Week 66: Day 531: Two Weeks Left!

July 7, 2014

Hellooo!

First off, I just want to apologize in case I offended anyone with my letter last week... My point wasn't meant to be that America is awful. The US is a great country, and I love it! The point I had intended to make was just that I don't like being treated like royalty or super badly, just because of where I was born; I'm not any cooler or better than anyone else just because I have an American Passport. I don't want people to be talking to us as missionaries, just because they're interested in where we're from instead of the Gospel. But I love the United States, just like I love Hungary and Peru and a lot of other countries. Sorry if that came out wrong, I wasn't intending to be offensive! (:

Hm…it's been an interesting week. I'll just say Monday, Tuesday and Sunday (yesterday) were good days and we'll leave it at that... hahah. Nah, but really, Tuesday was probably my favorite. That's when I saw Viki from Veszprém for lunch and we got to catch up and stuff (: Then later that night we had English Class at the branch house and then I got a lot of chocolate and it made me happy. (: Wednesday was good too, actually, cause I was still happy from the day before haha and then we had a whole day of tracting and got 4 let ins and then we had a program with one of my favorite investigators here. Her little daughter made us little sting necklaces while we were there and introduced us to her stuffed animals. haha super cute.

Thursday night we went up to Pest for splits... I got to go with Sister Moffatt! It was funny, just cause neither of us are Sister Training Leaders or anything, so we were just like…meh... who leads? But it was fun. I'm glad I went with her, and I could finally get to know my mission "sister" (Sister Watts trained us both!). The night was interesting... All four of us slept at the same apartment, so it was just like a giant sleepover, which means tons of talking and everyone trying to figure secrets out and stuff... haha, we got a lot of questions about Duna and then a lot about Szeged... That was more interesting. Mostly, because this is the first time I'd seen Sister Maxfield since I served in Szeged and we served our transfer together RIGHT after she was a greenie there, so I heard a million and one stories about Szeged and the members and investigators, but I didn't really understand/remember/pay attention to a lot of it, because I had no idea what she was talking about. So it was interesting to talk about it and hear some stories that she told me.... I didn't do much talking, but I learned a lot of interesting things, now that I know everyone she was talking about...She offered to move back to Szeged with me if I end up going back there to the University...... hahaha. Splits are weird. I used to like them, now they just make me super tired. haha Mostly cause all three of them decided they were tired and within seconds they were all out and I just lied there forever, like always. haha The joys of being a dying missionary. Since about Thursday I've been in kind of a freak out/ panic state of mind... I counted it out and I don't think I've had any of my anxiety attacks since like January, which is a good 6 months, so it's about time... There's just a lot to figure out and I'm not quite ready for real life. But I'm still excited, mostly I'm just trying to think of all the things I'm excited for. Call me crazy, but probably top of my list (after the obvious family and friends and stuff) is going to the movie theater all the time again... and watching all the new movies that came out and all the old ones that I used to watch all the time…and food/restaurants there and playing card games with people who appreciate them. haha Speaking of old movies, yesterday a missionary brought up the movie Saturday's Warriors and it made me laugh, thinking back to how cheesy it is and when we were super young that was the movie our family watched every Sunday along with The Sound of Music.

Anyway... super off track... back to splits... The next morning (on the 4th of July) we woke up and went over to the branch house for the morning workout with the elders there. We did Yoga and learned karate kicks…haha I added in the sound effects, of course. hahah then we split into teams and played soccer. (I don't know if you remember back to Székes on Christmas when Elder Hancey and I were creamed by Sister Broadhead and Elder Bennett in Dodgeball?) Well, Elder Hancey and my team (our two greenies) finally got our vengeance and beat the other team. hahah I just can't get competitive in sports.. oh well. Later on in the day we met back up for our lunch hour to have Hamburgers for the 4th. That day I was with Sister Moffatt and we had a really interesting day...She just barely got transferred to Pest last week, so she didn't really know her way around or who the investigators really are... I think Sister Maxfield just gave me some investigators so that I could deal with them and help her figure out to do with them... yeah... I don't think one of them was used to having someone so serious teaching them, cause I was not willing to put up with his rude or inappropriate comments. mehh. And one of their investigators had a foot fetish, I think? Because he started taking pictures of my feet and asking me if I could take off my shoes for him... what?! I have no idea... But.... needless to say, I was exhausted by the end of that day and I don't think I've ever been so happy to be back in Duna... hahaha

Things are going well here... I'm just really sad that I have to leave so soon. I feel like I always get to areas and right when I feel like I finally am getting to know people and know how I can help in the branch more, I get taken out... We had Branch Council yesterday and holy cow, it was the best branch council I've ever been to on my mission. They know how it works here. It was cool to be able to help give input on things to work on and suggestions for callings for people and for activities for them to plan, but then it just made me ever more sad because I realized I won't even be here for any changes or activities or anything... I even stopped cutting links of my chain for a few days earlier in the week, because I was in denial that I actually have to go home. hahaha (:

Since I'm leaving, and my companion is most likely staying here next transfer, I have switched our roles in the companionship. It'll make for an interesting couple weeks. haha Started yesterday, I handed over everything that I have, like the map, tracting book, etc., and instead of leading us, I am now being led. Mostly, the idea behind it is that I let her figure everything out without trying to take over, because if she does get lost or something then I'm there to figure out how to get back, because next transfer she won't even be able to call me for help. So that was interesting, we walked too far a few times and such, but I just calmly followed, waiting until she realized to see if she could figure out how to solve it. Responsibility is good for people, it's stressful on the mission sometimes, and so I'm trying to do things with/for her that I think would have helped me. There are so many new sister missionaries coming in and even more leaving with my group, that we have been warned that we need to prepare our greenies to be senior or co-senior by this coming transfer or the one after... So I'm just trying to give as much practice with responsibility possible, while she can still have the reassurance or confidence that I'm here if anything goes wrong. It's an interesting experience, but so far so good!

