Spring Has Come to Kispest

May 21,2012

Hey family!

Wow.. this has been a full week! We have done so much, I know that i won't be able to write it all- but I'll at least be able to fill you in on a little of what's happening here. 

So, first of a little history of Dunaújvaros... back in the day this place was exploding with missionary work. There use to be 2 branches here with over 100 members in each branch! I guess when the missionaries first came in this city, everyone was really interested, and it was almost like a fad to join the church- because it was the "new American religion" that everyone was hearing about. Well now, we only have one branch with about 30 members. I guess because a lot of them didn't really have solid testimonies when they joined. So there are a ton of inactive member here. So, a lot of the work we do here is working on re-activations. Which really is just as important as new baptisms. We spent a lot of this week riding around on our awesome bikes haha looking up inactive members who haven't been heard from in years. Lots of our search was unsuccessful. There were a lot that weren't home, or that had moved, or just didn't want to have anything to do with us or the church. But we did meet some awesome people along the way, and had a couple of them invite us in for a lesson! 

Tuesday we spent part of the day tabling. We have a table with signs about the Book of Mormon, eternal, families, and free English class. We were able to talk to a ton of people. I started off by fliering for English class, and talking with people about the Book of Mormon who seemed willing to stop and listen. I talked to 2 people who seemed really interested and said they would try and make it that night to the English class we were holding. Another man walking by at first seemed really angry with us, he said he didn't want anything we were offering, and started talking about how God doesn't exist because he has a son that is sick and wasn't getting any better. I felt bad for him and asked why he doesn't believe in God. He talked to me more about all the hard things going on in his life, and how he felt that God didn't answer any of his prayers. I talked to him more about what we believe and showed him the Book of Mormon I had in my hands. Sister Roney and I had prepared a lot of the Book of Mormons before tabling- we wrote different questions in them and marked the scriptures that answered them. Like- Does God exist? Why does God allow sin and hard things to happen to us? What is the purpose of life?.. Things like that. I showed him the marked scriptures and told him how the Book of Mormon helps us to find comfort and guidance in our lives. I showed him the testimony I had written in the front. I wasn't sure if he would take it or not, since he seemed so solid in not accepting anything from us in the beginning, but when I offered it to him he seemed so surprised and said he would gladly read it. By the end of our conversation his countenance had completely changed. He was smiling and seemed so much brighter and more happy. That is one of the best things about being a missionary... watching how our message and the spirit can literally brighten people's countenances. :) 

The 2 people from the street ended up coming to English class! We were able to get both of their numbers and we set up to meet with one of them later today actually! :) The other one said he really enjoyed the class and said he had never heard anything about the Mormons. He seemed interested in learning more, so we are going to try and see if he would like to meet with us too! :) 

Wednesday we streeted, and somehow we seemed to be in the right places at the right times. We received 5 finds that we are going to contact this week! They all seem genuinely interested too! We also met this young kid named Beni. He looked kind of big and intimidating, kind of like a gangster. I gave him a flier and invited him to English class. I thought he would be scary or kind of mean, but we started talking with him and asked if he knew any English. He said he knew a little. We all happened to be walking in the same direction, so we continued to talk to him. He turned out not to be scary at all!- but was actually really nice! He asked a lot of questions about why we were serving missions and what we believe. He didn't believe in God, but we told him about our testimonies, and he seemed surprised that neither of us had ever drank or smoked. He said his parents weren't religious either so he had never really grown up praying and things like that. He walked with us probably past where he was going haha but we had a really great conversation. He ended up taking a Book of Mormon, and said he might come to English class. It was cool talking to him, who knows, maybe we started some sort of curiosity in him about a belief in God? If there's one thing I've learned on my mission, its that you can never judge a book by it's cover. 

Well, Friday was one of our best days. We went looking for less actives, and had all sorts of cool experiences. We rang the wrong csángő (its like a outside doorbell to an apartment building) for one of them. We were looking for a lady named Ilona, but the confused man on the speaker ended up coming down to see what we wanted. We talked to him for about 20 min. about who we were, and more about our church. He seemed interested in learning more, he took a Book of Mormon and gave us his phone number so that we could set up a time to meet later. :) (We ended up finding Ilona's csángő a few minutes later)- it was the next door over. haha Oh well, the awesome things that come from wringing the wrong doorbell. :) 

2 of the less actives invited us in to have a lesson. We even reset up with one of them to meet this Saturday. He seems to know a ton of the members, and showed us pictures from when he was an active member. We found one of them who he used to be friends with that is going to come with us to our lesson with him on Saturday. :) The other lady was named Judit. She was really nice, and gave us her number so that we could come back another time. It's a process getting people who have left the church to come back.. but I think it's a good start that they let us in. :) 

We met with some of our investigators too. They all seem to be really slow progressors, so we have our work set out for us. I'm hoping that some of these new finds will be promising. 

I know this church is true! I love missionary work. I know that through the atonement of Christ we can receive strength beyond our own to make it through tough things. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that Moroni's promise is real. If people sincerely pray and ask God if the book is true, he will answer them through the power of the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have and the opportunity I have to serve a mission. It is the best thing I've ever done. I love you all tons!! Can't wait to hear from you again next week!! Take care!

Sok Szeretettel,

Johnson Nővér

Thanks Dad for the vests!

P.S. Dad- Thanks for the mission stories! :) I started reading through some of them, 16 pages is a lot. haha it costs us to print pages so if you could mail them that would be awesome. But if not, I can probably just print them off. 

I sent a picture of our awesome vests. :) and Sister Roney and I went on a bike ride in the morning last Tuesday with one of our investigators to this random castle with all these animal heads haha so i took a picture with one. Anyways, love you all lots! Talk to you soon! :)  

May 14, 2012

Hey Family!! 

It was so great talking to you all yesterday! Scottie and Princess I still love you both!! Sorry I wasn't able to get a chance to talk to you. But things are going well here in my new area! I've been sick for the past week just about, but I finally feel like I am getting better. Transfers was pretty rough with being sick. Probably the worst possible time to come down with a crazy cold or sinus infection or whatever it was. But I'm glad it's finally letting up now though. 

Dunaújvaros is actually really beautiful and green. Our city is right along the Duna! I took a picture at Duna park where we streeted a bit the other day. Its really actually a pretty city. There's a lot of hills here, and we will be riding bikes a lot. :P Should be fun. haha I probably need the exercise though anyway. We have helmets and these awesome yellow construction vests that we wear. haha I'll try and send a picture of us in them next week. 

There are some awesome members here in Duna. The Tomaék let us use their computer yesterday to Skype. They are hilarious. Mom got to hear a few words from Judit on Skype yesterday. She attempted to speak some of her English. haha They made us palacsintas (Hungarian crapes) and showed us some of their family pictures. Judit's son Fanzi is inactive and hasn't been to church in quite a few years. They are such hilarious nice people though, I really enjoy going over to their house. We are going to try and help Judit prepare for the temple and get Fanzi back to church. :) 

Friday we had a ward party. It was mostly for all the kids in our ward here, but I was able to meet most all the members. Everyone is so friendly!! They had a lot of fun stuff for the kids to do- face painting, games, food, a puppet show! haha close to the end i joined some of the kids painting at the table. I drew a portrait of Elder Weston as a joke, but then afterwards everyone wanted me to paint a portrait of them. haha I ended up doing something like 7 people I think. It was really fun actually. :) We met with a few RCLAs and some just a couple of our investigators this week. It was hard since I've been sick. But this week we have a whole bunch of programs set up, so it should be really great. 

