1st Transfer - Almost 8 months out!

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10/6/2014

FAMILY!

What’s up!!!!! I enjoyed all of your guy’s emails! Looks like dad got his house fixing on this week:) haha this should be a life lesson for all of us. A little curiosity... can take you a long way!  You’ll have to send me a picture of the final product! Mom, Hannah, and the Holgate’s seem like they had a good time together Saturday night! I’m jealous.. I totally would’ve dressed up like a witch. Heck, I would dress up in a pink tu tu to be with you guys,) :) -- I really hope all of you had the opportunity to watch all of general conference.. and as a missionary in Hungary.. I did not. ha - I loved all of your comments and I love to see all the things that you were able to learn from the prophets and apostles! I love you guys and I love hearing about everything that is going on. when you are writing your emails it probably seems like little things that you are putting in there.. but I want to hear about the daily routine.. how that is going. because it’s so different from what I am doing and I am not up to date on anything really! ha so I love it! love you guys! 

my week this week was a pretty crazy week! 

this week we got to play some basketball again with some people. we found 4 new investigators from it. it was super fun! But we were playing . and idk if I just didn’t warm up enough or what.. but, well.. my companion threw me an alley-opp ( and for the record I finished :) ) but I came down and I think my hip slipped out of place again. I knew it did because it has so many times. welllllllll.. haha long story short. that night.. I couldn’t really walk, it felt weird. one leg was longer than the other. and I laid down on the floor to stretch it. then I was like.. ah.. this is no big deal. I know what to do! so I called my comp over and I was like. you ready to make a memory? ha and he was kind of scared and said.. idk. and I was like.. I need you to pull my leg back into place. ha well.. it took him 20 tries and I dragged across the floor. but he got it, I had him do it just like dr. vranes.! and I stretched it. and I started to do more core workouts than normal.. and I drank some protein that I bought.. and I rested it.. ( as much as I could ) and its all good now! :) anyway. that happened this week.

I’ve learned that we should not table at night.. on a Friday night... because all we do is attract drunks. there was so many by us.. that I literally told one to go run through the pond after so long and he almost did. ha I was just trying to make them leave, but they wouldn’t and that was the only option I had left! anyway. I’ve became really good at smelling alcohol and recognizing drunks. ___ BUT--- my spiritual thought will include one that is different. 

all week this week we ended up tracting. again :) ha we found some super cool people though! we probably walked around 15 miles a day. sooo much walking. it’s crazy. you get home at the end of the day. your legs hurt. you’re exhausted. even taking a shower and even changing clothes is annoying because you just want to go to bed. 

my comp got sick this week with a pretty bad cold. hopefully I won’t get it again. I shouldn’t. but I’m truly doctor Watson.. everyone comes to me for medicine. haha I haven’t used even half of the stuff that I left with and they have nothing, because they didn’t bring anything, so they come to me! ( everyone, almost, that I meet... always quotes "doctor Watson! but it’s more like.. doctor vatszon! apparently that show is popular here! 

other than that.. we just had zone conference with everyone up in buda pest. I said the closing prayer. the conference was all about LOVE and catching the vision for the Budapest mission. we are almost good to go for the second stake here in Hungary. and they are considering iPad. I think they might finally come here before I leave for home. we will see. it was mainly love.. and applying love in every aspect of your work. falling in love with learning the language. with the people. with the drunks. with the members. with everything. but most importantly.. fall in love in doing the Lord's work and show our love for the lord by doing his work HIS WAY. a lot of people struggle with it..  falling in love with the work. or putting LOVE into it. because out here at least.. we get rejected, let down all the time. and it really does hurt. we get made fun of, mocked, and scorned. it’s not necessarily the funnest thing to do every day :) ha and if we put our love out there. it hurts more. but.. in our own little way.. that is how we feel Christ’s pains.. and we suffer his cross.. and we feel his bruises. and that is how we take his cross upon us. that was the theme. I loved it. it’s so re-energizing. you don’t get to see pres. or anyone in fact except for at those conferences 4 times a year. ha  so it’s nice to gather all together. the spirit was so strong. you can tell and see and feel the divinity and power of this calling. it’s the greatest biggest, most important work on earth.

general conference was amazing!!!!! I loved it! I feel like it was PERFECTLY geared towards investigators. it was great. I got so much out of it. I loved how Uchtdorf talked about astronomy.. and I hope that while he was talking about that you were all thinking of me.. because that is my kind of thing! I say that all the time! :) can’t wait to go back and go star gazing again! -- anyway! I loved Holland’s fire and passion. you’re not normal if you didn’t have your soul shaked a little bit by that talk.  priesthood session.. when Utchdorf talked about the "lord,  is it I?" it was the best talk I’ve heard in a while! it was perfectly geared towards all of us. if we all asked that question.. instead of pointing fingers.. and excuses..and what not.. we wouldn’t be so prideful. we would be more patient. we would be more loving and kind. we would forgive others because of their weaknesses. we would be meek. we would be obedient. the light of Christ would beam out of us. -- it was a great conference. I haven’t seen the last session yet because in Hungary we watch the first session live Saturday night. then we have priesthood at 11 the next morning ( not live ) then we watch Saturday night at 1. then we watch Sunday morning live at 6. and we don’t get to see the Sunday afternoon. we have to wait till it comes out in the magazine. it was great :) I watched it in English.. because you can get so much more out of it listening to it in your normal language than you do in Hungarian. I tried for a little bit..and I was like.. I understand.. it’s just annoying that I have to focus on translating and you don’t get the same tone of voice.. the same fire.. you don’t get it. just like we experienced with that first time ever Chinese guy speaking. heck! I didn’t get anything out of that because I was laughing too hard at his accent and wondering what it would be like in the conference center. haha it was so cool to see though. I love general conference. I hope everyone got in tune with the power of personal revelation and that everyone got answers to your questions. the most revelation that I received was during talk that I have heard thousands of times and that it wasn’t talking about anything about my questions. it was pure knowledge flowing through the brain coupled with the confirmation of the spirit in the heart and mind that will fill your body head to toe with light. and warm and fuzziest. at least for me that’s how I received my revelation this conference. 

