Week 52

Hello friends and family!! Guess what, I am on Week 52... Scary. I cannot believe it. In one week will be my year mark out from home. That is scary to think about. Not because I am scared or something, but more of the knowledge that I am half way done. Of course I would love to come home and see the family and friends, but I do not want to give up this work that I have started. It is a whole different kind of satisfaction that words cannot describe. I hope all is well at home, and I hope that God is watching over all of you, as I know He is:)

Tuesday: After emailing and stuff, we went to English class and taught. It was a super good English class just like any other. We try and help our students learn while having fun. When we get a good laugh out of people, it is definitely worth it. We then had the privilege to go to the city hall building and take a tour. It was super cool because no one was in the building but us and the security guard. And!!!! He just gave us the keys and we were able to go up the tower and see rooms and stuff by ourselves! Well, we got to the top and I took a lot of pictures. So I will send a few:)

Wednesday: Ha, we decided to go tabling today and try to talk to some people on the street. It has been a long since we did this and that is why we chose to go out and do it today. Well, get this. I am out away from the table talking to people and stuff, and Watson was watching the table and talking to everyone there. Well, out of nowhere comes this man. He speaks like good English, and he seemed a little out of it. But he comes up, and says, "is this the Book of Mormon?" And Watson said yes. And the man said, "good, I need a good book to skim through right now." And so he sat down and Watson tried starting a conversation with him about the Book of Mormon and stuff. Well, apparently the man said that his writings have been around for 25,000 years, and that he is greater than God. He also said that we are crazy and that we are proclaiming false doctrine. Then he got up and left. Well, then he came back! He said, " I listen to my thoughts, and I thought I should leave. But now I feel I should come back." Ha, and he started all over again and left in a huff. Ha. The funny part was when I looked over and I see Watson just shaking his head no to the man. Ha, and then we left:) It was entertaining:) Then we streeted over towards the college here in Győr. Turns out, the basketball team was playing(well practicing) while we were there. But we did find a nice court that is free as long as no one is playing on it. So then we went home and I started calling people from the Area Book and potential investigators. Well, I set up with 3!! That was super cool! Others said to call back later!:) Then to end the night, Christensen shot me a call and we talked for a little while about how he is going home tomorrow and stuff. Man, I really love that man. I am going to miss him.

Thursday: So we woke up early in the morning and went and played some basketball against one another. It was super fun. It just let me know really how out of shape I am and how fat I have become. hahahahahaha:) Then we came home and got ready for the day. Then we went out and met with a man we tracted into last week. He was nice and super cool, just not big into religion. Well, as we were leaving, I look over and I see Watson trying to leave this man a Book of Mormon. The man would not accept. So the second he was not looking, Watson hid the book in a different stack of books. hahaha. Now, here is the funny part. We were talking about how one day he will read it and then maybe he will become curious. But out of nowhere, the man comes riding up with his bike and says, "Boys!! You forgot this!" Oh man... failed attempt. ha:) Then we went to the branch house to meet with S, our super cool young investigator. She did not look to happy today, which is totally understandable because she said her bag and her Book of Mormon and her church pamphlets all got stolen out of her car today while she was at Spar(the store like walmart here). That was super sad to hear about. Especially since she said she just started reading from the Book from the beginning. Ugh!!! So, we took her out to dinner(a cheap dinner of course) and bought her an ice cream cone:) And then hooked her up with all the books and stuff again:)

Friday: Today in personal study, I hit a very good subject. I read about relying on the Spirit. This section really hit me today. I noticed that sometimes I really on my talents, and I think about how I can help these people. Then, it hit me, that if we rely on the Spirit, even forget our talents, and rely on him, then it will work out. Then he will use our talents where they are needed. It was cool:) Then we met with a few people and then went to the youth night. The game we played was like Apples to Apples, but instead of words, you play with pictures. It was interesting. And I definitely lost. Oops;)

Saturday: I read about Abinadi this morning, and how he sealed his words with his blood. That is deep. And the same thing happened with Joseph and Hyrum Smith. These men all gave their lives, and put them down on the line for this. It made me stop and think about the hardships, the trials, the pain and the sufferings that these men went through. Then we went to sport day. There, we actually tried to play Ultimate Frisbee. Ya, big fail. Ha, pretty sure my brother Nate would be very disappointed in it;) Then we went and got a snack before we started tracting, to give us some energy you know. And while there, an Italian man comes in and asks if we speak English. So, we turned around and said,"a little bit." Ha. And then we led this young kid to the change shop so he could exchange his money. Then we went tracting, and while tracting we got 4 referrals from someone! Talk about the jackpot! Then we tried to get into another building. And the first doorbell that Watson rings, the conversation went like this, well, in Hungarian. "We came to talk to people." the other woman on the talker machine thingy, "what!?" "we came to talk to people." "are you sure?" "uh... yeah, we are sure!" "I don't believe you." and watson was like "but how do you know!?" then she says, "because you are not Hungarian!!" beep. That was it. Ha, I was laughing so hard that I could barely stand up! ha, I have never heard a conversation like that before. Ha, so we decided maybe we should street instead:) ha. We went out streeting and met a bunch of cool foreigners and they all spoke English! They were asking us if we could teach them Hungarian. That would be sweet! Then we went and played some basketball with one of our investigators. Then we taught him a little. Ha the funniest thing. While playing ball, a couple couples sat on the benches around the court like where the crowd would sit, and started to watch us. No pressure right. But then they all started to make out!!! Ugh, Hungarians and public display;) Then we were walking home and Watson turned to me and said "dude!!" really loud, and he scared some Hungarian boys. ha, we apologized for the loud noise and how we did not want to scare them, and then we continued on. Well, Watson told me, "we need to turn back." So we did, and we ended up setting up with them:) then we went to dinner with the other elders, and while at dinner, we saw this dude who looked like a basketball player. So Watson got up from the today and started talking to him. Turns out, he is from Florida and he played college ball. He has been playing Europe Ball for 5 years. And he invited us to go play with him sometime with his buds. But, it is in Slovakia. Lame. Then we also met that Italian boy who I talked about earlier in the restaurant too! We got his number and all is good:)

Sunday: I translated for a man from Portugal, and that was exhausting. Ha. Then we went to the youth classes for church since the 2 investigators we had show up to church were 14 and 12 year old girls. Ha. So we learned about marriage and families. It was good:)

Well, that was my week. It was long, it was exhausting, but it was super great!:) Right now it is pouring rain and it is ceasing to stop. So, I have my trusty umbrella and I am conquering it:) I love you all, and I know that our Heavenly Father does too. He knows each and every single one of us perfectly. Just think about that, perfectly. I love the sound of that:) Miss ya

Nichols Elder