Blakes Letter 6/15/09

Wow sorry about last week, yes we were busy but what happened is that i spent most of my emailing time writing you guys but then the ldsmail log you out after 20min but lets you stil type. Then i went to send it and it told me that i needed to log back in so i did and it erased the whole email ugh... i was way mad, then i hurry and typed you a short version and sent it but it sent it back to me for some weird reason so sorry there was no letter last week. ill try and find it and send it to you again.
Well this week has been awesome. there is so much i want to talk about but this is the coolest thing EVER!!!! So there is this guy that is about 55 and he was baptized in 91' but went in-active in about 94' and has had a hard time. He has been really depressed since then and was totally miserable. Then with Mansell we streeted him one night and had to pull his teeth to get him to talk with us. Then over the past 4months we have met with him about every week and he seemed to be getting not so depressed every time. Then just 2 weeks ago i gave him a new book of mormon and told him that he had to read out of it every day, because it will make him feel happy, it took about 15min to get him to accept the commitment, So then this last week we met with him and he was the happiest man in hungary. The first thing he said to me is that he read every single night before studying for court cases (hes a lawyer) and ever since then he has been progressing in court cases and he finally won a case that has beengoing for 15years. Ahhhh its so awesome to see the power of the Book Of Mormon, how it really affects your life. This guy is awesome! He speaks english pretty good too so its easy to have programs with him.
So that is my awesome spiritual story for Debrecen, We are getting transfere calls next monday and i am pretty sure im leaving here. Also Ági, she is one of the young women here, is leaving i don't know if i have talked about her much but she is awesome!!!! She is 22 now and speaks fluent english and Hungarian, She is leaving for america on friday to go to a scout camp thing for 2 months then she is going to Germany to live with a family and take care of the kids for a year. She has been a huge help to the missionaries and is one of the strongest members i have ever met. Wow its really sad to see her leave because this branch is going to struggle without her. But i think its good too because this week the members realized she is leaving and know that they need to start picking it up. WEll im doing good and i love you guys and thanks for the email about ashlee and libby she is cute :) i bet bridger is pretty excited!
WEll love you guys alot and thanks for everything!!!!!

-Elder Smith

From Blakes Letter June 1st

Shoot well guess?! what on wednesday it will be my 6 month mark on my mission, Wow this is going way too fast.I get so busy planning and setting up programs and stuff i forget where time goes and these weeks go soo soo fast. Wow

So this week here we had interveiws, splits, lots of meetings (with the branch), and a Kirándalás (its like a pic-nic type thing) so its been a very busy week, we didn't have any success streeting or tracting, and everysingle program we had dogged us except 1, and that one was way cool. so it made up for all the dogs. So my companion wonders why i am studying these words like Welding, machining, weird car parts and stuff but that guy we met with is a welder, locksmith, and works on cars. So i can understand more of what he is saying than my companion can haha but during the lesson the spirit was so stronge. He doesn't beleive in God and he feels like praying is pointless but when we asked him to pray and read, right off he said he would because "he feels something" YES i love this church!!!!!
WEll i love you guys alot and thanks for everything especially your prayers, i can really feel them!!!


Sok Szeretettel

-Elder Smith

From Blakes Letter Monday May 25th

So this week was interesting. We ended up getting dogged at about all of our programs but we ended up haveing alot of just random programs that were really neat. Like on tuesday and wednesday we ended up having programs with these girls that are going to college here. Haha we taught them right infront of the Nagy Templom, The Reformatus temple, which is our biggest enemy :). But the programs went pretty good. then we found these 2 really awesome guys that live way out in the country and they are just awesome. im really excited about them.
The Debrecen branch is still really struggling this week was very hard at church and the members that are active are really starting to show that its really hard for them. So if you could pray for our branch to stick together that would help alot!!!!!
So we made it a goal to baptize challenge one person a day on the street! we did get an investigator out of it so thats awesome but wow its really tough just walking up to somebody and telling them who we are and then asking them to be baptized. I've always wondered what their perspective of it is, having 2 (handsom :D) young men walk up to them and then ask them to get baptized.
So thats it this week just working trying to keep things together.

