May 12, 2014
Hello!
I'm not really sure what to write you all about today, since we just Skyped yesterday... Mostly the highlight of our week (besides Skyping, of course) was the baptism yesterday! I'll have to send you all pictures of it. It all went smoothly. It's not so much the ceremony that I love about the whole thing, but more the investigators journey and what extreme changes I was able to watch and experience with him. I am so proud of him and amazed at how he has completely flipped his life around and literally become a new person. It's crazy what the Gospel does for people and the happiness that it brings to people who were otherwise extremely sad and alone. I'm excited for his future and the continued blessings the gospel will bring to him. The service itself was interesting. It was at a Seven Day Adventist church here in Szeged, because they have a font... It's a nice, quiet place, just strange to have a baptism in someone else's church... I'm excited for the branch house to be finished here, hopefully August!
Other than that, we're just moving forward with our work. We met this super cute 20-year old girl while tracting (finally did some tracting here!) last week. We went back to visit her today and she's so adorable! Unfortunately, she's going home for the summer to a little village and can't meet until September, but holy cow! I have high hopes for this one! She was sooo excited to get the Book of Mormon and just kept saying how she can't wait to start reading it and read the whole thing! She was like, "I'm just so glad you two were here last time and that you're so normal! I was so excited that I told all my friends about you two and convinced them all that Mormons really aren't weird! I told my whole family about it too and my mom was really happy!" Ah! She's a missionary already! She said a couple of her friends already asked her if they could borrow her copy of the Book of Mormon when she finishes it. I told her that instead, we'd love to give them all copies! She said she'll talk to them all again and see if she can get us their addresses! So cool!
Now we're just prepping for the transfer and for another baptism. We have a super solid investigator (she's pretty much already a member, minus the covenants. Haha) getting baptized on the Sunday after transfers, so that should be interesting to see who is here with her..... We both feel like we're leaving Szeged, but I'll let you know next week what happens. Speaking of, we'll be emailing on Tuesday next week because of transfer calls! Strange... it'll be my last transfer. You can check me on my guesses for transfers at this point: I go to Pécs or something and Sister Dinehart to... Kecskemét or she'll (re)open somewhere new with someone fairly young. We'll see, but now you can check me on my guesses. ;)
This week I've been studying the Atonement every day in my personal study and I just wanted to share a quote that I found:
"By this miraculous physical healing, the Savior confirmed to all of us this infinitely more powerful spiritual truth: the Son of Man forgives sins! He does not excuse us in our sins. He does not condone our return to past sins. But when we repent and obey His gospel, He forgives us.
In this forgiveness we see the enabling and the redeeming power of the Atonement harmoniously and graciously applied. If we exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the enabling power of His Atonement strengthens us in our moment of need, and His redeeming power sanctifies us as we “[put] off the natural man.” This brings hope to all, especially to those who feel that recurring human weakness is beyond the Savior’s willingness to help and to save."
That's from Elder Craig A. Cardon's talk from last April. I liked it so I wrote the last part of it on a sticky note in my planner so that I can read it all the time. I think everyone has things that they struggle with and want to put off, but obviously that's easier said than done and sometimes it's a very long, painful process. But, we can know that He still wants to forgive us, no matter how many times we fall back into our weaknesses. Just know that you all have the strength to overcome whatever you are going through and this source of strength, help and forgiveness is available to all of you, all of the time, no matter what. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield
Hello!
I'm not really sure what to write you all about today, since we just Skyped yesterday... Mostly the highlight of our week (besides Skyping, of course) was the baptism yesterday! I'll have to send you all pictures of it. It all went smoothly. It's not so much the ceremony that I love about the whole thing, but more the investigators journey and what extreme changes I was able to watch and experience with him. I am so proud of him and amazed at how he has completely flipped his life around and literally become a new person. It's crazy what the Gospel does for people and the happiness that it brings to people who were otherwise extremely sad and alone. I'm excited for his future and the continued blessings the gospel will bring to him. The service itself was interesting. It was at a Seven Day Adventist church here in Szeged, because they have a font... It's a nice, quiet place, just strange to have a baptism in someone else's church... I'm excited for the branch house to be finished here, hopefully August!
Other than that, we're just moving forward with our work. We met this super cute 20-year old girl while tracting (finally did some tracting here!) last week. We went back to visit her today and she's so adorable! Unfortunately, she's going home for the summer to a little village and can't meet until September, but holy cow! I have high hopes for this one! She was sooo excited to get the Book of Mormon and just kept saying how she can't wait to start reading it and read the whole thing! She was like, "I'm just so glad you two were here last time and that you're so normal! I was so excited that I told all my friends about you two and convinced them all that Mormons really aren't weird! I told my whole family about it too and my mom was really happy!" Ah! She's a missionary already! She said a couple of her friends already asked her if they could borrow her copy of the Book of Mormon when she finishes it. I told her that instead, we'd love to give them all copies! She said she'll talk to them all again and see if she can get us their addresses! So cool!
Now we're just prepping for the transfer and for another baptism. We have a super solid investigator (she's pretty much already a member, minus the covenants. Haha) getting baptized on the Sunday after transfers, so that should be interesting to see who is here with her..... We both feel like we're leaving Szeged, but I'll let you know next week what happens. Speaking of, we'll be emailing on Tuesday next week because of transfer calls! Strange... it'll be my last transfer. You can check me on my guesses for transfers at this point: I go to Pécs or something and Sister Dinehart to... Kecskemét or she'll (re)open somewhere new with someone fairly young. We'll see, but now you can check me on my guesses. ;)
This week I've been studying the Atonement every day in my personal study and I just wanted to share a quote that I found:
"By this miraculous physical healing, the Savior confirmed to all of us this infinitely more powerful spiritual truth: the Son of Man forgives sins! He does not excuse us in our sins. He does not condone our return to past sins. But when we repent and obey His gospel, He forgives us.
In this forgiveness we see the enabling and the redeeming power of the Atonement harmoniously and graciously applied. If we exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the enabling power of His Atonement strengthens us in our moment of need, and His redeeming power sanctifies us as we “[put] off the natural man.” This brings hope to all, especially to those who feel that recurring human weakness is beyond the Savior’s willingness to help and to save."
That's from Elder Craig A. Cardon's talk from last April. I liked it so I wrote the last part of it on a sticky note in my planner so that I can read it all the time. I think everyone has things that they struggle with and want to put off, but obviously that's easier said than done and sometimes it's a very long, painful process. But, we can know that He still wants to forgive us, no matter how many times we fall back into our weaknesses. Just know that you all have the strength to overcome whatever you are going through and this source of strength, help and forgiveness is available to all of you, all of the time, no matter what. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield
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| Us with Viki in front of the font in the Adventist church before the baptism. |
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| Artur, in the middle, is the one who got baptized and next to him is the branch president, President Szűcs, who baptized him. The little kid in the front is one of our other investigators, whom we teach with his mom and grandma. |
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