TRANSFER WEEK (announcement)

Well sadly... I am getting transferred and leaving Pest... but I knew it was going to happen I am just sad to leave. I will be serving in Miskolc!! Its kind of near my first city and is pretty much the ghetto of Hungary. So that will be exciting. My companion is named Elder Robinson. He seems like a cool dude; I meet him tomorrow. I am super pumped and I will be staying zone leader. Which means that for more than half my mission I will have been a zone leader and that this will be my last city! 

This week has been nuts.... (Mom don’t read this email it will be better for your heart haha.)

Na I’m just kidding I am fine we just had some pretty crazy experiences. So this week I went on splits with an elder and we were tracting and this dude opens up the door wearing only a Speedo and just starts yelling at us for us to leave. It was great. I love stuff like this because it gives me a little excitement, I said, we aren’t doing anything wrong but we will leave, so we go to the next door and a couple seconds later we hear this guy open the door again and this time he is holding pepper spray and starts yelling at us and saying he is going to use it if we don’t leave... haha So I was like whoa, chill out dude and so we left and I kinda regret it because It would have made the story way better if he actually used it but it was pretty crazy...

The only reason I shared that with you is not to give my mother a heart attack but to tell you what happened after…because we got kicked, (more like threatened) out of that building we went to the next and started tracting again. We found this really cool old couple that let us in and we were able to teach them a really powerful Restoration and they both became new investigators. They had really great questions and I realized that whenever something really rough happens or when someone rejects us super hard, that is always followed up with a miracle if we stay strong and work hard. So that was really cool, even if it meant that we almost got attacked. 

The next day while I was with this elder we went to an old woman’s home with members to teach her the first lesson. She is a referral because is the mother of the church member. So he brought his wife and it was us and the mother. We taught an awesome restoration and it was a really cool experience... I was talking about Joseph Smith and what he saw and I told her in his own words the first vision and the spirit filled the room like I have never had it happen before. It was like you could feel it in the air. So I kept talking and once I finished I bore really strong testimony that these things are true and that I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father. It was really cool and the spirit was there and I know everyone felt it. The wife of the member even was crying by the end, so that was one of the coolest Restoration teachings I have ever had. 

I am really sad to leave behind all of the amazing investigators that we have found. I said goodbye to them yesterday and had a really cool teaching with Márti about how her life has changed in the last month while she has met with us and these are some of the things that she has said. She has more joy in her life, Miracles happen with her and her children everyday. And that she is not alone. I want to finish with this and say that these are the blessings of the gospel! We all can have these things; we all can feel joy and happiness because of the gospel. I am so grateful for the time I have had to serve here in Pest but I am about to do it again in Miskolc. T-minus 4 months to go hard!!! I love you all have a great week!!! 

Elder Ure 

FEELING PURE HAPPINESS

Well this week has been amazing but I don't have time to write a ton so I am going to hit on the important things that happened this week.

Elder Leavitt and I celebrated on our roof with some orange juice on the 15th for more than one reason. It was his year mark! It was a great day. 

The baptism was amazing. The feelings and the spirit that was there were truly beautiful. I was able to give my talk about baptism and then Baptize Bogi. It was a feeling of true happiness, one that is really indescribable. I just got out of the water and had a smile on my face that just stayed there for the rest of the day. I think there are few times in life when someone can feel pure happiness and this was one of them. It was really cool and was such a great day. We had a lot of people come out and support the baptism and it actually ended up being a really great service and we had little sweets after. So it was great. 

This week we met with Attila and Dora and Attila told me something that was really amazing and touching. He went to a teaching with the sisters to an investigator that is having a hard time believing in God and Attila told him his story. He said that for a year and a half he was working on a project that just wasn't working out. He told me that it was huge and really important, he went on to tell this man that yes it is hard to believe in God when you can't see him but after my baptism. This project worked out and everything slid into place just like that... He told the man that this was fact. That God loves us and watches out for us. It was amazing to hear someone that you taught the gospel teach it to someone else through his own experience. Such an amazing experience. 

Sorry this email is so short but I love you all so much. The gospel changes lives and I know prayers are answered. I have seen it in my own life and I know its true. I Love the gospel. I know its true. 

Ure Elder

'I AM MORMON"

I will start my email of this week with a quote from Dora,

"I AM MORMON" 

We were meeting with them and she blurted that out mid teaching. I loved it! haha. She is a member of Jesus Christ’s’ church and loves it. She even got a calling this week to be a ward missionary so she is super happy and will be coming with us teaching from now on. She is super happy about it.

