October 22nd

Seriously some way incredible stuff this last week. Hopefully Ill be able to write it all. And as always, thanks to all those sent me emails. So far on my mission I would say I have heard from everyone at least once a month, and generally much more than that. Its such a huge blessing I have that so many people don't have. I am so grateful and thankful to all of you for the time you take to let me know how you and your family is doing. I have the best family in the world, what else can I say :)

I have a goal to read through the entire Book of Mormon in Hungarian by the end of my 4th transfer (in about 20 weeks). About 4 pages every day in Hungarian. I don't understand much right now, but I get the main ideas I think and it really helps my Hungarian I think. When I read I read out loud to practice Hungarian pronunciations. I also try to also read where I'm at in Hungarian to help with my comprehension. Anyways, I'm in 2 Ne. ch.8 right now. 

I want to focus on some stuff from ch. 7. Verse 1 "Yea, for thus saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever? For thus saith the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother's  divorcement? To whom have I put thee away, or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away." 

When we are searching for God in our lives, when we don't see the hand of His love, we need to remember that his is always there. He is always desiring to show us His love as our Heavenly Father. He hasnt cast us off. He is still there. He is still waiting. For His mercy "encircles them in the arms of safety" who "believe on his name". (Quotes from Alma 34:16 and 15).

This last Sunday was awesome. First off church was incredible. We had been having around 30 people in attendance, maybe less. This last Sunday there were 38, 8 of which were not members (yet). It was way fun and as I sat next to Bálint and Lili during the start of church I was just seriously so happy that all of these people were here to feel the spirit of Christ at church on His Holy day. It was the greatest.

Then we went to visit a man who has 9 kids whose wife recently committed suicide. Suicide is very common here in Hungary, in fact Hungary, I hear, has one of the highest rates of suicide. We taught them one lesson, then went back and were told that the wife had committed suicide. We felt like we should give them some time and then return and see if we could help and teach them. The dad let us in this last Sunday when we visited for the first time after finding out. 

It was such a powerful program. A program where it made anything hard or challenging about being a missionary worth it a million times over. I think you could really feel Gods love during the program as we were able to teach eternal truths and try to really connect and help this man in need. It was so powerful to see how much this gospel really can help and heal lives. We will go back this next Sunday probably.

Then on Sunday we found a less active member who we had been told about. She was just having a really rough time and seemed to be relying on the world for help instead of the Lord. We talked with her and helped her remember some things and then she said we could come back the next day (yesterday). She is very exciting to me because I think she knows that this gospel can give her true peace which is what she is seeking.

This work is so much fun! We have tons of lessons and are finding lots of people. But, we also have a lot of fun out side of that. Here is one thing we do every Sunday night from 8-9. The 4 of us Elders in Eger get together and make Hungarian pancakes (like flat American pancakes). Then we top them with tons of delicious different toppings. Jams, peanut butter and honey, delicious liquid chocolate stuff, etc. Good stuff.

I went on splits with Elder Sterri this last week. Elder Sterri got to Hungary when I did, so both of us are still very new at the language, which made the day lots of fun. I honestly thought we did a great job and were able to communicate, go finding, and have programs like normal. The language is super hard, but we are learning.

So this email is coming a day late, I'm way sorry, I should have told you last week. Whenever we have transfers we have emailing on Tuesdays. Transfers just recently switched from 6 to 9 weeks, so because of that for the next year there is going to be a mini transfer in between every 9 week transfer where only a few people are moved around so the missionaries who came in on 6 week transfers can go home on time. So, every couple weeks I will be emailing on Tuesdays. This week is a mini transfer and sadly Elder Sterri is moving to a different city. Im way good friends with Elder Sterri now. We have served not as companions but in the same city for my whole time in Hungary. He is awesome and Ill miss him.

I love you all and wish you all the best.

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Shoop

October 14th

Being healthy is so awesome! It feels so great! Lots of fun getting to go back to normal work this last week with my awesome companion, Elder Magda. After a week where we were stuck inside, we actually got more working hours in this last week, than I have in any of my weeks yet.

We have two investigators (husband and wife), Péter and Borbala, who religion is very new to. They really love the family aspect of the church, which is awesome and we have taught them the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. We have talked about Jesus Christ with them but felt like we should go more in depth. So, today we plan on teaching a lesson all about Jesus Christ to these two awesome people.

I think its a really vital thing that they understand more about Christ. Christ is the center, the main point of everything we do. The Plan of Salvation wouldnt be possible without Christ. The Restoration would not have been possible with out Jesus Christ. For if there was no Christ there would be nothing to restore, and if there was no Christ the Book of Mormon would be pretty pointless, for the Book of Mormon is all about Jesus Christ.

 

I refound some awesome verses on Christ recently. Isaiah talks about Christ in 53:3-5 "His is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Im not gonna write verse 5, but go read it, its great.

 

Christ went through everything for us. He understands our sorrows, our angers, frustrations, and pains. In His perfect life, he suffered through "temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than men can suffer, except it be unto death;" (Mosiah 3:7) He died and suffered for our sins.

And yet, he was perfect, he endured all of it perfectly and as a perfect being and submitted Himself to the Father's will. He is there for us, and asks that we follow Him and keep His commandments.

