July 14, 2014

Family! :)

It sounds and looks like everyone had a blast at the family reunion!!! I loved all the pictures and all the emails about it! I wish I could’ve been there with you guys! But like my mom said.. by the time the next family reunion comes around I will be back! crazy to think about! -- here is my question though! did anyone get enough courage to ride the rocket??? ha -- I’m glad that everyone had a good time! 

this week went super fast for me. weeks.. days... go by so fast now. I love it. I wake up... and the next thing I know I am back in bed again. it’s crazy! and this transfer has gone by way fast. next week is the new transfer, so new comp. and I will most likely be staying here! which is great because I love it here. everyone says that this is the best place in Hungary and I’ll have to say that as well! -- but since transfers are next week that means our p day is not on Monday.. but moved to Tuesday. then we transfer on Wednesday.. everyone goes into Budapest... gets their new comp.. and then goes out back to their cities! we get a phone call on Monday night telling us where we are going and what we are doing! so that’s how that works. 

I sent the packages this week! hah you’ll laugh when you get them. they should get there this week. but I have to tell you this! the package that you get.. there are 6 things in there.. and 1 of them is for Hannah. I wasn’t able to get it in hers so I put it in yours. so make sure that she gets that :) hope you guys enjoy them :) 

DAD!!!!!!! it’s your birthday this week!!!!!!! happy birthday! I hope that no one forgets this year! ha jk. hope you have a good one. take yourself fishing or something! ha 

I’ll have to say this... the hardest part about this week... was eating all the food that was shoved in our faces. I swear... we set up these 30 min appointments with members.. and it ends up being an hour.. with tons of food. I swear I was about to explode.

we had the normal English class this week.. and I’ve figured out why we have them. it’s because nannies... always... bring us suti, or pastries!!!!!! haha and its super... super... good!!! love it. 

on Wednesday.. my companion and I were riding down to one of our programs in uj varos.... and we were stopped at a stop light... and out of now where on my right we hear " ELDERS! ELDERS! " in an English accent. and it came to be an seminary teacher from California who was here with UC IRVINE to sing at the synagogue. and he was with tons of Americans with their cameras.. and everything. he was the only member there.. but everyone loved us and wanted pictures with us. haha then they invited us to their concert at 7 o clock that night. we went and it was really good. it was so good to see American church members for some reason! just to see Americans it was good! 

on Friday we had zone training.. and my comp and I were asked to give a part of the training. on how we gain trust with investigators. we decided to do a skit.. and then I talked about of preach my gospel for about 10 minutes and gave my thoughts. it went really well. everyone loved our skit! 

this week in Hungary it has been super rainy.! which is so nice cuz it’s not very hot... but it gets really humid here when it rains.. and their rain storms.. are HUGE. it dumps every time. so that’s fun. we got soaked on our bikes a lot. 

my quick short spiritual thought this week is going to be this. I’ve kind of really caught onto this little saying. "ROME WASNT BUILT IN ONE DAY" we all know that Rome was horribly wicked and everything.. but we know that Rome was a great power. it was this great thing. and I like this little saying because it really applies to just about everything in life. it’s a true.. whatever you want to call it! Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither are your muscles.. you have to work at it day in and day out. Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither is your talent. Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither is your wealth... unless you win the lottery. Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither is your family. Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither are your relationships. Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither was missionary work. Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and neither are your faith and your testimony!! if you think that you can read the book of Mormon all in one night. and pray.. and expect some glorious answer or revelation.. you’ll never get an answer. if you just go to the gym once.. and expect to come out like rocky.. that’ll never happen! -- so my thought this week is this. if you are looking for an answer in your life.. if you are struggling with something. if you want something and it hasn’t come to you yet.. if you are currently working on a project.. if your goal is to look like me (jk). if you want a stronger testimony of joseph smith and Jesus Christ.. and the book of Mormon.. always remember that Rome wasn’t built in one day.. and there are certain things that we do... that will either build Rome.. or destroy it. make sure you are always doing those things to build it.. because the one thing that we don’t get back in this life is time. do not procrastinate. procrastination will literally dam you. 

I love all of you! I miss all of you! time is flying! so don’t worry! I’ll be home  reallllll quick! I love you guys and be safe this week!

