Naegle nover: Encore!

It happened again! We had another really great week this past week. On the first day we got a new investigator because as we walked out from a program with a part-member family, their neighbor started chatting with us and we ended up setting up with him to come to our program with them tonight. I am super excited. On another day this week we had four lessons on one street! Amazing! It was super fun. Another day we visited an RCLA and even though we thought the lesson was kind of a bust, he actually came to church on Sunday!! It was a wonderful surprise.

I think part of our success is coming from the fact that my companion and I genuinely enjoy serving together, and so we are usually pretty happy when we talk to people and that helps them open up. I have never said so many prayers on the street before but I actually love it. Imagine hearing someone pray for you out loud for the first time. It's a neat experience for the people and for us. I am starting to love missionary work more. I actually like going out now because I am so excited to see who will let us talk with them and who will actually be interested and touched by our message. Teaching is more fun. In our last lesson with Csaba, I felt like I should maybe say something about baptism, so I did! And he took it really well. He comes to church and stays the whole time and he said he would come to Family Night tonight. I am very excited for him. He is really shy but he is starting to open up and laugh more.

I am learning a lot about prayer lately. Sincere prayer is really powerful. Heavenly Father listens and He answers. I love teaching that to people because it's one of the best evidences to me that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers and help. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Naegle nővér

Hermana Naegle (June 23)

This week was interesting. We had a hard time getting lessons. We ended up with 28 lessons total this week a little bit of a bummer since we tried so hard to get to the 40! but it just felt like no one wanted to listen or no one was home. Anyways Sunday rolled around I was feeling kind of down like I wasn't really doing much missionary work. Well I flipped open my Libro de Mormon and started reading a verse. It took me a second to realize what it was saying but once I understood it I felt a beautiful feeling of peace. The scripture was Alma 17:11 which says  And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

It just felt like it was speaking directly to me. 

After I read the scripture I looked around the congregation and to my great surprise a less active family had come to church! they haven't come to church since before I got here about 4 months ago. We teach them about once every week and we taught them on wednesday and I remember that I felt the SPirit really strong and I could see that the hermano felt it too and lo and behold they came to church! it was such a beautiful gift and made me feel so much better! We even had four investigators at church! and another less active member. 

Well I don't have much time so I'm sorry this is so short but I love you all! and I took pictures but I'll have to send them next week! sorry.

I love you all!

Oh and grandpa I finally got your letter if you want to send the second half :) I'm super interested to read the rest of your story. 

Mariah I hear that you make delicious donuts! you'll have to make some when I get back :) 

Josh you leave in 17 weeks! thats so exciting! I would suggest reading up on your bible....

Love you all!

Hna. Naegle 

   

Naegle nover: I don't know what you all did, but it worked! (June 23)

This past week has been probably one of the absolute best of my mission. On Monday I found out that my brother is going to serve in the Tulsa, Oklahoma mission starting in the fall. I am so excited and so proud of him. I also got a really good email from my dad encouraging me to pray to know where to go when we go tracting. My companion and I decided to try it. We prayed together and afterwards we both felt that we should go to a certain place in our area. So we went there and it was a really good experience. The people were nice to us and we were able to talk to so many more people than usual. Two people told us we could come back to give them copies of the Book of Mormon. The next day we went back to keep working there and an older lady let us right in. We had a little lesson with her and she said that we could come back. It was great! Early in the week we went back to a street that we had tracted a few weeks before because it had been on my mind a lot and I felt like we should go try the doors that didn't answer. We went back and ended up talking to a man who was out working on his car. He told us that he had been a soldier and didn't believe and he wouldn't take our card or anything, but he was really nice. As we finished talking, the idea popped into my head to ask him if we could pray with him. I was too chicken to do it so I mouthed it to my companion when he wasn't looking and she asked him. She did a great job of explaining how we pray (I always forget to do that) and then she prayed. I remember thinking "I really hope she prays for his car to work" and then it was really cool because she did. After the prayer, he had tears in his eyes, which was funny because he was a super "tough-guy" soldier kind. It's amazing how much prayer can touch people. Later, as we worked down the street, we saw him drive by in his car, which he had apparently been able to fix. We just smiled and waved. We will probably go back sometime and see how he is doing. On that same street we ended up having a lesson with a lady who used to meet with the missionaries. She was really happy to see us but did the whole "I'll call you" thing (but we ended up calling her later and we are going to visit her today. Woohoo!). The next day we split with the senior sisters which we were dreading because it is difficult for both of us due to language. But it ended up being a really positive experience. So many people answered, which, although many said no, is still way better than nobody answering at all. And a few people said we could come back! We also talked with a man on the street about English class (thanks to one of the senior sisters who talks to everybody!) and he said he would come. Thursday was a frustrating day but the man from the day before actually came to English class and seemed really open when we gave the spiritual message. Then Friday we got to go to Buda for Zone Conference and it was so fun! My companion and I are both pretty social and we had been looking forward to it forever. It is super neat to be around so many missionaries and feel like you are part of a big team. One of the missionaries shared an experience about how when he was a new missionary he had been really scared to street and everything and then he talked about how he was too scared to street somebody one time but his companion made them turn around and street the person and it ended up being a huge miracle because the young man ended up getting baptized. The coolest part of the story was that the young man had first heard about the church from a friend who took the missionary lessons in a city that eventually got closed for missionary work. The friend never got baptized, and those missionaries probably thought that they had failed, but really they didn't because their example really affected the young man and helped prepare him to accept the missionaries when they streeted him that day however many months or years later. Super cool.

