The Very Hungary Missionary

Life here in Szeged, week...freak if I know... I stopped keeping track!

It's been such a freaking good week though!! Not going to lie, we weren't feeling very good this week, programs fell through, I got pooped on by a bird, our patience was tested, commitments weren't kept, I literally got pooped on by a stupid pigeon, and some people dropped us (said that they didn't want to meet with us anymore)....BUT Sister Layton and I decided that we were going to have a good attitude through it all, and all of a sudden it's our rest day, before we know it! Plus, we made the best out of our situations! I don't think I can stress how much your attitude affects your work, not just as a missionary, but just in everyday life. Things are going to go wrong, but if you choose to just push through and be happy while doing so, then it becomes so much easier to get through hard times. Plus, if you have a great companion who will just do stupid (but still following the missionary rules) things with you, it just makes it all that much better!

Let's see, what do I start off with? I guess I could fill you in on what happened with the lady who we met at the bus stop (accidently) last week. CC! Oh goodness, so she invited us to her home to celebrate her "Név Nap" (name day--that's a legit thing in Hungary). She had told us a million times that we would be super suprised at how "creative" her house is. Honestly, I almost feared about what it would be when we got there. For some reason, I imagined...well... I can't really say what I imagined but I was just thinking other "creative thoughts," but turns out her version of "creativity" is of a few random pictures, her own drawings on her wall (she has a pencil the size of your forearm), and small knick knacks that she's made, or rather just painted on, and she calls them art! Oh my goodness, CC! I love her!!  We definitely took a bunch of pictures and had a good name day with her. Oh and we bought her cake and wrapped up a Book of Mormon in Princess wrapping paper and gave it to her as a gift. She cried. We're just really good friends.
One time we met CC in the belváros to have ice cream with her and her "pár" (life partner) so we were sitting at a really popular cukrászda waiting for our ice cream to come out. All of a sudden I feel something land on my head, and I knew exactly what it was. A dumb pigeon literally pooped on my head! That's the first time that I had ever been pooped on by a bird. CC was trying to tell me that amongst Hungarians it's said that if you get pooped on by a bird, that means you'll be lucky. I didn't buy it O.o How could I believe such a thing after being POOPED on! I just wasn't buying it. I was literally freaking out, but luckily CC didn't fear of the feces and wiped it out of my hair with a napkin. Blagh, I was so over that day!

Let's see, we only met with RR once last week, and we literally were so upset about it. He ended up traveling a lot this week for his job and just with our schedule and his schedule we could never set up a concret time to meet with him. Finally on Saturday we were able to meet with him and we didn't just meet him but we also met with his family again. They are so dang cool! His little brother was there and all of his kids. Can I tell you how much I love kids since being on my mission. You just can't love these little Hungarian terrors. No, they're not terrors, they are just great. Anyways it's always fun with RR and his family. We hadn't met with them for a while, so we decided to do a "follow up lesson" asking how everything was going, and it just went so well, like usual! He also came to church, like he usual does, this week. We are so proud of him! (: RR, best friend for lifeee!

Friday, we did a little service project for one of the members in the branch. I think I already wrote about one other occasion that we went over to TZ's house, well... rather his mother's house to pack up stuff. Well we pretty much did the same thing again. Typical Hungarian Néni, collects everything and doesn't throw anything away. It's okay though, we all have a bit of hoarder in all of us, no? We did that for awhile, and by the end we were just all super tired!

We've been meeting with LZ for a while and we thought everything was going well with that, but then today right before we came emailing we got a text message from her saying that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. That was actually really sad, but she falls into uhh... what is the word in English for them... phases or slumps, I guess. We hope that later she will invite us in again and we can continue to teach her, but some people just need time and we respect that.

Like I said, this week hasn't been all hearts, flowers, and sunshine, but we've had our parade rained on a few times, but hey, if there weren't hard times what would our purpose be here on Earth? I teach this concept every day of my mission and throughout my mission I've come to realize the truth of this, and I'm super thankful that I have those days that are hard, even though it's hard, it helps me to rely on my Heavenly Father who loves me so much! I know he loves you too! I hope you feel that, if you don't get on your knees until you do!

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Whitaker Nővér

Michaela Janae Whitaker