Elder Magda is actually in a TV thing that the main news service in Hungary did on the Mormons. Here is the link:

http://www.rtlklub.hu/musorok/fokuszplusz/videok/223011

So, the main missionaries the news thing shows and talks with are the mission APs, but they also interviewed Elder Magda and have some shots of him teaching english class. He says his name during his interview so hopefully youll be able to catch it, its in Hungarian, sorry. It was recorded while he was serving in Budapest thats how he got in it.

Also, another tv station did a thing on the LDS religion and the majority of it is snipits of the Resoration concert that I watched live while I was in Buda for my kidney stone. At the very beginning after the first lady is interviewed you can see my back in the audience, on the last seet on the left in the center row, I am sitting next to Pres. Smith who is in a suit, then just after that you can see just a portion of my face as the camera showed Pres. Smith. Its also in Hungarian, but some of the songs the chior sung were in English, good stuff. Heres that link. It might need a plug-in installed to play so if Mom and Dad cant get it please someone help them watch it :) Thanks.

http://videotar.mtv.hu/Videok/2013/10/06/12/A_sokszinu_vallas_2013_oktober_6_.aspx

Nothing specific is coming to my mind about this last week, besides how completely much I felt 120% back to health. It is such an awesome feeling being a missionary, being set appart to represent Jesus Christ. Honestly, this last week I have felt I think a lot more comfortable with the missionary life. The work here in Eger is a lot of fun. Both of us companionships are on fire. Teaching a lot of people and seeing this marvelous work go forth. Its way exciting and way fun. All of these things combine for feeling better than I think I ever have.

A departing missionary talked recently in a zone training in Miskolc. He talked about how there is a difference between being tired because we worked hard and being tired because we didnt. The first tired feels awesome, Ive definitely felt the difference at times I think.

• Money: Its about 225 forint to a dollar. There are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 forint coins, then 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, and 20000 forint bills. They use coins a ton here, its super common and a lot different from the US.
• They have BBQ sauce here! Its not the best, but its BBQ sauce which is awesome! They dont really have peanut butter though, but every now and then you can find it. The Tesco we go to just started carrying peanut butter this last week so I just bought some peanut butter in Hungary for the first time, it was awesome. No maple syrup or brown sugar though. I think those are the main food items Hungary is missing.
• Branch: Its a branch not a ward in Eger. 30 people in attendance this last Sunday. Its smaller than normal in the US but strong and good and wonderful people. We try to have a few member present lessons ever week, I think our goal this week is 3 member presents.

Much love to all of you!!!

Elder Shoop

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October 7th

Super sorry you didn't get my email last week. For some reason comcast decided to block my email, thats why Im sending it to everyone this week. Don't be too mad at comcast though, because I had to go to Budapest again last week for another doctors appointment (more on that later in the letter) and so the email was really short, it pretty much just said I was going to Budapest to get my stomach checked out.

So there were some concerns about my stomach acting wierd as of last week. We had figured the stomach problems I had during my kidney stone adventure were due to the anti-biotic. Well, last Sunday I was still having problems so I called Sis. Smith (mission Pres. wife) and they got me an appointment in Budapest. Sis. Smith called in with the results on Monday night to Mom and Dad, and everything was normal with that, so that was good and I went back to Eger. Then, Tuesday they got more results in. I have/had Chlosridium Difficile! How exciting! 

I really have no idea what that is and I probably spelled it wrong, but the mission president told me the doctor said it was a stomach thing and that it was infectious and so from Tuesday night until the first session of conference we watched on Saturday night (more on that later) we were confined to our appartment. Which, was honestly kind of lame because we couldnt do our normal missionary work. But Elder Magda is awesome, seriously we get along really well I think, and I think we kept a positive attitude through it.

The zone leaders brought me by some medicine on Wednesday, 2 pills after every meal. So, hopefully this sickness what ever it is is going away. I have been feeling a lot better which is awesome, so I think the pills are working. I was also instructed to keep a special diet for 7-10 days. No dairy, nothing fatty, nothing spicy. Without dairy or delicous spicy things, jellys and jams have been my crutch, jellies and jams are soooo tasty! And, now that I have been on the pills for a few days Elder Magda and myself have been able to get back to normal missionary work as of yesterday (sunday).

I am going to talk about fields for a little bit. Yes, I said fields, thats not a type-o. In Hungary, there are lots of sunflower fields. Not really right now because its turning into winter, but in summer there are lots of big sunflower fields which are very pretty. I still remember sitting on the train on my second day in Hungary, on my way to Eger for the first time. I remember looking out the window and seeing lots of awesome sunflower fields. Hungary is amazing, and to top it off, beautiful. They have sunflower fields because they make lots of sunflower oil, they use it instead of vegtable oil I think.

In D+C 4:4 it talks about fields, many of you may be familiar with this or similair scriptures. "For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;" 

It says the fields are "white already to harvest" that means that there is lots of work to do. Lots of good work that requires consious effort on our part, but work that if done, brings many worthwhile rewards. Ammon talks about what happens if we do our part in the field, Alma 26:5 "Behold the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves!"

So what is the field though? Well you could generalize it, and I dont think there is anything wrong with that, but I want to focus in on the individual application. I would say the field is what work the Lord has given us to do. Its the situation we have in our lives. In Washington, farmers fields require the work of growing apple trees and collecting apples. In Hungary farmers grow sunflowers and make sunflower oil. Just like that, we all have different fields. For a working dad the field might consist of being an example and inviting to Christ those he works with at work, as well as his family, those under his church calling, and such. To someone older and with health concerns, the field will probably be different, and potentially consist of just family and using the power of prayer to pray for others. But despite the difference, everyones fields are of the same importance to the Lord. He knows our stregths and our situations. He doesnt require us to run faster than we can, but gives us a work to do that is significant and worthy to Him.

