Happy Thanksgiving week!

Hello family and friends!

I have had quite the exciting week.  I feel like I am back at the MTC!  We had two general authorities talk to us this week and the Temple President from Frierburg.  My companion and I were just talking about how much they spoil us there... but what a blessing I got to hear so much of the good word here!  Elder Kent F. Richards, Area Presidency, came and spoke to us on Wednesday, and then on Sunday it was Stake Conference, and we heard from Elder Craig Wright, Area Seventy, and the temple president spoke to us, along with the temple president's wife.  Okay.  We'll talk about Stake Conference first!  Yeah!  Hungary has a stake and I am a part of it :)  We left at 7:30, got there around 9:00, and then the fun began!  It was like a Utah ward!!  So many little children wandering around, the Stake Choir, which I am in, was rehearsing in shifts according to when people showed up, we were helping investigators find seats, it was a mini missionary reunion, and the bathroom had a long line.  It was the best!  I was so happy to be there.  We sat on the front row right in front of the speakers, which was cool because I got to make some good eye contact with the speakers.  A couple of Hungarians spoke and bore simple testimony.  It was great.  And then the temple president and his wife spoke, and then President Smith and his wife spoke, and then Elder Wright spoke.  The only one that didn't speak English was Sister Temple President, she speaks German, but there was a girl that could translate for her.  And they had different translators for every speaker thereafter.  I still don't know a lot of Hungarian, but I understand enough that I can tell when someone translated something a little funny, or different.  Wow!  What a blessing to have people in the Stake the could translate though.  It was a really great conference.  I learned that we need to be worthy to receive blessings from God, and that it is really up to us to help missionary work go forward!  By us, I don't mean just the missionaries... but member missionaries... naturally.  I also learned to be your own kind of beautiful.  I liked that.  It was simple and intriguing.  We should really be who we are and love it--we are in fact all children of God.

The zone conference on Wednesday was fantastic.  Elder Richards was blunt and to the point.  Obey the Missionary Handbook, follow Preach My Gospel, and break mission traditions that don't support either.  It was so cool!  We learned what being exactly obedient means, and turns out, we can all do better, but that we are also doing better than we think.  He spoke with such power, and I know that he has been called of God, and I am so grateful I was able to listen to the words he said.  There was one time where I literally could not move.  I was paying so much attention to everything he said, and I wanted to know more, and then I noticed that I couldn't move my body.  It was weird.  But, then I just ignored it, and kept on listening.  The work is hastening.  Missionary work is growing.  I am so grateful to be here and that I can be a builder of the kingdom!  Yeah!  Missionary work is awesome!

Sister Kimball and I have been working on having better language.  Our investigator, Tamás.  English is his passion.  So, we speak a lot of English when we teach.  He heard us say something like dang, or shoot, and we had to describe to him what it meant, and the context for why we were using it, and we realized although those words are considered harmless, that we should really be shaping up our language.  Sometimes we wouldn't have any problems with it, but sometimes we really do!  Working with a companion to fulfill goals is so much more successful than doing it alone.  Plus, we have a money jar that we put 20 forint in every time we say something.  Today an investigator scared me!  40 forint later... Things are going well.  I am trying to speak with more reverenced language, I think it will help me develop meekness, which is a good thing.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  What an exciting time of year :)  Say hi to Camille for me!  Wow.  Can't believe she's headed home.  I love her so much.  Too bad she didn't learn a common language like Hungarian on her mission.  I don't know how she will ever find a way to use Spanish in Utah.  Leah.  I loved your list.  It was fun!  I am glad I made it on the things to be grateful for.  Ma and Pa.  I hope the East Coast is treating you well.  I am SO grateful you finally saw Warhorse.  I want to see that one someday.  Because it is Thanksgiving this week, I will give a good ol' fashioned Thanksgiving dinner answer--feel free to cut this out and read it to the family as everyone is eating ravenously.  This year I am grateful for Gutenberg, the man who invented the Gutenberg Printing Press.  Everyday I use things that have been printed out, and I read from books, and I do stuff...  the kind of stuff I wouldn't be able to do unless someone invented the printing press!  Honestly.  I am so grateful that I have a copy of A Mormon Könyve in my backpack everyday that I can give to someone, to change their life.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it changes lives.  When people know their purpose, when they understand the direction they need to go to return to our Eternal Father in Heaven, they want to be good.  They want to do what is right.  They have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good, continually.  We meet so many people, everyday, and so many people tell us they aren't interested, but for some reason they stick around and talk to us a little bit longer.  We bare testimony of what we know to be true.  They ask a question, so we talk a little bit longer.  People are ready to be found in Hungary, and they are ready to be taught.  Sure, I am not crazy busy teaching all of the time, and I get rejected TONS, but last night we were out tracting for two hours, and we had two people talk to us, and it was really awesome.  Who knows if anything will come from it?  Not me, they said they aren't interested, but it was such a blessings to bare testimony and share a copy of the Book of Mormon with them.  A Book of Mormon that couldn't have been printed if there wasn't a printing press.  And, that is why I am thankful for Gutenberg, and his printing press.