 Anyway…this has gotten super long, and I'll be back in two weeks and we can talk then anyway... haha Recommendation for the week: Read the July Liahona! It's actually super good. My favorites were the article on Perfectionism and the tips for parents raising YSA kids or something like that. The one on perfectionism is called something like Being Perfect in Christ and I read it this weekend right when I needed it. Mostly because I am a perfectionist myself, but also because I was starting to stress out about expectations that I know some people have on others, for example, when looking for someone to marry and it's just a lot when you know someone else's expectations are extremely high and they tend to be disappointed when they realize someone isn't as perfect as they might initially think, and I personally know that I am very far from perfect and have a lot of weaknesses. And of course, as a dying missionary, that's something I'll have to start dealing with at some point... But then I read that talk and it made me laugh. (: But it was actually really good!

Have a good week! Enjoy the AC for me, while I'm out here melting...

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield

PS - Someone say happy birthday to Uncle Gary and Lindsey (Manning) for me this week if you happen to talk to them! (:

Viki and Flóra (: (both going to the Manchester England Mission)

more chocolate... (:

One of the stranger programs on my mission.... on splits in Pest (notice the Patriotic outfit, Jenny haha)

Stealing Sister Schnoor's pictures again...

A little girl in the branch here! she's so cute! (: She always sits with us in church!

A better quality picture of splits.

I found her creeper pictures of me...Haha I'll pass them on, because I think they're funny. She always laughs at the weird positions I sit in when I'm on the phone or just stressing out...

When I fell asleep memorizing the dictionary.... haha somehow I can fall asleep when I'm not supposed to, but I can never fall asleep when I'm supposed to. Oh well.

At our 4th of July lunch on splits.. the other elders forgot about it and planned a program, so they couldnt come.. awkward. haha

Splits...

 I was really bored one day during lunch......

Week 65: Day 524: Thoughts on the Temple

June 30, 2014

Hey!

Wow…for some reason it feels like it's been an eternity since last Monday... It was a long week, probably because I've just been thinking about the temple all week and really just wanted to be there.... haha. I'm super excited to go back to the temple, I've just been thinking about it all week, but especially last night, because I was talking to some missionaries in Szeged (they like to keep me up to date on EVERYTHING going on there since I've left...) and they were talking about how one of the YSA there went through the temple last week for the first time in prep for her mission and how cool it was to see her at church yesterday once she got back from Germany and how she was just like walking on clouds and it just gave me the chills remembering when I first went through and how it's crazy it's been over a year and a half since my first time and then thinking about how much I miss it and how that's really all that my goals in life connect to... I don't really care all that much/have any requirements about how many kids I have, where I raise them, what I name them, where I live (besides preferably not in Utah haha), I'm not stuck on any one major or job that I HAVE to have... I just want a husband I trust and a strong, happy family sealed in the temple. (:

Reading the things Dad wrote me about some of his ancestors was super interesting. Sometimes I forget that side of our family has been in the church for that long that Joseph Smith was the one that taught and baptized him... so crazy to compare that, which was what I always knew as normal life, to what I experience here in Hungary, where it's the coolest thing to meet one of those few people here who have been a member for like 24 years maximum and it blows my mind that a few of them have been members since before I was even born. And then like how much people here appreciate the temple and how much they work to get to it, it's just so different from what you experience in Utah or even South America. I've learned a lot of good lessons from the people here and I love that feeling of devotion that I see in some people here.

One thing I realized this week was how much I have missed doing RCLA work. Obviously, that's not our main focus here as missionaries, but we're still involved in it. I was pretty bummed that I couldn't do much last transfer, because... for example, if I had to say why I thought/felt I was sent to Veszprém or who I was meant to meet there, almost every reason would connect back to members that I met with a lot and helped bring back to church. To me, that was more fulfilling than most of the "missionary" work I did there with investigators. I love that branch. But anyway, I realized this week how much I missed it, because we've started doing more of that here in Duna and I love that part of missionary work!

The week overall has been interesting... maybe rough is a good word? It was just super long and about half way through I realized I'm finally cracking. haha Sister Schnoor has seen a side of me that most people on my mission haven't seen, at least not in such an extreme. All of my strange sounds I make seem to be back haha and I have had more than a few OCD cleaning sprees, because I can't handle just sitting around the apartment at night or during meals... haha so... crazy me is coming out… or maybe just stressed out me... at least she gets entertainment from it... Other than that, it's been good. We've been trying to make everything more fun, to at least enjoy our time. So we've been teaching each other weird tricks haha and we practice dance moves while we tract (don't worry, not while they're watching us through the door...) So in that aspect, we've had more fun this week, or just learned to laugh at our own stupidity and my stress. We had a Greek Night branch party or something this week and had Gyros, so that was pretty fun. I had to teach the Spiritual Message for some reason, but it's all good haha, went well...