Watson Elder

July 22^nd 2014

hey family!!:)

loved every one of your emails and sounds like its suppppper hot there, but that you guys are still having tons of fun :) and I’m glad that all of you are alive and healthy!-- I’m sure that you will enjoy Vegas this week!:) ha I remember those days... so hot. miserable! but you’ll have fun! and max! go ball it up bro! just be you and play how you play! and don’t get discouraged! just make the best out of every situation and do your best. and take every moment as a learning opportunity and then be willing and anxious to improve!:) you’ll rock em! go get em! 

a lot happened this week! and of course the biggest thing that happened this week was the baptism!! I’ll get to that in a minute! :) 

first of all.. just like all of you said that it was super-hot back home.. well... it was FREKAING SUÁPER HOT here. yesterday for example..... I literally.. no lie.. did not stop sweating from 9 in the morning.. till late at night. I had a nice shine on me alllll day! and then in one investigators house... they had to get me a towel because sweat was dripping off of my face! ha it’s great.. :) being in full pros... out on humid hot weather... riding a bike. its great :) but this week some clouds are coming in I think. thank goodness!! oh and also Hannah’s cool.... cold.. pad thing that she sent me works miracles!!! I put it on my pillow every night and it does amazing... :) because it gets so hot at nights too.. and there is no ac.. so that cold thing saves me!!!!!! 

this week was filled with super busy long days! we’ve had tons of lessons.. we had tons of things to do to get ready for the baptism.. we played soccer and some basketball... we went to this sweet castle outside of győr that was awesome! they actually had basketball hoops in the back of the castle! I’ll try and send you a pic! I have a cool one of me handing on the rim with the castle in the back ground! it’s awesome! 

so the baptism day went amazing.... we got everything set up.. I’ll try to send you all the pics. it went super well.. a lot of our investigators came and they loved it. even one of them started to cry during it. it was very spiritual and powerful. valintin.. the one pics that I sent you, he was so excited... it was so cool to see his face. after he got out of the font.. he couldn’t stop talking about how he felt. and how warm he felt. it was an amazing experience:)

then on Sunday!!!!!! big day for me.. before the sacrament was passed... we took a chair up to the front and I was able to do the confirmation! yes, it was extremely hard. and it made it even that  much harder because it was ward conference that day.. and all the stake leaders.. with their families were there. tons of people. and if you look at the Hungarian words for the confirmation... it makes no sense.. it’s completely out of order. it’s great. but I was able to do it! myself.. elder carter.. the stake pres. and the second councilor were in the circle. it’s amazing the feeling that you feel when you do those kind of things. literally when I laid my hands on his head.. and you start to speak.. literally the spirit speaks from there on out. I could literally feel the spirit and the power coming out of me, to him. it is unreal. and I gave valintine a blessing after that... and I had something’s that I wanted to say... but I said tons of other things that I didn’t plan on. and I didn’t mess up once in Hungarian. which is a miracle in itself. --- there is no way... no way at all.. that someone.. without divine help can learn this language. it’s ridiculous. the gift of tongues is real. the power of the priesthood is real. 

it was a very special experience and a great opportunity! :)

my spiritual thought this week will be short... 

last Monday we met with this man that we have been meeting with for about a month straight.. every day. but he is moving to malta to find work.. it’s sad, but it’ll be good for him. the last meeting that we had with him was on Monday.. and we planned to share with him 2 scriptures... in 2 Nephi and moroni about coming unto Christ. mid-way through reading the scriptures... we look up and he is crying. so much that he is struggling to breathe. I haven’t felt the spirit that strong in a lesson yet. we all started to get emotional when he started to speak what he could through his tears.. he said some profound things that we should all learn from. he said. "this, pointing to his English book, because we helped him with that too, doesn’t matter. " then he reached out and grabbed the book of Mormon and said that this is what matters.. and then he started to cry a lot again.. and after he gained composure of himself.... he said this " I didn’t think that my sins could hurt me this bad."

this is a perfect example of someone coming unto Christ. someone who is feeling godly sorrow. someone wanting to change. he will be baptized in malta. 

isn’t this true for all of us? shouldn’t we all learn from his wisdom? do we realize that our sins will affect us? and will bring consequences? 

and then on the other hand. do we all realize that coming unto Christ.. and repenting... makes those feelings go away? because we are forgiven? (mosiah 27) (alma 36) 

