August 25, 2014

Dear family,

Well, this week was CRAZY!! Just soooo much happened! I’ll try to fit it all in as little space as possible.
First off my comp had to get surgery!! He was just getting a mole removed on his foot, but it still kinda stunk, because it hurt to walk for some time. So it made it a lot harder to get out and work. One day he actually used a cane the entire day, sooo funny.

We also went on a super cool hike with one of the other elders investigators who we also meet with  
sometimes, and we went up to this super cool tower on top of hill that overlooks all of
Budapest. It kind of looks like a sandcastle, LOL; But it was super fun.

We had the opportunity to celebrate a Magyar ünnep!! Which was super fun! It is the independence day for Hungary and we just hung out with the other elders and a member for most of the day, walking around, went to a museum, checked out some little attractions and then at the end of the night . . FIREWORKS!!!! Super cool I took some pics and videos, it was super pretty with the fireworks bursting over the duna or danube with Buda Castle in the background all lit up.

Later in the week my comp and I both caught a cold or maybe it’s just allergies . . I don’t know, all I know is that our noses were super clogged and it wasn’t too fun. Then to make it even better we were dogged twice and then Mrs. A. dropped us :( it was super sad, because she just totally gave up hope and gave us back the book of Mormon . . I felt horrible just because I felt so useless. . .

But on the bright side a less active member that we started to meet with, finally came to church!! wooot! Success! It was super cool to see her there after all the bad stuff that happened. And Lazlo is also doing good and actually came to church even though he was still feeling super gross from the hospital. Also, this really old guy came to church last week randomly and he wanted to be baptized. Now we are meeting with him and our first program went super good!! He is super prepared, already believes everything and wants to be baptized!!!

So lesson is that we gotta dig through a lot of mud and dirt before we finally find the diamonds and reap our reward!

But by far the best part of the week was getting to see ANDY again!!!! Also getting to meet his family, they’re super cool! We just kinda hung out most of the afternoon on Sunday and I got to show them around Budapest; it was seriously so awesome to be able to see him again, we had so much fun. We really didn’t do much because it was Sunday and we were also fasting, but it was still by far the highlight of my week. We also took some pics of course!! So I will send you those. I do gotta admit that Andy has some luscious hair nowadays.




Also transfers were today, but I’m staying, so nothing new except Elder L. is dying (going home) so that’s kinda sad. Anyway, hope you all have an awesome week!

Sok szeretettel
Waldvogel Elder
VEMS

August 18, 2014

Dear family,

I don’t have too much time to write today, kinda stinks, considering the fact that a TON of stuff happened this last week it was CRAZY!!! Also I totally forgot to wish BRENT a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

So anyways last week we hiked up Gellert hegy which was super fun and a lot more of a hike that I originally anticipated, but we got a ton of cool pics and it was super beautiful. Also this guy from English class invited us to go on a boat ride with him on the Duna, and it was super sick, the view from the river is spectacular and the fresh cool air was exhilarating, it truly was fantastic!

We also had a super good program with M, It was super good I brought Elder C. who served in Kispest when he was a greenie one year ago, and he was the one who found her and taught her, and she like loves him and the program was just amazing and the spirit was sooo strong and we gave her a blessing to try and help her with overcoming smoking and elder gave one of the greatest blessings I have ever heard, it was truly amazing, and right afterwards she was just stunned, by how strong the spirit was. She even told us that "during moments like these I just don’t even know what to say" and we were just really trying to help her to get that desire to be baptized and now she has it. SO hopefully we can get her to church, because I know that that will be the biggest help with her smoking issue.

In Other news my comp had to go get a checkup at the doctor and now tomorrow he has to get his mole on his foot removed; it’s not super serious, we just hope that he can walk because the next day is the 20th which is a huge holiday here, AND IM IN BUDAPEST so there should be fireworks. Also Laslo was in the hospital getting surgery but got out yesterday so hope he heals fast.

Also we met with Mrs. A. again which was one of the hardest programs ever because she would not stop talking and like has literally no faith whatsoever, she even called the person who wrote the book of Mormon an idiot . . . so yea. But we had an okay program just talking about faith, because she wants to believe, just cant. But hopefully Alma 32 will help her with that problem.