The Church is true!  Christ is my Savior, brother and friend.  If you don't know that, pray about it, read the Book of Mormon, and find out for yourself.  It is up to us as individuals to find God's truth, and it is here, just for us.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Kennedy nővér

I speak like a child.

Dear family,

MOM!!  Congrats on your win.  What a great blessing.  Whenever people asked us about the election we would just let them know we haven't studied it out and we don't really know what is going on.  One ward member asked us who we would vote for, and when we asked who she would vote for she said, I don't know.  Obama's favorite singer is Beyoncé, and she is my favorite singer, so probably him.  But, we will see how things go.  We just need to remember to love and serve our neighbors and be good representatives of Christ so we can receive blessings!  We have been promised that when we keep the commandments we will prosper in the land, so we should keep 'em!

On Halloween we had a little party for our English
Students.Sister Kimball and I dressed up.  Better yet,
we tied our own ties!!!

Oh.  When I went to the doctors last week I was told I have eye exhema.  Don't know if I spelled that right... but that is what I have.

I loved hearing about Grandma's temple tour.  I miss the temple a lot.  How lucky you all are to have temples in your home towns!!  Or even one less than an hour away.  A couple of people needed temple recommend interviews here, because theirs had expired, and so a member of the Stake Presidency in Budapest had to drive down in order to conduct interviews.  We are so blessed to have grown up where the church has a strong footing.  

Want to know about one of my favorite moments this week?  Okay!  It was definately the Primary Progam!!  There are ten primary kids in our ward, and they did a really good job.  It was funny, too.  Just like any other primary program I have been to.  The church really is the same everywhere!  At the close of the program the kids got up to say their final testimony.  They said things like, Christ is God's son, the church is true, the Book of Mormon is God's word, families are forever, just general things like that.  As they finished I was so stoked I had understood everything they said, and I realized that I had memorized every one of those phrases in the MTC so I could teach.  Awesome!  I guess it just proves that I speak like a child.  At least, when it comes to the gospel.  Kids say stuff all of the time to me that I can not understand at all.  Perfect, leaves room for growth.

Sister Kimball and I at a momument here in
Kecskemét. It represents how Kecskemét is
the center of Hungary, and it goes through
the different areas of Hungary, mostly
the affects of World War II when they
lost so much land. It is really cool.

The work is going really well.  Tamás has chosen a date to be baptized!!  We are so excited to keep working with him and preparing him for that.  He is really excited to see a baptism, and there will be two in December that we are planning on going to, one is our investigator Misi.  He asked us the other day how many people normally go, and we told him it varied, but maybe 20 or so, and he said, 20 people will see me in the water in my swim suit?  Not exactly... but it was a funny thought.  He is so excited to follow Christ and to follow the path that God wants him to follow.  

We continue to prepare Misi for baptism.  He is so different from when we first started meeting with him.  It is amazing the difference in his eyes.  The gospel really makes people happy.  I love it!  We learned about the 10 commandments last program and Sister Kimball showed hand signs for each one, and Misi remembered every one!  I know this because I saw him flashing them to Berta, his girlfriend, during the Primary program.  I am so grateful I get to help with the growth of these people.

