One Year Old!

Well, I turned one year old as a missionary this past week! It feels like that time has both flown by and also like I have been here forever. I guess both are true. 

This week was really great, we still had some trouble meeting with people but all in all it was a great week. We were able to go to a lesson with cute Lilla this week and she is such a joy to be with! She is one of the most positive people I know and it's impossible for me to not be smiling when I'm with her. She was so happy to meet with us and was such an amazing example to me as she invited everyone she could to church or gave them a pass along card. 

We also went to visit a church member named Piroska and her cute daughter Hanna and a couple from church came with us. They are an older couple and so amazing. They are always so willing to help and we have gotten to know them pretty well. Their names are Feri and Mária and as we were going home, they told us about how they were getting off the tram one stop early so that they would have more time to be out walking together. I loved it!

We had fun chalking again this week and had so many dogs run up to us and they were so friendly! Willets nővér and I accidentally ate bugs this week; I guess that's what happens when missionaries pass down a huge container of taco seasoning. 

Anyways we met a lot of new people this week from all over the place. It is so cool to talk all kinds of different people everyday, I love being here. József decided on a baptismal date this week! It was actually kind of funny because we had a really amazing lesson with him and he said he was still trying to decide between two dates. He wanted to have his baptism on a Monday because that is his favorite day of the week but he called us later and said he had officially decided on November 12th! We are so excited! We went over to visit him with Gizi yesterday and it was so funny because he was writing his baptismal date in his calendar and also writing notes on the Sundays to come to church. I really love teaching him, he has the biggest heart! 

Also, we met with a bácsi this week that had met with the missionaries about a year ago, his name was István. At first it seemed like he didn't want to meet but then he decided that he did and when we went over he was so so excited. He had made for us káposztás tészta (cabbage and noodles) which took him three hours. I don't really know how to describe this bácsi except for maybe the more energetic and happy version of the bácsi from the movie Up, or more accurately the bácsi from the movie The Little Prince for those of you who have seen that. He is a pretty lonely guy but as we talked about the gospel we could tell that it touched his heart. He cried as he told us some of the struggles he has had in his life, most recently was his wife passing away. 

It is such a joy to share the message of the gospel and bring light into people's lives that they didn't know existed. Everyone's life can change and I have seen the light of the gospel change other's, and my own, forever. I know Heavenly Father is aware of us and I am so glad to be a part of a gospel that revolves around progression. It is kind of interesting because we come on missions to find others who haven't heard of this gospel, but in the process I have found myself and found what I hold dear to my heart. The light I have found in Christ has brightened my life forever. I love God and I love my family. I love the incredible people that I have been lucky enough to meet here in Hungary and all over throughout my life. In my year of being a missionary I have learned so much, I still don't know everything - I guess I have to wait until that perfect day still (D&C 50:23-25) - but I think the most important thing I have truly learned is that to stay close to Heavenly Father and ultimately to find peace and happiness in our lives we need to pray. Through prayer we will receive answers, sometimes in ways we aren't expecting, but I know that answers come and as we ponder on how to more fully live, we will find the way and He will guide us. 

"Today you are you, that's truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you!" -Dr. Suess 

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér

We have both been serving for 1 year! I was able to be with Greenwood on splits the day we both celebrated our 1 year mark. 

Explanation on this photo--Puszi is what they call it when Hungarians greet one another with a kiss on each cheek. It is so common and something that was strange to me when I got here, but now I can't imagine what it was like without it!

A big jump for hitting the one year mark!

I love all the friendly dogs here.

It's kind of a missionary thing to burn an article of clothing at the one year mark.

Had a fun surprise, I got to see Reni and her friend and have a quick lunch with them this week. 

This is Lilla, I adore her! 

More chalking. 