Two new pet peeves that I learned I have this week... 1 - construction workers. Our part of the city is all under construction, so every time we come out of our building in the morning or have to go back in for meals, ALL (and I mean all) the construction workers stop there work and just stare, or try to yell things at us. If only I were a greenie again and couldn't understand strange things in Hungarian... I. Hate. It. I don't understand why some guys think that would make a girl feel good? Rather, it just makes me want to wear a giant paper bag over my whole body every time I have to walk past them. We've actually stopped going home all the time for lunch just because it's super annoying and they're doing construction by both our front and back doors now... 2 - When we talk to people and they think that "America" (AKA - the US) is the greatest thing ever. (Or the worst thing ever). okay, maybe it's just stereotypes that I don't like. But seriously, America's really not all that great... Yeah, maybe that's where I was born, but I don't feel like it's any better than any other place... there are still unhappy people there, still murders, robbers, poverty, drugs, and really anything else bad in the world... I'm glad that I didn't live for a long time, just because whenever we're tracting and having conversations with people and they start complaining and asking "it's not like that in America, right? Things like that don't happen in America, right? How much does this cost in America?" I can truthfully say, "I don't know! I actually grew up in SOUTH America and my companion doesn't know either, she's from Canada!" hahaha lately that's done the trick lately...

We were in charge of Sunday School and Young Women's again yesterday, so I actually really enjoyed Sacrament Meeting yesterday, because it was my one chance to sit back and not have to do anything. haha (: My favorite part was the closing hymn... They announced what it was (Families Can Be Together Forever) and several members started complaining about how they weren't familiar with the song, so when we started singing it, not too many members sang along with us. But this little girl we always sit with recognized it from Primary and was just singing along with her cute little, innocent child singing voice and to me it was actually a really powerful moment to hear her singing it and it brought back so many memories of the past and made me think about the future. Then, when it ended, all the members who had complained were just like “Ohhh, that was a pretty song!” Haha it made me smile. (:

I don't really have much else... This week we're going on splits with the sisters in Pest... I was really excited for it, because Sister Clawson and I had planned to go together again and we planned it specifically on the 4th of July, since I'm missing my favorite family holiday at home for a second time... but... there were transfers last week and she got transferred to a new city for her last 4 weeks... so... now I'm not so excited. Haha I'm sure it'll be good either way. They don't know yet who's going with whom. Sister Moffatt is up there, who I don't really know at all and Sister Maxfield... so we'll see... hahah. I think we're having a little 4th of July lunch party with all the elders in Pest though, so that should be fun at least! haha Other than that, it'll just be a regular week, nothing too exciting, unfortunately. Oh! I lied; a member is coming to visit from Veszprém! She's staying with one of her friends from the branch here tonight and then we're going to go visit them tomorrow or something. I'm not really sure what's happening, but I'm excited to see her! I didn't know her super well when I was actually in Veszprém, but we've written every week since then and she's super cute and getting ready for her mission (: Oh, and one of my investigators from Szeged is here again, visiting her family who are members, so we're going over there tonight for a program! (: I just wish I could get visits from everyone before I go home... (: If only all my cities were closer together, then it wouldn't be so hard! haha Then it'd make time go faster too, because recently time has felt deathly long, for some reason.

Hope you all have a good week! I'll send you some pictures really quickly and then we have to run to some programs.

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield

My chain is getting shorter!

In case you were curious what some ten stories look like on the inside...I had no idea she was taking pictures...but this is where we ring to the apartments upstairs and try to get someone to let us in... haha!

A long story...but this tack went all the way into her hand and she made me pull it out...hahaha!

We re-decorated our bulletin board during one of my crazy cleaning sprees, using old signs and pictures other sisters had left and then our own. (: 

A close-up of my half. (:

I finished puzzle number two at the beginning of the week, which is probably why all the cleaning sprees started, since I had nothing else to do.. haha!

Week 64: Day 517: Month 17!!!

June 23, 2014

Hey!

Happy 17 months... to me! (: This week went by pretty fast, and I'm not too sad about that either! It was kinda crazy with everything going on, so it wasn't too good for our work here... Like I said, we were in Buda last Sunday and Monday, but that meant we had to do emailing and shopping on Tuesday, which took a lot out of our day, and then we were in Buda all day Friday again for Zone Conferences. It was my group's last Zone Conference, so they made us all give our traditional "departing testimonies" and of course, I was first, since my last name starts with a B... There were only 5 sisters from our group at our meeting and Elder Seegmiller (not in our group, cause he's been here for 2 years, obviously) It was just super weird to be talking about my mission as if it's over and to be talking about going home, because I feel like I still have an eternity left. haha Oddly, I will be sleeping in my own bed at home exactly a month from tomorrow. Sometimes it sounds super short and other times it sounds like I still have a lot to go... depends on the day... or the hour... and my mood. haha but lately it sounds super short. I think it started to hit me after we all bore our testimonies and then the conference was over and everyone started running around telling us that they all need pictures with us, because this might be the last time they see us if they don't get transferred and all five of us just stood there in a circle, while it slowly hit/dawned on all of us, and then Sister Smith came over and started crying about us leaving and it was super cute, but just way too hectic of a day and of emotions. Don't worry, I didn't cry though. haha (: It was a pretty good training too, kind of different from our typical trainings, but I liked it. There was a picture of me in President's PowerPoint presentation from the baptism we had last transfer in Szeged... It made Sister Kovács and I laugh that he chose to put that one in there... (: haha oh well, it was a good picture at least! (: Probably my favorite departing testimony was Sister Fower's (my comp who opened Veszprém with me.. so like a year ago), who compared a mission to water skiing and not being able to ever stand up, so you're just getting dragged along, gulping water and feeling like your back is going to break and you're going to drown, but not being able to let go of the rope.... hahahaha. I almost died laughing. She tied it in pretty well, but yeah, that's kind of what a mission feels like a lot of the time.

