January in Békés

12/30/2015

sup family! 

I hope you all had a great weekend and a great white Christmas! it was really fun to be able to skype all of you last week. It was so good to actually see your guys face and hear your voice actually live! It’s crazy that I haven’t even emailed you guys in 2 weeks. So much has happened and I feel like the skyping session wasn’t nearly as long as it needed to be. I feel like I didn’t get to talk to you guys about anything! But it was still super good to see you and to catch up with all of you a little bit. I love you guys! 

So todays email is going to be pretty short because today, and this week is pretty crazy. since its still during the holidays here, school is out and the college library isn’t open. We had to go find a different place, and this new place isn’t free like the college. so I do have less time to email. sorry :/. also, this morning we received our transfer calls... and the unexpected kind of happened! I am going to be transferred to the city of békéscsaba. It’s only like 30 minutes from szeged down here in the southern part of Hungary. It’s the smallest city in Hungary that is open right now to missionary work. there is only 1 priesthood holder and he is 16 years old. so... it’s pretty crazy! there is a senior couple there that helps run the branch. there is a companionship of sisters and then a my companionship.. it’s going to be a great stretch for me in the language. and also in my leadership skills. I have to translate for the senior couple every day, during church, in interviews with members.. etc. I have to conduct and run the sacrament meetings. I will probably have to talk almost every other Sunday. I am going to be the first councilor in the bishopric. I will have to take care of the tithing.. Sunday school.. etc. missionary meetings..  everything! ha it’s going to be great :) it’ll be a fun experience. I will be serving with elder weaver. But here is the thing.. so this next transfer is only going to be 4 weeks.. and on Jan 28 there is another, bigger transfer. and I’ve heard that I will be training a missionary in békéscsaba. so that’s what my life is going to look like for the next couple months! :) im still in szeged right now and I will be leaving tomorrow to békéscsaba.. I get to pack my bags once again! ha got to love it.. 

these last couple weeks, for Christmas and everything, we have been over at a lot of members houses.. eating.. resting.. eating.. etc. on Christmas eve we were fed by a member and then they gave us presents.. ( socks ,) ) then we played card games for the rest of the night. the next day, Christmas day we played ping pong.. cards.. etc. then we skyped you guys :) this week is going to be kind of the same. today is a pday for us.. then tomorrow is transfers.. and new year’s.. and then Thursday is also a pday for us. soooo yea! lots of craziness! but Christmas was fun! just ate and rested a lot! we also played tons of soccer with the youth  in the mornings here since school has a break for them.  let’s just say.. we won all of them ,) ha :) 

Like I said.. we got a bap date.. we had the bap interview with him yesterday and everything is good! :) it just sucks that I will be leaving. gyula has been super prepared before we met him to receive the gospel. it’s a super cool story :) 

then on Sunday it snowed and it’s been snowing ever sense! it’s been freaking freezing too.. goodness! ever since it snowed it’s just dropped. its minus 3 or 4 today! 

yesterday we did some area book work..  meet and had the interview with gyula..  then we got some haircuts. met with a couple other people and then went out to get some dinner since we were out of food. 

today we got our calls.. we came emailing and then we will go back after this and start packing, then we have a program at 6 tonight and then ill finish packing! I hate packing. ha 

I also wanted to leave with you guys a short spiritual thought. 

PREPARATION PROCEEDS POWER.

I love you guys! have an amazing week this week and NEXT MONDAY.. I will talk to you all again! 

Watson Elder.

1/5/2015

Family, 

Happy New Year to everyone! It’s so crazy that it is 2015! I’ll be home next year! ha kind of crazy to say! I hope that everyone had a great new year’s eve! sounds like everyone had a good one! except Hannah Rose got a surgery and mom worked out too hard. ha other than that im glad that everyone had a good new year’s :) I still remember last new year’s eve perfectly! :)

Well this week was transfers and as you all know I got transferred to békéscsaba! It’s not as small as I thought it would be, but it is still pretty small. 

