I think getting locked out of my email is the coolest.

Dear Family,

Now that you are reading the Hulbert's blog, I probably don't even need to email anymore :)  Ha.  Hmm... But, right now I can't really think of where to start, so we will look at today and work backwards? 

We went to the Jewish Synagogue in town today.  Really pretty.  They had some pictures of it during World War II when all of the Jews were kicked out they just kind of used it as a big storage  unit.  Super crazy.  There were all of these crazy interesting signs to read, and although it took me a long time, and I didn't complete understand everything, it was so cool.  I found it so interesting.  I have more pictures... but I didn't want to send all of them.  Super pretty, super old building.  I love it.  Sister Hulbert and I just sat down and were talking about how much money and time went into creating this building, and it reminded me  of Alma 32.  Like, awesome, gorgeous church, the people construct it ,but then when it gets down to it, it is too fantastic for all the people to worship in.  Our churches here are super simple... Like, our meeting house right now is a rented out office space kind of thing--it is really nice, but it is still simple.  Our new branch house is actually just a block away from the synagogue.  Way cool.

 I got a pretty cool email today.  I don't know if anyone remembers Jimmy Stephens, but I worked with him for a little bit.  He is on a mission in Germany.  The other day, like two weeks ago really, I met with this way cool guy from Bulgaria.  I spoke a little Bulgarian with him (that is right, I am learning tooons of languages here.  I can say one whole word in Bulgarian) and we talked to him about the creation and God and life. It was really cool.  But, he is just a tourist, just in town for the night, but he gave us his email address and said he would be totally interested in meeting the missionaries, so I got his information to the mission office and they got it off to Germany.  So.  I got an email from Elder Stephens today, and he said he just got transferred to Dresden Germany... the exact place where my Bulgarian friend is from!!  AND!!!  He got my referral!  I was like freaking out. He said some sisters from Hungary had got it, and he thought how cool and random it would be if it was from me.  So cool, but totally not random.  That there is a little gift from God!

This picture is me, swinging with a cute girl in one of the families we teach.  Ha.  I gave her and her sister a Mickey Mouse sticker and they absolutely loved it.  They are a nice little family, and we were working with them on some english, and we were talking about colors and i made reference to the song black and yellow... and they were all singing it when we came back the next week.  Turns out I should probably be a little bit more careful about when I bring up in programs!

So interesting.  I have never served a mission in anyother country, so I don't really know what it is like.  But people here ask us all of the time for money, they ask for jobs, they just ask for a lot of stuff that we can't necessarily give them.  It is super hard to be like, I am sorry you can't afford your house, but can I talk to you about how God loves you?  But!  We totally had that happen.  I was so shocked when they stopped and listened to our message.  We have been meeting with them for the past couple of weeks, and they really are just interested in our message.  They are going through hard times, but today we talked about what faith really means.  She told me, I have faith, and by the end, her attitude towards it and what faith meant , how we have to do, had changed.  Really cool.  Her son said the closing prayer.  I am sure in other missions this is like... a common accurance... but for me it is a really cool thing.  I love hearing people prayer.

I know that this church is true, that God knows each of us individually.  He is preparing us, constantly, for what lies ahead.  We just need to accept everything and endure it well!

Jó étvágyat,

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

Baby... you're a firework.

Yesterday we had official stuff to do in Budapest... and by we, I mean my companion.  We didn't get back in a timely manner so look.  Emailing on Tuesday again. I promise my PDay is still Monday.

I don't feel like I have much to say... so maybe I will express my week through pictures.

  

While I was in Budapest, I got to play tourist.  The sister that I was with is in her 5th transfer, so no one had to translate anything, we just walked and talked and if someone talked to us, we replied.  This is me being Katy Perry.  You can kind of see the lions that she walks by in her Firework video... and you can kind of see the castle...  And I am a firework.

But, don't be afraid mama, I am still doing missionary work, and I am somehow working cats into it!!