Elder Weston

Sunday was stake conference. Every seat was full all the way to the stage in the back! And even then we had people standing in the back to hear. It's amazing how much the church is growing here. I really hope that someday soon they will have a temple here in Hungary!! That would be so awesome! I got to see a lot of the Kispest members at stake conference, so it was good to get to say goodbye again. Also! I don't know if you remember me talking about Elder Jenei from the MTC- But we met a Hungarian in the MTC going on a mission to England, and our group became really good friends with him there. Funny story though!- I met his mom and brother at stake conference yesterday!! haha they stopped me in the hallway. I was confused at first because i didn't know who they were, but i guess they had recognized me from a picture Elder Jenei sent them in the MTC. lol It was fun to talk to them  and hear how he is doing on his mission in England. I remembered him saying his family was from Győr, but i never thought i would actually run into them. lol Small world. 

It was a little sad leaving Kispest, just like it was hard leaving Békéscsaba- but I think there are a lot of great things that will come from this new city. Sister Roney and I are going to have a lot of fun I think. :) I sent a picture of Adrián from Kispest. He is probably one of the most solid investigators we had when I left there. I'm really sad I won't be there to see him progress, but he's in good hands with the sisters there now i think, and he's really already doing a lot of it on his own. I think he's beginning to recognize the spirit. :) It kind of stinks to leave an area right as things begin to pick up... but I know the work will be able to move along here as well. Anyways, that's about all I've got this week. I love you all tons! Granny B- thanks for the birthday package!! :) Hope to talk to you all soon!

Much love,

Sister Tiffany Johnson 

My New Area of Dunaújvaros, Hungary

May 7, 2012

Hey everyone!

So, transfer calls came again this morning! Turns out I am leaving Kispestand going to serve in Dunaújvaros with Sister Roney! Sister Roney was inthe group below me in the MTC. She is super nice and I'm sure we are goingto have a great time serving together. :)

This has been a good week. One of the longer ones. I think we were really anxious to know what was going to happen at transfers. The weather is beautiful here now. We've had some really hot days even! Only I think it's taking a toll on my allergies. My face feels like it might explode today,and I've been sneezing non-stop. But hopefully it will pass before I leave for my new area.Kispest has been really great. We seem to have a few investigators here now that seem to be really progressing. :) Adrián met with us 3 times just this week! He has a lot of questions and seems really interested. He normallycomes to English class on Thursdays, but texted us before class this past Thursday and said he wouldn't be able to make it to English class, but thathe would still be coming to our lesson with him afterwards. When he showed up, he had read the chapter we assigned him and said that he wasn't able tocome to English class because he needed to read. He didn't want to come to our lesson without being prepared with what we had committed him to do. Howcool is that?! We are hoping to meet with him again tonight. :) We also went on splits this Thursday. Sister Jeppson came and served in Kispest with me for a day. We had a fun time. She was in Sister Roney's group in the MTC. I learn a lot every time I go on splits. Sometimes it's really great to switch up companions and see how other missionaries findand teach. Sister Roney is fearless, and willing to talk to anyone she sees. She also speaks the language really well! One of our MTC teachers Brother Daybell and his wife were here in Hungary for a few days! We got to catch up with them on Friday when they were hereat the mission home for Waffle night with the youth. It was kind of weird seeing them outside the walls of the MTC. But they were both really impressed to see how far we have come, and how great the work is moving along for us. :) We were finally able to meet with Fanni. Fanni was on bap. date a few mothsago in Buda. The Buda sisters passed her over to us since she lives here in Kispest. I think she's having a hard time switching over, so she hasn'tshown up to meet with us much. But we were able to meet with her twice this week. She seems to have a strong testimony of the church, she's just a little hesitant about being baptized for some reason. But we are working on helping with her concerns.Missionary day was this Saturday. We have it usually about once everymonth. It's a day when the ward members come to help the missionaries street and table. This Saturday only one ward member showed up to help - Éva. She is such a solid member though. She was a great help the whole time we were there. She handed out about 11 Liahonas and a couple Book of Mormons. We were able to get some new finds too that we will be able to callnext week. Well, that's about all the update for now. Mother's day is on Sunday!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!  


Well, I love you all lots. I'm excited to hear from you! Have a fabulous day!


Szeretettel,
Johnson Nővér

 Nővér Gallion and I

April 23, 2012

Kedves Családom, 

This Friday will be my halfway point. How crazy is that? It honestly feels like just last week I entered the MTC. Although. Looking back I can see how much I have learned and am continuing to learn since then. I just can't believe how quickly the time is flying. Each transfer seems to pass more and more quickly. Sister Gallion and I have been working really hard. At the beginning of the transfer we dropped a few of our investigators who were only meeting with us mostly to practice English. It's been tough working to find more people to teach and kind of starting over from scratch in a way, but we have been able to use the extra time to find some really cool new people who are genuinely interested in hearing about the gospel. 

Adrian, one of our new investigators seems really awesome. He is keeping all the commitments we have given him, and seems to sincerely want to learn more about our beliefs and find out for himself if they are true. In our lesson with him this week, we watched the Joseph Smith movie and talked about how the Book of Mormon came about. He was completely honest with us after watching the film, and told us that he didn't really like it. lol He said it was too unbelievable. We told him we understood that it was a difficult story to believe, but boar our testimonies of it's truth and told him he could receive an answer that it was true through prayer. After talking a little more about the Book of Mormon, he told us that he felt like Joseph Smith could not have written the whole Book of Mormon himself without some sort of higher power. We committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and told him if he asked with a sincere heart the Lord would answer him. He seemed surprised that we seemed so sure in promising him a positive outcome, but he committed to try this week. :) We are meeting with him again tomorrow, and found a member that is willing to come and teach with us. I think it will be really good for him to hear a recent convert's testimony and conversion experience. :) 

 Edit came with us to a member's home for dinner last Wednesday. It went so well! They made us a delicious dinner, and made her feel really welcome and comfortable in their home. After we ate, Edit had some questions from church last week. They had talked about temples and the priesthood, both topics we hadn't had a chance to teach her about yet. Béla and Boróka helped us to answer all of her questions. Béla actually served a mission in Utah a few years ago. He received the plan of salvation with her and emphasized the spirit world. We talked about why we need temples, what type of work we do there, and what a blessing they are in our lives. By the end Edit was smiling, and you could tell she was beginning to really understand and see the big picture. It was so cool to see her light up as all the questions she asked were being answered. On the way home we asked how she liked it. She told us that she enjoyed it very much. We told her that there were a lot of new things we talked about and that she learned that night. She responded and said that they were all things she knew before, but because of God's plan she had forgotten them, and is learning them again. :) I think everything is really starting to click for her. I am so grateful for Béla and Boróka, and all their help. There really is something so much more powerful about a lesson with a member who can bear strong testimony about the things they have come to know to be true. That is one thing that really amazes me. The church is so new here in Hungary, almost every member here is a recent convert. I always love hearing about how they heard about the gospel and how they received an answer that it was true. It's such a cool experience to get to be a part of that for others. 

