Transfer 10, Week 4

Hi everyone!

well, not too much going on over here....pretty average week in the office............but, i do have a super cool story. I think some of you might know Hédi, (she is a new convert who lives in Érd and usually comes to family night and gofri est). The branch mission leader in Érd challenged her to share the gospel with somebody, and she said that she would try (she said that she's always scared to talk to people about the gospel, but she is soooo in tune with the Spirit and is able to follow it so obediently...) she was riding the bus home, and a girl got on carrying a book with a picture of Jesus on it...so, after waiting a while to work up the courage, Hédi started talking to her about religion and stuff...turns out the girl is religious, and they had a little discussion about the church. Then, when she was at school, she was talking with a girl who had a crucifix or something on a necklace, so Hédi asked about it and was then able to answer some questions the girl had about our church. and then, they were practicing a dialog thing in her german class, and the girl she was practicing with had a scripture reference written on her notebook, so they started talking about faith and stuff, and the girl even asked for a Book of Mormon! It was so amazing hearing her relate these experiences, it made me so happy to see somebody who I helped become acquainted with the gospel now turn around and share that knowledge with others. The amazing thing with the latter two girls is that Hédi has known them for a while now, and before this hadn't even considered that they might be religious or even interested. It was so inspiring to hear these experiences from her, I am so proud of her! She even said that she really wants to serve a mini-mission...she said that she has all of July and August off from school, so i told her i'd try and figure out when she could go. I am so excited for her, she was so prepared to recieve the gospel, and now she has truly seen the benefit it has been in her life, and she is willing to do anything that Heavenly Father asks her to.

so, that was my little miracle for the week. it was soooooo awesome to hear her relate those experiences, the whole time, i was just thinking about how excited i was for her! she always talks about how she hopes that she can be like Elder Saunders or Elder Anderson or myself, but actually, i'm just grateful for her example to me. i learn so much from her, i am so grateful that i got to know her.

that's about it for this week. oh, hopefully the pictures worked, it's the deathstar and a member who dressed up as obi-wan for farsang.

i hope you all have a great week! talk to you next week!

Elder Murray

Transfer 10, Week 3

Hi everyone!
Well, not too much happened this week....we had zone conferences this past week, so we got to see everyone, that was a lot of fun. The zone conferences were also really great, we reviewed the things that we learned at the three-day trainings back in september, did some role plays, the usual. Sister Baughman gave a training on how to lead music, since a lot of the people in charge of it out in the branches don't know how to, so now we can go and teach them. it was really funny, because we did some practice ones, and on the 2/3/4th beats, it just kind of looked like a mess, but then on the upbeat, everyone raised their hands, and it just looked really comical. so that was a fun part....the role plays were really good, we did one on teaching through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, so we had a "missionary" sitting facing an "investigator", and the "Holy Ghost" sat behind the "investigator" and held up ques for the "missionary". it was pretty fun, and really helped illustrate how much the Holy Ghost helps in teaching.
so, every night this week i've been helping the senior sisters get ready for the farsang party (farsang is kind of the hungarian equivalent of american halloween......although, they don't go around asking for candy....i guess the only similarity is that they dress up.) so, we made a Death Star pinata, and i must say, it turned out pretty sweet......the party was really fun, one of the members made a ton of donuts (they were super delicious!) and it was really fun to see the different costumes. my camera died pretty early through everything, but i managed to get a video of a group of members from Tatabánya who put together a dance. it was pretty cool. so, all in all, a pretty fun night. i think that one wore me out more than the new year's one, even though we got home a lot earlier from it. the senior sisters said it was probably the best party they've ever had. it was a lot of fun.
so, that's the news for this week...i'll try to get some pictures sent off pretty soon here.
well, so long until next week!
Elder Murray

Transfer 10, Week 2

hello everyone!
well, not much else to report this week.......not too much out of the ordinary going on. We had a really good time streeting on Wednesday night; didn't get any contact information, but i gave a girl some information about English class, and she seemed pretty interested. Sister Steck and Sister Hansen have finally made it off to Békéscsaba (they reopened the sister companionship there, so they had to get a new apartment, so while the elders there were working that out, the sisters stayed with the Buda sisters). so, they're gone. that's about the biggest news this week. Next week, we're having a Farsang party in place of gofri est (Farsang is sort of kind of not really similar to halloween....everyone dresses up in costumes....that's similar, right?) The theme for it is Egri Csillagok Háborúja, which translates to something along the lines of "Mouse Star Wars"...apparently there was a movie/book called "Egri Csillagok" (the english translation was "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon") about battling the Turks or something, so they combined that with "Csillagok háborúja" (Star Wars), so people can come dressed up as Turks or something from Star Wars......we're not allowed to dress up, BUT............Sister Harris wants me to decorate the pinata which is going to be.............wait for it...............The Death Star! ooh, i'm so excited! so, that makes up for me not being able to go as a jedi.............so, i'll report on how that all turns out next week.
I guess that's it for this week.........i hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you all later!
Elder Murray

Transfer 10, Week 1

Hello everyone!
yeah, so, it is officially my tenth transfer here in the country! it feels super wierd, in two transfers, i'll be as old as my trainer (missionly speaking) when i served with him! wierd.....
ok, well, you all may be happy to know that i finally remembered what i wanted to say last week! Although, i may have already talked about it.............but who cares! "waita minute, P. Sherman......what does that even mean?!" "well, i don't know.........but who cares! I remembered!" ok, so, the new office couple got here on Saturday night! (a week ago). they seem super fun...their name is Bagozzi, and they are from Canada! woohoo! everyone loves the Canucks! but, they got to spend a weekend here with the Garners, and now they're the official office couple! The Garners have gone home....it feels so dang wierd that they're gone, they've been here since before i got to the country......it just seems wierd to have someone new here.....but they seem really enthusiastic, and we're really excited to have them here and help them get settled in. so, yeah, that's the big news.....the other news.........we just had transfers, and Elder Anderson, Elder Kunz, Elder Wéber, Sister Shurtleff, and Sister Wolfe all went home, along with the Haslems and the Garners. I can't believe that they're all gone..............i guess, when i came to the country, i met these missionaries who, it seemed to me, had always been here and always would be, and now that they're gone, it really emphasizes how short a time we're here for........crazy...but, there's one consolation......Elder Garner used to be a math professor, and they now live in Utah, a short distance from BYU, and he's available for free tutoring! I'm definitely going to need it..........plus, it will be just super awesome to get to go visit them when i'm at BYU.....but, until then, we'll have a blast with the Bagozzis!
well, that's about it for this week......transfers was super hectic, as usual, but we managed to live through it again. Oh, there is a little news...........Laci, a member here in the Buda ward, really likes to organize outings, so we're going to go see Cats in March! in Hungarian! it's going to be super fun, i think we have about 30 people going so far. they've gone to quite a few other plays since i've been here, but we've always had something else that we needed to do, so we weren't able to go....but, we're going to this one! so, somebody remind me to write about that, since we'll be seeing it Saturday night, i won't be writing about it until a week later........but yeah, i'm super exicited!
alright, I hope you all have a great week! talk to you all later!
Elder Murray