The Kite String

Hello! It has been a great week here. Fall has finally arrived after a rainstorm and it has gotten colder! We haven't been able to meet with as many people as we had hoped, but we busied ourselves with some new finding ideas. We drew with chalk in a few parks close by and people were really interested with what we were drawing! It was really fun. Also, we met with Mr. Deen again last week. He is from Africa and so so enjoyable. He told us all about how he used to have two pet giraffes when he lived in Africa and wanted to know if we would be allowed to have a pet giraffe in our apartment here. Things are going really great with him though, we talked about Joseph Smith and his role was in the restoration of the gospel. 

One day this week we tried to visit a member that someone had asked us to visit. We went to her apartment and she buzzed us right in. When we got there, we were greeted by cute Lilla. Lilla isn't actually who we were originally looking for (we were trying to meet with her mom) but Lilla was there at her mom's house while her mom was at work. Lilla is a member of the Buda Ward so we don't know her very well and we were surprised that she was on the Pest side, so close to us because we thought she lived somewhere in Buda. She told us she was just staying with her mom for a little bit while she gets ready to move into a different apartment with her husband. Lilla is amazing and I am so grateful we got to see her that day because she really lifted our spirits. Lilla had an accident a few years ago which has very much affected her and now she struggles with brain damage. She was overjoyed to see us though and went on and on telling us about how her and her husband are going to be family history missionaries for the church and how excited she was for that. She showed us a few of her favorite scriptures and talked to us for a bit. She is one of the most positive and caring people I've ever met and she has such a great influence on everyone around her. 

We took the long three hour train to Szombathely this past week to go on splits with the sisters there, Vasica and Mcgregor (both from my MTC group). It was so fun to see both of them. I went on splits with Sister McGregor and had a blast riding bikes with her. I have only gotten to ride bikes a few times on my mission and it is always on splits, I love bikes! We talked to some of the nicest people in Szombathely. We were even walking in a park and said hi to a couple and after a few seconds they asked us to sit down and tell them about our church. It was amazing! They were really kind and I hope the sisters in Szombathely will be able to meet with them again in the future. 

We had a great zone training this past week which was super fun because they brought in a police officer to talk about bike safety. He has only been learning English since April and said the funniest things while talking about bikes. Also, the reason I called this week "the kite string" is because I have been thinking a lot about kites and how they connect to commandments. I heard a story a bit ago and it has stuck with me since then. It's about a little boy who went to the park with his dad and wanted to get the kite going as high as he could - here it is:

"The boy was very young. It was his first experience with kite flying. His father helped him, and after several attempts the kite was in the air. The boy ran and let out more string, and soon the kite was flying high. The little boy was so excited; the kite was beautiful. Eventually there was no more string left to allow the kite to go higher. The boy said to his father, “Daddy, let’s cut the string and let the kite go; I want to see it go higher and higher.”

His father said, “Son, the kite won’t go higher if we cut the string.”

“Yes, it will,” responded the little boy. “The string is holding the kite down; I can feel it.” The father handed a pocket knife to his son. The boy cut the string. In a matter of seconds the kite was out of control. It darted here and there and finally landed in a broken heap. That was difficult for the boy to understand. He felt certain the string was holding the kite down."

The commandments and laws of God are like the kite string. They lead us and guide us upward. Obedience to them gives us peace, hope, and direction in our lives. I have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine and gives us guidance for our happiness and success and that true freedom comes from using our agency for good. 

We also had great splits with the Sopron sisters (Grogan and Smith). It was so fun to see Grogan since she was also in my MTC group. I went on splits with Sister Smith. The last time I went on splits with her was during her first week in the country and she has improved so much in the language and is doing so well. We went to visit a woman named Piroska and her cute daughter named Hanna. I love visiting families here, it is one of the biggest blessings. We were able to visit Annie again and her cute little son and we took them a treat. Hopefully we will be able to meet with Annie this week, last week she was really busy with family in town.