for my spiritual thought I want to share a story and a principle that I had taught to me this week.  

late on Wednesday night this week my comp and I  were walking down the street. it was about8 o’clock and we were always from out apartment so we decided to start heading back and talk to people on the way. well we turned down this street. the street wasn’t lighted to well.. really no streets are.  and we saw this man in the middle of the street zig zaging. he was drunk, obviously. and as we got closer and as we started to pass he started to zig zag towards me. I thought he was coming at me so I kind of got my heart beating a little bit and he just ended up passing me. right then. I told my companion that I thought he was coming at me. and he said the same. then as soon as I got done saying that the drunken guy ( 24 years old) turned around and said " mit mondtal??"  and he started coming at us. I got my hands out ready to do some punching and till he stopped and repeated himself. I started to play dump so that we didn’t cause any trouble. I started to act like I didn’t speak Hungarian. my comp played along. and he started to speak to us in broken English, that gave me a headache so he finally asked if we spoke Hungarian, luckily he was drunk so that he didn’t remember that we told him that we didn’t speak Hungarian 5 minutes ago. haha this guy was DRUNK. you could smell it so strong. but we said.. yes we do because he wasn’t very good at English. idk why we started talking to him.. but to make long story short.. we ended up talking to him for an hour. as we were talking to him he started to open up about his life. and about how he wanted to change. how he hated his life. how no girls like him. how school and work suck. how there is no happiness. he even went into deeper stuff that is probably in appropriate to write so I won’t. how I understood it idk. but while we were talking to him ( and as I talked with my comp afterwards) something touched both of our hearts. we actually felt compassion for this 24 four year old who is in the dump of the dump. he is rock bottom. he has nothing. in that moment.. the love of Christ literally filled our souls. I honestly saw potential in him. I thought to myself.. what in the world happened to this guy that made him get to right here today? how bad could HE have been.. or how bad.. could his situation have been. he needed the saviors love. he needed to experience the atonement.  what kind of feelings was he feeling at this time? he is a son of god! he is one of god’s children and he wants EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS CHILDREN BACK. because I tried to love him.. I literally felt the saviors love running through me. I was given the gift of discernment to know how he felt and what he needed. when you have the love of Christ running through you.. you will do anything it takes to help this guy out. you will love him unconditionally. his drunkenness really just goes away. you see the deeper side of things. you see and feel god’s love for him. it really makes you quite emotional to be honest. and it does hurt. it hurts. it sucks to see a child of god in that situation. it’s like.. what are you doing man??? then it gets you pissed at Satan. then it’s like why on earth do we have free agency??haha jk. but seriously. -- long story short. we talked to him and loved him and listened to him. at the end of the convo. we made him throw away all of his beer right there that he had on him. we watched him walk home. we got his address and phone number and yes it works. we tried it and made sure because we knew he was drunk. we are visiting with him tomorrow. that meeting just might have changed his life. we will see. but think if we didn’t love him? think if we just wanted to run and just walk away because he was drunk. then it makes you go back and think.. why were we on that specific road.. and at that specific time..?? to meet this man who is in desperate need of help? probably. 

I love all of you! my mom and dad especially,  have made more sacrifices for me than I even know of., my bros! Zach, Jake, grandparents, cousins! Holgate’s! Kyler and random! my coaches! my teachers! my leaders. and HECK. don’t even get me started with  My Hannah Rose. when you take a look back, when I do, and think of all the love that I have been shown.. it makes you so grateful for them.. and for god who placed them in your life. I wouldn’t be who I am today without them.

 be safe for me! try to apply more LOVE in every aspect of our lives this week! 

Watson Elder

10/13/2014

Family!!!!

I loved all of your emails and it looks like you have a super crazy fun weekend coming up with the short break! the new Mormon video is out and it looks super good. too bad that I won’t be able to see it until I get home. I’m glad that all of you enjoyed it! and I’m sorry that they had to put a missionary mom in there.. sorry mom! I’m sure beautiful Hannah would love to hang out with you :) -- I’m getting super jealous that dad keeps buying all of these new toys. HE ALMOST looks like a GI- JOE! haha -- bros.. keep up the hard work. growing requires growing pains! look for that pain while you are working out, because that’s the only thing that will make you better as a player and as a person. I love all of you guys! I’m glad that everyone is healthy and is alive. ha 

this week for me was a lot of long days strung in a row! the work this week was kind of slow. although we worked really hard.. we just couldn’t seem to find people who would open the doors to the gospel. we did find 2 people though that is really cool. one of them was a Jew! kind of crazy.. I was like.. HEY this book is written directly TO YOU! ha jk. I didn’t say that. but it as cool to meet with one and talk to him seriously about Christ. I am hoping and praying that this week the work will start to pick back up again! We met with a lot of members hoping to get referrals.. and we got a few. seriously.. member missionary work makes a huge difference. Those of you missionaries that have a billion referrals be grateful! And those of you who are holding referrals from the missionaries.. give them! ha unless your missionaries.. Aren’t there for the right reasons.. then maybe I suppose you can hold them. anyway! slow week! but it was still good! lots of positives!

