Sister Hannah Schoendorfer in Hungary: MTC

Hey!

I can't believe I have been here for a little more than five weeks. This week flew by! I will be getting on a plane for Hungary in 3 and a half weeks! I am so excited!

This week was really great but I want to first tell you about this morning. I had the opportunity to go to the Provo Temple, and do temple work for my sweet Aunt Becky who passed away a few years ago. I was able to be baptized and confirmed for her in January of this year. So today I continued doing some other work in her name. It was a really amazing opportunity. The temple worker who was with me was Nicki Infanzon again and it was a really sweet experience. I felt our Heavenly Father's love that He has for each of us, so strongly. Heavenly Father is truly aware of us as we go about our lives.

This week I said goodbye to two friends who left the MTC for their missions. Sisar Jones left for Finland and the night before she left we were up way late helping her pack everything and clean. It was sad to see her go but I am so excited for her to be in Finland! I also said goodbye to Elisa (Hermana Huhem) who was only here for 12 days, but it was so fun to see her pretty much every day. Elisa is such a happy girl and it was fun to talk and catch up with her. I am excited to hear about how she is doing in Washington.

So one of the coolest things that happened this week was that I had a dream in Hungarian. It might sound crazy but it happened! It was super short (haha) but I had a dream that my companion and I were in Hungary and we were at a restaurant together, and I ordered a glass of water. I woke up so confused, but it was way cool. I guess that's what happens when you are learning Hungarian all day long for 5 weeks.

Our devotionals this week were Brother Richard L. Heaton and Elder Hugo Montoya of the Seventy. I played the piano at the devotional on Sunday night, accompanying a sister playing 'I Need Thee Every Hour' on viola. After the musical number the speaker, Brother Heaton, joked about a missionary who one time said "I don't know about you but, I need Thee every half hour!" Hahah, it was really funny, he was an amazing speaker, and after the devotional people again recognized me from playing the piano! He talked about reaching out to others and just being friendly to everyone we come in contact with. He had his son, Russel, who has special needs, help him with the program so Russel was running around to everyone handing the microphone to different people to speak. He was adorable! His dad would tell him to hand the microphone to someone close by, and with that Russel would turn around and bolt all the way up to the top of the bleachers and give it to the missionary sitting the furthest away.

During the devotional with Elder Montoya, we learned about how important it is to be alert, be genuine, and be obedient. In the beginning of the talk he told us a story about how he had seen a meme of him speaking at General Conference that was on the internet, with a play on his name from the 'Princess Bride' with the famous line "...you killed my father..." He laughed about it and thought it was funny but then he went on to tell us the story about how six soldiers in Mexico, many years ago, killed his great-grandfather for being a Mormon. This story was heart-breaking and inspiring to me, because his great-grandfather believed in Christ so much and wasn't afraid to show others that he was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I cannot even imagine what that experience must have been like.

I also loved that Elder Montoya talked about President Hinckley's 'Be Attitudes' (Be Grateful, Be Smart, Be Involved, Be Clean, Be True, Be Positive, Be Humble, Be Still, Be Prayerful). He then added a few of his own - Be Alert, Be Genuine, and Be Obedient. I loved this because growing up (and still today) my dad has always been sure to remind me of these 'Be Attitudes' from President Hinckley. I will admit, sometimes I would roll my eyes at him because he was always putting these little 'Be Attitudes' in places where I would see them, but I am so grateful now that he did that.

I loved that Elder Montoya added to be alert and genuine because I feel like those often go hand in hand. As we are aware of how others around us are feeling we are able to genuinely reach out and get to know them. Elder Montoya shared that we need to be genuine as we talk to others, even if we are doing it in a language other than our first language. He talked about the fact that he understands how hard that can be (he was born and raised in Mexico, so English is his second language). He said that as we act with the Savior as our example, we will be able to let love and the Spirit work within us to bless the lives of others. I also loved that he said to "enjoy the hot sun, the cold winter, the wet rain, and the freezing snow." He encouraged us to make the best of our situations, because we have so much to be happy about. Elder Montoya encouraged us to be bold and optimistic as we go into our missions and reach out to others.

As Vasica

Nővér and I taught our lessons this week we were really able to be guided by the Spirit. We went into one lesson with Evelein, having not had much time to plan, but I had felt like we needed to share Lehi's Dream of the Tree of Life with her (1 Nephi 8). It was perfect for her! We talked about the fact that we were on missions because we cared about her and wanted to share the happiness of the gospel with her, just like Lehi. In previous lessons she had expressed a concern to us about how hard life can be sometimes. We were able to relate Lehi's dream to her and teach her that sometimes we will have to walk through a mist of darkness in order to endure to the end and have eternal life. I testified to her that if we are faithful and continuously keep hold to the iron rod, we will be greatly blessed and that when the time comes we will be encircled in the arms of our Heavenly Father as we return home to Him. I love the scripture 2 Nephi 1:15 about this! I also have found great comfort in 2 Nephi 28:32 because we know that Christ always has his hand extended out towards us and wants to help us so much, but we need to be the ones who reach up for Him.

A few fun highlights from the week were that we were able to have Chick-fil-A one night for dinner! Everyone was so excited! This is one of the first times they have brought in food from outside the MTC.

Our district was asked to host the new missionaries that arrived yesterday, which was so fun! It was so tender watching missionaries drive up and say goodbye to the families at the curbside. I hosted a Sister named Hannah who was so sweet. She is also friends with two of the

Nővérek (Sisters) who left for Hungary in the group just before me, one of them who I know from BYU, Willets

Nővér!

I think that's about it for this week, have a great week!

Keep using Dear Elder (the free on line service) for the next 3 and a half weeks, because soon I won't be able to get letters daily. I can still write of course, but it will just be much slower once I'm in Hungary. I love hearing from everyone!

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér