Monday, August 30, 2010

Miracles

Sziasztok!

This last week was really fun! Elder Saunders and I found a new investigator and she is really cool! She has never been taught anything about religion or any sort of spiritual stuff so we get to discuss all the basics with her. It is really interesting trying to help her understand who and what God is. And who Jesus Christ is and what He did for us and what his atonement means for us. Everything is so new and strange to her, but she loves the feeling she has whenever we teach about the Gospel. We have really high hopes for her! She’s awesome!

Also we had a really cool miracle experience with another investigator this week. We have been teaching her about prayer. We have shown her how to pray in her own words, making it a personal experience. Then yesterday she sent us the coolest text message ever! She said that she had just visited one of her colleagues from work because he was sick and pretty old. She bought some groceries and stuff for him, then said a prayer for him before leaving. When she got home he sent her a text message saying that his fever had gone away even though he hadn’t taken any medicine! She said that she was super grateful that God really did hear her prayers and that He answered them! How cool is that?! Now she has a testimony that God really does answer prayers! It is amazing to be able to teach people about the gospel and to see their faith in God grow as He works miracles in their lives! Being a missionary is pretty amazing.

~Anderson elder

Monday, August 23, 2010

Greenie Fire

Sziasztok!

I’ll bet some people were surprised last week to read that I am a father! Haha. Missionary slang is great! So my “son’s” name is Elder Saunders and he’s from a town near Salt Lake City, Utah. He is so cool! He has greenie fire coming out of his ears! That means that he has a really strong desire to work hard. They do a really good job of preparing missionaries in the MTC. And he speaks Hungarian really well for a greenie too! I'm super excited to be able to serve with him. He has a lot of great ideas and is very good at following the Spirit. It is way fun to be a trainer!

Oh there may have been a misunderstanding about my assignment as a trainer. I probably won’t be training for six months. It’s very possible that I will leave Érd and Elder Saunders in six weeks. I am a trainer this transfer, but next transfer I could go back to being just a regular missionary in another area.

Some very interesting things are happening nowadays with regard to missionary work. The Church’s missionary department has come up with some really neat worldwide trainings for missionaries and we get to have them this transfer. So for three days we will be in Budapest being trained for almost the whole day about how to be more effective teachers and how to teach according to people’s individual needs rather than just teaching canned lessons to people. I’m really excited about it!

Unfortunately, most of our investigators are on vacation, but everything seems to be going well with them. But we still need your prayers and love for the people here! I love being here and serving the Hungarians the best that I can!

~Anderson elder

Monday, August 16, 2010

Trainer

Sziasztok!

I’M GONNA BE A DAD!!! Not really, of course. In missionary lingo that means I get to be a trainer for new missionaries! I’m super excited! In a few hours the greenie group is going to wake up at the MTC and get ready to get on the plane to come to Hungary! On Wednesday we’ll get paired up and meet each other. So that is some really cool news.

It has been kind of cloudy lately and now the sun is out and it is HUMID! Even in the shade it is impossible to escape the heat!

I got some really good news this week about one of our investigators! Remember the girl who went to France a few weeks ago? Well, she has been emailing one of the young women in the Érd Branch and says that she has been going to church and ward activities in France! That is soooo cool! She is amazing. Thank you all for your prayers!

I forgot my camera cord, so I can’t send any pictures today. And now we have to hurry so that Elder Taylor can pack his stuff. So I love you all tons! Keep on praying for us! We need it!!

~Anderson elder

Monday, August 9, 2010

A Few Pictures

Sziasztok!

As usual I am in a hurry today. Elder Taylor and I went to see a castle in a city called Visegrád north of Budapest this morning and it took a lot of time to get there and back. So instead of writing a ton, I’m going to take advantage of the “a picture is worth a thousand words” philosophy!

We are losing investigators and having a hard time finding new people, so I’d like to ask you to keep the people of Érd and us in your prayers! We know that your prayers can help us and the work here!

~Anderson elder

Lower part of the Visegrád Castle.


During Zone Conference last week, we went to a really cool outdoor museum called Skanzen.


We hiked all the way up to the castle in our missionary clothes – definitely not a good idea.


At the castle looking out over the Duna – that’s Danube for you English speakers.


Entrance into the main castle ruins.


GO HUNGARY!


Inside the castle ruins.


Sometimes missionary work is really hard!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Teaching “Nice Things”

Sziasztok!

I would have written yesterday but the library in Érd where we access the Internet decided to close for two weeks. Today Elder Taylor and I are in Budapest for Zone Conference and I only have about ten minutes to write!

Last week was really cool! We were able to meet with a few new people from our English class. That is the most effective finding tool that we have because our small city has been tracted out many, many times over.

We have had to drop some investigators, which is really sad. Surprisingly a good amount of people just meet with us because we teach “nice things” but they don’t really have any genuine desire to apply what we teach into their lives. But I know that God will bless us and we’ll find some people who are ready to hear our message.

I know that God lives and loves us and I know that the harder we work to become closer to Him the more He will help us in our lives and the closer He will come to us!

~Anderson elder