Keep on keepin' on!

Hello All!!

So this week has been pretty interesting :)  I don't have a ton of time to write, so to quickly go through the craziness that was this past week:

We went to the zoo last Monday!  Apparently there is a zoo here (which I had no idea existed until one of our investigators who worked there told us about it) and it was actually quite nice.  We saw lions, and tigers.... but no bears (oh well!).  It was fun!

It was Sister Adams' birthday last Tuesday and we got together and got her a cake, flowers (Hungarian bouquets are the craziest!!  Ours had a bamboo curly rod in it), and a picture with notes from each of us.  Sister Adams is like a mom to us out here and it was fun to give a little back to her :)

More randomness: Sister Hardy got a ticket this last week.  Kinda lame.  We were on the vilamos and the ticket checkers came by... and she had accidentally brought her pass from last month instead of her current one.  It was pouring rain, so we missed our stop, then huddled under an umbrella while we got a ticket.  We thought the fine was going to be about ten thousand forint (which is approximately 50 dollars), but when we went to the office the next day (conveniently located next door to our branch house) with the right pass, the fine turned out to be only 800 forint!  Miracle!

We had a tons of programs this week.  Our investigators are doing great :)

We went on blitzes to Szolnok this past week.  For those of you wondering, "Wait, Szolnok, I haven't heard that one before?" (and for the rest of you that can't tell Hungarian names apart, don't worry :P), it is because sisters were put into Szolnok for the first time ever!  I don't know if you remember me talking about how the Békéscsaba sisters were having a hard time, but they actually got emergency transferred a couple of weeks ago.  The new assignment for one of them was to open Szolnok with a different sister.  They had been there for just a week when we showed up with muffins, measuring cups, and extra hands to help expand the work!  It was a lot of fun and we were able to help them :)

That day was my year mark as a missionary (WEIRD).  I got to talk to my group that night on a group phone chat, which was a lot of fun.  I was really struck by how completely DIFFERENT our missions have been from each other, but how we have all learned such important lessons, like relying on God and doing our best. I love my mission!  This is seriously the best thing I have ever done!  (If you are a boy or girl ages 19 or 21, you should definitely think about it!)

We had an awesome multi-branch activity on Saturday.  It kind of reminded me of Memorial Day Picnics in my homeward.  We had the branches from Szeged, Szolnok, Békéscsaba, and Kecskemét come to Szeged.  We split into groups and went around to different game stations (I helped Sister Adams translate at one) where we played various group games, like the water balloon toss, sponge passing, group knot tying, etc. etc.  After that, we had lunch (in true Hungarian style-- soup and bread) and then free time.  I got to play soccer for only the second time here in Hungary (weird, I know) and all of the boys were astonished that I could play (soccer is played mainly by boys here).  I had a lot of fun playing people one on two, or two on three and generally tired myself out and had loads of fun (I was literally grinning as I ran around like a crazy person).  I gained a lot of respect from the teenage boy population who told me I was a very good footballer haha.  The theme of the activity was "It's Better to Look Up" (see this talk by Elder Cook) and at the end, we let off a ton of balloons (to represent letting go of our worries and cares).  It was great!

K gotta run.  Bye!!!

LOVE,

McKenna aka Kramer Nővér

P.S. Also I use the word fun to describe everything I think haha. Which is funny because that word doesn't exist in Hungarian.  How do I survive?