President Smith challenged us to build our relationship with Christ and to become more like Him, mostly getting us all prepared for Christmas and such.  We are working on a different Christlike attribute every week.  I have been kind of doing the same thing, but I love the specific direction it has given me.  We should talk about our progress as companions, and we should keep working to really develop it, not just learn about it.  So, this weeks challenge is to get ahold of a copy of Preach My Gospel and read through the Christlike attribute chapter.  Just flip through it, and pick one.  And then try to live that attribute better.  And then in a couple of days, maybe read the whole section about the attribute you picked, and then on Sunday, or another free day, study out the scriptures on it, look it up in True to the Faith, or compare what the "world's" view on the attribute is, and then compare and contrast it to the gospel's definition.  I know that as we study who Christ was and try to live more like Him we will be blessed with peace, comfort, and happiness.

This is the big church in town, and a remarkable sky.
How beautiful.  I am super lucky to leave here :)

The Church is true.  I am so grateful of the little moments I have everyday to testify of what I know to be true.  I want everyone at home to know that I love them, and that I am so grateful for the prayers, love, and support.  Hopefully you all can feel my prayers for you!

Szeretlek,

Kennedy nővér

Sunday was packed with blessings.

Ah!

So sorry, but I don't have much time right now.  We came to Budapest for doctors appointments and got distracted with the big city, so we don't have much time to email.  I got a ton of mail in the office today, and that was really exciting!  Thanks to everyone that wrote me.  I got Daniel and Leah's adorable Halloween card, my awesome moustache(!!!!) and note from Tom, and I got a letter from Ian and Elder Robbins, so it was a pretty good trip to the mission home.

Sister Kimball and I have had a rough time getting into things.  It is so bizarre.  We will have things planned and are all ready to go for the day, when we get a call where someone is coming to fix our apartment (our apartment has been super broken for awhile, so we are getting it all fixed up) and then our day is kind of thrown off.  We have been trying to work our best and put in as much as we can.  We experienced a ton of blessings on Sunday, and I really feel like I don't deserve it.  Luckily, God loves me enough to be able to see all of them.  Let me just run through my Sunday with you.

We woke up, got ready, went to church.  We walked in and there was a couple there from Nottingham.  Best part:  they only speak English.  Her dad is Hungarian, but moved to England, so they come back a couple of times a year and do family history work and go and talk to the family!  We talked to them about the free family history site, because now their nonmember family is super excited about family history, and we told them we would love to meet with them.  Gave them our number they said they would call.  There was a random guy I had never seen before, so I went and talked to him.  His sister is a member in Szeged, and he just moved to Kecskemét for awhile, and doesn't have any friends, so figured he would give church a try.  Awesome!  We spoke Hunglish together, and he should be able to meet with us later this week.  Our investigator who is 87 years old and can't walk very well, got a ride, and came to church!  One of the members brought him.  He has always complained about leg pain and heart pain, but he told me, with a huge smile on his face, that his legs didn't hurt when he was at church!  Such a great blessing.  He saw immediately the blessing from being at church.  It will be interesting to talk with him again and see what he thinks.  All together we had six investigators at church, as well as five less active members.  It was the most full I had ever seen the ward.  During the testimonies I just kept feeling the spirit so strongly and I was so grateful that all of the people there could be experiencing it.

After church we went to a little town, Kiskunfélegyháza.  Our landlady invited us out for dinner, and we had a couple of people we could visit out there, so we went for it.  We took the bus, and talked to the bus driver about why we are in Hungary and we gave him a Book of Mormon card.  He was really nice and made sure we got off at the right stop.  We went to our landlady's home, and we had dinner and we talked a little about the Book of Mormon and left them a copy.  Very amazing family.  They are very well-to-do and had a massage chair we used for a little bit.  It was the weirdest feeling thing ever.  I loved it.

We then went out to visit a member that has been at a recovery hospice place, I couldn't really understand what was wrong with her, but I think she had a stroke last year and has some problems with that, and we talked to her.  It was amazing.  Sister Kimball and I had our lesson plan, but we didn't talk about a single thing we had wanted to.  The spirit just took us somewhere else.  She needed to feel loved, and I am so glad we got to go out to see her.

On our way to the train station we got a call from the unknown number.  Who could it be?  Oh.  The bus driver!  He wants a Book of Mormon and he wants to meet.  So awesome.

