June 17, 2014

Ok, so I don’t have as much time this week so I’ll get to my letter quick!

This week went so fast! Met some great new people!! Things are still going great and I’m so happy! We did a lot of tracting this week and were let in by quite a few people. One older lady told us all about her many experiences with ghosts! Another older man let us in, but his wife walked out of the bedroom and took one look at us and said “NO! Get them out! Who are they? NO! NO! Out!” ... awkward...! haha We met a younger guy named Zoltán, so cool! He was really interested in the Book of Mormon, we gave him one and he said that he will read the whole thing then talk to us about it when he is finished. I know it will be the same as József though, and that as soon as he realizes all that the book teaches, he will want to meet earlier!

János is still doing great! We were talking about the atonement and repentance with him this week. We talked for about 20 mins. and Sister Butterfield read a scripture when he said real loud “Ok, now you say a prayer quick, because we are shelling peas!” Then he just bows his head and folds his arms! haha I love János! He said to reward us he would give us ice cream, so sweet of him. He put down the jug and gave us two spoons to eat out of it with. It looked like cookies and cream, my favorite! I was super excited, took a big bite and... makás! Blah! NOT a fan! haha It’s the poppy seed paste I was warned about! Not oreo! haha I have never had to force down ice cream in my life, but my throat was so frozen from swallowing it so fast! haha Everyone loves it here though! He also gave us a big bag of cherries he picked just that morning! I looove cherries here, wooo! Thanks János!! On the way home we saw some white inside them though! Yep, worms! Blah! We cut open the cherries and almost everyone had one! I had eaten one already too! I felt so sick just thinking about it! We went to the store and bought a coke, haha that would kill the nasty thing right?? Haha I hope so!

We met with Terí this week as well. Her husband is out of the hospital now and he is doing great. It’s hard not to be just a little discouraged though. She loves meeting with us, but she still hasn’t prayed about the Book of Mormon. She actually said that she hasn’t even read any of it yet. She said that she doesn’t need to, because no one would ever write a book that wasn’t true, so she believes that it’s true and doesn’t need to pray or read it.

I have realized more than ever now, that as missionaries, it’s not our job so convince people that this church is true. We’re not here to prove to anyone that it’s the truth. We’re only here to invite them to pray and to find out for themselves if it is true or not. I know that if she or anyone would just read the Book of Mormon and pray with faith, I know that they would all receive an answer from the Lord that this is the truth, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he did restore Christ’s church on the earth today. It’s just so hard when people won’t ask God, He can’t give them that answer if they don’t ask.

 We met with Krisztián, he is so cool!! Full of hard questions though, they are great! I love tough questions! We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and he looks at me and said “Ok, so just what if none of this was true, what if you died and this is all wrong? What then?' Well, we told him how we would have lived happy fulfilled lives  etc. etc. but then my heart started pounding and I felt like someone was squeezing my chest. I always know when I need to say something when I feel that way. I said (in really broken Hungarian) “Ok, but what if this really WAS true. What then?" Well, he just got this look on his face and said “good question!”and then we sat for at least 20 seconds in silence... I know silence is a good thing, but I still always want to break the silence all the time! I felt the spirit so strong in that lesson! It was so neat. We’re meeting with him again next week.

Went up to Budapest this week to fill out some paper work and saw some missionaries from the MTC. Sooo great to see all of them again! We’re going up again this Friday for a zone conference, so this week should be a really quick one too! Wow, time is flying by, I can’t believe tomorrow is my 3 month mark!

Sounds like you have had a busy week!! Haha great to hear about the garage door! I actually didn’t remember at all what was wrong with it when I read your letter. It’s just become so normal to me to open it! Haha Dad, it made me laugh when you mentioned that you just weren't “getting around to it” acting like your just sitting on the couch and had all the time in the world! I know how hard you work Dad and how busy you always are! Awe, I love the street market! It sounds like I actually picked a good year to miss it though! I love love love that you went on a date! Wooo!!! You go parents! Keep up the cute dates ok? Even if they are just at home! Sounds like Jaycie did great with her talk too! haha She told me how bad she was sweating. I can for sure relate to that! haha I panic so many times a day! haha Right before someone answers, or when someone asks me a question and I have no idea what they just said! haha I’ve gotten pretty good at hiding it though. I panic just as much as always though! haha Wow, I can’t believe its summer already there!! So glad Mom gets a break from work too! Dad you take it easy too ok?? I keep thinking that it is still just March back there at home... haha I feel like everything is still just on pause since I left! Oh my, the babies are coming so soon too! Aaaaah!! Please take a lot of pictures and videos for me ok? Oh and I remember Dad asking about the people having lots of cars here but I didn’t answer! I thought the same thing, but when I asked my trainer, she said there looks like a lot, but there are sooo many people in the ten stories that there really aren’t very many at all and that most everyone takes the bus/ metro. There are some really nice cars here though! if I ever don’t answer a question, just ask it again in the next email ok??

