March 2018

1st--Karcyn's 6th grade English class had a poetry unit. Each child read their poem to the class and the class then voted on which one they felt was worthy of being selected for the 1st Annual Poetry Slam. We were so surprised and excited to learn that Karcyn's poem had been voted in! I actually don't have a copy of the poem, but she wrote about her Grandpa Hough's funeral. She did a super job writing it and reading it. I was very proud!

The boy wearing red in the row behind Karcyn (below) has liked her since the beginning of 5th grade. :) They're good friends. Karcyn is VERY clear that she doesn't date until she's 16. AND...she even asks the kids around her to not say bad words or take the Lord's name in vain because it bothers her. This young man wanted to know what kind of words not to say, so she elaborated as best she could without saying them. ;) To his credit, he refrains from saying those things when he's around her and if he slips, he quickly apologizes. 

Karcyn and her friend from orchestra, Andrea.

2nd--Jake had to pick up a marathon packet in the Woodlands, Texas (about 90 minutes from College Station). He left as soon as school was out so he won't be gone all night. When he arrived, he learned that there was some other BIG event taking place in downtown Woodlands. There was NO place to park a small Civic. He eventually found a place THREE miles away. I was NOT happy about that. At all. So as the sun is going down, he had to walk SIX miles round trip in an unfamiliar place. I expressed my great concern over this and Jake told me not to worry--he could always RUN if there was trouble. I told him while that may be true, I was unimpressed with the organizers of both events. This was the only time they could get their running packets. I was totally going to talk to the event organizers about that poor planning with a conflict like that, but forgot to!!

3rd--Read this post to find out about Jake's big weekend! 

--This was a big month for Jared. He was in the process of switching job locations and possibly different duties/responsibilities within St. Joseph. He spent three years commuting 100 miles/2 hours of driving each day he had an 11 hour shift in Brenham. He loved his co-workers, but he only committed to two years and working every other weekend was really wearing on him spiritually. He needed to be able to take the Sacrament. There's a reason why we're commanded to meet together oft. Jared was moved up to the Bryan Express Care (instead of Brenham) until he was given a chance to interview/check out the local ENT clinic who was looking for a Physician Assistant. Jared wasn't sure he wanted to make a huge jump from primary care to the ENT specialty. But they were offering M-F, 8-5 hours with no weekends. Kind of hard to turn that down. Still--he wanted to at least shadow them to get a feel for it all. Well, on his days off from the Express Care, that's what he did, and he was paid for it. Finally, on March 6th, the ENT docs/surgeons decided they wanted Jared to stay with them. The only thing really holding Jared back was the big jump in the type of medicine he'd be practicing. He was basically making a career change after 12 years in Primary Care. ENT may only be dealing with things from the neck on up, but there are so many different procedures and instruments! Jared's head was spinning for a while and he felt like a deer in headlights most days. But he made the commitment.

--This is my dear friend, Donna Fruhling. I was assigned to be her visiting teacher in July 2017. She is an amazing woman! She was an Olympic basketball player back in the day. She is also a convert to the church. Her husband was in the military so they traveled all over the world with their kids and then served a mission in Thailand. Donna has cancer and spent some time in Reno getting special healing treatments. It was hard for me to know how to minister to her. Her husband takes good care of her, she can't eat much of anything, so making her a meal is out of the question. She has kind and watchful friends. But after visiting with her in March, during the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she should probably juice produce more because those foods provide great nutrients for her but it's a long and somewhat tiring process. That's when the light bulb went on! I exclaimed, "Donna! That's what I can do for you! I can help you juice your fruits and veggies. Let me be your hands, feet and back." So we set a date for me to come back and we juiced and had a wonderful time together. She even shared her drink. :) I love this memory. And from a visiting teaching or ministering perspective, it took me eight months of visiting Donna and getting to know her before this need ever surface. I know she valued our visits, as did I. But it's only after truly getting to know someone and becoming a part of their life that you are able to "see" things you didn't before.

--This meme cracks me up!