We met with József bácsi again this week, the gentleman who came to church last week and left before the meeting even started. He felt really bad and had wished he hadn't left. While it is different than when he was there in 2009, József was more upset about the fact that he didn't have a suit or nice clothes. We told him it's okay to be in jeans and talked about going to church for God. He is also going through a really hard time right now and they have discovered cancer so we are praying he will be okay. He wants to get baptized and this past week we talked about him getting baptized around November 7. He said Mondays are his favorite day and he wants to get baptized then hahah, he is so funny. There is a chance he will choose the following Saturday though so that more people can come. József is another person that I am especially grateful to be teaching right now. He has such a positive outlook on life and isn't afraid to stretch himself. I learn so much from others each day and I love being here. 

Also, our dear friend Kriszti made us dinner last week and I ate duck for the first time ever! It was delicious! 

Love you!

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér

We had splits with McGregor this week in Szombathely, and got to ride bikes!

We love the primary kids.

Splits with Vasica.

We tried "chalking" this week.

We love Gizi. This was a picture of her trying sour patch kids.

A roller coaster week.....

Sorry, but this is going to be a short posting today, but I will briefly tell you about our week. Last Monday we had such a great time at the zoo with Gizi and Álmos, they are so much fun and we even got to pet some kangaroos!!!! We were also able to visit Hosok tere (Heroes' Square which features the Seven Chieftains of the Magyars and other important national leaders, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  

We did however have a week full of ups and downs, between being really sick, lots of cancelled lessons, some new people to meet with, Krisztián writing us a song, an investigator coming to church and then leaving before it started, spending a lot of time at the Hivatal - Records Office (Government Building - think of the DMV in the States and then times it by 10), and more. 

We were blessed to be able to attend  Johanna's baptism in Győr which was the absolute highlight of our week! I got to teach her once on splits a while ago and we have had lunch with her here in Budapest. She asked me to play the organ for her baptism and we also had a special musical number which was beautiful. She is so amazing!  Yesterday they had the primary program in church and it was too cute! I played piano for the program and the kids did a great job and it was so enjoyable to watch, as always. 

I hope you all have a great week and I'll leave you with a few quotes from my absolute favorite prophet (are you even allowed to have a favorite prophet?) I adore this man and his advice -- President Gordon B. Hinckley.

"I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life we “accentuate the positive.” I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good

​.​

"

​"​

It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is.
It all works out. Don’t worry.
I say that to myself every morning."

"Happy is the man who can brush aside the offending remarks of another and go on his way."

"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."

​"​

Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great purpose in heart.

​"​

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér

We had a great time at the zoo -- az allatkerti!

We even were able to pet the Kangaroo.

Gizi and Almos :)

Heroes' Square in Budapest

We were tired after a long (but very enjoyable) P - day.

Baptism in Gyor!

This was the highlight of the week -- Johanna's baptism!

Going back to my grennie city with Greenwood

I was able to go back to Nyíregyháza for a split with Greenwood Nővér!  It was such an amazing few days! We went in the evening and arrived in time to go over to Péter's! He was so excited that I was back in town for a little bit! He even made my favorite dinner, túrós tészta! He was so happy that he remembered what it was haha. It was so fun being with their family again, I adore them! They wanted to hear all about life in Budapest and what I had been doing. I felt so at home being with them and it was really cool to see how much they have progressed. His wife, Angéla is now really interested in learning more about the gospel and so is their daughter, Viki. Angéla is always sure that they pray before they eat. Angéla also told us a story about how Péter was climbing a mountain recently and his foot had been hurting before and so he said a prayer that he would be able to make it up safely. Angéla talked about how before we came by their house on that cold day in February for the first time, Péter very rarely prayed. Now, he prays several times a day. They all seem so happy and are doing so well, the kids are back to school and their dog is still happy as ever. 

