One Down, One to Go!‏ (June 10)

This week was actually very good! It has been so neat to see one of our investigators, Réka, progress so quickly and easily towards Christ. We met with Réka about 3 or 4 times, and then she was asking us for a bap date. It was incredible. We almost had to tell her to calm down because we couldnt get an interview set up in time! Luckily, her fire stayed alive and strong, and she is set to be baptized this coming Saturday, where I will be baptizing her!

We also got bikes this week! :D In my head when I as young, a missionary was someone in shirt and tie and who teaches the gospel and who rides a bike. those were the three requirements. and I have finally achieved all of them. :) hahaha.

We also had a great time watching Mormon messages and Bible videos. :) we decided to download all the ones we could, so now when we are eating food or something else, we can enjoy a nice spiritual upliftment too! :D over 100 short videos hahaha. :)

Overall, this week was awesome. We got to make complete the baptism of Erzsi by giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost, and we are going to baptize Réka. As a missionary, I can't ask for anything more.

És a magyar barátaimnak: Nagyon köszönöm, hogy én érdekellek. Gyertek vissza, máskor is! A szívemből tudom, kétség nélkül, hogy ez a vallás, ez az egyház, igaz. És hogy ez Krisztusé. Ha nem így lenne, akkor BIZTOS, hogy én nem lennék itt haha. de mivel tudom ezeket, jól érzem magam itt, bár távol vagyok otthonomtól. Haladjatok ezen az úton és ne feledjétek el, hogy Jézus a Krisztus és hogy Isten szeret bennünket. :D 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

 this is what happens when a younger companion misbehaves. I am pretty serious when it comes to punishment. ;)

this is my morning face. coincidentally, also my midday and afternoon and night face. wait.. 

doing some more pretty finding with roses. hopefully they invite their friends. 

 gotta love the golden arches in the background. everywhere. 

and the lovely Fő tér of Sopron! Probably one of the prettiest places ever. :) 

more o' dat Fő tér! 

 I am finally a real missionary! Bike and all! :D (unfortunately, with it comes some rear-ended soreness.. >.<)

 look at those big strong guys on Pday! ;D

 and Sister Sexton learning how to ride a bike! on her mission! hahaha. or trying. :p
 And that is Tibor helping her, an eternal from profi Angolóra. 

and this is the Pán-Európai piknik, which is where the iron curtain was first broken through or something like that. heck, what do I know? Google it!
Peace and love, my brothers! and elder Heilein as well. 

And Zsolt made a visit as well! :D always great to see Zsolt :) 

this is also a park with swings. :) yes, we enjoyed ourselves :D and a slide :)

 and the good ole 3 musketeers feel going on.. gotta love it. :) 

yes. 

gotta love Hungary! :) 

 oh no, I was in Austria! naughty boy. 

pretty Hungarian landscape! well, mostly me. but hey, still good, right? :D

 comp unity, right in front of the swamp thing. :) 

and Fertő, a super pretty lake! 

prolly the coolest companionship in the world. just sayin. ;) 

such a cool lake, it just gives you fish to eat! found this fish right among the rocks, picked it up and started eating! ;)

 then we went to a Jewish synagogue (well, the museum for it) and saw some old Hunagrian Jewish stuff! haha. 

then we found this well, where the Jews used to bathe once a day apperantly! (although that might be wrong, i read the description in Hungarian and there were some big words there... :p) 

This is Linda, who wants so bad to be baptized, but her family is very against it. She is a rock, and I love her a lot. :) 

probably the best angle I could have found for my face. you are so welcome. 

it is hot. and we dont like it. :( sad face. 

