Hello all!
'kay, because of a super busy P-Day (Elder Beaumont's last ever -- included malls, pictures, food, Family night, attempts at bowling, and the game ninja), I don't have a lot of time to write! I apologize for that, as someone told me recently that is becoming a common intro to my emails! I think there is never enough time! I will try to be better next week, though! And maybe even send some pictures :)
The first part of this week was pretty special. Sister Papritz was in Debrecen, so we were able to spend P-Day together, whipping in the Great Forest, attempting to find Debrecen University t-shirts, and going up the tower of the big church here in Debrecen. We also did a bit of fliering and streeting together! Felt like we were companions again :P It was fun to see her for a bit. It was a weird reminder that missions end. But that reminder was helpful, too, as it also totally made me want to work as hard as possible in the time remaining to me!
The rest of the week, we have been spending a lot of time looking up people on our branch list and verifying their information. We even went to another town with the senior sisters to look some up. We have such a big area (the city of Debrecen and surrounding towns) and such a big list, that it sometimes is kind of an intimidating task, but person by person, we are getting it done. We've actually done so much that when we brought the list to our branch meeting, the leader could hardly believe how long it was and told us the branch president would cry with joy if he saw it! haha :) It is a lot of just plain, hard fact-checking, but it is so worth it, as we are getting the list up-to-date and meeting with a lot of great people, as well! And our efforts are paying off! This past Sunday in church, we had a TON of people and families that haven't been coming for awhile! Yay! There was such an awesome feeling in church of togetherness and family, which is how it should be. (Also, somehow we ended up singing two musical numbers. It was kind of awesome, actually.) I have a lot of hope for this branch to be healed and strengthened by the time I leave!
Also, on a totally random note-- I and my hand have been kissed and patted by a lot of old men this week. I don't know what it is, but the bácsi's love me! One told me I am an absolute joy to talk to, I am that adorable. haha. Kind of weird, but whatever. Also, there was a totally funny moment in my English class, when one of the students (not a bácsi this time, more like a 30 year old man), told me it was his birthday on Sunday and tried to get birthday púszi. I kind of just gave him a look and he was like, "Oh, yeah that's not allowed." Super funny because it was a church member... who the elders meet with. We all laughed about it later together.
We also had a great dinner at the senior sisters' on Sunday. They and the Cummings have decided to start hosting seperate weekly Sunday dinners with the two sets of missionaries. And then we or they invite investigators and ward members. It is such an awesome, easy, and totally delicious way to make great friendships! We ate with Anánda, her brother, and Dóri this past Sunday. It was fun! Ananda and her brother told us all sorts of stuff about Nigeria and Dóri showed us bits from her prom/talent show/presentation ceremony (it is a Hungarian tradition for seniors in high school... they perform dances and get a ribbon to welcome in their final year). We laughed a lot and had a lot of fun! Anyways, I mention it because I thought it was a totally great idea for anyone wanting to do misisonary work! It just provides an opportunity to have conversation with new people! So doable :)
Anyways, overall this week has been great! We had a lot of people "dog" us (not show up to our programs), but we used that time to go finding and do look ups and managed to give away a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon and talk to a lot of people! There is always more good to do as a missionary!
Oh, and I guess i should've mentioned in the beginning, transfer calls were this morning. Sister Watts and I are actually staying together! We both thought she would be leaving, so it was such a happy surprise when the AP told us that we'd get to continue for another transfer! Elder Beaumont is getting transferred to Canada (haha dorky mission humor... he is going home this week. Which is so weird... I have known him my entire mission and served in the same district as him twice... he is such a good missionary, I am very grateful for the opportunity I have had to learn from him and become friends with him!), and Elder Greaves, one of my elders from the MTC, is taking his place! I have a LOT of work to do this next transfer! It is going to be awesome!
Have amazing weeks! Do all you can! and if you mess up, be better tomorrow! I believe in change :)
Love you all!
McKenna
No comments:
Post a Comment