Naegle nover: Oh, Buda. I miss you because I'm in Óbuda April 7th

       So, as you can tell from my email title, I still haven't completely forgiven the powers that be over the fact that I live 40 minutes away from where I do all my work. The idea is that we should be able to tract a whole bunch and build up a pool of investigators out by where we live but that is for sure not going to happen for a while since we spend most of our time at the branch house teaching people that we had from before. If several generations of assistants to the president (who should technically be the best and brightest) couldn't create a solid teaching pool in Óbuda even when they had a car, why on earth would it happen now? In one of my old areas, the missionaries aren't allowed to tract in places that are closer to their respective branch houses than my new area is to the branch house here. Why are they not allowed to tract there? Because it is too far. Hmmm.

      Honestly though, everything will be totally fine. It will all even out as we grab some time here and there to work in Óbuda and as we start scheduling people better to minimize traveling time. I am just really exhausted right now from not having any regular meals or studies for several days since we've been all over the place and Óbuda creeps me out a little bit because I've never lived so far away from other missionaries.

      The good news is that I love my companion. I've been pretty sure I would serve with her since the beginning of last transfer actually and I knew we would get along. We were trained by the same sister and we have served with a lot of the same companions. I couldn't have asked for a better companion.

      We had a pretty good week this last week. The first day of the transfer we headed way out to a place called Budaörs, where we did some service at a dog shelter. It was really interesting. We spent a lot of time opening up little tins of really gross dog or cat food (most likely made from the remains of the other animals that passed away) and then we got to play with the dogs a little and take them out to walk. It was really fun but I let's just say the conditions of dog shelters in Hungary are for sure illegal in America. That being said, they really do take good care of the dogs. It was good because I got to spend some time talking with and getting to know our new investigator Gabi. She used to meet with the elders, but their companionship got eliminated and so we started to meet with her. She is ready to get baptized, but we have to find her concern.

      That night we taught a family who is less active. Actually the dad is not active and the mom is a little active. They are adorable and have two little girls. They are actually hoping to have more kids, which is pretty rare in Hungary. Much to my surprised delight, all four of them showed up to conference. We were so happy to see them, and later during the luncheon we had between sessions, I spied the dad in one of the classrooms getting a blessing from the bishop and some other members. Miracle!

      Another miracle of this week was finally seeing Dóra again. She came for the last part of conference and was able to talk with the mission president's wife afterwards, whom she really likes. We set up a program for us all to meet together and she said she would come to church, too. She will get baptized!! The best part is that mine and Sister Simons' trainer taught her and loves her so it's cool that we get to help her now.

      Another miracle was a man named Jozsi. I streeted him with a sister and a split, and he said that he was a member and we set up to meet. We finally met yesterday and he explained that he hasn't been to church in like 10 years because he could never quit smoking. However, about a year ago he was finally able to quit. He said that he figured God would tell him when it was time for him to come back and then he ran into us. We asked if we could go over all the lessons again with him, committed to read 1st Nephi before we meet again, and readily agreed to come to church. He didn't even flinch when I suggested that he meet with the bishop, and we even talked about getting him ready for the temple. I have never, ever met an inactive person who wanted to come back like that. It was a huge miracle. I am pretty certain that the prayers of the missionary who found and baptized him are the thing that is bringing him back.

      We finally got in touch with Laura (the one that used to live in America), and we scheduled a time to meet with her this week. András is doing great, but he was out of town for Easter, so he committed to watch some conference on line. Krisztián we have to give to the elders. Csaba (the one who didn't understand how we could keep the law of chastity) committed to stay for 20 minutes of conference. Then he got a phone call so he came in late but just in time to hear twenty minutes of Elder Packer's talk. I thought it was funny that he had just 20 minutes and that was the talk that he ended up hearing.

      So, things are pretty great here. I love serving here and I love the work. We are being very blessed and I think that some really good things are going to happen this transfer.

Wishing you all a fantastic week,

Naegle nővér