"IT'S POPPING HERE IN PEST"

I am starting to get to the point where weeks blend together and I don’t really know what’s going on anymore. I wake up and then all of a sudden I am waking up again. Its weird. It’s like mission-ception.

This week was super awesome!! We had lots of miracles and lots of good stuff happen but... all of that was just normal missionary miracles. I count it a miracle when someone talks to me for longer than 5 seconds so we had lots of miracles. 

This week was really rainy but luckily we had lots of stuff to do to be inside so we just taught people the gospel and then got wet in the rain. What could be better? 

We taught Attila and Dora the word of wisdom and they accepted it without a problem. They are real miracles. I seriously ask myself if it is too good to be true every time I meet with them. They are so cool. Their baptismal interview was this week and they asked me to baptize them so I am really excited!!

Adding onto that, one of the sisters’ investigators is getting baptized and he also asked me to baptize him so that will be super cool also. The amount of miracles we are seeing here in Hungary is crazy. In our zone right now we have 12 baptismal dates. Like that is unheard of.  Like I have never seen that over my mission. So it’s popping over here in Pest. 

I guess I will add this story right now also because this is also about baptism. We put another one of our investigators on Baptismal date this week!! He is going to be baptized on June 10th!! We had a really good teaching with him and taught the restoration and went step by step because he believes that the Book Of Mormon is true so we told him that if that is true then Joseph smith was a true prophet that translated it through Gods power and if that is true then God himself appeared to him, and then if that happened then this is obviously Gods church and then asked him to be baptized and he said yes!!! So that’s super good news and we are going to work really hard with him to get him ready!! It’s going to be really great.

Also this week we had a church photographer here that took pictures of us teaching English class...So I guess I am going to be famous. Jk I have no idea where the pictures are going and I even asked her and she doesn’t know yet but it was still cool. 

I tell you this story for you to get a glimpse at the site of crazy Hungarian dogs... there was this dog and all it did was bark as we rang the doorbell of this house... like it was loud and would not stop. So the dude opened his window and couldn’t hear anything other than when I screamed we are missionaries so he shut the window... So I started to walk away and like I said it was rainy so there was this huge mud puddle and this dog starts running along the fence as I walk and jumps right in the puddle and it gets mud all over me... I was upset haha.  So Hungarian dogs are sometimes cute... or from Satan. It’s the luck of the draw.

We went on splits this week with the other elders in our district and one night we were out tracting and it was late. Like 8.45 and when you tract that late in Hungary you might as well write your own will. So we got yelled at and we finished the building and had five minutes before we went home and no one was on the street to talk to... probably because it was pouring rain but hey the Mormon missionaries were... so I was like “well, it’s just rain so lets go look for someone.” So we walked around getting drenched because I didn’t have a coat or anything so I was wet. It was warm rain though. The best type of rain. So we walked around and found no one and we still had sometime so I turned to the elder I was with and was like hey look, there is a light on in that building you think we can guess which bell is their’s to ring? So we walked over there and it was pouring rain and we might get yelled at but this is what I call obedience and showing faith. So we stayed out and didn’t go in early. We rang this guys door... he ended up being Chinese and didn’t even speak English or Hungarian which was funny and weird but then we went home and that was it... So the point of this story is that sometimes you have to show your faith to God and show that you love and trust him, even if what you are doing might feel pointless.

I want to finish with something that I learned from the stake conference that we had this Sunday. I was listening to a talk and he talked about how we need to pray with full intent, and then search and do all we can to find the answers that we are looking for. Not just read the scriptures and think that it’s going to jump out and smack us in the face. Instead we need to search, then pray some more and then do it all again and I know that If we do this God will give us the answers we are looking for in his time. Have faith and it all works out. That’s what I have learned this week. 

I love you all. Like always. That never changes.

Elder Ure

SO MANY MIRACLES!

Well this week has been amazing. So many cool things happened and I seriously saw God leading us in all that we did. 

