Week 33: So Many Cockroaches! Yikes!!! Plus Tons of Pictures!

November 18, 2013
Hey, hey!

What's up! I hope life is great, I didn't hear from some of you this week, which is funny because I finally have time to email longer! haha But I hope life is fantastic.

I don't really know how to describe my week. Haha. Sister Broadhead is the bomb, so we've been having fun over here in Fehérvár. But uh... let's just say we killed 43 cockroaches in our kitchen my first day here and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We stopped counting after 43 and then we came back and killed more that night. We went ham with the Raid and went through a whole bottle. No worries, the fumigators are coming tomorrow, we've just been avoiding our kitchen like the plague. Unfortunately that means we haven't really eaten too well this week, mostly just...bread, oreos, apples and plums. hahaha. Help. 

This week has flown by though! It's CRAZY how different each transfer is with each different companion and city and stuff. I have to say, this isn't my favorite city, there's something weird about it and I just haven't really felt that confirmation yet like "oh yeah, this is where I'm supposed to be" or "this is home." I went back to Veszprém for district meeting a couple days ago and that doesn't feel like home anymore either, so it's just been kind of a weird week of not feeling like I belong here. It's hard to explain. Actually, there going to have to close a city down to sisters in three weeks when Perkins and Kennedy go home and I have this weird feeling that it’s this city, but I'm almost positive that it's not, so I just need to start loving this city! (: We don't really have any really serious investigators that I know of, I haven't met with everyone yet, but from what it sounds like, we don't. Sister Broadhead actually opened this city with Sister Montenegro, from our MTC group, the same transfer that I was with Fowers in Veszprém, so they've both been open the same amount of time. This city is bigger than Veszprém; it's the 4th biggest in Hungary (so the only big city I'm missing is #3 Szeged), but it's really not big at all. Haha. The branch is definitely smaller than Veszprém's. We had 6 people in Relief Society, counting me and Sister Broadhead. 

Also, the wheel on my biggest suitcase got DESTROYED this transfer. Funny, because we were actually just talking about how sturdy they are and how they've lasted me 5 moving transfers without any problems. What should I do about it? I'm going to ask the members here if there's anywhere that replaces wheels, but would it be better to just buy a new one? Like will a new wheel stay sturdy? merr. This is a pain. 

We also found out that there are 3 new sisters (one Hungarian) coming in the transfer in January and then 8 in the next one in March, so pretty much everyone around my age will probably be training. Yikes. :\ Haha I do have to admit though, it's weird to go back co-senior after being senior. Super weird. I don't know how I feel about it yet…haha and I didn't think I'd ever say that. Maybe that's one of the reasons I needed this transfer. Who knows? But I still want to serve with pretty much everyone in my MTC group, because they're all like my favorite sisters in the mission and they're all awesome. I feel like we're all pretty much sisters, its weird haha. 

Anywho... I had the weirdest flashbacks of us all Christmas shopping in Chile, at those far away malls, when we'd all split up with different family members and buy presents for the ones we weren't with and then we'd split again. And yeah, it made me super trunky for a couple minutes. I miss those times! They seem SO long ago. I mean, I guess they were like 10 years ago. Ah. What happened to life?! Haha 

I love you all! Have fun this week! Watch a movie for me and then... don't tell me about it. (: Haha. But do update me on life, I have no idea what's happening in the real world, except for the typhoon. Scary stuff. 

Love,

Sister Butterfield

 Sister Maxfield and I in Duna last transfer for Zone Training.

 Stuff Sister Fresh gave me for my birthday! Haha!

 Just had to zoom in on our districts favorite part of the gift... hahaha!

Some halloween decorations that we made for our door.... don't worry, it wasn't my idea, I'm still the same old, not-creative, not-crafty me. Haha I'm sure some of you may have almost had a heart attack thinking that it was my idea to be creative. Haha take a deep breath. It's just something that makes Maxfield happy. Hahaha, plus then we ended up giving them to a little family who was having a Halloween party and they loved it (:

Writing notes for people's mail boxes on our way up to buda for interviews.. (:

 Train rides. Meet the Veszprém missionaries. ha

 some toe socks the elders bought me for my birthday (:

Wearin' the socks. Drinkin' "birds milk." It's the best.

The tag was probably one of the best parts of their gift. I figured you'd all enjoy it too.

We all look ridiculous, but...we always did this on our way to sport nap. The other kid comes to our English class and sport nap. He meets with the elders--kinda.

 On our way to Stake Conference in Pest a few weeks ago.

 Love these kids.

 Surprise birthday party at an RCLA's house that we visit every week. (:

 My two favorite members in Veszprém in one picture. Balázs and Gizi!

Zone conference in Buda; they planned theirs, I just happened to be wearing it too. Hahaha this is what you get when you all shop at H&M.