Friday we went on splits with the sisters in Buda. I got to serve in Buda for a day with one of the mini missionaries- Sister Török. She is from Budapest and is a recent convert of about a year. She's 20 and speaks only a little English. It was such a blast to get to serve for a day with her! We spoke in Hungarian the entire time. I thought it would be difficult, but I found that we were actually able to communicate really well! I learned so much serving with her!- even though it was only for a day. She helped me so much with the language, and she boar powerful testimony on the streets and in our lessons. We spent a lot of time laughing and having a fun time too. She is an incredible example to me of how true this gospel is, and how it truly can change our lives and hearts. I am amazed with how much of a strong testimony she has. I don't know if I could have the type of faith it takes to be a convert to the church, each one that I meet here is an inspiration and a great example to me. I hope one day that I can serve with a mini Hungarian missionary! That would be such a party! :) 

Well, I love you all. Things are great here. Thanks for all of your emails and for your support and prayers. Take care and I hope to hear from you next week!! 

Lots of Love,

Sister Tiffany Johnson 

This is from our song we played at The Wheelchair Event. It's not the best picture ever haha but you can see my awesome guitar!! :) The other one is with Török Nővér who i went on splits with this week.

April 16, 2012

HellOOooOoo family!! 

Mi újság??! Today we spent the day with our district walking around the city and taking all sorts of pictures. We stopped at a park near hero's square and had a picnic! The sights in the city are really beautiful. Sometimes its crazy to think that I'm actually all the way out here in Hungary. As a missionary we kind of get into the everyday routine of missionary work, and I forget that I'm in this amazing country on the other side of the world! That's why I love p-days! We get to take a second to walk around and see all the awesome things this city has to offer. 

There were a some really great things that happened this week. First of all, Edit came to church!! It was her first time coming, and she came to all 3 meetings with us. By the end, she had a lot of new questions, but said that she really enjoyed it. She has begun to make some really great friends here in the ward as well. I am so glad the members here are so kind and welcoming to our investigators. They are a big help in our finding and teaching. 

Mani is doing great, and seems to be adjusting as a new member here so quickly. She has found some ladies in the ward to be her friends, and is going to start attending our ward's institute class with them. She is really excited about sharing the gospel, and wants to come help us on our next ward missionary day.

We met with Adrian on Thursday after English class. He is so awesome! He kept all the commitments that we gave him and had so many great questions for us. We talked to him about the apostasy and restoration, and about why we need prophets. He seems really accepting of everything we are teaching him, and even prayed for the first time in our program! It's always such a special experience to hear someone pray for the first time. Especially when you can tell that they really felt something. 

Well, sorry that this email is kind of short, but I'm glad to hear you all are doing well. Dad, that was a pretty crazy picture you sent from beaver hunting. haha I'm glad you had a good time though. I hope that you and Holly had a fun time in Japan. Holly, you will have to keep me updated on your friend who is taking the missionary lessons and let me know what happens with her. That is really exciting. Mom, I'm glad you and Scott had a good trip to California. That is still so crazy to me that Scott is driving! AHH! I donno, still kind of weird for me to think about. But I'm glad you both had fun and that you made it back alive. ;) You'll have to tell Scott to send me an email or write me a letter sometime soon! I feel like it's been way too long since I've heard from him. 

Anyway, I love you all tons. Take care and talk to you all next week!

Much Love,

Johnson Nővér

April 10, 2012

Dear Family,

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! It's finally spring! A perfect time to remember the Resurrection of the Savior.The weather here is finally turning warm and everything is green! :) It's so nice to go outside and not have to put on a bazillion layers to stay warm. Even though in the winter everything looks dead and dark, we can always know that spring is always right around the corner. 

Mani's baptism was on Saturday! And her confirmation on Sunday. Everything turned out really well. We had lots of members there to support her, and she was so excited and so happy to be getting baptized! The water was a tad bit nippy. haha Before the baptism while we were trying to fill up the font, only cold water was coming from the faucet. So we attempted to boil water on the stove in large pots and pour it in.. but it didn't make much difference.I think she was a little nervous to get in the cold water, but everything went smoothly, and afterwards she told me that she didn't even notice the cold water but that she felt that the Lord had blessed her so that she wouldn't freeze. lol She has a very solid testimony and wants to share the gospel with others. The Lord definitely had previously prepared her to accept our message, she was ready for everything we taught her- she is truly a miracle. I hope the Lord can help lead us to others like her. :)

This week we were able to meet with lots of new people! We set up and had programs with all the people we met with on the streets a few weeks ago!- Our most promising is Adrian. I sat by Adrian on the Metro a few weeks ago and gave him a Book of Mormon. He had been speaking with a friend about how he was open to learning about religions not 20 minutes before I sat down and talked to him. He is completely open to learning about the church. He had read all of the introduction, and the scriptures I had highlighted in the book before our meeting. He even looked up a Book of Mormon study guide from our church website! He said he wasn't going to just give up on us in 2 weeks, but that he would hear us out. Our first lesson was very good and he had lots of questions. We assigned him to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and he asked if he would be receiving these kinds of assignments when we met. We said yes and he was totally cool with it, and said he would read what we gave him. We're so excited about him. 

Turns out László and his wife (who we streeted last Sunday) are actually Jehovah's Witnesses! haha We had an interesting program at their house. They were both very nice though and offered us juice and crackers as we talked to them about the bible. I made sure to come prepared with my English bible and plenty of references that we thought might be good for them. When we walked in their house we saw their walls lined with big brown books that looked like encyclopedias. When I asked László what they were, he replied that they were just another part of his bible study. "What did we get ourselves into?" we thought...There is only one other religious group here in Hungary that would be so dedicated to the Bible... The Jehovah's Witnesses. We later asked what religion they were, they confirmed what we had thought. We talked for a while about the Bible, they asked us plenty of questions and we did our best to respond- some of them replying that we needed more time to research and find an answer. We talked a lot about a living prophet and how we believe that God's words never cease. They seem to feel that there has to be some sort of evidence before they can believe, and that there is no need for a living prophet today. Anyway, we did set up to meet with them again, and are actually going over later today. Our message will be: The Book of Mormon is our evidence and they can know if it is true by reading and praying about it. Wish us luck! They were so friendly though and their dedication to studying the Bible has helped me want to be more studious in the scriptures.

Sister Gallion and I have continued to meet all sorts of awesome people during our travels around the city. We met a really nice man named Ádám who is married with a 3 year old. He took a Book of Mormon, and we gave him a card we have with a Facebook page that has more information about our church. We also met these three brothers that were here on vacation from Mexico. They spoke English and we began to explain to them more about our beliefs and about why we are here as missionaries. They had never heard about any of our beliefs before and asked us a lot of questions. I didn't have any English cards or an English Book of Mormon to give them, but I gave them one of our Hungarian cards, and showed them the small red English Book of Mormon that I carry around with me. When we got to our stop one of the brothers asked for a book in Hungarian, the doors were about to close but I quickly pulled it out of my bag and handed it to him. Who knows?- maybe they will try and find one in their own language when they get home?

Well, Lots of other crazy things happened this week, but I don't have time to write it all. For now, I love being a missionary and I love getting to share and testify about the gospel wherever i go! The church is true, and the work is moving along here in Hungary. I love you all and hope you are doing well! Talk to you soon!