The work in Kecskemét is going along beautifully.  Please keep praying for me.  I feel it, and I love it.  God works miracles everyday, we just have to be open to noticing them.  Best of luck with the election, still would love to see a picture of the campaign materials (mom...) and I hope everything is going well with the storm.  People in Hungary pray for the people of New York.  It is so incredible.  They really care about America.  That was just random, and I thought I would share.

Love,
Sister Kennedy

It snowed!

Dear family and friends,

Today was pretty exciting.  Yesterday, it was daylight savings, so we got to sleep in an extra hour!  So, this morning, I woke up early because my body isn't adjusted yet--and!  I looked out the window and what did I see?  A whole bunch of snow!  Thank goodness I am finally going winter clothes shopping... ha.  I know, I have been talking about it for weeks... and weeks... but it is finally happening!  So, when I have less monies in my bank account, that is why.  Anyways... SNOW!  I am sure I will hate it in a couple of weeks, but for now it is good.

Thanks to everyone that sent me such great emails!  I will address everyone by name and slowly work my way through.  Darliece.  You really are marrying a babe!  Best of luck with the wedding.  I really love the pictures that you sent me, and I am really excited to see pictures of the big day!  I think having a big wedding dinner would be so cool.  Hopefully all goes well.  Lindsay.  Your baby is getting HUGE!  She is so adorable.  James is such a goober, but I am glad you supported him and your letting your little girl dress up from Dr. Who.  Oh Halloween.  So fun!  Sis. Ellis.  My mom forwarded your email, it is so exciting to hear about the Hungarians coming into the MTC!  Unfortunately, they aren't going to be as cool as our district, but so is life.  Sis. Gerke.  Sister Kimball was so excited to hear me mention you!  It is always exciting to know similar people.  Oh my goodness.  I can't imagine all of the growth about to happen at the MTC!  Good thing President Nally got a nice break before he starts in January... ha.  And tell Rob to be a man and send me a letter.  That would be nice.  

Had no idea Grandma was in Canada.  My favorite thing about Canada is that it is America's hat.  Exciting to be involved with temple work, and hopefully she really enjoys it.  Grandma sends the best emails!  This week it was full of colors and a fun jack-o-lantern picture at the bottom.  I saw my first jack-o-lantern of the year last night!  We went to a member's house and they had just made it.  It was fun.  Straight up, just a face, but it was really charming.  Turns out I miss American holidays.  Rachel.  Your birthday sounded incredible.  As for clarification... I never met Elder Saunders, but you can let him know that I am in Kecskemét, if you forget just say it is a city with goat in the name, and I have seen his name on a couple of things I think.  He was just a little bit before my time.  But, that is still so fun that you are in the same ward!  Small world!  I love Thriller.  Is Campbell still dancing with Odyssey?  I am also super stoked to hear about your birthday.  Shoot!  Sounds super jam packed full of fun stuff.  I read that and literally had no idea how you were able to do everything that you did.  Good work.  It sounds golden.  Also.  I still love your hair.  You are the best!  Best of luck with your audition video.  I tried to describing to a member how you were auditioning to be a performing missionary in Nauvoo.  But, I don't know how to say "to audition" or "to perform" (technically I can say "to perform" like you would perform an ordinance... but it just doesn't work out...) and turns out I don't know how to say Nauvoo with a Hungarian accent, so after talking about how there are missionaries that sing and dance and you wanted that, my companion saved the day and said you were auditioning and she conveniently filled in all of the gaps.  SENIOR COMPANIONS ARE THE GREATEST!  I say as much as I can and do my best, and then Sister Kimball just fills in the gaps.  It is nice.  Matthew.  Remember that time a hurricane went through the city you lived in and all you did was buy candles?  Ha.  Best of luck.  I will pray for you.  I absolutely loved looking at all of the pictures from Halloween stuff.  Mom and Dad.  Sad to say, you could do a little bit better at sending me some pictures.  I would love to see your Halloween costumes (afterall, they were award winning) and I am still waiting to see your campaign stuff...  Best of luck with that!  I am praying for you, and I hope you can get everything out that you need to.  Just remember as you are walking around handing out flyers, that I am doing something very similar (the differences are that my legs are freezing, and I don't understand everything everyone says).  But I really am so glad to hear about everything in the big ol' BC.  Best of luck finishing up your mission!  You reached your year mark!  Wow.  Cherish every minute--It will be gone before you know it.