That baby kitten was  born on May 1.  So tiny.  They have three of them.  They haven't named them yet.  I told them they should name them fekete, fekete, and fekete.  (Google translate that one.  I am so funny.)    But that is our newest little investigator.  His name is Robi and I just love him!  He makes fun of us for not speaking Hungarian very well, but he gives  the best high fives of anyone I know, and he promised to pray on Thursday!  He is really sweet.  Yeah.  I am really excited to work with him and his family.  And their cats :)

I  am loving Szeged, but I will be honest when I say there are some serious ups and downs.  My companion had the great idea of fasting today, and I thought, I love eating, and I went for it.  I will admit, I am SOOOO thirsty.  Speaking Hungarian all day on the street and all day in programs sure does make one thirsty.  And we sang a lot today now that I think about it..  (Took the ukulele to a program.  It was a big hit.)  But, once again, fasting strikes again!  I have seen God's hand so much today, and I have felt His power behind the words that I am saying.  New missionaries are always right, we just have to be brave enough to run along with their crazy ideas sometimes :)

I keep having old guy hit on me, and I hate that, so if  there are any ideas how I get uglier or be less cool (which I am on slightly cool right now... so i don't want to loose all of that) I would be super interested in hearing about it.  The advice I have gotten thus far hasn't been productive.

Big shout out to Elder Robbins, who finishes his mission tomorrow.  Scary!  If anyone sees him, tell him I say hi.

Oh.  I reached my 11 mark yes
terday.  Scary.

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

Turns out I ate brain this week.

Dear family,

Hi!  So, turns out there was a holiday yesterday... so we had to wait until today to email.  Look at this huge cotton candy I got yesterday!!  There is a big ol' festival going on in Szeged this week, and so we got to kind of check everything out.  It is a wine festival... so when I said we checked everything out, I mean we only checked out the food.  Look at this cotton candy that is bigger than my torso!!  I bought the small.  It was like... 1.75 american dollars.  I love Hungary.  She made it over a flame too.  Who needs electricity?

This is me and Sister Maxfield, loving life as always.  Our apartment is kind of interesting.  We sleep in a loft.  This is us sitting on the couch in my closet.  Still have fears of writing couch and coach wrong.  Turns out that doesnt go away with time.  But I love Sister Maxfield.  She is a super hard worker.  She got called like two months before she was supposed to enter the MTC and they asked her to go on in TWO WEEKS!  She quit her job and came, and now we are having the best time in the whole world.  Working hard... or hardly working.  Just kidding.  We work al the time.  We are exhausted all the time.  That is why I look so tired ALL THE TIME NOW.  People always ask if I am tired... awesome...

Yeah, so let's get to the important things.  I ate brain.  We went to this restaurant after District Meeting with like, eight other missionaries.  One of them goes home next transfer, two more the transfer after that, so I just ordered what they all got, because it was cheap, and they speak Hungarian so they know what is good.  Right?  Wrong.  We got this super big bowl of yummy tomato soup and some rice, and some deep fried something.  It was like a cordon bleu, only in the fact it was breaded and fried, and then it was a meat, and then it had something inside.  I thought it was like ground liver and insides.  I didn't love it, so I didn't finish it.  One Elder started talking about how it looked like brain, and we just laughed.  Ha.  Who would order brain at a restaurant?  Answer.  10 silly missionaries that don't speak Hungarian.  We got the phone call a couple hours later after someone looked it up in the dictionary.  Awesome.  Hope I don't get some weird disease.  But so far, so good.

We are meeting with some incredible people.  We have had a lot of success using the area book and talking to people on the street.  I will tell you about two awesome people we are meeting with.  One guy met with the missionaries clear back in 2008, and one of my MTC teachers met with him.  Crazy.  He has had three strokes, and he is only able to communicate with us through blinking.  It is really hard, and I have to think SOOOO hard about speaking Hungarian, because I really want him to understand.  His wife isn't a member, and has never met with the missionaries, but we are really trying to help her around the house and all that jazz.

Welp.  Turns out this email didn't send last week... sorry.

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear family,

What a crazy week it has been!  We will start with the important stuff.  I opened a city with my new companion... SISTER MAXFIELD!  I love her, and we get along like peanut butter and jelly (that expression doesn't work here, because no one uses peanut butter... but it makes sense to you.)  This is a picture of us two right after we were "assigned".  Ha.

