Guys, this is 20 year old swenson nővér speaking

Guys, this is 20 year old Swenson Nővér speaking and I need to inform you all that turning 20 instantly changed me and I am now an adult and do adulty things and am super mature, successful, you know, adulty things. 

This week was not far from fantastic!! Tuesday and Wednesday we had splits with the Dunaújváros sisters, which means I got to spend my birthday with MY FAVORITE HUMAN BEING Sister Greenwood. Seriously couldn't have asked for a better day. We had a lesson with Rita (Olivers mom who is getting baptized) and the lesson went amazing, she is just so ready for this gospel and for this change, and then they surprised me with cake and a necklace. :') We then went straight to this amazing family's house the vasváryék to watch the world wide mission broadcast! so nice of the apostles to do a whole broadcast just for my birthday!!!! But we got some crazy news and they switched up the missionaries daily schedule, and our key indicators so life is gettin crazy over hereeee! They also surprised me with cake, and then we had to say goodbye to Máté (their son who is moving to Scotland) really sad, but just a great day all in all.

We met again with Fanny and Adrienn to answer all their questions about the plan of salvation, and talk about christ is the center of Heavenly Fathers perfect plan. It was kinda crazy because fanny had never even heard about the atonement, so we had to really break it up very simply, and it was amazing to just simply testify that God loves us. Christ loves us, and that is simply why he atoned for our sins. In the missionary broadcast they talked a lot about how simple this gospel is. Elder Bednar said "living the gospel is not that easy, but understanding the gospel is not that difficult." 

 Fanny is the coolest person ever and she was showing us her drawings cause she sells them, and there was a lot of star wars, and I just so happened to have a lightsaber in my bag that I recieved from Elder Thomas and Elder Norris, so you could say that me and fanny get along, or that I am a freaking weirdo, whatever you think fits better haha

I just am so beyond thankful for all of the amazing people I have met here on my mission. my companions, my districts, other missionaries, the members, my investigators, my mission president, his wife. I was thinking about how grateful I am for every single one of them this week, and it made me just even more thankful for my mission. I dont believe in coincidences, I believe that God puts each and every single person in your life because he knows you. He knows how to answer your prayers, and he knows what you need. I am thankful for that. I love him, and Ilove this gospel, and I love my mission.

LÉGY ÖNMAGAD.  

1.  Pday plans today?

bowlinggggg!! 

2.  Where do people in Hungary go to the temple?

Freiberg Germany

3.  Are people generally friendly when you go door to door?

generally yes theyre not too rude, but sometimes its just almost hilarious how rude they are haha

4.  So, when is the next time you will be in Budapest to maybe get your package?

I think transfers :((

5.  Is the weather getting any warmer?

hahaha nope nope nope

6.  So, quick.  What did you make yourself for dinner last night?

we were fed by a member and it was this soup with like potatoes and kolbász and ham and beans and noodles, so good haha served with these delicious spicy pickles, bread, tea. suuuuper healthy haha

7.  What are you studying in your personal study right now?

right now i am studying patience, temperence, and long suffering!

8.  What time are you usually asleep by?  Do you fall right to sleep when you go to bed?

usually by 10 i am asleep. and it definitely depends on the night!
9.  Do they have american brands of like toothpaste, deodorant, mascaras????

toothpaste i have found my brand and i will stick to it forever its the colgate whitening stuff. deodorant no.. haha actually could you send me more of that? and mascara, yes!!

10.  Did you know that your emails every week keep your mamma alive.  I love you so so much!!!

do you know that your emails every week keep your lindsi alive?!? haha but really dead serious i love you more!

Happy Birthday Lindsi!!!

Honestly after almost a year of being on a mission, I still do not know how to accurately describe a week haha.

We have seen some ups this week, and we have definitely seen some downs. funny how a mission does that right? Tuesday we had an incredible zone conference in Budapest. It was all about repentence, and how if we want to have our investigators use, and understand the atonement, WE ourselves need to use, and understand the atonement. I think if the only reason I went on a mission was to more fully understand the atonement, then that is enough for me.I have learned that I am not perfect. I am so thankful for the opportunity to say "I blew it" and to humbly turn to my father in heaven and ask for his help. 

We were able to meet with the most AMAZING investigator this week. The story is that we were tracting last week in this house, and I just did not feel right. I weirdly felt like we were just wasting our time, which was weird because we were doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing.

I had the impression to just go to another building, or just get out of the building, I do not know! we started walking toward another set of 10 storeys and it was right by this investigator Nora's house. I decided to try calling her ( we had literally been trying to get in contact with her every week for the last 3 months) so I felt like I should call her, AND SHE ANSWERED, set up, and our lesson was amazing. We talked about pray and how God's plan is so much better than our plans. She just cried, and told us that we really helped her.