This week I finally got a hair cut by a member who does it for free and she did a great job! I was happy about that :) we got to see the new branch house that they built for us! It is literally nicer than any American building I’ve seen. It’s amazing. and the technology.. is crazy! they have auto. Blinds that roll up and down. they have super cool lights.. elevator.. they have a crazy security system.. and super nice EVRYTHUING! It’s so cool. Monday and Tuesday we helped them move all the stuff from the old branch house to the new one. I hope that all of you got the pics! :) We had a missionary meeting on Saturday night with the branch president and the branch mission leader and then after they took us through that and then they took us out to eat at this super (sketchy at first) place... but turned out to be super good! that was tons of fun! we have a hilarious mission leader and an awesome young branch president. they do a lot for the city and for the church. I have gained more and more respect and awe for all the members here in Hungary. to be a dedicated member and disciple of Christ here is not an easy thing to do. It’s not easy to find a wife or a husband who is a member. there are a lot of sacrifices being made all the time. Truly these people here are the elect of god. they have to be. 

This week while finding and tracting we experienced a lot of walking.. again. ha and a lot of exhaustion! BUT" this week we also got a lot of mocking and being made fun of. ha idk why. some weeks I feel like Satan is out to get us more than others. FOR EXAMPLE.. we also encountered a flock of possessed BIRDS! -- we were tabling.. and the next thing we know we hear things hitting the ground and I look up and a huge flock of birds flew over us. and I look down.. and well.. guess what happened. yeah. we got dumped on. haha it was so gross. it was terrible and the smell was even worse! everyone started laughing at us. and in the moment I really thought it was kind of funny too. ha how often does that happen? only to Mormon missionaries! ha --- this week I was also able to use the VERY LITTLE Spanish that I know.. we streeted into a guy who was from Spain.. and we had a good 5 min convo with him in Spanish! it’s amazing how much I forgot! all that could come to mind was Hungarian.. but we were able to direct him to the web site LDS.org ha :) that was a funny experience. 

probably the biggest find this week was when we were walking through a park. and we saw this guy sitting on the bench. he looked homeless with long hair.. battered clothes.. and what not. I saw him and I was like.. what the heck. god isn’t a respecter of persons so why should we be? so we walked up to him and it turns out that he is a very smart, educated, with a job, kind of wealthy guy. he was going to college and he was sitting on the bench park reading. we started to talk in English because he said he knew English because he plays a lot of computer games. my comp played a ton of pc games before the mission too so he was able to really connect to this guy. we exchanged contact info and we are going to be meeting with him. --- experiences like that really puts everything into perspective. it was really cool. 

well.. my working out resources also went up this week. I FINALLY FOUND A PARK close to our house that we can run to each morning and they have a pull up bar. push up bar, dip bar and some other stuff.. I mean.. it’s not the funest thing to do.. but it works. it requires tons of energy.. but it is doing the job! :) keeping my strength up really well.! so that was exciting :) "Rome" is back in action!  ha

that’s about all that has happened. along with lots of tracting and finding. 

my spiritual thought will be a quick thing that I read from spencer w Kimball. 

if we looked at mortality as the whole of existence, then pain, sorrow, failure, and short life would be calamity. but if we look upon life as an eternal thing stretching far into the premortal past and on into the eternal post death future, then all happenings may be put in proper perspective. 

is there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrow to try our souls? are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified? 

if all the sick for which we pray for were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. no man would have to live by faith. 

if joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of the good, there could be no evil-- all would do well but not because of the rightness of doing well. there would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

should all prayer be immediately answered according to our selfish desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow , disappointment, or even death, and if these were not, there would also be no joy, success, resurrection, nor eternal life and godhood. 

for it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things... righteousness.. wickedness.. holiness. Misery.. good.. bad. 

I love you all :) 

be safe and have fun on this next short week!

Watson Elder

10/20/2014

Family! 

WOW, what a week! And especially for YOU GUYS! Your guy’s emails made me light up! seriously, I absolutely love reading every single one of your guy’s emails. I am so blessed to have such a great family and such great support. you guys are the best! I love you  and miss you all! 

The camp out that dad and everyone went on made me jealous a little bit.. and then the girls night outing that mom went on with Hannah and holly made me even MORE jealous... -- it was awesome to see pictures of all of you! Jaron and Luke.. holy crap! you guys are growing a lot! By the time I get home I won’t be able to recognize you! ha --- simply put it I have the best family on earth! It’s crazy that football season is winding down to an end already. And basketball season is right around the corner. Max.--- I hope you are ready and you’ve done everything you can to prepare to ball people up. you have to go out there and represent! nothing but your best! take every game.. every practice.. and enjoy it.. but play your hardest and workout your hardest. The time that you have to play high school sports is short. and there really is nothing like high school sports. I’m going to miss going out there on the field or especially the court this year. it’s like. I have put so much time and effort into that place.. that I get jealous of the team playing on it without me. ha " I WANNA PLAYY!!!!!!!" I will probably have a little bit of basketball sickness for 2 seconds but I will survive! anyway! great week! exciting things coming up! :) 

my week this week was pretty.. normal in some ways and pretty different in some ways. 

This week it rained ALOT. ( which was good.. because it brought a cold front in. which is nice with wearing our suits! ) But every day we got soaked tracting and trying to find people. and I also probably put another 100 miles on my shoes. we walked TONS.

This week we had a lot of members calling to feed us.. which is so rare. and the food was super good.  I kind of like how it is here. because back at home.. missionaries get fed ALL the time for every meal. but here it is so rare... which really turns it into a very special thing for the members to do. It’s a great blessing for the members to partake of. 

