I'm sitting here right now, in a library in Szolnok Hungary, listening to the pouring rain, and feeling a liiiiiiiitle too blessed to be a missionary, thats all.

I'm sitting here right now, in a library in Szolnok Hungary, listening to the pouring rain, and feeling a liiiiiiiitle too blessed to be a missionary, thats all. 

Szerda: szerda we had a little csoda happen to us!! We went over to Margó nénis house who we tracted into like a month ago and gave a Book of Mormon to. Today when we showed up, she had literally read half of it, and took notes, and had sooo many questions for us! We got to teach vissza to her and it was such a cool experience. It is kinda cool to know that whenever we hand out a Book of Mormon, or give someone a pass along card, or share our testimonies with them, it honestly has the potential to change lives.

 Then we went straight to this other investigators house that the Elders had given us because he was in our area. His name is Tibor and he is sooooooo rendes. The meeting was a liitle interesting though. He was just definitely smoking and sipping a beer the whole time, and "ya" by usher and lil john kept going off because his phone kept ringing. Lovely.  But, it was cool because his friend came over during our lesson, and he was like fascinated with us and with the Mormon church. He asked us soo many questions (in the fastest hungarian i've ever heard haha) and was so impressed that we could speak Hungarian. It was such a great opportunity and I think, if anything, we left a really good view of the Mormon church with them.

Csütörtök: thursday we had zone conference in Budapest again. it was alll about our area books (whooo partyyyyy!) but the zone leaders did a really good job, and my mission president and his wife are the most adorable people I have ever met on this earth. seriously they just love us, and missionary work, so much, and they are giving their ALL here in Hungary for the Lord's work here on earth. Ahh I love them!! after the conference our district got to go and see the Baszilika together and it was SUCH a blast.

Péntek: Friday I finished the Book of Mormon challenge that our Mission President gave us! It was seriously such a good opportunity for me to do that challenge. That was the fastest, and the most I've ever gotten out of the Book of Mormon. This time the lényég that i got out of it is that spreading this gospel is the absolute most important thing. I have never noticed how many verses are solely about missionary work. legit the whole book haha. I also realized how important it is to share this gospel with boldness, and with love. and if we truly follow the Lords will ,and plans for us, we will truly be happier in our lives.

 Friday night we got to meet with one of our investigators Polett. she is incredible. Seriously she is just so caring, and so nice, and so patient, and she really makes everyone feel so loved. i am SO grateful for her in my life. 

Szombat: Saturday we had a dinnyeevés with the relief society. (melon party) and when we walked into the party THREE of our investigators actually showed up. Ladies and gentlemen this was a Christmas miracle. The party was so fun, and now there is some video of me cutting a watermelon with a bunch of hungarians screaming at me all over facebook somewhere. LOVELY. haha 

Hétfő: CHRISTMAS IN JULY. have you never heard of this holiday? hahah cause neither had I. but I promise you I am going to celebrate it every year for the rest of my liiiiiiiiife. We had theeee best day on Monday. we drew names last week in our district, and we got each other presents.  I recieved THEE funniest gift from Hughes  that I have ever gotten in my entire life. We went out to dinner to celebrate, and then we went over to Judits to help her with a service project. We carried all these bags of clothes to this nénis house, and it was really cool because we were able to give her a book of mormon, and answer a ton of her questions about our church.

"To him our direction is ever more important than our speed" -Larry R. Lawrence. I read this this morning in my personal studies and it kinda just hit me really hard. it reminded me so much of Elder hollands talk last conference. God is aware of us. he KNOWS were trying. and how amazing is it that we get credit for that effort. Im so thankful to be out here. im going to be honest, a mission is not easy you guys. but it is so important. it is so important to try every day to be better than we were yesterday, and to serve just a little bit more than we did yesterday, and to just continually be trying to become better, and through Jesus Christs atonement is how that is possible. 

SOK SOK SOK SZERETETTEL

Swenson nővér

1.  Tell me about your Pday today...Where did you go grocery shopping?  Did you go out to lunch?

its hétfő in the email!! :)

2.  How far do you run when you run?
uhm we only have 30 minutes so usually like 3 miles!

3.  Do you love how Hungarian sounds when you sing hymns?

yes i never ever want to sing hyms in english again haha

4.  How many more weeks until your next transfer?

3 more ahhhh

5.  Would you like a hymn book with guitar chords?

that would be sooooo cool :)

6.  Where is Greenwood going to school after her mission?

BYU BYU BYUUUUUUUU

7.  Do you write in your journal every day?

haha maid nem... 
8.  How is your shoe situation?  Do you need new ones?

the ones i got a little while ago are holding up, i might need some new ones soon!
9.  What would you say is Hungary's favorite sport?

definitely soccer!
10.,  Did you know that you have really cute hands?  I remember thinking that when you were just a baby, and they stayed that way all the way growing up.

hahaha thank you!!

hallostok csillagaim, hogy vagytok? sok mindent csináltunk ezen a héten. (translation: hallostok stars, how are you? We did a lot of things this week.)

Hallostok csillagaim, hogy vagytok? sok mindent csináltunk ezen a héten.  Holy what a fast week. ahhh the time is beginning to go by so fast here and its kinddda low key freaking me out! 

Szerda: We went and visited the Németék this week. the family consists of  a dad and two sons. they've been having a really hard time lately because the mother just passed away. We went and shared with them a message of hope, and just overall happiness. I seriously am so thankful for the knowledge I have of this gospel. how cool is it that we know that families can be together forever, and how cool is the actual fact that FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER. That is my favvvvvorite thing to tell people here! Anyway it went really well. But, one problem is that the dad, is literally the hardest person to understand in the whole world. hahah its hilarrriiouus. He sometimes says prayers in sacrament and everyone kinda just looks around, and prays that someone catches him saying "amen" so that everyone else can join in. ahhhh gotta love hungarian.

Csütörtök and Péntek: splits splits spliiiiiiits in 

Kispest. The STLs got a brand new apartment and we were the first sisters to do splits in it, So ooooobbbviously we bought them a house warming succulent. It was incredible haha. I went on splits with Willets again and we went to thee most eccentric nénis house.  The only way I can describe her is as a little fairy! She fed us yummy food then we raced off to another lesson with József, who Withers  taught before. I've heard tons about him so it was so fun to meet him! We then taught Angol óra (english class) and I said the opening prayer and they all said my hungarian pronunciation was so good :') THATS THE NICEST THING ANYONE  HAS EVER SAID TO ME IN MY LIFE haha.

Szombat: Holy best day! Saturday was the big "sport nap" buli in Békéscsaba and it was so much fun. we all crammed into this little "bus" that the branch rented. I got to sit by Judit the whole way up and she is honestly probably my favorite person to exist on earth. We got to see tons of our missionarz friends and spend the day with them! We went to lunch, and got gyros táls that were GIGANTIC, and delicious.  We then played jeopardy, and then, President and Sister Szabadkai showed up and we went on a tour of Békéscsaba. SUCH a beautiful place. Richi and I (a member in békés who literally planned the whole buli) talked and decided I need to serve in Békéscsaba. Haha so hopefully President gets on board with that as well ;)

Everybody go read Elder Hollands talk "cast not away therefore your confidence" again okay? I promise you will never be more spiritually pumped in your entire life!! I love you ALL. Seriously. Don't forget about this missionary over here in Szolnok Hungary!!!!!!!!!

Hiányzol nekem, és nagyon szeretlek titiket! (translation:  I miss you and love you very much.)

-Swenson Nővér 

1.  Pday happenings today?

Nothing too exciting, Just grocery shopping and playing my guitarrrrr

2.  What do you usually buy when you go to the grocery store?
hahaha groceries!

3.  Do you have an opportunity to play your guitar very much?
hahah yes its literally what keeps me sane out here haha 

4.  Does Greenwood play the piano well?

she is incredible
5.  How many people are there usually at your branch?

around like 15? 20?

6.  How many hours is your church?  Do you do the full 3?

yes yes

7.  What kind of building do you meet in for church?

its a little csáladi ház theyve made into a church!!


9.  Do they have pizza in Hungary?

yes!

10.  Did you know that you are absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  Yep, it's true!!

you are the nicest mom!! i love youuuu

Five Months

Szerda: Szerda we went to ebéd at erzi nénis house, erzsi néni is probably theee sassiest person i have ever met in my whole entire life. haha I adore her so much. She absolutely stuuuuuffffeeed us and then we gave her a spiritual thought, and she let us finish and it was super nice. Then she spent like an hour just grilling us about our hungarian and teaching us hungarian hahahaha.   It was hilarious. you gotta love how Hungarians just speak their mind! The beeeessst.  