Sister Kimball and I had sore throats and swallowing was really hard, so we decided to get some fruit tea.  I got black current.  It tasted funny and I decided I probably wouldn't get that flavor again.  Sister Kimball had some the next day, and because she is so smart, she realized it tasted weird because it had real tea in it.  Awesome.  So... That was an embarrassing moment in my life.  Breaking the Word of Wisdom is the worst!

Let me tell you about my new companion.  Her name is Rachel Marie... Eerie.  She is from Spanish Fork.  She was in Mr. Bradshaw's choir, so we have talked a little bit about that, and she has a fantastic voice.  She has been in Hungary since December, and it makes me so happy when she messes up on Hungarian because she just laughs and then whoever we are talking with helps her to figure out.  It is really nice, because now I feel confident enough to talk and mess up.  I love messing up.  It means I am trying.  Sister Kimball wants to be a teacher, or something that helps other people, when she grows up.  She is a dancer, and danced at BYU.  She is really happy, and she loves missionary work, so I love her.

I feel like Sister Kimball and I are working really well together.  We have had a lot of cool experiences.  She is so different from Sister Jeppson.  Programs just go differently.  I learned so much from Sister Jeppson, and I am already learning lots from Sister Kimball.  I am excited because I am beginning to really notice how to be the missionary I want to be.  It is really exciting working with a new companion though, and things are going swell.  We went to a baptism in Szolnok on Saturday.  It was incredible.  Sister Kimball had found both of them, and taught them all the way through, but because of a holiday they couldn't be baptized when initially planned, so we got to go.  The whole service was at a hotel.  We met in a conference room before and had a small program, the four sisters there sang A Child's Prayer (I was one of them!), and then we went to the pool for the baptisms.  Two young men from the branch held up a sheet to cover some inappropriate art on a wall, and I was so grateful the the people there really wanted to have the spirit present.  There was a teenage girl that got baptized, and then a woman, and it really was so incredible.  I saw two of God's children acting and following Christ's example.  It was beautiful.  I could feel God's love testifying to me that this is the work I need to do.  I need to invite people to come unto Christ, and people come to Christ through baptism.  I am so grateful I got to go.  

The work in Kecskemét is going.  I love it!  We are having a Halloween Party tomorrow after English class.  We are hoping the people from English class will stay and that the members in the ward will bring friends to get into the building.  I know that if people can get in the building and feel the spirit, they will be inclined to think, what is different here?  What makes this church special?  Answer--It's Christ's true church on the earth today.  Love it.  Last night we went out to a members house and we just shared a small message and then left.  We missed the bus, and were on the outskirts of town, so we just waited.  It was raining and we were standing under the bus shelter.  Up walked a teenage boy.  Sister Kimball got on the phone.  She had dared to me to give a boy at the last stop an Angolóra flier, but he left before I could get it for him, so this time, I decided to talk to him.  It was really great!  I asked him if he spoke English, we talked about school and what we like, Sister Kimball joined the conversation, we talked about religion, and then he let us get his number from him and we said we would love to meet with him later.  Isn't that amazing?  I asked a teenage kid if he spoke English, we talked about life, were able to discuss religion and why we are in Hungary, and we are hoping to meet with him later this week or next.  So exciting.  The Lord is preparing people, we just have to talk to everyone to find out who they are.

I love you!  Always serve.  Magnify callings.  Ask the missionaries if you can help give them or give them a ride or something.  Say hi to new people at church.  Even if they aren't new, they probably would like having new friends anyways.  Oh.  And do your home teaching and visiting teaching.  THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!

Király,

Kennedy nővér

I took a shower today!

