November 10, 2014

Another week went by. This week started out really hard for us. All of our investigators who looked like they were going anywhere simultaneously decided to give up any effort or faith in the baptismal goals we set together in the last couple weeks. Not only that, but most people don't really even want to listen to anything I say when we teach in a program. And when I can't get a word in, then my companion definitely can't because he hardly knows what's going on in the first place. I get really stressed whenever we teach anyone, and so after most of our lessons, I usually leave frustrated or angry, and so I can't really feel the Spirit. 

The week basically went like this until Saturday, when we had the big Open House for the branch's new building. They had a big meeting full of talks and special musical numbers to welcome everyone and introduce the church. The turnout was great, and about 150 people showed up, a large majority being non-members, or less active members who had never been inside the building before. One of the speakers is a man from New Zealand, and they asked me to translate for him. --- Fun Fact: Translating for large groups is really interesting, because you can tell how many of the people already speak English. Whenever they tell a joke, then like 1/3 of the audience laughs before everyone else. Or when the translator doesn't know a word, several people will shout it for him or her to try and be of help. It's scary because you can't just say whatever you want, haha. 

During the rest of the day, we had a whiteboard in the corner of the chapel with the Plan of Salvation on it, and we would talk to the wandering guests about the Church and try and get them to set up with us. We got to meet with a ton of really cool people, most of whom were invited by members. 

Sunday was also very good because some of those people came to church! I talked with one guy on Saturday and Sunday, and the whole time I thought he was just less active. I found out later that he had never even been to church before! He's a really cool guy, and we are going to meet with him later this week (at the home of the guy from New Zealand and his family). 

Although I started to get discouraged about lame things happening earlier in the week, the week definitely ended well.

Today, we went up to hike to a castle on a little mountain, with the other elders. It was super duper! Right as we get off the bus, we are welcomed to the forest by a stray kitten, who proceeded to jump directly into my arms (and was covered in dirt and gunk, which was disgusting). Then he followed us for the rest of our trip, as we wandered through the woods, and all the way up to the castle. We did our best to include the cat in every picture we took, but unfortunately, you can't see it, because I forgot to bring my camera cord today. But, go google Csesznek castle. It's pretty cool. I promise my pictures are cool. I'll show you all in like 2 weeks. 

Love,

Elder Young

PS. It's so weird when people ask, "So, how long do you have left?" I'm not at months anymore. We're down to days... days... days...