Friday, May 17, 2013

SZIASZTOK!

    Oh my goodness hello! How is everyone?  Ah! Life at the MTC right now is CRAZY.  In the best way possible.  I did get the package and it was fantastic! Thank you so much. I(and everyone in my district, LOL) love them.  It's also so nice to hear from everyone. Is it hot in STG yet?  At the beginning of May, it was pretty cold here actually (not eve joking, like 50 degrees), but now it's gotten pretty hot.  I'm glad you got your Mother's Day note. My teacher-Grossen Testver-is a phenomenal guy and it was so nice of him to send that to you.  It was hard not being able to call home, but I am way stoked to call you at the airport!
    Speaking of airport, we get our flight plans in TWO WEEKS! HOLY COW!  The MTC has flown by.  It goes so fast. It is only getting  faster too.  Today or tomorrow we will finish learning the basics of Hungarian, which means that from now on, we are just speaking it more and more.  Which is CRAZY.
    So a couple of things from this week as far as business-y items go:
       1.   We get our kisbabak in two weeks! We are so excited to have some kisbaba magyarulok (baby Hungarians) to take care of and help out.

       2.   We move to the new West MTC in two weeks!The closer this gets, the more excited I am for it. It will be pretty cool and I think it will help our district and zone become closer (if that is even possible....seriously.I feel so much love and support from these people. It is amazing. I love them all so much).

       3.   I got to play for Megumi Gas (she's an AMAZING violinist from STG). It has been so long since I've played for a really good legit musician.  It was great.  We went crazy.  That probably makes no sense to anyone. It just felt really good to play some great music with a fantastic musician.

      4.    Giacalone Elder and I made a fun little saying. PREFACE:We like to joke that our goal is to try to have Beyonce moments. A Beyonce moment is when you do something really cool or have a shinning moment of awesomeness.  So this is the sentence: "Dolgozunk Beyoncesaghoz." It translates to: "We work towards Beyonce-hood." We get quite a kick out of it.
   
      5.    I have a new found love for volleyball. Mind you, it's not legit volleyball.  We just try to keep the ball in the air and a lot of funny moments result.  For example: This Sister accidentally kneed the ball and it went flying. It hit this unsuspecting kid right in the face.  The impact was so massive that he FLIPPED WHILE IN THE AIR.  It was crazy, but so dang funny.  He was okay, even though he landed on his face.

      6.    We had another SYL day. It was a lot easier than last time. So that was nice.

     The MTC is a fantastic place, because you learn so much about the Gospel, but you also have so much fun! But now for some of the more spiritual (and just plain cool) experiences of the week:
      A couple of days ago, we had a service assignment.  It went way over the time limit and we didn't get back until 10:30 when we are usually supposed to be asleep.  So we all got into bed real fast to go to sleep. About five minutes later we got a knock on the door.  Our entire zone filed into our room.  One of the Elders  came forward and told us that he would be going home the next morning at 5:00 am. It was sad, but at the same time, I've never felt so proud of someone.  He had a lot of courage and he had the right attitude about it.  He genuinely wanted to respect the Lord and resolve his concerns before he came back to the field.  We all gave him a hug and everyone went to bed.  This is why I love my district and my zone:  After he left, our district had a little discussion and talked about it.  Then- as a district- we all decided to wake up at 4:30 and go with the elder to see him off. Our district woke up and I have never been more inspired by a group of men as our entire zone walked out with that Elder.  We saw him off. We gave him hugs.  He promised to return.  It was a great testimony builder.  I love my companion. I love the elders in my district. I love my zone. I love the Gospel. Repentance is real and if you let Him, the Savior can heal you.
      The other day we had the opportunity to do some more role playing. This time it was with my companion. He was an investigator and I was supposed to commit him to baptism. Our teacher gave each of us a concern.  I prayed for the Spirit before-hand and asked for help. It was such an awesome experience to have the Spirit guide me to scriptures and to say things that perfectly addressed his concern. Holy. Cow. The Spirit is real. He can help us.
      When we were having our SYL day we also had a lesson about why the Plan of Salvation is so important and how we could use it. Then our teacher shared an experience of his. He said that while he was on his mission, he got a call from his grandpa. He was really close to his grandpa and he proceeded to receive the news that his grandpa had cancer.  He was devastated until his grandpa said this: "At least we have The Plan." How true that is! We are SO blessed to have God's Plan with us. It is such a beautiful blessing to know about it and to be filled with that beautiful comfort.
       On Tuesday we had a devotional. Who was the speaker? RUSSEL M. NELSON. I REPEAT. RUSSEL M. NELSON. HOLY COW. WOW. SO COOL. When he walked in, it was so cool to see everyone immediately stand up and the entire room to go completely SILENT. It was amazing and his talk was beautiful. My favorite part was that he was so...happy.  He smiled and he was jumping around and was so...alive. It was beautiful.
       Yesterday Giacalone Elder and I taught. Our investigator, Edit, had a question. She asked why Nephi killed Laban, because God commanded us not to kill. Then Giacalone Elder and I proceeded to answer her question...IN HUNGARIAN. Like, legit Hungarian. Holy cow. The Spirit totally helped us out. The gift of tongues is real. The gift of interpreting tongues is real. Heavenly Father really does help and support us.
       I can feel your prayers every day. If there is one thing that I have learned so far it is that I am not on this mission alone. Whether it is you and your  prayers or my teachers or letters or my ancestors or others from the other side of the veil or the random people that help and influence me everyday.
       The Gospel is true.  Tell people about it! Be happy! Smile! Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and to have joy.  Go to the temple if you have already been. If you haven't, GET THERE. It is a beautiful place and in there we can truly be happy and find complete peace.
       I love you all. I love you all so much. Szeretlek titeket. Nagyon szeretlek titeket
                     Sok szeretettel!
                         Neely Elder
The Mother's Day Picture of the district

1 comment:

  1. Hi Elder Neely,
    I'm glad to hear the excitement in your letter. Time is flying by fast. The language sounds like it is coming right along. Keep working hard. The Lord will keep blessing you. You are always in our prayers. Keep up the good work.

    Love the Black family

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