P.S. Thanks for the pictures! Tala is adorable!! I can't wait to meet her when I get back! Also, Michele if you are reading this thanks so much for the Easter candy from your family!! My companion and I were so grateful that you took the time to think of us! :)

Sok Szeretettel,

Sister Tiffany Johnson

This is one of our investigators EDIT. She is awesome!! She is keeping all the commitments we give her, and even came to general conference with us last week! She is so nice, and really wants to find out if what we are teaching her is true.

Gérgő is the red head. Who would have thought Hungarians have red hair?! He's our ward mission leader and he's only 18! But he is a super cool kid and does a great job. 

Transit in Hungary

Every once in awhile, you just have to stop and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you!

Sister Kramer and I on the day of Transfers

Twice a year different districts in Hungary can throw out all their trash and old furniture onto the street and people come around and pick it up. It's pretty strange and kind of discusting... but I guess it's easier than having a yard sale? 

Sister Gallion and I before Mani's Baptism

March in Kispest

March 26, 2012

Hello Everyone!

Okay, wow.. I'm sorry, I've been having issues getting my emails out lately. But I promise I haven't forgotten you all, and I really have been writing every week. But Hopefully all my emails will go through today. You will just have a lot of reading to catch up on. :)

Anyway, So this Wednesday is the start of a brand new transfer!! Transfer calls came today. We found out that I will be staying here in Kispest, and SISTER GALLION my companion from the MTC will be coming here to serve with me!!! I am so excited! We are going to have such a blast! I love Sister Gallion so much! I am really sad that I won't be serving with Sister Kramer anymore though. I cannot believe how quickly our last 2 transfers together have flown by! I guess time flies when you're having fun. We have learned and grown a lot together, and we will definitely continue to remain good friends even though we will be serving in different areas. She will be going to Szeged to serve with Sister Papritz.

Anyways... So this week! This week has been really great! I've been able to meet some really awesome people in the most random places. On buses, on the metro, on the street. For some reason I've been able to share the gospel a lot more with people just while walking around and traveling places. We try and do this everyday of course, but I was able to find so many people that were really willing to listen and wanting to learn more. There was one man on the bus who I talked to. I didn't have enough time to give him a Book of Mormon before our stop, but I gave him a pass along card and invited him to English class. A few days later he called back!! He is coming to English class this week, and I am hoping we will be able to set up a time to meet and talk more about the gospel. There was another man I met on the metro a few days later. I started a conversation with him and he asked what I was doing here in Hungary. I told him how we are missionaries here and we started talking about the gospel. He got off at our same stop, so Sister Kramer and I talked to him for about 20 min about the gospel. He seemed really interested, and actually told us that just a few days before he had talked to some Jehovah's witnesses, and was discussing with a friend about religions, and then he met us and received this book. He seems really cool and exchanged numbers with us so that we can set up a time to talk more about our beliefs. And then on Sunday, Sister Kramer and I needed to give away one more Book of Mormon to reach our goals. We tried stopping everyone to find someone that was interested, but we weren't having much success. I felt exhausted from all that we had already done that day, and all the other work we had done during the week. When it was about time to go home I felt like giving up, but decided to talk to just one more person. I spotted an older man in a suit walking down the street with a brief case in his hand. I decided to see if he would stop to listen to me. Surprisingly enough, he did. I told him how I was a missionary for our church and asked if he was religious. He said that he was, and I went on to ask if he had ever heard about the Book of Mormon. He said that he had, somewhat, and asked me why there is need for another book when we already have the bible. I told him we believe in the bible to be God's word, but that the Book of Mormon is a 2nd witness to the bible. I talked about how the Bible explains about Christ's ministry in Jerusalem, and the Book of Mormon is written by ancient prophets in the Americas, who Christ also appeared to after his resurrection. He seemed somewhat confused, but interested. I offered for him to take the Book of Mormon. He wasn't willing to take it, but said that we could come by sometime to talk to him and his wife more about it. He exchanged numbers with me and gave us his address to stop by sometime! We didn't end up being able to find someone to take our last Book of Mormon, but to me we still reached our goals. I am excited to talk to this man and his wife more about why we need the Book of Mormon, and hopefully help answer some of their questions. :)

We had lots of great programs this week. Mani is preparing to be baptized on April 7th!! She is so ready. I am really happy for her and this decision she is making. I know that Sister Gallion and I are going to see a lot of success in this coming transfer! I am excited about all these new people we have to meet with. I hope that they will have a desire to learn more and read from the scriptures. Thank you so much for all your support and prayers! To my big brother and his beautiful wife, I am so happy for you both!! I'm so sorry that my email didn't go through after you had little Tala. But i love you both, and I am so happy for you!! Dad, Tell Grandma Johnson yes I got her cookies!! They were delicious, as were the ones from Holly and you. All the elders were very grateful that I shared with them. :) Besides that, I guess I will talk to you all next week. Mom, thanks so much for the email about conference. I really enjoyed reading about the talks that were in the Young Women's session. I love you all TONS!! I hope you have a wonderful week! and I hope you get my email this week. ha ha!

Talk to you soon!!

much love,

Sister Tiffany Johnson

March 19, 2012

Okay, now for this week...

I hope that everyone is doing well! We had a lot of fun this week. Sister Kramer has a friend who is in a study abroad program just next to us in Vienna, we received permission to have lunch with her here in the city this week. So I got to meet her and some of their other friends. We actually went to an Italian restaurant for lunch, haha but it was a lot of fun. Thursday was a big holiday in Hungary to celebrate Independence here, so we had a SUPER p-day. Super p-days are like a p-day, but only they last the whole day long!!! We spent the day with the A.P.s and went up to Tihany and the Balaton- a giant lake here in Hungary. Of course as missionaries we couldn't get in- but it was really beautiful. We also went to a castle in Csesznek. It was build sometime in the 1500s, and is now mostly just broken down walls. But we had a lot of fun climbing the walls and taking lots of pictures. Friday at fiatal est (or our young adults' activity) one of the members Dia taught us all how to draw. So we all drew portraits of each other and set up different scenes to draw. It turned out somewhat funny. They all were very unique. Sister Kramer and I also sang in church yesterday! We wanted to sing a hymn of somesort, but didn't have anyone that could accompany us on the piano. I don't know that many hymns on the guitar yet, but I came up with my own way to play "Abide with Me Tis Even Tide." So I played and we sang together. I think it turned out pretty well. We were hoping it would get a lot more of our investigators at church- but we still had a few who made it. :) A few of the senior couples came too, so we had a few fans in the audience. We made a video of it on my camera, I'm going to try and email it to my mom and see if she can put it on my blog.

Besides just playing this week, we also worked too of course. Mani- our new baptism date is incredible. She is so excited to get baptized, and loves reading and learning and coming to church. She came this Sunday even though she was sick. I'm really happy she wants to be baptized, she will be a really great addition to the ward here.