 Kriszti's (from Buda) baptism in Kispest! Panni's the other one in here, she's getting baptized in a couple weeks! (:

 Two of my favorite companions! Actually,I've loved pretty much all of them. (:

Panni! Miss her. 

 Yeahh, Sister Perkins! Can't believe she goes home in 3 weeks too. 

 Our district last transfer.It's mostly the same, just 2 people less and one new person.

Cockroaches! Don't worry, they aren't the huge, black, South American ones. 

Week 32: Transfer Call! 5th City in 6th Transfers

November 12, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Weeeeeeee. You'll never guess my transfer call! Hahaha well, I guess Katie will, because I already wrote to her about it. But... my new companion is Kelsee Broadhead!!! AKA - Polly and Mike's neighbor! Before our missions, we wanted to serve together in the MTC, but obviously that didn't happen. Then we got out here and our chances didn't look very high, plus, we've been in the same district in neighboring cities for the past 4 months. We thought we were both getting transferred this time. Nope! Her current companion is Sister Fresh (who I served with in Buda). Turns out, Fresh and I are just swapping spots. Soooo, tomorrow I will be going to Székesfehérvár, my 5th city in 6 transfers! Crazy, huh! This will also be companion #9. I'm just wringin' in the numbers over here. Haha I actually started to think the last couple weeks that I would stay here and I was really excited about it. We have so many promising investigators now and I LOVE the members here SO much, it's crazy. I actually haven't called anyone to tell them that I'm leaving yet, because a lot of them were in tears just when I brought it up in their programs lately and they thought I would probably be the one leaving. I can't break it to them. :( I will eventually, but... yikes. This is the worst part about it all. The work here still isn't ideal, and these definitely haven't been my favorite transfers, but I really love all the people here soo much.
But, I really can't be mad! I'm getting Broadhead!  I'm really hoping that we'll stay together for Christmas, but I think the chances of that are slim. There's actually a mini transfer in 4 weeks, but it won't be so mini: 2 sisters are going home and about 8 elders or something, and no one knew is coming in, so they're going to have to close some cities and call a new AP, 2 new sister training leaders and like 4 new ZL's, so it's actually supposed to be a really big transfer... :/ oh well, I'll take 4 weeks with her if that's all I can get! We've been talking about how much we wish we could just serve together somehow; not thinking it would happen, but... alas. We lucked out.
Other than that... It's been a really good week for us, work wise. We actually went on splits on Tuesday; it was really nice to see Sister Perkins again. She dies in 4 weeks, so it was good to talk to her a lot and stuff. (: I can't believe it's been so long since we served together, 6 months!  We did some interesting things this week: bandaging up a member here (we were there because we teach his mom) hand/arm, and taping cardboard to a window that he punched... etc. Getting fed a lot again, having some REALLY, really good programs and a good FHE last night with like my favorite family in the branch here, they're so adorable. They have a 19 year old son who we teach mission prep to and play soccer with every week, a 14 year old daughter and 6 year old daughter who might be the cutest little girl I have ever met in my whole life. She would NOT let me leave their house last night. Haha we just made cat noises to each other all night and she kept coming and wrapping herself around my back... well, once she tired herself out, that is. For the first half, she literally ran up and down the hallway, bouncing around and trying to get all her energy out. Haha she's crazy.

So people have asked me about statistics or what the different organizations and stuff are like in the branches here, so I decided to count it all out as I zoned out in Sacrament meeting yesterday..... haha :) and give you some rough estimates. It's really interesting here in this branch because there are so many little girls, but not many boys at all and i feel like it’s been the opposite in most other places. But…on  a good week at church there are probably about...6 girls and 1 boy in primary, 4 girls in YW and 2 in YM, 2 YSA girls and 4 YSA guys. But, like I said, that’s on a good week…
Anyway, I can't really think of much else to tell you all about. It was a super busy week, but now I can't really remember too much. I love you all!!

Love,
Sister Butterfield

Week 31: Best Birthday Ever!

November 4, 2013

Hey!

So... hm. where so start. Well, I forgot to tell you when I emailed last week, but that morning we actually went and did some interesting service: We went over to our investigator’s house and helped her clean up her apartment and balcony and stuff. We brought our mini vacuum and stuff, since they don't have one and then we spent awhile helping them, well mostly just doing it all. haha It was fun, until we discovered... termites! Everywhere. Especially on the little couch that we sit on 4 times a week when we come over and teach them... yikes! Let’s just say, we cleaned the whole vacuum out and went home and took everything off and put it straight into the washing machine. My comp is still paranoid about it, haha she said they've been in her dreams like every night since. hahaha.