I love all of you! be safe this week in Vegas!:)

love

elder Watson  

July 28^th  2014

hello family!:)

looks like Vegas was super-hot but tons of fun! and I’m glad to hear that max did really well! :) atta boy! yeah its really weird to think about that I am usually down in Vegas or somewhere else in the united states at this time of there year! but I’m actually on the other side of the world! ha crazy. dad... congrats on the bowling win.... my money was on you.. and you couldn’t let mom beat us all again like last year.. so embarrassing. ,) jk mom:) ha but I loved the pics and glad that you got home safely from Vegas! --- and yeah. I wouldn’t want to be there in during the second coming either! but to be honest sometimes I feel like I am in Vegas every day here in győr. so I know what you are talking about! 

SO! I got a new companion and he is super cool! his name is Elder Nichols! he is from Riverton Utah... kind of funny because we almost moved there a few years ago until I begged you to stay. ha :) he is a pretty young missionary too. he’s only 3 groups ahead of me.. so we both are really young. but we both speak the language pretty well.. enough to get the job done! so that’s good :) it’s fun! he really loves to work hard and to get things done. which I love..... because I like that too. and this last week was so productive! we got tons of work done, 4 new investigators, and tons of programs! it was great! so he is cool.

so like I said, we got tons of work done this week! our mission has certain standards.. / goals.. and there is standard and super standard. and even with a short week we got super standard! and that is really hard to get.. I’ve never gotten it before! so I have a feeling that this transfer is going to be very productive.. tons of work, tons of miracles.. and tons of success! we got all the right tools and attitudes and the spirit to do it! 

our bikes.. well.. my bike got a flat tire this week. so we had to take it back to the shop to wait for them to fix it.. so we are without bikes for a little bit. so that means mom you don’t have to worry too much anymore,):)

one thing I learned about Hungary this week is that they have abnormally huge... bearish... looking dogs! I kid you not! they are the biggest things I’ve ever seen! they honestly look like a small bear! it’s crazy! I’ll have to take a picture next time I see one! it’s insane!

this week tabling we had tons of success.. that’s where we got 3 out of the 4 new investigators.. so that was cool. we also get the most crazy.... weirdest stories from tabling too. because we see the most weirdest people.. and the randomness people come up to us. haha its great. but this week we had a huge group of teenagers come up to us and one of them.. Their leader..... was catholic.. and started to try to bible bash with us. and there was a good 12 kids with him that were around.. idk. high school age. and we started to talk back to him and we said something’s and we bore testimony.. and in 5 minutes.. they turned from trying to make us look dumb.. to being interested. it was great. ha I had fun anyway! then we also had some Jehovah witnesses. come up to us and start trying to fight with us too.. but the same thing happened! but I asked them if they have read the book of Mormon.. and they are like... all cool... yeah.. we know what your book of Mormon is about.. and then I asked them to tell me. and they said it was about joseph smith and his life.. and then I was like.. nope. ha and then I explained what it was.. and bore testimony.. and the one actually took one and was really interested.. but the other one of the companionship started to freak out and told her companion that they needed to go right then. it was great. ha 

this Sunday... I was sitting and the first hymn was about to be played and the bishop got my attention because were all waiting there waiting for it to start but it wasn’t. and it turned out to be that there was no music leader person! ha I can’t remember the name! but he caught my eye.. and well.. yep! I lead music in sacrament meeting this Sunday :) haha I did a perfect job.. of course.. just ask anyone! :) ha so that was fun for me! :) I enjoyed it! we had 5 investigators in sacrament which was really good for us! 

so that was that week! this week we got interviews.. which I can’t wait for.. haven’t sat down one on one with pres. since.. day 1! so I’m stoked for that! um... yeah! we got a pretty busy full week this week! 

just a quick spiritual thought for you guys this week.. 

life. Life is interesting. especially if you think about where we came from. think about it. we spent all of your pre mortal life preparing.. learning... growing... FOR THIS moment right now here on earth. because we knew that earth life would be very short.. and that depending on what we did here on earth would determine our eternal destiny. we knew that it was vitally important to do well here on earth. we know now that this life is limited.. time is limited. we are never gaining time.. we are only losing it. and what we do with that time literally determines our eternal destiny. a lot of people lose this eternal perspective here in life though. they think that they have all the time in the world.. that they will stay a teenager.. a kid.. an adult forever. and we tend to waste time on things that are of no worth. and we spend time being lazy and doing things that are of no productivity. I am even guilty of it. everyone is. 