We also had a really great lesson with one of our investigators Csaba. He's been meeting with us for a while now, but has been one of our slower progressors. In our last lesson with him we ended up talking a lot about prayer. We planned a completely different lesson, but we were reading about Enos and i felt prompted to ask if he had ever prayed to know if God existed. He told us that he hadn't. And after that a lot of his other concerns came to the surface. We told him that if he sincerely wanted to know if God was there listening to him, he needed to pray and ask to receive an answer. We promised him that if he asked in faith, and really had a desire- that God would answer his prayer. I am so glad that we were able to have that simple lesson with him this week. I'm not sure how we missed this earlier. But for prayer, or the gospel, or the plan of salvation, or anything else to really mean anything to us- we have to know that there is a God who loves us, who wants to hear from us, and desires our success and happiness. He told us he would pray this week!- So hopefully he does. :)

We also met with a new investigator that was handed over to us from the Buda sisters- Fanni. She is in her 20s and is on bap date actually for sometime in the end of April! She has a lot of energy, and a lot of personality! She loves the gospel and has a strong testimony. We just need to help her feel more adjusted into the new ward here in Kispest, but I think she will like it here a lot.

Well, that's about all I have for this week. I love you all! Sorry again that my email didn't go through last time. But take care and I will talk to you next week!!

Love you tons!!

-Sister Johnson

P.S. Mandy is engaged!!??? WHAT!!? I cannot believe this. She needs to write me ASAP! lol who is this boy?! He better be good to her. This is so crazy! K well, I'm sad I won't get to be there. But I want a wedding invite!!

March 14, 2012

This week Tiffany sent pictures and just a quick note. She is busy and doing well and loves the people that she's serving with and for. They are becoming dear friends. Here is some of the content of the last email and the pictures...

...Caving with Kramer Nővér and the Elders

March 12, 2012

Hello Everyone!!

Wow.. This has been such a crazy week!! So, I guess i will start at the beginning of the week... We had such a fun P-day last week! We went with the Elders to these caves just outside of Budapest. But these were no sissy caves- we did lots of crawling through tiny spaces on our hands and knees- lots of times having to inchworm or army crawl ourselves through to the other side. Sometimes we'd have to turn our heads sideways because the spaces were too small to go through. But it was a blast!! I decided I love caving. We had an awesome tour guide, and it was just the 5 of us so he took us to the more difficult parts of the cave.There was one place they called the sandwich... which i now realize why they call it that. haha We had a really fun time though. We also went up to Janos hedgy. It is the highest point in all of Budapest. We planned to take the chair lift up.. only when we got there, we found out they weren't yet running... so we had a nice hike up. haha I about died.. but the view from the top made it all worth it.
Tuesday we met with Mani, our new Bap. date. She is incredible! and so ready to be baptized. She was introduced to the church through a friend, and has willingly accepted everything from the moment she found the church. She loves the bible, and knows just about every story and all the teachings in it. She said she never felt there was a Church that had all that she was needing in it, until she found our church. She is excited to start paying tithing, and says she use to drink coffee and green tea, but is willing to stop now to join the church. She is so excited to be baptized and I am really happy for her. She is already starting to make some great friends in the ward, and I think she is going to be a really solid member.
We met twice this week with the family that was referred to us from Livi. They are such great people. The two girls love the scriptures and love coming to church! The parents are really attentive in our lessons and are reading from the Book of Mormon! On Tuesday we had a great lesson about prophets and how we can build testimonies. We watched the restoration film with them, and Vivi (one of the daughters who is 12) said that she believes it could possibly be true! We talked about the importance of prayer and the holy ghost to receive our answer about the Book of Mormon. Saturday they cooked us Hungarian food and asked me to bring over my guitar. We had another great lesson about faith, the parents had read from the chapter we assigned in Alma 32. We ate lots of great food, and had our own personal talent show! The girls danced for all of us something they were learning from their dance class, and then we played and sang some songs together on my guitar. It was a really fun program.
Wednesday Elder Christofferson came to speak to us! All the missionaries were there from every part of the country. It was the first time the whole mission has been together since President and Sister Baughman have been serving here. We had a meeting for just the missionaries earlier that day. We all were able to go up and shake his hand and tell him where we are from. After he let us ask him questions about the mission, and about missionary work in general. It was really cool to hear so personally from an apostle of God. That night he spoke to the stake. Right now there is only one stake in Hungary, so there were people from all over the country who had traveled there to see him. I have never seen so many investigators and members in the same place all at once. It was really incredible. He said a lot of really great things. One thing that really stood out to me was at the end he left the people with a blessing... he said, "I bless the parents and grandparents here that as you strive to teach your children the principles of the gospel that they will grow to honor them, and that as you pray for your children the Lord will hear your prayers, and as your children pray for you the Lord will hear their prayers as well." It reminded me of the scripture in Malachi 4:6 "And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..." It was like a prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes. I thought that was really cool. One other thing he said that I thought was really powerful was, "If Joseph Smith were here tonight and could see us, I think he would say that it was worth it." He talked about all of the things that Joseph Smith went through to try and spread the word of the gospel throughout the world. And after all of the persecution and suffering- looking at how far the gospel has come since then, he would say it was all worth it. The gospel is now in Hungary! The Scriptures are in Hungarian!... but not just that, the church is growing here! It's incredible. And not just here... but it so many different places around the world! It was a really spacial experience here for all the members and investigators to hear from an apostle. I'm really glad he came to speak to us.
Thursday, we had lots of programs. It was kind of a crazy day. We were able to visit the Westiks. One of my favorite member families to visit with. They are the ones with the picture of Christensen Elder on Valentines day.. and the ones with the apples in our mouths. They are such a solid family. Their dad is actually a member of the stake presidency, he's a really nice man too. I just love their family. They have 2 daughters Lilla and Luca. Lilla is getting married this summer in June, she was just proposed to this past week!! I also teach an English class every Thursday by myself. It is a little intimidating... but I'm starting to get the hang of it. My students are the more advanced English speakers, they are all really funny. But sometimes they come up with some interesting questions and like to debate about English grammar principles. The languages are really different, so sometimes it is weird for them to try and understand why we speak the way we do. But i do enjoy teaching them! They make the hour pass quickly.
Friday and Saturday i will skip because this email is getting long.. But Friday was Gofri est with the youth. We have a spiritual thought and eat Gofri (waffles). Saturday was Tai chi in the morning and Fiatal est that night (It's kind of like a FHE for the young adults). Sunday we met with Bogi's family after church!! Bogi is the 17 year old that came to English class, and then showed up that Saturday at fiatal est a few weeks ago. I also wrote my testimony in a Book of Mormon for her. But she invited us over on Sunday for dinner with he mom and sister! It was such a great program. They are some of the nicest people I have met since I came here. They fed us so much delicious food and they asked us a lot of questions about our missions and about the church. We shared some from the scriptures with them, and cleared up a lot of their misunderstandings about the church. Lots of people think we are Amish here for some reason. Anyways, they all took a Book of Mormon before we left, and invited us to come back again! :)
We had dinner that night with another member family that I love! Béla and Bóroka!... (Yes, we ate a lot of food that day). But they are a younger couple. Béla actually served his mission in Provo and Spanish Fork! They are probably going to go back this summer to visit... oh and mom, I told them that they could come by and visit you all when they are there! They said they probably would. They speak perfect English and I know you would just love them!! So, I hope that's okay. But I'll give you more details when that day is actually closer.
Anyways... that was my crazy week! Missionary work is so fun!.. but sometimes really exhausting. Some days I would give anything to just be able to crawl in bed and take a nap. But we can't do that as missionaries. I know that the Lord gives us the power to keep going. I really love this work. And I'm really excited about all the incredible things that are happening here. I love you all so much!! I hope that you have a wonderful week!! Talk to you soon!