We need to recognize our field is. Maybe pray for guidance in finding what our field is. And then we need to work as hard as we can to care for our field.

Now I have some exciting news, especially for Dad I think. Because I had some extra time in our appartment I took some time to go over some of the family history papers I brought with me, paying special attention to the ones from Hungary. We have a great grandfather (Dads grandfather) named Janos Mezo, except from what I have found, thats not really his name.

I was going over the papers and then I realized when I read His name I didnt pronounce the last name how it was written. I though about it and realized if pronounced in Hungarian as written, "Mezo" doesnt sound Hungarian. I realized the way I read it was what seemed would be the Hungarian way to say it, the way that just felt right and comfortable in Hungarian. Its not "Mezo" its "Mezö". The difference is there is two dots above the "o" so its "ö". This makes a different sound in Hungarian. So, I looked it up in the dictionary. In Hungarian, Mezo doesnt mean anything, but "Mezö" means "field." Ahh, the connection, now you all see why my thoughts above were about fields. Because, our great grandfather, and thus, grandmother, was a "Mezö" and since theyre from north west Hungary, maybe that even means that somewhere in our geniological past potentially our ancestors raised sunflower fields.

This last week, my "field" was a lot different than normal, because we were stuck in our appartment. But, we still did work with what "field" we had to work in. There is something called an Area Book. The Area Book contains records of all (ideally) investigators that past companionships have taught. The records lists what lessons the people were taught, how the lessons went, and a little information about them. If the people stopped investigating, there is also an area where later missionaries can write any contact they have with people. Sometimes people stop investigating because they dont want to anymore but a lot of times the missionaries stop meeting with the people because the are not "progressing." 

So we had a lot of time to go through the area book and do a lot of work in there, calling people and recontacting them. We found some success from this and it was uplifting to be able to do the work that we could do.

I want to give a short thought on my sickness. I found an awesome quote in Preach My Gospel by President Snow, page 12. I dont have it with me right now, but I think it said something along the lives of, our Heavenly Father loves and cares for the missionaries more than anyone else does. And this is specifically to Mom right here, but also everyone, I know many of you have worried about my health concerns I have had of recent and have prayed for me and such, which I greatly appreciate. However, think about how much you care for me and wish me the best, now multiply that by a billion times and think of how Heavenly Father is caring for me. I am in Hungary, but God is watching over me and my health is on the mend and on its way back to better than normal. It honestly feels so great being a missionary, I love it so much.

Lili (with the baptism date) is doing awesome, and we are looking forward to getting back to all of our other people we meet with and are teaching and helping. 

Conference was great. I listened in Hungarian with the ward members. I had the option to listen in English in another room with our senior couple, but I chose to be in with the ward members, so I honestly didnt understand too much. But on Sunday mornings conference you could feel the spirit when the prophet spoke. How did it work? We watched Saturday mornings live at 6-8 pm on Saturday, and then watched Sat. evening on Sunday afternoon from 2-4, and then watched music and the spoken work and then Sun. Morning conference from 5:30-8 pm on Sunday. We will watch priesthood and sunday afternoon another time. One of my MTC teachers was an emergency translator incase there was a problem with the main translator, and a few of the talks on Sat. morning session I got to hear my MTC teacher translate, way cool.

Im gonna try to send some pics in another email, best wishes and much love to all of you! Again, I love hearnng from people even if its just a sentence. 

Sok szeretettel!

Elder Shoop

Me with my new, very European, Tisza bag. I'll be using this now instead of my backpack. Cost like 60 bucks, expensive, but tons of missionaries have tisza bags, their pretty popular and Ill use it a ton.

A picture of our room, with my AMAZING companion, Elder Magda, sticking his face in. Im sorry mom, by bed is not made, but as an example for all of you nieces and nephews, my companions bed is.

Our desks (and for a comment for the tisza bag picture, yes, tisza bags are worn like purses, but that's normal for men to have bags like that here). My desk is on the left.

I can't tell exactly, but I think this is a really bad picture of sunflower fields. But, this is my first day going to Eger that I talked about in the email above, and I didnt have a better picture of it.

 

September 23rd

If feels wierd to call Eger home. But I dont know what else to call it because it sure felt nice to get back to Eger after my exciting week. I am still kind of slow right now, but it is great to be back somewhere I am comfortable. The Herds (the awesome and incredible senior missionary couple here in Eger) and the other missionaries here, the branch members, the inversigators, the apartment, and just being in Eger. 

I had a neat experience last week on Friday night while I was still in Budapest. One of the three wards in Budapest was putting on a special presentation, a musical performance which was recorded by a news station. I had the opportunity to be in it, but since I had never practiced with them and I still wasnt sure excatly how great I was feeling, I opted to sit in the audience next to President Smith and his wife. There were about 25 or so people in the chior and they put on an absolutely amazing night. The performace was based on Joseph Smith and included many neat video clips, some they sang to, some we just watched. It came at the perfect time, Id say. As I was getting ready to head back to normal missionary life.

