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.