Being senior mostly means I have to pretend to speak Hungarian.

Hi family!

I am still in Hungary, still doing missionary work!  The only difference is that I don't really know the people, which is a blessing, and a curse!  Because I don't know the people it is just hard to remember and things are hard... but, because I don't know the people I can ask them ALL to be baptized.  Two people have committed to a baptism date since Sister Peterson and I have been together, and I imagine that it will keep going up and up!

Saying goodbye to Kecskemét was really hard.  One of my teachers in the MTC said when you leave your first area you feel like you will never love again.  He said you get over it and just keep working.  He's right.  Who knew the MTC teachers would be right so often?  But, saying goodbye was hard.  We are in the same stake here though, and so hopefully I can kick it here until Stake Conference and we can all hang out or something awesome like that.

So long Kecskemét!

The people here speak a ton of English, there is poop in the streets, and a toooon of missionaries.  It is really different for me.  I am starting to really like it though.  I do really like being able to go to the mission home and pick up my mail whenever I want.  I mean, if there were a time in someone's mission to get mail this would be it!!  That is to be read as a subtle hint... Hopefully it came off blunt enough :)

Dad!  I got your great letter.  Thanks for the article.  I am going to share it with my mission president.  I really liked it a lot.  Mom, thanks for sending me a copy of my membership record.  Now that most of those covenants and ordinaces are mostly taken care of, I really need to work on that whole... enduring to the end thing.

Want to see something cool?  This is what I wake up to everyday.

That is my ceiling!  This is the view out of the window.

So... turns out I live in a beautiful place!  The green domb is Buda Castle, it has the big courtyard in it where Katy Perry filmed the Firework music video.  On the right there is that mountain thing.  That is Gellert Hegy.  Mom, Dad.  If you remember, that is where there were the three big statues.  You can kind of see the one standing there, she has a leaf in her hand if I remember right.  And then there were the two other statues, one I think is smashing up a serpent, and the other is like running with a torch.  I can't remember exactly, but that could help you out with the area.  It is kind of really dead right now... but hopefully it turns out to be really pretty once spring decides to come.

The work in Buda is going along really great.  Sister Peterson is 21, she went to Cyprus High School, she went to U of U, this is really her first time living away from home, so we are making sure she is learning a lot, but still partying.  She loves to sing.  She has more variety than any radio station I have ever listened to.  She has a boyfriend in Mexico, random, and she eats pasta for almost every meal.  Things are really great here, huh :)  She has been here for 6 weeks now, and says she hasn't seen much of the city, so I am excited to just go off and adventure!  We are hoping we can go get lost for a bit today, and still have time to make it to our programs tonight.

The moment of truth.  How is it really going?  Honestly, it is going great.  I am leading lessons and we really are having a lot of success.  There is a magical thing they use in this city called, tabling.  We set up a table advertized for free stuff, and then we just talk to people when they come up to see what it is all about.  I met a really funny man that moved to Canada during the revolution, ended up in New York, and now he is working on a coin with Obama's face on it to sell.  He was really cool.  He kept getting closer and closer and I was scared he was going to kiss me or something!  Luckily, he only kissed my hand when he left.  Elder Pendleton taught me some good techniques to make people stand further away from me when we talk.  Good times.

So.  Let the truth be told.  There was some problems when I tried to send this, and so it is a little bit late, and some of the email that I typed got erased.  That is how life goes!!  It is amazing here.  I really have noticed God's help in letting me speak the language and I can feel His spirit with me everyday.  Life goes on and I love it.

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

Transfers.

