Monday but I met with President Szabadkai and we had a really good talk about my mission and how I am hitting the down hill slope and how it’s time to go!! I am pumped to work hard and to finish strong. 

We also had one of our investigators pray for the first time about the Book Of Mormon and we are hoping he will be praying every time he reads because if he does that we know he will get and answer and that’s a huge step because he doesn’t believe in God and it was a huge step for him!! 

Our apartment won’t stop beeping... The people above us are a really old couple and they have something beeping in their apartment and they can’t hear it because of the frequency of the beep but we can loud and clear and we are trying to think of a way to nicely ask if we can search their apartment without them thinking we are crazy... we are two Americans that speak weird Hungarian and they can’t even hear what we are talking about so it might be a little awkward but we are going insane. 

Other than that this week was seriously pretty normal we had some great teachings and all of our investigators are doing great so thank you or the prayers!!

I love you all have a great week!! 

Ure Elder

Dora's dog

Sister Schoendorfer is going home

LOOK UP

This week was pretty normal other than Conference!! There were a ton of really amazing talks and I always love to hear the prophets’ words. 

Last P-day we went to the parliament and went on a tour around the whole building. We were the last 4 people to buy tickets so we got pretty lucky and it was so beautiful. I loved it!! 

This week we did a lot of finding and hit the streets pretty hard. We worked hard and I always love the weeks were I can say we went hard and did work. So it was a good week, I just don’t have a ton to write because... we do the same thing every single day... I guess I can be a little creative and share what a normal approach is like when we talk to someone on the street and what the usual answer is...

So we walk up and say with smiles on our face "of course because we are children of God and look great" so that stuns the people and then we start talking to them in a weird accent...

We usually say. Hello excuse us. We represent our church, we are Mormon missionaries and today we are talking to people on the street and asking a question.

If we make it this far without people saying they are in hurry or just not listening at all, we continue with our question. We usually ask questions like, what is the most important thing to you in your life, or what makes you happy, or if we are talking about Easter like we did this week we ask if Jesus Christ plays an important role in there life... at this point people are really freaking out because they can tell we are not Hungarian and usually disregarded the question we asked and then they ask where we are from or why we talk weird... so we tell them...

Then mid conversation people realize that we asked them a question and answer it with an answer of... my family, money, girls, God, Food, all sorts of fun stuff. 

So the next step is for us to use our missionary skills, More like let God talk through us because we are awful without him and we apply a gospel principle to whatever they said... yes I have taken an answer from a kid that said girls are the most important thing in his life and applied it to the gospel. 

We usually explain our message of the restoration and how our families and religion are the most important thing to us and that’s why we came here is to help other so they can live with their families forever or so that they can be happy or something like that. 

We then ask for their number, they give it to us, we call, we teach them the Gospel and then they get baptized. The everyday life of Elder Ure.

I am just kidding but that is actually how it usually goes. We have really good talks with people on the street and some just walk away or say they are a different religion or they think we are other missionaries (I won’t name names....) anyways I love it. Always makes for a surprise. 

We had a great week this week but not much to share. Our investigators are moving along but we need to meet with them more and that’s the hard part. 

This week we found a women on the street right as she was going into the building and I stopped her and we got into a really good conversation and had a great talk and I was able to have an amazing experience of talking and bearing testimony to her in a profound way. The words just came and I loved it because I could see it affect her. She had lost her dad and that’s why she did not believe in God and I told her with the most straight up words I could say... that she will see her father again. I saw it hit to her soul and from then on out she said she would call us. She was not willing to give us her number but I know she knew what I was saying was true. The spirit is so strong and it can truly change lives. 

I love you all so much I hope you have an amazing week and can apply the things we learned from conference. 

Don’t look around, Look up. 

Ure Elder

tracking with a bucket of chocolate

spring has arrived

Being Tested

Well this week has been a turning point in my mission. I have learned a lot from myself to be honest because I was given the opportunity to teach a zone training and I learned a lot from the spirit as the words came out of my own mouth. 