I will start with saying that Attila and Dora accepted May 27 as their baptismal date!!! We are so excited for them and they are going to be ready for that we feel. We are going to be teaching them all the lessons in the next couple weeks and we are super excited to see them progress. We taught the law of the tithe this week and we were worried that this topic would be a little hard for them but we taught it and Elder Leavitt bore strong testimony and we committed them to live according to it and they didn’t give us a direct answer and then Attila leaned over to me and was like... You and I are going to be the people giving the most money... ha-ha it was so funny so they accepted it and are doing really really well. It is seriously a miracle. I love them!! They also came to all three hours of church for the first time- so seriously… So many miracles!

We had our zone training this week and it went really well. We gave a training on how we can realize the spirits’ promptings better in our life and how to follow those with courage. It was a great training and I learned that we need to be honest when we pray to God. He already knows our actual feelings so we might as well tell him what we are actually feeling so he can help us and guide us. 

After the zone conference I went on splits with Elder Gentry and that was super awesome but I will come back to that in a little. 

We had some pretty funny things happen tracting this week to be honest. One of the quotes that someone told us was that anyone that is beautiful is not smart and someone that is smart is not beautiful, so I turned to the guy and was like, “wait... we are beautiful and we speak Hungarian,” and he was like no that’s not how it works... haha it was really funny. 

On another day, we had a lot of people rejecting us and trying to kick us out of buildings and yelling at us so as we were tracking this guy pulls up in his car and gets out and asks if he can help with anything, and I was like no we are just trying to talk to everyone and then out of nowhere he pulled out his phone and started videoing us and said he was a cop that wasn’t working and was making a video to use against us in court!!! I was like what ... we are literally doing nothing and he told us if we don’t leave he is going to call the cops and use this video as proof. All we were doing was ringing doors. So we waited there and sure enough the cops came and checked all our stuff and then let us go because we weren’t doing anything wrong, but it was still super funny because the under-cover cop was like freaking out and being like wait, like take them away, like he wanted to put us in jail and then the real cop just let us go. It was pretty funny and for sure a good memory that I will have. 

I would like to finish with an amazing story that happened this week with Elder Genrty and I when we were on splits. This is one of the most amazing experiences that I have had that teaches me that obedience really does matter and if we are obedient even in times when no one would know if we broke the rule, and we still are obedient to the rules, then God will bless us and help us to do miracles. Elder Gentry and I went out to a small village to help a woman that Elder Leavitt and I found a couple days before while tracting. We asked if we could help and it was the first time that a Hungarian has ever accepted my help. When we got there the women told us that we were going to get in her car and drive three kilometers to a place were there is a lot of fire wood and we were going to load that into a trailer and take it back to her house and then unload it. We explained to the women that we are sorry but we can’t go in her car alone because we have a rule that we cannot be alone with a woman in a car. So we went to her neighbor and asked if he could come with us and he didn’t have time so we told her we would love to walk over there and meet her there. She told us it would be a 20-minute walk and we didn’t have time to stay there for that long so I stood there for a second and was just like... we can run?? And Elder Gentry turned to me and was like wait, what... and then she turned to me and was like are you serious? And I said yes. We are here to help. We will run over there. So she told us where it was and we took off. Yes, I am dead serious we ran the whole 3 kilometers. It wasn’t even that far but we ran it. We got to this place where the wood was and loaded the wood and then luckily took a bus back to her house. When we got to her house we unloaded the wood and then started talking to the woman. I didn’t really know how to apply the gospel but so easily it just came up. She told us that she didn’t really believe in God but believes in energy and we ended up having an amazing conversation and we taught about what we believe in and who God is to us and how he can help us. At the end I offered a pray and prayed that we would be able to endure our trials and when I finished I looked up and the woman was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she has a lot of trials in her life and she needed our help. Right before we tracted into her the first day, she had been thinking and almost praying that someone would somehow help her and two minutes later we showed up. I bore testimony that our message can help her and we set up another time to go back. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had on my mission and I am so grateful for it.

 I know if we are obedient God will do miracles through us. I know it’s hard sometimes but if we have faith and believe in God, we in the end will be rewarded. I love this work and I am so grateful for the chance to serve.

I know that God loves us and if we show that love to others we will be blessed. Service is the key to happiness. I love you all.