Hi family

So this whole last week we have been preparing for an open house we had on saturday at the branch house, Biggest wast of time ever, and then a koncert that the mission put on during sacrament meeting. So last week was very tiring, long and stressing. The open house we got 1 person to come in after 14hrs of working. But then on sunday we had the koncert and there were almost 70 people in church!!!! Wow that chaple looked so good with that many people in it. The koncert was a Restoration koncert and it was way awesome!!! im hoping our branch members will start realizing that they need to help us if they want this church to grow. Thats the hardest thing right now is that nobody wants to do anything to help us so its tough.
So we found these 2 guys from Samolia and they a really interested in finding out about the christian world. They are muslim and they grew up in samolia but its a huge war zone over there so they came here to survive. The one guy Joseph has 3 brothers 1 sister that he hasnt seen since they left Samolia, he knows one is in Finnland, 3 are somewhere in America and he is in Hungary. Man this guy has been through alot and his parents were killed right in front of him. They have never read anything about Christians and the first Christians they "ran into" was us, the mormons. So im hoping that this goes well.
Wow its hard right now it seems like everthing is falling apart over here. A few of our investigators are just on a friend basis now they arn't that interested in the church anymore, our young womens president wants to leave the church because she feels like the church is holding her back from being with her boyfriend, The elders qourom president started smoking again. Freak nobody wants to even bless or pass the sacrament any more. Thats my new calling in the church is to organize that sacrament and get it prepared so that its ready when the meeting starts. Wow i didn't think it would be this tough. haha
WEll the koncert went good so im hoping that it will really kick some people in the back and that they will realize that this is where true Happiness is.
Im so glad we have the Gospel in our lives!!! Its so amazing to see how it blesses those that really obey the commandments and Excercise their faith in Jesus Christ.

Mom i hate to tell ya but your probly not going to be getting any of those pictures you wanted for along time. So yesterday this Szigany, Gypsy, guy comes into the church and he heard that we would give him money. So he goes and talkes to Msis, the branch president, and misi told him that we can't just give money to him but we can give some service to him and help his family find a job. But he didn't want that answer so somehow in the middle of everything he stole TONS of stuff inlcuding like 4 cameras (one of them was mine) some stereo stuff and i don't know what else. He pretty much cleaned out my backpack with stuff. The good news is that Misi is a lawyer and has alot of his information from when he was talking with him, a few of the sisters investigators that were there know the guy and so we might find him. FReak all i want is the memory cards back cause all my pictures so far were in them.
But just letting you know you probly wont be getting any pictures for along time. I got the insurance on my camera if you wouldn't mind going to inkleys and seeing if we can't get any thing covered, but i don't think it covers "Szigany" theft. :)

Pictures & Mother's Day Call

We all got to talk to Blake on Mother's Day. Thank to technology Brook & Jen, Reed & Melinda and kids were all on phones in WY. and Stuart, Carol, Nate & Madalyn, Ashlee and McKenzie were all on the speaker phone in Utah. It was so nice to hear his voice and the joy that he is having on his mission. Blake is really feeling the spirit and getting along well with the language. He told us all about the people that he has made friends with. He made us all hungry with the food and goodies that he talked about. He wants all to know that he is loving his mission and that time is going by to fast. These are some pictures he sent home in his email this Monday. I am not sure what all the pictures are at this time. But it looks like fun. One more thing he says that he is gainging weight. So i think that is a good thing. The one thing that he told us in his letter on Monday is that he is growing a mandrin orange tree.

Letter Home May 4th

I found my long lost Hungarian Redneck Relative!!!!!!!!!!!! haha he lives in this little town outside of Debrecen calle Hajdúböszörmeny and we went and had a Szalona Sötés i have no idea how to translate that into english but all you do is get this huge piece of Pig fat and slightly roast it over a fire and then drip the fat onto a piece of Delicious Hungarian bread coverd with onions, peppers, cucumbers, and ohhhhh man its good. i didn't have my camera with me but ill try to get some pictures next time were out there. But anyways this guy is the biggest redneck ever. we get there and he's working on his tractor then he shows us his airplane that he built haha its in this old garage thing. He said he'd take me up and let me fly it but i told him that its not allowed right now but in about 2 years id come back and we would do it for sure!!!!!!!! haha also we just talked about working on cars and engines and guns. I realized as i was talking about building car engines and Guns In Hungarian that i AM ACTUALLY learning this language.

"THE CHURCH IS TRUE"

**parts from Blakes letter May 4th 2009**

Just to Help

Just to help you with his lingo,
ize=thing
Bacsi=uncle or a name they give all older men
Sirni=to cry...sirok=I'm crying
Belvaros=City center or center of the city
Finomsag=delicious
nagyon=very
TESCO toilet paper=OUCH...its maybe one ply if that.
not the most pleasant