Throughout the week I think I was focussed a lot on myself. Which is weird because as a missionary you are primarily focussed on others. The performance helped me feel the spirit and refocus, it helped remind me what this is all about.

I testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet. That he did see God and Jesus Christ. That he restored the fulness of the Church of Jesus Christ, that he recieved priesthood authority, and that he was called as a prophet. This follows the pattern that we can read of in the Bible, God loves us and he calls prophets. But, God knew it would be hard for some of us to accept these things, so He gave us proof. Real hard proof, the Book of Mormon. We can hold it in our hands, read it, and pray about it. What a blessing. I have read it and I continue to read it. It really is the word of God, and testifies that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and most importantly it testifies of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

So, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the mission home and then went in Thursday for the "vessekuzuzo" which I believe literally translates to kidney stone pulverizer. The treatment took like 20 or 30 minutes, was non invasive, and only hurt a little bit. I had the APs with me (who translated) and Pres. and Sis. Smith, so I was definitely in good company.

The kidney stone honestly hasnt been the biggest problem of recent. The anti-biotic that they had me on seems to have pretty well destroyed my stomach. That was fun! So I spent the rest of the day Thursday and all Friday in Budapest, by Saturday I was feeling a lot better so I got to go back to Eger. Im still having some stomach problems but I seem to be getting better every day so Im sure in no time I will be able to be back to full speed. 

Im really looking forward to this next week, work wise. We are hopeing that another one of our investigators will choose to commit to a baptism date. Her name is Dori. Dori is about 40 and a very fun person, she has one daughter who is at college (I think), and Dori herself goes to college in Budapest during the week. She was apparently very touched by the plan of salvation lesson taught to her last week. Lili is doing great and came to church for both hours this last week, I feel pretty confident she will be ready for baptism by her baptism date, Nov. 16. We recently found some awesome male investigators who seem like great people who really need the gosple and its answers in their lives.

Moms there is an extra email coming to just you with some extra information in it, like insurance stuff.

Questions and stuff:

• Why did I have to go to the hospital in Budapest if the one in Miskolc was so great? The kidney stone crusher machine at the Miskolc hospital wasnt working and since the mission home is in Budapest thats where I went. 
• Why did I wait till Thursday for the procedure? They only use the machine at the hospital I went to on Mondays and Thursdays and we were too late to do it when I arrived on Monday.
• What side was it on? The Right side.
• Finally, a fun question, do they celebrate Halloween in Hungary? No, but kind of. They dont really celebrate and there is no trick or treating, but apparently recently they have been recognizing it more and more and apparently there will be halloween decorations and such maybe even some carved pumpkins. They also celebrate a different holliday the day after halloween.
• What was the hospital like? Well, it definitely wasnt American, no TV on the front of my bed with a remote for me to control. But the important thing was that it seemed clean and my doctor was pretty awesome, most doctors (atleast the younger ones) can speak adaquate English too. Unfortunately I didnt have my camera with me, but some other Elders took some pictures and hopefully I will be able to get those.

I really appreciate all of your love and support. A kidney stone and stomach problems from anti-biotics arent life threatening things. They really arent big problems at all. But going through all that the last week was kind of crazy and I was so greatful to be able to think of all the awesome people behind me who were rooting for me, thinking of me, and praying for me. I had my picture book with me I got for my birthday with pitures of all of you in it. I had it because I carry it in my backpack to show to investigators or members my family. I loved looking through it when I was having a tough time. 

I love you all so much and wish the best for all of you and the strugles you are going through.

Sok szeretettel

Elder Shoop

Sepember 16th

When I first got to Budapest from the trip from the hospital in Miskolc one the first things that I did was get my mail. I was so greatful that in the midst of all of this craziness to have my family there with me, in those letters. I appreciate and love the candy, but the letters meant so, so much to have then. Please tell everyone that signed them. Dad, I was especially greatful for your note, thank you so much. Mom and Dad, I love you both so much and its so comforting to know how much you love and care and support me. This is an exciting even in many ways, but please know through it, I am in good hands, not just with the mission presidesnt and his wife, but also in Gods hands.

Much love

Elder Shoop

September 16th

I believe you all have heard a little about my exciting week by know, if not, I have a kidney stone. And as such, my name is now Elder Shoop-Stone. Definitely has been an adventure, getting to spend a night in a hospital in Miskolc, and also a bit of a pain, because its lame having to stop working for a bit. However, theres some cool stuff I'll tell you about and I will give more details about stuff later in the letter. A note for Mom, since there are no major updates Im just sending this email for now and will not be calling. If anything major happens or changes though, Im sure Pres. Smith, Sis. Smith or myself will call.

 

As you all know by now, probably, I like to start with a spiritual though. Something I personally learned or studied during the past week. Well this past week my companion and myself got tons of people asking why bad things happened if there really was a God. Why life is hard or sad things happen, or people do bad things if there is a God. Its a great question, and one that I now love people to ask us. Because, we have the answer and we can help, and we have this answer, in large part due to the Book of Mormon. So, thats what I studied a lot this last week, why bad things happen. I studied it in the MTC, but I studied it more and with more intent because I need to find a clear answer for these people.

 

What I want to share with you isnt the full explanation or answer to what I have found, but a few scriptures that I think also aply to my situation. The first is Matthew 5:45 "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." I love this scripture, I think it helps to clearly help people understand that bad things didnt happen to them necessarily because they did something bad. For, rain falls on everyone.