Dear family,

Let's start with the good stuff!!  Rachel has seriously been called to the best mission in the world.  What missionary wouldn't want to go to New Zealand?!!?  I spent my language study finding out words that I could use to talk about her mission call.... But I mostly just learned how to say New Zealand... which is Új Zéland.  Exotic.  Let me act out what happened that morning that you called.  It was Saturday.  I was sleeping, and I heard the phone vibrate.  I thought it was weird Sister Behunin had set the alarm on the phone, we normally wake up to music.  She turned it off, and then it went off again.  I asked her what time it was, and she said 6:20--Some unknown number keeps calling!!  My heart jumped!!  But then I remembered that Rachel had said the parents would be home Saturday, and that her call probably was coming next week.  And then I heard the phone vibrate again.  Sister Behunin answers, and then I heard dad's voice.  I said, that's my dad!!  I was so excited!!  Congratulations on the call.  I don't know if you recorded the sound or a video, but I would love to get a copy of it :)  I wish I would have thought to stay on and talk longer, but it was good to be with everyone when my favorite person in the whole world got her mission call.  Good luck prepping Rachel, give 'em heaven!!

So.  The exciting news.  Transfers.  Any guesses where I am going???  If anyone paid attention to my end of the phone call, I did say where I thought I was going... and I was right :)

So that is exciting.  Buda.  We will see how it goes :)

We had an awful and awesome week, all at the same time!!  Half of our scheduled appointments cancelled, and most of the people we wanted to meet with we weren't able to.  Last week I mentioned a lady, Csilla, that we streeted into and got a program set up with her.  We talked to her and had a great program.  She is married and has a cute little two year old girl :)  We did the Restoration with her, gave her a Book of Mormon and scheduled to come back.  Yesterday we went and visited her.  Her whole family was there, excited, and ready to learn about what we were going to teach to them!!  We taught the Plan of Salvation. She loved that there isn't just heaven and hell, and she also loved that the plan was made for her!  We had drawn her the plan on a paper, and she showed to to her husband and said it was for them.  She was so excited when we told them that their family could live together forever.  She and her husband are the cutest.  It was their anniversary.  She said it was on Sunday, and then he said, wrong, it is today!  She laughed and said, I don't pay attention to the dates, I just celebrate being with him.  If I want to buy him a gift, I do it.  I thought it was the sweetest thing. She is the sweetest.  Any.  We had put different tabs into her Book of Mormon, and I had recommened 2 Nephi 2, and during the lesson I asked her if she had read any of it.  She pulled out 2 Nephi 2, had it marked, and then we asked her if she had read anything else. She said she read from the book everyday and that it is going to be useful in her life, and that she wants to do it everyday.  WOW!!  Wow.

Saying goodbye to everyone is really hard.  I am really sad to leave.  I didn"t necessarily think I would be, but I am.  This place is solid.  The ward members.  Incredible.  The investigators.  Awesome.  People are quirky.  They are blessed.  God loves Kecskemét.  So do I :(  I am sad to go!  Buda is going to be cool though.  When I introduce myself I will probably tell them all about how I was here a couple years ago, and I understand a little more.

Oh.  Yeah.  I am going to be a senior companion.  My companion has been in the field for five weeks.  Welp.  Hopefully she knows her way around the city.  I know the Lord will qualify me with my language and that there won't be too many tears!!

We must go onward.  We fear not, for our mother's knew.

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

PS  Rachel is going on a mission!!!!

What a winter wonderland.

Dear family,

So excited to hear that Rachel has her mission papers in!  Dad.  I loved your email. It snowed the more this weekend than it has my whole mission combined, so I am a bit envious of you being out on a cruise.  I don't understand what facetiming means... but it sounds dangerous.  Technology.  Scary.  Congratulations to Chelsea for her awesome acceptance into that smart math thing!!  Look at all of the blessings you are receiving for me serving a mission :)

Let's talk about the snow.  Fact.  I love snow.  It is really pretty, and white, and the last snow fall was the perfect consistency for snowmen making.  That didn't happen, but it was still perfect.  We are teaching a part member family, the Rádulyék.  I know I have talked about them before... They live out in the middle of nowhere, so we take a bus out there, and then we walk by foot down a dirt road to get to their house.  Always an adventure.  The weather here has been super nice for winter.  Cold, but never really treacherous.  It seems to only snow when we go out and meet with the Rádulyék.  Literally.  It won't be snowing and then as we start walking to the bus it snows.  This has been happening for like... 7 weeks.  I made the mistake of bringing it up to them... so, whenever it snows they bring it.  They are always really nice and walk us to and from the bus stop.  Ha.  I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it, but we actually ended up getting a ride from a member!  We pulled up and as soon as I see Sándor, the first thing he says is, Kennedy nővér, esik a hó.  That means, Sister Kennedy, it's snowing.  His wife said the same thing to me.  I told them I was going to stay in Kecskemét forever, and so they would be having snow storms on Sundays for a long while... :)