Anyway...that was probably the most interesting thing of the week…I think this week will probably go by pretty fast too... most of our investigators could only meet on the days last week when we weren't in Duna, so we couldn't meet with most of them. Luckily, we have a pretty good week set out for us. It'll be good, I feel like I haven't really gotten to know many members here, but all the sudden in one week, a lot of them set up to meet with us, so it'll be good. We're going over to the Branch President and Relief Society president's house tomorrow for dinner (same house... they're married. ha.) I'm excited for that one, I hear they have pretty interesting mission stories; he served here in Hungary and she served in the Baltic Sea mission, back when it was pretty dangerous. Plus, they both speak English perfectly. Literally, his accent sounds like he's from America, it's kinda crazy.

That awkward moment in Sacrament Meeting when someone says "amen" as part of a quote, but no one was paying attention, so the whole congregation repeats "amen" after them, but the talk isn't actually over yet... hahaha. Yeah, that definitely happened last Sunday. It was good. I think only one of the elders and I noticed and it was super hard not to laugh out loud. It reminds me of some interesting talks, or testimonies, last transfer too and trying to stay serious. I've noticed on my mission that I'm actually really bad at keeping a straight face... and keeping my own secrets. haha the weird things you learn on a mission...

Meeerrr, I wish there were a temple in Hungary! I miss it. I can't wait to go in 4 Saturdays... Hey! When, I put it like that, it actually doesn't sound so far away! Especially when you take in account that I haven't been to one in like 66 weeks... plus 9 weeks in the MTC... Holy cow. I've been gone for an eternity.

Hey! Random fact! One of the guys that got his mission call on Tuesday here in Duna is going to the Kosak's mission in Berlin! If you happen to talk to President Kosak, let him know that I'm serving in the same city that his newest missionary is coming from! His sister is going to Manchester, which I think is super cool, cause that's where her best friend, Viki from Veszprém, is also going and they only leave like a month apart! I'm super jealous, because they all have temples in their missions that they can go to. Oh well. There are also two guys I know from Kispest waiting for their mission calls. Ah! It's so cool that so many people are going on missions now; it will be super good for Hungary! (: I LOVE HUNGARYYYY. I had that thought go through my mind so many times this week. I literally just love this country and the people in it and I wish I could just stay here after my mission and travel around and…hang out and stuff. (: oh well. one day.

Mm…We have to run home to do weekly planning and stuff... but I will send you some pictures later today... I have so many from conference! Don't worry though, I won't send them all... Read “I Have Given You an Example”, by Richard G. Scott; it was my favorite talk I read this week! I like the part about the importance of trust; I don't think a lot of people realize how big of a part trust plays in people being successful and reaching their potential. I can see how it applies to so many different situations, like me as a missionary having more trust in my investigators to keep their commitments or do things, or as companions trusting each other, or as a mission president trusting their missionaries and how all of those have an effect on the performance of others and how much confidence they have in themselves to do that. Then, of course, you can apply it to normal life, in the circumstances of family members, parents and kids, in work with co-workers, with dating and friends, etc. Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts from Personal study this morning. (:

Love you all! Have a good week and tell me about how everything goes this week and what your plans are for the next couple months, etc. (:

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield

One of our comp goals is to do the splits... hahaha failing massively.

The five of us going home.. throwin' it back to the MTC days...

Sister Kovács! (2 transfers ago) I miss her soo much, it's crazy. I don't think I've laughed as much in my whole laugh as I laughed in our transfer together. So sassy, but I love it. 

Sister Fowers! (5 transfers ago) She's the one that bore her departing testimony about being dragged on water skis. hahaha!

AP Squire!

Sister Sexton! Throwing it back to the MTC again... 17 months ago. crazy.

Elder Cutler! I miss serving with this kid! (: 

The Boys! 

Panni and Kriszti came and visited us after Zone Conference!

Panni and Kriszti came and visited us after Zone Conference!

This is what Duna looks like nowadays. Everything's under construction right where we live... it's super great.

Week 63: Day 511: A Day In Buda

June 17, 2014

Hey!