So I got here on Wednesday night and the smiths ( the senior couple ) picked our bags up at the train station and took them to our apartment for us. Then we walked to our apartment.. I quickly unpacked my stuff and then the smiths invited us over to their house to play card games and to eat some food to somewhat celebrate the new year! they remind me completely of grandma and grandpa Watson and Gardner. When I was there I actually kind of felt like I was in America for 2 seconds. ha it was really weird. they fed us American food that was really good and we played, get this!, FARKLE! ha I was super surprised that they knew how to play this game! When they were explaining the rules I was reminded of when we first played that game with grandpa Gardner and he wrote down all the rules and stuff. It was super funny. It felt really homey and it was a good relaxing time.

the next day we woke up to snow, and freezing cold wind. It was still a pday on Thursday so we had the whole day with nothing planned. Our apartment was super dirty when I first came in so the whole morning I dedicated it to cleaning, and now it looks tons better :) I mopped some.. swept. cleaned the kitchen ( was the hardest ) and then got stuff organized. Then the smiths invited us over again for lunch. They fed us probably the most American home made meal I’ve had since I’ve left. they actually had ROLLS!!!!!!!!!!! insane. it was really good :) then we played some more games with them. They are super nice people. super cool people too. Then we went to the branch house, its super small. It’s a rented out building. There we just played ping pong with some members ( I sent you a pic of it. ) even the smiths played! ha Then we went home and got stuff ready for the next day. FINALLY THE WORK DAYS ARE BACK! here in békés there isn’t much to do. so it can get a little boring on these super p-days. but im so happy that the holidays are behind us. back to the grind! 

on Friday I updated the area book and pretty much just got everything organized in our companionship. right now the work here in békés isn’t that great. we literally only have 1 investigator and she isn’t really that legit. So.... it’s kind of like I am opening a companionship or white washing a companionship. lots of work to be done! :) -- we had district meeting on Friday and it was good to set some goals and to get everyone on the same page.  Then we went out to eat. Also, on Friday we went on splits with elder smith and with a priest here in the ward. there is only one priesthood leader and it’s him. I went with him and elder weaver went with elder smith. Most of the people in the branch are fresh converts. they have been in the church for less than a year. and it’s really cool to see their fire and their passion and their testimonies. it’s even cooler to go streeting and tracting with them. -- we had seminary also that day. there is a lot of young youth here as well. .--- oh guess what! we have weights in our apartment!!!!!!!:) FINALLY!!!!!!:) ha gives me a little motivation to start working out! ha 

on Saturday we had two baptisms! :) ( super rare! ) and a 45 year old man got baptized and a 12 year old kid! so... in about a week our priesthood will be doubled! :) ha ricsi, the 16 year old priest baptized both of them. it’s super cool to see other members do that. It was a very spiritual meeting. I conducted the meeting and ran everything.  ( you’ll see that I and my comp literally have to do everything in the branch. ha ) Then we had weekly planning that night.

on Sunday we had MCM at 8. then we had branch council. I had to translate the whole thing. It’s literally insane. ha I have to translate for the Hungarians and for the smiths. its a good stretch for my language :)  then after that we had church and I confirmed the people who got baptized on Saturday. it was a super cool, special experience. Then we had to bless and pass the sacrament. church here is only 2 hours. sacrament meeting and then one other meeting. it was fast and testimony meeting so I got up and introduced myself and bore my testimony. it went well. Then during the other meetings I had to translate for the smiths. Then after church we had a couple priesthood interviews and one temple interview where I pretty much had to give the interviews. I would translate for elder smith, but then he would ask me to put my own thoughts in as well. I enjoyed it :) I had a nice headache afterwards :) then after the meetings we had to do tithing.. and fast offerings.. and all that fun stuff. we also had to make two bap. certificates.. and some other stuff. we got done around 3ish and then we came home and had some studies.. ( 20 min nap for sure ) then we went with the 12 year old who got baptized and ricsi, we went finding with them and it was super fun. the 12 year old kid who just got baptized was super fun to street with. I’ll talk more about him in two seconds. :) 

then the smiths had us over for dinner again on Sunday night! we had left overs. ,) :) ha it was still super good. Then I did numbers and all that stuff :) which brings me to today! 