We found 2 investigators this week, a mom and a daughter and they are just sooooooo cool you guys! We taught them the Plan of Salvation and were able to answer so many of their questions with the simple plan. I love this amazing gospel. 

Aaaalssoo we are so excited! One of the members in the branch named Oliver is 17, and his Mom wants to get baptized!!!! She is going to be baptized on February 18. She is just the cutest woman in the whole world, and watching her go through this change, and being able to teach her has been the coolest thing. I am so thankful to be apart of the Lord's work here in Hungary. 

Yay for the work growing a little bit, Veszprém was definitely strugglin..  haha yay for bodza flavored fanta and dark chocolate too. Life is great you guys. 

sok szeretettel, 

S MONAYYYY

1.  Any chance you are going to Budapest this week so you can hopefully get your birthday package?

I dont think so :( but thats okay I can get it at transfers!!

2.  What are you pday plans today?
just a chill pday haha grocery shop, go out to eat, email, nothing too exciting!

3.  I have been talking with Jensen Nover's mom on facebook.  We are going to figure out a time that we can go to lunch and talk about our amazing girls!!

that sounds incredible

4.  Any meals with members this week?

Yes yes we went to Erzsi nénis house, and she is just the most perfect thing in the whole world. she made us some almás süti, rántót Hús, krumpli, saláta. best day best day! 

5.  How goes the running?
my companion lets me go every other day, so life is great. :)

6.  Where are the Elder's in your district from?

Thomas is from california, Sajto is from Brazil

7.  Do Hungarians celebrate Valentine's Day?

haha honestly i have no clue!

8.  Have you ever had a companion that snores?

not yet hála jó istennek
9.  Do you and Jensen like the same kind of food?

yes!

10.  Did you know that you make a BEAUTIFUL 20 year old woman!!!

hey hey hey thanks!!

Na, Szavaztok!

Wow wow wow today we got to go for an adventure hike up Tihany with a member, and I had once again, another one of those, "Wow, i am like, way too blessed to be here on a mission, to have my amazing companion, district, country, and family back at home, all at the same time" moments. For real you guys it is such a blessing to be out here as a missionary.

The work here in Veszprém is just trying its very best haha. We did though, have one of our way cool investigators come and stay for all of church (can i get a hooooraaaah?) 

I also have just gained such a huge testimony that the Lord is at the head of this church, and he really is directing the work out here. This Sunday we had another amazing experience. We once again were praying where we should tract, whom we should visit, what we should do, and we got the feeling to just start walking to the bus stop. On our way there we"just so happened" to run into one of our investigators, and he ended up walking us to our tracting destination. I just know that we are nothing without the power and inspiration that we recieve from our Heavenly Father. HE directs this work. 

"A bird may land on your head, but it doesn't have to build its next there"

You know, I have been thinking a lot about this little phrase this week. I have been thinking a lot about how every single person in this world has a trial. All of us have our struggles. but it is 100 percent our choice what we make out of those experiences. Whether we let them take us down, let them control our lives, or whether we choose to learn lessons from them, we choose to change, to mold into the person our Heavenly Father wants us to become. A bird may land on our heads, but it is 100 percent our choice the outcome. 

You hear those stories time and time again about people being in the depths of the most unimagineable trials, yet they are so strong, and so bright through them. It is a choice you guys. It is a choice to use the atonement every day, it is a choice to turn on our knees to our Heavenly Father, and tell him that we cannot do this alone, and it is also a choice to get up afterwards, and do what has been asked of us, and through that, it is a choice to learn, to soften our hearts, and to learn what we need to learn. 

for real i love, and am just so grateful for you all. thank you for the support, and your emails, and your kind words. 

sok sok sok szeretettel,

Swenson Nővér 

1.  Pday activity today?

One of the members (and my favorite human in the world) took us to this amazing hike at Tihany and it was probably once again, the prettiest thing i have seen with my own two eyes

2.  What did you have for dinner last night?

I made a lovely dinner of stir fry for Jensen and me.

3.  Are you running shoes holding up?

actually, yes! they are incredible! 

4.  Do you ever teach like relief society or Sunday School in your branch?

yes we do like every single week! not usual relief society, but sunday school yes for sure

5.  Do you interact very often with senior couples?

there are non in veszprém so no :( i would LOVE to serve with a senior couple though!!
6.  What are you studying now during your personal study time?

I have been going through the last conference and my notes again. its crazy how the apostles just know exactly what to say for every situation

7.  Dreaming in Hungarian yet?

absolutely! 

8.  I loved the pictures you put on the idrive of recipes.  Keep it up!!!

haha hungarian food is so good its ridiculous

9.  What time do Hungarians usually eat dinner?

probably about 4 cause that is when its already dark haha

10.