Before I get into that last week on P-day we went tracting and this guy came out and was not happy we were there told us to leave blah blah blah the normal stuff... anyways.. The last thing he told me was that God had never done anything for him or helped him.... So he went inside and I felt like I needed to talk to him again but I knew he was not happy and even once was probably not a good idea to ring his bell.... but we said a prayer and I still felt like I needed to go back so we did. I went back and rang the bell and he came out and I pretty much told him to not get mad and that God had reached his hand out to him and that we were called by God to talk to him... His face changed and he didn’t get mad but he just said okay boys but I don’t want to listen, and as he walked away I asked if we could at least help him with something and he told us it would have been better if we just had not rung the bell.... well after that I thought about it a lot and tried to figure out why I felt like I needed to go back and talk to him and why I was supposed to tell him that and I still can’t figure it out but I knew that’s what God wanted me to do and I did what I was told and I felt good about it. I learned a lot from that... sometimes we don’t know why we do this and we second guess if it is from the spirit, but if it is a good thought it is always from the spirit and it doesn’t matter the outcome... what matters is what God wanted us to do and if we did it. So I got tested by God this week and I feel like I passed. 

Also this week we met with one of our investigators and it was really nice out so he didn’t want to meet inside.... So we went outside and met in front of a huge massive super pretty Catholic Church... I don’t know how smart that was but we did it and it went well. We had a good talk and I just thought it was funny that we were preaching even in front of the Catholic Church.

Well it gets even crazier... this week on splits with Elder Fitzgerald, who is a homie, I love him, we started talking to these two youngish people on the street and we didn’t realize but right behind us was a huge reformists church and these were the two pastors for this church. So we got a really good conversation going and it was super cool. We ended up getting invited into this church to get a private tour and to see the inside. So we went in and got to look around and Elder Fitzgerald started to talk to them about Joseph Smith and then I committed them to meet with us sometime and talk about his story... So we fulfilled the scripture of “going to their synagogues and preaching to them in them”. It was pretty intense I was pumped ha-ha. 

Also we had a straight up miracle happen this week. We talked to our new investigator Dora and she told us that by Tuesday... two days after getting the Book of Mormon she had already read to 2 Nephi.... I was flipping out. I have never had something like that happen on my mission and then they came to church on Sunday so we are super pumped for them and we are really excited to teach them more. 

Our other investigators are progressing well but one of them really thinks that his baptism is correct in the Catholic Church but he knows that the Book of Mormon is true so we are working with him to understand the restoration and to help him realize that he needs to be baptized again.

We met with Ildikó and tivadar and they are doing really great and we also had a miracle with them. Ildiko told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true from fasting because she got an answer as she read. We were really excited and we asked her if she would be baptized and she told us that she wasn’t sure about it but wants to pray about it and see a baptism and then she will decided. So I have the faith that she will be baptized one day and we are going to try and help her be ready for that!! 

I would like to finish with something that I taught in zone training. I used one of the pump up speeches that I listened to before every football game. It is the speech by Erik Thomas about how you need to want to be successful as bad as you want to breath. I told the missionaries that if we do not have the desire to be successful then we never will be. We have to put the thing that we want most in the world right in front of us like we are trying to get a fresh breath of air and then work for it as hard as we would if we couldn’t breath. I have hit the turning point in my mission that once again I am putting God first. He has done so much for me and I owe it to him to save his children and preach the gospel. It’s the most important thing to me and that’s why I am here. I love you all so much I hope you have a great week!!

Elder Ure 

Primary Answers

Well this week was pretty wild. I will start with the most eventful thing that happened... This week I continued to be sick and I got a sore throat which quickly turned into me not having a voice.... at all. 100% mute. It was great. What happened was on Friday my voice started to hurt and we were on splits and I was with a great elder that is younger in the mission so he didn’t speak as much... so I talked all day long and by the night time we went up to these two people and I started to talk and mid conversation my voice went out and I couldn’t get it to come back... and my companion didn’t know what to say because he just couldn’t get the words out so it got really awkward and they just walked away as I struggled to even say anything... so from then on my voice was pretty wrecked... Luckily it is starting to come back and I can talk today a little better but it has been interesting for the last couple days. I am doing great though just got a little sick and am practicing my miming. So that’s been funny but it made for an interesting week.

Earlier in the week when I was still sick with my other sickness... I went on splits with the office elders and was able to work with one of my old companions Elder Romer! It was good to see him again and work with him... sadly I had to sit in the office all day while he had to work so I did a lot of reading and tried to help as much as I could. 