The Wettest Week of the Year! ...So Far!‏ (June 2)

So this week was quite the amazing one. :) It started off kinda slow, with us doing regular old missionary work. Like getting dogged and accidentally dogging people hahaha. Funny story, so we met with this family and they fed us! But when we got there, the food wasnt ready. So we decided to do the lesson first, talked about the Book of Mormon, and then we had dinner. Well, the dinner was a little longer than we thought it would be. So we had to make a 30 minute walk from this family's home to the branch house to meet with a less active member. Let's just say we cant walk very fast hahaha. So we accidentally dogged someone.. (Sorry Ádám!) Then on Wednesday night, the zone leaders came down from Győr so that Erzsi  could have her baptismal interview! So Elder Young and I stayed in the city, and Elder Heilein went to Győr with Elder Thomas. So Elder Young and I had a great time here. :) We met with Erzsi, who passed her interview! :D, and then went to Linda's to have lunch. Linda, I must say, is a fantabulous cook! She made garlic soup, and it was heavenly! Anyways, then we went to Győr to drop off Elder Young, and pick up Elder Heilein. We barely made it back for English Class on Thursday! (We left Győr at 4:07 and it takes about 90 minutes to get to Sopron, and English class starts at 5:30. Love the little miracles. :) ) Then we met with another girl, Réka, who is now very convinced on being baptized! We have met with her about 4 or 5 times, and is already asking if she can be baptized NEXT WEEK! Haha, we had to tell her Slow down, girl, we got some stuff to do first! But she is so great, and we are way excited for her. :) Thursday was also my YEAR MARK! Super cool to know that I have been a missionary for over a year now! And now I can look back at my journal and see what I did last year, on the same date. :) super cool! Anyways, so on Friday I gave my first district meeting! I was a little nervous, but I made it through. :) and I realized that I really like giving little trainings! Which are basically like a Sunday school lesson. Except more for missionaries. So anyway, then we had sport nap on Saturday, and then got ready for the baptism! To be totally honest, I was a little nervous. But then after the baptism, it was one of the best feelings ever. :) For all those that have the opportunity, I say, GO ON A MISSION. It does incredible things for you, and blesses you in ways you didnt even know were possible. I am so grateful for my mission. Love it out here. :) 

Well, love you! Have a fantastic week! :) 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

we got on top of an apartment building, and got some pretty pictures. :)

 my beautiful face on top of a tall building. 

my splits with Elder Young, the zone leader, when Erzsi had her bap interview! :D

Year Mark dinner! with the sisters, Sister Sexton and Sister Whitaker. yummy Forum Pizza! 

The baptism! This is me and Erzsi, the girl I dunked in that water. :) One of the most powerful experiences of my life!

 Heilein also wanting some of the love. :) 

The whole group who came to the baptism

me and my amazing story telling skills at English class. You know I got way too into it.. :) haha.

 Tibor! from the profi English class

Elder Brown and Zsolt, one of the coolest members in the world, from Szombathely.

The Land Beyond the Junior (May 26)

So I am a senior companion now! Senior companion is... different! haha. It has been a super good experience for me, actually! Super hard, because I am just so used to having someone tell me what to do and just following someone around--but now that someone is me!! but Elder Heilein (pronounced like High-line) is seriously such an awesome kid. he is soooo funny, and such a good hard worker and a great missionary. I marvel at his faith everyday, and how much he really truly believes and knows these things. And not just the big things, like the gospel is true, but things like, we are going to find a new investigator today. and no matter how many hard things we go through, and failures we experience, he is always positive and faithful. it is amazing to me. such a strong testimony, and such a cool story! he actually got baptized like 2 years ago!

I will also be baptizing Erzsi this Saturday! It is such a neat privilege to know her. and I have watched her go from not wanting to quit smoking, to being one of the happiest people ever because she can be baptized. It is so amazing to see how the Lord blesses His children! :) 

Hahaha this week we also played basketball with a few people, including 2 nénis, or old ladies. both were grandmas i am pretty sure hahahaha one is a member, and the other a crazy old lady from English Class. seriously ridiculous.. haha

yeah, it was one of those kinda weeks.. :) hahaha.

well, i hope the summer time is finding you all happy and healthy and not too hot! Love you all tons and hope to hear from you soon! :) 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

me and my good buddy, basically trainer, Elder Decker! So sad to see him go. Oh, and ignore the lady in the background... hahaha.

our MTC group!! Can you believe that we made it to our year mark?!