out apartment is super cool. I like the set up. I feel like im in some kind of fort or something. My companion is super cool and nice. he is from Logan Utah. he loves music and that stuff. We get along pretty well. im pretty lucky with my companions.. I’ve never got one that I didn’t like or I didn’t get along with. of course they do annoying things here and there, but it’s nothing too crazy that my patience can’t handle. ha.--- other than that.. I think these 3 weeks are going to be fun and full of tons of work. and frozen faces. ha :) 

for my quick spiritual thought I want to use Erik.. the 12 year old who just got baptized as a great example. We went streeting together.. and I was like hey! erik, you see those people. give them this and say this.. and ask them this... and then do this.. ( I would give him instructions.. )  and then I would go with him and he would do what I said and the people would stop and listen to him and this one time he even gave out a book of Mormon! after he was done saying his stuff I would come in and start talking to the person. then he would come in at the end and like.. bare his testimony! I didn’t tell him to do it at all! he just would! it’s the funniest thing! he would say " this book is VERY USEFULL!  then he would say "why wouldn’t you accept it?? " haha I would almost laugh. THEN! he would say " yea, im the newest member of the church! I was baptized yesterday and this is why I am so happy!!!! I know that the book of Mormon is true! you need to read it and get baptized too! " and he would be talking to 30.. 40 year old people! it was a really good example to me. the zeal and fire of new converts truly strengthen the church and they help the church grow in tremendous ways.  he was literally scared of nothing and no body! he wasn’t ashamed to say what he knew was true. this kid looks like he is 8 but his courage and spirit is valiant and strong. may we all learn from this kid! open your mouths! everywhere you go, in work, in sports, wherever you go and wherever you are.. make sure people know that you are Mormon! make sure they know what you know is true! let your light so shine!!!!!!! that everyone in the "house" may see it that they may glorify your father in heaven. 

I love you guys! have a great week and be safe! 2015 will fly and it has a lot in store for each and every one of us. may we all live in such a way that those promised, and pre, foreordained blessings and miracles may take place during this year of 2015. 

sok szeretettel, 

Watson Elder.

1/12/2015

Dear Family,

Your emails were great this week! keep up the good work! ,) hha :)  Max- im glad that you are still alive and remember to "don’t trip" (#OE1816WAM) :) Im sure that was quite a scare for all of you. It looked like quite the eventful week.. basketball.. school.... sickness.. flu...  max passing out... homecomings.. sounds fun :) It’s so crazy that Tyler is coming home next week! gosh! I remember when he left! but mom you’re right! mines coming right around the corner! it’s crazy that I am just about a year down.  Dillan is coming home super soon as well. time is crazy!

This week in Békés didn’t feel like winter at all. it felt like a late fall or an early summer. It rained all week and there is no snow on the ground. that’s crazy that it’s the same back in Utah. Monday and Tuesday of this week it didn’t rain or snow it was just super freezing. And that’s how it was all last week. I’ll be honest.. im kind of sick of having my cheeks frozen every day. ha

Our work this week finally started to pick up. We got some new investigators, now we have more than one. :) Getting back into the grind of things feels great. Which.. yes.. that even includes Rome!! ha my working out this past week has been going great. im finally back into the habit after the holidays. feels amazing. - I also completed my first journal on the mission this week! When I was in the MTC writing in my journal I never thought I would see the end of it! It’s cool to look back through my journal and remember all of the small and big miracles, tender mercies, fun memories that have been made in the year 2014. I believe sometimes we don’t really realize how many blessings wave been blessed with until we look back and look for the arm of the Lord in our lives. The Lords arm has definitely been in my live throughout the course of the year 2014.

I met with a couple of investigators this week, which who have been meeting with the missionaries for quite a while. One of them is a Lutheran priest ( she’s a girl though.. soooo idk what you would call that) She loves the book of Mormon and she loves talking to us about the church. I guess, talking with my companion, her only problems are is that she prays to Jesus, and that she believes that she holds the priesthood. kind of interesting. It’s a first for me in the mission! I met with her and she has tons of potential. She read Lehi’s vision recently and she had questions on that and the symbolism of it all so we talked about that, she loved it. We also used the first program to kind of get to know her better, since im new. and I also felt prompted to go back to the basics. So we went and reviewed the book of Mormon.. and the Restoration. And what the restoration really means and how BIG it was and is. It was a great program. - Also this last week we have been really pushing the English class route. we’ve been flyering for that a ton. and on Thursday we had a good turnout at English class, and we set up with a lot of new people there. So kind of how that works.. it’s kind of a sneaky thing.. ha so they comp to English class.. then we say "HEY we want to meet with you individually to help you learn the language better.. but when we meet with people individually we have to do 30 min English and 30 min we have to talk about our church since we are missionaries. " then they are usually like " oh okay cool!:) " then we meet with them.. then they feel a spirit there.. and then they want to keep coming back for more and more.. and before you know it.. you are teaching the whole hour about the gospel. Its great :)