 

The next is 2 Ne. 2:24 "But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." Thats the number one thing right there, I think. God is in charge. He knows what is best, and as long we have an understanding of the plan of salvation and have faith in Christ, we can come to peace with anything hard that comes our way. We just need to understand who we are. We are really children of our God, of our Heavenly Father, Who is all knowing, and perfectly loving. He has all power, and what ever happens is under His control.

 

The final one is 2 Ne. 2:25, very well known I think, if you dont know what it is, go read it maybe :) One of our purposes in this life is to have joy. And we can really find that. God wants us to be happy no matter what goes on. The question is not whether bad things will happen to us or those we love. They will. This life is not easy and is not meant to be easy. The question is how we react and respond when those challenging things do happen, and with faith in Christ, and holding dear to those we love around us, we can get through all things, for then we can have Christ with us, and He already has gotten through all things.

 

Alright I know you all want more details, but one more thing, this time no scripture though. I am really very greatful for all that has gone on. I am not gonna lie, there have been some really pretty painful times. But, Im still greatful for these experiences. I think alot of times, people see us missionaries as perfect with no challenges, while they strugle and work as hard as they can and still sometimes cant seem to make ends meet, or have other challenges they deal with in life. Or both. Then us missionaries come in there and I think its hard for them sometimes to really listen because we seem so trouble free I think. So I am greatful that I will be able to show our investigators, or atleast some of them, that I am a human too. Not that a kidney stone is anything like their challenges, but it shows Im human I hope. And I hope and believe this experience will help them.

 

So, Friday I had some pains, but figured it was because I ate Hungarian peppers the night before. Saturday I felt a lot better. Then, Sunday we had twice or so a year district conference in Miskolc (pronounced Meesh-kolts). I got to Miskolc and then found myself in lots of pain. This turned out to actually be a huge blessing. BECUASE... 1. Mission President and his wife were at the conference, it was so wonderful to have them there for everything, Sis. Smith even skipped her talk at the conference to help me, as that was when we decided to go to the hospital. 2. I was in Miskolc. I serve in Eger, but Eger does not seem to have a great hospital, one that would have helped me, Im sure, but the hospital in Miskolc is apparently known as one of the best in Hungary so that was awesome. 3. We were at the district conference and an American living in Hungary, who speaks fluently both languages was attending, him and his wife went with us to the hospital which was a huge help. 4. The zone leaders for my zone are in Miskolc and they have a car and drove me from Miskolc to Budapest and were a huge help in the whole thing. Im sure there are more miracle about the whole thing, but to the main point, Ive had this kidney stone growing in me for about a year doctors say. Over the almost 2 months I have been here that might have been the best or one of the best instants for me to have needed help.

 

The zone leaders and my companion stayed with me until pretty late a night with me in the hospital and then came back the next morning and helped me with everything and then got me to Budapest. I am SO greatful to the 3 of them, they were so awesome and supporting and loving and all that good stuff.

 

On a side note, go Hawks!

 

Anyways, MIssion president and his wife, the finantial senior missionary couple, and just everyone has been so supportive and helpful. This really isnt a huge deal, but they have helped it be the best experience it could be.

 

So whats going on right now? Well, There is a machine which will give me shock therapy and hopefully help break up the stone so it comes out easier, but I cant go in for the therapy until Thursday. So, I am staying here in the misison home until then. To be safe, and nice, mission president is going to just have me do some light office work on computers or answering phone calls or something, and I will be able to go up to my room and rest whenever I want if I have any pain. The main thing they are watching is to make sure I dont get a temperature which could mean that I have an infection. They have me on 3 or 4 medications.

1 is for pain, 1 Im really not sure excatly what it is because the doctor couldnt describe it great in English, something about muscles and pain and stuff, 1 is an anti-biotic just to make sure my body is safe because they really dont want me to get an infection, and 1 is an extra pain relief thing in case the pain gets too severe.

 

So thats whats going on, and I am sure we will let you all know whats going on if anything changes, my guess would be that Pres. Smith calls Thrusday after the appointment but dont get your hopes up too high because I really dont know. What I do know is that I am in good safe hands over hear. I appreciate all of your prayers and wish you all the best.

 

Before the incident the week was actually going way awesome. Me and my new companion get along really well I think and we were doing some great work together. We were finding a lot of people and having a lot of way awesome experiences with that and the lessons were going well with investigators.

 

I wish you all the best and pray for you all as well. Dont worry about me, Im wonderful.

Sok szeretettel!

Elder Shoop

September 9th

Said goodbye to Elder Quinton and welcomed Elder Magda to Eger! This last week definitely had its challenges, but getting to serve with Elder Magda is awesome which makes things great. More on that later.

One thing I read about this last week was the story told in Mark 2:1-12 and also Mat 9:2-8. Thiis is the story where four men are trying to get someone sick with palsy (cant control physical movements) to Christ so that Christ will heal him. I think I had always thought of this story as just another neat miracle of Christ. However, reading about it in Jesus the Christ made me think more about the people carrying the man to Christ. Christ Himself acknowledges the faith of these people. "When Jesus saw their faith, ..." (Mark 2:5) or "and Jesus seeing their faith..." (Mat. 9:2) These phrases make it seem to me that Jesus performed the miracle to the man sick with palsy because of the faith of the people that carried him.

