March 31, 2015

Well, everyone has been asking about transfers, so I’ll start with that!

Yep, I’m getting transferred! I’m going to be a Sister Training Leader in Tatabanya! It’s only about an hour train ride from here, so I’m so lucky to be staying so close! I’m really excited too, because I’ll be coming back here for zone conferences and going on splits, so I’ll see Sister Rankin too!! My new companion is going to be Sister Feil and I’ll be serving with Elder Cannon and Jensen! :) 

I have said a lot of goodbyes today, but a lot more to come tonight at my last English class. There are some people here that I’m never going to forget and that I really do consider my best friends. I am so happy that Sis. Rankin is staying though, they are in great hands with her and she is going to do great! 

I've been so incredibly blessed to serve here in Győr for the last four months! These last four months have been some of the best of my life, and I have seen so many miracles!  I know Heavenly Father has other plans for me and needs me in another place. I'm just trying to trust in Him and His plan. It is always hard for me to leave an area that I have come to love so much. I have made some amazing friendships here and will miss the people here that I love so much! It does make it so much easier though, knowing that Heavenly Father will look after them.

This last week, soooo much happened! I can’t believe that it’s only been one week! ah! Some of the big things that happened this week.

We starting to meet with John again! He is doing good with everything considered, he has come so far from where he started and I was so happy to meet with him again before I have to leave! 

Attila is still doing really good too, but he has had to work sooooo much lately that we can only meet once a week with him. He still has a really strong desire to be baptized and is doing really well!

Oh and miracle on Sunday!!! John came to church and then Imre walked in the door! He said I know it’s a surprise, it’s a surprise to me too that I’m here! (he told us he was traveling this weekend) He said that for some reason, he said that he needed to stay. Then this morning, his heater “stopped working” in his house, so he knew he needed to come here where it was nice and warm and he feels so good! 

Then Gábor came in right after him, and then Amír came, who we met on the street and he also brought his friend to church with him! So we had five come to church this week! We were so so so excited!! 

Oh and another miracle! So one day this week, all of our programs stacked and we had 10 programs planned for one day.... it was crazy!  We went through the day good and had some amazing lessons. It’s amazing on my mission, because we always ALWAYS find the energy and strength to go throughout the day happy and energy to do what we need, but we’re soooo dead as soon as we walk in the door at night! Anyways, we were so tired and planning for tomorrow when someone knocked on our door. It was a super cute girl with a little take out box. She said in English “sorry to scare you, but I brought you a little midnight snack. I’m your neighbor and want to thank you for the work you’re doing. Have a great night!”.... what!? That does NOT happen here! It was just so sweet! She started coming to English and the Elders will be meeting with her, but it was just another little miracle that Heavenly Father sent us to keep us going! 

We taught over 30 programs this week, so the week felt like a day or two long, but it was an amazing last week and I couldn’t be happier for the time that I have had to serve here in Győr!

I love you all so much!

xoxoxoxo

Schnoor Nover

This is the letter we received from Teagen’s Mission President explaining some of her new responsibilities as a Sister Training Leader.

Dear Brother and Sister Schnoor:

Sister Teagen Noel Schnoor, has been called to serve as a Sister Training Leader in the Hungary Budapest Mission.

As a Sister Training Leader, Sister Schnoor:

Is a member of and participates in the Mission leadership council;

Is responsible for the training and welfare of sister missionaries in the mission;

Maintains a vibrant proselyting area in addition to working regularly with other sister missionaries;

Conducts 24-hour companion exchanges with sister companionships;

Continues to function as a member of her district and zone; and

Supports, assists and reports to the mission president.

She will set an example for other sister missionaries in the mission through her study of the scriptures and the gospel, obedience, hard work, proselyting skills and other aspects of missionary work. She will fulfill a fundamental role in the success of the mission and of the missionaries.

Sister Schnoor has been called to this position through inspiration and because she is a trusted and faithful missionary.

Sister Smith and I are honored to be able to serve with Sister Schnoor in this great work. We look forward to her service in this new assignment.

Sok Szeretettel,

(Much love)

HUNGARY BUDAPEST MISSION

LOWELL V. SMITH

Mission President

March 23, 2015

We went out to Gábor's parent's garden this past week :)
It was fun thinking that we we're doing the same things Mom, just
across the world. Sounds weird, but it was SO good to get out of a
skirt and work in the dirt again!

Hello! 

This week, we had 29 lessons and had zone conference, so we stayed super busy!!! It was such a great week, but just flew by!

When we were streeting, we walked past this man and I felt like I should talk to him. I did a super awkward stop midwalk and did a 180 to talk to him. Seriously, no pride on missions! haha He was a really sweet old man and we explained the Book of Mormon and set up to meet with him. Later that week, we met with him and turns out he is pretty crazy!! haha Super nice though, told us that he has been to almost every church in Győr and met with so many missionaries, but hasn’t found the true church yet. I asked him what he is looking for in the “true church”. He said karate, yoga and dance and proceeded to show me some karate moves (which were actually pretty great considering his age! haha) After teaching him the Restoration, he said that we needed to meet with everyone and tell them this message! So that part was really cool, but then he went right in and said that we can meet with everyone but the gypsies.. they will give us poison chocolate candy and then said “oh ya! that reminds me, I have some candy!” He then gives us some candy out of his pocket! haha Thanks sweet old bácsi! Have no idea where things are going to go with him, still not sure why I had that prompting either, but we’re going to see where it goes! 