but if we can learn to always have that eternal perspective.... if we can realize.. and learn.. and understand that life is literally a game of inches.. or.. seconds and minutes... what would we be doing with our time? what really matters? because life is a game of inches. every second.. of every day decisions are before our faces. and those decisions literally determine our destiny. every single one of them. -- so here is my thought. and this is your homework this week! think about what you do in the week. think about what you do, and what you should/ could be doing better. how can you spend your time more wisely? what do you want to be? what do you need to improve on? how are you going to use your.. inches in your life... to insure that you have eternal life in the next? because wither we know it or not.. our full potential is to become like our father and heaven.  but god didn’t become god by going through the motions.. I promise you that. it’s about every day waking up and having that vision in your mind. and insuring your eternal destiny. because each and every day we have trials and problems thrown in our faces. its mortality. we’ve prepared to succeed here in this earth life. now here is the question.... are we succeeding? or do we need to adjust our course and fight for those inches that we need to get in order to gain eternal life? eternal life doesn’t end with baptism.. it starts. it doesn’t end with temple covenants.. it starts. its enduring WELL to the end. not just enduring.. not just surviving.. but thriving. 

I love all of you! 

I miss all of you! almost a fourth done! crazy! told ya time will fly! 

eternal perspective!

Watson Elder

July 7th 2014

6/23/2014

family! :) 

Once again, it looks like everyone had a really good week back at home enjoying summer and all that has to bring with it! I hope that everyone else is doing great! zach, grandpa and grandma are going to have to tell me about their fishing trip and how it went! I’m jealous.. yes.. I haven’t found an investigator yet that will take me fishing! ha but it’s one of my transfer goals! ha ,) - but I loved hearing about everything that went on :) I love you and miss you guys! 

So a little bit about my week this week! It was pretty crazy with a lot of traveling. We had greeny training on Monday.. and then we had zone conference on Friday! which was super good and cool to see all the other missionaries in our zone. It was a super good, spiritual meeting. I’ll talk a little more about that and what I learned in a minute. 

  

I’ll answer some of the questions that you have first! 

A couple of funny things happened this week! we were tabling one afternoon and we’ve been out there for a good hour or so.. we’ve talked to several people... and then this random lady came out of nowhere and started yelling at us and telling us that the book of Mormon wasn’t true! haha and she told us that is was from the devil and all that, then we started to talk to her back and asking her how she knew that it wasn’t true.. and she wouldn’t give a specific answer, but she just kept saying that it wasn’t true. I guess she went to some convention where they told her what was true in life or something! then, I told her that I knew that the book of Mormon was true and that it was the word of God. she then said that I didn’t know that it was true. and at this point I was kind of laughing. and I said back to her.. how can you say that I don’t know that the book of Mormon is true? have you ever read the book of Mormon before? and she said no. and then she kept on saying that the book of Mormon isn’t true. and THEN. while she was saying all this stuff another guy came up to the table and started yelling at us (mind you this is in the middle of the city where there are tons.. of people)  and he picked up a book of Mormon and said that we will never have success here because Hungary sucks.. and the people are so wicked and that we shouldn’t even try. and then while he was saying all that the other lady was backing him up and saying that is true. hahaha what the? so we just bore our testimony loud and clear and then they went on their way. it was a pretty intense 10 minutes. haha that’s a reason why I love tabling though.. you get so many weird crazy stories! :) The church is true! the book of Mormon is true! I’ve read it. I’ve prayed about it. and I’ve applied it! that is how I know the book of Mormon is true! 

I sent you one picture of a huge night party in győr... yeah they have those all the time.. and we live like right next to where they have them and they are soooo loud! we hear them late into the night almost every weekend! it’s crazy! they have fireworks and music.. people are drunk everywhere.. it’s quite the sight to see sometimes. 

oh, here is a funny thing :) haah you’ll all love this one. so during our English class this week... I decided that I wanted and needed something funny. I needed a laugh. and the Hungarians really needed to work on their (th) sound and their (w)s. haha so.. for about a good 15 minutes.. we worked on our sounds. Hungarians cannot say th sounds.. or ws-.... so we probably said my name like a hundred times.. and the word that really gets them is weather. haha its sooooo funny. they can’t say it. I almost died laughing like ten times. it was great :) ha 

so pretty much my week this week consisted of a lot of finding... tabling.. service finding... tracking... door to door. streeting. etc. and then we taught some investigators! and yes, we are having a huge baptism on July 19! so that’s the big day! :) it’s exciting! and then English class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.... so that was kind of this week! it hasn’t been that hot over here either so that is nice :) we still sweat a lot though since we are riding everywhere! 

so, back to zone conference! it was a great zone conference and it was really refreshing. I just wanted to share a couple of things that I learned there for my spiritual thought this week. 