 This week! :D sadly, last transfer Sister Peterson had to go home due to her knee problems. :( but we are hoping she can make it back to Hungary at some point! 

old MTC comp Blackman. hahaha, what a fool, gotta love him! ;D PS that fox thing is actually Elder Heilein's, it is hanging on our door now :D hahaha.

 Kovács József, the Hungarian version of Joseph Smith hahaha. 

 we made pancakes this week! :D and yes they were delicious!! :) 

the newest kids on the block, watch out! haha. oh and i got a haircut! 

Into the Unknown (May 20)

Well, the time is finally here! I will be a senior companion and a district leader! A strange feeling knowing that I will no longer have an older person to look to if I forget something or dont know how to move on or other things. But I am also very excited for the opportunity. I know that this will help me grow a lot, and it will give me a chance to help more people more often. Also, my new companion is from Germany!! I am so excited to serve with someone from outside the country!! :D hahaha. Considering all my past comps were American! 

Things are all-around going super good for us. Kinda been a crazy week, with us going to Budapest for interviews for the day--and what an absolutely terrible day that was hahahahahaha-- and then Friday we were in Győr the whole day for a zone meeting. So our week was kinda crazy and we didn't actually get a whole lot of time in our own city lol. But then we had English class on Thursday. Well we set up with this one lady to meet outside of English class so we could help her with english personally. (we offer to meet with people outside of English class, we just take half the time to talk about the church and what not. super good finding tool!) anyways we met with her and she is super prepared! I mean i dont wanna jinx it, but she seems wayyyy awesome, very religious and very willing to listen. Heck her and her husband sometimes argue over who gets to read the Bible!!! hahahaha, so crazy. :) so we will see how that goes! And it came at such a weird time-- i mean right before transfers and everything.. pretty crazy! so they might be our golden investigators! the lady is bringing her husband on Friday to meet with us! so just remember--when we wait on the Lord and let it be up to Him--then we get we need! It was seriously such a great experience, and after such a weird week! Haha.

Our investigator Erzsi is also doing very well! She will be baptized on May 31 for sure! She has her bap interview next Thursday, then Saturday I will dunk her. :) hahaha. I think she is smoking still, but luckily, she has worked a lot, which means she is either working or sleeping, with no time to smoke! :D hahaha.

Have a great week! Love you all! :) 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

  so a few weeks ago, we went out onto the Fő tér (main square) on the day after Easter and saw a few bunnies! this is me petting a bunny. :)

  good ole Flake Elder. :) arent i pretty? ;)

 a cute little dog with broken? legs. haha one of our little friends. :) 

 my companion, when we were in Budapest for interviews, we stopped for lunch at Gringos Amigos, a mexican place that is based totally off Cafe Rio and Costa Vida, and was opened by a few Americans and other Hungarian members here! Such a cool place! And their sweet pork slald is to die for! :D haha.

  my lovely pork salad. :) 

 my companion making some onion rings! 

  back in the day with our 3some! good ole Sterri.. 

 the good-looking Sopron and awkward-looking Elder Flake haha.

 3-some. doing.. something haha. 

  Oh and there were goats also at the little Easter petting zoo hahaha.

 the district when we went up to the Tűztorony (fire tower). 

Rough Riding (May 12)

Well, this week was kinda hard. We had about 8 people dog us. Or 8 times people dogged us, 3 of which were from the same lady!! haha. But, its okay. we found some really cool people once again, and the work is always moving! Sometimes it doesnt feel like forward, but it definitely is moving! haha. 

So this Saturday, we had a baptism! It was the branch president's daughter. As part of the baptism, I played piano, like usual. Except for this time, it was a song I had never played. And that is apparently very hard to play..! haha. So it was kinda rough.. BUT it was overall a sweet experience, and my piano-playing abilities can only get better, right? Well, let's hope so haha. We also had our first real Sport Nap here in Sopron! Well, first since I have been here. We played basketball. Now if you know me, you know that I do not love basketball. Mostly because I am terrible. And apparently, the same goes for my companion. So we played 2 on 2 and the end score was something around 30 to 1. Hahaha, lets just say basketball is NOT my sport. :) 

