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