After that, we went to a lesson with our investigator Gyöngyi and she is now ON BAP DATE!!!! we are so so soooo excited for her and so excited to work with her towards that amazing day! That night while tracting, we got a let in with this Néni named Éva and, wooowww that woman could talk. She also LOVED prayers so she had me and Greenwood pray like 3 times.  Then we ended up missing our bus, but we were finally able to get in about 3 words and talk to her about the Book of Mormon. This woman has a HEART OF GOLD. Also,  it was so funny because we were just sitting there talking and mid conversation she just got up, and found this blonde wig... and put it on.   Then she just continued on like nothing happened. I LOVE HUNGARIANS.

csütörtök: District meeting was soo great with the Elders. Elder Baird does a really really good job of bringing the spirit during our district meetings. This week we had a "personal interview with God." These questions are amazing and I encourage you guys to take this little interview for yourself and evaluate where you are with your Heavenly Father.

1. Are you happy?

2. Do I love my companion? (or family and friends)

3. Do I love being a missionary in Hungary? (or do i like the life I am living right now?)

4. Do I feel like I am giving my all?

5. What more can I give?

6. Am I proud of myself/ what do I like about myself?

7. What are my strengths?

8. Do I know that God loves me/ do I know that God is proud of me?

Péntek: friday we had to go to Budapest. When we got there I got to see President  and my comp and I had little impromptu interviews with him.   haha and GUESS WHAT? I had my first interview with President in alll hungarian!!! I was so happy about that little win in my week haha hungarian is HARD you guys! but it was really cool. 

We got back on the train headed to Szolnok and my companion and I were just talking, having a great time,  we were really distracted, and looked to our left, and saw Szolnok passing us by! hahah we missed our train stop!! the next stop was in an hour and a half all the way in Debrecen oh my goodness. We finally made it home around midnight, and the Elders had to come to the train stop to walk us home hahaha we are literally idiots SO FUNNY

Vasarnap: I AM IN LOVE WITH THE SZOLNOK BRANCH. they are thee most caring, patient, and loving people I have ever met. I am so lucky to be serving in Szolnok right now ahhh. Also two of our investigators, Attila and Polett came to church.   On Sunday I had another one of those moments where I just look around and realized, holy cow I am way too blessed. I actually had a suuper cool experience in my personal studies the other day. I had been praying a lot a lot for the Savior to help me know of his love for me individually.  In my personal studies I was reading all about Samuel the Lamanite (my favorite scripture story) and then I had this idea to read a Liahóna article.  The talk I read, I promise, was written for me, at that time. holy cow. the talk talked all about the Samuel the Lamanite story, and what we can learn from it, and then it went right into alma 26, which is my favorite chapter in the whole Book of Mormon. It was such a testimony builder for me to know that the Lord is truly aware of me, and what i'm going through, AT ALL TIMES. even when I wonder what on earth is going on in this crazy country!

I love you all so much! Thank you for the support and kind words, You have NO CLUE how much that means to a little missionary like me! have THE BEST WEEKS. imadkozom rólatok mindig!

sok sok sok szeretettel, 

Swenson Nővér

1.  Pday activities?

we had kinda a short pday today because of the big sport nap in Békéscsaba this week, so just grocery shopping!
2.  Do Hungarian kids have summer vacation?

yes!
3.  What do Hungarian teenagers do for fun?
run around like youths in the streets

4.  Is soccer big in Hungary?
YES 

5.  How many miles a day would you say you walked?

uhmmmmm not positive! probably like 5? 7?

6.  Do any of the Hungarian missionaries have cars?

nope ?(8.  How big is your district?

just us and 1 companionship of elders!

9.  Do you always come back to your apartment for lunch?

yep :)
10.  Did you know that you are one of the kindest, most caring people that I know....You have always had that big soft part of your heart that makes people know that they are true friends.  I am super glad you are my friend...forever!!!

i love you :) mind örökre :)

What a Week!!!!!!!

kedd és szerda: SPLITS IN KISPEST. It was seriously such a blast. The sister training leaders are Sister Willets, and Sister Schoendorfer, and they are probably my favorite people alive. I was on splits with Sister Willets and we went to this suuuper rendes nénis house in Budapest, and got fed... best day of my life.  Then we shared my favorite scripture with her, Alma 26:12.   We then just went casually tracting right next to the Bazilika, okay? Haha, I couldn't help looking around and just thinking "I am wayyyy too blessed". 