At the very start of the meeting president talked about how this mission is one of the toughest missions in the world. and that people everywhere say that we will have no success here and that we are just wasting our time.. and if we really want to baptize we should go to brazil or somewhere down south. people say this all the time. and I’m sure you’ve heard it before too. I even heard it from a Hungarian himself! ha - then president talked about how every missionary comes into this mission thinking that because they’ve been told that by friends.. family.. etc. and that becomes that missionaries attitude. and then yes. baptisms don’t happen. miracles don’t happen. hardly anything happens because of our attitude and our faith. -- he really pointed out on how we have to be constantly driven toward success.. and that originates... from our attitude.. and what we believe can happen. and that we are sent here.. to succeed. and how the lord said that the field is white.. and already to harvest. we aren’t sent here to sow.... we are sent here to reap. and yes, it is true.. there is so much more harvesting to do... more than we have the laborers for. I’ve truly witnessed that already. you go to bed at the end of the day with still a huge list of things that we could’ve done.. or need to get done. the Lord truly need more laborers in the field. That scripture is true and is coming to pass. ---

then he talked about how we have to give the lord our personal best every day. even if it hurts. and that our best is greater than we think it is. and that we shouldn’t put limits on ourselves. he showed this video clip of this football movie .... I can’t remember the name... but it was where this coach made this kid.. the captain.. do the death crawl.. ( it’s pretty much a bear crawl with a person on your back.) and he made him wear a blind fold and made him promise that he would give the coach his best. ( let me quickly say that it was .hard. for someone to go even 30 yards doing this.) and so he blind folded the player.. and the player said that he thought that he could only go to the 50. well the coach said  to him again to just give me your best. so they started to crawl.. he got to the 30.. arms started to burn. 50, arms started to burn even more and the coach started yelling at him to keep pushing it and to give it all he as. he got to the other 30 and was about to give up because he couldn’t feel his arms anymore.. but the coach (heavenly father) kept yelling at him to give it his all and to push and to not give up. just 3 more steps.. and when he finally burned out.. ( and those of you who know what this burn out feeling.. or complete exhaustion feels like.. you’ll understand what I am saying better ) the coach took off the blind fold.. and the player was in the opposite end zone. 

so apply that to our life.. the coach is our heavenly father who loves us and wants us to be successful. we will go through hard times. we will be pushed to our (so called limits) in life. where we don’t think we can go another step.. but then you have your Heavenly Father there.. begging you to just go 3 more.. because he can see the end and you can’t. but we must have the faith and trust and we must be willing to give him all that we have. and we will see, just like that player, that there really is no limits. anything can happen. amazing things can happen. miracles can happen. you can get past this hard time that you are going through. there is light on the other side. if we keep pushing and giving the lord all we have. 

D&C 64: 33-34. 

the Lord requires a willing heart, and the willing and obedient will reap the good of the land in these last days. 

I love you all and miss you! have another great week!

Watson Elder. 

6/30/2014

My amazing family!!!! 

First of all.. THANK you so much for the birthday wishes!!:):): you guys are the best :) thank you for all that you do for me and I can’t wait to get the packages :):) thank you for celebrating my birthday without me.. ,):) haha you’ll have the take pics and tell me all about it! 

second.. it’s really raining here right now and it’s coming down hard! I’ve never seen it rain like this before. and this morning we had a program with this thomás guy, who we have been meeting with every day for the last week, and we got SOAKED riding our bikes to the ward house. ha it was great. but now we are here in the library emailing! 

sounds like everyone had a great week! and I was really excited to see and hear how Max's basketball went! sounds like he did well! atta boy! keep working hard. cuz that’s what it takes! -- sounds like Jarom, and Luke are doing great too! and thanks Luke for the prayers! I feel them! you’re the best! 