--Jared's mom was planning to leave Arizona where she had been living with her daughter Nicole since November and move in with us at the end of April or beginning of May. To prepare for her arrival, we decided we needed to make the living room a more social hub and conversational area. That meant, we needed to get some new furniture and fortunately, our tax refund would make that possible. We purchased this sectional in Oregon and it was in our living room exactly as it is here in our game room--just one floor above it's previous location. However, it faced our piano and the area to the kitchen. It fits good in the game room...makes it nice and cozy.

--This is a picture of the couch and ottoman I wanted to get for the living room downstairs. We purchased them before we left on Spring Break, but wouldn't have them delivered until after we got back. I was excited!

We were down to just two chairs in our breakfast nook and wanted something a little more stable for Karole. I sold those no problem.

This is the new table and chairs we got. They are much more substantial. Still only two chairs, but we can always add more if we want. Now that our kids older now, they mostly sit at our dining room table these days.

--This is our Young Women's president, Terri Klabunde (who was the Primary President when we were realigned into the CS1 ward in May 2017). She came over with the Beehive Counselor and Personal Progress sister to welcome Karcyn into Young Women's two days before we left for Spring Break. :) Unfortunately, it would be SIX WEEKS before Karcyn went to Young Women in our ward. She'd miss two Sundays with Spring Break. I was scheduled to visit the Navasota Branch on 3/25 and the family was coming with me (I think it's a great perspective to give our kids, when they can see that not all members of the Church meet in buildings like ours...sometimes they are small rented spaces. The branches always appreciate it when families visit, too, because it helps boost their numbers. :) The Sunday after that was General Conference, and the Sunday after that we were going to visit the Caldwell Branch! In other news, we're squeezing all we can get out of Jake before he leaves on his mission! We had him assemble the console center that the TV would be set on. It comes with a faux fireplace and a built-in space heater. You can turn on just the "fire" or just the heat or both. It's pretty cool.

The fun little poster Karcyn was given from her new Young Women leaders.

--I finally BIT the BULLET and got my substitute teacher orientation and training done for the College Station Independent School District. I'm certainly not doing it for the pay. I make less than $8 an hour. It's more like a charitable cause. My teenagers make more money an hour than I do! BUT--I cannot dispute that the flexibility of being a substitute teacher...to work whenever and wherever I want definitely offsets the lack of money. We'll see how it goes!! I'm not gonna like. I'm a bit scared. It's one thing to have your own room and students. It's quite another to be a stranger to them and not know how to get around a school, etc. And I wasn't expecting to hear from the district that we have to work FIVE jobs before the end of the school year! Dang. If I had known that, I would have done my orientation much sooner. Not in the last 2 months of school.

--I also FINALLY taught Karcyn how to put her hair in a ponytail. It's probably more accurate that I showed her. How does one teach a girl how to do that?? Karcyn's a minimalist (much like her mom) when it comes to her hair. She didn't even like bows or cute little headbands in her hair when she was a baby. She is definitely not a fashionista, which most of me is grateful for! ;) But she's on the tip of turning 12 and she really needs to know how to do this at girls camp this summer! She's going to Colorado for a high adventure camp (from 6/30 to 7/7 and Cooper will be at EFY from 7/2 to 7/7 and Jake put his mission availability date as 7/1, so it might just be me and Jared and the two little boys that week!!) Like I said, I don't know how to teach someone to pull their hair back, so I knelt down on my knees and had Karcyn watch me as I slowly modeled how I put my hair in a pony tail. I did it a couple times and then she tried. Her hair is SO thick!!! She didn't do too bad. She had it down just a couple days later!

8th--Cooper had a tennis tournament in Madisonville about an hour away from CS. He texted that he won his first match! I got another text from him around 11am, while I was running errands to get ready for our drive to Utah for Spring Break. He asked, and I quote, "Can you come down to Madisonville real quick? I need a shirt." Ahhh, so the purple shirt I saw sitting in the dryer earlier that morning was his. Okay, so first of all, Madisonville is not south or down. It's actually northwest. Secondly, it's an hour each way. There is nothing "real quick" about it. Third, this would be a really good lesson about making sure you have everything you need before you go. Do a mental check. I responded to Cooper and said, "Sorry Babe, I can't." To which he replied, "Dang it. :(" He had to forfeit his second match because he got pelted in the crotch. When he got home around 7pm that night and was getting food, we told him to please take his coat off (it's bright orange with a marshmallowy/quilted style). When he did, his chest was bare and exposed. See picture below. Jared asked him where his shirt was. Coop said, "I didn't have one." "Is that why you texted us??" We thought you needed a specific shirt not A shirt!!" Hahahaha! He said he put it in the dryer that morning (to heat it up) and put his coat on to keep warm in the meantime. But he left the house forgetting he needed a shirt. So he played his match with his coat on (haha!!) and won! ;)

