The Very Hungary Missionary

Michaela Janae Whitaker

Sziasztok!

This week was probably one of the coolest weeks I've had since being on my mission. It has been filled with good finding experiences and great interaction with the members here in Hungary.

The main event that I wanted to focus on happend on Friday. There is a member here in Székesfehérvár who joined the church about four months ago, but before he joined the church he was very devoted to Hare Krishna (here is a link to explain more about Hare Krishna: http://harekrishna.com/col/philo/)
On Friday there was a huge Hare Krishna festival in a falu (village) about an hour away from Székesfehérvár. This member invited us to go and check it out and we gladly accepted his invitation. We didn't know what to expect at all. None of us knew about Hare Krishna before we accompanied him. All he said is that they are very spiritual and religious people. That's about all we knew.

This Hare Krishna village was actually inside another village. Everyone who lives in this little village is a member of Hare Krishna. As we drove through the village and I saw the tiny school house and other facilities I thought that this would be a little cute party, we'd eat some snacks, have someone talk to us and then leave, but no. We get there and we go to their temple and you walk up to the temple and you see all of these shoes outside. It was requirement to take off your shoes in order to walk into the temple. Plus it was really muddy and rainy that day so I don't blame them, but I think it was more of a respect thing. We take our shoes off and walk in. Immediately everyone came up and started talking to us. I was a little nervous and  I was thinking in my head, "oh boy, what will they think of all these Mormons coming..." but they were the nicest people ever! They all knew the Mormons and treated us with the highest respect. It's hard to explain what all happened, but it was such a great expereience. We were so happy that we went. We had multiple opportunities to share the gospel to many people and the greatest thing was people were coming up to us!

This week is mini transfers and seeing how we are the only tripanionship of sisters in the mission, we knew we would be affected. Of course we were. I will be staying in Székesfehérvár and so will Sister Schnoor. Sister Cropper, however, will be going to Debrecen. We will miss her, but we know that there are people in Debrecen waiting for her to bring this wonderful message to them. It has been a good five weeks here in Székesfehérvár together.
I am glad I will be staying in Székes. The big transfer will be at the end of November, so there are no garauntees that I will be staying in Székes for much longer, but for at least four more weeks. I really love it here. The branch have a Halloween Party scheduled for Friday, that will be a blasty blast. Then next week we are holding a Family History presentation, where the Family History missionaries from Budapest will come down and give a nice presentation to all those who are interested on how to start doing their family history. It will be grand.

Our investigators are doing great. We are currently teaching a lady who has Multiple Schrosis ( I have no clue how to spell that). It's actually really sad, because she has a testimony of the gospel and accepts everything we say, but she is literally house-bound. Her apartment is SUPER small and the staircase to get up to her apartment is even smaller. It's a one person staircase with at least ten super steep stairs leading to the door. She hasn't been out of her house for years. She has a four year old son, who you can tell wants to play with his mom and do fun things with her, but because of her illnes it hasn't just affected her physical abilites, but it also has affected her mental capactiy. So she is not always able to do the things he wants to do, the same goes with her husband.  She is all the way there, but her motor skills are slow. She comprehends everything and is very open and accepting but the physical handicaps are a little discouraging at times. With the permission of her husband we hope that we can get her to church with some help from the brethern in the church. Hopefully eventually we can get her out, because she is a great woman and I can see her testimony in her eyes.

It's so hard to send these blog emails because I could literally sit here for hours and give you all the juicy details about my week. Every week is great and so much filled with the spirit. I absolutely love being a missionary and being able to feel the spirit so strongly on an everyday basis!

Serving a mission is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. No doubt about it.

I love you all, and God be with you all.

Whitaker Nővér