Pokey Pigs, Gypsies, Vegans and Macaroni sculptures!

Dad you are the Bishop?!?  That's so great! Good for you dad! You are going to be the best. Know that I miss you and that I think about you a lot. You definitely are "the Diplomat."

I am not really sure what my name could be, you all can decide :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARISSA!?!?!?! As they say in Hungary- May you live until your earlobes touch your ankles!

Seriously though, Carissa. I love you. Think back to the good old days: You getting stuck in between the bed and the wall and throwing up because you were laughing so hard at one of my comical renditions of a Rapunzel. The unfair massages rendered, the clothes shared, the mountains not climbed, the foods we never should have eaten.......sigh. I just hope you have enjoyed, as much as I have... our special friendship.

Oh, and a special shout-out to Tommy boy who should now have an address as Elder Fowers! WHOOOOOOOOAH. You are going to be great. You already are!

So much has happened this week. I guess I should start with the pokey pigs. So here in Hungary they have tons of wild hedgehogs that just run all over the place! I guess I just always assumed they were a pet-store thing. They call them pokey pigs- hence me calling them pokey pigs. So anyways, we were on our way home from a long day of streeting and I see this Hedgehog waddling across the sidewalk up ahead and I just started to run. My companions had no idea what was going on, so they came running after me and we ended up catching this hedgehog! Sis. F. picked it up and it was so stinking CUTE! We called him Árpád. Well we wanted to take a picture but our cameras were at home and we couldn't just walk around with a hedgehog so we decided to put it in my bag. Hahaha. So we streeted all the way home with a Hedgehog in my bag. ( his little prickles were sticking out.) We took some pictures and set the little guy free in our  garden.  I just do not know if I will ever stop bringing animals back home.

Another interesting thing here is the relationship between the Gypsies and the Hungarians. So the Hungarians do not like the gypsies at all. The Gypsies do not like the Hungarians. Even in the church it is hard. It makes it really hard to bring them to church. I do not think this prejudice is looked down upon here, it simply just exists. So different from America.

So Sister M. and I were on our own last Friday. We have only been here 3 months, and we are tracting, and streeting. Crazy. 3 MONTHS. So we started the day with some tracting and we were told to leave the building. Menjetek el! Get out of here!  Fun, fun. There are some really nice people here, but there can be some hard ones.  Then we went tracting some houses and we came across this gypsy family. At first they told us that the Elders ( who are both fluent)  had just come 10 minutes ago and that they were not interested. I just started to talk to them! It was incredible. I understood so much! We were able to set up an appointment with them?!? Wait! I do not know this language? What just happened? The Lord completely blessed us.

I forgot to tell you about this. Every day we leave our apartment the neighborhood kids chase us. It's a game we play with them. We have to make it to the gate. Sometimes they have buckets of water, and squirt guns- I do not know what it is with Hungarians, water, and missionaries. I will record it and send it. They are ADORABLE!

OH, and for those wondering- Vegan life is so great. I do not think I have consumed so many weird foods. I just need to learn how to cook these things up.

Oh. Can I have Carissa's address? Thanks.

I am realizing more and more on my mission my dependency on the Lord. I think it is so hard to realize that I can be this inadequate and have him love me so much. My companion was explaining this to me this morning, and I wanted to share it with you all.

She said it's like the macaroni sculptures you made in kindergarten, you spend all this time and energy creating something you think is just perfect and you hand it over to the Lord, and then in His perfect hands it just looks like a gluey, noodley mess. You did the best you  could, you put your heart into it and it is nowhere near the genius of Michael Angelo. That is how I feel all the time. I am trying to make this time and this mission a masterpiece for the Lord and it just doesn't turn out that way. There are a lot of missing noodles, some bare spots, and maybe a noodle or two not glued on right. In his hands it just doesn't seem like enough and then do you know what you realize? You realize he loves it!? He is so thankful for the artwork his little girl is giving him and just continues to bless her. I love him so much. I am trying to be better. But he loves me regardless.

I hope everyone is okay, and the wedding goes great!!!!!!! I have ONLY year left?!?!?! Trying to make it count. Love you all, Thanks for all the letters!

Sis. Fowers