--Our friend, Teasha Adams, who came to visit and was talking with JJ. It had been awhile since she'd visited so this was the first time she heard him speak. 

--Before leaving for Spring Break, I needed to get fingerprinted to finalize my application to be a substitute teacher. The place you go to is not much wider than a door itself. The space of a glorified bathroom, perhaps. As I walked in, there was a partition off to the left. I heard this low voice ask if I was there for fingerprints. Automatically, I say, "Yes, sir" then realizing I didn't know the gender behind the partition, I quickly added, "ma'am" so as not to offend. There was a slight pause, crickets if you will, and then I heard a firm voice say: "middle finger." I was shocked!! This employee just verbally flicked me off! I was so stunned and embarrassed that I almost missed the next instructions about filling out some paperwork. The worker, a female, was saying something to the guy she was helping, but I was trying to maintain my dignity and focus on the papers in front of me, so I didn't hear what they were saying. Then it was my turn. I tried to be cautiously friendly and not make it more awkward between me and this woman who was clearly in the grind and mode of what seemed like a most monotonous job, in a chair, in a corner, behind a partition in a small space. I gave her my paperwork, she verified it, then she said she'd be doing my right hand first. "Pointer finger," which I gave her. Then she said, "Middle finger." And dawning smacked me up side the head. Oh.my.gosh. She was asking for the guy's individual fingers to scan when I walked in...not verbally flipping me off. I was soooo mortified. Even though nobody but me was aware of this terrible mistake I made. Wow. How could my mind even think the worst of a stranger like that?? It really made me think.

--Jake drove to a couple bookstores in town. He found this little $4 gem (a pocket-sized book on Hungarian words and phrases) tucked in a corner at a second-hand store. He didn't have much hope of finding anything because he came up empty at Barnes and Noble. Once we knew where Jake was going to be laboring on his mission, we wanted to learn everything we could about Hungary's history and culture. So naturally I went to the public library. Such a disappointment. They had books on Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Austria, and Slovenia. Every country that Hungary is landlocked by. But NOT Hungary. What kind of library is this? What if a child needed to do a school report on the country and couldn't find anything at their public library? I have to say that the library in College Station is one of the FEW things that are disappointing about this town. I don't understand how an educated and well supported college town such as this one could have such a dinky and lousy library. I was able to check out an encyclopedia and we could read about Hungary that way, but still...

--This piece was written by JJ, right before we left for Spring Break. His translation to me: "On Spring Break, I am going to stay at Utah. I get to go see my Grandma and Grandpa."

--This makes me laugh, because JJ is starting to write his name as Jared--which it is. But it was a bit unexpected. I went to help out his teacher one day and she came up to me smiling and said she had asked a question of the class. When she called on him she said, "Yes, JJ?" Before answering he said, "Um, the name is Jared." Silly, silly boy!

21st--As a brand new Beehive (12 year old), this entry in Karcyn's personal progress journal was touching to me. (She let me read it. :)

22nd--This was our fun experience on the Thursday after spring break.

--The bedspread and pillows handed down to Karcyn from her Lee Grandparents. It's too fancy and slippery for Grandpa's liking. :)