We had a super good Zone training and afterwards almost the entire zone went to Gringos Amigos (similar to cafe rio) for lunch and it was super good. . But the next day apparently 90 percent of those who ate there got explosive diarrhea and it didn’t help that I ate the hottest sauce you could get, because it was like hot lava. That day was very difficult for me and my companion.

But we also found and met this super awesome African guy who has lived in Hungary for 20 years, he is flippin hilarious; his name is MR. D and he is awesome. He works as the head of some equality organization and actually owns a soccer team that consists mostly of refugees, super sick. He is really religious and said he was baptized as a Mormon but we really don’t know yet. Either way we have just been teaching him the normal lessons and he also has a love for Joseph Smith and especially for Alma. He wanted us to tell him that the book of Alma was the most important. LOLs he also said he would pop by visit us in America and just be like "wassup man!!" I’m so stoked for that moment.

Other than that all is well. Can’t wait to see my Bro Andy this Sunday . . WOOOOT!!

Sok szeretettel
Waldvogel Elder
VEMS

August 11, 2014

Dear Family,

. . . It’s kinda creepy you keep finding pics of me on the internet, but hey I guess that’s the definition of Facebook.

Well sounds like everything at home is pretty normal, kind of in the same boat here, really nothing too big happened this week.

We met with quite a few people and all our investigators are doing pretty good, actually L. will be in the hospital for a few days for a surgery that shouldn’t be too serious, so hopefully all is well with him, we Also met with this less active family, and the mom É. has a very serious brain illness of some sort (not really sure what, considering I probably wouldn’t understand what it was in English) and is going to the hospital; so we gave her a blessing, but if you could keep her in your prayers there would be much thanks given.

But this week we did have quite a bit of success with finding. We found this super old Néni (old lady) through tracting, who was really sad and depressed. She lost all of her faith in God and we talked with her for a while and it was just super sad to see. We really wanted to help so we asked if we could comeback, we did. But I actually got sick this past week and lost my voice a bit so elder Meek had to lead the program like a champ and did an excellent job, she was super nice and it was a really good program over all.



Also as we went to go tabling we got of the Villamos (street car) and this African guy on the bench stopped us speaking English and we talked with him for a while and he wanted to meet!! He was super cool!

Oh yea we also went on a free tour of the Unicum factory and museum . . Yea it’s an alcohol factory . . LOL but it was super funny and we did not drink anything. Also heard "Das ist ein Unicum!" like 30 times!

 

Well hope everyone’s week is a blast, sorry nothing super amazingly awesome happened, till next week!!!

sok szeretettel
Waldvogel Elder

August 4, 2014

Dear family,

Well this week was pretty good, super tough with trying to speak only Hungarian, especially for my comp who is still rather new, but all in all it was a good experience. Really this week was just super normal compared to last week with only a couple random surprises.
So all our investigators are doing pretty good, we had a good program with Monika about church and its importance, also we brought a senior couple to our program with Laslo which was super good and we answered a lot of his super intense questions like if a band of Mormon women got stranded on an island and couldn’t contact anyone, could they bless the sacrament and conduct saving ordinances? Super weird questions.

 

But we answered and it was pretty good. Then Rose brought an anti-Mormon pamphlet and asked us a lot of questions, and we found out that she just doesn’t have a super solid testimony of Joseph Smith yet, so I just bore probably one of the most intense testimonies I’ve ever done, about Joseph Smith. It was a super good program.







Also while meeting with a member, her daughter Skyped from America and we had a lesson with her over Skype... super funny, kinda made me miss America though.

Last Sunday was interesting because mission president came to church along with a couple from Idaho and also a family from Utah. So all us missionaries had to translate for them, luckily I had the hardest job translating for president... especially when he went up and bore his testimony. It was a disaster, also my first time translating up there so I was super scared. Felt bad for everyone who had to hear that.

Other than that, it was a pretty good week. Just workin hard, doing missionary works!

Sok Szeretettel
Waldvogel Elder
VEMS