Miracles

Sziasztok!

The following email has a central figure (besides the Lord :) ): Judy. She is one of my investigators, and has probably friended you on facebook already. (She does a lot of "research", always, whether that's in the scriptures or on facebook. She is AWESOME!!

Let me give you a play by play of this week.

Sunday: Church, 2 lessons (one with Ilona, the other with Judy and Lotti - I brought my violin and some Mormon music my mom had sent me to both of them), met the sisters in the then-vacant city center (it was around 8:30 p.m. - most Hungarians are in bed), exchanged some books with the sisters, set down my violin by a statue, left the city center, realized 5 minutes later that I had left my violin by the statue, headed back. violin GONE. Looked around, no success.

Monday: Sad about violin, walked ALL around town to various police stations (none of which were very kind or helpful) trying to recover the instrument. We ended up being led in circles around town all day, and eventually just accepted the fact that my violin is gone forever.

Tuesday: Preparation Day. TRANSFER CALLS - I found out I'm staying in Nyíregyháza; I couldn't be more thrilled. Stringham Elder packed (he went to Veszprém, toward the western center of the country), and we had a really fun, long, last dinner together at Burger Pub (our favorite restaurant in Nyíregyháza).

Wednesday: TRANSFERS. Headed to Budapest on the 5:30 a.m. train. Schrad Nővér and I saw all most of our MTC friends at the mission home (reunited with Fuchs Elder again for one short, awesome hour (picture below)). NEW COMPANION: Norris Elder, from Washington state, dad works for the army, has lived in Germany and the Netherlands, super awesome guy!! Judy called me randomly as I was boarding the train back to Nyíregyháza, asking if I was married. "Nope, not yet!" Came back to Nyíregyháza, suprise visit from our landlord at our apartment. We hadn't bought any groceries the day before, so our fridge was empty. As he was inspecting the aparment (and corrected us on a few things), he opened our fridge, saw it was empty. "Oh..", he said, and looked at us with really pitiful, sad eyes. "I'm so sorry." He totally thinks we are poor and starving. Also he used our toilet before he left.. -_-

Thursday: Missionary work. Met new district (new sister greenie, Roche Nővér).

Friday: Missionary work.

Saturday: A sunny, breezy, dreadful lesson with Ilona (we brought along our Branch Mission Leader - Zsolt ... probably not the best idea). Ilona was getting pretty annoyed with him. Went to visit Judy and Lotti. They were listening to the radio when we came in. We got to see the amazing view they have from their 9th floor apartment really for the first time (Tokaj mountain in the distance - picture below). They found out about the church's practice of polygamy in the 1800's - turns out THAT was why she called me on Wednesday, asking if I was married. She had gone through my entire facebook, found all the pictures of me and various prom dates, and thought that they were all my wives LOL. Judy asked if I brought my violin. I told her that it had been stolen. 

"Where?" she asked.

"The city center."

"When?"

"Sunday."

"I know where it is." 

Turns out, one of the radio stations in Nyíregyháza (Retro Radio - the same one that they were listening to when we walked in) had reported that they had found a violin in the city center. Both Judy and Lotti had heard this at separate occasions. When Judy heard this, she immediately thought, "Ádám." (She uses our first names ... ) Right then and there, she called the boss of Retro Radio, who she was friends with from school (she seriously knows just about everyone in Nyíregyháza). He gave her the number of the man who actually found it. She called him. Turns out, she knew him too. He happens to be living right next to the house of her late parents-in-law. She called him, talked with him a lot, referencing me as the "American boy who lost his violin". He asked her to describe the contents of the case. "Violin, bow, green interior, Mormon music." Correct. The man would drop it off later that week to her apartment. We finished our lesson with them about Priesthood authority. The phone rang, the man had already arrived downstairs with the violin. We went down together in the tiny elevators they have here (pictured below). The man drove up with his taxi, with my violin inside (turns out, 3 separate people had called, claiming it was theirs, but they couldn't describe the type of music (Mormon), he kept it, waiting). VIOLIN RESTORED!

It was seriously a miracle. Judy is incredible. I know that this was only one of the reasons why God had allowed us to cross paths. The Lord is really watching out for us.

2 Corinthians spiritual thought! 6:16-18:

"...for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Love you all!

Martin Elder

The scene of the crime - where I set my violin, and what it looked like when I returned. 

Fuchs Elder!!

New district takes on Nyíregyháza

 A random Hungarian (not the best photographer) taking a picture of us in front of this random graffito ("I am the street king")

View from Judy's apartment.

Tiny Hungarian elevator - Judy, Lotti, Norris Elder, én.