Transfers are coming up next week, and transfer weeks are going to be a little bit different.  We will be taking P-Day on Tuesday and that is when we will find out what is happening for transfers.  Naturally I joke about me staying... but I really think I am leaving.  If I do stay... I will be completely flabbergasted.  So, I will be letting you all know next Tuesday about my fate!

This past week was really weird.  Sister Behunin and I have been working good and having a lot of fun and a lot of success, but our investigators haven't been able to meet.  Everytime we call they don't answer.  It is really weird, and it catches me off guard.  But, we were able to take advantage of that and we got some great finding time in!!  Streeting is terrifying.  Walking up to strangers... fun... So we did it!  It was incredible. We were out for 15 minutes and we had gotten three numbers and gifted one Book of Mormon.  (We have since been able to contact one of them, and have a program set up with her.)  The rest of our hour was not as successful, but we were so stoked to talk to those wonderful people.  I love missionary work.  I absolutely adore it in everyway.  Weird things happen all of the time.  I love it.  I know that I am an instrument for the Lord.  He gives me opportunities.  I either take them or I don't.  We are all given opportunities, literally, every day.  Our Heavenly Father loves us and He wants the best for us.  It is up to us to take advantage of the things coming our way.

Life is a gift.

Sister Kennedy

So... It's February already?

I had a surprise visit the other day!  I got a phone call and I heard this guy say that he and I had a similar aquaintance (does that make sense in English?).  At first I was confused and thought he was the boyfriend of someone my companion had taught in a different city, and then he said he knew my Aunt Lisa.  And then he started speaking in English and everything when a lot smoother.  His name is Szilárd and he worked with Aunt Lisa in Iraq!  He was really nice, and he gave me his contact information so if I ever go out to Kaposvár we can talk.  That was funny counting numbers that night, "Oh, and then there is Szilárd, the referral from your aunt."  He was in Kecskemét just for the day, and it was so cool to meet him!

Sister Behunin and I went up to Budapest for interviews with the mission president.  My favorite!  I am really blessed, and I have had a lot of interviews with the mission president.  AH!  What if it is because I am the problem missionary... that would be awful...  But it was really great.  I talked about wanting to serve through December and into January and basically stay here as long as I can.  He told me he would love to keep me, but he can't promise anything because our transfers will probably change again... They keep changing because of new missionaries coming in.  Definitely not a problem, it is an exciting time to be in the mission.  He totally understands my desire it to stay here as long as I can and is willing to help me stay. :)  Yay!

  

This is us at the Kecskemét train station... getting ready to go into the big city!!

We are having a lot of success together.  Sister Behunin is a lot of fun and a really good worker.  She speaks really well, and she helps me a lot with my language.  We are working on getting my language skills really understandable, transfers are in two weeks and we think I will be going senior.  Who knows?!  Not me.  But I would rather be overprepared with the language than underprepared.  The people we work with everday are really cool.  It is hard sometimes.  We invite, they commit, we follow up.  Sometimes when we follow up we realize important points have been lost somewhere.  Maybe we didn't teach it well enough, maybe it really is hard to understand the personal relationship we need to God, and so we are working on getting it back to basics.  

The bishop here, Mecséri Oliver, invited us over for dinner and a movie on Sunday.  So, we ate some lunch and then we watched the coolest video!!  I loved it.  It was based on some stake in Illinois and their involvement with family history and how it is so important for people to get involved with family history and then get them to the temples!!  I don't know if it that available for people to watch, but it was really inspring.  That combined with an incredible lesson in Relief Society has really gotten me pumped to work on family history stuff when I get home... I am so excited for it!!  But, I am excited to start really implementing family history more as we teach.  It makes the temple come alice, and I think that is what we miss sometimes.  The temple and family history work aren't different programs, they are the same.  We do family history work so we can go to the temple to do their work so we can be families forever.  Our hearts truly are turned to our fathers and we become a part of something bigger.  I love it!!  Family history.