After the conference I was talking to some missionaries when I looked up and saw my favorite member from Kispest (Kriszti) standing in the doorway and smiling at me. I practically ran over to her and gave her a big hug and I was able to talk to her and another member I love from Kispest in Hungarian! It was so great to not feel completely choked up and scared to talk to them. I can finally hold conversations. It is getting easier all the time and I have been sooo blessed to be able to serve with Sister Kovács. And her English is getting better too so we are both improving together.

Saturday we got to go to a baptism of a girl in our branch. It was really nice. When we got home we were eating dinner when we started looking at our numbers for the week and realized that we might be able to get Standard of Excellence because one of our investigators said he would come to church. We decided to call the man from English class to invite him to church too and he said he would come as well! So then we realized that we might be able to get Super Standard, which I have never gotten on my mission. We knew it would be a stretch, but we thought it just might be possible. On Sunday, miracle of miracles, they both came! The English class man stayed the whole 3 hours and then some to have a lesson with us afterwards. And he said he would read and pray! I couldn't believe it. Then when we went home we made a lot of phone calls and Heavenly Father blessed us so much. People we had called or talked to before who weren't that interested suddenly were open and said we could meet so we got some new investigators. But then we still needed more lessons so we asked the senior sisters to split with us and we went our separate ways. My job was to have a lesson with a less-active member and a normal lesson. We had called tons of less-active members and none of them could meet. Even one in particular that I felt like we should meet with couldn't meet. So Sister Scherrer and I just set out. We talked to some people on the street but then we decided to pray to know where to go. We said a prayer and then right after I thought of a house that I had noticed a couple of times. We headed there and as we approached the house, a little dog came running out to us before we had crossed the street. We greeted the dog and then got it to cross the street with us. At the same time the owner (from the house we were going to) came out towards us and we met in the middle. I asked her if we could ask some questions and talk and we ended up having a lesson. I was sad because she wouldn't let us come back but we were at least able to achieve our goal. After that we prayed again and felt like we should head to a less-active that Sister Scherrer had met once before. We headed in that direction, and as we crossed the city square, we ran into the less-active that I had wanted to meet with in the first place! He was really receptive and we talked and had a lesson right there in the middle of the square--prayer and everything (I was inspired by the way Ashlyn has lessons on the street in Mexico haha). I have no idea how it all worked out but it did. We went from having tons of zero's in the first few weeks to acheiving Super Standard in a week where we didn't have as much time to work because of conference and the baptism. You also have to understand that it is extra special because we are new missionaries in a very small town and when we were sent here all the missionaries said we would have no work and there is a little bit- not too bad, but a little bit of a negative attitude about Pápa. So it really gave us a lot of hope. I know for a fact that somebody, if not tons of people were praying for us this week. We did not do it by ourselves. We worked hard, but there is a no way it could have happened without all the little miracles. I still don't quite believe it. Thank you all so much for your prayers or fasting or whatever you did because it worked. We really want to keep up the good work and help Pápa grow and blossom and become a place where the work is growing strong. So maybe Heavenly Father gave us this gift to help motivate us to keep going after it has been kind of hard for a while. 