While I am talking about Attila and Dora I might as well add that this Sunday I was talking to one of our sisters and I wasn’t there when Dora said this but she said that when she got the Spirit it was like she was full of energy like plugging your phone in to charge. I think that is very interesting because I have seen that when I don’t have the Spirit with me I am much more sad and not in a good mood and the Spirit really does just charge us up and makes us happy. So we can all follow Dora and strive to have the Spirit with us, because it’s just better that way. 

So going back a little bit into my week, I went on splits to a city called Érd. It has a lot of dirt roads and not a ton of people but it’s a great place so we walked... and walked... and walked. For days… haha. We were looking for a lady that they tracted into and couldn’t find her, so I ended that day with blisters on my feet but it was worth it because in the end we found her and told her we would be coming back that weekend. It was a super cool split and we saw lots of miracles.

When I got back we went straight to the baptism of the sister’s investigator and it went super well. It was such an honor to be able to baptize him and help him make the steps to God. I was so happy for him and the feelings of baptizing someone are really unwritable. It was really cool and the meeting was really great. Everything went well and I was so happy I could be there. 

The next day we had one of the craziest experiences of my mission… I was flipping out! haha. We went to meet with this member that is Mongolian and only speaks Hungarian and no English but her Hungarian is not super good and it’s really hard to understand her. So we go over there and walk in and for the next 45 minutes we said nothing because she just went off talking. It was unreal. She just told us her life story which was really cool, it’s just we couldn’t really understand a lot of it but she lives with her husband and he is a real Hungarian. He was able to talk to us and he is actually learning about the church right now! He was saying that he needs to learn more and wants to go to church and other stuff and then he will be baptized. We didn’t even bring up baptism, so we were freaking out and we were so confused and then it got even more crazy because we said we had to leave and she said, “okay come with me you give blessing”. That’s pretty much how she said it in Hungarian. So we said, “wait, what? to whom?” And so we get in the elevator and I am trying to ask her what is going on but she is talking a million miles an hour and I am not understanding anything and so we get to this door and she knocks on it and this really old woman comes out, that was visibly sick, and so she starts going off saying,  “they will bless you, you believe in God right?” “They will heal you, get blessing”. And I said, “whoa, whoa, whoa, wait” because this lady was like I don’t understand what she is saying so I explained who we are and what we do and how we can give blessings and how it works and stuff and said, “ it’s according to faith” and she said she would like one so we went in and I said, “Elder Leavitt, have you done this before?” and he was like yeah. And I said, okay you’re doing it.  so he starts giving the blessing and mid-blessing the member starts talking and saying be healed and all this stuff and Elder Leavitt just paused, let her do her thing and then kept going and I was like super confused and when we finished she stood up and she was like crying and stuff and it was really cool. Like it was crazy but now we are going to go back out there and try to meet with her so it worked out but the whole experience was crazy!! Missionary work is nuts!!

After that we had a couple cool little miracles.

One of them was when we were meeting with Bogi. She is going to be baptized this Saturday and the weather was looking really bad and we couldn’t find a member to come teach with us so we couldn’t meet inside so we all said a prayer together... 10 minutes later blue skies. It was pretty crazy and like before that it looked like thunder storms and stuff, so God really does answer our prayers. 

The other one was this guy that we were talking to and he said he didn’t believe in God but we just bore testimony to him super hard and after a little conversation, he said that we could visit him in his house... So don’t give up when you are sharing the gospel and someone says no at first. Bear a good testimony from the heart and that’s all that matters. If they accept it or not that’s their choice!

I want to finish by talking about Attila. This Sunday I was able to give him the Priesthood. He got the Aaronic Priesthood and it was really cool. I don’t really know what I want to write because this was such an amazing and special experience but the thought that I did want to leave was that it is an amazing feeling knowing that a couple months ago a man didn’t even know God’s power was on the earth and now, he, that same man can use God’s power to bless others. It is amazing and I can’t even wrap my head around that. God’s work is moving forward. The Lord is watching over us all and has a plan for all of us. 

I love the gospel. Have a great week! 

THE WEEK THAT EVERY MISSIONARY DREAMS OF...

This week has literally been indescribable. I will try my best to put it into words but it’s going to be hard. 