This week we also got to meet with this lady names Ani. she is about 55.. and I found her the very first day I was here in szeged. we were tabling and earlier on I talked to this one lady that looked similar and she said that she would come back and grab a book of Mormon. well.. 10 min later.. ani.. who looked like that same girl but wasn’t. Ani told me as I was standing in the middle of the street she was like ( aren’t you cold??? ) it was a colder day and I wasn’t wearing a jacket or anything. and I was like.. ( ah.. not really, I’m from Utah! haha ) ( this is all in Hungarian )  and then I was like ( hey, here is the book of Mormons over here! ) and she was like.. what’s the book of Mormon? then I realized this wasn’t the same person. haha so I started to explain what the book of Mormon was.. and what we believe in and why god has given it to us and all that jaz. and she was like yeah! I want one! how much do I have to pay? and I was like. ITS FREE! ha she was really surprised because nothing in Hungary is free.( not even the bathrooms. yes, I’ve experienced it )  and I gave her a book of Mormon and then I asked her if she would like to meet with us and talk more about the book. and she said yes , so we exchanged info. and this week was the first time we could meet with her since she was so busy. and it was a really cool meeting. we got to know her really well.. she said some pretty profound things. she stated that ( it’s not an accident that I ran into you guys. ) and how she loved the book and she wants to learn more and more. .---- so what turned out to be an accident on my part.. turned out to be an actual miracle. the spirit was very strong in our program and she accepted the invitation to come to church.. and SHE CAME!!!!!! and she loved it. and she made some immediate friends in the branch. And we set up another time to meet with her. it’s amazing. I bet she gets baptized before this transfer is over. anyway. what turned out to be a little thing for me.. is actually turning into a big thing. it’s amazing what the lord can do and who he can put in your path. 

one of the nights this week.. it was getting towards the time where we were going to head back home. and  we had over 300 flyers on us.. and we were like.. okay, we have to give all of these out before we go home. so we went to the most busiest square here in szeged by the college. there were thousands of people out. and we started at one side of the square, we split up, and we talked to everyone that we saw. some would stop and talk and some would just take the flyer. but we were able to get tons of people interested. and tons of people to see us. we gave them all out in about an hour. and then as we were walking back.. there was this restaurant on the side and this lady jumped up and out of nowhere came up to me ( it suőprised me, no one comes up to us) and she was like ( in English ) hello, do you speak Hungarian? ( there are a lot of English speakers here because of the college. everyone studies English) and I was like yes... and she was like ( in Hungarian) so your are missionaries right? and I was like yes. and she said.. what is that? what does that mean? and I started to tell her about what we did and what services that we gave and what we taught people and all that jaz and she was like well.. can you help me? in English and I am interested in hearing about this gospel. -- so we set up with her. I was like.. what just happened?? that never.. ever happens. it was super cool.  

this Sunday was the first Sunday in the new branch house. it was super cool.. and super spiritual. we had 3 investigators at church.. not bad for just finding them. And we were able to teach the deacons quorum this week. we taught about patience. and that is what my spiritual thought will be about in 2 seconds. 

but this week, one night I woke up to a HUGE thunderstorm right outside my window. it was so cool. it was right above us and it was so loud and so bright. just a little cool thing to see. take joy in the little things! 

also this week.. I have grown a greater vision of the importance of personal studies. but not just that.. but in our everyday lives, when we have our OWN personal study each and every day. If taken and done correctly. our personal study time when we read from the scriptures and when we pray.... can and should be a vital time for the reception of the holy ghost and the time when we can receive the most personal revelation that we need to carry us from day to day, month to month. The more in tune that we become with the holy ghost and the more familiar we become to the whisperings of the spirit... the more calm, and more peaceful, the more enjoyable our lives will be. The more we will feel our saviors love for us. the closer we will feel, and become to him as we continue to turn our hearts towards him. 

so for my spiritual thought this week I want to talk a little bit about patience. and how VITAL it is in our everyday lives.. and especially for our eternal progression. 

There is a major difference in patience vs apathy. if we compare the two.. they both have a commonality of waiting. but there is a significant difference between the two. 

the lord has said “And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life."  the lord uses the word patience many times in scriptures.

what is apathy?  it is the lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. it is waiting.. without hope or without faith. it is just.. saying.. " ah.. I can’t wait till this is over. I just want it to end. " completely losing the view that you have right in front of you. many on the  mission, or different stages in life.. look beyond the mark and become apathetic. they say " next transfer will be better. I will wait till then to start working hard." " oh, when I get to... January it’ll be better and I will be happy." they completely lose the opportunities the lord has placed before them. 

patience however is
the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.

this kind of patience involves a few vital things. one of them being faith, and the other hope. you hope and have faith in Christ that things will turn out. that time will move. you have faith and hope that all things will work together for your good. it is putting your trust and will into the saviors will and timing. it is having the eternal perspective. it is enjoying the little things now.. and understanding that great things are to come. it is finding the joy in the journey. it is taking every opportunity the lord gives you in this very moment to strengthen your faith, to strengthen your relationships, to bless others, and to be grateful. 

with patience you will work through setbacks. you will work through trials, delays, and setbacks with a smile. you will be patient with yourself in your own weaknesses. you will be patient with others, knowing that no one is perfect and that we all require patience. and we truly all require and plead for patience from God. 

patience is VITAL to our eternal progression. without it, we would be damned. NO ONE EVER.. has GAINED EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE. not even Chirst. 