I hope you are all having a super great start to your summer and that you are reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. Heavenly Father answers prayers when we have faith. 

All My Love!

Naegle nővér

Naegle nover: This Week (June 16)

This week went a lot better than last week. We worked hard, and we got a let-in finally. It was a really old lady but she was super nice. When we prayed, my companion explained that we usually close our eyes and she was afraid! But we reassured her that there was nothing to be afraid of. It was kind of funny. She said we could come back since she is curious to know what happens after this life. Becuase she is so old, I think this is also funny. Right after we prayed, her son came home and asked basically, "what's going on?" and the old auntie just gestured to me and said, "American woman" which we thought was hilarious. He didn't believe her at first but then she told him "I'm serious! One is American and the other is Magyar!" Then we talked to him and he believed. The whole thing was funny and we were really grateful for the let-in. (And she gave us a referral too!) Right before she had come out of the house, we had jokingly sung, "Heavenly Father, are you really there?" And then she let us in. It was kind of like He was replying, "Yes, sillies!".

Another time, we had just a few minutes left before we were supposed to go home. We were at our gate and we almost went in early, but we decided to stay out. We ended up streeting a girl and I asked her if she would be interested in meeting with us and she said yes and gave us her phone number. When she said yes, I almost said, "Really?" But luckily I stopped myself in time. I tried calling her yesterday and I accidentally called another lady we had contacted on the street who had been ignoring our phone calls. During the whole conversation I thought it was the girl, and I was so confused as to why she was talking about her child because I thought she looked pretty young to have a child. But she actually set up with us, so maybe it was meant to be that I called the wrong person, because we probably wouldn't have tried again for a while otherwise.

So things are slowly but surely picking up. We are getting very tan and having a great time. I love my companion. We have a hard time sleeping sometimes because we just keep talking and laughing. It's pretty cool to just laugh and laugh about jokes we make in Hungarian. Never thought it would happen. 

I am so grateful for the gospel and I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I prayed a lot that I would be able to learn Hungarian faster and then He sent me Sister Kovács. We prayed to be let in and we asked if He was there and someone let us in. We prayed for help to work harder and He helped us. We pray all the time to be happy and we laugh all day. 

If you want something righteous, pray for it! There's nothing to lose. I love you all and thank you for your prayers on my behalf. I feel them and they strengthen me like you would not believe. Take care and have a wonderful week.

Much Love, 

Naegle nővér

Hermana Naegle (June 16)

Well lets see this week has had its ups and downs. I got my new companion (which is an up! she's awesome!) SInce I'm the one with the knowledge of the area I've had to plan who we visit when and what we teach while she's been trying to learn as fast as possible. she's a really good missionary and has really helped me out as much as she can. I was a bit nervous to find out that I would be staying but I feel like I can really do this now. Its been a hard week full of walking and a lot of rejections but its been a week of learning for me. the hardest part is that we had zero investigators and zero less active members at church especially because we had 7 investigators the last week and we really worked super hard to keep them.

We have a goal in our mission that every comaponionship has to teach 40 to 60 lessons every week. Its very different because the standard of excellence before was only 20 lessons and now they've doubled it and more. we were feeling a little bummed because we didn't feel like we had gotten in much teaching this week but when we calculated out all the numbers we found that we had 34 lessons! We didn't reach the goal just yet but we had a ton more than we thought. and we feel pretty confident that we can make it this next week! gotta love the little mercies that the Lord always places in your path!

We've also been working at getting more members to teach with us. this is the hardest part and the most important. Because we realñly need the help of the members in this work because there is a huge problem with members going inactive after their baptisms here but when they have friendships in the ward the generalñly stay active. 

Well there isn't much to report on this week.... I'm staying in Vallarta for now, I'm happy, its tough but vale la pena! 

I love you all so much!