Things are still going great and I’m loving being a missionary!

Xoxo Sister Schnoor

June 10, 2014

More graffiti!

This week when we were tracting, we found a broken out hole onto the roof... so of course

 we went through it! haha Still don't know how we fit through, but so cool to look over the city, 

for sure a different perspective than down on the street looking up!

I don't think you can see, but this spider was huuuuuge! 

I had an Elder take the pic for me, I wasn't getting close to it!!

The other church in Duna! (prob the prettiest building here)

No lack of the essentials here!

For P-day, we went down to the Duna. There are a 

bunch of really cool statues and nice paths 

to walk on. We went with the Elders. It was soooo hot though!

 

This week was great! I melted though! Haha It was sooo hot! Wow, I don't know how I'm going to make it through the summer! Everyone says that you will never sweat like you do here! Everyone we talked to is literally wiping their face with a handkerchief every few minutes just with how much they are sweating! I love the heat, but it just sticks to you with all of the humidity here! I am for sure going shopping for some cooler clothes! Yesterday for P-day, we went down to the Duna. There are a bunch of really cool statues and nice paths to walk on. We went with the Elders, it was soooo hot though! We had to walk up so many stairs, we didn't talk for a good ten mins. After we got to the top, I honestly thought I was going to pass out! My head started spinning and it was black all around my vision. To look at everyone else they all were feeling the same! haha We were a pretty funny sight I think!

This week we got bus passes! It has been a huge help not needing to walk everywhere! So we take the bus to church now and to any investigators that live far away. I walk so much here! It's great, helps me work off all of this great bread! When we were walking a younger guy called out to us, we just naturally ignored it and kept walking, but he ran after us and kept calling! We turned to talk to him and he asked if we remembered him and that he knew us.. which there was no way since we're new here! haha He then got all serious and said I gotta be honest with you, then in English said "gypsy". "Gypsy king" vagyok! (I'm the gypsy king) haha sooo hard not to laugh! He then said, "oh sorry, it's just that you're looking at me so cute!"... we were looking everywhere BUT at him. Oh boy! That conversation didn't last long! Love all of the different type of people that live here in Duna!

The language is still so hard! I'm trying though. This week we went to get ice cream while we were streeting. I thought ok, just ice cream, I can at least order on my own! Well, I walked to the counter and said "I'm searching for a small caramel ice cream!" haha The lady just smiled, trying not to laugh and gave it to me. Sister Butterfield told me after what I said! haha The words for "I ask" and "I'm searching" are just too close! 

Oh, and another embarassing story for me! We were tracting and lots of times people just ask who it is through the door without opening it, so Sister Butterfield said "A Nevem Butterfield Nővér", but they didn't hear so she said it about 4 times. They finally opened and said "what??" but then slammed it before she had a chance to answer when she saw who we were! We get that a lot here. Makes it interesting when we go tracting for sure! We don't get discouraged when someone slams the door though, we just know they aren't ready yet to hear our message and move onto the next. Well anyways!!! I moved onto the next door and when he answered the first thing I said was "A Nevem Butterfield Nőv.... uh Schnoor, A Nevem Schnoor Nővér"!! haha sooo funny! I just burst out laughing! The guy invited us in from it though! haha So I guess it worked! We had a great talk all about reincarnation!

Another man let us in. He said he used to be religious, but isn't anymore. We started asking him about what he thinks will happen after this life. He said that his church believes that there are three glories, Celestial, Telestial, and Terrestrial. I asked what church he belonged to and he looks at my name badge and said "Yours!!!" hahaha Sooo funny! He hasn't been to church for about 20 years now. He showed us some pictures of when he was baptised and it was so sad to see the difference in his life and to see how happy he was then and how happy he is now.

We met another man named István (really common name here). He started crying and said that his Mom had just passed away. He had her bed all made up with her teddy bears all set up. When we told him about the plan of salvation he was so interested and just kept looking at her bed. With all of the families living together in one apartment it seems like it makes it so much harder on them when one of their family members passes on. I know that it is the same hurt for us, but it does make it more difficult when they would be with them everyday and such a huge part of their lives. I love the hope and the promise that the Gospel brings. How lucky are we to know that it's not really the end??