--This is my dear friend, Ruth Graham. I have been her visiting teacher since 2015 and I love her to pieces. She is AMAZING. I love visiting her and getting to know her. She has incredible faith and wow, has she experienced so many things. She's from Canada. She was the valedictorian of her high school graduating class. She got engaged that night and her math teacher was so upset with her. She showed so much promise in that field. But Ruth believed family was of the ultimate importance. She is so positive. Her husband was the mayor of their town and a bishop. She has been a relief society president and a stake RS president--in a stake in Georgia that WE lived in. My family and her family lived in the same area and never knew it til now! She also used to babysit Wendy Watson Nelson, the prophet's current wife. She helped raise two grandsons long after her own children were gone and has been tending to and caring for her husband who had a stroke ten years ago. I just can't get enough of her. When our ward boundaries were realigned, she remained in the 3rd ward and we were moved into the 1st ward. I had been her RS president for 18 months and felt a watch care over her. But just because we're not in the same ward anymore, doesn't keep me away because we're friends. I visit Ruth as often as I can! About once a month. I took this picture because she said she had been at the store and when she came home, she realized she had been walking around with that bright pink sticker on her shirt that says, "New and Improved." Haha! We got a kick out of that.

--One day Calvin announced he wanted to try baseball. This is the first sport he's ever verbally expressed an interest in, so we said okay! (He glows in the dark! ;)

24th--Our friends the Hatalas invited us to join them in making the World's longest ice cream sundae. I'm not big on ice cream, but this is a world record we're talking about. How could we say no?? Unfortunately, Jake was SO sad to miss out on this. He had a track meet in Pflugerville where he would be pole vaulting! (He actually vaulted 12 feet and got 3rd place!)

Me and Annie--we are fellow altos in the ward choir.

Me and Karcyn. Hopefully the ice cream will be gluten-free. Fingers crossed!

Calvin and JJ following Jeff Hatala's example and soaking up the rays while we wait for the official start.

The lady next to us started spraying Reddi-whip in the kids' mouths. The kids sure liked it!! JJ couldn't get enough.

Ready, set, go!! And hurry! It won't take long before the ice cream MELTS! And it wasn't gluten free. :( Coop and Jared scooping.

Jeff, Baxter, Annie, and Posey.

Calvin waiting to pour on the toppings and do his part by eating!

Cooper and JJ doing teamwork.

Baxter having fun with the whipped cream.

Calvin holding up one of the "bridges."

And...EAT!!

Good job, JJ!

Eat faster, Coop!

Way to slurp up the ice cream soup, Calvin. Haha! That's what happens in Texas the end of March! Would a straw be easier?

--Our new living room furniture was finally delivered. Unfortunately, the cute yellow ottoman was too big for our space. *sigh*

The new fireplace/heater console for the TV.

And the two leather recliners at the other end of the room for Jenn and Jared. :) We got those at Sams. Some of us will be able to put our feet up.

--This happens EVERY year!! It's cold in the mornings in March, but then the sun comes out and it heats up. And those of us at track meets and in tank tops get burned because who thinks to pack sunscreen when it's FREEZING outside and you're scraping frost off your windshield??

--Sure love this great state of ours and our flag.

--JJ's new guilty pleasure.

--I really wanted to go out with my girls from my RS presidency (I had two second counselors over the 18 months). It only took rescheduling twice, but we finally did it and had a blast. Left to right: Melanie, Jenn, Stephanie, Meg and Kerstin. Love these women. Early on in my stewardship as Relief Society President, I remember Bishop Sharp (now president of our stake) teaching me that what I do and say in my presidency is training for these women to be future leaders and presidents themselves. I told my girls that several times and they laughed at me every time. But at the moment captured in the restaurant below, these were the callings:

Melanie (Young Women President); Jenn (Stake RS counselor), Steph (RS counselor), Meg (Primary President), Kerstin (RS counselor). Who has the last laugh now, ladies? Haha! They are the best.

As we got ready to leave the restaurant, we found ourselves caught in a spring monsoon. Some of us just went for it. Some of us tried to wait it out, but after 20 minutes or so, couldn't wait any longer as we had to be home when our kids got out of school. We texted each other our "wet rat" pictures. 

It looks like I just got out of the shower.

--Calvin found a friend outside our front door. 

--Karcyn sleeping with her Koala buddy. :)

--Jake had a track meet on the 29th right after school at our high school. So I picked up the little kids and we met Cooper there. What we thought would only be an hour, turned into three. The kids hadn't had dinner, it was getting close to their bedtimes, so we had to bail before Jake even vaulted. I was grossly disappointed. I hadn't seen him pole vault in person yet. These are some of the pictures I got of him warming up.

Beautiful sunset.