After we left, we took a bus back to the city center and on the way back I tried to give Iza (Izabella's granddaughter) a call. She didn't pick up so I sent a text. But, when she didn't answer, we decided to head home. Then, about 15 minutes later we got a call from a random number and it was Izabella! She just kept asking where we were and then said she would be there soon and hung up. We weren't able to call the number back so we were really confused because we had talked about meeting in two different spots. Then she called again about 15 minutes later and we realized we were a good 20 minute walk away and it was already 9 at night. Sister Greenwood and I sprinted to the train station where cute Izabella néni and her granddaughter were waiting for us. Izabella was absolutely thrilled! I was so happy to see them and it was so fun to sit on a bench with them and catch up. Izabella went on and on about how she doesn't think there will ever be another girl in Nyíregyháza like me, it was so cute. She didn't want to say goodbye and asked when I would be there again. She is such an amazing lady!!! We also ran into Enikő at the bus stop who was another lady I taught while I served in Nyír. She saw us waiting for the bus and walked over after she had worked late. It was so good to see her too! 

The next day we went over to visit Valika - my hungarian grandma. Valika was one of the best examples to me when I served in Nyíregyháza and was always so encouraging. She made us a nice fancy lunch and is still the most adorable chef, she made chicken for us, in the shape of hearts! She kept adding things like garnish or olives and saying "it's not ready yet..it needs to be just right." It was so nice to chat with her. I always learn so much from her every time I am there, she is so wise. We talked about miracles and read in Moroni 7 which is such a great chapter. She talked about how there are so many small miracles in our lives each day. She said that the birds being able to make nests is a miracle and even us being able to talk is a miracle, especially with me coming from America and being able to communicate with her in Hungarian. That is a miracle for me too! I am so grateful I was able to go back to Nyíregyháza for a little bit and it was also great to be with Sister Greenwood. Nyíregyháza will always hold a special place in my heart! 

In other news from Pest, we had an MLC Meeting which went really well, we had some great lessons, and also got caught running in the pouring rain where we then went soaking wet to a lesson with Taylor and Ken, the Nigerians. Annie got a job this past week and we are so happy for her. She had a really cool experience where she was praying to find a job and when she finished praying and checked her email, there was a job offering that a friend had sent her that was in the perfect location for her and the right amount of hours she can do. I am so grateful to be able to teach her, she has such strong faith and is so down to earth. 

We also met with Krisztián who always does whatever he can to get us to laugh - it's always his goal, and he does it well! We also got to help in primary which was so fun. The kids will put on a primary program this coming Sunday which will be really cute. Oh, we also met with József again, the bácsi who we found tracting who told us about how he almost got baptized a few years ago and the one whose mom was a member. He told us that he has been reading so much in the Book of Mormon and that he wants to get baptized...in the Danube River! He just needs to find someone willing to get in there with him to baptize him haha. Have an amazing week!

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér

Peter and his family, his wife Angela, daughter Viki and son Peti. What an amazing family.

Here is my wonderful friend Izabella! 

And her granddaughter, Iza.

Corn - Kukorica

It's was so much fun being with Valika once again!

Splits with Sister Jarrett, she goes home at the end of this transfer in October.

Angelika, a church member here in Pest.

We were pretty excited when we found some American soda. 

Here we are after being caught in the rain, we had umbrellas so luckily at least our heads stayed dry, but everything else got really soaked.

'Toto.....I've a feeling we're not in Hungary anymore'

Well, we are now officially teaching more foreigners than we are Hungarians! It has really been a great week though and we were able to see so many amazing things happen! We do have a few Hungarian people who we are teaching right now and one of them is a new young man we found tracting the week before and his name is Andras. We set up a time to meet a few days later after speaking to him briefly at his front door. When we met with him, he told us he had read 40 pages from the Book of Mormon already and had been reading on mormon.org. He is out of town a lot for work, but hopefully we will be able to meet with him again soon. 

We went to Sopron this past week. I love going there, it is such a beautiful town and the people are really kind. I was able to go on splits with Sister Grogan who was in my MTC group. It was so fun to be with her. I think I told the story of the man named Jozsef who we found tracting whose mom was mormon. We tracted his door a few weeks ago and a few days before we were there he had been thinking about what he would do if the mormon missionaries came by again, and we came! Anyway, we finally got to meet with him this past week and it was amazing. He knows SO much about the church and has studied religion a lot. After we met with him he said he was going to pray about baptism and start reading from the Book of Mormon again. 