When we went to János this week we talked about the atonement and how when we're baptized it's like a new birth for us. He told us that he wants to be baptised! We were so happy for him! The problem is that he still doesn't want to go to church. He said he decided that day to keep every commandments,.. EXCEPT going to church haha. So, we still have a ways to go with him, but so happy about his desire and that he finally realizes how important that it is for him!

Teri said that she would come to church with us, but when we went to her house in the morning to pick her up, there was a note that said she is in the hospital. I think for her husband, we're going to her house again today, praying everything is going good for her still.

We met with József for the first time. He didn't have much time, but we brought a Book of Mormon for him and he was so grateful for it and said how nice it was of us. He is going to read the whole thing and then wants to meet with us again when he is done to talk about it. SOOO cool! We didn't even ask him to read it yet! Then on our way out the door he asked where our church was and that he is coming to chuch this Sunday... what?? We hadn't even mentioned church! It was amazing how willing he was with everything!! He smokes about 4 cigarettes each lesson, so that will for sure be something in the future, but so so so excited for him! He said he wants to meet in a few weeks when he finishes, but I know that if he starts reading he will want to meet sooner to talk about about it! So excited for him and what he is going to find when he starts reading!

We now have 12 investigators! Some I'm not sure how serious they each are about it all, but some are definitely interested! Meeting with Krisztián tonight. He couldn't make it last time! its been so tough to not have anything to go off. We literally didn't know one person when we got here and just picked a building and started knocking! It's been so amazing the things that have happened so that we can find these people!

I love the Book of Mormon! I love that I can give it to the people here. I know it's true. I'm half way through Doctrine and Covenants. I haven't read the whole thing through in so long, I love doing that! I get so many different things out of it when I read it that way! There is no way anyone can read it, and pray about it with faith and not receive an answer. There is no possible way that they couldn't know that it's true! Love this Gospel. I love being a missionary! :)

Mom & Dad, it sounds like you have had a pretty tough week! Don't like hearing that at all!! Awe, I can just imagine you both sick in Kali! Glad Dad finally got some relax reading time in though. I know him though and even if you were sick but at home you probably would have still worked just as hard! Mom, I want to see those dresses! Yhey sound super cute!! Yay for tires too! haha Remember that one time we were coming back from Kalispell and we had all of those tires strapped to the roof??? haha that was hilarious! We were packed like sardines in there! With Dad packing though, he probably could have fit a few more people too!

I loooooved looking at all of the pictures!!!! hahaha Dad with the shovel!!!! I died!! I see the redneck genius is still at it! 

The zoo looks so so so fun too!! The girl’s with their bellies are just getting bigger and bigger! I can't wait to see what they will look like in a few more months! They look so darn cute with their preggo bellies!!! I don't think we have ever done that pose so good with the elephant before! Jay's tights are so dang cute too! When are their exact due dates again?? I want to make a count down for it!  

How was everyone's birthdays?! I love the big combined party every year at the zoo & Peter's! So fun! Awe, the family looks so great!!!

haha It looks like Dad is roaring in the second picture!!! haha I love you Dad! Looks like so much fun! haha Mom, I can just picture you laughing at all of the little meerkats perfectly! Love all of these pictures! 

Oh, and Mel dyed her hair?! Looks sooo good!! That girl can pull off anything I swear! haha, I saw a little penguin stuffed animal and it made me think of Mel and how much she loves them!  

Awe and so so so happy for Jaycie and the Temple, I couldn’t be happier! When are they going to be sealed? Do they know the date yet?

YAAAAY FOR BRAYDEN!!!!!! hahah I loooove that pic of Brayden and Janae!! haha I can just see them fist pumping perfectly! haha you did it Brayd!!! And I must say, he looks rather handsome in a cap and gown! Yay and happpppy birthday again!!!!

Awe, Dad is just so darn handsome! ... Sisters at the MTC thought he was my brother... haha awkward. Looking so good Dad! 

Awe....Broooooke! Oh I miss her! I can hear her laugh perfectly!

If it doesn't cost too much, I would love love to get some scrapbook paper! Everyone does memory books here that other missionaries write in and decorate and I would love some cute bright paper to decorate it with! 