Calvin's teacher from last year was there watching her son vault and since she knew I had to leave early, she was kind enough to take these pictures of Jake and send them to me. Such a gift!!

--Refrigerator shopping. We were able to buy not one, but TWO refrigerators for HALF the price of the one we bought three years ago. The black one (which will be in stainless steel) will reside in our kitchen. The white one will be in our garage next to our deep freezer. The "free for all" food will be in the kitchen. Food/ingredients I need for meals and other special occasions will be in the garage as a "no touchy" location. Only Karcyn's gluten free frozen foods will be stored in the top freezer of the garage fridge so they will be in one place for her to find. The only drawback is that it was going to take 8 days for the appliances to be delivered. Thank goodness we had a working fridge, even if it was in the garage.

--Friday, March 30th was "Good Friday." The kids had it off from school and Jared had it off from work, so we jumped at the chance to take Jake suit shopping for his mission clothes just the three of us. We headed to Men's Warehouse because we knew there would be people there who could help us find the right fit and style. We were fortunate enough to cross paths with Matthew Silkwood that day. He was incredible. He listened to us and Jake's needs. He gave us information without being pushy. He truly, for lack of a better word, ministered to us that afternoon. AND...in our habit of quoting movies in our normal conversation, we learned that Matthew could do that too when he jumped right in with us. We died. All four of us were laughing, having a great time. I think the other customers must have thought we were a bit crazy. But no apologies here. Matthew knew Jake would need suits to last him at least two years, wearing them every day, in a far away country. When we told him Jake would be serving a mission in Hungary, Matthew said his roommate is from Hungary!!! What are the odds?? As we continued on in our suit shopping journey with Matthew, we felt such a connection with this young man. That was truly one of the best experiences ever. We decided to send Matthew a graduation/mission announcement and invite him to Jake's farewell.

--After we went shopping, we went fishing, of course!! Our favorite little spot in the Woodlake neighborhood.

Look at that large mouth bass Calvin caught right out of the gate.

I noticed something small poking out at the top of the surface halfway between us and the other side of the shore. A beaver maybe?

As it got closer, I realized it was a...snake!

You can hardly see it here. That's a little unsettling!

This was only the second live snake I've seen in Texas and definitely the closest I've ever been!

It was fascinating to watch. I also learned that only poisonous snakes will swim with their entire bodies visible on the water. This is because venomous snakes swim with their lungs inflated, whereas a harmless snake will swim with its body submerged.

It was realllllly long.

It headed toward a field on the neighboring property. My search of different snakes after that encounter lead me to believe that it was aTexas Rat Snake indigenous to the Brazos Valley where we live.

JJ's fish!!

Calvin's first catfish! Proud papa!

--Our subdivision pool getting a makeover. Looking forward to it opening up as soon as possible!

A perfectly small climbing tree for a perfectly small guy like JJ.

Elder Jake Hough, 12.3.18--week 19

I got hammered by satan this week about my speaking ability, it was and has been the weakness that is is the bane of my existence, because I am no longer a greenie. I know when I speak wrong, and its super frequent. But I have been asking Peery and Baer to correct me so I can get better, cause these two is like doubler opp(ortunity) to get better in the language, but I had a ton of moments where I just didnt want to talk for "fear" of getting jumped on. and this persisted until sunday during the sacrament, when I had a realization: It DOES NOT MATTER what others think of you. It doesnt. As long as you or I do what the Lord tells us to do, whether you think itll get received well or not, then it doesnt matter. We cannot be afraid of men, but we should fear god. 2 nephi 8:8 says "Who are yOU, to fear man, who shall be made to grass? Behold I am He, and I am thy god." I am am so much better for that lesson I learned, and it affected my being as a person, like i didnt feel me, but now I just dont care what others think of me as long as I am doing what the lord neds me to do.

Also, (our new friend) is a baller! He accepted the law of tithing and word of wisdom, dropped smoking and drinking in two days, and we are teaching him the law of chastity thursday, that is the big one because he has an Élet Pár, someone he lives with but isnt married to, that is HUGE here in hungary. Szokas to be honest. We are really praying for him to have the spirit to know this is right.