Hermana Naegle 

PS: and shout out to my brother Josh who's going to oklahoma for his mission and reports to the MTC on september 24th which is my little sisters birthday! Congratulations! 

Naegle nover: Go to Romania (June 9)

So during the first part of the week during our tracting, people were very mean to us and didn't want to hear what we had to say. During the second part, the people were surprisingly nice to us but still didn't want to hear what we had to say. I remember in Kispest that it took an average of about 3 to five hours to find an investigator. And I thought that was terrible!! Hahaha :) I am definitely learning some things about perspective. There are good and bad things about every place, every companion. I might as well learn to enjoy Pápa while I'm here because when I leave I will probably miss the good things about it. We have a wonderful branch and the members really want to come to programs and help us teach. I feel SO bad because we just don't really have any programs right now that they could come to. I have hope that soon we will but in the meantime, it's so sad.

Funny story of the week: We were tracting and we rang the doorbell at this house that we had seen before and really liked because it was cheerful and yellow. But then a very cranky old man came out and I started talking to him and he started ranting at us, saying that we should speak Hungarian, that we should go somewhere else, and that in fact we should go to Romania instead (which isn't a nice thing to say here). I'm sure he said other rude things I didn't understand because my companion was really upset. And my feelings were hurt because I had been speaking Hungarian and it is the worst when you do your best and then someone tells you that they don't understand and you should speak Hungarian to them. But then as we walked away, I felt so bad for my companion that I wanted to see if I could make it funny somehow. (It's harder for her because she understands everything, and she can hear all the comments people make about us.) The more I thought about it, the more funny it actually became to me that the man had told us to go to Romania. How ridiculous!! We started laughing about how funny it would be if we actually did go right then to Romania and phoned the mission president about it saying someone had told us to go there so we did, and we hoped it wasn't a problem. I feel bad for that guy, because the house was for sale and maybe he was losing his house or having a hard time and these annoying girls bothered him while he was having a rough day. We went away with a funny story and the gospel and he was left upset and lonely. I wish I was such a good missionary that I could have done something more for him, but for now all I can do is keep knocking on doors and smile. We are so blessed to have the gospel. I am very grateful for my family and that my knowlege of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every week we get to partake of the Sacrament and make a new start. We can overcome our weaknesses and pain with His help. What a beautiful message! I hope you have a wonderful week full of joy.

Naegle nővér

Hermana Naegle: explosion! (June 9)

So yesterday we had 7 investigators and 10 less active members. It has literally been an answer to my prayers. I have been praying that this area could progress, because its been in the gutter for over a year. And we had seven investigators at church! which is so incredible for this area! their names are the familia Sicairos (they're a part member family, 2 of them are our investigators), Rodolfo, Paolina, Juan Ramon, Arturo and Alexis.  Arturo and Alexis are nephews of our recent convert Manuel. They're baptisms are for the 12 of July but they could actually get baptised sooner because they have all their asistencias at the church they just need the lessons and that takes time.

Rodolfo brought his little son to church! it was so fun to see him there! he was late and only come the the last two hours but the members were so warm and welcoming and he left with a huge grin on his face! Eduardo didn't come, we really need to teach him. hopefully we can teach him with his family. Pray that these two continue keeping their commitments and that they can see the blessings from doing so!

Juan Ramon came, he told us that he has a job, I'm not sure how stable it is but its something! and I'm so happy! now he just needs glasses so that he can read the book of mormon.

Paolina is our new investigator! she's awesome! We contacted her in the street and we invited her to come to church and she told us that she had actually come the week before. We were stunned! she had come with one of her friends who is a member, only for sunday school but that counts! anyways we went to her house and we taught her the first lesson, and we invited her to church. Then we picked her up on saturday and brought her to church with us and she stayed for all of it! she has problems with her family so pray that we can teach her mom as well. We want to have a family home evening with her and her family and another family in the ward who told us they were ready to help us with her teachings and everything! super amazing!

The sicairos were investigators of the Elders but they live in our area and President Wagner has dropped the hammer on the all the zone leaders that the missionaries need to respect area boundaries. so all the investigators and recent converts that the Elders had in our area have fallen into our laps. Anyways I'm actually a little nervous to teach them because they have BIG questions. like deep doctrinal stuff that they don't teach you in sunday school. I think what we're going to do is try and show them that their real question is whether or not Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, because if he is then everything else is true. I'm nervous, I probably shouldn't be but I am! eek! The dad also works on sunday. and they've recieved all the lessons like a million times. We're going to start with lesson one, but in a different way...