Dear Family,

Please be so excited with me that I got to take a shower!!  On Thursday, my companion got to take a shower, only to realize the hot water didn't work.  Haha.  So, we tried to fix it and it definitely did not work, so we called the landlord.  She told us she would have someone over in a couple hours or something to get it checked out.  She called us later that day to give us the number of the guy we could contact.  So.  We set up a time for him to come over and he tinkered around for a little bit on Friday, only to realize he would need more tools for what he had to fix.  He came over again on Sunday to finish everything and get it all cleaned up--only to find out that it was actually a really intense problem involving more than just our water heater--but the whole heating system for our apartment.  Awesome.  So, he came back this morning and got everything working!  I took a shower.  It was glorious.  It was warm.  We had been warming water on the stove and trying to make that work... Meh.  Showers are incredible.  I guess I need to be more grateful for all of the little things I have.

This is Tamás.  English is his passion. He loves talking about
science articles,and he has a huge vocabulary--some words he
tries to use I don't even know what they are.  Maybe they
aren't real. Scientists make up words, right?
We are hoping to take Tamás to the baptism on Saturday.
We will see how that goes.  Well, we hope.

The bishop's wife let us know that it was supposed to snow this week, and I was immediately told that I need boots.  Welp, if someone in the ward says I need them, it must be true!!  So, the quest for boots continues.  I still haven't found any that I like--Mom.  I did pull out that money.  It was me.  Don't be afraid.

Sándor!  He is the really adorable old man that I try
 really hard to understand.  He was the very first program
 that I had.  He lived during WWII and the Revolution of 1956,
 and he has had a really interesting life. He is interested
in finding the truth, but he might not be so inclined
 to change, so we will see how that goes.

Oh.  Transfers.  I am not leaving, but Jeppson nővér is.  She is going to Szeged and my new companion is... Kimball nővér!  She is really cool.  We have been in the same district and so I actually know her.  She is a really hard worker, and I am really excited to work with her!  I think it will be dynamite.  She is leaving an area where she has been serving for a really long time and she has two baptisms this Saturday that she will miss because of the transfer.  But, our investigator, Tamás, is really interested in baptism, a huge change from last week, and has a lot of questions about what an actual baptism is really like.  I am hoping we can take him with us to the baptism and really have an incredible experience from it all!  Anyway.  Transfers.  Neato!

This week has actually been really hard for me.  We worked really hard and we got standard, which was exciting, but I do kind of feel out of it.  Understanding is really difficult, and I wonder if that has gotten me down, but I don't really know.  I bet now that our hot water is working that will be just the change I need to get back into the groove of things :)

I think it is a good thing to review goals.  Think about where we are now, where we want to be, and where we wanted to be.  Here in the mission it is pretty easy to make goals based on time, because our time is charted out pretty specifically.  It seems hard to me to make goals in the real world!  But hopefully all you people reading this are making goals, evaluating on successes, and reflecting on how "failed" goals can be achieved.  So exciting!  

Róbi bought me this cake for my one month in the country!!
He is really fun and we get along really well.  He has been meeting
 with missionaries for awhile and he really understands
 the gospel and he studies really "smartly", taking notes
and such.  Can't wait to see more of his progress!

Turns out this email is super short, but I really don't know what else to say.  Mom--get better.  I still want to see what your campaign stuff looks like :)  Please know that I love you, and I am so grateful to be a missionary, and a representative of Jesus Christ.  This next week will be crazy!  But, I say bring it on.  The Lord can help me do anything and I know He will help everyone, however we need it.

Szeretlek,

Kennedy nővér

There are no pumpkins in Hungary.

Hello!

I was so excited to see so many emails in my mailbox today.  Wow!  Popular!  Today has been one interesting day, and I am really grateful to everyone that was so considerate to write me.  Every letter I get really helps boost my spirits, so thanks.

