Hello from Hungary!
I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas! It was fun for me to Skype with me family for a little bit. It's hard to believe that the next time I will see them and talk to them it will be in person!! The mission had flown by for me and I am glad to still have until early April to be here.
I was able to reflect on a lot of things this Christmas season and I think one of my favorite parts of the story of Christ's birth is about the wise men making their journey to Christ by following the star. I love to read this story in Luke and I also enjoyed reading from 3 Nephi, chapter 1 this year. Verse 21 says, "
And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word."
It is so amazing to me to read about how the prophets talked about Christ many years before He came. It is such a testimony to me. For the wise men, it must have been such a long journey and they must of had such strong faith to follow the star. We can follow the example of the wise men, and we too can still seek Him. Him who is perfectly familiar with us, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our advocate with the Father.
Some highlights of the week were going caroling with the Elders here in Szolnok, we had some people even stop to listen to us sing. We also went to the local children's hospital and read stories to them which they loved! We brought "Cat in the Hat" in Hungarian which they had never heard of and they were laughing so much. It is so sad that these poor kids were in the hospital during Christmas but I'm glad we were able to bring a little bit of Christmas cheer to them.
We were also able to go to Budapest this week for the special Christmas Conference. It was so so fun! We went around and talked about what we have been grateful for this past year and what our goals are for the coming year. I am truly grateful to have been able to spend the past year here in Hungary and for the people here. I have seen people change their lives for the better and also met people who have helped me along the way. I am grateful for the encouragement of others and for Hungary. I made a goal of finishing my mission strong, being diligent and always looking for the good, positive, and happy things. You get what you look for.
We also had a talent show, a white elephant, and watched the movie "The Little Prince" which I just love! We got to watch is last year for Christmas too. One of my favorite quotes from that book is "growing up is not the problem, the problem is forgetting." There are times where it is good to forget, and good to move on. But, more often, forgetting can be sad because it is sometimes easy to forget about life changing experiences and so on. I never want to forget. I never want to forget the time I have had in Hungary and the times I am continuing to have. I never want to forget the people I am blessed to have in my life.
After the zone conference we traveled to Szeged with their district to have an exchange with the nővérek there, Beck and Dyson. I love them both so much, they are really fun to be around, and my past companion Jarrett nővér trained both of them and she also finished my training so it was so fun to be together with both of them. We also visited all the members in our area which was such a treat! I really love getting to know the people here and it was a great weekend. We even were able to experience tradition fish soup on Christmas Eve!
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