Week 53 (May 20-27, 2013)

Mindenki a maga szerencséjének kovácsa.

I know for a fact that won't work in a translator. It's a Hungarian saying and I think it's so rad. I don't even know how to properly translate it. BUT I wrote that because I bought a sweet T-shirt with that on it. It's something along the lines of "Everyone determines their own fate/luck."

Wow, so it was another incredible week. I don't even know where to start... I'll do my best.

Okay, so we'll talk again about the incredible family. (The one where the mom wrote a letter right before we arrived.) We'll call them... Miracle Family.

So we went to meet with them for the third time. We were in their living room and we were just having some small talk and they asked to show them the official website for the church. Their family computer is on a desk right there in the living room so Elder Cox went over and pulled up the website. As he was at the computer he felt like he should pull up one of his favorite talks by President Erying. The mom said, "guess what! I had a very strange dream just last night!!" by the time she said that, Elder Cox had finished and sat back down. She started to explain her dream and she explained, "well, at first, I was talking with a man. He was very very tall and I remember he was bald. It was strange because I felt so comfortable with him and I felt like I could trust him but I didn't know who he was. Then all of the sudden, he walked into a TV! After a while, he walked back out and told me 'I'm sorry your life hasn't been what you expected.' ... and that's all I can really remember." (By this time, I didn't know that Elder Cox had pulled up a talk by Elder Eyring.) I was just sitting there thinking about her dream when Elder Cox softly said, "this might sound weird... but was that the man in your dream?" as he pointed to the computer monitor which showed a big still-frame of President Eyring. She just about flipped a biscuit and yelled, "YES! YES! THAT'S HIM!!" and then she said, "I remember exactly how his voice sounded, it was soft and kind. Please, play the video so I can hear his voice." as President Eyring started to speak, she started to cry, saying, "it's him." It was absolutely incredible.

Get this! In each of the two incredible families we are teaching right now, there is a teenage boy. While teaching them this past week, both of the boys (at different times on different days) turned to us and asked, "I feel like you guys are really really familiar to me. Is that possible? Like maybe we knew each other before we were born?"

Okay, next piece of miracle:

Back to the Miracle Family. While meeting with them this week the mom turned to her daughter and said, "tell Alldredge that thing that you told to me the other day!" She was really hesitant at first but the mom finally convinced her to tell me that she has had re-occurring dreams about me for the past few years. I was shocked, and this is what she said about it: "In this dream, I am living in a village. I have lived there for a very long time and it is very familiar to me. Then one day, a boy comes into the village. He has dark hair and his eyes are black and he looks exactly like you. So he drives into the village and he offers to take me away from the village in his car. I am really hesitant because I'm so used to the village and I'm afraid to leave it. The boy continues to try to convince me to leave the village. After a time, I finally agree and he drives me up a large hill and takes me to a much, much better place. And then the dream is over."

When she finished, everyone in the room was looking at each other with a big smile. We all knew what it meant. I felt like I needed to be wearing a techni-colored coat or something. It was so neat.

A funny thing happened with that same girl just the other day. She told us that she wants to stop smoking. So we gave her the program that the missionaries use to help people stop. Then we asked, "do you have any cigarettes left in the house?" she told us that she did. We then said, "we'll gladly throw them away for you!" and she said, "what!?! No! You can't do that!!" and we said, "well then how do you expect to stop smoking if you have them here in your house!?" and then her little brother stood up and yelled, "SHE KEEPS THEM IN THE BREADBOX!" and he ran and got her stash and he held her down as we grabbed them and ran out of the house. The mom thought it was hilarious and she backed us up the whole time. Now that's what I call missionary work!

After a long day of tracting this week, we headed to our car to drive home. As we were walking, we noticed an open door leading to an apartment complex. We stood there staring at it for a minute. It was time to go eat dinner but we couldn't bring ourselves to walk past it. We finally went in and up to the top floor. The first door we knocked on was answered by a young family who invited us right in and were so excited we came. At the end of our visit, they gladly invited us to come back this week.

Okay, last story, I promise: We've been meeting with this really really awesome and hilarious 21 year old lately and he LOVES the church but due to some family things, it would be hard for him to commit and convert right now. He came to sacrament meeting for the first time yesterday. In the foyer he said, "wow I feel like Joseph Smith! I went to the Greek Catholic Church yesterday, now I'm here and later I'm going to attend the Reformist Church!" Before the meeting started he said, "how many times are we going to have to stand up during this?" I replied, "we don't have to stand up at all." and he said, "oh!! I already love this place!" (He's just super funny like that.) The first talk of the meeting was incredible. It made him tear up and when the speaker finished he turned to me and said, "you guys win..." He was LOVIN' it! When the meeting finished he said, "I love this place! I want to come every single week!"

Well, as you can see, things are going great over here in Hungary. I love you all! Make any day an incredible one by reading from The Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

THIS is a picture of the delicious Branch Activity.  (I am in love with all Hungarian food.) 

These lovely people love to feed the missionaries and learn about the church every Friday night! (the guy in the middle put on a suit so that he could look like us! haha)