I have to say, this birthday might win the contest for my best birthday ever in some ways. The baptism was PERFECT. I'm so glad that I got to go down for it and see Kriszti and how happy she is! Someone actually read a book as part of his talk at it; In English it's called "You are Special", by Max Lucado. I don't ever remember reading it or hearing about it, but I bought a copy out here and we read it soo much with people. They love it! It's my favorite. Look it up if you haven't ever read it. Anyway, it was just super cute that he read it and... yeah, the whole thing was just really good. Then, I went out to lunch with a bunch of my friends in the mission that are serving in Buda and then we caught our train back to Veszprém and went out to dinner with our elders and an investigator here. It was a good p-day/birthday! People spoiled me! Some elders brought me flowers hahaha and some other people gave me chocolate. Our elders here got me toe socks and fuzzy socks, some other sisters got me a copy of the Book of Mormon in Spanish, with a Hungarian cover... I can't even remember what else. Some inactive members that we meet with every week had us over and surprised me with cake and sparkling cider and flowers and a kézi munka pillowcase thing, I really have no idea how to say that in English. But yeah, super sweet. They call themselves my Veszprém parents and they always spoil us with food and stuff to take home! They made a specialty for us on Wednesday. I almost died... It was like pig blood sausages and a couple other kinds of stuffed sausages and... bleh. Hahaha! I literally prayed the whole time I ate it.

I don't have too much time, but I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting to tell you. Next week! Speaking of, next week is transfer week, so we're emailing on Tuesday again, not Monday! Wish me luck, I'm kinda really worried about my fate. haha.

Love you all!

Sister Butterfield

Week 30: 20th Birthday This Week!

October 28, 2013

HI!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and cards and stuff, you guys are my favorite! (: People always get mad out here, because apparently I say everyone and everything is my favorite, but, really, you are. Haha. You can never have too many favorites. The good news is, I'm sure I will have a really good birthday, because I got permission to go to one of my favorite investigator ever's baptism from Buda!!! It'll actually be in Kispest though, so I get to go back to my greenie area for the first time, which will be super weird! Probably no one there remembers me, since I was only there for 6 weeks and didn't really interact too much with the branch there. Oh well, we'll see how it goes! I'm excited! (: That also means that our P-Day is actually on Friday too, but we have to email today, because everything will be closed on Friday. It's the Day of the Dead here, so it's like one of the saddest days of the year here, everything closes down (like every other holiday here) and everyone goes to the cemeteries where their relatives are. They prepare for it for weeks, buying wreaths and flower arrangements and stuff to leave on the graves for the next year. I always get weird reactions when people here that it's my birthday. Haha

I don't have a ton of time left to email, but... hm. interesting stories for the week. Yesterday we had Stake Conference up in Pest and they made a pretty cool announcement. The mission is over 5 branches in Hungary and 4 of them were made part of the stake yesterday, in preparation for a new stake sometime soon. Hopefully next year! We'll see! (: Elder Herbertson (or something) from the 70s came up and gave some really good talks! We also have a Zone Conference on Thursday (with two other zones) and Elder Texeira from the 70s is coming to that too. It'll be interesting to hear what we're trained on and stuff. (Side note - on our way to the train station Sunday morning, some guy stepped in front of our bus and so the driver stepped on the breaks and everyone flew. Luckily the old neni's on the bus with us (no one else was there, since it was like 6:30 am) caught themselves on the seat in front of themselves. There wasn't really anything in front of me, so I ate floor and my hip slammed against something, I'm not really sure what. But I have a nice bruise to prove it. (: Haha I'm just glad the old ladies didn't get something worse).

Mm… October 23rd (last Wednesday) was a holiday here, I can't really remember what for, to be honest. They have so many holidays here. Haha. Good excuses to shut the city down and cancel work. We still work. Haha Don't worry. Anyway, that was a funny day. It started out pretty rough, for a few different reasons, but then we were super busy running around and doing things. We did some service up at the new Branch house that's being built here and then we had to run home to change and go over to a member's house for lunch with the elders. We ate so much. Then, we were supposed to meet with someone else, but they got sick and cancelled, so we doorbell ditched some stuff at their house and then surprise visited another member to bring her something too. Then, we rushed over to another member's house/a new member that we teach. And she fed us too. I had to eat a whole, huge bowl of pudding. Let's just say, I've gotten really good at keeping a straight face. Still don't like pudding though. Haha! We thought we were going to die, so we just went home and laid in bed while we did language study and planned. We still don't really want to eat ever. We have gotten soo much food this week, it's crazy. Other than being fed, we also had a fridge full of food that members sent home with us. We're almost through it all. It's nice to not have to make food though. (: I don't think I've had this much food in one week in my whole mission. or even in a few weeks put together. Haha

I can't really think of too much else, sorry this is a boring one, but... hopefully I'll have more for you next week! By then, I'll be 20. Weird!

