Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Elder Jake Hough, 3.12.19--week 33

Yall have March Madness, we have Transfers

SZIAAAAAAAAASZTOOOOOOOK AGGGGGGIIIEEEESSSSS!!
Well. As they say in hungarian. "Elerkezett az időm." (My time has come.)
The last six months in tatabánya have been the most amazing in my entire life. 
The simple life of living as a missonary, preaching the word of god to nations, getting yelled at in ten stories to leave because its night time and only 6 o clock, and the joy of seeing someone like Billy progress astoundingly in just a 6 week time period is mind blowing, and so satisfying to the soul, to bring someone closer to God by Helping THEM recieve the Restored Gospel through FAITH in Jesus Chirst and His Atonement, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, receiving the gift of the HOLY GHOST, and ENDURING TO THE END. Lets talk about billy for a few lines.

Billy was tracted into like any other individual, but unlike any other individual, he is an older fellow who believes in no way or concept that there is indeed a god (ok, so like a lot of old bacsis in hungary). We were let in and proceeded with the restoration lesson, but by guidance taught faith, and the evidence of God in our lives in Science and everything since he is a mathemetician and loves the science and math, as do I. We teach, he proclaims he doesnt believe but we say challenge accepted! Come back a couple more times, and didnt see too much preogress, until we taught the plan of salvation. He became quiet, reflective, since due to an accident he lost feeling in half his body, and he seemed to be inwardly thinking about the plan, while saying that he loved the idea of a resurrection and a perfect body. WE start to extend more invitations to the man, he starts to keep them, and slowly but surely his faith grows. He had a moment where he realized through specific expereince and the coming together of too many things at once for his own good to be coincidence, and when he was in church for the first time on a FAST SUNDAY, he gets up which is hard for him, and tells his story. And at hte end he says "at some point, when ALL these things happen that happened and come together, a man must start to say, has to say that this was not coincidence. It was too perfect. That isnt statistcally real, and then he must say that there is a higher power, that is watching over him and loving him and helping him, and I am grateful to God that he is." Time passes, he has members taking him to church every week and is in church taking the sacrament, and reading, listening to the scriptures, and following along, explaining the doctrianl significance of 2 Nephi 31 to us missionaries that were listening, and is the strongest spirit I have seen thus far in Hungary. He has been seeking, has exercised faith unto repentance, and continues to do so. Has a baptismal date set for aprl 27th. But to me he is more than that. I feel this connection to him, he is literally my friend, who I love, and its hard saying goodbye. We talked. We laughed. We cried. He told me as I left yesterday from our last lesson about the three pillars of our faith and testimonies, "I wasnt a believer before we met, but thank you for helping me to become one. I believe." I almost broke down crying. He is such an amazing man, and a son of God. He is honestly one of the biggest reasons that it will be hard to leave tomorrow. I love that man. I hope I can return to see his baptism. That would be nice! 
On that note, I am going tooooooooo...............................

Nyiregyháza!! The furthest city east that missionaries can serve! Huge change. Its big, its got universities there, and it is as close to romania as I will ever be on my mission. It feels right. Its a weird feeling but its right. Im excited to see what happens! New mission starts tomorrow!!
One thing that I do that I love and that helps me realize and literally "count my blessings" is the post-its of pondered gratitude. A picture will be attached. But I can say that having these up where I can see them every day when it gets hard has helped to see just how blessed I am as a missionary and son of God. Orange is a success I had in the day, Pink is something specific I was grateful for that day, and the green are miracles that happened. I encourage yall to try it for a week and see what happens or changes in yalls lives, it will be remarkable!
And last but not least, a couple quotes that arent word for word. Actually next week when I can quote them. But one of the quotes has caused me to look inwards and really reflect on how submissive I am to the Lords will, and how willing I am (Or am not) to let the Lord do to me WHATEVER it takes to become th eservant and priesthood holder he needs me to be now and after my mission. And this question, has helped open the door to answers and miracles. And I can now say with confidence that as we hunble ourselves to the lords will, there will be miracles. Maybe not the way we think they are miracles but there will be miracles if we but pray that we may have the eyes to see them and the ears to hear them. 
Im excited for this transfer, Itl lbe completely differnt!! Love yall! Gig em!
Hough Elder


**Jake said that one of his first Zone Leaders (Fales Elder) is his Zone Leader again with his very first companion, Peery Elder in Miskolc (his new district) and Jake is still district leader so he's excited to be seeing a lot more of them. 

Pronunciation help courtesy of Jake: "Nyiregyhaza---NyEER edge has a"
I wonder how different the language will be in this new region...

We looked up Nyiregyhaza to find out what we could. According to Wikipedia: It is one of the most prosperous cities of Hungary, being both an educational center and popular tourist destination. With a population of 118,000 (Tatabanya=65,849), it is the 7th largest city in Hungary in the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain. It's about 3-3 1/2 hours from Tatabanya. Located in northeastern Hungary, Sub-Carpathia and Transylvania cannot be reached without passing this city. Population by top religions: Roman Catholic 21%, Greek Catholic 10.6%, Calvinists 16.4% and Lutherans 7%. Population by ethnicity: Hungarians 86.1%, Gypsies 1.8%. 

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