Other than that the week was great! We saw snow, and all in all I just love this life, its the life I need to be living right now to learn the lessons I need to learn. Love you to pluto and back, seriously! 

Hough Elder

Elder Jake Hough, 11.26.18--week 18

SZIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAA AGGGGIEEEEESSSSS!!! 

WHOOOOOOOP to the 7 OT (overtimes) SEC History game (A&M) against LSU at home, that sounds so legendary and Im so happy that that was a success! LETS GO BABY!

We are cruising herr in Tatabánya, and we have a potential for 3 baptismal dates and are always finding new investigators daily, yesterday we literally found 2 in under 1 hour who were sincere and the conversations werent 3 minutes, it was amaying to see the lord putoting those people in our paths.

Funny story from this week, we had a group of smoking and drinkng teenagers coming by us on the street by Sarberki Lakotelep, and I out of no where go "SZIA SRÁCOK! A barataim es en..." and they all just STOPPED. I literally said hello my dudes! and proceeded to go into our talk with them haha! One of them was pricked in his heart and it was really obvious to see compared to his other friends, and we set up with him and plan to teach him later, so that was really cool! I love this work and the opposition I see everyday, because I know in those moments that "I have been seen worthy to suffer in the name of the Lord" (Acts 5:41). I Love yall, keep up the work!

Hough Elder

(To the parents)

Youll love this story. So we needed to be in Pest (Budapest is actually two different cities Buda and Pest similar to Bryan College Station J) for Peery elders (dental) appointment and we found out my bike didnt work, and the only train that would get us there in time left in 8 minutes from that moment my bike wouldnt work, and it was 1.3 miles away. Well we try fixing it, and then Peery is like were done, and I say to him "let me run." They (his two companions) had two bikes so I said let me run and he looks at me for a second like no, and says no and I say give me a chance, and then he says RUN and I take off down the street in proselyting cloths and a Huge fur coat with dress shoes on in The mine city in Hungary, and I cruised apparently cause I got there in time to buy tickets and hold the train for Peery elder to put the bikes and lock them up, and so that mile had to have been somewhere around sub five, cause I couldnt breathe for 25 minutes afterwards, but we MADE it and all of a sudden in the bathroom trying not to die i thought "IM THE FLASH" and just laughed and kept coughing. It was pretty legendary to watch according to Peery Elder on the bike that I kept pace with. He said it was the craziest thing hed see, and I was just like I want to run and we need to make this train and we did. SO that was fun haha!

Im excited for the christmas call too! Believe it or not I have NOT opened the package you gave me (back in September before he left the MTC because we knew we wouldn't be able to send him anything) but that is a miracle in and of its self because I am DYING to know what it is. The only bump with the call is that we have to be at a members house, and if I  move cities across country, I would be in a city I dont know and then it would be really hard to do it, but it would still happen because president would still give me the time for sure. But yeah, The next transfer is honestly a wild card. Well see! Im also putting together a gift for yall as well on christmas, so youll just have to wait as well! 

So I got a call friday night from the branch president and he gave me the assignemtn to talk in church for 10-15 minutes in Sacrament metting in HUNGARIAN, with 24 hours to choose a conference talk and write out my thoughts in english and then translate into Hungarian....hoooo ha it was not easy. if there is anything I am weakest in, it is public speaking like talks. I hate them. Not because of what it is, but because I never get more comfortable with it, it is always the same reaction. I was nervous and shook as usual on the stand and spoke too fast, but I did it, and the branch loved it, and I actually spoke on talking on christs name too haha! (I just gave a talk on that topic two weeks ago) The branch president when I asked what I could do to improve in the language said "I could give you a 20 minute talk" the savage haha i love him hes hilarious!

Also, we had a 5 hour freeying cold rain tracting and streeting GRIND two days ago and its gonna be like that for a while because it is dark at 5 and we are out until 8-9, and its so fun to suffer for the Lord and walk around looking for those ready. Its a fun feeling, and so is hitting the brick bed I sllep on at nights haha im just so tired.

Other than that we are doing awesome, I appreciate why you spend so much time planning meals now and the work is moving forward, its so great. This is the best life right now just serving God. No worries except about how to bring others unto christ and that is all I want right now!

