Broken Things

Hello everybody,

So up until this point in the transfer, the work has really been moving along - finding new investigators every week, at least two at church on Sundays, members willing to help in our finding efforts, progressing well with current investigators.  However, this last week was a little more difficult.  To start, we were in Budapest on Wednesday for zone conference (which was actually really enlightening), so unfortunately that took us out of Nyíregyháza for an entire day.  Our current investigators all seemed to have had a variety of problems preventing them from meeting with us.  Fortunately, the weather has become really sunny and warm.  If you know me well, you will know that before mission, I didn't always share the same appreciation of warm, sunny weather as everyone else seems to do, but during mission, I CAN'T GET ENOUGH.  First of all, tracting and streeting are so hard in the cold and on the snow and ice.  Second of all, when it's dark in the winter (it got dark around 4 pm), all Hungarians just disappear.  No one's on the streets, no one's home, they all just go somewhere - I don't really know.  Now, life is a walk in the park, literally!  

We like to find parks and talk to people as we walk around.  We can go tracting in the suburban areas, where every house has a garden and most people are already out gardening.  And even if no one is interested, you can take solace in the fact that you're getting a good tan regardless.  Also people are just generally in a better mood when we approach them in balmier weather.  Plus the ice cream stands are open (they are everywhere around here), and we use them as rewards for long sessions of street contacting.  During the next few weeks, we're going to try chalking (when we draw the Plan of Salvation using sidewalk chalk on footpaths), lemonade stands (except Hungarians put fruit syrups in bubbly water), and violin duets in the city center (because Dorny Nővér also plays) while our companions actually talk to the passers-by.

I've decided to heed the council of the Book of Mormon prophets, and for the past few weeks I've been studying out of Isaiah. First of all, it is objectively just good literature.  He is so poetic and is able to express complex ideas using a few simple, albeit unorthodox, images.  Second, though I really haven't had any mind blowing gospel realizations since I've been studying from it (I'm sure they'll come soon enough), I've really felt the Spirit confirm to me that this is what I need to be studying right now.  It really actually affects my mood through-out the day, regardless of whether or not people listen to or accept the message that we're trying to share.  The inner peace that comes from diligent scripture study might be my favorite crop to reap from the activity; if not my favorite, just the one that I've been noticing the most recently.  Speaking of crops, there was a really relatable quote that I read in a talk this past week (The Inconvenient Messiah - BYU devotional given by Jeffrey R. Holland - READ IT). It goes, 

"It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever."

This is SO true.  God often breaks us down, in a multitude of ways.  But He's doing this so that he can fill the chasm with joy, increasing our capacity to experience His love and peace.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to devote all of my time to serving Him - and I'm not necessarily talking about a mission, but about membership in His church and knowledge concerning His gospel.

Love you all!

Martin Elder

Sorry, just one picture this week. This is Bus Terézia, a member that we bring the sacrament to every Sunday.  She has a few illnesses that cause her to stay home all of the time, but she is actually really funny, and dithers not in absolutely trashing my still progressing Hungarian.