I feel like I haven't emailed or seen anyone on this email list in ages! Time is super weird... We had a good week, nothing too crazy happened. Mostly the highlight was being in Buda yesterday. Honestly, I wasn't super looking forward to it all, but it was really good to see Sister Fresh. It was super funny, because they had all 6 of us Sisters split up into two rooms in the mission home, four beds in one room and two in the other, and they knew us so well that they planned to just have Sister Fresh and I in the room with two beds and everyone else slept in the other. Hahaha. But it was super nice, we just got to talk about life and training and the future and our apartment at home and all of our plans for next semester and stuff. Pretty much we had the whole day to ourselves, because our greenies had to leave at 7:30 am and they told us not to come pick them up until 2:30 pm. I don't think I've had that much freedom in a long time... We just wandered aimlessly around Buda because we're both exhausted and ready to go home and neither of us could think of anything that we wanted to do that sounded even remotely entertaining. Haha! It was probably super sad to see. We just ended up sitting and talking and then we met up with all the elders in the city for lunch and hung out with them for the rest of the time. We picked up our greenies and then they had some stuff they needed to buy, so we ended up going to the mall while waiting for our train. Bad idea. I still don't like shopping. Once Sister Fresh found what she was looking for, the two of us just ended up sitting on the little couches in the stores and laughing about how we felt like old people because we're tired and our companions still have so much energy to be running around doing things. All I need is to sleep for like 2 days solid and I'm sure I'll be back to normal. Haha!

So...I've been a missionary for almost 17 months and somehow on Sunday I STILL managed to forget my name tag. I still don't understand how that happens. I think I've lost my mind, it's just gone. It's a good thing I haven't had any pre-going-home-breakdowns yet. I've noticed that my brain is doing that weird thing that it always did every time we moved countries, where it just like subconsciously starts to detach itself so that the change isn't all that hard. I don't know if that makes sense, I don't want to go super psychology, so I'll try to explain it... but just like I'm still here in body and I'm still doing everything, I'm just not like emotionally all in it, because my brain knows I'm leaving it in 5 week, so it starts to point out all the things that are bad to convince myself that I won't miss it and that I'm better off in the new situation, in this case - at home. It's super strange, now that I've had enough transfers in such a short amount of time that I have started to recognize things my brain does. Or maybe I'm just crazy? That's also possible.

We had lots of funny conversations with people this week. Haha! We were teaching this lady that we meet with and then we got interrupted, because someone came over to talk to her about something, so she called her 19 year old son into the room to "keep us entertained" while she was talking to the lady...... yeah. It actually ended up being a super good conversation about gospel things by the end, but the beginning was super strange and we were all laughing super hard, because he decided he wanted to "foresee" or predict our future marriages for us..?  (In English, because he's fluent) So he told Sister Schnoor that she would marry a blonde man, typical American, good at every sport, not Mormon etc. etc. and proceeded to describe his characteristics and attributes. Then, he went on to describe mine. According to him, my future husband will be European, a little taller than average, brown hair, athletic, super smart, but not Mormon and super into the whole Eastern point of view on religion and life and stuff... interesting predictions. Haha! He almost had both of us, until he told us that neither of them would be Mormon and that by the time we married them, we wouldn't be Mormon either. Haha! Then he lost us both. ;)

Then, the next day, we met with our investigator on bap date (you know, the crazy old man that wrestled me). We had a super good program and helped him shell his peas at the end while we talked to him about things and we were all laughing super hard about something and then he turned to me and was just like Do you really have to go in July? But you're coming back later right? And I told him, that yeah, I will for sure be back in Hungary sometime, I just don't know when. And then he was like "but when you do, can you just stay here in Hungary?" and I just laughed and was like "I'll think about it..." and then he was like "Well, if you come back, I'll introduce you to some boys and maybe you can convert them." and I was just like "eh…I don't know about that…we'll see, János!" and then he was just like "or, haven't you met anyone here you would consider marrying? like you could find someone in your last city, Szeged, and stay there, but just as long as you come visit me!" and then I pretty much died laughing, but I promised him I would come back and visit him sometime. Definitely, the number one thing I will miss in Hungary are the people. I just love them so much, it's crazy.

Well, I just realized that we have to run to catch our bus…We have English class and then two youth in the branch are opening their mission calls! I had more things to write about, but…maybe next week. I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield

My latest project, it helps keep my mind off things, especially since I ran out of all my Sudoku's in Szeged and haven't found any in Duna... ): Mostly, I took the picture for Dad, because it reminded me of him and us all doing puzzles while listening to General Conference and eating junk food. I miss those days. (: 

An exciting day, because the chain link can no longer reach the floor. This week we moved it to hang off something from the ceiling, instead of draping it over the door. Less than 37 days! 

Week 62: Day 504: Tracting and Finding! Lots of Pictures!

June 10, 2014

Hellooo!