In other random news.  I found a dress in our apartment a couple of transfers ago.  This is us at Thanksgiving--I am wearing the dress!

So, last week we had a program with Misi, and I wore this dress.  I wasn't wearing the sweater, and he though it was the funniest thing.  He walked in.  First thing he says--cute.  He continued to tell me how it was so funny, but really cool, and that he thought I looked like a belonged in the army.  When I stood up and he saw my boots he just started laughing harder saying how I would be the best in the army.  And then I put on my dark green pea coat.  He started laughing so hard.  I even saluted him when I left.  It was really fun.  But, turns out, it really stuff with him, because on Sunday he kept telling everyone the same story.  I think I might wear that to every program with him from here on out.  That will be a great idea... So great.

The church is the best.  I am so happy because of what I have learned through regular church attendance.  If you think you are too cool for church you need to be humbled!!  Church is the best place for us to be on Sundays.  We can love and support each other.  We lift each other up when we go to church.  In the parable of the lost sheep, one sheep leaves, and the shephard leaves the 99 and to go find him.  It is important for the 99 to stay together.  To work together and to not let anyone else go!!  We need to constantly work--do our visiting teaching, home teaching, and such--so that we can call be encouraged to stay together as our little flock!!

God loves us all.

Sok szeretettel,

Kenned nővér

Story week.

Dear family,

Hi!  I am currently living the dream, loving life, in my little Kecskemét town.  I am loving it here.  The work is good.  I am so familiar with everything that I can walk around and catch buses without even thinking about it.  It is really nice, and I am grateful for that.  The people are awesome and the ward is great.  The bishop actually called us yesterday and let us know that he has a new video for missionaries!!  He speaks english... so he might have been previewing it to make sure it was all understandable.  It is about the temples and we are really excited to go over there and watch it with him, the elders, and Vágó Éva--the awesome lady that let us use her computer to skype on Christmas.  So, we will see how we can better help the members in the ward get ready to enter the temple.  Little something about the Hungary Budapest mission--our mission purpose is two parts.  We invite people to come unto Christ and we also strengthen the ward or branch we serve in by helping them go to the temple.  Cool purpose.  I recite it almost everyday.  

We had an awesome program planned with our great friend Anna, all about the word of wisdom.  She is a teenager, so we drew up all of these different options and she could erase the bad things.  I was so stoked, and it was really fun drawing everthing up there... and then... she didn't come!!  I was so sad.  We figured we would leave the drawing up on the board, no big deal.  But, the next day we had a program with an old man that was not understanding different dispensations, so I erased the whole thing... it was so sad.  But, totally worth it!  We were teaching Sándor, a very Catholic man, and he is very set in his Catholic ideas.  But, as we slowly taught him and worked with him, it was amazing how the spirit started working and how he started understanding things.  So awesome.  Sister Behunin and I were a little bit worried that we would get into an argument about the things that we were teaching, but it all worked out.  Tons of prayers were said, and it all worked out.  So amazing.  Who knows what next lesson will be like... but we have a newly baptized member coming to our program so that should bring some good new member fire!!

Sister Behunin and I

Since Sister Behunin and I are new companions, and so we just talk allllll of the time.  I love it!  We are getting along really great.  But, i keep telling her stories that are funny--because I am a funny person--and she asked if I send a particular one home.  The answer was no... so know I will tell you all the awkward cake story:

Sister Kimball and I were serving together, it was probably November time.  There is this super nice Elder, Elder Hunnicutt.  He loves baking!  So, he baked Sister Kimball and I our own cakes. We had travelled by train to Szeged for a zone meeting, and it was about 10 in the morning and I was super hungry!  And then Elder Hunnicutt gave me my cake.  Yummy!  Unfortunately I am not always the most lady like... so... I just kinda started eating it with my fingers while we were waiting at the train station for a ride to the meeting.  A couple other missionaries had some.  And then we went to the meeting.  Meeting finished.  Rode the train home.  Our cakes weren't wrapped with saran wrap or anything, so they were just exposed to the world, and people kept asking Sister Kimball and I if they could help us.  It was kind of funny/weird.  We got to our bus stop when some lady came up to me, and very nicely asked what I had.  I told her it was American cake and she just kept staring.  Then, still very nicely, she said she would like some.  I was super confused and then just got on the bus, because our bus showed up.  I thought she was just being funny like everyone else that had been "so funny".  We get on the bus, and sit down, and then she came up and sat down next to us.  Asked again if she could have some.  I realized she was super serious and she super wanted some.  So, I told her I could only give her a piece with my fingers and she said that wasn't a problem at all... so I awkwardly ripped her off a piece of cake and gave it to her.  She grabbed the little piece and just hobbled away.  I am sure it was really a nice thing, but I was so confused by it all.  I couldn't help but just laugh and laugh when I got home.  Ha!!  So that is my awkward cake story.

And for story sake, let me tell another one.  This time about the language:

Our new branch house!!!

Sister Behunin and I are teaching the cutest girl, early twenties.  She had specific questions about the law of chastity, so we taught it to her. My favorite lesson ever!  So, I was trying to encourage her and support her to live it (buzdítani=to encourage or exhort).  So, I tried to say buzdítalak (I support you.)  But, I couldn't remember that it was a straight up z, I thought it was an sz (that means it makes a regular "s" noice in english), so it sounded a little bit more like pusztítalak.  Now, that is a completely different word (pusztítani=to destroy).  So, I kept saying that I destroy you.  Over.  And over.  Even when Sister Behunin and our investigator tried to help me get it right, I just kept destroying her, over and over.  But, she was laughing, so that is a good thing :)

The work is good.  I am happy and healthy and getting better at missionary work everyday.  I speak Hungarian.  I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father.  I understand that true happiness comes through keeping the commandments (please see Mosiah 2:41 for the full reference), and I just want to be obedient.

Keep it real this week!

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

Sometimes people think I am funny!!

So, I am still in Kecskemét.  I love it here.  The weather is relatively warm, it has been raining and right around 4 degrees celcius the past couple of days, so that is really nice.  Sister Behunin and I are getting along quite well.  This is a picture of us getting along, we had the weirdest transfer day... but now we are together and settled down.  This is us on the train.  I know what you are thinking... Woah.  Sister Kennedy has gained a lot of weight in her left hand--it's huge!!  Don't be afraid, that is just the angle the picture was taken from.

Because the time in the MTC has been shortened, the next two transfers are going to be short.  So, that means Sister Behunin and I might only have five weeks together to get everything going and working.  I feel like she will be training here and I will leave... but that is exactly what I thought would happen with Sister Kimball, so I keep joking about staying here.  Ha.  It is funny to joke about, I love the ward here, I love the poeple, and I love the city, but I think I need to get out of my first (and only) area.

Dad specifically asked me about the language.  It is going!  I have never learned a language by complete immersion before... So, who knows how it is going comparitively?!  No idea.  But, I do understand context.  Sometimes I don't get the entire sentence and the wording all figured out, but for the most part, I know what is happening.  I have spoken a bit of Hungarian on the streets, and I love practicing with the members. They will listen to me as I ramble along, and they will help and correct me.  I don't really ramble as much as I used to, and I am figuring out a lot more of the rules.  Understanding is easier than speaking, but people almost always understand what I say, and if they don't they are patient enough with me to let me get it out.  A lot of missionaries say that I am doing good with the language, which is nice, but I don't know what I think about that!  I am now in my fourth transfer, so I am getting to be an old missionary... weird.

Oh!  Great news!!  I am no longer the youngest missionary in the South East Zone!!  Since I have been in Hungary, I have been the youngest missionary in the zone... so that always made me feel little, but now there are three younger than me in the district, and Sister Perkins is in Szeged!!  Another city in our zone.  Sometimes we talk about how cool it would be if we went co-senior next transfer and then we could train the time after that.  It would be fun!  But, who knows?!