 11 And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us.

 12 And I, John, saw that he received not of the fullness at the first, but received grace for grace;

 13 And he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness;

 14 And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fullness at the first.

 15 And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son.

 16 And I, John, bear record that he received a fullness of the glory of the Father;

 17 And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him.

 18 And it shall come to pass, that if you are faithful you shall receive the fullness of the record of John.

 19 I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fullness.

 20 For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fullness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.

as we each continue on this path of eternity. we will encounter trials and setbacks, weaknesses, bad habits. we will encounter plenty of imperfections within ourselves and within others. if we do not developed this patience, we will inevitably give up thinking it is too hard, not worth it, too long. we must understand that it will take patience to become like our heavenly father. it will take patience to perfect relationships. it will take patience to forgive, to love, and to listen to others. it will take patience to learn Hungarian, word for word. it will take patience to developed your talent in basketball, on the piano and shooting a gun. it will take patience to start to let our will go.. and to see the will of the father in our lives. it will take patience with a rebellious child, with a wayward son or daughter. it will take patience to acquire our full potential. -- without patience we can do nothing. patience is VITAL to our eternal progression. 

 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life:

 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

let us all practice a little more patience this week! 

I love all of you and miss all of you! 

Watson Elder.

10/27/2014

Family,

I loved all of your emails:) once again like every week! BUT I loved that dad found a way to send videos of you all. It worked and I loved watching it. it made it feel so much more real! you guys are alive! ha I love it. thanks for that. start doing that more often. 

Halloween is coming up.. and it looks like you already have decorations for what looks like Christmas!!! are you for real? at least that’s what I saw in the video! I loved the outfits that jarom and luke were wearing! where is maxs? hahah. Jarom and Luke are growing like crazy. I’m afraid that I really will actually end up being the shortest in the family. besides mom. how does this happen? its okay, I can, and will still beat all of you at basketball, wrestling, video games, snow man building, and all day every day. ha just remember that. when I come home we will have to have a big bbq ( because they don’t have those here) and we will have to have a basketball game again. to see who is king. ( me currently, and leszek) . anyway, I miss and love all of you guys :) I’m jealous that My Gorgeous Hannah Rose brought you all brownies. I’m sure they are better than the ones made in heaven. ( yes they have to be in heaven. ) 

the ceiling is looking really good. congrats dad and grandpa. 

its crazy that thanksgiving is just about here. and then before we know it it’ll be Christmas! 

and get this! I have received the skype info!!!!! SO. here is the deal. I can skype you guys anytime during the WEEK of Christmas. so anytime from the 22nd to the 28th... I can skype you guys and I have found a place, a member who said that he will let me. SO.. let me know what time you would all like to skype! :) we could do.... Christmas day? we could do.. Christmas eve? we could do a day before that.. or even a day after. tell me what works best for you all :) mom, dad, grandmas, grandpas, bros, HANNAH, anyone else.. you all need to coordinate together :) 

so, yes like I said, it got SOOOOO cold this week! it was a very rainy, cold week. we got soaked and frozen. it rained just about every day all day. and one day it didn’t look like it was going to rain so we just wore our coats and didn’t bring umbrellas and we got soaked. it was great. that’s what I pictured a missionary life to be like ha :) But I’m glad that it got colder because now I want to wear the whole suit and everything. it’s been a really wet fall for them. they are expecting a lot of snow for the winter. But here.. the thing is that when it is super cold.. it’s hard to get away from it because the air is so wet that it just chills right to the bones.  thank goodness for thermals! today I even bought a bini and some gloves since we are outside everyday all day! so that’s the weather update here!  

we also made a new English class poster. English class is a great finding tool here. so what we did is we bought a poster and then markers.. and we made an American flag. ha I’m surprised at how good it turned out. it was a pain to make though.

this week we were made fun of a lot and we got rejected tons. ha we heard some new things though. For example.. we knocked on this door and this older guy opens it and his wife is there as well.. and before we said one word they started to freak out and threw their hands up and started to complaining. and then I tried to start talking. and they were like.. you guys need to find new work. we don’t foglalkozni with that stuff. we got our bible. ha -- then they slammed the door before we could even say anything back. then my comp said, this isnt our work. ha it was great. The church is true! how little do they know that they are fullfilling prophecies left and right. 

we also had a lot of success this weekt though. we met with this istvanyé. we tracted into her a week ago and now we finally met with her and she was totally accepting and she believed everything that we were saying.. she read the book of Mormon to the point of where Nephi was building the boat and she loved it. we taught her the restoration and she said that she believes that it is true. The spirit was super strong in that program. and the best thing that she said is that she said while she was reading the book of Mormon she felt this feeling.. she had a really hard time describing it.. and we got to tell her it was the holy ghost and she again felt it as we were teaching about joseph smith. it was a miracle. those kinds of experiences happen kind of rare here in Hungary. so when it happens.. you are ecstatic. we have 4 legit.. progressing awesome investigators right now. and if everything goes well this week we are expecting to have 3 bap dates with them. it’s pretty exciting. :) 

this week we were also able to give one of our investigators a papsági aldás to help him overcome his smoking and drinking addictions. he is ready for baptism.. and could be baptized in 2 weeks if he can overcome it. it’s been a miracle to be able to meet with him too. before we gave him the blessing I explained to him that miracles happen ( in the program we taught him about the priesthood, then we asked him if he would like one and he said yes) and I told him that if has faith in Christ and from this moment forth he dedicates himself and tells himself " no more" and he is faithful in that oath.. that the miracle would happen and he will overcome him addiction. we gave him the blessing. it was really powerful. and so far he is doing good. we are meeting with him every day to try to help him overcome temptation. I want him baptized so bad. ha he is about 54 years old. loves fishing. we talk about it all the time. and just a super cool guy that is ready for the church and the gospel. -- this week we also met with other people but that was the two big successes this week :) we got 3 new investigators this week as well. the work is going! :) 