Elder Jake Hough, 11.19.18--week 17

SZIAAAAAAAA AGGGGIEEEEESSSSS!!  

No time this week, but the tripanionship is dope, Baer Elder is from Houston, and it is snowing in Tatbánya in November....I am a little scared about that hahaa! I know this church is true and that God lives and that Russell M Nelson is a prophet of God! Pray to know this for yourself as well! Love yall!

Hough Elder  

 

(to the parents)

Robi, now is good haha! He wasnt responding to our texts and calls at ALL for a solid week which scared the HECK out of us, so when our other progressing investigator dropped through on the lesson we had planned to look Robi up at his house and talk to him, and set up a Bap(tism) plan for him to be baptized on the eset (?) day. In Hungary, not planned look up success is in the 30s (%), but we found him, he was ho9me, we talked to him, he is super busy works nightss, and afternoons, and also sleeps when church is, but we promised him belssings if he came, so he came!! Were meeting THIS WEEK to teach the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity, we are praying so hard this isnt a huge akadaj for him. Thanks for your prayers, I cant ask for them, but you can do them of your own free will and choice!   

It snowed today on our way to the branch house and mall, and I got a haircut FINALLY. It was SO long at just 3 months, it was a successful haircut I say. In HUNGARIAN! I was a little scared though ahaha! I still feel new because I am haha! One thing some wise missionary told me was "act like you know what you are doing, and eventually you will know exactly what you are doing. And others will think that too". 

This is so fun haha! But its about to get REAL cold up in here in a month or two.

I was at the Dallas airport on Thursday morning when I got a text from Shane Hinckley--a friend from our previous College Station ward. Attached was a picture of Jake and a new Elder I haven't seen before. Shane said that his brother and sister-in-law just arrived in Budapest on their new service mission and sent the picture of Jake sitting down to share with me. It was such a fun, unexpected surprise!  And then, just a couple hours after that, I received a picture of Jake standing in his coat with the same elder from an unknown number. I told the sender thank you very much--whoever they were! It was Sister Hinckley (in the Budapest mission office). Jake told us in his email yesterday that Sister Hinckley and Sister Hettinger (mission president's wife) are sisters!!! :) 

(Love his coat!!)

(Jake's looking a little too relaxed here if you ask me! Haha! ;)

Elder Jake Hough, 11.13.18--week 16

OK. here comes the week. And its a lot. For starters, the day I emailed yall (last week), we got a call late which is not normal for us from a member, Lala, awesome guy. He told us that someone in TBánya posted on facebook that there are 2 white american kids walking around the city trying to force their way into apartments and homes at 8 pm (For the record, 8 pm is like super late for hungarians, they never come to doors after that but we are asked to preach unitl 9, so we go forth anyway!), and that they are aggressive and dangerous and are not good people. That was not good to hear at first, because then people wouldnt listen to us before we actually talked. But after we went back out the next day adn hit a door of a man who said he had SEEN the post and slammed the door in our faces, I laughed. I laughed out loud and Peery Elder was like you ok and I was like "yeah, jsut thanking Satan for his stupidity!" He said I dont get it. I then explained that Satan is scared of what we are doing in Tatabánya and that he doesnt want us to continue to work hard, but by doing so he actually made the work more efficient and faster and effective because now those that wouldnt have accepted the gospel wont waste our time trying to bible bash and we will really find those that are being prepared to receive the gospel in this life. That was really funny but true, and so yeah. That really helped instead of hurt. 

A cool thing was when our investigator Robi heard about the facebook thing or saw it in our lesson with him, he looked at us and said "Így tovább", the dopest thing ever. Continue like this. Push through basically. If our investigator has that faith with only three lessons, we should have the same faith as well. So cool to hear that from him. 