For real though you might want to get some popcorn, a comfy seat, and a box of tissues. haha 

I will start with last week on Monday. We had a great P-day and that night when we went out to work we went tracting in this crazy rich part of town... like there are two of those in Hungary I feel like, but we found one. So we are walking long and tracting mansions. I am not kidding you they were multi-million dollar houses and we come to one that didn't have a bell but as I walked by I realized that people were out on their balcony so... I was like I don't even care I am doing it. So I walk up to the fence and start yelling over to them and they all stand up and I didn’t realize but it was like ten people and I was like oh crap I’m dead. So I was just like hey we are Americans and we have a message about Jesus Christ or something like that. I can't remember exactly what I said but one guy yells back and is like do you speak English? And I was like umm ya I do. So they yell into the house and open the gate up for us... So I was like uhhh okay… So I walk in and right then this woman walks out with very dark skin and we get talking to her and find out that she is from Kenya and was dating the owner of the house. So we got talking to her and found out she is crazy religious and loves Jesus... What are the odds you find this situation in the middle of Hungary...? haha so we started teaching her about the Book of Mormon but everyone else was up on the balcony talking and so we asked if we could go up and talk to everyone and they said yes so we went up and started teaching all of them, some would come and go but it was really cool. One of us would be speaking English while the other would be translating for the rest and vise-verse. It was pretty intense but such a cool experience and we were able to get their number and are going to be going back sometime soon hopefully!

After that, I went on splits with one of the elders in our district. It was so awesome. His name is Elder Jones and he is such a homie. We are probably going to chill when we get home and work together because we both have awesome ideas so it was really cool. We met with another girl that was from South America that Elder Leavitt and I found a week ago and had to give to the other elders because she lived in their area but we met with her and she made us pie and was so nice and open. I think she could be a serious investigator because she is really open to what we have to say... Go figure she is from South America... ha-ha 

Later on in the week, I also went on splits with Elder Fitzgerald the assistant and we had such a good time. I love him and we work super well together. We can just joke around and preach the Gospel, what’s better than that? So we were tracting and we got let into a building out of nowhere and I walked in and was like... ehhh I don't think we should be here. So we left and started talking to people on the street and we ended up finding this really nice mom that was interested and gave us her number and so it was a cool little miracle and testimony that God is guiding His work! 

The next day Elder Fitzgerald and I went over to our investigators house named Márti and had a great teaching about charity and she really liked it because she is a form of Buddhist. If you have any tips or ideas please let me know! She is great though, and after we went out into her yard and cut wood for her... She handed me this massive axe and I just started going crazy on the wood. Put me in a plaid shirt and overalls and I would be a serious lumberjack. Haha!!!!    So that was super fun to get some manliness going but after we sat down and had lunch and she cooked us this unreal organic lunch that changed my life. I loved it!! ha-ha. 

This week we met with Bogi a lot to get her ready for her baptism in two weeks. She passed her interview and she asked me to be the one to baptize her!! I don’t know what is happening but everyone wants me to baptize them and I am not complaining because it’s awesome. This week I will be baptizing the sisters investigator Dezső. He is the modern day Einstein. He is such an interesting guy and he is doing great!! So the next up coming weeks are going to be really full and awesome. 

I know this is a beast of an email so stand up take a five minute break and come back because this is the best part. 

Now onto the baptism. So there is a song by the Nashville Tribute Band called "The work". It’s about missionary work and it’s a super good song and there is a part in it that talks about him listening to the font fill and how it was the best sound ever.... Well I can attest to that being one of the coolest sounds ever. I was sitting there and I realized what was about to take places. I realized that 2 months ago these people did not even know that there was a living prophet on the earth today and that Jesus Christ and his Father appeared to Joseph Smith and now they were about to make saving covenants... It was a powerful moment and I am so grateful that I could experience it. We took lots of pictures and talked and then the baptism started. I gave my talk and it went really well. I honestly didn't have time to prepare a lot because of splits so I just got up and spoke from the heart but I still had some good stuff planned and I think it went well. Then followed the baptism and as I stepped into the water and Dora met me in the water I just was taking it all in and then... I realized that the water was way too shallow! haha I was like oh no this is going to be rough. A guy from the high council came and filled the font and he didn't fill it enough but I was like, well there is no turning back now. So I baptized her and her baptismal clothes were floating on the surface of the water so I had to do it twice so I had to really get in there! haha I was totally wet by the end because I had to like crouch down to make sure she was all the way in. The same happened with Attila but it actually turned out to be a really cool thing. I got into the bathroom and asked Attila how he felt and he was just like... good. Like really good I can’t even explain it. I was just like wow... that is really cool. I am so happy for you. You are clean man!! And he was like the even cooler part is that you baptized us both twice. I was like wait what? And he was like ya when we were younger we figured out that our lucky number is 2 and I know that it needed to be like this. I was like... uh wow that’s super cool. So God makes up for everything. He knows so much more than we do and it ended up being perfect. They were both so happy and I was so happy and it was just really great. 