I am so excited to hear of everyone's involvement with their wards!  The church needs people that are committed to their callings and that are willing to fulfill and magnify them.  The church is nothing without it's members, so work hard and be good!  Chelsea--Good luck with the Primary program!  I hear the Primary program here last year was a play... so I look forward to that!  Oh.  And, for real.  I was thinking you should maybe get ahold of the missionaries in your area.  I know that there are Spanish speaking missionaries out in your parts--I know this because I met some.  But it is really helpful to have strong members that are willing to help missionaries.  Talk to your ward mission leader.  I bet they would love to know you are interested and willing to help.  Leah--Did you have Stake Conference yet?  I just wanted to know how that all went.  Grandma--I am so glad to hear that you got to see the Rogers!  Seeing family must be really great :)  I don't remember what that is like anymore... unfortunately.  Dad--You grew a giant pumpkin!!  I had forgotten.  Please, send me a picture!  I would love to see it.  There really aren't very many pumpkins here.  It is weird to me.  I saw my first pumpkin of the year at the store today, and there was just two of them.  I am used to seeing the huge bins that you can really have your pick.  Not so in Magyarország.  Oh!  And I would love to see how everyone carves all of their pumpkins!!  That would be fun to get pictures of.  Speaking of pictures.  RACHEL?!?!?!  Where did your hair go?!  I love it.  It is super cute.  You were always my inspiration to keep my hair long, and so now I will admit, I am tempted to cut all of mine off... but I will be strong.  Leah and Daniel.  Thanks for your helpful letters.  I really appreciate the encouragement and support you have given me and you gave me a lot of stuff to think of in the next few days.  For your efforts, I might send you some European chocolate.

Oh.  If there are any friends that haven't written me on my mission (aka.  Molly Hill Pack and Hannah Elizabeth McVey) your efforts could be rewarded with not only a letter from me, but European candy.  I just wanted to make sure I called my best friends out.

Hungary is still beautiful.  There are so many flowers that are still blossomed.  It really confuses me, but I love it.  We looked at some churches today, and they are all older than America.  You just don't get stuff like that in Utah for some reason...  We had a Zone Training in Szeged this week.  It was really great to be able to listen to our Zone Leader and here the council he had for us.  I really like the attention our Zone Leader gives us.  I really feel like he is serving me, and that he wants me to succeed.  He remembers the names of our investigators, and he will ask us about their concerns and problems, and then he follows up on it.  It makes me feel important.  I think more people in the world need to feel important.  When people feel important they want to work, and they want to do things.

Teaching has been going well.  I feel like I understand a lot, and then we have a lesson and I just stare and smile.  The other day we were streeting and talking to lots of people.  Sister Jeppson asked me where to go and I said, right.  She seemed kind of weary and told me stories about children throwing bricks and spitting at missionaries, but we still went.  The second person we talked to listened to what we said and was completely willing to give us her number.  When we called her to set up with her she was all ready with the day and time.  We met with her this morning, and oh boy, it took me a good 15 minutes to get warmed up and start understanding her.  Everyone speaks differently!  Some speak super fast, some just mumble, but I keep praying to understand.  It is coming, and I am so grateful for the Lord's willingness to help me.

Something I thought about this week.  When I was little, I really wanted to go on a mission.  I basically spent my whole life preparing for the mission.  And now that I am here, I don't want to waste a minute of it.  I only have 18 months (now that number is smaller...) to really serve and give my all.  I have wanted this for so long, and I want to deliver.  And then, I started thinking about the "big picture".  Let's say we are in the premortal existence, planning how we want to live our lives. Hopefully, we are working as hard as we wanted to before we came here.  I mean, in the grand scheme of things, we only have this earth life to give our all!  So, I challenege everyone to give their best to the Lord and give their best to themself.  I don't want to let anyone down, and I would feel so bad if I let myself down, even without knowing it!

Sorry... no pictures this week!  But, just wait for next week!  There will be something good!  Transfers are next week, so we will see how things go.

Szeretlek,

Kennedy nővér

Taking notes in a Hungarian Conference

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!  

The good news from this week is that I am getting really good at typing on the computer!  The "Z" and "Y" button are switched, and I haven't been having problems typing thus far today.  Exciting, right?

This is me eating ice cream.  We scheduled it into our
 Pday last week, because I really wanted some!