Now to our foreign investigators. We are continuing to teach Taylor and Ken, the Nigerians who approached us on the street one day and said they wanted to come to church, and this past week when we went, they had invited another one of their friends who wanted to learn more about the church!! It was amazing! They have so many questions and are really looking for the truth. We met with another guy this past week named Mr. Deen. He is from Africa and studied with the missionaries a few years ago. We had a nice lesson with him and were able to talk more about the plan of happiness with him, as he is still struggling with his mom having died a few weeks ago. President and Sister Szabadkai came with us to the lesson and it was really funny because at one point, 

Mr. Deen started singing and then President and Sister Szabadkai joined in singing, it was hilarious!! Mr. Deen also has so many questions that we are hoping we will be able to answer but I at least know we are bringing peace into his life. He also wants to make us African food one of these days and told us not to let him forget! 

We met with two french speakers this week (who also speak English), one is from the Congo and one is from Canada. They are both so sweet. The one, Annie, is the lady that the senior couple from Romania found, that I talked about a few weeks ago. She is so incredible and really searching to find the truth. She is one of the strongest people ever and so so sweet. We helped her and her cute son get to church yesterday and she really enjoyed it. She has learned a lot of things throughout her life through, really unique experiences and I love learning from her. She already believes so many of the same things that we teach! Her son is such a sweetheart and had fun with the other kids at church. 

The other french speaker is named Debora and she found us when she stumbled upon a  mormon.org  page a little while ago. We got her phone number through a media referral and got to meet her this past week. She has only been learning English for about a year so she still struggles, but she speaks amazingly well. She also has been learning about many different churches and was so excited to get a Book of Mormon from us in French. She said that she really felt good while we were there and with the message we brought her. She doesn't know a lot of people here in Hungary and is so excited to get to know more people at church. She is so fun and one of the happiest people ever! 

Speaking of happy people, I am still so grateful to meet with Krisztian, who was baptized in July. He has such a positive attitude that is completely contagious! He walked into the room the other day for our lesson happily singing a song and he always cheers me up! We also had a really amazing lesson with Csilla this past week. She has come so far and next week we are talking to her about baptism. She has a really strong faith and I just love her! I am about out of time and I feel like I wasn't even able to fit everything in, but I truly love being here! I want to share an amazing quote that I heard the other day by Neal A. Maxwell.

“God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.”

​I know that is true and I have seen it so much on my mission. Have a great week!​

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér

Sopron is such a pretty town.

I love Sister Grogan, we were in the MTC together. 

These are beautiful birds that fly into the trees each night in Sopron.

My life in Budapest

This week went by so quick! We were really busy pretty much every day which is great! We are meeting with József again and had a great night at a member's house and an amazing lesson. The kids were so excited to have so much company over and were really fun to have around. We had a great split with the Pécs Sisters and did some singing finding! We went close to one of the metro stations and sang and played the ukulele and were able to talk to some really cool people about the gospel. 

We also had the most amazing lesson with Csilla this week. I absolutely love her and I learn so much from her. I read Moroni 7 earlier in the week which we felt like was perfect to share with her and it was! That is an amazing chapter and it is really jam packed full of wonderful teachings. I love in verses 16-17 how it talks about the spirit of Christ. I thought it was interesting reading that and then thinking about our conscientiousness as human beings because that is truly what it is. Another point that I thought was amazing as I studied this chapter was the fact that so much of the Book of Mormon takes place before Christ came. Prophets and angels were sent to make the coming of Christ manifest to the people, which we also read about in Mosiah 3:13, during King Benjamin's speech, "and the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them." Christ came in the meridian of time. We are able to read in the Book of Mormon about a time that took place hundreds of years before Christ all the way through his coming and to hundreds of years after He came. I think it is such a testimony that the prophets, since the beginning of time, testified of Christ. From the time of Adam and Eve, a savior was needed and it was all a part of God's plan for us, His children. 

