Elder Jake Hough, 12.25.18--week 22

SZIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAA AGGGIEESSSSSS! 

Merry Christmas! Remember it is all about CHRIST. Without the birth of Christ we would be with no Atonement, and a world with no atonement (and resurrection!) is a very sad and lonely one. Love yall, no time at all this week, but I will try to make a better effort to email a big email more often, I kinda feel bad about this haha! Love yall!

Hough Elder

(To the parents)

so wow, this week was crazy, I have had not a lot of time to write in my journal which has been frustrating but there just isnt time with praying better and the nightly calls I make to the district every night, but with new responsibilities comes things that just have to drop. I dont know, Im working on it for sure, trying to find the balance. 

I have a junior companion!! Beck Elder! He is from Lehi utah and is literally 6 days younger than me (Jake's 19th birthday is actually on Thursday 12/27, so if anyone wants to send him a "Happy Birthday!" email, even if he can't read it until Monday, I'm sure he'd love that! jacob.hough@myldsmail.net), we were both in band, we both geek out about marvel and star wars and music and everything, its like weve known each other for a while. hes awesome and has the biggest desire to talk and to be obedient so that is not a problem with us and he wants to talk and share and its hard in the first week, so I have really been trying to make sure he is ok and that he feels ok and it has really changed how I think and how I do things, and I am always focusing on him and its really werid but yeah, definitely a change for sure haha!

I have just seen myself be lifted by God in so many areas of my life that I was worrying about before this transfer, like speaking and setting up and everything, but I have had no huge problems with language problems, and I have been really confident and not worrying about it, and now I have the District leader responsibility now and that is a whole new animal with numbers and tracking and district councils and everything with that part of the calling. Its really humbling to feel the sustaining help of the Lord everyday, and to see that in my life.

The big story for this week is that (our first friend) is progressing smoothly towards baptism, we gifted him a PMG (Preach My Gospel) book and took it to his house as a surprise cause he wanted to have one to read...! He loved it and it was really fun to play mikulas a bit, (our second friend) is on her smoking program to get off, and we met with the most recent inactive in our branch, who left the church publicly 6 months ago, we met with him abruptly on saturday night, a ton of things came together for that to happen, but it did, and we talked for a hour and a half, and he talked about his fears and why he left and a lot of stuff, and we talked about trials, finding faith in our trials, and we pleaded with him to have him come back to church because he was missed by god and the branch, and that he would find the strength and the answers eventually to his problems, but if he wanted them, he would have to read, pray, and come to church. He was really quiet and it was a moment I will never forget, because I felt the Spririt fill my being as I bore strong testimony of the things in my heart, nmot perfectly, but well enough for him to be pricked, I committed him  to come to church, and to pray to see what the lords will is for him, and he said he would. Fast forward the sunday the next day I reached out to him and he said this:

"We can meet next sunday. I will be there in church."

!! What-but-what...the heck that was such a miracle. He will be IN CHURCH on sunday next week!! I love working with members and bringing inactives back to the fold of Christ, because they know the truth and just being able to hel pthem feel the same spirit and feelings they have been missing is really awesome to me. It was a really crazy experience and the biggest step towards building this branch up ourtside of Robi. 

Ok, cant say much more, but I love you so much!! Cant wait to talk!

LOVE YOU!!

Incredible Christmas lunch made by none other than the amazing Lala--a member of the branch who opens up his home and heart to the missionaries in Tatabanya. The pictures from Hungary are provided by him, too!

That food and tablescape, though...wow. Looks delicious!!

A special Christmas drink--though I'm not sure what it says on the bottle. :)

Beck Elder, Lala, and Hough Elder getting ready to eat their Christmas feast.

Mmm, that food. Lala told me it was:

-Chicken breast cake

-Mashed potatoes

-Pasta salad

-Cucumber salad

**BEST GIFT EVER** Talking to Jake at 8am "America Texas time" this morning (3pm his time)!! The six of us cheered and clapped and Hough Elder and I cried/laughed tears of joy. He looks great, sounds great and is doing great. Jared totally got him, though. When he came into the study for his turn to talk, Jared put his face right up on the camera and in an "Edna Mode" voice (the fashion designer from "The Incredibles") said, "My gosh you've gotten fat." Jake fell over on the couch and lost it! It was so perfectly well timed and executed! We laughed so hard!!! Just like old times!

Catching up with Cooper.

Talking with Karcyn. My favorite quote from the kids this morning was from her: "Based on your smile, you must be having a great time!" 

Talking with JJ. Calvin talked to Jake first, since he missed the airport phone call in September. And I missed getting his picture this time. :(

Jake is missed very, very much by his younger siblings.

We learned some things...
*There are three zones Hungary.  The west (where Jake is), the middle (with the capital) and the east side which is the biggest zone incorporating a huge chunk of the country. 
*Since Jake is district leader now, we asked about that. There are three cities in his district and he has stewardship over all the missionaries serving in Tatabanya, Papa and Gyor. Here are some maps to show the relationships between them. 

Tatabanya to Gyor is about 45-60 minutes by train.

Tatabanya to Papa is about 1 hour, 20 minutes. 

*If he's doing the math right, Jake says there's about 62 missionaries (elders/sisters) in Hungary. 
*There are only two families in Jake's branch--and only two young women, each 13 years old. 
*Jake loves his mission president. Says "he's a stud!" Jake loves how he expects obedience. He wants the missionaries to work hard, but play hard too when the appropriate opportunity is there. President Hettinger wants the missionaries to have fun and enjoy themselves, as long as they're doing what they are supposed to be doing first. President Hettinger likes keeping missionaries in areas for extended periods of time to help build relationships through consistency--which seems wise. Jared said he was moved around as often as once a month on his mission and sometimes felt like he wasn't accomplishing anything. 
*Transfers are every 6 weeks, but if you are training (or being trained) those companionships stay in tact for 12 weeks. So Jake will be in Tatabanya until March--for 1/4 of his mission--because he started out being trained and now he's doing the training!