Sok Szeretettel,

Sister Tiffany Loren Johnson

"...The first picture is with Kramer Nővér, Luca, and I at the farsang bűli we had last week in the costumes we made. Luca is little red riding hood or (they call her Piroska here), and we are Hungarian candy bars. the second picture is with Edit Néni. One of the coolest old ladies I have ever met! She is the one who is teaching us Kézi munka (or Hungarian embroidery) she's also come to church a few times! We took this picture a few Sundays ago. The 3rd picture is of Zsaklin and Dóri. Zsaklin is a recent convert, and her friend Dóri is one of our investigators. They are super sweet girls, and come to a lot of our activities. And the last picture is with Mani our new bap. date and a member Éva, who has become one of her really good friends and is a great help in our lessons."

      Luca is little red riding hood or (they call her Piroska), Johnson Nővér and Kramer Nővér

Kramer Nővér Edit Néni and Johnson Nővér

Zsaklin and Dóri with the Sisters

              Kramer Nővér, Mani (Just Baptized), Éva (a Branch Member) and Johnson Nővér

March 3, 2012

Hey everybody!

This is going to be my shortest email to date (which will probably be a relief after all my other novels that i send) but we just had a CRAZY P-Day!!!  And now we have basically next to no time to email!

However, we still had some awesome highlights:

-Last week for P-Day, we went laser-tagging with our zone.  Kispest district ROCKED!  We were undefeated :)  It was quite fun!  But that's probably the least important highlight haha.

-We have a baptismal date now!!!  One is the lady passed over from the Pest sisters.  Her name is Mani and she told us that she has been searching for the true church for a long time now, and is so glad to have found the true one.  She prayed about baptism and decided she wants to be baptized on Easter weekend!

-The Pest branch house had an Open House event.  It was so cool.  The members put it all together and it was so cool.  A lot of people came to the branch house to check out our church and what we believe.  There were different themed rooms explaining different parts about our church (like Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, family history, etc.)  We were able to talk to a whole bunch of investigators at once and bear our testimonies to them.

Anyways, sorry this is so short!  I will send a longer one next week (with TONS of great pictures I have from the past few weeks!).  Cool things coming up: Elder Christofferson, one of the apostles, is coming to Hungary THIS Wednesday!!!  We are going to have a special mission conference with him and he is going to meet with the stake.  It should be soooo cool!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Tiffany Johnson

February 2012 in Kispest

February 27, 2012


Family!! 
I love you all so much! What an amazing week this has been! So much has happened this week!

Livi, one of the members here, referred us to this awesome family! She knows the mom from work, and invited her and her 2 daughters to come to church! The daughters love church, and they've come the last 3 weeks now! We went over to their house this week to teach them about the restoration. The lesson was really great, and the father stayed in to listen as well! The girls have been reading out of the book of Mormon for their primary class, they are ages 9 and 11. They love the scriptures! The parents both took a Book of Mormon as well, and invited us to come back to teach another lesson next week! :) 

We are meeting with a new lady Edit. I think I may have written about her in a previous email. Everyone here in Hungary has the same names so we are actually meeting with two Edits (Edit from Békéscsaba and Edit Néni-the older lady who is teaching us Hungarian embroidery)  The younger Edit called us a few weeks ago wanting to practice English. She speaks really well, and our first lesson with her was really great. We've had 3 lessons with her now, and she seems to be really interested in what we are teaching her. For our last lesson we asked her to read Moroni chapter 7. We said that if she had any questions while she was reading she should write them down and we could talk about them next time. Well, she read! and actually brought a whole list of questions for us! We were able to help answer a lot of the questions for her. Its really great because you can tell that she really wants to find answers! Sister Hanson (one of the senior sisters) came to the lesson with us. She boar strong testimony and was a great contribution to our lesson. 

We had our farsang buli (party) this week! Farsang is basically a big celebration where people dress up in costumes to "scare away" the winter. Its basically like Halloween for the Hungarians. We had a ward part on Saturday. Sister Kramer and I dressed up like Hungarian candy! (well kind of). :) I was a pöttyös túró rudi, which is this really popular chocolate bar they sell here. It has túró in it.. which doesn't really exist in America- but it would be like chocolate and cottage cheese. I thought it was weird when i first tried it.. but now i really like it! :) Kramer nővér was a Milka bar. The ward party was really fun though. There was one man there, János, who was a friend of a member. He was older, probably in his 60s but he spoke perfect English. His member friend wasn't at the party, so I decided to go over and talk to him. We struck up a conversation, and soon enough we were talking about the gospel. He told me that he had heard a lot about our church, but couldn't see what made us different from any other church. I responded first off, by telling him that one thing that made us different from other churches was that we believe in a living prophet today who leads and guides the church, just like they had during bible times. This struck up lots more questions- I guess he had never heard this before. We continued to talk for probably 45 min. I was able to bear strong testimony to him and answer a few of his questions. Almost all the questions that he was asking me can be answered through the knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation. How grateful I am for all the answers we receive though the gospel to some of life's greatest questions. He said that he was interested in learning more, and gave me his information to call and set up another time to meet with him next week. :) 

Along with all the things we had this week- Zone conference, the ward party, district meeting... Sister Kramer and I were still determined to get Super Standard. By Sunday we had achieved all the goals except for one. We just needed one other lesson. We had two lessons scheduled for that day- but they both fell through last minute. With only a few more hours left in the day we were determined to find someone who would meet with us. We called just about every investigator we knew, but no one was able to meet last minute. We even went to look up a family, but that was unsuccessful as well. At about 7pm, we figured that we had tried the best we could but would probably have to settle for not making our goals completely and try again next week. We debated on teaching a few bums on a park bench... but decided that would probably not be the best idea. We started walking back to our apartment, when I decided that maybe we could go into one of the 10 stories by where we were walking and try a random door. I had heard of that working for missionaries before- so I thought why not now?! Sister Kramer confirmed that it was a good idea, but when we went to get into the building- it was locked. Just then however, a group of people came walking out, and opened the door for us. Once we were in we stared at the elevator numbers. "Quick Sister Kramer, What's your favorite number?!" "Why don't we just try the whole building since we're in here?" she said. We concluded that was the better idea- so we started at the top and worked our way down. Not much luck- until we got to the 5th floor. A man answered. There were a bunch of people walking around inside, and we introduced ourselves and told him we had a message about Christ that we'd like to share with him. We talked for a few minutes about faith at the door, and then he asked, "So it's important to believe in something then?" We said "Of course." and then he replied and said, "well why don't you come in then?" He let us in and we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and why we are here as missionaries. He seemed really interested, and invited us to come back again. Some of his kids seemed interested in coming to our English classes too! We talked for about and hour and then left after closing with a prayer with them. It was definitely a miracle from Heavenly Father to help lead us to that door. I know that he has a hand in this work! I've only been let in like that 3 times on my mission, and so it doesn't happen all that often. But God knew we were praying to reach our goals and to find the people who are ready to hear the gospel. 