Next,  Willets tells me that her ward mission leader knows me, and like loves me, and  was sooooo confused, cause how does this random ward mission leader in Kispest Hungary know me and love me? Haha, then I totally remembered that Michelle Anderson (Curtain) (who served in hungary) Got me in touch with Láci before my mission. We talked about Hungary, and he gave me so much advice! It was really cool because i called him and he was soooo excited and asked if he could meet me in real life! and I got to go meet him! Such a cool experience! 

csütörtök: We had sooo many lessons this day!! We had one with Gyöngyi and Irén again. Wow the spirit is incredible in those meetings. We got to teach them the Plan of Salvation, and they are really really getting it! I am super excited to see where things go with them! 

We had our first lesson with Polett and I was SO excited to meet her because I had heard so much about her from wWthers.  She is just as incredible as Withers told me! She was the most caring person and asked me so many questions about myself.  She was sooo patient with my Hungarian. After we had our lesson, we went to fagyi  with her, and she bought it for us so you could say best day of my life? i adore Polett. ah. 

Szombat: Literally best day of my mission so far. Saturday was so fun! we started out the morning bright and early and headed over to Erdikas for a "garden" service project...except for, here's the thing.., It definitely was not a garden, more like a forest hahah...It is actually suuuper sad because Erdikas husband lost his legs a couple of years ago because of smoking, and he is basically just a torso on a wheel chair :( It was the coolest thing to do service for them. There was absolutely no way Erdika could have done any part of that on her own! The branch in Szolnok is incredible and we worked so hard! Afterwords, Erdika fed us literally a 5 course meal of the most delicious Hungarian food I have ever had in my life. blessings upon blessings.

 That night we had sport nap again and we got to play soccer with Gabor and his buddies.  This time was probably the best thing in the world. These guys are legit. they are all like 25 year old majdnem professional soccer players and I have never been more happy in my whole entire liiiiiiiife. sport nap. is. my. favorite. 

FOURTH OF JULY: sooooo what do missionaries in Hungary do to celebrate the Fourth of July???? Well obviously we make American pancakes, (none of this palacsinta business), with syrup from the USA :'), and buy a giant watermelon, wear red white and blue, and eat it by the tisza of course. Haha yesterday was sooo much fun. also it made me sooo grateful that I am American.

Kedd (today haha): We just had the coolest experience in the whole world. We went tracting today.  I have been praying soooo hard to find the people who need us.  We like got lead to this random street and knocked on this Nénis door.  We started talking to her but she could not understand Greenwood's Hungarian,  so I somehow talked to her.   Then she let us inside and I literally talked to her the whole time, and taught her, and she just started crying and told us that she had just found out this morning that her sister had died, and she felt so alone and just needed people.... and like what the amazing right? The Lord seriously leads us to those that need us if were just willing to follow his spirit. Agh she is so adorable and  she gave us all of these peaches from her peach tree, and she wants me to marry her son.... hahahah so yes my Hungarian wedding will be next week if any of you would like to join. 

Missions are crazy,  but I am loving every single second out here. Thanks for all of the emails you guys, and all of the thoughts, and prayers. I FEEL THEM. and I hope you all feel my prayers as well. I am so thankful to be here. what an incredible experience to share the happiness I have felt every day of my life, with the people here in Hungary who have never even heard of our church. I AM SO GRATEFUL. 

vigyázzatok magadatok ok? sok szeretettel!!!!

Swenson nővér :)

1.  Do you ever sing in church?

haha yes 

2.  What did you do for Pday today?

fourth of july festivities, see above :)

3.  What is your favorite Hungarian dessert, and, explain what it is....

hahah uhm, gyümölcs leves, its basically fruit soup! soooo delicious. i like the meggy one, which is sour cherry ahh its to die for

4.  Any news on the luggage shopping?

asdfljk stress
5.  Are most of the missionaries from Utah that are in Hungary?

hahahah YES. 

6.  What time are you usually back to your apartment by?

i just finished 12 week so now itll be like 9 oclock ish?

7.  Is this apartment bigger than your last one?  You should send pictures!!

yes yes i will send :)

8.  Do you have a washer and dryer in your apartment?

yes a washer, no to a dryer haha dryers do not exist in hungary 

9.  Are you understanding Hungarian better than you can speak it?

YES. i literally basically understand everything but i can not speak this dang language to save my liiiiiiiife

10.  Did you know that you have a REALLY cute nose?  It is just perfectly sitting on your very pretty face..yep, Pretty proud of that nose from a genetic standpoint!!

hahha hey thanks for the genetics