What was it that these people did that made their faith so visible? The house Christ was in was crowded with people. Infact, it seems that there was a multitude of people "And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press,..." (Mark 2:4) So what did they do? They got on top of the house and "uncovered the roof where he was." I think I always viewed this as an action of desperation based on wanting their friend to be better. Instead, I think that a better way to look at it is a bold act of faith. Christ himself said in their actions He saw faith. What these people did was such a bold, publicly seen act in front of lots, potentially a multitude of people, that in my oppinion, they needed to really have faith that something would come of what they did to carry it out.

I think this causes us to ask, how in my faith visible. Are we willing to climb to the top of a house and tear open the roof? In front of multitudes of people? This gospel is true, it is a gospel of miracles and a gospel of Gods Love for us. Execize faith, act on faith, and then we can see the hand of God in our lives.

This last Wednesday I travelled to Budapest to pick up my new companion, Elder Magda. Elder Magda is lots of fun but a hard worker. We get along really well I think, this next transfer is going to be way awesome (this next tranfer is a bit different because its 10 weeks long). 

So above I said we had some tough stuff this week. We had 5 programs cancel on us between getting back Wednesday night with Elder Magda and Thursday. And then during finding/tracting this last week we had some people who were really negative to us and rude and we werent having a bunch of success. Between the cancelled programs and the rough finding it was tough for a little bit and things seemed to be going in the wrong directing fast.

But light prevails over darkness and things turned way up by yesterday night. Our last person we tracted yesterday ended up letting us in and we had a short lesson with him. He seemed to be really interesed in what we said and seemed to really need the answers we were offering him. We asked and he told us we could come back in a few days. He totally made all of the rough finding hours worth it. We found someone, someone who I know this gospel can bless, and who I think will let it bless him. Im willing to work endless rough tracting hours to find one individual like that. Also, by the end of Sunday we had a lot of people reschedule with us and new lessons set up. This next week looks like its going to be great.

Bullets!

• Sundays: Wake up, pray, eat, get ready, 8-9 personal study. 9-10 Branch presidency meeting (Which is just the senior companionship (Elder Herd is Branch Pres.) and us 4 missionaries). 10-11 is Branch council (Us 6 missionaries and 3 or 4 branch members). 11-12 Sacrament, 12-1 is the sencond and final hour of church. Since there are only 30 or so members we only do 2 hours of church and switch off everyweek doing sunday school or Priesthood/Relief Society/YM/YW. 
• We are a branch and branches are part of a district, not a stake. We actually have a district conference in Miskolc this next Sunday, its like a stake conference.
• My understanding is Hungarian dont really celebrate halloween but us missionaries normally make a branch activity night out of it.
• Yes I can and do get fresh fruits and vegtables. Peas, carrots, apples, all that good stuff. :)
• We use cell phones, one per companionship, but as far as technology goes, nothing else except computers for emailing and stuff like that.
• Neat fact: In Hungary street signs with street names on them are super rare. Instead the name of the street is on the building at the corner of the street. It makes finding streets not the easiest thing ever but I think its a way neat cultural thing.
• Food fact: Tejföl. LOVE TEJFÖL. This stuff is different than anything in America, the best way to describe it is its like sour cream, but not, and way better. If you can find any at home let me know. Also, it is possible to find BBQ sauce in normal stores. I bought some last week.

September 3rd

Transfer week! So exciting! And sad. As I said last week, Elder Quinton will be leaving tomorrow and taking his place will be... Elder Magda! Elder Magda has been in Hungary one transfer longer than Elder Quinton, is 50% Hungarian (from America), and before this tranfer was one of the two mission secretaries. Should be fun serving with him.

This last week I read a fair amount from Jesus the Christ and there was one specific thing I thought was really neat concerning the birth of Jesus Christ. If you all think about the standard Christmas nativity that we are all familiar with, there are generally shepherds and wise men. When Christ was born, angles appeared to lowly shepherds near where Christ was born. Wise men came from far away, following a Star, bearning nice gifts, first stopping asking the king where the real king was. Here is a quote from Jesus the Christ (its actually quoting a different source, see Jesus the Christ, page 108) "So that indeed God raised up witnesses for Himself  to meet all classes and conditions  of men - the testimony of angels for the poor and lowly;  the testimony of wise men for the haughty king and proud priests of Judea."

I love this thought. Nothing God does is a coincidence. Its not a coincidence that the two groups of witnesses were completely different. The shepherds for the poor and lowly, the wise men for the rich, and noble. And this so much applies directly to all of us. Its no coincidence that we have the experiences we do. Its no coincidence that our families are what and who they are, or that we have been blessed with the testimonies we have. As in Christs birth, God has blessed us all to have the spiritual witness that we have, so that we can touch the people around us, wheather it be kings or the poor and lowly. I am so greatful that I was called to serve here in Hungary, but I know where ever we are there will be people we can help.

Favorite scripture of the week: 2 Ne 10: 25, Im not gonna quote it, go look it up and read it though :) I like this verse because I like how it states how the atonement and ressurection work. Through the ressurection we can all gain bodies again. Through the atonement we can be saved from spiritual death (it uses the term "everlasting death" instead of spiritual death.) if we act on our faith. How our faith is required is somewhat hard to find within the verse but the end of the verse uses the term "through grace." Grace requires faith on our part, so the verse really does say that we need faith.