I love you so so much Mom and Dad. I couldn't be blessed more than to have you as my parents. Your emails are such a help to me! I love reading them so much! I want to print everyone's letters all off when I'm home and put them in my memory book! haha Mom, you already have me thinking about my missionary book we can make when I'm home! It's forever away, I know that... but I'm already excited to make it!! haha What Dad said in his letter for sure made me blink back some tears. Haven't cried yet since I've been here though. I for sure can feel the strength of all of the prayers, it's amazing to me. What he said was so sweet though.. and made me laugh so hard hah. Dad, next time I will for sure break out the kung fu on him! 

Awe...family, I love each one of you so much! Can't wait to hug you all again! Haha Take care of yourselves ok?? I miss you all! I think about you a lot and I'm praying for you everyday!

All of my love,

Schnoor Nővér

June 2, 2014

Dunáújváros, Hungary

Some of the graffiti that a lot of the buildings have here!

Our little kitchen is so cute hey??

Home sweet home! :) Do you see my Canadian flag pillow case? The

 beds are so uncomfortable but don't tell Doctor Schnoor that though!

So there is a Pékség (bakery) just down the street from us... dangerous I know! We went there one night for dinner! This pastry is filled with super good vanilla, well I don't even know what it was haha 

but some delicious jelly type thing! There are Pékségs everywhere!

My adorable companion! Isn't she just the cutest??

This week was great! It always seems slower during the week, but now it's Pday again and I can’t believe its been another week! Loved hearing all about the new happenings at home! So exciting about Jaycie! I wish I could have been with her, but I am so so happy that all of the family could be there with her. Sounds like this weekend in Calgary was so fun!! I love when all of the family gets together!  Don’t feel like you can't tell me all the fun things with the family ok? I love hearing about them all! It doesn’t make me really homesick either, it actually makes me feel like I’m there more! So proud of Brayden too for graduating! So smart! (ökös) That will be sad to have them not living so close, but a lot of new exciting changes for them!! And Ryan is graduating too! That’s so awesome!

We are going up to Budapest again in two weeks for my greenie training, so hopefully I’ll get some more pictures of the beautiful city. It will be so great to see some of the people from my MTC district too!  

Yes, I love the sparkly water here! I’m not a huge fan of the unflavored sparkly water, because it has a pretty strong taste that I don’t love, but they have flavored sparkly water and I love it!! It has the burn in your throat that I love, haha I know I’m weird, but I love that feeling! One of my favourite's is raspberry coconut, yum! I want you to try all of the things I’m trying!! I’m buying some purple envelopes soon too, so if they are big enough I’ll send some home!!

Ok, so my week, it was great! Met some great new people! Last Monday we went over to Júdits house for pizza, it was so good! All of the bread over here is amazing! The milk isn’t as bad as I thought either, I’ve gotten used to it! There is something here called “birds milk” that is so darn good too! Kinda like eggnog, but way better! Ok, so anyways!! Júdit is a member and knows a few English words. She would always throw them in in the middle of Hungarian so it actually made it a lot easier to follow along! When I told her I was from Canada she got so so excited and pulled out a Canadian flag and said IN ENGLISH “I love Canada. Many Indian men. I very romantic, so I love indian men.” I died laughing!! Haha it was so unexpected and was some of the first English I had heard from anyone other than missionaries! She is so so funny. I asked her more and she said she has read lots of books on romantic Canadian, Indian men! Her son then turned to the Elders and said in perfect English without an accent “Yo, so what’s up man?” It was nuts!! haha We all just sorta stared at him, shocked... he said he learned every English sentence on grand theft auto! hahah Oh boy, so he had an interesting vocabulary... haha it was hilarious though! I love the members in the branch here, they have been through so much in this little area.

We teach English class once a week as well, we hand out a lot of free English flyers. We met with the Bishop and it turns out he speaks English!!! It was a great surprise! I had no idea and it was amazing to actually know what was going on in the meeting! It’s really hard not to zone out sometimes in meetings when you’re not sure what’s going on all the time. I don’t understand what they are saying yet, and all of their sentences just sound like one really long word, so I have really been focusing on trying to pick out the individual words. I actually can now too! Now it’s just figuring out what they mean! haha I always have a note pad and pen out though and any word I don’t understand I look up later and memorize it. I’m planning to do that my whole mission. It’s the weirdest learning how to read again though, I am sooo slow and pronounce things really funny still! Another thing that comes with practice though! I read a chapter out of the Hungarian Book of Mormon out loud every day. I read the verse in English then the same verse in Hungarian, so that will be a big help too! I am trying any new way I can to learn the language faster. I bought a Hungarian to English dictionary too that is tiny so that will help with looking them up too! The branch here used to be 200 people, isn’t that crazy?! It split into two wards, but it’s now down to about 30, so here they do have a church building! One of the only places that they do, most other cities just rent out a gym each week. We’re really lucky here!!