This week also I took one daunting task...  There is about 70 members in békés but only 25.. 30 come to church every Sunday. So my comp and I felt inspired that we should call every single one of them up and plan to meet with them. So that we can try to re-activate all of them. so we spent a few hours this week and I called  LITERALLY everyone on the ward list and talked to them and got to know them and then set up a time for us to come to visit them in their home. This week we visited 10 less actives and a couple recently converted people. And this upcoming week we are meeting with a bunch more. It’s very interesting to see the patterns and to hear their stories and their situations. And to see and realize why they are where they are at that time. And sometimes as we went to members’ homes we took the senior couple with us and I would translate for them. As you visit with those people in their homes, of which most of them are really humble and small and beat up, especially the ones outside of the city. But as you visit with them and learn about them and their situation and the trials that they have been going through and the temptations that they have succumbed to.. it makes you really sad. It makes you wonder where in the heck did it all start? This is what I have seen, along with many other things, is that whether they are REALLY inactive and want nothing to do with the church and etc. ( which I was told that a couple times ) or whether they just have forgotten to come to church in the last couple months and just a little bit inactive.. they all have some commonalities together. And I have made a couple notes on some of them and for my little "thought" at the end.. this will be it. The biggest commonality... that they have among them is this......... THEY STOP READING THE BOOK OF MORMON. So that’s the question that I want to propose to you all this week is "why is reading from the book of Mormon daily so important? how can it keep us from temptation? how does it keep us on the right track? how does... not reading the book of Mormon lead to inactivity??" 

This week also I had the opportunity to give some priesthood blessings to some of the members in the branch that requested them. each one of their meetings were very special and very full of the spirit. On Sunday we ordained 2 new people to the Aaronic priesthood. And sustained them in church. which.. was a new experience for me. ha I conducted the meeting and had to learn the correct words to say when you sustain someone. It was cool :)  so this week our priesthood doubled! ha id call that successful :) also on Sunday I had to hold a temple recommend interview with a person in the branch. I didn’t hold it of course.. but I had to translate.. so it’s pretty much like I held it. ha learned a lot of new temple words :) ha

We had a ping pong tournament this week for our sport nap with all of the youth and missionaries.. and well.... let’s just say..... I won :) .. soo.. :):):):) haha :)

anyway.. so that was kind of my week! next week we have splits and zone training both of which are in szeged! so im excited to be able to go back there and visit some people:)  then other than that.. this week is going to be packed full of programs and finding :) good ol missionary work! :)

I hope you guys have a great week! watch out for yourself! especially you max! vigyazz!!

I love you all! :)

Watson Elder

"No sacrifice, No victory."

1/19/2015

FAMILY! FAMILY!

It was great to hear that you’re all still alive and everyone is well :) it sounded like the birthday parties went super well and it was a ton of fun :) When I thought of all your birthdays I thought of mine.. and holy smokes!!!! im going to be twenty in less than 5 months! gosh! where does the time go! but the good news is.. is that I will be 20 when I come home! insane! I love you guys and I love your emails each and every week. it was so cool to see pictures of Tyler coming home. and GOSH! yeah.. their family has shot up! Everyone is so tall! it’s amazing. Tyler looks great and makes sure you tell him hello for me! ( and yes mom! soon that will be me up there on the stand! I had the thought a couple weeks ago that you and Hannah can say the prayers in sacrament meeting so that you two can sit up by me on the stand and keep me company. ha ,) )

SO! li have a lot of information to tell you all this week! crazy things happened this week! I ended up only being in békéscsaba for 2 days throughout this whole week. on Tuesday we were out in this town called gyula all day. We did a lot of inactive look ups and we visited with almost all of them. We also, while we were out there, got to see a small castle that is positioned out there in gyula. that was super cool :) we also got the best hamburger that you will be able to find here in Hungary. it’s the closest burger you can find that is like a true American hamburger.! it was 100%beef, super thick, and get this... THEY HAD FRY SOUCE! it blew my mind! it was really good :) We went out to gyula with the senior couple ( the smiths ). so we spent most of the day with them, then they took us the train station that night and we went to szeged that night. We were in szeged all that night and then all the next day. it was super cool to be back in szeged. I got to see most of my friends and most of the members that I am close to. Then we slept over there another night because zone conference was the next morning there in szeged. It was a good zone conference. not too much to say about it. ha pretty normal volt. Then.. the smiths took us back with them from szeged and we stopped in this town called oroszhaza.. we stayed there for a few hours doing more look ups on the way back to békéscsaba. ( one of our district goals is to visit every inactive member her ein békéscsaba by the end of the transfer.) then we came back home and had English class and had dinner. 

