Elder Jeff Nichols: Week 29

Hello friends and family!!!

How is everyone doing in Utah or wherever you may be!? I hope that life is just as wonderful as it is here in good ol' Hungary:) I love hearing from all of you in letters, packages, and emails! I love getting pictures too. So if you would like to send some out, go for it! Hahaha, right now, I would quickly like to review my week with you all and then I will go over what I learned:)

Tuesday: After we finished emailing, we went home so that Elder Thomas could pack. While he packed I sat there and read Jesus the Christ (one of the most amazing books in the entire world, next to the Book of Mormon and the bible;). He packed as fast as he could so that he could be ready to go have some fun his last day in Pécs. And that is exactly what we did. We went to a nice little park and had a beautiful lookout over the city of Pécs. I am so happy that I was able to stay here in this wonderful city a little longer. Then Elder Thomas decided to throw a fast one at us all, and he wanted to go to Replay one more time, and it was pricy.... But it was a good last meal for him.

Wednesday: I took Elder Thomas to the train station, him and his 3 huge bags! But when we finally got to the train station, we met up with the other elders and said our goodbyes. E (our awesome English investigator lady) came early in the morning and gave her goodbyes to Thomas too. It was super nice of her. She also baked both of us some fruit cake:) Then me and McCurdy did a split and stayed together here in Pécs and worked. We had some decent work, we basically did a lot of look ups and met with a few people. We were able to meet with my investigator, S. He is the guy who speaks good English and is super sarcastic. We taught him about the plan of salvation. And wow! He had like a million questions, and it was really hard to answer them all. But we finished at Earth Life and I was hoping next time would be a little better with him. We were then able to go over to G's place( the nice old lady who feeds us) and she made us some sandwiches and food and we shared a sprirtual message with her. Then we had to leave a little early because our new comps called us and said they were here an hour earlier than we thought they would be! We took them back to the apartment, dropped off the stuff, took them shopping, and then returned. But this is where I get to talk a little about my new comp, Elder Cutler.

Thursday: All 6 of us missionaries here in Pécs woke up early and went running together. Afterwards we were able to go home and do our normal studies, and then start tabling. Cutler and I ended up tabling for 5 hours that day. It was super long, but it was a good time to learn about him. He is from Twin Falls, Idaho and came to Hungary in the same group as Christensen! Which means! He goes home in August. That is so soon and so not fair ha. He comes from a family of 7 children and is the youngest. He also before his mission really liked to work out, and the mission has kinda just made him a little smaller. Hahaha, but he is still more muscular than me by far! Then we went to English class and came home.

Friday: Today we woke up to go running and waited for the elders and sisters in the same spot we usually do, but they did not show up. So we went over to the elder's apartment and snuck in with our extra key and woke them up;) It was funny:) We then had a few programs scheduled. One was with N, a super cool young girl who comes to English class. She is going to Latvia to work and she leaves in August. I am so happy for her and she looks like she is going to love it. She meets with us to talk a little about what we are doing and how we can handle being away from home. But the cool thing is we relate that to the scriptures, and trusting God, and prayer. And wow, I really like teaching with Elder Cutler. He really has that love for the people. I can see it, and he really can bring in the spirit. I can feel something about this guy that I like:) Then we met with a new guy, named Z. He is super cool too! He randomly came to English class on Thursday and wanted to meet with us to get his English better. In the lesson, we told him that we talk about the church too, and he said that maybe his views would change and he was open to learning, so we will see how that goes!!:) We met with S again and finished the Plan of Salvation. It went really well, we were able to answer all of his questions and help him along. Ha, now here is where it gets interesting. We ended up going into F3, which is a gym, like workout gym here and looking around. It is super cheap for a membership and a nice gym. But let me lead up to this. So Z our investigator works out there, then we saw a guy on the bus earlier that day, and he was there when we bought our memberships! We ended up talking to him some more. Then when we started the tour of the place, the secretary knew who we were and said she met with us a while ago. We told her we would love to meet with her and she said she would tell us when we see her at work later this week! Cool!!! So it was a good thing we did this, and it makes me feel a lot healthier:) Ha

Saturday: N invited us to go to this "water day" thing. The city celebrated this day by releasing fish into a pond, and taking people for paddle boat trips on the pond. Well we ended up helping N and cool thing was, this old lady and her granddaughter wanted to go for a ride, but they had no one to paddle for them! So Cutler went with them, got their number, the lady bought us snacks, and said she would not mind meeting with us:) So that was good! Then we went on our hike with E, and she brought her normal friend with the dog, A. He has never really opened up to us before, but Cutler changed that. He opened up a lot! And we got talking to him about the gospel! Then E took us to a friends house named A, and she made us brownie cake and gave us a tour of an old 1861 church! Then said she would like to meet with us and she wants her son to meet with us too! And he is 20! Wow!!!

Sunday: Today was the usual. We went to church, and then came home. We went over to G's again and she fed us a lot of food! I was able to have the chance to talk a lot with her and learned that she has a lot of good ideas for business. She wants me to act on those when I get home and start making some good money! Hahaha, she is super funny and I learned a lot about her and our relationship grew a little:) Yup, I am loving life right now. This is going to be a good transfer!

So that for the most part is everything. I had a fantastic week and I am loving serving with Elder Cutler! I am learning so much from the Book of Mormon and the members here. I am really blessed and so happy that I can be here serving a mission in Hungary at this time in my life. I love the mission. I love the people. I love the Lord. I love our Father in Heaven. And I know, without a doubt in my body, that this is the true church on the earth. That this is the ONLY way back, and that I am where The Lord wants me to be. I am so blessed, and grateful. I am grateful for my family and all that they have done to help me get this far, and my good friends out there( you know who you are;) I love you all.

Szia,

Nichols Elder