Alright, so Transfer calls. This was crazyság. We got a call from the zone leaders tuesday night saying that one of them was going to Budapest to become AP (assistant to the president of the mission), and the other is dying (nearing the end of his mission and going home) in a few days, so we literally us three were going to man Győr and Tatbánya (an hour train ride each way) for 6 days bouncing back and forth between cities to teach investigators and work and that required packing and travel and crazy logistics. Weve been doing that and its been crazy but fun for sure. tripanionships are trickier in the field than in the MTC I learned this week haha! But yeah, Huber elder dies tomorrow, and we were hoping peery or I did not get transferred this time because that would mean we go to Tatabánya today, pack as fast as possible, then leave tomorrow. Luckily, that did not happen, so we are together the 12 weeks, but I had the worst feeling I was leaving which thankfully didnt happen, but something did happen that was crazy and that no one expected: Peery, Me, and another elder are gonna be a TRIPANIONSHIP for the next transfer! THat was crazy. Baer Elder, whose grandma I served with in the Houston texas temple (!!!). But yeah, that is gonna be awesome we meet up tomorrow, but that also presents some problems. The first being our tiny fridge is NOT big enough for three, barely big enough for 2 as it is, and we have the smallest apartment ever haha! Itll be an adventurous 5 weeks though for sure! Funny how the Lord definitely has a sense of humor because I was in a tri(panionship) for the MTC, one transfer free, and now Im BACK IN IT WOOH! 

Love yall!! This church is TRUE!! No way it isn't!!

Hough Elder

 Visiting some "dope castles" in Gyor. 

The Gang (Hungarian district from the MTC) is back together for a moment at Stake Conference!! Except they're missing one sister! :(

Elder Jake Hough, 11.5.18--week 15

Hellllloooooo Aggieeeeessss!

No time today, but a quick story. Its about russian girls and moosyuitos. We went to a city called orosylany (russian girl) To look up an investigator. Well we get there, she isnt there, and we find out later at the train station the train we paid for didnt exist, and there were NO MORE TRAINS GOING HOME and it was 830 at night super cold, no taxis in sight, and this smooching teenager couple comes up with the same problems, they say follow us to the bus stop, then we follow them, and then we ruin into this dudes homie names Mosyuito and he says the last bus is in 2 minutes and we get there right as the LAST bus pulls up for the night. It couldve been bad, but those things allfit perfectly toghether to get us home. The lord was watching out for us and that realyization makes me so grateful for him watching out for us haha! We wouldve froyen to death walking home seriously it couldve been bad. But there were so many miracles this week, the Lord is in the Details! Look to him, and ask for help in all things and he will provide! Love yall!

Hough Edler

(To the parents)

Pday was awesome we visited the barlong (cave), the turul statue (Mythical hungarian bird) and the kilátás (the look out). That thing was sketch and super high up and the wind was making it sway it was so dope haha you (dad) wouldnt have done it though jsut saying it was a bit scary but safe none the less,. And we could see all of Tataábánya from that mountain it was so cool to look out on our city like that. Also, we found a bowling place that we may tryí out next pday, today is too packed but next pday for sure.

We met with our investigator Robi for a second lesson, and he prayed vocally for the first time, it was amaying to hear and the spirit was so strong because we knew that Heavenly Father was listening. It was amaying. He is progressing so well its unreal. We fasted for him (as did the Hough family yesterday) and a couple other investigators to be in church or have a rendkivül (out of the ordinary) exoereience. And every single prayer and person received those thi8ngs. Robi and 4 OTHER INVESTGATORS were in church, the branch was flipping out and are getting their stuff together and realiying we are serious missionaries and are trying to help them and they are starting to do their stuff an it is literally on fire right now we are seeing miracles every day. Its amaying really. To be able to participate and be the means by which miracles come to pass. Its so humbling and rewarding. I definitely felt a peice of the joy ammon felt in Alma 26 yersteday. 

I am also seeing strides in myself to be more humble in choice and decision making and I am really trying to find the middle ground between being an outgoing person like I am and talking to people, and talking les as in talking with a purpose and not yapping my trap. But its a process, and the first thing is always being put to the test because Peery and I want to do it right, but sometiómes our opinions dont line up as expected and I am really trying to be hunmble in those situations. Its going good. 

Also I learned my first hungarian dish that will put you to sleep its sooooo goood. Its called Rakokrumpli, "Stacked potatoes." Its heaven dad. Its so good. 

Thats awesome about (CSHS) Cross Country (they took 11th place at State)! I finally learned how to say that in Hungarian: Rövidtáv futás (Short distance runing as compared to marathons).