so a little bit about my week and then the surprise that I got at the end of the week! 

this week we found 3 little kids.. ages about 12. 13. and a 9 year old girl. and they love to play soccer. we played with them on Tuesday.. then Thursday.. and they came to our English classes.. and they love us! they think that we are the coolest people on earth! ha literally! it’s so cool! and get this! they came to church on Sunday for all 3 hours and were really good and then they even stayed after a little bit with us and talked with us! They are really cool little kids and they are becoming more interested in the gospel! my bet is this.. they are going to get baptized before I leave győr. which.. my comp has been in győr for about 5 months.. so he is most likely to get transferred and then I will stay here for another transfer.. which I am super excited about because győr is awesome! :) transfers is on July 24. and we have a baptism on July 19 with 2 investigators getting baptized. and our other investigators are doing really well.. thomáas is really progressing.. that hubarek family is as well.. then we have some others that are really interested and are progressing as well. it’s exciting.

so on Saturday.. I was surprised with a surprise birthday party by the youth and by some people in this ward! ha we were finding for like 3 hours on our bikes on Saturday.. and then my comp said that we needed to go to the church to help this member clean the ward house , so I was like.. okay. and then we went back there.. I walk in.. Kloudia.. who I’m sure you all know who I’m talking about. is holding an iPad to my face! ahah I was like.. what the????????????? and I’ve been wearing a helmet all day so my hair was crazy.. and we walked into that room that you saw on facebook and they started singing happy bday to me and they lit my cake with a literal firework.. candle thing.. haha (which I’m sure is not allowed haha ) but it was great! then they were yelling at me to blow the candle out so I tried like 81 times and it would go out! as you saw.. hha ha and then they gave me a blue t shirt that says I LOVE Győr on it. and then they all were wanting me to give a speech! haha ( this is where all those after game interviews came in handy .) ) ha so I gave them a little speech.. you couldn’t really hear all of it in the video.. but I’ll give the same thought for my thought this week to you guys! but that was the party :) it was a nice surprise! 

this Sunday president was up to our ward for sacrament... and then we had 5 investigators in church which was good.. and yeah! that was pretty much that day! and that was this week! of course there is so much more that happened.. but that’s how much I have time to write right now! 

anyway... so for my last thought for you this week is going to be this. 

when life really comes down to it... the only thing that matters is the people that you know and the people that you love. 

nothing else in life even matters except for that. and I am grateful for the amazing family that I have the family that I was born into. I have the greatest parents who gave me the most important thing they could give me.. and that is the knowledge of our Savior.. and His atonement.. and His plan for us. I have the best brothers who are awesome to be with. I have great grandparents... and great great great grandparents who are amazing people.. and if it weren’t for them.. I wouldn’t be here right now. I have the greatest extended family and I’m so grateful for them. I have the greatest friends who are always supportive of me and who care about me. I am so grateful for Hannah, and all that she has done for me and all of her support, love, and encouragement. and all that she means to me in my life. --- I have the greatest family... and when life really comes down to it.. it’s all about those people I just mentioned. they are the only ones that matter. 

I love you guys and miss you guys! thank you for the birthday wishes! have the best 4th of July and be safe! 

I love you! 

Watson Elder. 

7/6/2014

amazing family!!!!:):)

It was a great week this week!!!! and where do I even begin with your week??? oh I know! what the micsoda is about everyone going fishing in the Uintah’s?????????? hahahaa I saw that.. and I saw those pictures that dad sent and I about died laughing. talk about a surprise!!!!!!!!!:) hahaha it’s great! how did everyone like following my dad 25 miles into the mountains.. going off the trails.. and then eventually getting lost? haha :) jk:) I bet you guys had a blast.. I’m jealous... I’m coming next time! -- was the fishing good? a fish in every hole? who caught the most? did you even keep track? I’m sure Teresa caught the biggest. ha ,) 