My week. This last week was exciting. I went on splits twice, once with Elder Nabrozky and once with Elder Beaucanon. Elder Nabrozky and myself are very similair so that was fun to get to serve with him and serving with Elder Beaucanon was great too. However, at the end of this last week I got sick. Low energy, stomach upset, slight temperature, type thing. Mom, please don't worry, Im feeling great now and everything was fine while I was sick. However, it did slow the work up a bit.

Lili, the person with a baptism date, is doing well, we taught her about tithing last week and she came to church for a second time this last sunday. We will teach her next on Thursday and we hope her son will listen to the lesson with her. Also, we hope to meet with a man named Gábor again this next week. There is, of course, lots of other investigators we meet with but not to overwhelm you all Ill stick with these two. Gábor is an awesome person who is progressing and has had a few lessons and seems somewhat prepared. He also has an awesome teddy bear collection which is really cool. But thats not where Mr. Ruggles came from.

Mr. Ruggles is our Eger mascot. We love him and take him a lot of places. When the other companionship here in Eger tables, they put Mr. Ruggles on the table sometimes. Its great. We love playing with Mr. Ruggles.

Anyways, One lastish thing, there was a family history program on Saturday here in Eger that was pretty neat. It was really cool to be at this family history program in a country where so many of our past relatives our from, it ended up being a really special experience for me.

Bullet points!

• Hopefully I answered all Mr. Ruggles questions, let me know if there are more.
• School Here started this past Monday. Best wishes to all of you nieces and nephews starting school!
• What is my day like now? I wake up at 6:30, pray, excercize, eat, get ready (shower, ect.), by 8 its personal study time, 9 is companion study time, 10 is a second hour of comp study because Im still new (its an extra hour for 12 weeks) then 11 is lunch usually, then 12 is language study for an hour. By 1 we go out to work, usually we have something like 3 or so scheduled "programs" or lessons. Hopefully none of them cancel. When we dont have a lesson, we tract through a 10 story appartment, dinner is at 5. Home by 9 or if teaching a lesson 9:30
• Lili's son. His name is Bálint, and I think if he spoke english or if all of you nephews spoke Hungarian, that you would all be good friends, he is a cool kid and likes watching cartoons. He is starting school just like all of you. He is Hungarian, but he is just a normal kid.
• In Hungary, stop lights turn yellow before turning green.
• In Hungary its normal for shower heads to not be attached to the wall, just hoses or something.
• They like open faced sandwiches here, no top piece of bread. One regular is Bread, tons of margarin, and then slices of pepper.

I love you all and miss you all so much. Best wishes!

Sok szeretettel

Elder Shoop

Mr. Ruggles and Tim in a castle

First day as companions picture

August 26th, 2013

One of our investigators, Lili (pronounced lee-lee), has decided to prepare to be baptized on November the 16th. Elder Quinton and myself are very excited for her. We are excited to see the gospel bless her life and her family (which only consists her and her 9 year old son). Elder Quinton has known her longer than me and he says he sees that she is already different, already seems happier.

I want to quote something I read in Jesus The Christ, its a long quote, but I really like it. In the Scriptures there is only 1 sentence (I believe) that talks about Christ's years inbetween when he was 12 to 30 years old. However, I believe this quote helps us better know what he did during these years: "As shown by His public utterances after He had become a man, these years of seclusion were spent in active effort, both physical and mental. Jesus was a close observer of nature and men. He was able to draw illustrations with which to point His teachings from the varied occupations, trades and professions..." I'll stop there because its a really long quote, but it goes on to talk about how he had learned of the ways of the lawyer, physician, scribe, Pharisee, rabbi, poor, rich, shepherd, farmer, vinedresser, and fisherman. It talks about how he had "considered the lilies of the field, and the grass in the meadow and upland" and also the birds, foxes, dogs, vagrant cur, hen, weather, seasons, and "all the phenomena of natural change and order". See Jesus the Christ, page 117, first full paragraph. Im sure these things are only a short, short list of what all he learned in his youth. Yet it is astonishing to think about it all. Yes, we only have one verse about his youth and early adulthood, however, enough has been revealed to us about His perfect character to enable us to be able to place full and complete confidence in Him. Or in otherwords, to have faith through Him.

Additionally, it shows us, I think, how valuable our time is. Even during times when we feel like we are going nowhere, when we feel like there is no purpose in what we do, or whatever your strugle or challenge may be. During the last few years of His life, Christ did basically all that He is know for from his earthly life. He performed the miracles we read of in the scriptures. He gave the sermon on the mount. He called His 12. He suffered and died for us. He did all these things in the last few years of His life. However, if He hadn't lived humbly and perfectly during His youth and early adulthood, the atonement could not have been brought to pass. How important every moment of our lives is!

On Friday and Saturday morning I was on splits with Elder Headrick in Miskolc (my comp is a district leader so he has to go on splits alot). Miskolc is a bit bigger than Eger and Elder Headrick is a very hard worker so that was fun. Also, Elder Headrick lives in the same appartment as the ZLs, who are way awesome so that was cool. One of the ZLs is Elder Nabrotzky, and in my 4 to 5 weeks of being here Ive already become known as being exactly like Elder Nabrotzky. Its really crazy how immensly similair we are, but fun too.

Wednesday we visited Füzesabony for just a few hours. The mental hospital is there and there is a member there we visit once a month with the senior couple. That was actually a pretty neat experience. 