After the baptism we played basketball with Attila for a little while Bogi was getting her interview and then went to Attila and Dora’s for dinner to celebrate. They made gulyás, which was so good because that’s one of my favorites so all together it was just an amazing day. 

After dinner, we started our fast and the following day was a beast. I was so tired and dehydrated but I survived the fast but I was just nervous for the confirmation and mix that with fasting and then being tired equals for a beast of a day. So we showed up at church and I was talking to Elder Leavitt about being nervous and he told me this psychology trick because that's what he studied before his mish that if you trick yourself to be excited then your mind will switch the feelings to excitement because your body does the same thing when it is nervous and excited. So I did that and it worked!! I wasn't nervous and the blessing went really good. I confirmed both of them and during Attila’s blessing I was prompted to tell him that if he serves God with his whole heart he will do miracles... So that was pretty cool and I don't even know where that thought came from but it was a really cool experience. The church members were really nice and talked to them and it was a really great day!! In the third hour I was asked to translate and it was super hard. I give props to anyone that is really good at translating but it went well and I was able to do it and people complimented me after so it was pretty cool. So with all that going on and fasting... I was dead. So it was a great feeling to be able to relax and eat later that day. 

If you have made it all the way to this part of my email I am truly proud of you and I hope you felt the spirit as you read because it has been an amazing week and is hard to explain the feelings that I have felt. I love this work and I know I was sent here for a reason and I wouldn't give this up for anything. I know the Lord has a plan for His children and I know he is leading my path. I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Ure 

Rained Down Blessings

Well this week was full of some really cool experiences. I learned a lot and I realized that God really is watching out for us and has a plan for us.

This week started out rough.... All day we got rejected and just roasted by everyone so I turned to my Companion and was like you know what’s the best? When we get rejected super hard and you know that a miracle is going to happen in the near future... Not kidding 5 minutes later we were walking on the street and stopped this lady. She was from South America and spoke better English than Hungarian so we just talked in English. She invited us to sit down on the bench and we answered a bunch of her questions and told her that we would love to bring her a Book Of Mormon so she gave us her address and that was it.... Miracles. All it takes is a little rejection and I am all about that life. 

This week it also rained like crazy... Like streets flooded and rained like crazy. So we swam around for a little bit and I was totally drenched but I love the rain. I was like running through the rain with a pure smile on my face as happy as can be. So it was great. 

We also went on splits this week and had a really good time. I was on splits twice so I didn’t really see my companion very much but it was great ha-ha. On one of the splits we tracted into this lady and she was super nice, she gave us water because it is now blazing hot and then some chocolate. So that made my day. There is hope for humanity, or we are just really good looking and people feel like they can give us chocolate. haha

We also met with this one guy that was having a really hard time progressing and this dude isn’t my investigator so I just kinda went off on him in a nice and spiritual way. I told him that the gospel only brings happiness. All it promises is blessings and eternal life, and one day we can live in a perfect state, if we follow Gods commandments, and if all of this is not true then we die and it’s over, but it is true. So why not decided to follow the commandments because what is the consequence? There is none. I told him that if he decided to do this he will know its true, and if he isn’t sure he will be later. So it was a really good lesson and I know that all the Gospel does is bless us and even if it all weren’t true, I would still be the happiest person ever.

After that in our own work we met with our investigator márti, she is a part of a faith that practices joga, and that is their form of prayer. It’s kinda like Buddhism but a little different, so we talked with her about how we can find God and how we can gain a relationship with him and know who he is. It went really well. The spirit was there and we were able to teach about how God is our loving heavenly father and that he answers our prayers. It was really cool. 

This week we went off on baptismal dates and now have 6 just in our companionship... This is insane because when I served in Győr we didn’t have 6 in the whole zone so we are being blessed like no ones business. The new people that we put on baptismal date are really cool. It is a family of three and I will talk about them a little later. 

Bogi is the woman that we are going to be baptizing on June 17th. She is really amazing and so prepared to give her life for the gospel. In our teaching when we taught tithing we asked her if she we would follow this commandment and she said, If the lord commands it then I will do it. So she is pretty much perfect and is doing really great.

Then we get to Attila and Dora!!! THIS is the week!! This Saturday at 2 they are going to be baptized and they both asked me to baptize them... I am so excited and you have no idea how ready they are. We walked into there house and Dora says... well I did it. I want to be a legit Mormon and the only way I can feel like that is if I read the whole Book of Mormon before my baptism and I did it. I finished it... I about passed out. I was so happy and proud of her. She is so great. Attila doesn’t like reading Books but reads a ton on his phone so they are both doing amazing and are ready!! It’s going to be so exciting. 