we were also sitting in the church hall waiting for our investigator to come.. and he called and canceled.. but at the same time the Szeged newspaper came walking in and wanted to do an article on the new building.. and they went around taking pictures.. and they were talking to us and loved us. and half of the article will be about missionary work. and they took a bunch of pics of me and my comp together and they said that we will be in the newspaper! and this newspaper is big! everyone sees it. it’s going to be so cool! I’ll get one and send it home for you guys :) it’ll be a great way to have people get to know us. we will show up and they will be like.. hey.. I saw you in the newspaper! ahah so that was a cool experience. they had an interview with us and started asking us questions like " why would someone want to be a Mormon?" and about marriage.. and families. it was a great.... great.. missionary opportunity. :)  that was fun :)

whenever we go tabling I swear we always attract the drunks.. ha we went this week and always... always.. some drunk comes up and tries to talk to us and he starts to act really crazy and what not. its.. interesting.. we can say that :) 

this Sunday the young men’s pres asked me to teach the lesson this week. so I was able to teach by myself about why it is important to be grateful " miért fontos hálásak legyunk?" and I taught about the attitude of gratitude... and I used Nephi’s example of always being grateful and giving thanksgiving for all things that we are put through.. including our hardships.. our nehézségunkets everything. It was a really good lesson and I also, at the end, made them write a letter to their moms and dads telling them why they were grateful for them. because I explained how I wouldn’t be here without my parents and I was super grateful for them. it was a great lesson and the spirit was there. it was a great opportunity to speak to. and to have an influence on the kids. 

so for my quick spiritual thought for this week will be out of romans.. I have been doing an intense study of the new testament and there are SO MANY amazing things in the new testament. I love it. 

romans 8: 37-39 says

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

as you read, and re read that scripture.. think about the power of love. ask yourselves " what is love? what does it mean to love? why.. is love so powerful? how can we apply more love into our lives? how can we more fully experience the love that our savior has for us?"

the lord has given us this promise:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ű

I love you all. I hope that you ponder and think about that short thought. there are powerful truths and lessons to be learned. 

Watson Elder.

11/3/2014

sziasztok a családom!

Another week on the mission! As I was notified by the most beautiful person in the world ( aka, Hannah Rose ) after this next week there will be only 46 more days left until I get to skype all of you! which I haven’t got any info back from anyone yet... when would you all like to skype?? I am super excited!

I was also notified that someone ( ROBI ) sent you all a video and tons of pictures of me and exstrom? haha That is so funny. We went over to his house for lunch one day and he was showing us his new  computer and all of his stuff. And he let us try out his new web camera! ha. not knowing that he would be sending this to all of you... or putting it all on facebook... we  tested it out by making a little video. ha I hope all of you enjoyed it :) you got to see me actually move and speak since I talked to you guys in the airport in May. and I don’t think you have actually seen me move like that since I left in march! that is super crazy! Time is crazy! Anyway, that was fun :) I can’t really remember what was in the video or what was said, but I hope that it was fun for you all to watch :) 46 more days! I can’t wait! 

I loved all of your guy’s emails! I hope all of the basketball.. all of the Halloween stuff.. and all that went well for all of you this week! Basketball is coming up really quick! I can’t believe it’s already the next season! what’s going to be even crazier is when it is exactly this time next year! 

This week for me was a pretty crazy, spiritual, week. 

first of all, I got a haircut. and if you ever go to a European hair dresser and tell her to cut your hair super short.. they will give you literally a death / are you stupid / I don’t understand you look. haha so, after saying it 3 times I got my hair cut. and as you saw in the video it is pretty short. honestly I just did that because I am sick of using crap gel that never works. ha and I use a bini like 85% of the time now since it is so cold. :) 

we also had splits this week. I went with this guy names elder neely. He was from st. george. He reminds me a lot of like randon. It pretty fun. he came into my companionship and I made him super good burritos. Then, that next day, this member invited all of us missionaries over to his house for lunch ( that is also where we splitted back) and OH MY WORD..... (OEWAM) I have NEVER ate that much food in my life. I kid you not. we literally had a 5 course meal. and we literally ate for 2 hours straight. yes, I timed it. we ate from 2 o clock to 4 o clock. it was amazing food.. I’ll tell ya that.. but it was so much and he MADE us take 2 plate falls on each course. it was insane. it was almost not enjoyable. it was fun though. having members feed you, especially like this, is super rare here in Hungary. It’s almost like a really cool privilege to serve missionaries and feed them. I love it. 

We also had a district fast this week, and before the fast we went to McDonalds ( because we didn’t have much time.) and literally, I kid you not again, I saw the first ever "walk through window" at McDonalds. haha instead of a drive through. it was a walk through. what’s the difference between that, and coming inside? ha I thought it was funny. 

earlier this week I ran into a Nigerian, and he told us that him some of his Nigerian brothers play basketball in this tér here in szeged. I asked if we could join him one day, and he told me of course. We were able to go to ( the crappiest court) there and play a little bit of basketball. It was super cold all week. and it’s just getting colder, especially at night. So I wore my bini while I played. It was pretty fun! 

Also, this week I swear we walked over 40 miles. My legs were about to explode. on Saturday, for the day of the dead, we went to a cemetery to look at all of the lights and we ended up going to the wrong cemetery that we wanted to go to, so we had to walk clear across the city to the right, bigger one. It was really cool to see all of the flowers and all of the candles. I think it is a really cool tradition that they have. -- also this week, in szeged there is a huge family history center here. and there are these two ladies there that I swear are always there doing it. and I was thinking.. and I bet that all the names that we see in the temples in Utah that are Hungarian come from these 2 ladies! It was cool to actually see where the Hungarian names that you guys see come from. As I was walking through the cemeteries I was thinking about how much work that needs to be, and could be done for all these dead people. and also, another interesting fact.. they don’t bury their dead in the ground. ha --- you need to make sure and tell great grandma that I have been wearing her scarf that she made for me. I’m sure that she would like to see a picture and hear that. 