But things are going well. This week will be interviews with the president, something to look forward to, and then we have transfers next week. I wonder who my next companion will be...! Only time will tell. :)

Well, I love you tons! Enjoy the week, and the beautiful things that God has blessed you with. I know He lives, and you can too! So go! And figure it out. :) 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

 that dork they call Flake Elder. :)

 we have some good ole Hungarian graffiti. haha. I love how they use English, even if that is probably the only few words they know haha.

 we have a beautiful view of the city Sopron. :) love that clear sky! also love how it can go from kinda cloudy one day, to pouring rain all day the next, and then totally clear skies today!! hahaha

 one more of that one weird kid you all know. :)

we found a little snake while tracting!

End of the Three-Some Reign (May 6)

Well, it happened! Our 3-some was split up. It was very sad, but I guess this is what the Lord wants. It was an "emergency transfer", thus called because someone was transferred without it actually being transfer time. It was sad to see him go, but I know he will still have a good time in Érd, where he was transferred to. 

Other than that, though, I was very pleased with our week this week! We found a lot of people who want to meet! We may have even found a golden investigator. I don't want to jinx it, but I feel like she is really ready for the gospel. 

Well, the work moves forward. It is amazing to see people come to Christ. In fact, we are even having a baptism at the end of this month! Erzsi is coming to church at 9 o'clock, even if she works from 6 pm the night before, all night until 6 am the next morning. She is our rock.

 

Well, happy May!! And happy Mother's Day!! Love you all a ton! :) 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

that is me and Waldvogel and Daniels, waiting to bowl. By the way I got 3 place with like 92 points hahaha.

   last day with Sterri selfies. :( We'll miss you!!  

 This super awesome park we found, with a mini zipline!! haha.

 A shot of Sopron from the park. What a pretty city. 

 Classic mirror selfies.

Week of the Conference (April 28)

So this week was really good!! We found quite a few people to teach, are working hard with our current investigators to move them forward, and have even found a less active member who wants to come back! What an amazing week!

Erzsi, our nurse investigator, is officially set on being baptized! She is planning on August, though also says that she is free in July and wants to move it forward. It is hard with her family being in Debrecen, which is on the other side of the country, probably about 6 hour train ride away.. But! nevertheless, she wants to go through with it and be baptized. :) 

Our other investigator, Linda, had a super neat experience at church this Sunday, which also happened to be the district conference. So during the conference, the windows were open. And none of the windows had any kind of screen or the like. Actually, I dont think Hungarian windows have screens.. Anyway, so we are sitting in this conference, and enjoying the talks and everything. When suddenly, there comes through this open window a little bird. And it flies around a little and lands on a wood beam near the ceiling. Needless to say, there was a lot of noise at this point with people laughing and what not. So the poor bird gets all flustered, and flies around some more, looking for a way out. So it comes out into the congregation of people, and flies up near the ceiling, then looks like it is getting tired, and starts to fly lower and lower until it is about to fly right into my face! So I hurry and duck down without even thinking. But then Linda reaches her hand out and just catches it. Right out of the air! And no one can believe what just happened, they are just laughing and awestruck. Even Sister Smith, who was speaking had to take a minute to collect her thoughts haha. And then, when Linda caught the bird, she just smiles and says "Szentlélek!" Which, to all my non-Hungarian-speaking friends, means "Holy Ghost!" Hahaha, so Linda had quite the little miracle on her hands, and got to feel, almost physically, the Holy Ghost!

Well, that was our week. Hopefully you all have a great week. Love you tons!!

PS that is our two investigators, Linda on the left, the bird whisperer, and Erzsi on the right, the bap date! And Sterri Elder on the left. What a stud. 

Sok szeretettel,

Flake Elder

 Elder Waldvogel and I found a dirty old couch. and decided to lay all over it and look like dorks hahaha.

I wrote on the white board. Then my companion, Elder Waldvogel, wrote "He is right" in Hungarian haha. Also, that is a new tie I bought for 600 Forint! Awesome deal and awesome tie. :) PS dont worry, I erased that and put that "Sister Daniels is awesome" later haha.