Hello Everyone!

This week has been really awesome! I've experienced ups and downs, and I am totally fine with that because that's part of being on a mission.

That reminds me of something that Elder Holland said during one of the devotionals that I attended while in the MTC. I can't quote him, verbatum, and even if I could, it still wouldn't mean the same, because let's all admit that Elder Holland is amazing and speaks with such conviction and power. Anyway, in essence he said that missions weren't meant to be easy, because it was never easy for the Savior. I think about that often, because a number of times I've felt upset, or inadequate but then I remember that Jesus Christ experienced that. Any feeling that you or I will experience throughout our whole entire lifetime, he has already felt. I know what it feels like to feel sad or mad or hopeless and it's not a good feeling, I couldn't imagine feeling all of those feelings at once. I'm so thankful for his atonement.  I think of the sacrafice that Heavenly Father made, to send his only begotten Son down to earth, knowing that he'd be mocked, and eventually crucified. That couldn't have been easy, but he knew that in order for us to learn and progress and return back to him, he had to send the Savior of the world to die for our sins. There is no greater sign of love than that.

Okay, now that I've talked a little about the atonement, I can't stop expressing my gratitude for my Savior Jesus Christ.

I'm not a perfect person, and I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, I am so grateful for the atonement. I know that it can free us from our feelings of guilt and shame, for it's done exactly that in my life. I'm so glad that I can be forgiven by a loving Heavenly Father. It's a good reminder to me, as well that when someone offends me or commits a fault towards me that I need to forgive them. For I know that I will be judged after I die, and if I don't forgive people, The Lord will not forgive me.

Something that has always struck me with awe, is when Jesus Christ is on the cross and he says "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Okay seriously, that is mind-blowing to me. Everytime I read it, I tear up because after everything these people have done to the Savior, he pleads with Heavenly Father to forgive them. I think about how upset I get when someone does the smallest thing, and most of the time it's not even affecting me physically, but it's because I have dumb pet-peeves that get my feathers ruffled, that I get so angry and I just want to give them a piece of my mind. But then here's the Savior that has gone through so much physical pain because of these people and he is asking God to forgive them. I love that so much!

I could seriously go on and on about the atonement. I am just so grateful for it, and I pray that we all use it in our lives, and that we always express gratitude for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

As, I said, I've experienced hard things, but I wouldn't take them back for anything. I love it here in Hungary. I've learned so much and made so many great friends here. The Hungarians are truly amazing people. For everything they've gone through, I am amazed at how open and loving they are once you crack that little shell, that they're encased in.

I love you all, and hope everything is going great for you and your families.

Whitaker Nővér

                                  Elders and Sisters at Palace gate

                                        Michaela on balcony

                                    Palace main building

                                       Michaela behind the iron curtain

                                      Main building of the palace

                                        Dog playing in one of the many fountains

                                        Elders and sisters having fun

                                       New Bathroom!!!

                                           P-day crazies

                                      Railroad museum

                                         The sisters

                                       drawing fo the iron curtain on the western front

                                    Palace gates

                                   Palace from the back

This is Sister Brown (Senior Couple Sister) and I with our matching blouses.


The story, in a nutshell:

She went to Tesco and got a blouse but it was on the wrong hanger, come to find out it was a size four...the size I wore, so she gave it to me and went back to Tesco and got the right size for her. The day that she gave it to me was on Saturday and she told me not to wear mine on Sunday because that's the day she was going to wear her's. So we went home and I decided to change into mine, because it actually went really good with the skirt that I was wearing that day. So we had English class that night and guess who shows up in the same blouse that night... Sister Brown and I. It was soo funny and soo unintentional!

Sorry, this one is pretty short--but there hasn't been a ton of interesting things this week.

Since I've been here in Sopron, my weeks have been amazing, but I will be completely honest, this week hasn't been the greatest. We had a lot of people cancel on us and not a ton of success for finding efforts, but I have faith in the Lord that things will get better and that we will bless the lives of the people of Sopron as dilligently try to do the work. I've learned the importance of fellowshipping with newly baptized members and how important it is to be persistant in strenghtening them, even though they are baptized, because Satan works on them still. They need strong friendships in the Gospel so when Satan tries to tempt them or brings temptations into their life that they have their feet planted in the gospel sod.