then Friday morning.. this is where the exciting part comes in. on Friday morning I was sitting on my chair doing some personal study and the phone starts to ring and I go over to pick it up and on it, it said " President Smith". ha I was like.. " Elder weaver. check it out! pres is calling! " we thought it was super weird because he never calls like this. he barely calls us. and especially this early in the morning. and this is what was going through my brain. ( all of it was bad.)  there were only a few reasons I could think of in those 3 seconds of why he could be calling us. ( because I know we haven’t done anything wrong. ha ) 1- something crazy is going down in the mission. 2- someone did something stupid and there is an emergency transfer. 3- one of you back at home died. ha  those are literally the only 3 things that it could’ve been. anyway, I answer the phone and he was like " hey, is this elder Watson?" and I was like Yes! and he went on to tell me how he needed me and there was going to be an emergency transfer happing tomorrow. "Saturday it happened" he went on to tell me that I will be staying in békéscsaba and I will be receiving Elder Sterri from pécs. and that elder weaver will be going to pécs. and funny thing is.. is that elder weaver has already served in pécs twice! ha so this would be his third time.  pécs is beautiful btw. anyway.. And he told me that tomorrow morning he wanted us to go to Budapest, exchange as quick as possible and then go straight back to your city. 

Anway.. SO! that day elder weaver had to pack really quick. we had to cancel some programs. then on Saturday morning we went to Budapest, got there at like 11. then grabbed a quick sandwich there in the tanstattion and then switched, and came back.. we got back around 4. then we had sport nap, two other programs and then dinner. 6 hours on a train is a great way to spend a day.. I’ll tell you that :) ha anyway. 

Then on Sunday we had meetings. I conducted again. I had opportunities to give some blessings to people. then we had tithing, some interviews. etc. normal Sunday with meetings. Then we had some weekly planning. we went finding with a priest here in békés. then at night we went over to the smiths for dinner. but this time I was cooking the dinner for all of us. Sister smith wanted me to show her how to make this famous Hungarian dish "paprikas csirke"  so that she could cook it for her family when they go home. So I went over there and when I got their they were skyping with one of their sons. BUT! get this! small world! they used to live in Brigham till 2010 and then they moved.. but they were in the Holgate’s ward and they knew them really well. the wife taught my beautiful Hannah in primary! :) super cool! super small world! they said they would have to call the Holgate’s and tell them they say elder Watson on skype. ha anyway, I just told them a quick hello and then I went into the kitchen to start cooking. IT turned out SUPER good btw:) you should all be jealous:) ha it was way good. 

anyway, then that brings us to today! 

yes, I got a haircut this week.. so, ha elder weaver cut it. and I cut his... and well.. he cut mine super short. haha accedient volt. but good thing that it grows back ,)  don’t worry Hannah and mom! 

also I went to the bank this week because I had to but my name on the churches account here. that was an adventure! 

I had some really cool experiences this week. and cool programs. one of them was--- I had this lady call me on the phone this week and was like "hey! I need some help with translating something to English! can you help me? I got one of your flyers and saw that you hold a free English class." in Hungarian obviously. and then I was like yeah! totally! she offered to pay like 8 times but I said no! ha but we set up a time to meet. and she came but she brought her whole family and little boy with her! it was so cool. I got the papers that they needed translated and then we set up another time to come back and get them ( because there was a lot of papers to be translated and it would take me a couple hours.) but... then they started asking me why I was here.. and why I decided to come here.. and then they asked what we believed.. and everything. and well.. we taught the whole restoration and some of the plan of salvation and they said they want to start meeting to learn more too :) ha look at that! it was awesome :) 

