Monday, June 21, 2010

Transfer 4, week 5

Hello Everyone!Wow, pretty intense week.....we had zone conference on Wednesday, and Elder Causse was there (i have no idea if i spelled that right......he's a member of the 70, and i believe he gave a talk in general conference once.....). It was really good, he had a lot of great advice for us to help us improve ourselves and become better missionaries and better people. Then, we had to rush back to Miskolc for Angolóra...we were starting it over, so we were expecting a lot of people, but there wasn't really a whole lot of new people....oh well. Then, on Thursday (yes, the next day) we had to drive back to Budapest for Zone Leader Council. That was really good too, we really cleared up a lot of mission policies, and Elder Causse had a lot of really great ways that we can improve the mission. Plus, i got to see Elder Lundeen, Elder Brockman, and Elder Huggard. It's super wierd to think that Elder Huggard is going home in just a few weeks, and then Elder Brockman goes home 6 weeks after that. Other than that, our week has been going really great. We have a few really good investigators...one of them is having his baptismal interview this Saturday, and then right after that, one of the sisters' investigators is getting baptized. We actually have this one investigator who's really fun. She's about 45 maybe, and she has two jobs as a chef, so it's kind of hard to schedule with her, but she always makes us something when we come over, and she loves talking with us. We always have a fun time with her. We tried to visit her once, but they didn't hear the doorbell or something, so we came back another day. She was kind of pretending to be mad at us, and in the middle of a little rant she just kind of stopped real quick to say --sziasztok, örülök, hogy itt vagytok--("hi, i'm glad you're here") and then started her little rant again. . It was just really funny because she just threw it in there, and then we just laughing for the rest of her rant. She's a lot of fun, because she's always laughing with us, but then we start the lesson, she really pays attention and seems to be really applying what we're teaching. it's really cool to see the difference, because you can tell when the lesson starts that the Holy Ghost is there, and that she's learning to recognize it and to learn from it. We're really excited to continue teaching her.haha, and then we were meeting with an older woman (she's so rad, she watches handball religiously) and she said she was never coming to church again because someone mentioned something about all the women should be wearing skirts (hers was getting washed or something). Then Elder Lynn told her that when he got to church and looked where she usually sits, he didn't see her, so something was missing from his entire day....after that, she said "jó, csilagom, ott leszek jövő Vasárnap" (ok, my star/dear, i'll be there next week). She always call us "csillagom", it's so adorable.So, let's see....other than that, not too much going on....we're starting splits tonite, so i'll be in Debrecen with Elder Marceil (he was in the group above me at the MTC...i'm really excited to see him again). yeah, so, that's about it. I hope you're all having a great week, and i guess i'll talk to you all next week.
Elder Murray

Monday, June 14, 2010

Transfer 4, week 4

Hello everyone!
Wow, things are going way great here in Miskolc! (Well , maybe not as great as they could be going.....but they're still going great! :) We've met twice with a lady named Timi, she's always really happy to have us over and to talk with us, and this last time, her son sat in on the lesson too, and he seemed pretty interested, so hopefully we'll be able to talk with him too in the future. It was really cool though, because we tried visiting her on Saturday, but when we rang the doorbell, apparently nobody heard it, so we left.....we called her on Sunday, and she said she was dissappointed that we didn't get to meet, and wanted to know if we could meet then. She is so great, she always has great questions and is always smiling---plus, she's a chef, so we always get something to eat when we visit her. :)
Other than that, not much going on this week......one of our investigators said that he thought he should probably be baptized, which was amazing in and of itself, and then we said there was a few things he needed to take care of first, and he pretty much committed himself to quitting smoking and drinking. He's a really cool guy--haha, he's about 50 something, and he always says "kiraly!" (it means "king", but they kind of use it like 'cool'.....yeah, he's pretty rad, haha.)
Um.....on Saturday, we were on splits in Eger....that was really fun, i got to split with Elder Mullen, who was in the group above me at the MTC---he's doing great with the language, and is a great missionary. He always shows his personality in everything he does, and the members in Eger that I got to meet all seemed to really like him.
Yeah, so that's pretty much week three of transfer 4 of Elder Murray's mission....haha. oh, one more thing---a couple of you were asking about driving, now that i've got a car. It's definitely interesting.....i have to drive a lot more defensively than i did in America, that's for sure. it's not too difficult, just wierd for me.
well, that's about it.....we've been having a great time together, learning from each other......oh, and we recently tried out this new way of tracting--i can't remember if i talked about it last week or not, so i'll just repeat myself if i did.....feel free to skip this part if it's old news....or if you're bored... :) So, we printed up this little survey of about 5 questions, with our names and numbers at the bottom, and put one in each mailbox in a bunch of apartment buildings. we went back a few days later and talked with people about their opinions. They seem a lot more open and receptive with that, and we've seen some great success with it.
Oh, and i forgot to mention some random trivia about Miskolc that Elder Lynn told me when i first got here---apparently, the walking street here is the longest one in Europe. Also, there's a section of the city called the Avas--it's just tons and tons and tons of 10 story apartment buildings--which has more people living in it than the entire city of Eger. Yeah. So, that's my random little spurt for this week. I guess I'll talk to you all next week!
Elder Murray

Monday, June 7, 2010

Transfer 4, week 3

Hi everyone!
Wow, this week was pretty interesting. First of all, Elder Lynn and I made it into the 20 Lessons Club (for missionaries who teach 20 or more lessons each week), so we were really excited about that. And, we had an absolutely amazing day of tracting, so we should be getting some new investigators from that. It was really fun too, we tried an idea Elder Lynn got from one of his companions. We made a small survey and put it in every mailbox, and then we went back and asked everyone what their opinions were. (Most) everyone was really friendly, and in one building, we got 4 phone numbers, 3 people let us in to teach a lesson, and we gave away three Books of Mormon (copies of the Book of Mormon...whatever...). It was super exciting, and we had a really fun time doing it. We had kind of an upsetting start to the week though--one of our investigators is on bap. date, and is absolutely phenomenal--but his school is pretty much kicking him out if he gets baptized. Kind of upsetting, but a bunch of us had a fast for him, so things should be getting better soon. :)
Other news......we have had a ton of rain lately, and as a result, there's been a ton of flooding. We've been asking all of the members and investigators here, and they can't really remember another time when it was this bad......kind of exciting, but at the same time, really annoying. But, we have nice, sunny, warm weather now, so that is absolutely great!
So last week we went to the castle--that was pretty fun. It wasn't too big or anything, but it was still fun. haha, Sister Crosley was pointing at some suit of armor or something and set off an alarm--twice! haha, that had us laughing for a while.
yeah, so, that was about our week....not a whole lot happening throughout the week, but definitely some memorable days in there. That one day of tracting was really inspiring, mostly because i really hadn't seen any success at all with tracting in Székesfehérvár. So, this was a nice relief and a reminder that it does still work. :) Other than that though, not much going on.....we have a pretty good week ahead of us....we're possibly going on splits in Eger this Saturday, so that should be pretty fun.
Well, I guess I'll talk to you all next week! I hope you're all doing great!
Elder Murray