Also this week we had some AWESOME programs. we met with the ildiko lady and it was probably one of the most perfect, most powerful programs that I have been on in my mission so far. She showed up to the new branch house and we started showing her around the place and we showed her all the pictures and paintings and such. She started to ask really good questions and she was really liking it. We ended up for half of the time being in one of the upstairs rooms talking about the atonement of Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We conducted ourselves in probably the most professional manner, we spoke the same amount of time as answering her questions ( which is hard to do, because once you have a thought you want to share the whole thing and sometimes it takes up a lot of time) Our answers to her questions were perfect. We backed up each other through testimony. We talked about the living prophets, and apostles and how that works. Then we showed her the restoration film.. and during that whole time the spirit was so strong from the very first of the video. After the video ended it is almost so hard to speak because the spirit is so strong. But after we bore our testimonies about the restoration and joseph smith and then invited her to come to church and to read from the book of Mormon and pray to know if joseph smith was a prophet. She told us that she knew it was true. and that she has been feeling something that she has never before felt in her life. as we left that program on a high spiritual note.. and as she left.. it is really so hard to describe to you the feeling you get after a program like that.  the best I can say is what Jacob said "And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard."  I can’t describe the excitement, the godly joy that you feel after that perfect of a program. 

a lot more things happened this week but these are kind of the highlights. for my spiritual thought this week I wanted to talk a little bit about what I experienced this week. THE POWER OF SANTIFICATION. 

The scriptures has said “Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

I almost cannot testify more to a section of scripture than this one. 

sanctify means to set apart as or declare holy; consecrate or and to
free from sin; purify.

These last couple weeks, and the proceeding many weeks I have and will be focusing on this call to sanctify myself. and I would like to also extend this challenge to all of you.

What I have done is I literally pulled out a piece of paper and wrote everything that I was doing wrong ( to the smallest of things ). And then as I read or pray.. I constantly
 törekedni ( to strive)  to fix those problems and repent. as I have experienced these past couple weeks I have felt a new, more powerful light come into my life. I have felt more empowered. and I have seen the hand of the lord more than I ever have before in my life. I have seen his hand working miracles among his children here in Hungary. My eyes have been more opened to how blessed and how much grace I have been shown in my life. 

one cannot say ( oh I will try my best to fix my bad habit this week. ) or, I will only commit this sin once this week instead of ten times this week. it takes a complete turning of oneself to god. It takes being honest with you and seeing your weaknesses and sins. it takes a humble heart to kneel down before your maker and repent of all (even the smallest) of our sins. And then it takes courage, a boldness to never even take that sin or habit even into consideration ( as an option ) again. Paul has said to put off that old, natural man. and but on the new. sometimes in putting off that old natural man... or letting the natural man die.. it requires pain and sacrifice. 

we are all imperfect. we all have weaknesses. we all come short of the glory of god. But as we constantly strive, week in and week out, to sanctify ourselves from all sin and ungodliness ( our speech. our pride, there is no such thing as righteous pride or SWAG or righteous confidence in oneself. in our thoughts. in our actions. ) and we truly turn ourselves, and our lives.. and our minds and hearts to god.. we will become closer to our savior. we will become more like him. we will feel his love and his peace more in our lives. our trials will become smaller. we will be filled with more love towards our fellow men. we will be more in tune with personal revelation and the holy ghost. and we will more often see the Lords hands in our everyday lives. we will be filled with a greater attitude of gratitude. we will be empowered to be obedient and to withstand the temptations of the devil. 

This is my challenge this week to all of you!

I love all of you!

Watson Elder.

11/10/2014

Sup family! 

This week flew by for me. I feel like it was just pday yesterday! Back at home it sounds like life is moving along as it normally does. It’s crazy that it is already almost the middle of the month. 

I’m glad everyone is doing well and everyone is healthy and alive! 

Max, with tryouts this week, you have to rock everyone. Play with no fear and just ball them up. Don’t be afraid to take lead and to be a vocal leader. Be the leader, be the person who is always at the front of the line. Play with confidence. 

The weather this week again was back up pretty high! most days I was like... what the? it’s the middle of November for gosh sakes! 

OH! so here is some news, I was able to talk to the member who is going to let me skype. and he said that we can anytime the 25th or the 24th or 26th. But I suggested the 25th. and he said that was perfect. How does the 25th sound? as far as what time.. I’m not positive yet. It will probably be at night here.. so that you guys can skype in the morning of Christmas! how does that sound ?:) 

We had interviews with president this week on Thursday, which went great! We had to wake up at 5 in the morning to walk the 45 min to the train station to make the 645 train. We got into Budapest at around 10ish. As we got the mission home I went right to the packages area and looked for your guys! and I got them!!!!!!!!! and I just want to tell you that I LOVED THEM!:) they made my whole month. It was perfect! :) you guys spoil me too much. thank you so much for sending them:) they make me so happy :) I love you guys! I especially liked the caramel ,) ha And thank you grandma and grandpa for the tie :) I love you guys! --- I got some pics in the train station with the packages that I will have to send to you guys.... yes I had to carry them all the way back from the mission home to szeged. ha :) ha it wasn’t too bad ,)  -------------

As far as interviews went... president and I had a really good talk about everything. For the most part we talked about the mission. other than that, it was a pretty normal interview. President and Sister Smith are awesome people. 