Conference was fantastic!  Thanks to everyone that shared all of their thoughts with me!  I still haven't seen any of the Relief Society session, and we weren't able to watch the last session of conference because it started at 10 pm here.  There is a member here named Donna, she is American, and only speaks English.  She has a satelite hook-up so we could watch conference at her house.  For the first session we invited Tamás to watch conference at her house.  It was really cool.  He had a lot of questions--but not about English, so that is really great.  That whole session all I could think about was Rachel and I just wondered what she was going to do.  Ha...  But there is lots of my love coming her way as she thinks about going on a mission--and anyone that is ready and capable to serve.  Get on out here!  The water is fine!  I will admit, after the first session was over, I wondered what kind of text Dad would be sending all of the kids.  I hoped it would have the words weeping or heaven in there.  That was one of my favorite things--Dad texts!  Anyway, I realized the first step in the conversion process is to have the desire.  Desire is the first step in the conversion process.  While at the MTC I realized this, and it drove me crazy--How do I get a desire?  And, I have realized that a desire is the big picture.  What I want from this whole experience.  And, I want to be like my Heavenly Father, and I can do that by choosing what's right every day. Right?  Reading scriptures, praying, going to church.  The basics.  The church is simple because God wants us to succeed.  Doing simple, daily acts of service, will make us so happy.  We will find peace as we serve.  If service is stressing us out, maybe we are doing it wrong.

Speaking of stressed out.  Let's recap the Sunday Morning session of conference (or, the Sunday evening 6 o'clock session in Europe).  We had an investigator, Robi, and a recent convert, István, and we decided we would all go watch conference at the Bishop's house!  Longest two hours of my life.  The Bishop's son strangely reminds me a lot of Andrew and kept making really funny faces and animal noises during the whole thing.  Welp.  Guess that is what I think of Andrew--Disrupting conference, making faces, and weird noises.  I was so grateful for the brief moments when the choir would be singing, or right before the translation would start and I could hear just a little bit of English, and then the Hungarian would kick in.  I tried so hard to really be open and really take in the whole message and not just focus on individual words, but there was so much going on I couldn't really get it.  I felt so lost.  So confused.  I mean, I have been here for 4 weeks!!!  Why isn't my Hungarian perfect?!  I felt good, and I felt the spirit in my heart, but my mind really was getting me down.  It actually made me laugh.  It is so easy to get overwhelmed--if we let it.  So, I just brushed it off, and tried to listen to what the spirit was teaching me.  What did I learn in two hours of conference in a language I hardly understand?  That Heavenly Father loves me.  It was a much needed message.

Today I read in 2 Nephi 30, and I was talking to my companion about the last scriptures talking about the wolf lying down with the lamb (fancy that you saw a wolf this weekend Dad!  Fancy in only the fact that is relates to this small message), and I love the imagery of the child playing with the asp and so I read the scripture to my companion.  She informed me that a cockatrice in Hungarian is really baziliszkusz, which made me think of Harry Potter, and that made me a little more excited to study the scriptures.  Funny... but true.

We met with Feketa.  I found out her name is Ilona.  She was the one that had come to church last week, and surprised us!  We had out first lesson with her and it really really sweet.  She had so many good questions.  She is older than 65, and has the best smile!  She felt really loved and welcomed at church, and she wants to keep coming.  She told us she is Catholic, and she doesn't want to change, bu it looks to me like that is already happening.  So, I will keep all of you posted on that.  

This is me and my new Tisza bag! 

 An Elder bought it for his girlfriend...

 things didn't work out.  Ha.  Teasing. 

 He realized it wasn't her style. 

 I really like it, and I think I am a real missionary now.

Jeppson nővér had sent out a text to a bunch of random old investigators and people that I have no idea who they are about conference, and one of them texted back and said, yes, I will watch it, can we meet?  Wow!!  So, the first time meeting with this investigator (I didn't know it was going to be a 50/50 lesson, English/Hungarian.  Those lessons always make my brain work pretty hard) and I immediately love him.  His name is Antal, and he wants to serve people and help people every day.  We were able to talk about Christ's Atonement and the amazing power that comes from service.  I hope we will be able to continue to meet and share a lot of great stories together about his progress in serving and getting to know the Savior better.

Oh yeah!!  My great success of the week.  Every week we have mission correlation meeting.  We have a paper with the names of our investigators and stuff about them, and guess what I did.  What?!  Did I fill out the entire paper on my own?  Yes, yes I did.  And!  Did I do it all in Hungarian?  Why, now that you mention it, maybe I did that too!  It really was a great week, and I am seeing a lot of growth in the things that I am doing.  Then, at the meeting, I spoke about every investigator.  I really was so happy.  Every week I keep growing and learning.  Can't wait to see where I am next week!

I love you all so much!  Best of luck to everyone this week as they face the world, and go to school, and work, and stuff!

Szeretlek,

Kennedy nővér