I actually have a list of things to write about today. Mostly, it's been a week of tracting and finding, so I've had a lot of time to think and reflect on life and my mission and all that cheesy stuff. I realized that I had given myself about a week or two too long to feel sorry for myself about being thrown out to the middle of nowhere in Duna, the beautiful center of factories and 10-stories... (: haha! It's just cool to think about the progression of my mission and such. I might as well be happy out here and love it out here for the next 6 weeks. I've realized that I'm actually really grateful to experience "opening" a city again, now that I've reached the end of my mission and actually know what I'm doing. It leaves a lot better taste in my mouth, then if I had left after only opening Veszprém and how hard those two transfers were for me... Not that our work is going super well here, in terms of progressing investigators and all that jazz, but within three weeks, we've gotten like 16 new investigators or something, which is definitely more than I ever got in.. probably all 3 months in Veszprém put together. I love having reached the level in my teaching experience and in my testimony, that I feel like I can actually teach, preach and testify with power (obviously thanks to the Holy Ghost) and answer almost any strange question I've had thrown at me. Plus, Duna really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. They kind of have a weird accent when they speak Hungarian, but they're really nice and so many people let us in! Plus, the few branch members that we've gotten to talk to are super funny and lot of them have been members for like 20+ years here, so that's cool. They used to have so many members here Duna, that there were actually two branches at one point. Also, I used to teach this girl who was living in Szeged to play handball and she was one of my favorites there, and now I get to meet with her family here in Duna! (Her parents and youngest brothers are new-ish members here and invite us and the elders over almost every week). So, when Saci's in town, I also get to see her, which is a nice piece of Szeged for me. hahah

Speaking of tracting... haha Last week, we had somehow managed to get "Standard of Excellence" and that means that also get a phone call from the mission president's wife to congratulate us and to talk for a few minutes and it's super cute. Anyway, she started asking my companion what she thought about Hungary so far and about me as her trainer. Our phone is pretty loud and we were in the elevator, so I could hear pretty much everything she was saying, something along the lines of "Isn't she just one of our best missionaries? She's just so great at tracting, and teaching and the language, and.... tracting!" Sister Schnoor just looked at me and burst out laughing. It's kinda our joke. Just call me the queen of tracting and send me the the tracting central of Hungary for my dying transfer... Can't even be mad though, I like tracting.

We had a pretty good week this week... Mostly we just... tracted. We have some investigators that we're meeting with pretty regularly. Hey, remember the story about the man who wrestled me? He's actually on bap date now! So, that's cool. He's super funny. We retaught him the Restoration this week and he just kept asking all these questions and wanting weird explanations and at the end he was just like, wow, you should be a tanitó néni! I had no idea that you had this much knowledge about these kinds of things, like religion and the Bible! uhh... sometimes I don't really understand what people think we do out here for 2 years or 18 months. That's all we do! hahaha

Actually, I do have a random Bible question for anyone who has the answer... So I finished the New Testament last week and am now making my way through the Old Testament. There's a part in Genesis 9:20-27 about Canaan being cursed, but wasn't it Ham that saw Noah? And why was it that big of a problem? What in the world is it talking about?! I literally read it like 10 times and my companion has no idea either. Someone care to shed some light on that for us? Haha.

It's super weird to think that in about 6 weeks, I'll be at home, just doing normal people things again. I can't decide if I'm happy about it or not. There are definitely some things and rules about missionary life that I won't miss, for selfish reasons... but... actually being a missionary? the people? the branches? the food? the language? Hungary? the culture? my companions and missionary friends? not having to plan my own future? Those things I will definitely miss... It's strange when I realize I'm using my last missionary planner and this is my last "full month," and when we plan bap dates for people, realizing that there's no way I'll be here next transfer with them. Life is weird. But conference talks help sometimes... (: My favorites were "The Strength to Endure" by Elder Maynes and "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Richard G. Scott. Read them. (:

We're splitting our email time in half again, but we have English at 6, so we'll be on earlier... at like 4, if any of you happen to be on. Love you all! Have a good week!

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield

PS:  I forgot to mention a few things this morning... First off, sorry I didn't email yesterday. It's happened enough times that I'm sure you already guessed... it was a holiday here, which means everything shuts down! We went sightseeing at this statue park thing down by the river with the elders instead. I'll send you some pictures... That was our goal this week: to take a lot more pictures, since I've been failing majorly at it. I think we did a pretty good job this week!

Also, next week I'm not sure when we'll be emailing exactly. We have to go up to Budapest this Sunday night, because Sister Schnoor has New Missionary Training stuff starting at like 7:30 the next morning... In other words, Sister Fresh and I are going on splits all day, with free range in Budapest! (:

Other than that... don't mind the pictures if they're kinda gross. It's nasty hot over here. Hungarian summers are pretty much the worst thing ever, and it hasn't even hit July yet... I'm not really sure anymore if it's the heat or coming home that make it impossible to fall asleep for a few hours every night... haha. Speaking of home, I switched around some of my classes for next semester, because I'm working on getting my Associates by the end of winter... So I'll be taking American Heritage at the SLC center on Tuesday nights. Yuck. But, that means I can visit Katie and the new baby (and Rory and Carter haha) every Tuesday at least. (:

okay... cool. Have a good week!

In our elevator on one of our first days together...

Sister Schnoor's pictures from my fitting through the hole out to the roof. I had to go first. hahaha! 

So much chocolate!

She took a picture of me taking a picture? Haha! But this is the church that's super close to our house. 

Dunaújváros... it's split in the middle by this valley thing and we were walking on the other side towards the branch house... We live in the half of the city seen in the picture.

One day we got bored of tracting, so we went exploring for a few minutes and found an opening to get on a roof... This is the picture we took from the roof: 10-stories galore.

The super sketchy opening to the roof...