On Wednesday, The land lord and his wife called us and wanted to come by and get some kind of water meter number or something like that. And we like to have the apartment super nice looking for when they come over, so we cleaned a lot that day. Let’s just say our apartment is the most up-kept apartment here :) ha 

Also on Wednesday, we were street people and I went up to this lady on the bench who was reading the newspaper. as I started to talk to her she was like.. "hey! I saw you in the newspaper!" then I was like " micsoda?? tessek? " and then she turned to a page and ha, there we were! it was a big picture of us in our chapel! Crazy! ha I guess we are famous now here in szeged :) I took a picture of the newspaper. I’ll send it to you guys. and I do have one copy of it. YES! finally made it into the newspaper again! haha 

This week we were successful on getting one new bap date!!!:) we got this man names Rudolf on bap date for December 14th! And he has been coming to church each time. It’s awesome! Makes me really happy :) This week we are planning to potentially get 2 more bap dates. I feel like we have a couple investigators who are super ready. 

This week in szeged there was a big PIG festival this week! :) ha and I got a lot of good pictures of it that I will have to send to you. ha But, since it was all Friday, Saturday... we got the idea of going tabling there during it. There where TONS of people there. and on Friday night we got a huge stack.. ( like HUGE ) of everything ( pass-along cards.. pamphlets.. etc. ) and we divided them up and we went and talked to as many as people as possible until they were all out. It was super cool and we got to talk to at least a thousand people. festivals here.. are taken really seriously. it’s fun to see. --- oh, also, everyone gets super drunk. ha its quite the site to see. They make great... food though! that’s for sure! amazing pork! 

then on Saturday, sport nap has been really good lately. everyone is actually pretty good and it gets really competitive ( in a good way). and literally, as long as you are athletic and have some sort of competitiveness in you.. you can play soccer. ha. And I’ve been actually enjoying it. one time this guy kicked it really hard and ( he missed the goal, but it was coming straight at me) it nailed my chest really hard and scored. ha it was cool. Everyone here is really good at soccer. It’s a good cardio, competitive workout for me. :) ( I could only do it at least twice a week though. because I wake up super sore. ha since we are already walking so much.) 

This week I got an email from Ashlee Gardner ( Texas)  and she asked this question that I would like to answer with my opinion for my spiritual thought. I think that the question was great and that we all need to know the answer. Because we are all missionaries :) the question was :   "thought you know they had a great experience and felt the spirit but how do we let them know this is the true church? How do we get there interest in wanting to know more about our church? Because they like their own church. But I want them to know our church can offer so much more to them. Taking them one more step. I think that's where were at with a lot of our friends here."             then Ashlee said  " What I do know is we continue to be example of light and joy to them and I think sincere prayer to our heavenly father will open doors to these families".

And that my answer, that is exactly what we need to be doing. Everyday showing the light that we have in our lives.. ON OUR FACES. we need to be open, friendly, and charitable. We need to show everyone the testimony, the light, the happiness that we have in our lives by the way we live our lives :) --- also, I would also input ( from my thousands of door approaches, and millions more to come) that you must also give them things that are new to them. for example.. if I knock on the door and I start talking about something that they already believe in.. they will be like " oh that’s great! that’s what we believe in too! have a nice day!" or something along those lines. BUT if you give them something new. something powerful. ( most times we are required to be bold, but also at the same time open and friendly and warm.) tell them that we believe that Christ has once again restored his church upon the earth with prophets and apostles. That God speaks today through a living prophet. that revelation, miracles continue on today. Tell them that god continues, even today, to give more scriptures and revelations. Really use the plan of salvation, because most Catholics, or some other religion, have really skewed ideas on the plan of salvation. And then with all of these things.. EXPLAIN to them.. how it effects their lives and how their lives can be blessed. and how your life has been blessed. -----------------this is one of my thought processes. As members of Christ church in these latter days... we have the great responsibility to constantly be sharing the gospel. or for "every neighbor to warn his neighbor". most of us are from the tribe of Ephraim, we have been for-ordained to come here at this time to do this great marvelous work. I’ll tell you this right now. members can, and have a bigger missionary ( possibility)  and potential than full time missionaries do. trust me. I will be a better missionary when I am not a full time missionary.. than I am right now. I will be able to do so much more with the friends and relationships that I already have. with that.. everyone that we come into contact with.. who isnt a member or who hasn’t had an opportunity to hear this gospel deserves and will have an opportunity to hear it. maybe that opportunity.. that 1 or 2 opportunities that they have to receive the restored gospel is going to be and come through you. Think about that. have you ever thought about that? with that.. HOW vitally important it is for US.. to give everyone the BEST.. very BEST opportunity to accept the gospel. Here, they used to do this thing that is called the survey approach.. ( where they say,.. hey,, we are here to do a serve.. blah blah blah.. and they ask them really random questions that are really going around the bush of why we are really there. and by the end of it.. the person who answered the door thinks that we are just really doing some dumb survey. and they have no idea HOW BIG their opportunity is that stands right in front of them ) I personally think it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. it’s like the scared way or the deceiving way. --- Be bold. be friendly. be respectful. be warm and open. ( don’t be jerkish.. I know better and more than you kind of attitude) give them the best opportunity. give them what matters most. Be missionaries. true missionaries. ( it’s  a process) teach the doctrine of the kingdom. UUSE THE ARTICALS OF FAITH!!!!!!!!!!!! that is why they are there! it clearly.. and simply.. tells use and sets us apart from ALLL other churches in his worlds. and when we use those.. it’s a really easy. simple. bold. clear. open. friendly way of professing our beliefs. and then make sure that you back it up with testimony and EXTEND COMITMENTS! INVITE!!!! ACT! don’t be scared. the inviting process.. IS the way we call people unto repentance. if we don’t invite them to act.. then we are not preaching repentance. and most of all.. rely on the lord. have faith. be believing. have the eternal perspective.. and USE LOVE.. if you love.. someone.. you will find the correct way to teach. to administer. And to minister unto them. 

I love you all! have a safe week!

Watson Elder.