Lately, we have been finding so many foreign people. Or should I saw, they have been finding us! We met with another guy this week who was from Africa. We got in contact with him the same week that his mother had just died and we were able to go over and talk about the plan of salvation with him and he said he felt so comforted. He is a very humble man with a lot of questions and we are excited to go see him again. We visited our new Nigerian friends again, Taylor and Ken, and they are doing great. They still have lots of questions and slowly, but surely, we are able to do our best in answering them, they said to come over whenever haha. They are both such positive people and love to learn about what we have to say. Also, I don't know if I mentioned her before, but there is a woman from Győr who I absolutely adore and her name is Johanna. I met her one day in Budapest when she was here taking a test and went out to lunch with Willets Nővér and myself (Willets found her when she was serving in Győr). Then, we were already planning on going on splits to Győr that day and so she drove us there! She is such a sweetheart and when we went to teach her the next day on splits, she made us burgers and had a cake for Willets Nővér's birthday! She is amazing. Anyway, the reason I'm talking about her is because she just decided to get baptized!! She asked me to play the organ for her and I am going to accompany her and Willets Nővér singing together. We are going to go on splits on the weekend of her baptism and I am so excited, she is such an amazing lady and I'm so grateful for splits to be able to meet such great people all over the country. 

We ran into Melinda on the street the other night which is amazing! She is a less active who has been so busy lately and we haven't been able to get a hold of her. She has been having some hard times and she said that the day before she ran into us, she had prayed for the first time in a long time and that it was no coincidence that we ran into her. We had a great talk with her and are going to go on a walk with her tonight.

I had a rough experience tracting the other day with a really grumpy man who was being really quite rude to us about our beliefs, and criticizing the way we spoke Hungarian. This happens more than I wish it did, but for some reason I felt really hurt more than usual. We learn how to brush things off quick as missionaries because of these experiences but it still hurts, especially as you do get better at the language which means you can understand every rude thing they say to you. I thought to myself that it was easier as a new missionary, it hurts more when you can actually understand them! Anyway, my point of sharing this is that, after experiencing this for almost a year as a missionary, I have truly felt why missionary work is so hard to do a lot of the time. It goes back to what I learned from a talk by Elder Holland in the MTC. Missionary work isn't an easy experince because salvation is not a "cheap" experience. We need to expect to take a few steps towards calvary, and spend a few minutes in gethsemene because we are representing Jesus Christ, who suffered so much for us. We can't do what He did, we cannot. But, we are His missionaries, His disciples. Elder Holland said, "what type of disciples would we be if we didn't know some of the suffering Christ experienced?" I know that as we teach the gospel to others, we need to be strong for Christ who went through so much more for our happiness. We were at a member's house yesterday (Kriszti) who I am so grateful for because her words touched my heart and I know it was exactly what I needed to hear after having this experience. She talked about how we should always resemble Christ. We should be kind to everyone around us and love them because we never really know other's situations and what they have or are going through. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to bring this amazing message of the restored gospel to people here, even with the rough patches along the way.

We were able to see the Freiberg temple re-dedication yesterday and it was amazing!!! It was wonderful because Elder Bednar spoke in German (he served a mission there 40 years ago) and then Elder Uchtdorf also spoke (in his native tongue - German) and talked about how it is out of love that we learn languages. I love that! It was a really spiritual time and I was even able to sing in German which was really fun for me! It was really cool that it was a re-dedication because they talked about how we can personally "re-dedicate" ourselves. I know that is true and I am so grateful for this gospel and how we are able to consistently progress with Christ's help. 

Have the best week!

Sok szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér

Freiberg Temple Rededication

Some of the my MTC group - love these sisters.

I randomly ran into Elder Ure at the mission home.

Chalk finding - it says: Why is family important? If this topic interests you, call this number.

Practicing the ukulele for our music finding fun.