This week was also the Hungarian celebration of freedom so everyone had work off and.... they did not want to be bothered because we went finding almost all day and went out and streeted and tracting and I can’t say I had the nicest conversations on my mission... but we endured because on Thursday we got blessed!!! We found this super cool couple that loves America soooo of course they wanted to talk to two super cool American kids. So they told us to come back on Sunday and we met with them and taught the restoration to them and it went really well. They said they are going to come to church and read the Book of Mormon and we even wrote a message in their book because they asked us to, so it was a really cool blessing and they are some really awesome investigators. Their names are Attila and Dora. All the prayers you can say are welcomed!!

We also fasted for Ildiko and Tivadar this weekend for them to receive an answer about the Book of Mormon and we are going to be meeting with them this weekend and hopefully be able to give at least Ildiko a baptismal date!!! So we are really excited about that. 

Lastly, on splits we found this really cool guy on the street that we talked to for a really long time and had a really cool conversation with him. He wanted to learn more but wasn’t willing to give us his number or address and I am not kidding you when I say that I literally begged him for it... so hopefully he will call us because we gave him our’s and the coolest part of all this was when he started to ask us questions... He told us that he has looked into churches all over the world and had given up on the search for God because he had questions that no one could answer... So I told him to ask me them. SO he started with tithing and the fact that God commands us that we pay it but all the churches use it for bad purposes and for their own gain... so I came back with the fact that in our church we don’t receive money and I told him all about where the money goes and what we use it for. So the questions went on and I easily answered all of them with primary answers... I didn’t even have to get into deep doctrine because the answers were so easy and simple. It amazed me at how simple the gospel is and how it answers question that nothing else on this earth can. It is comfort, peace, knowledge, and pure love and that’s what this man needed to see. So hopefully he will be able to get and answer to his prayers and he will look for us again.

I know this church is true. I know why I am here and I know where I am going and I have no doubts or fears. I am happy, and that’s all that matters to me. 

I love you all have a great week!!

Ure Elder

Serve...

Well this week started super awesome and towards the end got really bad... haha

I will start with the good. We had an interesting tracting experience in a huge building that we quickly found out was a place where people that work for the police live... it was a normal building where people live but they are just cops... so they were not very happy we were there but they new the rules and couldn’t kick us out so we had a good time tracting there haha.

On Wednesday we met with one of our awesome investigators and had a really cool surprise. He pulled out a super old copy of the Book of Mormon that he got ten years ago and told us that he has read it a could times and knows that it is true. I opened it and almost every page was highlighted and it was super cool to see. So we brought up baptism with him and he told us that he was already baptized in the Catholic church but we are going to teach about that the next time we meet so we are excited because it was a serious miracle and he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he can feel the power in it so that was super awesome. 

This week we got super rejected by this lady that lived in Nevada... and said she knew who we were and that we were not Christians... I won’t go into detail but it was rough. This lady was straight up rude and after we were super frustrated but hey rejection is what we thrive off of.... haha

We also visited our investigator that should be accepting a baptismal date today... hopefully. It was her name day, which is a thing that they have here. It’s like your birthday but just a day that they celebrate your name because everyone here has the same name almost... but we brought her chocolate and she was seriously so happy you have no idea. I think we have some serious potential with her and I love her already she is great!! 

Last of all we had a really great teaching with an old investigator that we looked up. He has a really bad drinking problem but is trying to quit because of the truthfulness of the gospel. He found the church when he rented a Book Of Mormon from a library and read it in 6 days and from then on he knew it was true... pretty amazing. He would be baptized tomorrow he just cant give up drinking so we are going to work with him and hopefully be able to get him off of that. He is the kindest and most humble person ever and I feel like I connected to him right when we met. It was a really cool experience and I am excited to meet with him again.

Other than that not much happened this week. Sadly, I got really really sick on Friday and I had to stay home all Saturday and Sunday with a really bad fever... so I was pretty wrecked but I am getting better now which is a good thing! It was a good week other than that and we are excited for the up coming week!! We will be going on splits twice so it should be pretty fun!! 