then we met with this recently converted member ( niki) on Sunday, and then on Monday again. on Sunday ( last Sunday) she kind of broke down and told us about all of her problems and her situation. and she really needed our help. and I’ll tell you what. there is no pressure like being a representitive of the lord and having something like that depend on you. thoughts go through your head like.. " gosh. I got to say exactly what she needs to hear. I need to say what the lord wants her to hear. and I need to tell her what the lord wants her to do. " and that really makes you rely on the spirit a lot. I continued to turn to a couple scriptures in the book of Mormon that came to mind and I shared my thoughts. Then I gave her 4 challenges with a great promise. And I’ll tell you what.. to be worthy. to have the power to promise blessings in the name of Jesus Christ to his children.. with an upmost  surety  that they will happen... there is no feeling like it. then on Monday we met with her and fallowed up with her experience. we went over to her house with the smiths and as we were meeting and as we got talking she started to cry.. and said that she received those things that she needed and that everything is working out. tears were shed.. hearts were gladden and a great lesson was learned. It was one of the most spiritual programs that I have been in. it was amazing. in those times you truly feel the full divinity of your calling and your closeness and relationship with our heavenly father. 

you almost feel like alma when he was boasting in his God. it was an amazing experience for all of us. 

For my spiritual thought this week I want to share with you my most rewarding experience (besides strengthened relationships with my family and my perfect Hannah rose.) that I have had thus far on my mission. it’s crazy that its already been 10 months.. but to this point.. this is the most rewarding experience that I have  had. its where I could look back.. and truly "see the fruits of my labors" and kind of rejoice in them. so we are going to take a trip way back to győr.. with elder carter. we played a lot of soccer in those days outside of our branch house. one day as we were playing we saw these 3 kids walking slowly and watching us have fun. I called out to them and was like '"hey! do you guys want to come play soccer!!??? " in my broken Hungarian. ha and they were hesitant at first.. but then I said it again and they came in and started playing. we invited them back for the next week to play with us. and then after that we started to play with them more and more. then we finally, sneakily ( if you will ) got them into a class room and started teaching them the gospel. they came to church. mutual. English class.. they were with us a lot and we started to gain great relationships with them. they loved us and we loved them. after a while I asked them to be baptized.. and they said they would if there mom would let them. at the time their mom wouldn’t let them. ----- so if you remember from my picture from győr.. it was Aladdin.. jasmine ( the one that emailed you mom or it was on Facebook. ) and erik. they are 13, 12, and 11 years old. --- skipping to szeged.. I would periodically talk to them on the phone and check up on them and see how school was going and everything and then we would also talk about what they have been learning in church and stuff. and then, just this last week.. all 3 of them called me and they told me they had a surprise for me and then they all told me that they were getting baptized next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  they were super excited. and they told me that their mom finally let them. and that they wanted me to baptize them ( but pres told me no because I was too far away. ) I was freaking out! I was so excited I didn’t know what to do! that was the day we were on our way up to Budapest... and after I got done talking to them I couldn’t help but feel the complete love and gratitude for the Lord. yes, the mission has made me a little bit "soft" ha idk! it’s harder to hold back tears. but let’s just say a couple were shed in gladness and rejoicing. there are few, if none, more rewarding experiences than that on the mission. but seriously besides having greater relationships with my loved ones, and the love of my life back at home. it is one of the greatest miracles I have seen :)

I love all of you. I hope you can learn a lot of lessons out of that short story. out of truly a very short small means... one invite while playing soccer.. will bring about great and marvelous things. 

have a great week! be safe! oh btw! so this sis really weird.. but transfers.. the real one is next Wednesday.... soooooo next Tuesday I will be emailing again!:) just so you all know!:)  idk what will happen! it’ll be interesting! 

love you! 

Watson Elder.  

1/27/2015

Family,

WELL! Im staying in Békés till may! I’ll be staying with Elder Sterri till then. I’m really excited. there is a lot of work to do in Békés and our work is going really well and it is growing very rapidly. It’s really cool to be a part of and to be here to see it. 

GOSH! when you sent me that picture of max shooting those clutch free throws at the end of the game to win... 1. it reminded me of me. haha ,) and 2. I was super proud. 3. I started to miss high school basketball really bad. I WANTED TO BE THERE!!!!! AH!. Way to be the high scorer for both of your games this week max. keep it up! keep representing! :)

Jarom, mom, grandpa, happy birthday to you all, and im glad to hear that all of you had great birthdays. Jarom congrats on receiving the priesthood! I hope you realize what a big responsibility that is, and how much Heavenly Father trusts you! Your awesome! keep it up. Go to the temple and do baptisms as much as you can! It will bless you in every aspect of your life. Make sure you make that a priority.

