12 August 2013
HI!
Well... I don't have
too much to tell you all about this week! Mostly it's consisted of trying to
find new people to teach in a city of tourists and really strong Catholics. I
haven't run into this before, because in the big cities you get a combination
of all the religions, but EVERYONE here in Catholic, with the exception of the
atheists. Also, it was in the 40s all of last week with the worst humidity
ever, I think that’s about 105-110 Fahrenheit, so it's been a party over here!
A sweat party, that is. There have been several times where we've both just had
to stop and find some shade to lean against a wall, because we always feel like
we're going to pass out. We have gotten yelled at several times to go inside
somewhere because it's unsafe to be out in this heat. Haha, that's always a
nice way of seeing the Hungarians show their concern for you. We have gotten a
couple let-ins, but we haven't found anyone solid yet. We have a few programs
set up for this week; we'll see how they go.
We tried to meet with a couple people from the area book that the last elders used to meet with, that was the worst idea ever... haha but it makes for some pretty good stories. The elders actually set up programs with two of them for our first weekend here. One was a lady and the other was a man, they're next door neighbors and the programs were set for two different days. The first was with the lady and we accidentally rang the man's doorbell, but he let us in and showed us her door. He knocked on it and called through her door that the missionaries were here. She proceeded to yell at us through the door and tell us that she said she didn't want to meet with missionaries and she wasn't interested, so get out! We weren't scheduled to meet with the man who let us in until the next day, but after she kicked us out, he tried to invite us into his apartment. But, we could tell that he had been drinking and he was being really pushy and wouldn't take our polite no for an answer when we tried to explain that we couldn't come in alone, etc. He turned around to get something, and we turned and looked at each other and then booked it down the stairs and out of the building while he drunkenly turned around. Haha It's funny now to look back to, but that was our first weekend's programs...Thanks elders! ;)
We tried to meet with a couple people from the area book that the last elders used to meet with, that was the worst idea ever... haha but it makes for some pretty good stories. The elders actually set up programs with two of them for our first weekend here. One was a lady and the other was a man, they're next door neighbors and the programs were set for two different days. The first was with the lady and we accidentally rang the man's doorbell, but he let us in and showed us her door. He knocked on it and called through her door that the missionaries were here. She proceeded to yell at us through the door and tell us that she said she didn't want to meet with missionaries and she wasn't interested, so get out! We weren't scheduled to meet with the man who let us in until the next day, but after she kicked us out, he tried to invite us into his apartment. But, we could tell that he had been drinking and he was being really pushy and wouldn't take our polite no for an answer when we tried to explain that we couldn't come in alone, etc. He turned around to get something, and we turned and looked at each other and then booked it down the stairs and out of the building while he drunkenly turned around. Haha It's funny now to look back to, but that was our first weekend's programs...Thanks elders! ;)
Last week, we called
someone else that they had found and put in the area book, without too much
information about him. That was interesting too... It was this old man that
insisted that he couldn't hear us because our voices were higher pitched than
the elders and told us that instead of teaching him, we should just sit and
listen to him talk to us. Also, he kept offering us alcohol and we politely
tried to explain to him that we don't drink, etc., but he proceeded to get
really upset that we wouldn't accept his generous gift. He told us that he
knows that God loves HIM and HE drinks, so he wouldn't punish us for drinking!
When we still declined the offer, he tried the tactic of telling us that there
actually wasn't even any alcohol anyway, it was just wine, not alcohol. Hahaha.
Oh man, we definitely won't be going back there again...
Last week was really
bad, until Friday. Since Friday everything has been looking up
and my attitude has gotten much better. Sister Fowers and I get along really
well and we've had some really good talks and I can see why I need to be here
with her right now. It's harder to see why I need to be here exactly, when we
aren't having success or finding anything really hopeful, but we have had a
really good time the last couple days and I finally let go of the hope of their
being some miracle and me getting sent back to Buda any time soon. Also, the
weather was so cold and so good on Saturday, and it just rained for a long
time. That probably helped too, because finding is much more manageable in that
weather.
Hm... other than that.
The elders here have been having a lot of success and let ins, so it's good to
see their work progressing! They have a couple people on bap date and they had
a baptism on Saturday that we went to. She's like the coolest
Hungarian that I've met. She's pretty old and she's SO funny, I don't even know
how to explain. She LOVES the missionaries and the fact that there are sisters
here now. Our first day here, she made the elders bring us over to her house and
gave us ice cream and played music and it’s just so funny to get from an old
lady. She also always comes and sits by me in Relief Society and insists that
we sit nearby in Sunday School and Sacrament meeting and she's one of
those people that has to give an ongoing commentary of every meeting and
whisper to you what she thinks about everything. She's so crazy and you can't
even keep her tamed, and the blunt things she says are hilarious, so Gizi néni
has gotten me through some boring meetings and bad moods. She had us all (the
elders, us and the RS Pres/her new BFF) over after her baptism on Saturday too
and just soaked in all the attention and fed us so much good food. You just have
to love her. Gizi's great!
Today for P-day, we're
not doing tooo much, but we do have something funny planned. Haha There's this
tradition for missionaries serving in Veszprém to all go to this place called
Ceragem and get memberships. Apparently, the tradition is that you go in and do
a weird, funny Asian dance to loosen up and then they have all of these
massaging machines that you sit in and lay on for like an hour. Then, you get a
free membership, because some people from our branch work there and a young guy
in the Branch Presidency who served his mission here in Hungary recently (he's
from Veszprém) works there and gets them for us. So, since we're the first
Sisters, we still want to keep the tradition up. Elder Judd (the Asian one, I
served in Buda with his cousin, also elder Judd, last transfer) and I think it
will be hilarious and are super excited. Sister Fowers is a little apprehensive
about it, because she hates massages. Hahaha Then we'll just go out and eat
somewhere, we're experimenting to find good cheap places, and then get back to
work finding people. I definitely am already more familiar with this city and
where everything is on a map than any other place I've served in. We've spent a
long time studying a map and each night we highlight each street that we
tracted out that day. Plus, the city is somewhat small and the buses aren't
super frequent, so we end up walking for a really long time to get places and I
feel like we've walked everywhere already. Haha I just hope we start finding people
to teach sometime soon! I feel like I might be cursing myself, but I think I’ll
most likely be here next transfer, since…well... I've moved every other
transfer and this is a short transfer anyway. It'll be interesting to see what
happens. But I'll just try to enjoy this one while it lasts.
I read a quote that I
really liked this morning in President Spencer W. Kimball's teachings book
thing, I thought I'd share it with you: "I started out very miserable and
found myself wondering if I could get through the day, but...I seemed to become
intoxicated with my work and forgot myself and it was a good day." I feel
like this is a good description of the mission life, and probably real life.
Just a little advice that helped me this week, maybe it'll help you!
I love you all! And not that I've been keeping track, but someone asked me the other day, so I had to figure it out: I'll see you all in 346 days! yikes! I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But, I'm sure it'll come quickly!
Love,
Megan
PS - I'll leave more time next week to send pictures, but I
don't have tooo many yet.
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