We are really getting along well and we are super happy talking to strangers all day.

So yeah, now I am in Szeged.  There was an article in the last Ensign about a guy fom Szeged.  Coooool. 

Want to see something gross?  It's my backpack mark,  I am going to DIE in the summer :)  Ewww.

I am trying to think what else I can write about...Calling on Saturday was supe great!  I really liked that one.  I really like my mom.  I called some of my "moms" in the mission on Sunday, and it was kind of nice sending my love to a few of those special ladies I get to serve with.  Women rule.

I will share a little experience from Sunday.  On Thursday, one of the Elders here told me I would be speaking on Sunday.  I kind of freaked out because it was my first talk, and hey!  Talking to a bunch of strangers in Hungarian is terrifying, so I was being sassy about it all, and Sister Maxfield said she could give the talk!  Naturally, I accepted immediately, because if she can do it, so can i!  And, she gave a great talk on Sunday.  I got up after her and just said how afraid I was to follow up after her because she already did so well and I don't want people to compare my language skills to her :)  The people all laughed... But, I was a little serious...  The talk went really well and a lot of people liked it.  We talked about Joseph Smith and the first vision.  Sister Maxfield talked about how we need faith and such, and then I talked about what we really learn from the first vision--that God knows us all individually (by name), that God speaks today, and that He answers our prayers.  It was really good.  I really liked preparing it.  During Relief Society a lady told me about how when I told the first vision that she felt a feeling come over her that she hasn't felt in a really long time.  It just started at her head until it filled her whole body.  It was really incedible how she talked about it.  It made me feel like I was really being an instrument for the Lord.  She also told us about some family problems she was going through, so her being able to have that strong feeling was specifically just for her--for her to have comfort.  Again proving that God knows us all perfectly.  I love it.

God truly loves us all.  We truly are his children.  I know it.  Do you?

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

This wasn't supposed to happen...

So... it is transfers.  That is why this is getting back to you on Tuesday.  What a way to start a day.  We were all feeling pretty confident in me staying.  I thought, how silly would it be if I actually left.  And last night before I went to bed I thought, I am going to Szeged.  And then I thought, that is silly.  And, I went to bed.  Welp.  I work up early because I was so excited about transfers!  Tooooo nervous.  Normally the APs call, but if you get a call from President Smith you can expect to be training.  So.  President Smith called us this morning.  That wasn't supposed to happen!  Sister Larsen answered the phone and really all I heard was that I was leaving :(  I just started to cry... I am not ready to go.  I had 4 transfers in Kecskemét and only 2 here.  Very unfair.  I even told President Smith that this wasn't supposed to happen.  But, it is.  I actually stopped listening while I regained my thoughts and stuff...  But he repeated himself and filled me all in.  So.  Ready for the news?

I am training!!  I am opening Szeged, an area that hasn't had sisters for a couple of transfers.  I will be in the same city as the zone leaders--two elders that were in my district when I was but a wee new missionary.  I am really excited.  They are some of my best friends!  It is seriously going to rock.  I hear the branch their is solid, and it is my first branch, so that is exciting.  It is one of the prettiest cities in Hungary, and I am really stoked for it all.

This is a pretty picture of me and some pretty flowers.  We need to always be finding as missionaries, and I am kind of tired of starting conversations, so I will just kind of ask people questions.  For instance, the other day I met a girl with this huge rod pierced through her ear.  So, I talked to her.  Turns out she is a goalie for a competitive water polo team and she is going to go to the Olympics in a couple years.  So cool.  I am way glad I talked to her.  She might even come to English class!  So, I was on the HÉV, and I met this lady with tulips (my favorite flower in the whole world), and I asked her how they were called.  She said they are tulipán.  So pretty.  Similar to English.  Helpful.  And then I was just making small talk with her and I told her that they were my absolute favorite flowers and she gave them to me.  GAVE THEM TO ME!  She was telling me how she teaches piano and she got them from a student, and so, yeah.  They are mine now :)

So... there is this thing here called rain.  It is super crazy.  It just started lightly raining, and then it fell.  It was like... literally the whole sky just dropped on us.  Luckily we got to a tunnel just in time, but we waited there for awhile, and the wind was blowing and we were trying to share one umbrella.  Wow.  it was super crazy.  So, we gave up and just ran home!  We were pretty close, but we had to wait for a light to turn green, and a car splashed me pretty good... not fun.  I looked cute that day... but then.  It rained.  RAINED!  Yeah.  can't get over that one.  i don't like how humidity feels on my skin... and the rain.  Too wet.  Didn't like it.