 So. much. chocolate. I just keep collecting more and more somehow... Some of those I've had since Székes...haha

50 days! (Today I'll cut of 45... this was a few days ago)

we tried to get an action shot of my daily ritual of cutting off a chain link.. haha none of them really worked out...

Meet the elders. Sometimes you get a little tired of "traditional finding"and you have to mix it up...We drove out to some family houses with the elders and we each took one side of the road. haha They're pretty cool kids, we get alone real well. (:

So. hot. This is one of the statue things... 

Sometimes Duna is actually kinda pretty... and then you see another factory...

The District. (smallest one I've ever been in. and I thought our Szeged district of 6 was tiny...) and a photo-bomber. That was a funny story actually. Interesting man.

Week 61: Day: 496 A Really Weird Week! Highlight -- 6 Programs In One Day!

June 2, 2014

Hey, hey!

What's good over on that side of the world? It's weird, the closer I get to the day I'll be back there, the more confused I am about how I feel about it. I'm stoked for some things, obviously, like my privacy and seeing/being able to talk to everyone whenever I feel like, but I do not want to leave Hungary at all. It's like a roller coaster every day of not being able to make up my mind. The week went by pretty fast, but sometimes the days are brutally long, but they're really good at the same time... Hopefully, you're starting to understand my confusion by this really confusing explanation. hahaha. For example:

Tuesday we had an alright day, some funny programs and we were enjoying ourselves, thinking I can do 8 weeks, no big deal… After a pretty unexpected phone call that night, I was just super thrown off and ready to be done again. haha I woke up the next morning in the same mood and all through personal study, was just thinking of ridiculous things and ideas. During comp study, Sister Schnoor and I were just bouncing ridiculous ideas around, like what would happen if I fell down the stairs while tracting and got sent home 8 weeks early, or get hit by a (slow) car and broke my leg. hahaha (Don't worry, we were just kidding. It sounds really dramatic right now, but at the time it was super funny). Anyway, that kind of describes my morning of my mind just jumping to any possible solution... We left the house to begin our day of tracting and what do you know? The three doors that opened all let us in! No doors in between answered and said no. I don't know about anywhere else, but here that never happens. By that time, it was time for lunch and then we had a program with someone else. After our program, we decided to go back and try the rest of that building and almost right away, a fourth person let us in. We had to leave after that for another program. So 6 programs in a day! It was actually a super cool experience for us after a really hard morning of wondering how to make it through the next 8 weeks of tracting and our minds just wandering to the future or the past. That was probably the highlight of our week.

Oh! Weird story... I've been keeping this dream journal since like January, because I've had a lot of strange dreams on my mission, especially last transfer... and I was reading over it one morning and I found the weirdest thing! It was from February 28, so before I even went to Szeged, and it was super short, like two sentences. All it said was "got my transfer call to Duna with someone super young in the mission. Didn't find out that we were whitewashing until we got there and I was really not happy about it." I almost spit out what I was eating. hahaha So weird! I read it to Sister Schnoor and she pretty much freaked out and got the chills. haha. There ya go! She's decided my dreams are prophetical and that they're all going to come true. hahaha

I honestly can't even remember what we did this week; it all just blurs into one thing that feels like it was ages ago. I just remember it was a really weird week... It's super hard to concentrate when you're this close to going home. That was my intent this week, to focus more on my mission and not the future. Either the Lord has a sense of humor or Satan is trying his hardest on me, because literally every morning I'd get up and study the scriptures with the intent of preparing for the day and literally EVERY day, the chapters I came across in the scriptures always had to do with marriage and families. I'm almost done with the New Testament and I swear every other chapter talks about husbands and wives respecting each other, etc. Even what I read in D&C always connected back. It was Fast Sunday yesterday, so I tried to use that for help. Started my fast and we went to a program with this guy from the Area Book. At the beginning we were all just getting to know each other and at the end of my little introduction, he just turns to me and is like: "Szerintem, férjhez kell menned itt Magyarországon!" (Pretty much telling me that he thinks I should get married). Thank you, random stranger, for that input on my life. hahaha Yesterday I'd had enough, so before breaking my fast, I pulled out a Conference Liahona from a couple years ago... bad idea. I opened it randomly to a talk-- All about marriage. Opened to another one? "The Eternal Blessings of Marriage..." Yeah...My companion thinks it's hilarious. haha at least someone's enjoying it. ;) It's just kind of our joke now; she likes telling me about all the people that sheknows that came home from missions and how long it took till they got married or how/where they met them. She wants me to start writing her cousin... haha. We've been trying to figure out, just for fun, what the rules are on getting engaged. Because we heard that if sisters get engaged to while they're on their missions, they get released honorably. Is that true? I mean, I've joked about it with a lot of companions, but no one actually knows if it's for real. haha. That was added to our list, next to fall down the stairs and break your leg. hahaha we sound like crazy people. But yeah, I figured you'd get a kick out of that week of personal study, coming from the girl who was not excited to get married anytime soon and not have kids for a long time after that... and then I served a mission. Huh. I think I've officially gone insane. 16 months is a long time.