OK well we had transfers today. I won't meet my new companion until around 5 or six. I have no idea when they get here and I have no way to contact them.I'm hoping the zone leaders know something. Right now I'm on splits with another american sister. She's super awesome! we're just patiently waiting to receive our new companions. I just hope they get here before seven because we have a lesson planned with a member and everything! so we can't miss it! 

Well we have anew investigator. She's progressing but she didn't come to church yesterday. her name is Lupita. She's really sweet. She's the sister in law of one of the members. She needs love. I think she's had a rather rough life. she has the cutest little baby girl her name is Claudia. We taught her lesson one, she's super receptive and wants to get baptised. She actually sought us out. 

Well I'm staying in Vallarta! And I have a lot of hope that this transfer will have a lot of success, most of the baptismal dates are for the 28th of June and the 12 of july! We'll see how everything goes. 

What I'm most nervous for is my ability to understand my investigators when they tell me their probablems. So when you pray for me pray that my ability to understand will increase so that I can communicate and teach more effectively 

love you all so much and sorry this was so long there's just so many people!

hna. Naegle

Hermana Naegle: Four! (June 2nd)

GReat news! Rodolfo and Eduardo came to church yesterday!!!! finally. Its there second time but its been like three or four weeks inbetween. I was super worried that they wouldn't come because then we would probably drop them. But they showed up. We didn't see them enter so it was a surprise when we saw them leave the chapel. and they told us that they had been keeping their compromisos! they haven't had alcohol or broken the law of chastity. now we just have to get them to read the book of mormon! we're teaching them on wednesday so pray that their minds can be opened to understand the importance of reading the scriptures!

There's a man who sells watermelons with some other men outside of our house. he's talked to us a couple times. about two weeks ago he told us that he wanted to come to church so we of course invited him that week but he didnt show. We saw him several times and invited him again, but we figured he wouldn't come, but he did! it was crazy! we haven't even taught him in his house yet! 

Juan Ramon Samora came to church. This was also a miracle. We shared a scripture with him on saturday where he told us that he had been thinking about not going, but becasue we had stopped to talk with him we got him to change his mind. we still haven't finished up lesson one with him becasue we always get off on tangents but I know he'll progress and I'm excited to help him. he needs a job, he doesn't have a house, or family. Please pray that he can find a job and a place o live!!

Anyways we had four investigators total. It was amazing! I testify that the Lord does answer prayers. the area that I'm in has been in a bit of a dry spell and I've been praying that we could have some success here and then we had four investigators at church. It was literally a miracle. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!

Josh congrats on your new job! and on our papers! you'll have to email me to let me know when you send them in! I'm so proud of you for choosing to serve a mission!

Love you all so much!

Hna. Naegle

Naegle nover: Oh, Pápa. (June 2nd)

Well, I wish there was something super exciting to share but really not much has happened. We have a few investigators and we will find more soon. One of our investigators, the son of a member mom and non-member dad came to church. That was cool. I am excited to continue teaching him and his dad. I finished reading "Our Heritage" this week. It was a really good experience reading it. I was touched by all of the stories and miracles that have taken place to help the church move forward. This is the Lord's work and it will never stop. That is so comforting to me. I always like to think that someday there will be a temple in Hungary. I joked with my companion the other day that her kids will get to go to the Hungarian temple every week and they will be some of the first to get sealed there. It is cool to think that it really is possible. We ate lunch with a young member couple this week. A few years ago, neither of them was a member and now the husband is a returned missionary, they are sealed in the temple, and they are a great strength in our branch. Sister Kovács was only 2 or 3 years old when the missionaries knocked on her family's door and now she is the third kid in her family to serve a full-time mission. It's so neat to be here and see all the amazing things that have happened and are happening as we keep trying to share the gospel. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary and that I have known that I am a child of God my whole life. Not everyone gets that chance.

I hope you all have an amazing week. 

Much Love, 

Naegle nővér