Love you all,

Sister Butterfield

Week 29: It's Hump Week! Splits in Buda!

October 22, 2013

Hey!

Sorry I didn't write last week, it was kind of a combination of not having a ton of time and mostly just a lack of good, happy things to write you all about. The past 2 or so weeks have been super rough for a lot of reasons, but...yeah, I'm working through it--or trying at least. Haha Also, sorry I didn't write yesterday either. We have a mini, mid-transfer, transfer this week, since some elders have finished their missions and are going home. We didn't think any sisters would really be affected, but some of them were actually swapped around, I think just in anticipation/preparation for the real transfer in 3 weeks. We'll need some more Sister Training Leaders and stuff, because my trainer goes home at the end of this transfer! :( Two of my best friends in the mission are going home tomorrow, and all of my senior companions will be dead in less than 2 months, along with most of my friends in the mission. Yikes. Mission life. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of my mission plays out. I only have 4 more official transfers, but there will be transfers in the middle of transfers in December too, like the week before Christmas, when Sister Perkins and 2 groups of missionaries leave together. There might be a smaller transfer within the next transfer as well, but we aren't really sure yet. That's kind of far away, like…in March or something? Anyway, there's a lot going on. But at the same time, we don't really have any new sisters coming in any time soon; there were a couple that were supposed to be coming soon (in November and then December) from the MTC, but...now all we've heard is that they aren't, so...we'll see.

Hm...other than that...I was up in Buda last, last week for splits and I was supposed to go with one sister, but I ended up going about half with her and then the other half with Sister Perkins! So that was nice! We got to stay up there later that night for a baptism, but then our train didn't end up coming, so we had to sleep over another night and go home Saturday morning. So that was a long thing! While I was up there, I was able to teach one of my old (but she’s actually young, not literally old, haha) investigators and best friends from Buda a lesson, during which she told me that just by looking at me she could tell that my "battery" is empty...yikes. I guess I have to learn how to fake it better? When I left to catch the train, she kept wishing me happiness and energy. Haha meep. Anyway, she set a bap date that day though and decided to get baptized next week on my birthday!!! (: I'm still waiting for permission to go to that next week, so we'll see. Turns out, she actually has to get handed over to the Kispest missionaries, since she lives in those boundaries, so the baptism will be in my greenie city, which I have never been back to. So, hopefully! It would be cool and a nice birthday present! (: It was hard to go back to the Buda ward and sit with them all during the baptism. It was so nice to see them all, but so hard to remember how great it all is up there. I miss it so much still! It's crazy! plus, I had my two favorite investigators sitting next to me and holding my hand through the whole thing and just talking and everyone was crying and yikes. Haha! It was an emotional weekend. It was nice to finally get back to Veszprem the next day though and kind of back to normal life. But then, two days later, we all had to take a train back up to Buda for interviews! Normally those last 30 mins. max, but yeah... we'll just say mine went over an hour. It was a lot better than last transfer's interview though. It was interesting to hear all the things he said to me, especially about all the timing of me being out here right now and why I'm out here; Just an interesting assortment of things, since I didn't actually say anything to him initially about just wanting to be at home right now. It seems most of the sisters in the mission are having a pretty hard time at the moment. He has a lot on his plate, but he's such a good man! We talked about a lot of things, not necessarily to the extent of finding solutions, but it was a good talk. After that I went to lunch with a bunch of other missionaries who were up there for interviews, before we had to catch our train back. I got to say bye to one of the elders leaving next week, who I served with in Buda! It’s weird that I won't see any of them for 9 more months.

What else... oh! This week we put one of our investigators on bap date! We've been working with her a lot recently. We meet with her 3-4 times a week and focus on one lesson/concept a week, because she had a stroke last year and has a little bit of a harder time remembering, But, she's set to get baptized at the beginning of January, which sounds pretty far away, but its actually like 2 and a half months and it works for her needs. Also, it's her son's (he got baptized earlier this year) birthday the day after, so she wants him to baptize and confirm her for his birthday! (: so cute! If I stay here next transfer, then I'll still be here for her baptism. I probably won't, but that's okay with me, I'm just glad she's progressing towards that! (: I realized this week that all of our investigators that we meet with regularly are women and most of them are moms!
So, sometimes we teach their kids too! (: We have some great less actives that we visit weekly and they're like my Hungarian grandparents and feed us every week and it’s so good with them! (: There's honestly not too much that I'll miss if I get transferred out in a few weeks, but I will miss them and a lot of the members here.

Fun fact: we made BLTs for Sunday dinner! (: It reminded me of home. We'll have to do that on... July 27th... Haha…or in August. They're better in America.

I hope you're all doing well! I miss you all more than you probably know! Until next week! (When I'll officially have less time in front of me than behind me)

Love,
Sister Butterfield

Week 28: No letter