I want to finish with a thought out of the bible. I was reading in Matthew and it talked about Jesus’s service that he gave and ultimately him dying for us and how we need to serve. I thought about this and I have always had the question of how can I give back to my savoir for what he did for me? I realized that this is the answer. We in turn have to serve. We have to do what the savior did and we will still never be able to pay it all back but this is the best way we can feel the closest to the Savior. I love serving because I know that it is the least I can do for my Savior.

I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Ure 

Don't just fast to fast

This week was really good. We just worked hard and didn’t see much from it but it still feels good to just work hard and do what you are supposed to. I mean, that’s why I am here in the first place... this week we had to go to the immigration office because I had to get registered in Budapest and it took forever... worse than the dmv by far... we sat there and waited for 4 hours straight and before all of this we got lost finding the place so that wiped out one of our days which sucked but at least I am now legal and can say I live in Budapest. 

This week we also had zone training. It went super well and we talked about planning. I am pumped to apply what we taught into our own work and into my own life even when I go home because I know it will help me manage time so much more and make me more effective. The funny part was after zone training we had a meeting with my mission president and his wife and talked about how the meeting went and Sister Szabakai got mad at us for not smiling enough.... she said we are very good looking elders and we need to smile more often... we laughed super hard and we are now going to make it a thing where we smile more than we should when we are around her. It was funny ha-ha. 

After zone training we had splits and I was with Elder Miller who is a really good guy. He is a transfer younger than me but is one of the assistants and is a stud. We worked hard and we met with this one lady that right as she saw my name flipped out because she knew it was Scottish and so she said to let her guess my first name.... so she sits there for a little and then out of now where yells KEITH! I was like..... Um what? how did you know that that’s my middle name... and she was like I have studied the Scottish clans and its all traisable back to the original clans... So I need to learn about my name I guess... It was crazy but super cool at the dame time.

Also we went on a train and I love trains because it is like sight seeing as you ride on a train so we rode past this ampatheather that was 2000 years old... literally was built when Jesus lived. I love this place it is so cool. 

We finally got to meet with our investigators this week and one of them is ready for baptism we think and we are going to give a her a baptismal date this week! We are really excited and I think she will accept it because she told us that our lessons have convinced her and that she knows the book of Mormon to be true. It is super cool I can’t even believe it. People really are prepared!! 

After that teaching we were walking on the street and we walked up to this guy and I felt like I should talk to him so I started talking to him and we walked together for a while and had a super good conversation, he was blown away that I live here and speak Hungarian and he was interested in the stuff I had to say about happiness and what we need to do to find true happiness so I got his number and we are going to meet up with him sometime. It was a cool experience for me about following promptings. 

Also this week... I am gunna brag a little because this was super cool and I was pretty pumped and I don’t even know why this lady said what she said but it was cool to hear... anyways we were talking to this lady and after our conversation she asked how I spoke Hungarian so well... I was like um... I don’t, I can talk to people but I am trying to learn right now and she said well you aren’t Hungarian are you? And I was like no I am American and she was like... well you have to be at least half Hungarian and was like nope... I am 100% American (#Merica hahah) and she was like... that’s crazy ha-ha So that was a cool thing that happened this week, I am becoming Hungarian.

Also this week we got let in by a really nice lady that just lost her husband and she was really open to our message and sweet. We tracted into her and she let us in and we talked for a little while and we found out that she reads the Book Of Mormon that she got years ago and she loves it and it comforts her when times are hard so hopefully she will be open to meeting and we can show her that it is because it is the truth. 

This week was fast Sunday and one of the most legit things happened... In the middle of sacrament a guy got up and he had a guitar with him and he went up to the pulpit and said he was going to sing his testimony instead because he wrote a song years before this and he wanted to share it with us... the words were actually really good and it had a good message but I was losing my mind that it was actually happening... only in Hungary. It was awesome haha.

I would like to finish with a thought on fasting. I never really took it very seriously and I always was just hungry and didn’t do it with a super big purpose but this week I realized that fasting is a power and miracles can happen if we fast with real intent and have faith. I know if we fast and pray for answers to our lives then we will be helped. Don’t just fast to fast. Fast with a purpose and a prayer in your heart and it will make all the difference. 

Sok Szeretettel,

Ure Elder