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