Week #60

Hello everyone!!!

The snow seems like it is going to be a more permanent fixture from now on! It is really pretty, and actually falling right now as well. We plan to go play out in it today. It is about -7 degrees Celsius today. For me, that is really cold. For my poor new companion who is from Las Vegas, this is cold torture for her. Las Vegas doesn’t get cold. She thought hats were just accessories and has never had a winter coat before.

Three more sentences about my new companion: She is seriously model beautiful. She is crazy talented at the piano. She is super outgoing and has a big shiny personality.

Much fun is planned to be had!

Allow me to fill you in on some of the remaining plans for today: playing in the snow, going out for hot chocolate, finger painting, ordering pizza – all with the Elders.

I am so glad Elder Headrick is here. We have renamed him Elder Angel. He is wonderful. He is probably the most gentlemanly Elder I have served with here in Hungary.

Sister MacKay is helping us spend more time with the Elders, and it is good to get to know them a little better.

We had the Elders come to a program with us this week, and it was a really wonderful program. Elders Abram and Headrick helped us practice a baptismal interview with a family. They are good Elders, and I hope we can have other opportunities to teach together. I really felt the Spirit there as we taught and talked with the family.

Sister MacKay and I have made a goal to visit all of the active members of the branch this transfer. We hope to be able to build their confidence in us, and to bring the Spirit into their homes, and to help strengthen the branch here in Miskolc.

Oh, here is something embarrassing that I did this week. We were trying to get to a nearby area to visit a family. It takes about 20-25 minutes by bus to get there. It is hard to explain exactly how it happened… I will attribute it to my extremely poor spatial reasoning skills and directional skills and all that… so… we missed the stop and ended up on a 2 hour bus ride adventure before making it back home.(I tried to find the stop on the way back… and missed that one too.) Luckily, the family we were on our way to see ended up not being able to meet anyway, so we didn’t let them down. We just wasted a bunch of time due to my error. :( embarrassing. I don’t plan on doing that again.

Other fun things this week is singing lots of Christmas Carols with Sister MacKay. We are also learning a song that her parents sent in the mail. Christmas is Love – by Sara Bareilles (I do not know how to spell her name). It is especially fun because neither of us has ever heard the song, so we are sharpening our sight reading skills. All I have to do is read the singing line and the words and I make mistakes all over the place. Somehow she sight reads the entire accompaniment AND the vocal line AND the words all at the same time. She is a miracle woman.

I fear I am going to have a lot less time to write letters this transfer. We are planning to do a lot of ‘fun’ things, which means I wont get much time to write letters. It is really important to me to write, so I am going to try my best. I really love receiving letters from back home. I feel loved and supported. I feel bad that I cannot write back to every letter I receive. I wish the rules were different for when I am allowed to write, but I know it is better to obey the Lord’s standards for missionaries than to do what I want to do.

I could just keep writing and writing and writing… but I should stop. Time always keeps moving! Can’t it take a break for a bit? Haha.

I send my love! And I thank you all for yours!

~ Surányi nővér