So we did it!! Yay!! My first week getting Super Standard! I feel proud of us. It was a lot of work, we didn't get much time to stop and rest this week- but it was definitely worth it. I can see that our hard work is beginning to pay off. We are teaching a lot of really great people, and I am hoping that we can help find those who are genuinely interested in learning about our message and eventually accepting the gospel into their lives. 

Well, I guess that's about all for this week. Dad and Holly, I got your cookies and Grandma's cookies! Thanks so much. I shared them with all the Elders at the mission home and they were all really grateful. :) Mom, I'm glad you got my package! That is strange that it was ripped open.. but I'm glad everything made it safely there. I did put in a few pictures? I'm not sure if those made it there or not. But that chocolate apples are delicious aren't they!? They are suppose to be crunchy.. if they weren't you can put them in the freezer and they taste better. maybe i can send you some more if you can't find any in America. Princess!- thanks for the picture! You are so gorgeous! Your baby bump is SO cute!! I am so excited for you both! I love you tons!! 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week. Talk to you soon!

Sok Szeretettel,
Sister Tiffany Johnson 

P.S. Sorry I forgot to bring my camera to send pictures today.. but I will try and send some more next week! :) 

 

February 21, 2012

Hello Family! 


This week was great!!!  Here are just a few of the highlights from this week:

Sister Kramer and I actually went on splits with Christensen ELDER this past Tuesday.  As a zone leader, he is allowed to go on splits with a sister companionship, and we had to do it this past Tuesday (which ironically happened to also be Valentines day) because Schwieger Elder was starting his assistant to the president duties a day earlier than Christensen Elder was getting his new companion.  So we became his companions for the day! We had a really great day time though!  We had a few programs set up, and Elder Christensen really helped us with our investigators.  It was really great to teach with him, actually, because he is way more experienced in the teaching and the language.  He asked a lot of really good questions that made our investigators really consider the importance of our message.  It was really nice to teach with someone experienced again, I have to admit. 

We also had a program at the Westsik's.  They thought the three of us were super funny and insisted that we take a picture (see attached haha).  We had split inventory at the end of the day, and he told us that we are both doing great with the language and teaching (which was nice to hear.  Sometimes I think we are a little hard on ourselves).  He challenged us to be more bold in our programs :)

We had an awesome program with a girl named Timi this past week.  She is so prepared.  We have only met with her a couple of times, but she has been reading from the Book of Mormon and told us last time that she believes that it is true scripture from God!  We talked a little bit about baptism with her and hope to give her a baptism date this week sometime!

We had a cute néni (older lady) teach us Hungarian embroidery this past week.  She was so cute, showing us how to do every stitch.  And even how to seperate the embroidery floss haha.  She also fed us shortbread cookies and peach jam.  Yum.  This lady is so sweet and honestly interested in learning more about the gospel.  She has come to Sacrament meeting a few times and has a lot of questions! 

Sister Kramer and I gave the spirtual thought at Gofri Est this past Friday.  We were only asked a couple of days before and tried to come up with a good idea.  We decided to share a thought from "It is Better to Look Up" from this past conference. (It is a great talk- you should check it out!)  It talks about how we should look to God for our goals and relief.  There is one story about how a bunch of people wrote things that were weighing them down on pieces of paper and then tied them to balloons and let the balloons go.  So, we gave everyone a balloon with the Hungarian translation of "It is better to look up" on it.  We also put a picture of Christ on the ceiling and talked about how we can look to Christ and His Atonement for relief.  It went really well, I think.  The crazy thing is, we were kind of nervous.  And then we got there, and there were more than THIRTY people there!!!  (There are often only about ten)  There were institute teachers from all over Hungary and Romania here for a training. The large amounts of people didn't really help our nervousness... But it went really well :)  A lot of people participated and it was great.

Also, Bogi came to english class again this week so I was able to give her a Book of Mormon! I wrote my testimony in it for her, and marked a few of my favorite verses and chapters. She was really excited to get it, and said that she would read from it! She also wants to meet with us! We are going to try and set up a time to meet next week! 

Anyways, we had a lot of great programs this week!  I think Sister Kramer and I are really getting the hang of this missionary thing. We were really close to getting Super Standard this past week, and we have a goal to try and get Super Standard every week this transfer!!!  I think all of our hard work last transfer is paying off this transfer :)  We have a lot of really cool investigators!  I will keep you all updated!

I love you all!!!  Have a great day and week!!!

Much Love,

Tiffany aka Sister Johnson 

P.S. also, everyone is wearing slippers in the photo with elder christensen because hungarians are afraid of being cold, so they never walk on their floors bare footed. haha they give slippers to all their guests so that their feet don't freeze. 

A Valentine's Day Present from the Mission President 


On February 14, 2012 I received the following email from President Baughman, Tiffany's Mission President:


Dear Dear Sister Boyer:

     I am happy to inform you that  Sister  Tiffany Loren Johnson  has been called to serve as a Senior Companion in the Hungary Budapest Mission. She  is a diligent and effective missionary and has demonstrated great enthusiasm for the work and a love of God and the Hungarian people.

     I am delighted to have Sister  Johnson  take on this new responsibility and know that it will be a growth opportunity for her .

     It has been such an enjoyable experience for Sister Baughman and me to serve with Sister Johnson. Thank you for your ongoing support while She continues to serve the Lord in Hungary.


Warmest regards,

Gary S. Baughman

Mission President









February 13, 2012


Szervusz Family!! 

Wow, another transfer gone by. This morning we received transfer calls. Sister Kramer and I will be staying here in Kispest for another transfer together! I am excited actually, because I feel like we are finally starting to get the hang of things. Lots of things are switching around though. One of our Elders is becoming A.P. and my old companion Sister Johnson goes home this week!! President Baughman gave me permission to go to her departing testimony, so Sister Kramer and I were able to be there for that. She is so awesome! I learned so many things serving with her. I have been blessed to have some really amazing companions, I know that we will all continue to be friends forever even after the mission. I'm excited to see what happens with them after their missions, and where their lives take them. 

Well, this has been really good. I went on my first Splits with the Sisters in Pest. For splits we switch companions, normally just for the day. So I went to Pest to serve with Sister Hudspeth, and Sister Kramer stayed here with Sister Hall. Splits are so fun I decided! :) Sister Hudspeth was my ősi in the MTC (she was the group just older than us). Wednesday night we split, and then slit back Thursday afternoon. I went to a program with her and one of their investigators, Kati. She was an older woman who speaks very good English. Our lesson actually started out in English. We talked about her belief in God and about what she had read from the Book of Mormon. She had met with them quite a few times before this, and we were teaching her about the Plan of Salvation this time. Well, that was the plan, but sometimes plans for lessons change based on the investigators concerns or questions. I asked her if she believed in God, and she responded by saying she did... but only about 70 percent. She then went on to ask us why God allows so many people to suffer in this life. She told us about many things that had happened in her life and in the lives of her family, she asked about war, and why God doesn't stop these things from happening to us. We talked to her about agency and the atonement, and told her that agency is a gift that god has given us, and that some people choose to use their agency for good but others use it for bad. We also read Alma 7:11-13 and talked about how Christ has felt all of our pains and trials. While these all seemed like right answers to us for her question, nothing really seemed to be addressing her concern. We talked about how God can help give us strength during trials, but still she didn't seem to be getting the answer she needed. We all paused for a moment. After it was silent for a few seconds Sister Hudspeth began to speak. I am sure that the words that came out of her mouth after that were directly from the spirit. She went on to explain how no one said this life would be easy, she brought up the life of Jesus Christ and the lives of his apostles and disciples, the life of Joseph Smith. Each of them were great examples of good people, who suffered through hard things during this lifetime. And Christ, who was perfect, suffered more than we can even comprehend. She talked about how trials are an important part of this life that each of us must go through. I wish that I could write exactly what she said during the lesson, but one thing I do know, is she was given the words to say through the spirit that were exactly what this woman needed. I am grateful for Sister Hudspeth's example of being open and worthy to receive the spirit, and then having the courage to speak the words she was given to say. It was really great to be able to go on splits with her this week. :)