This week wasn’t too crazy, not much happened.. but at the same time a lot of things happened! This morning we were invited over to the smiths for an American breakfast for transfers. It was really good :) The smiths are really funny. Elder smith loves telling us his missionary stories.. and let me tell ya.. missions were a lot... different back then! it’s really cool to hear and see. ( to answer moms questions ) Sister smith actually speaks a little bit of Hungarian believe it or not! she learned it! She teaches some simple primary lessons in Hungarian and she gives prayers in Hungarian... and she talks to people sometimes. It’s really cool to see! its impressive! They always carry a dictionary around with them, that’s how they get around and what not. and if they really need help they call me so I can translate. I’ve had a lot of interesting experiences. especially this week in fact! I learned a lot about how the church welfare program works. How to do online banking for the church.. and etc.

so during this week there was something intense that came up with one of the members and she needed help, and none of us knew how to help her because no of us has used the welfare program before. ha, it was really interesting. I had to sit down with her, elder smith and the blue handbook. ha after 3 hours of trying to figure out what to do and how to do it ( including how to do it on the computer, that was the hardest part. ) and holding an interview,  we got it solved out :) It was honestly pretty fun :) it was something new! 

This week we saw a lot of success from all of our hard work. It was really rewarding. For example we tracted into this lady on Tuesday, set up with her again on Friday, when we met Friday we had a great full restoration lesson and get this! She wants to get baptized! It’s awesome to see the scripture "the field is white and already to harvest" being fulfilled. People are out there! Just sometimes it takes some digging and searching on our part.

get this! I also had another old investigator that called me from győr, that carter and I found,  to tell me that she is being baptized and that she wants me to be there. I was freaking out. I was really excited. It’s so rewarding to see the start and then to see the end.

this week we also found a really cool family with a 4 year old boy. We are starting to teach them this week, im really excited about that. OH! and this week we get to go spend a couple hours at the high school here in békéscsaba :) ha ha imagine American missionaries coming to your high school, or box elder, to teach you English, or Spanish. Then imagine that there is no Mormons in the class. ha The teacher invited us and wasn’t us to come, but he also told us that the students aren’t really excited and there has been a lot of bad talk about the Mormons. ha soooooo we will see how that goes this week :) they’ll like us by the end. I promise ya!

we had cleaning checks this week, which meant that we had to spend a little bit of time cleaning. Our apartment looks really good right now ,) Elder smith decided he had to try out our weights and do some benching! ha

mom! im being safe walking around in the dark here :) It’s not very dangerous here. at least I don’t think. ,) ha :)

For my spiritual thought this week I received this really good quote from my beautiful Hannah Rose that I really liked and I would like to share it with all of you.! :)

"the phrase "be not afraid" is written in the bible 365 times. That’s a daily reminder from our Heavenly Father to be fearless. "

we can apply this in every aspect into our lives.. basketball. sports, school, family, work, church duties, etc.

The pure love of Christ cast out all fear. Fear, is the opposite of Faith.

Be fearless and trust in God! there is nothing to worry about! at all!

love you all!

Watson Elder

2/2/2105

Family! 

Boldog Február!!!!!! It’s so insane that it is feb. now! Im getting ready to celebrate the one year mark! It’s kind of crazy to write that to be honest!-- anyway I hope that everyone has a great month full of love! 

It sounded like everyone had a really good fun week this week. full of sports, cool experiences, and spiritual moments. Dad, that picture you sent me of USU playing WHY I got really excited to come back and play. I am super excited for that moment. Jarom, congrats on having tons of firsts this week! you will remember those moments for the rest of your life! I still remember my first couple times going to the temple and when I was in the deacons quorum. Take advantage of every moment you have! 

