Week 33

Why hello friends and family!!:)

     I hope that everyone had a great week and a happy Easter! I am emailing a day later now because it turns out, here in Hungary Easter is two days long, so everything was closed yesterday so I could not email you all and contact you about that. Sorry! But they have an interesting tradition here, but that will be mentioned later on in this email.

     Monday: We taught E and M today, and man was it a good lesson. I love having these two come. M seems to be more interested in the gospel portion of it, but they are best friends and they both really like coming, so that is good:) We talked a lot about eternal marriage and stuff like that because M has a boyfriend who she is deadly in love with... eww gross right? So we talked about that. And how truly amazing it is, that we have those kind of things in our religion, and those kind of things that we can do to be with our most loved ones forever! Then we went with the other elders to eat Chinese food, and when we finished, it was POURING rain! So we had to book it back! And it was funny because you seen 4 elders running through the streets that look like rivers screaming and yelling! hahaha, oh what fun:)

     Tuesday: We met with E and she is progressing right along. She is so into the whole church thing now! It is incredible to have witnessed that while I have been here! Then we met with Z and he came and said he had some questions. Of course we expected this, but his questions were about anti-Mormon stuff and polygamy. It was super cool, because before we could give an answer, he answered it himself! He said it was just too ridiculous and it is all personal opinion. He really likes this church.

     Wednesday: We met with G again. But he is super quiet and it makes it hard to teach him. We asked him questions and tried to get him to speak up a little in the lesson and to open up to us, but he just won't. But we finished teaching him the plan of salvation so I hope he thinks about what we taught him. Then we met with Z again ha, and he read in the Book of Mormon 1 Nephi 11-13 and we discussed chapter 13 with him. We gave the interpretation to him and just helped him better understand it. He really likes that chapter in the Book.

     Thursday: We went tracting for the first time together and it was interesting. With my other comps we usually did a survey and asked a few questions and then tried to go into something. With Cutler, he said he just follows the Spirit and asks questions to first break the surface and then get deeper. So that is what we did. Even though no one let us in or was interested, I really liked this way of tracting. It is definitely harder, and the need for the Spirit to always be with you is there, but it works. I can see it working a lot in the future. Then we met with a new girl, who is also named E. She has a big exam coming up in less than a month and needs help with English. So we of course volunteered:) We helped her, and then she said she was totally open to hearing about our church! Wahoo!!

     Friday: Met with Z again and this time he brought some snacks:) Ha, we watched the restoration film with him to try and spark that desire of wanting to act. He said at the end of the movie that he already knew about it and it was a good review. Then I pointed out the Spirit and asked him if he could feel it. He said yes, and we ended that lesson on a very positive happy note.

     Saturday: Ha English class today was super funny! So E and the other E and Z came and we talked and played games. At the end though, the new E won one of the games and I wrote her name nice and big on the board! Then I found out I spelled it wrong, and apparently there is a word very close to her name that actually means bed bug... And that is what I wrote on the board. Stupid Hungarian. hahahaha:) They all got a laugh out of that one. Then we went to the planetarium with the other E and it was super hard to understand haha. We sat in these cool chairs and laid back and looked up into the "night sky" and there was a Hungarian professor who could speak at the speed of light! Man! That was more of a language study than a show! And!!! He used a lot of big words... Ha, let me just say, that I am not a big word person:) Then we met with Z again and this time he brought a whole new E! Wow.. We meet a lot of people with this name. Then we talked about temples and the plan of salvation. He did a lot of research and turns out he had been sharing all of this with his friends and family. So they all know about like everything we have taught Z already! Ha, but it was super cool. They committed to coming to church and it was good. Then we went to a members here for dinner and ate with their family:)

     Sunday: Z and his new E friend came and they liked it. Ha, E thought it was going to be in English and Z thought it was going to be just like general conference ha. All well. Our first and oldest E that has changed a lot came too, and she loves it! The members are all helping her and befriending her too! She even stayed for sunday school! And when she left, one of the members asked if she was coming next week and E said of course!!!!:) Wahoo! And this being the day of Easter, us and the other elders went to the branch house later that night and popped some popcorn and watched the testaments. We have all seen this like a million times, but it was appropriate for Easter:)

      Monday: The holiday continues! And everything is closed! So we went to the branch house and played ping pong, then went on a hike to the TV tower and went up in it!:) It was a super good view! Then we went to a members house and ate dinner and then went and played some basketball for a couple hours:) it was a pretty fun and long day. Oh and the tradition is, in the past, Boys used to pour buckets of water over  a girl and say a nice verse or poem to them and then the girls would give them chocolate. Now, the boys say the poem and ask the girls if they can spray them. The girl says yes and the boy puts perfume on them and then the girls gives them a chocolate egg. It is interesting to say the least:)

     Well, I hope that everyone is doing good! I know that I am out here, and I love it:) I would not trade it for anything:) Miss you love you!

Nichols Elder