It has been a little warmer this week, and so far not too much more snow, even thought there is still a lot on the ground. I think one of my favorite parts about this week was that I was able to meet and talk with people about the gospel in the most random places. An old man on the bus asked me about my name tag this week, and I was able to talk to him about who we are and give him a Book of Mormon. And then when we were buying our groceries, the lines were really long! In front of us was a lady who was obviously a teacher, and was grading a huge stack of her students papers. Somehow we stated a conversation, and by the end she took a Book of Mormon, and said she would read it! I love when people say that "elolvasom." "El" is a prefix in Hungarian for entirely. So if someone says "olvasom" that means i will read it. But if they say "elolvasom" that means they will completely read it! :) There is your language tip of the day. haha anyways, she was a really nice lady, and seems interested in our English classes as well. I feel like this week the lord has just been placing people in our path to talk to. Which has been really cool. 

Our investigators are great, but they all seem to be progressing really slowly. We are trying to figure out what we can do to help them, and how we can get them all to come to church. There was a really cool 16 year old girl we met with this week! She's been reading from the Book of Mormon and is actually in Helaman! We had a really great discussion with her about why the gospel is important and what it means in our lives. She says when she reads the Book of Mormon she has a good feeling, but isn't sure if it's true. She said she has never prayed about it, so we asked if she would commit to do that this week and she said she would! I'm hoping that we can help her recognize the answer she receives. 

Well, I guess that's about all the exciting news for this week. It will be good to stay here a few more transfers. I hope that we can help find those who are really ready for the gospel here in Kispest. 

Mom, thanks so much for the package! You are awesome. The journal is perfect and it's nice to have my iPod here. I am so glad our mission president allows us to listen to music. The talks you sent were really great too! I love the "forget me not" talk by Uchtdorf. Also, I'm so glad you are taking care of all my friends while I am gone. I'm really glad Jill is able to go over there and spend time with you and Dave and everyone. Granny B, thank you for your email! I hope that Grandpa Lynn has a wonderful 21st birthday! haha that would be so cool to be born on a leap year. Dad and Holly- Holly, congratulations on your new calling! and Dad that's really cool you are finding so many people to give the Book of Mormon to. You both are such awesome member missionaries! Oh! also, I received the nicest letter from an old man in your ward! I think his name is Richard Norton. haha He sent me a simple letter with 5 dollars and a peacock feather in it! He said that he really loves both of you, and hopes that he can be my new 85 year old friend. :) His letter totally made my day. I am going to try and write him back soon. Well, I think that's about all. Oh also, I was wondering if Alan and Princess have come up with any names for their little baby girl!!?.. I mean they can name her after me if they really want to, haha but I just wanted to hear what ideas they have come up with. Well, anyways, love you all tons! talk to you soon! 

Sok Szeretettel, 

Johnson Nővér 

P.S. the picture is sister Hudpeth and I on our splits day! We stoped at a pizza place for lunch with the elders there. It was delicious!! 

February 6, 2012




Hey Family! 

It is beginning to finally look like winter here in Hungary! This week has been freezing!- and we've had tons of snow the last few days. I'm finally able to bust out my winter coat! The other day reached about -13 degrees C, or like 8 degrees Fahrenheit. With the wind and all the moisture in the air it feels super cold! Hungarians are afraid of the cold. Old ladies always ask us if we are freezing, and lots of the times in their prayers they ask Heavenly Father to bless us so that we don't freeze. haha 

This week has been good- but reaaallly long. haha Sometimes the weeks just fly by, but for some reason this week wasn't like that. We had lots of people meet with us this week! But the work is just a little more slow-moving here in Kispest. We met with two of our investigators- Béla and Ilona. They are married and devout catholics. However, Béla has read the whole Book of Mormon, and both of them say they have prayed about it and know it's true. They both want to be baptized... but they still go to catholic mass every week.  They are such nice people, but we can't figure out how to get them to come to church! Well, this week we decided to teach them about a modern-day prophet and about priesthood power. This was a topic Sister Kramer and I hadn't had much experience teaching, but we thought it might help them to understand what sets our religion apart from other churches. We met at our church house, and the beginning of the lesson was going well. About half way though though, we didn't feel like they were really understanding what we are trying to say. It's hard explaining a new topic, with very little vocabulary. Luckily though!- Sandor, a member of the Bishopric was there at the branch house. We asked if he had a few minutes to come in and talk with our investigators a little more about the priesthood and how it works. He was happy to help us. I was so glad that he came, because he was able to address all their concerns and help answer their questions. He even went through the articles of faith one by one with them, which was a genius idea! I'm not sure why I never thought to do that before. They began to have more and more questions for him, and they became intrigued with what they were learning. I think things are started to click with them now and they are becoming more excited. They called us a few days later and said they want to meet again soon because they have come up with a lot more questions. :) I am hoping they will come to church next week! They couldn't make it yesterday because Ilona was sick. Hopefully we will see them there soon though! 

After English class this week I met two really nice girls about my age from one of the other classes. They were super nice girls, and asked me a few questions about the profi class. We talked for a while and then I decided to invite them to fiatal est the next night. Fiatal est is a night we have at the church for young single adults. I didn't really expect that either of them would actually come.. but then the next day one of them actually came!! Her name is Bogi, and she is 17. Really nice girl, and we ended up becoming really good friends. I got a chance to ask her a little about what she believes. She said she believes in God, but doesn't really go to church. I wanted to give her a Book of Mormon, but decided I would wait until I got a chance to write my testimony in it and maybe mark a few of my favorite chapters. I think she had a fun time though! Hopefully she will come again next week! :) 

We met with a few other really cool people. There is this new lady, Edit we met with on Sunday. She is from Békéscsaba!!! and seems really interested. We had a really awesome lesson with her! She seems really excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. 

ANYWAYS, that's about all... OH! I beat our district in bowling today! :) I scored a 145! haha I was pretty proud of myself. Also, mom i got your package!! Thanks so much. You are a life saver! I didn't get a chance to read the note you wrote in it yet, but I'm excited to hear about the experience you had with the ipod. Oh Diane! Guess what!?.. Small world. SO, one of the Elders in my district- Jake Pendalton use to work with Jeffery at in-and-out in AF. haha I just found that out and thought it would be funny to tell you. Crazy, the connections people have. That's about all I have for this week though. Hope that you are all doing well! Talk to you next week! 

Love you lots!

Sok Szeretettel,

Johnson Nővér