Love you with all my heart.  Every little bit of it...all the valves, chambers, SA nodes and everything!!

ahhh dont tempt me with that medical lingo. i miss it SO much. but i love you moreee!

Kellemes Ünnepeket és a boldog új évet kívánok! "I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!"

Well you could say this new years was nothing different from the usual one I would have at home. New years I usually always am in bed at 9:30, with ear plugs in. It is really how I prefer to spend my holiday seasons you know?

Haha but this week was crazy. Kinda actually a really tough one for me and Sister Jensen. The work here in Veszprém is just really really slow, and it is sometimes super hard.  We have been praying like crazy to find someone, anyone haha  that we can help here in Veszprém. I know that there are people here prepared to hear our message, we just need to know where to find them. I was thinking, and praying about where we should tract yesterday, and I had the feeling to try tracting in this part of our area that I had never been to before. We followed this prompting and made our way over to the area. As we were tracting, this 25 year old ish guy walked by with his dog, and we decided to stop and talk to him. We gave him the usual "hey we are missionaries..." and he resonds in perfect english "are you guys the Mormons?"He told us about how he talked with missionaries a year ago, and how every day he watches a mormon family from Idaho on youtube, and how he really realizes how happy they are, and how they have something different about them. We ended up walking with him to this stunning park, talking about the gospel, and life. He was honestly just so prepared.We were talking about our missions, and why we are here in Hungary, and he literally said this sentence to us "So if i was to join your church, would it be too late for me to go on a mission?" like what?! Who on earth is just that prepared? I just want to testify that Heavenly Father hears, and answers our prayers. He will give us those answers, and those promptings every time, we just need to act on it. 

Sok sok sok szeretettel, 

Swenson Nővér 

1.  Pday activity today?

Balaton!!!

2.  Did you come up with a birthday list?

yes!! 

   - Burts bees chapstick (not the colored kind, but just like a whole pack of even the vanilla bean kind that you sent would be amazing)

  - Bare mineral foundation (i mean im not sure about the color, but just go with erin and do whatever hers is? haha)

  - peanut butter haha

  - ahh nothing else i feel like you have given me way too much with christmas and everything haha so i am just so fine over here!

3.  Did you get your "open before Christmas" package?

 not yet but new missionary training is on wednesday!

4.  Does your skin feel dry there?

yes haha totally

5.  Quick... funny companion story...

hahahaha okay this is probably only funny for me and sister jensen, but the other day we were trying to catch a bus, and we rounded the corner and saw our bus almost leaving, so we have this 100 meter sprint that we had to do, but the problem was we had SUCH a strong head wind, so we were just trying our hardest running, but literally not even moving and i have never laughed harder in my entire life than when me made it to the bus 

6.  So how big is your apartment? One bedroom?

yes yes it is! one bedroom, like a living room thing, and a kitchen! then a skinny hallway with a bathroom and a shower room!

7.  What do Hungarians do for New Year's Eve?

get wasssstteed

8.  Do they have pizza in Hungary?

yes! but it is a little bit different. they put just whatever they want on pizza haha 

9.  Is the Vezprem a touristy town?

uhm i dont actually really know how to answer that! not really, but maybe a little bit by like the castle and such? 

Szervusztok kedves barátaim és BOLDOG KARÁCSONYT :)

First of all, i need to say what an amazing experience it is to be a missionary on Christmas day. Christmas in Hungary is A M A Z I N G. it is 3 days long. The 24th is "Szent Este" and families decorate their trees together and the Baby Jesus brings the kids presents. On the 25th and 26th everyone has  work off and it is basically a wasteland out in the streets because everyone is with family for both of those days.

It has been kinda a crazy two weeks. I don't know if I already said this but I am still serving in the beautiful city of Vesprém. I am training the perfect Sister Jensen. She is from North Salt Lake, Went to Woodscross high school, and we actually have a picture of us racing each other in Hurdles in 8th grade. haha small world right? Well she is just perfect and we are having tons of fun together. Veszprém is a super hard city work wise, so we have just been trying our best to find some investigators, and teach this amazing gospel that we have been so blessed to have in our lives. 

So i have been studying this talk called "the fourth missionary" which has completely changed my mission haha. I have to share with you guys this part from it that i feel like so perfectly depicts how we should act in not just our missions, but our lives back at home

"Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."

you guys, just give it up. It is honestly that simple. Give up your will to the lord. That is the difference between those that are doing good, but not happy in their lives, and those that are doing good, and are happy. They have just completely given up their wills to God. I KNOW that that is not exactly easy, quite frankly it is terrifying. but that is how i have found happiness out here on a mission. It is how I (hope) am changing, its how we CAN change, and how we can become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ, every single day. which ultimately, isnt that our goal? 