I know we had a lot of weird, funny things happen this week, but I can't even remember anymore. My brain is all over the place right now. I love Sister Schnoor though! She's super cute. My first Canadian companion! Oddly, only 4 of my 12 companions have actually been from Utah. haha Speaking of missions, there are two YSA (a brother and sister) in the branch here waiting to get their mission calls! I'm super excited for them! Also excited, because they said some YSA from other cities, like Veszprém, are coming to watch them open their calls and I'm stoked to see some of them! I wish there was Stake Conference or something before I leave so that I can see everyone from around Hungary before I leave. Oh well.

My favorite conference talks I read this week (Don't worry - I chose ones that weren't about marriage to share with you), were "Followers of Christ" by Elder Gonzalez and "Your Four Minutes" by Bishop Stevenson. I thought that one was especially applicable to a mission, but I found it amusing because usually your mission feels like a whole lot longer than 4 minutes... Anyway, read them! Have a good week! I love you all and I'll be seeing you in 7 weeks. Crazy.

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield

The chin link count down till I go home. I promise it wasn't my idea! Elder Seegmiller (our ZL who's dying with me here in Duna) and I both made one as a joke. Haha!

Sister Schnoor and I and her first (not very good) pékség!

Week 60: Day 489: Exhaustion, 6 New Investigators, Wrestling!

May 26, 2014

Hey!

Sorry, I totally spaced on sending a group email this morning... but don't worry, I'll send a quick one now. All I have to say, is it's been a looong week. Holy cow. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my whole life. On our first morning together while we were getting ready, we were unpacking and I literally fell asleep laying across my suitcase. That sounds about like every morning since. I've fallen asleep partway through getting ready... Just a heads up, don't be surprised if I come home and sleep for 3 days straight in July. It's probably also because the day of transfers we had to wake up at like 4:45am to catch a 6am bus and then a 6:45am train to Budapest for my training meeting thing. Somehow, I woke up the next morning at 5:45 in panic, because I thought I had overslept on my first morning with a greenie. Nope, just read the clock wrong and it's super bright in our apartment in the mornings here...

We've just been taking it a day at a time, cause I don't really know what I'm doing either. Haha. Awkward. But, we found 6 new investigators last weekend, so that's a start! Most of them might be a little off their rockers (since they’re all like 60 years old), but I'll take it for now. Haha! We have another week of tracting ahead of us and a few programs. Which reminds me: Strangest thing happened yesterday... We had a second program with this old man that used to meet with missionaries and he was telling us about how he used to play some sport for like 10 years, but I had never heard the word before. I repeated it and asked what it meant and he was just like, "What! They don't have that sport in America?!" and I was like "no, I'm sure they do, I'm just not familiar with that word! How do you play or what does it look like?" He stood up (I figured to go get a picture or something) and came right in front of me and was just like "You might want to finish eating your cookie first" so I ate it and asked if I should stand up. As soon as I stood up, I was immediately grabbed into his arms and lifted OFF the ground. Let me paint this picture for you: This is a 70 year old man, at least a head shorter than me and we were face-to-face. Yeah. Talk about awkward. So here I am, dangling in the air, and I can see my poor greenie sitting in the chair behind him looking at me with this face like "what am I supposed to do right now? is this allowed?" and laughing super hard. He put me down and I thought I was done. Nope. He literally jumped off the ground to get up high enough to grab me in a headlock... Then he grabbed my companion in a headlock and finally sat down. He also made a comment about how red my face turned. Seems like that’s been happening a lot lately. Probably because I was laughing so hard I was crying. Moral of the story? If anyone ever says birkózás, don't ask what it means; just assume that it means wrestling.

We went to church for the first time here yesterday. Another interesting time. We got there and I had a book placed in my hands from someone in the branch presidency who told me, oh yeah, you're teaching Young Women's today! So...I taught YWs yesterday with a book I have never seen before in my life, and it definitely wasn't in English. Turns out, I'm also teaching Sunday School next week. Holla. All I have to say, is any trace of Szeged is definitely looong gone at this rate and I already miss it more than I can say. Yikes.

Oh! I hit my 16 month mark last week and my 2 months left mark. So, the countdown has officially started. I didn't actually have one, but one of the two elders here is dying with me! So we're just bugging each other all the time with countdowns. Haha! I pointed out yesterday that we only have 8 churches left, so he pointed out that we only have 2 fast Sundays. It's kind of nice to serve around someone in the same position as me, because we just egg it on all the time. I think my greenie is more excited for me to go home than I even am; she just keeps asking about boys and my plans and thinks she'll get a wedding invite from some boy at BYU while she's still out here. Ha. We'll see. She's super cute though and super green. I had no idea what that meant until now. Sometimes I forget that things in Hungary are different than other places, probably just because it's like home to me now and I didn't really even grow up in the US, so that's not really normal life to me either. Meh. Things just aren't a big deal to me anymore here; it's all just normal life. Haha!

Sorry, I was planning on taking lots of pictures and sending them for the blog, but I definitely failed at that and I don't have any for you this week... next week though, I promise! I have to run to some családi est thing with the elders... but until next week! Oh, and read "What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul?" by Elder Robert C. Gay and "Where's the Pavilion?" by Elder Eyring. Both great talks! Got me through the week and kind of changed my perspective on the last few weeks of my mission and some changes I need to make. I just have to get the strength to make them and stick to them. That's all I have for now. Love you all! Have a good week!

Love,
Sister Megan Butterfield