Elder Ure 

FOLLOW THE SPIRIT WHEREVER IT TAKES YOU...

Well transfer week is over and we are onto another transfer. I am stoked for this transfer and it is going to be super good. I can already tell that we are going to have a million miracles happen in this mission so I am pumped. 

On Wednesday we woke up and this is the day when we have to take all our stuff to the mission home for transfers. So I look out the window.... Straight up was snowing... harder than it ever did in the winter. I was just stunned... Like are you kidding me. So it was a pretty rough transfer day. We walked in the snow and then it turned to rain all the way to Budapest and then we got new elders into our area and we had to help them get to their new apartment so it was a long wet day but it ended well, because we went tracting and mid tracting I got a call from one of our potential investigators and she told me that she wouldn’t be coming to English class but that she was more interested in our church. She had been learning all about it and felt that it was true and wanted to know how she could become Mormon... I about dropped the phone and died. I was like uhhh well its easy you just meet with us and we teach you. So we are hopefully going to be meeting with her next week and, I guess her baptism in a couple weeks? Haha!!  It was a crazy miracle and we are really excited!!! 

The next day we went out tracting and got yelled at by this old lady and she said she was going to call the cops but we just kept tracting like usual and finished the building and then went onto another building and came to a door where a really nice old lady opened the door and she let us in and we talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she had really amazing questions and so we are going to go back to her in a couple days and hopefully teach her the gospel! Sop that was really amazing and the miracles didn’t stop there.

We had the 30 year anniversary for the Hungary Budapest mission being set apart as a mission and Dora and Attila came and one of the women in our ward that had been a member ever since the beginning got up and bore her testimony and it was just like how we found Attila and Dora and she started to cry and leaned over to me and said maybe some day I will be up there telling everyone about when you found us. I was like, yes, yes you will be. After, one of the members was really great and started to talk to them and fellowship them and it was just a really cool experience. We are meeting with them today and made a big old plan to give them to prepare them for baptism. It should be great!! 

That same day we were tracting and prayed specifically to be guided to where we needed to be and a young kid opened the door so I told him that I was an American because young kids like that, they think its funny how I talk, and we told him why we were there and he let us in, so I walk in the house and take off my shoes right as the mom comes running around the corner screaming WAIT NO DON’T LET THEM IN. I was like uhhh should we not come in? And she grudgingly said no fine we will hear your message. So we sat down and dropped a spiritual Bomb on them and the kid really wanted to meet again after and his mom said we could come back as long as we help him with English, but she opened up too and she is just shy and doesn’t want to say that she felt the spirit. So that was super cool too.

On Sunday I was waiting for church to start and out of nowhere I saw Bence walk in with his whole family and they came from Győr to Pest for some award they were giving and they all came and gave me a huge bear hug and we talked and they sat by me in church. It was the best thing in the world to see them again. I missed them so much. Then after church we went tracting for a super long time because usually Sundays are our finding days where we go out and tract for a couple hours, so that’s what we did. We went out to this random place and the first door we knocked let us in and we had a “textbook let in” if I do say so myself. We taught him, told him we would like to come back and teach more and got his phone number and then left and got right back out to work. Its just that easy... just kidding we are so blessed. Seriously was so cool. Then 20 minutes later we rang a lady’s bell and she came out and started talking to us and said she came to our English class and was like, “you know what just come on in.” so we got let in again and talked to her and she is coming to English class again and it is going to be super cool. So we have a whole ton of new investigators that are really potential and we are hoping we will be able to meet with all of them. 

I would like to finish with a thought on the spirit and what it takes for it to be in our lives and for it to lead and guide us. We had a leadership meeting this week and we talked about how the spirit can only lead us and guide us if we are worthy, praying and seeking  for the spirit and then COURAGEOUSLY following the promptings we receive. I know this is true and missionary work is so much easier when we just ask for the help and guidance. God knows the address of all the golden investigators we just have to humble ourselves and ask for him to take us there. This can be applied into all our lives, not even missionary work. Be worthy, seek the spirit, and then follow it wherever it takes you.

I love you all.

Elder Ure 

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