News From Hungary! vol. 32

I got Brandon's travel itinerary last week...He will be home on November 15 at 2:00 p.m.! I don't know if he has received a copy of the travel plans, but he doesn't say anything about it. Which is good. Better to be focused on what he's doing than on coming home. :-)  I, however, am excited for him to come back, and the itinerary makes it real.

No pics today. :-(

I am tired

I just out of no where got really tired. Maybe that is because the last few days I haven't slept super well. Aside from that the work is going really well out here, although it is also going a bit slowly right now. The school year just started today, and for the last week, and probably this week too, people have been super busy and it has been tough to meet with them.

Sunday
We had a wonderful fast and testimony meeting, it was really good. We have had a new record for people in church. 26 people, that doesn't sound like a lot, but it was really so cool to finally have a number over 20. I intend to do all in my power to keep making that number bigger, and I now have the full support of the Branch out here. I just need to get better at planning and things are going to go crazy out here in Debrecen. I have been so blessed to work out here. We have also finally had a Branch Counsel meeting. It was really needed, and they actually did a pretty decent job of it. Everyone worked together and discussed the topics on the agenda. None of them actually knew how to have a Branch Counsel meeting, and so a senior missionary let them know how they should do it in the future. I am excited for the upcoming weeks out here. And I predict that they are going to be really rocky, but worth it.

Saturday
We looked up a lot of members and less active members to let them know about the 21 day Book of Mormon Challenge. And then we helped the new senior couple get familiar with the area. We will also be assisting them in finding a new apartment.

Friday
We had district meeting, so we got on a train at about 7:50, and arrived in Szolnok for the meeting at about 9:30. So we really just had a crazy morning. Then we got on anther train to head back to Debrecen after our meeting, and it got delayed an hour. This made us get back late and not have any time for much of anything.

Thursday
We did weekly planning, and then I started feeling sick. We tried going out to work anyway, but it got bad enough that I wasn't able to really do anything. So we just stayed in for the rest of the day and updated the area book. We also called our investigators and tried to set up appointments with them for this week, but they were all busy organizing school things.

Wednesday
We met with our most progressing investigator Ádám, he is so cool. I am really lucky to get to teach him about the gospel. He is considering baptism. I think the only reason why he hasn't decided to get baptised is because of possible family issues, but I don't know. Then that evening we had a Game Night, and a lot of our investigators came, and they even brought their friends. It was super good, but we need to get a much better spiritual aspect into our game nights. Either starting or ending with a spiritual thought would do the trick.

Tuesday
We had to translate for some Church Auditors. It was tough, and took up all of our evening. But it was good. The Debrecen Branch actually has the best documentation that they have seen in all of Hungary so far, and they are going to be using their paperwork as an example model when they train the rest of this Europe district. So I am pretty happy with that. Guess that it means that they are doing a good job out here, at least as far as that is concerned.

And that is all. About my week. As far as why Elder Hess had to go to the doctor, well. It is because he struggles with PTSD. He had a surgery before his mission, and things went very wrong and he has PTSD because of it. He's fine though, just needed a perscription refill.

Love you all!
Brandon.


Mom's Notes:

1. It sounds like Brandon's and Elder Hess's efforts with the members have been paying off.  Yay! A month ago Brandon made it sound like there were some big problems to overcome.

2. I'm glad there's a senior couple (a retired couple who are serving a mission) in their area. I know Michael and Jason both really liked working with the couples who served with them on their missions. I also suspect that those retired couples kind of look after the younger missionaries a little. Not that they hang out with them all the time, or babysit them, but that they care for them. I can't explain it well...

And now I have to go can about sixty pounds of peaches. 'Til next week!