I finished the Book of Mormon this week too! I loved reading it from front to back, it really put a different perspective on so many things and I got so much out of it, It’s amazing how many scriptures seem like they are talking right to you no matter what trial or difficulty you’re going through. I love the Book of Mormon and I know its true. I started Doctrine and Covenants today, planning to read that next!

OK, so this week, a miracle happened! So in this mission it is pretty rare to get a “let in” and most buildings you tract the whole thing and not one. Well, we were trying not to be discouraged one morning, and making silly jokes about if Sister Butterfield broke her leg she would be sent home early, or if she accidentally happened to jump out in front of a bus. haha Just joking around! Well we went to this building and the first lady who answered let us in!!! FIrst door!!! She was about 70 and was cooking with white high heels and a very see through little white dress, she was so cute and nice! Wasn’t super interested in the Gospel, but she is happy for us to come over and meet with her again. Second door, I said the entire door approach by myself, first time ever and I was so nervous that he wouldnt understand! He was scowling and not happy when he opened, but he completely changed, smiled, opened the door wide and went to get us some sparkly water! 2 in a row! Amazing! He wasn’t interested at all but was so friendly, gave us his business card and said to call if we ever need help or are sick. We made a new friend!! He said to be careful though, because “life ‘aint ever easy for 2 pretty girls!” He was very sincere about it too. We have seen him on the street a few times since and always have a good talk! The 3rd door we knocked on was an older man who was so sad, we asked if we could come in and talk with him. He didn’t say much and opened the door and pointed to the couch. When talking to him more he said that nothing brings him happiness in this life. He said that his wife had passed away years ago and he hasn’t been happy since. We were able to teach him a little of the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon. We went back that week and he agreed to read it, but wants a week or two to think about things before we come back. His name is István. After lunch another younger guy let us in, we also had 2 lessons planned for that night so we had 6 in a day. It was amazing! That’s the mission standard for the whole week! Not to mention 3 in a row, it was obvious that the Lord was guiding us and helped us to find those people. Next day another older man let us in. He had a bad leg, his music was blasting and he had a vodka in his hand. We started with the regular questions, but when we asked what makes him most happy in this life he burst into tears. He slammed his fist on the table and said that his wife died just last year. It broke my heart. I asked him what he believes happens after this life. He said he doesn’t know, maybe nothing and that he doesn’t believe in God anymore. I bore testimony to him that he will see his wife again through the plan that our Heavenly Father has given us. He cried some more. It was so sad to see him like that. We’re going back to teach him more. It just made me appreciate the knowledge that we do have, it is so sad when some one we love passes away before we do, but we know that it’s not the end, that we will see them again. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be for him without knowing that truth. I can’t wait to go back and teach him more.

We met with Téri and János again this week too! Both are still doing great and love meeting with us, but not sure how much they are progressing. We mentioned something about Christ’s life to Téri and she said that she didn’t know anything about Christ's life, nothing. That was amazing to me, but was so sad at the same time that she had lived her whole life without knowing. We taught her and she had lots of great questions. She gets so off topic though, it’s literally in one sentence she is talking about what Christ did for her and then to “I bought a new blue bow for Nancy” (her dog) haha No wonder it’s a little hard for me to follow sometimes! We met with János again too and the lesson went well. He feeds us homemade salami every lesson on bakery bread. I was worried at first, it has bright orange grease dripping from it, but it wasn’t bad! Of course he feeds us ginger bread cookies too! We invited him to church, but he didn’t show. He asked me to pray for him to have a desire and for the spirit to push him to go. Says he listens to it on his radio instead haha! 

The people in Duna are all so interesting, but I love them with all my heart! They have been through so much to make them the way that they are. I know the single greatest thing that will help the people here in Duna is the Gospel and I am so lucky to be the one to tell them about it! I love the Gospel and I know its true. I for sure wouldn’t be here right now in my life if it wasn’t.I think about all of you all of the time! More than I think you know. It’s not super home sickness though, like of course I miss you so much, but its just because I love you so much. I have been praying really hard to not be homesick since I came here and it’s been amazing! I love you so much family! Thank you for all of the letters and all of the support, I’m thinking of you tons and I’m praying for you! Stay strong and stay safe!Happy Birthday Momma! Tell Mel a big happy birthday for me too ok?

All of my love,

Schnoor Nővér