We talk to crazy people all the time.  Not like we go and seek them out, but they come up to us and just start talking.  A lot of time they ask us for monies.  A lot of time, I dont really know why they talk to us.  A couple of my favorite memories...  This homeless guy comes up to us, speaking perfect English and starts talking to us about how he lived in Denver Colorado, and then starts singing, What shall we do with a drunken sailor, what shall we do with a drunken sailor...  Ha.  It was really funny.  He knew all the words too.  Very impressive.  Another guy came up to us asking for money.  It was like... the first week of the transfer and he was asking us for money.  I explained to him that I wouldn't be able to give him money, because I can't give money to people.  He told me that he isn't a person.  I said, really?  What are you?  He said he was a fish.  Ha, that was really funny.  Luckily we were able to leave right after that and I didnt have to explain why we don't give money to fish either.

I feel like I worked really hard and that I am leaving my sweat and tears here in Buda.  Leaving is really hard.  I get really excited to go and then I get really scared and sad.  I don't really know what to expect.  The hardest thing is leaving the people that I have worked with.  I mean, I found them!  I taught them.  I love them.  And now... I leave.  But, Sister Behunin is coming in my place--and the beauty of that is that I know what kind of missionary she is.  It is really important for me to remember that it doesnt matter what I do.  I mean, it does, but it isn't my work.  It is the Lord's work, and we all put in a part.  Just like in the costume shop.  Very rarely could I look at a costume and say, hey, I patterned it, i mocked it up, and then I sewed every piece of it into fashion fabric.  That is crazy.  We all are teaching these people.  We go into new areas and we don't know anyone and we start from the ground and we love them and we work hard and then... we leave!  And that is how it goes.  Transfer to transfer.  I am starting to really understand it now.  It is so crazy.  BBLAH!  Missions.  I love mine!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo.  Celebrating in style at a random taco place here.
Technically it wasn't the fifth of May, but whatever.

Christ lives.  He loves us.  We can be all that God wants us to be, but only through His sacred Son.

Jó étvágyat!

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

Yummmm... Ranch.

What a wonderful week!!

Thanks to everyone that sent me a little something on my birthday.  It was quite a treat, and super delicious.  I already ate the Poprocks AND i had ranch dressing on the potatoes i made yesterday for Sunday dinner.  YUM!

This is me and all of my rewards.  I bought this cool shirt the other day in the touristi area in Pest, and I was actually walking the same streets that we were on when we were tourist people!  so, that was pretty crazy.  But, we had some time to look at a couple of little shops and yeah.  I would love to bring the WHOLE family back here... so let's plan that for the summer after Rachel gets home.  I probably won't have any nieces or nephews yet, so, let's all plan a good ol' fashioned trip on out here.  They also speak Hungarian in Transylvania, so we can go pretend we are vampires and hang out over there too.  Why not?  Welp.  That was random.

Thanks to everyone that remembered to send me a picture of how you celebrated my birthday!  I really liked looking at them, and I am glad people still enjoyed my birthday even though I am clear over here.

So, for English class this week, we taught all about birthdays!!  We played birthday BINGO (which they loved, no one really knew what BINGO was), and then everyone practiced English conversation about their favorite

 birthday, and then I made them all sing Happy Birthday to me!  Ha.  It was way funny.  The biggest surprise came at the end of class when a guy came up and asked if he could see my ear.  I thought he was going to pull out a quarter or something!  But no, he just pulled my ear!!  I guess that is one of those crazy Hungarian traditions.  They have this little thing that they say, something like, May God bless you with many years, and will your ears stretch down to your ankles.  Because if you have a lot of friends, a lot of people will pull on your ears, and then they will reach your ankles.  Weird.  But, yeah.  Only in Hungary.  This is our English class.  We are the funnest!!