I hope everything is going well for all of you. God be with you 'til we speak again.

Whitaker Nővér

                                  A baptism I participated in right after I arrived

                   Brother in blue shirt is branch president

                      my companion with investigators

                              Elders also serving in Sopron

Szia! Hogy Vagytok!? (Hello, how are you all?) 

This last week in Sopron has been great, as usual! Every week I meet new people and experience new things that make my love for Hungary even greater than the prior week. 

This week Sexton Növér and I had a few opportunities to serve people in Sopron and I would like to speak about my experiences while doing so and what I learned from them.

Our first service opportunity happened Wednesday afternoon. There is an orphanage, here in Sopron, that one of our investigators goes and volunteers at, weekly. The senior couple here, Elder and Sister Brown, are the kindest people you will ever meet and Sister Brown has a love for children that just melts your heart, well of course when Sister Brown has an opportunity to go interact with children she does not hesitate but instead pounces on the opportunity. So on Wednesday, the Browns, Sexton Növér, our investigator and I went to the orphanage to play with the children. Now as you of you know. I was in an orphanage for the first eleven months of my life and though I don't remember what it was like, I can just assume that the life for children in some orphanages is not good. This orphanage though, was the exact opposite. The children were so friendly and so incredibly happy that we came to visit them and play games with them. The smiles on their faces were just a whole bunch of Kodak moments. Sadly, I forgot my camera, but I can still picture in my mind how glad they were to see us. 

Okay, so quite honestly, I've never been a huge fan of babies or children. That doesn't mean I don't love them or care for them, it's just I wasn't like zealous about the opportunity to hang out with them, like Sister Brown, but as I sat with the kids and talked to them (in my broken Hungarian) I started to feel a connection between us. Even though some of them were significantly younger than me, I felt as though we had just created a friendship that could last forever. As I served these children I devolved a love for them and a desire for their happiness. Now, that was another thing that surprised me. It's got to be a hard thing to live I an orphanage, especially when you're older and realize why you are there and why you stay there, but I didn't see one unhappy kid, in that orphanage and they were just so incredibly loving towards one another. They acted as if they are one bug family living in a big home together. They even call the workers there anyukam (my mother). The workers are so sweet and loving to those children and you can see it on their faces!

From the orphanage, I learned the principle of love. Those kids were some compassionate towards each other and willing to help in any way possible. That was just astounding to me, especially given their circumstances. Also, when you serve people, even though you aren't necessarily friends or acquaintances, you will develop of love for them that you didn't even know was possible to obtain.

Our second service opportunity happened on Friday. There is a family that lives a couple of blocks away from the Browns. They are not members or investigators, at the moment, but they are just a neighboring  couple of the Browns. A tragic fire started in their house earlier in the week and it burned everything upstairs and left very few things untouched downstairs. We decided to go over there Friday afternoon and help them pack up things that were still okay. 

I had never served anyone who has lost so much, ever in my life so that was a very humbling experience for me. As we walked in and you just saw black everywhere, my heart ached for this couple and their son. While nobody was hurt, you could tell that they were just physically and mentally drained from this experience. It made me so happy that we could go over there and help them out. 

Sometimes I feel like life is hard and I question why I go through tough times, but my touch times don't even come close to their tough times. Then I feel very selfish when I realize that I have all of my clothes and books and all the necessities back in my apartment and that they are not  all burnt to ashes. The Lord is good to me and my family, but gives us trials and tribulations not to stop our progress but to help us experience things that make our progress more meaningful and helpful, later on in life. I know what this family is going through right now is hard and they don't know why it had to happen, but The Lord has so much in store for them, if they just are patient and wait for The Lord to deliver them blessings, in his timing.

I thank The Lord every day for what the opportunities he has give me to serve the people in Sopron at this time. This is truly a wonderful area and I can't think of anywhere else I would want to be than in Hungary, right now.  Again, the Branch here is great and filled with wonderful people as is the whole town of Sopron. 

I hope everything is well with you all and God be with you 'till we speak again!

Whitaker Növér

                                                    Beautiful

                                          Cool arch

                                          The Danube

                                         Part of the Berlin Wall