Persze élet sem kőnyű, de istennel, Kónyúbb lesz 

Sok szeretettel, 

Swenson Nővér 

On Tue, Dec 27, 2016 at 2:47 PM, Lindsi Elizabeth Swenson <lindsi.swenson@myldsmail.net> wrote:

1.  How's was your Christmas dinner at your Branch President's house?Oh just incredible! they are amazing people. So so nice, so generous, and his wife makes the yummiest food i have eaten in hungary!! AlsoI got to skype with my adorable family so that was kind of okay ;) 

2.  When is your next time in Budapest?

It is on January ! for New missionary Training

3.  Did you do anything for Pday today?

shoppppinnng for warm clothes. Hungary is sooo cold holy cow. 

4.  What is the next Hungarian Holiday?

honestly.. i dont know haha 

5.  Are you writing down the hungarian Christmas traditions that you want to keep with your kiddos?well of course!!

6.  You need to think about a Birthday list now.  :)

haha how long do i have to thiink?!

7.  You said holidays were kind of two days in Hungary....what did they do on the second day of Christmas?

above in the email i think i answered that guy

8.  Do you have any dinner appointments with the branch this week?

No one in the branch, but we do with a memeber family and my amazing Investigator Ildiko!!!

9.  Do you have to be in early for New Years eve?

yeah we have to be in at 9!

10.  Did you know that you somehow managed to be even more beautiful when we saw you on Christmas than you were when we saw you on Mother's day?

Haha i adore you. thank you for sending me that incredible dress!

A hét tele van csodákkal!!

Kedd: We had a lesson with Aniko our bap date, and Teri her mother (shes a less active) We have been fasting and praying ENDLESSLY about this bap date because its kinda a weird little situation we are in, and we also asked the branch president to come with us to our lesson and to be a member present, and to help us try to figure out what to do with the situation. Our branch President was amazing, and Aniko is progressing so much. We made her this little "keresztelés" (baptism) calander with little things she can do every day to prepare for her baptism. When she came in she was so excited to tell us about all of the things she read in the BOM and all of the stories. Something that I thought was so cool, was that she said that she used to not be able to understand anything in the Book of Mormon, and it made her really frustrated, and she didn't like reading, but now she understands EVERYTHING and loves it. guyyyyyss people can change! it's incredible to watch her go through this change. I just feel way too blessed holy cow. 

Szerda:  Sister Evans and I planned to go visit this inactive member named Magdi Néni in this little falu called Hajmáskér. We had this picture with a letter on the back to give to her from one of the Elders that served in Veszprém. When we first got there, we went to ring her csengő, and no one was home, we were so bummed cause it's kinda a huge trip to go to Hajmáskér, but we decided to tract around in the little családi houses. On our way back to Veszprém, Sister Evans had this feeling like we should go check if she is home again. We csengőd her, and this time she answered, but was just SO rude to us. haha like so unbelievably rude. We had to literally beg to get in to just give her this gift that Heaps Elder gave us to give her! She finally agreed and let us in, and then EVERYTHING changed. When we got to the door she was just the nicest, cutest lady i have ever met.

We talked about God's love, and how the church is like a hospital, we are all sick, and we all need the church. No one is perfect. Not one member!! At the end of the lesson she fed us a meal, gave us milka bars, christmas candy, and literally took her christmas decorations off of her wall to give to us, and apologized profusely for being so wicked at first. The gospel softens peoples hearts, i will tell you that!!

Csütörtök: we had district meeting in Székesfehérvár, and I left my phone on a buss!!!!! ahhh typical Lindsi. but then literally got it back by a miracle.

Péntek: INTERVIEWS with President. I absolutely adore my mission president. interviews are the best. I had the opportunity to talk to him about the "perfectionist" thing I have really been studying a lot lately. his answer to me was "why?" why do i feel like i need to be perfect? Guys i didn't have an answer for him. WE do not have to be perfect. that was never in the plan. We simply just need to try. 

Vasárnap: Aniko came to church for Fast Sunday. The fast and testimony meeting was incredible. towards the end i had this really strong feeling to turn to aniko and tell her if she wanted to bear her testimony that she could. . She didn't know that she could bear her testimony if she wasn't a member! so i asked her and she said:

"but i dont have a testimony like these guys" and

 I said, 

"yes you do!! a testimony is just what you believe in, what makes you happy, things that you have learned" 

she looked right back at me and said "thats a testimony? okay then i want to tell them"

then she went and bore the sweetest testimony i have ever heard. PEOPLE CAN CHANGE YOU GUYS. I am watching it happen right in front of my eyes. 

I love being a missionary, I love this work, I love the Christmas season, I love you guys!!!! have the best week. dont forget to #LIGHTtheWORLD