And yes, dad! I’ve been out for 10 and half months! not weeks ,) ha I laughed when mom told me what happened on Sunday in sacrament meeting. HEY! want to know something cool? and ironic? I also conducted sacrament meeting here in Békéscsaba! and I actually bore my testimony about the book of Mormon and about the last couple paragraphs in the introduction of the book of Mormon and then moronis famous promise. :) It feels good to hear that you used my letter in sacrament meeting. ha :) I use your examples and your words all the time out here. I hope you know that! ( I’ve used that story of the army and the Germans all the time over here. The one when they go over the hill. and then they all get blown up at the top because they weren’t exactly obedient. ha it’s a great story to share. I laugh every time. ) 

so over here in Békéscsaba not much took place this week! due to a couple things. but the weather was crappy.. I only saw the sun 1 day this week and today I woke up and snow had fallen. so I had to take a picture and send it to you guys. 

on Tuesday, after I got done emailing we went out to eat, and well.. whatever I ate it must’ve been bad because I woke up late that night and I was throwing up like crazy! Im not going back to that place that’s for sure! So I was sick all Tuesday night and then Wednesday I was sick all day. Wednesday I had to cancel all of our programs for that day and the smiths brought me over a much of fruit and coke. and then the R.S president found out that I was sick and she called me like 10 times that day checking up on me and telling me all the weird ( normal to her) Hungarian traditions that they do when the have this kind of sickness. haha she was really sweet and nice. but some of the things she was telling me to do were.. a little odd to me. ha but she did bring me over a bunch of vitamins and stuff :) So that was Tuesday and Wednesday.. I just slept a lot. and elder smith was super funny when he came over. he was like.. " ya know what! here is your silver lining" (Ps. I had NO CLUE what a silver lining was. haha ) he said " it’s really cold outside and you don’t have to go out there and tract all day! you get to sleep all day! there’s your reward! ha " it was really funny. my comp also got to rest a lot. It was a good rest day. Then when I woke up on Thursday morning I was still super like.. weak, just because of what had happened on Wednesday and because I didn’t eat that much. but after that I got my energy back slowly and now I am feeling fine!:) 

This week, not much went on after that. it was pretty chill except for Saturday. Saturday was pretty crazy. 

this week we had to get to know the welfare program more:) it was really fun :) we had to help the whole branch order liahonas.. because now they are making people pay for it over here. and if they don’t get 2000 people ordering they will only print the Hungarian one every 3 or 4 months. so that took a lot of our time this week, especially on Sunday. 

On Saturday a lot of memories that I will remember for the rest of my life happened. these two older girls ( members) in our branch and their family ( who is not members) in our branch invited us over to their house for dinner  and they requested priesthood blessings because they don’t get them hardly at all. So we went over there and I thought we were just going to be giving them to the girls... but we ended up not even giving them to the girls who were members! ha I guess they told their family about the priesthood, and I guess they were having a hard time in their life so they wanted to get one. it was crazy. we were surprised. they had 2 step sisters ( from Spain) there and then their mom, dad, and grandma. they all wanted blessings. so we told them how it works and what the priesthood is and how it is used. They loved it. my comp and I would switch every other person. I started and I gave a blessing to one of the step sisters from Spain a blessing and then I gave their dad and their grandma a blessing. I’ll tell ya what.. giving blessings in general are super hard and spiritually draining. but then having to do it in Hungarian is crazy! we were exhausted. The spirit was so strong in that room. they lived out in a little village outside of békéscsaba. Lots of farm lands. ( I was in the car, because the smiths came with us and took us out there. I said, you could tell me I was in Idaho right now and I would believe you! haha sister smith said really quick back " you better watch yourself Watson! I grew up in Idaho! " haha I started to laugh really hard. haha I was like! that’s what my mom would’ve said! ha she grew up in Idaho too! then we talked about you for a min. but anyway. I said that because there was literally nothing out there! just farm and little houses here and there. it was really funny :) ) anyway, so the spirit was so strong. it was very powerful in that little room. as I was giving the grandma the blessing she started crying because she felt the spirit so strong. she got up and was super happy. sister smith said afterwards that the spirit was super strong in the room and that she felt it too. It was an amazing experience. and get this! this Saturday their dad invited us back and he wants to hear about our church. im really excited for it :) 

And then on Sunday it was a very powerful fast Sunday, I lead and conducted and then we did fast offering and tithing and then we got all the liahona orders ready to send, which we went to the bank this morning to do that. 

Other than that.. that’s all that happened! I hope you all have a great week! and be safe for me! finish the season strong max! 

love you all! 

Watson Elder.