Rachel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Cool.  Missions are awesome.  I hope that you have a good time getting everything ready and submitted for your mission.  I remember the moment when I realized that I could go anywhere in the world.  That is why I wanted everyone to sing I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go with me, because I literally know, I could go anywhere in the world, but it was up to the Lord to call me where He needed me.  Good luck with everything!!!  It will be soooo long waiting to find out where you are going, but it will be worth it.  

I am so grateful for the gospel in my family.  We are teaching a part member family--the mom is super active, her husband is interested, but only wants to be baptized if he knows he is really going to come (an admirable trait says I), a completely in active daughter, and two daughters investigating.  What an interesting group!  We spend a lot of time thinking about them, planning for them, going out to the middle of nowhere to visit them, and I am so happy about it all.  The gospel blesses families.  It is one of the biggest points in the first lesson.  I am so grateful for my family and the love and support you have given me!  Sister Behunin and I were talking about it--sometimes our families are weird, but the gospel grounds us, and we receive so much strength and blessings from our families.  We will keep working with this family, and hopefully we can unite them and get them working towards the temple--because the temple is sacred place where we are sealed together... a family is forever!

The church is true.  God doesn't just give us stuff... We have to work for it!!  That is why I know this church is true!!  Because we work so hard and don't get any physical monies... but it is the reward of the Atonement and coming closer to our Savior.  The blessings we receive from enduring to the end is unreal.  We don't deserve it, but God loves us and so He blesses us.  I just want to help people find the truth... so incredible.

Szeretlek titeket,

Kennedy nővér

The big news...

Well!!  We got transfer calls today!!  The big news is this:  my companion is going to open Pécs with a new missionary and I am staying and getting  Sister Behunin.  Wow!  I will be in Kecskemét for another couple of weeks!  Because they are shortening the MTC time I think this transfer will be shorter... but I will be honest in saying I really don't have any idea.  I am excited though.  I love it here, and I know that there is a reason that I am still here.  Gotta work hard and keep it up!!  Sister Kimball and I got super standard this week, and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  We had all of the numbers except for less active members.  We spent around six hours walking and streeting and trying to find anyone that might be interested in meeting with us, come to find out they had moved, weren't home, or weren't interested (the worst kind!!)  But, we were so close!!  So, on Sunday night we just kept working... and working... and working...  We might have only eaten some chips that a member gave us that day.  But at 8:30 we showed up at this guys house, and his wife was freaking out and getting really upset that we were there, talking to him, so late, and he just seemed so sad, like something was seriously missing.  We were at this gate in front of his house, and when his wife was around he kind of signed for us to write down our phone number and drop it in the mailbox.  Wow.  Our number had been blocked, we dropped by, he really is interested, just his family isn't.  We really hope to hear from him soon.  Things like that make me excited to stay in Kecskemét.

We went to a dinner program with the sweetest member, Éva.  Oh!  I skyped you all at her house.  While we were there she told me that I speak beautiful Hungarian and that she wishes I spoke more because she really likes the way I sound when I speak it.  I thought it was the nicest thing.  Anyway.  The language is coming.  Don't fear!  The people here love helping me and they are really great at it... Because they are Hungarian.

Sister Kimball and I actually just got back from dancing!!  Someone from her English class invited us to come watch a class, and then when the teacher said we could dance together and we didn't have to dance with guys, we got so excited, so we did it, and now I am super sweaty, and so happy.  It was really great.

Yeah.  I don't know what else to say!!  I am super happy, and things are going.  Can't wait to get a new companion and to keep the work going.  I love Kecskemét, and I am so grateful for the ward here.  We were talking about it at Éva's tonight, how people are so willing to help and work together.  We just got to help reactivate people and invite more people to come into the fold of Christ.  Did I tell you we met this guy from California that is a pastor?  He said he was interested in our message.  It didn't turn out that way.  He was super worried about our souls though... and that was nice.  But, it was not a pleasant place to be.  Anyway.  That was random.

I know that Christ is my Savior.  He restored his true church though Joseph Smith, and we have a living prophet on the earth today because God loves us enough to allow us to receive revelation.

Sok szeretettel,

Kenned nővér