Ha... all that I can think of that happened this week was my birthday!!  Ha... Umm...  Oh!  I thought of something else.

So, on Thursday, we did a concert!  mom.  I know you have been wanting to hear all about me singing in Hungary--and here's the scoop.  I did it!  I sang.  There was a college class that came in and listened to us sing and we answered there questions and talked about our church.  it was really cool.  i was surprised when they had written on the program that i was singing a solo.  ha.  what a surprise, but it went really well.  they were really interested, and they got our information about church and stuff, but we had a program so we had to leave early and unfortunately we werent able to set up with anyone on the spot, but we will just see how it goes.  That is how I feel a lot of the time.  We will just wait, and see how it goes!  ha.  Yeah.

On my birthday I pulled out the ukulele and we sang in one of the main squares in town.  We had a couple of people stop and talk to us, and they seemed to really like the simpleness of the music and everything, but then, there was a flash mob people dance, so there was like a live band and everyone doing the people dance.  like.. their native dance.  i dont really know what to call it i guess.  like... the dance that hungarians do.  ha.  there was an accordian and all these people just started dancing, and it was fun because i learned how to nép tánc a couple of transfers ago so i was like stomping my feet and wanting to dance, but then i talked to a drunk guy about English class instead.

We have been teaching this incredible AWESOME guy name Dávid.  We met with him last Wednesday... and he had already read up to Alma 40.  The first time we met with him was the week after conference.  So, I bet he is done with Helaman, or something.  i dont know, but we will see where he is today.  He always asks tons of questions and is really involved.  The hard thing is, he lives in Pest.  It takes him a half hour to walk to our branch house, but it would take him two hours for him to go to the church where he lives... so... we need to start getting everything figured out so he can start meeting with the missionaries he is supposed to.  It is really hard, especially since he lives so far away.  But, the Pest sisters are so solid, and the ward there is super cool, we just got to help him see that it is right. Too bad I am just too hilarious and awesome that he wants to stay here.

Most of the people we teach think I am pretty funny.  I was telling one of our investigators that I am going to die in the summer.  She just laughed... but I am serious.  It is already like 90 degrees here, and April hasn't even finished.  Everyone tells me it hasn't even gotten hot yet.  How dreadful.  It would be nice if you prayed for the work... but also pray that I dont die from heat exhaustion.  That would also be appreciated.  So much.

I love the work.  I love the people.  I love Hungary.  I love you (all of you)

Sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér

I don't know what to say!!!

Dear Mom, Dad, and family, and my friends,

Hi!  I am still working in buda, and I love it.  I had an interview with President Smith today about what is going on in my life, and I feel like I am going to be in buda for awhile.  We will see how it goes!  I hope it goes well :)  I do love it here.  These are my companions, being super obedient!  I ran to the other side when it started flashing, and they didn't make it.  made for a good photo opportunity.  The weather is perfect today, on the verge of really hot, so it just kind of starts from here.  No needs for coats any more!!

Today Sister Falslev had trainings... so we went and hiked a "mountain".  It was really fun!  This is the view of our hood.  There are no sky scrapers in Budapest, so that is kind of interesting.  Just a lot of taller buildings... but they had taller buildings in Kecskemét too.  Well.  That is how life goes!

I am so sorry I dont really have time to email today!!!  I promise i will do better next week.  Mom, dont worry about me being tired.  It is not like I cant function and we arent worried about me getting sick either :)  I am being smart, but i am just working... a lot!!

Awesome story of the week.  A cute girl got baptized!!  Her name is Noémi, and if she is reading this--hi and i love you :)  She was reading a random blog of a lady in Salt Lake, found the church, and got baptized!  The lady whose blog she found came out and was there for the baptism, and she took pictures of us to send home... so that might be happening soon.  How awesome!!  Being a good example at all times and in all things is soooo important!!  Are we always trying to be missionaries and represent Jesus Christ?  If someone asks how our weekend was, why not say, I went hiking, and got ice cream, and church was cool.  I learned about the importance of the ten commandments... done.  Missionary work.

I love you all!!

sok szeretettel,

Kennedy nővér