I want to finish with the family that we gave the baptismal date to. We have met with them a couple of times and they have said that if they feel like this is true than they will be baptized. Well during the teaching the mom said that they feel different while we are there, and after we leave, she said that last time we left her 14 year old boy came up to her and said we are way more happy and feel good when they are here... I was blown away. I have always heard stories about people saying this about missionaries but now I have my own story to tell. They said those exact words and I am so grateful that I can be a missionary and bring the joy of the gospel into the peoples lives here in Hungary. I love this work and I still have a lot to do.

I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Ure

Americans had us for dinner

LOVED THS WEEK...

This week has been crazy. 

I want to start off with the best part of the week; well actually this week has just been unreal so I am going to just start with Attila and Dora and all the stuff that happened with them this week. First of all they gave up coffee and tea and had their interview and they are ready to be baptized!!! The baptism will be in two weeks on June 3rd. I am so pumped for them and they are doing really amazing. We taught the 10 commandments and Dora always says OMG so she gave me permission to call her out and make her break her habit. She also told me that I had a huge back which I don’t know if it was a diss or not, they said there is a Hungarian saying that pretty much says someone has a back the size of the bed in a pick up truck. haha so my six months to get jacked has been working I guess haha. Also we got permission to take them to a baptism in Kispest so they could see one before they have their own and they liked it a lot they are still kind of freaking out about it but they are feeling a little better after seeing one. Then the funniest part was when a new investigator walked up to Dora and said, “Elder Ure gave a great talk in church” ( I will talk about this later) and Dora said, “ya he did, I love him so much he is the best” and the investigator was like really?? You are dating? Congratulations!! He seems like a great guy haha. When Dora told me this we were crying. I guess we look like we are dating and I am not even able to give her a hand shake longer then 5 seconds haha. So that was a really funny part of my week. 

Also this week we had a super cool English class. We translated the song you will be in my heart from Tarzan and everyone loved it. We would play the English version translate it and then play the Hungarian and the people could see the difference it was cool.

I went on splits this week with two elders and both of the splits were super great. During on of them we met with a family that we are teaching and at the end of the teaching asked them if they found out if this message was true if they would be baptized and they said yes!! So there are so many miracles happening here it’s so cool!! 

So now back to my talk. I got a one day notice to give a talk in sacrament meeting. And for anyone that has been a missionary you don’t have time to sit down and plan a talk so I did it pretty much the night before and then gave the talk the next morning. I think it went really well. I talked about missionary work and the Book of Mormon. During my talk I guess I said something that wasn’t really a gospel word, or a word that you would say over the pulpit and the guy translating (into English) turned to me and was like what? Are you sure you are wanting to say that? And I was like uh ya haha It was a slang word that I learned that means slyly or like a sneaky way of doing something because I was talking about how members can start conversations with their friends in a non scary way. But I got roasted for saying it so that was embarrassing but I got the ward laughing so I guess that was good. The talk went well and people said they enjoyed it so I was happy. 

This week while tracing we finally found cherry trees that you can just pick them off and eat them while tracting and it was the best day of my life. 

So I want to finish with two of the coolest things that happened this week. The first is our new investigator that we got from English class. We met with her twice this week and she is so prepared for the Gospel. We taught the restoration and then the plan of salvation and she was already asking about baptism so we gave her a baptismal date for June 17th and she accepted that!! So we now have a whole ton of people that might be getting baptized in the near future. So miracles are real and God really is preparing people for the gospel. 

I want to finish with something that Dora told me while Attila was getting interviewed. She told me that they were talking the other day and they were talking about how we are so similar. That we like the same things, like her favorite candy is heath.... Like we were meant to be best friends. So she goes on to tell me that her and her grandma were really close and she taught her everything and pretty much raised her and her grandma passed away 1997 April. They talked about it and she told me that she thinks her grandma and I met and that God took one of her loved ones away but sent another one. She started to cry and told me that her grandma taught her about God and now I am here to give her the rest. I told her that I totally believe that her grandma is in heaven and before I came down she came and found me and said, there is a little girl that you will meet, I taught her all I knew and now I have accepted the full truth. You need to go down there and find her and teach her the rest. I know that God has a plan for all of us and he leads our lives in ways that we would never even be able to imagine. Miracles do happen and I do know that I am here for a reason. I loved this week! 

I love you all. 

Ure Elder 

my trainer came back to visit and my first greenie/trainee