Erika is still doing amazing! We’re only able to meet with her once a week, but this last week when we met with her, we started teaching her the Gospel of Christ. We talked about our faith in Jesus Christ and how that leads to repentance. Before we started, she jumped right in and said “I’m sorry, but I just can’t do confessions. I can’t go into a little box with a stranger and confess my sins. He tells me a certain amount of prayers that I have to say and then I am forgiven? I just can’t do that, I don’t feel like I have repented and I still have the guilt. Why would I tell a stranger and not God? When I repent, I pray and tell God everything, why I did it, how I am feeling about it, ask Him to forgive me and tell Him that I won’t ever do it again! Then I try my hardest not to! How do you repent in your church?” Wow!!! Well she basically taught us the lesson, she is so incredibly prepared to meet with us, it’s amazing how many things that she doesn’t feel right with in other religions and that she feels right with ours. Like last week, we were finishing the Gospel of Christ and were starting to explain how repentance leads to baptism and we discussed how we are 8 years old when we’re baptized and why. She said just last week she was asking her Mom why she was baptized as a baby. Why wasn’t it her decision to follow Christ and what religion to join? We bore testimony about the priesthood power being restored and how important it is, that it is our decision to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. 

We went out to Gábor's parent's garden this past week :) haha it was fun thinking that we were doing the same things Mom, just across the world. Sounds weird, but it was SO good to get out of a skirt and work in the dirt again!

Gábor is doing well, his baptismal date is coming so quick and he is so incredibly ready! He still is afraid, but we’re so grateful that his brother can be here for him and help him through it! 

Oh and we met with Attily finally! He has had to work like crazy and we haven’t been able to meet for almost a month now! His baptism date is for April 4, so I was pretty skeptical and thought we would have to move it. We taught him the Gospel of Christ again and told him how we still have a lot to teach him and a lot to do before he is baptized and asked if he felt he would be ready by April 4? He looked at the drawing we did on the board and said, “I need to! We still have two weeks right? That’s enough time?? Of course it is!! Ah! We are going to try to meet with him as often as we can before then, but it will be a lot to cover in just a few lessons, so excited for him though!! The transfer is on April 1, so I sadly won’t be here for any of the baptisms. All that matters though, is that they are baptized. I would love to be here with them more than anything, but I know Heavenly Father has another plan and I’ll just have to trust in Him!

I wish I could write everyone back every week! The biggest problem is that the computers are so so slow here! Most of the emails that I send to people are just a few sentences! I always feel so so bad for not writing everyone back! There’s just not enough time! I am so sorry. Emailing shouldn’t be, but is seriously one of the most stressful! I absolutely love getting your emails though and being able to talk to you. I also have a HUGE stack of written letters to write back to people too! 

Have a great week, I love you all!! 

Xoxoxo

Schnoor Nover 

March 9th, 2015

We had another really good week here in Győr! 

Gábor's baptismal date is March 20!!! We are so excited for him! He is a little nervous, but very excited! His brother Balázs lives in Germany and has been an amazing support to him! We’re hopeful that he can come back to Hungary to baptize his brother. Wouldn’t that be such a wonderful experience?? Balázs was baptized years ago and before his baptism, Gábor actually told him that if he “joined the Mormons” that he would never speak to him again. That was years ago and now he is asking his brother to baptize him! I am so incredibly blessed to be with him now as he has been being prepared by the Lord for so many years. Gábor was a little nervous to tell his brother, but as we promised him, his brother was so incredibly supportive and caring about it all. Everyone was completely against Balázs in his family including all of his friends. He was all alone. Gábor said that at the time, he didn’t understand why he still went ahead with it, but now he does. He said that he is so lucky to have Balázs here with him. 

It is so different here in Hungary, because almost everyone we meet is Catholic. It is more than just what their beliefs are, it’s a family tradition that has been passed down for generations. So, when our investigator's families hear that they are meeting with us, they don't just see it as them trying to find the true church, but see it as turning against their family. It is so hard when they tell us that by them coming to our church and reading from the Book of Mormon that it's ruining their family relationships. The Gospel brings families together! Living the gospel of Christ will support and protect the family unit and allow us to live with them for eternity with our Heavenly Father. Gábor told us how afraid he was, he said that he wants to be baptized so bad, but he is just so afraid. He said that he has been affected by fear his whole life and wanted to wait a few more months to be baptized. I had a prayer in my heart that I could say the things that Heavenly Father needed me to. I tried my best to translate and the Spirit was so strong there helping us. He had some great questions and brought up some concerns that he was afraid to mention before. We were able to address them and in the end he said that he wanted to be baptized on March 20. He would just have to close his eyes stepping into the water. Wow, it sort of just melted my heart! Now whenever he mentions baptism and gets afraid he just says “I will just close my eyes.” 

Erika is still doing great too! She really is one of the biggest sweet hearts that I know and has such a strong belief in God and prayer. She loooves the Book of Mormon! Its adorable, she is always so excited to show us her favorite verse that she read and said that the book somehow always talks about her life, exactly what she is struggling with. We asked if she has prayed and she said that she prays every night and thanks God for giving her this amazing book. Isn’t that so sweet?  

Oh and Happy Women's day!! Haha they have a Women's Day here in Hungary and we were streeting and these random guys came up and gave us flowers! Isn’t that so sweet! I love Women's Day! We got chocolate and flowers!!

I have to go for this week!

Love you all so much!

Sister Schnoor

xoxoxo