I’m glad that everyone had a great fourth of July!!!!!!! everyone got to see fireworks.... and BE IN THE UNITED STATES! ha that’s great:) my companion and I decided that we needed to bring the American pride to Hungary... so we set up a little American buli on Friday night and invited all the youth.. and investigators! it was a good turn out and lots of fun! we didn’t have much money to work with but we made it work! we had a bunch of red white and blue things... and then a flag! - which you saw me holding a few times! I miss my flag! then we had TONS of American desserts.. and everyone loved them.. we made raspberry shakes for everyone.. true shakes.. with ice cream. here they only use milk.  ha but yeah. everyone was freaking out about those.. we had a bunch of games... races... we had a football..  we had everything that we possibly could and it was tons of fun! :) 

I got your guy’s packages this week!!!:) and I loved them!!!!!!:) you guys made my week! thank you so much for sending those cards and candy and jerky.. which yes.. they don’t have those here.. it was so good to eat some! thank you! I love you. you guys are the best :) quick question.. when did you guys send those??

haha I saw the huge party that you guys had for me..:) haha I loved the pictures of it! I’m lucky to have such a loving and supporting family. I love you guys! I can’t wait to actually attend my own birthday party in 2016. ha ,) 

just so you know.. you got a little something coming your way from Hungary.. let me know when you get it! you’ll love it.. especially dad. ha :)

so I don’t have much time this week but ill quickly tell you of all the main things that happened this week. 

so this week győr started some festival that runs all week long and they had fireworks the starting night! and it happened to be on the fourth of July!!! haha so we thought that it was for America.. so we started chanting stuff out our window in our apartment.. and our neighbors texted us and told us happy 4th. haha but it really wasn’t for us. it was good to see fireworks though.. kind of made you feel like you were at home! -- so in gyor that is what’s happening.. there is tons of people.. which is good. we talked to thousands of people this week. 

the language is coming good! I can speak what I want to say for the most part.. still kind of slow.. but that’ll come in time. and I understand mostly everything! except when they mumble or speak like.. supper duper fast. which there isn’t that many people that do that. 

those kids that we found are progressing really well! they came to church again.. and we are going to try to put them on bap date this week again. they love us. we’ve taught almost all the lessons with them. they are so cool. haha but we haven’t met their parents yet! they told us that when they go out they yell to their parents.. "were going to play with the Mormons!" haha its way funny. but that’s our goal this week! :) 

we have that bap. coming up on the 19th which is going to be great. and they both asked me if I would confirm them! so that is going to be an awesome opportunity! ha got to work on my blessing giving in Hungarian.. its supper hard. haha but it’ll be good. we will confirm them that Sunday in sacrament meeting.. it should be interesting! ha little nervous yes! can’t wait for it though :) 

so my mom told me that the fam. reunion is this week and that you guys wanted me to write something for that! so here it is! 

I hope that you guys aren’t missing me too much.. I know that it isn’t as fun without me! ,) ha jk. but I love you guys and hope that you have a great time doing all of the fun things planned! don’t forget to remember me while you are riding the rocket at lagoon! ha I hate that thing.  ( except with Hannah. she makes it fun :),) ha )

I just wanted to share a quick spiritual thought for this week that I hope you will really think about and apply in your lives. it’s this. 

everyone in the world goes through hard times. times of stress.. times of questioning. times of loneliness.. times of heart ache. times of loss. times of sacrifice.. we all have high moments and we all have low moments. we all have specific weaknesses and trials in our life that we are dealing with this very second. -- yes.. even on a mission. even the prophet. no one is immune. -- but how can we make those feelings go away? how can we still be happy? how can we be happy all the time no matter what situation we are in.. no matter how much money we have.. no matter what is going on? it’s this: THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

being grateful all the time takes a conscious effort. but when we are always thankful for the things the Lord has given us... we will always be happy. we will always smile. the Lord has given us everything. and he will continue to give us everything that we need. he loves us and he is mindful of us. and as we keep his commandments he will take care of us. always. he has promised us that. -- when we are grateful.. meaning at night us specifically..... pray for  what we have received and what we have been given.. and specifically for those who have blessed your life.. by name. you will see a spirit come into your life.. you will have the light of Christ.. which will make you happy. it will bring peace. it will comfort you and give you strength. ..... ---- let us ask ourselves.. do we have the attitude of gratitude in our life right now? what can we do better? will you, tonight, get on your knees and thank the lord for all the blessings  you have been given.. specifically.. regardless of your situation or circumstance? 

I encourage all of us to have that attitude. the attitude of gratitude will lighten your life and your burdens. it will change your life.

I love all of you! have fun and be safe! 

love you!

Watson elder