Oh ya! The 20th was an indepence day here! It was way fun! The castle was free to visit so we went to the castle for awhile which was way awesome. Then we made palacsinták (Hungarian pacakes). Then we went to the community concert, a big band jazz band was playing which was cool for me to get to here, then there was a sweet firework show (the fireworks were shot from the top of the castle) and then there was a rock concert afterwards (the mission president said we could be out until 10 that night and that we could attend public concerts).

There is a European underwater hockey tournament going on in Eger right now, sounds like an interesting sport.

Questions/fun facts

• Weather: Seems like Washington but with a lot less rain and more humidity.
• McDonalds exists here?: Yep, its pretty expensive here and a more nicer place to eat
• Pictures?: Yes! Sorry if I dont get to emailing individuals, Im going to try to send some pictures.
• Any Hung. dishes I can cook at home?: Kind of, but we really need Hungarian ingredients. If you can find Kolbasz and or Tejföl anywhere then yes.
• Light switches here are generally alot bigger than at home
• The middle of eggs are orange instead of yellow
• There is a list of names that everyone must be named from when born. The only exception is if you apply for a different name.
• They rarely use ice

Transfers are next week, Im probably going to stay in Eger but my comp is probably going to leave, thats the word on the street. I'll be super sad to see him leave if he does.

Thanks for all the emails this week I love reading how people are. Thanks for the support love and prayers.

Sok Seretettel,

Elder Shoop

August 22nd,

Hi Sister Shoop,

We got to spend some time with Elder Quinton and Elder Shoop this afternoon in Eger, Hungary. Elder Quinton lives in my stake and I have taught seminary with his mom so we told her we would drop something off for him. My daughter Stephanie served in this mission so we are visiting some of her areas.  The Elders are doing great. We went to a famous Palachinta restaurant in Eger. The guys had to get theirs to go because they needed to head off to English class. I told Elder Shoop we would send you a picture and let you know he is doing great. He is excited about the work and will be a great missionary.

Sheri ***********

 

August 12th, 2013

Another excellent week of missionary work! I honestly find the work very exciting. My companion says I have tons of greeny-fire, but I like to think that I will always be this excited about doing this awesome work!

I read in 2 Nephi chapter 9 this last week and came across a scripture that I thought was very neat, verse 14, but focus on the second half of the verse: "Wherefore, we shall have a ^aperfect ^bknowledge of all our ^cguilt, and our ^duncleanness, and our ^enakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their^frighteousness, being ^gclothed with ^hpurity, yea, even with theⁱrobe of righteousness." I love how the end states that the righteous will have a "perfect knowledge of ...their righteousness". I think sometimes in church we hear people say (not that its a bad thing), how would we feel infront of God knowing all of our sins. That thought is slightly depressing I think, only to think about all the bad things we have done. Yes, we need to repent of our sins through Jesus Christ. But think about it, think of all of the good things you have ever done. Think of them! Its incredible, I know all of you and all of you have done so many awesome, righteous things. Think about how you will feel standing before God knowing all of the the good things you have done, and not needing to worry about the bad things because you had faith in Jesus Christ and repented. What an awesome feeling, how powerful! Standing before God knowing all of the righteous things we ever did. That thought I think, is encouragement to be better, to do better. And I love it because its true, its scripture.

I had a neat experience this last week. Well, I had many neat experiences, but Im going to focus on 1 of them. We were at one of our potential investigators houses (not potential any more) and we introduced the Book of Mormon to her. She asked us if we chose to be here or if we were here becaues our families were Mormon and we had to. We were able to tell her that we chose to be here, it was our decision and that we wanted to be. She, holding the Book of Mormon, then looked at me and asked me if I really believed it was true. I am so greatful, that I was able to look back at her and tell her, that I did believe it. I told her I had prayed about it and felt the peace and answer that it was true. I also think I told her how my life and my families life had been blessed by it. I was so greatful that I could tell her that truthfully, that I did believe the Book of Mormon.

I do believe the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I have read from it much, and a little bit in Hungarian, and I have pondered its words. I have prayed about it. I have truly seen in my life how it has answered questions, questions that so many people out in this world wonder about. It has given me strength and peace during hard times. I have really seen it bless my life and others. I have felt the peace, the hope, and the power it offers as I read about it. And I have prayed about it, in English and Hungarian, and felt the Spirit testify to me.

I love getting questions, feel free to send many, Im going to try to answer alot of them, briefly here, Im super sorry if I miss some:

• How many roomates- Just my companion
• Where do I live- Our appartment is actually in the downtown area of Eger very near the main downtown area with shops and resturaunts and stuff. The main downtown area is primarily walking only, too, which is fun.
• Where do I shop? There is a big shopping center call the Tesco where we shop every Monday. The Tesco very similair to a large Walmart except basically everything is in Hungarian and the food is a bit different.
• How do I cook- The kitchen in our apartment has a lot of the essentials. My comp knows a lot about cooking which is super useful. No crock pot but basically every thing else.
• What do I eat for the different meals- Breakfast: Generally just a bowl of cereal. One interesting cereal here which is actually pretty cheap is called Pillows. Its a crunchy chocolate crust covering over some sort of filling, chocolate hazelnut, strawberry, vanilla, coconut, are different fillings. Those are good but theres also a cheaper cereal, small cornflakes that are cheaper. Also a roll with jam is good. Lunch: I generally do some soft of sandwich, be it cheese, lettuce, and meat on a roll or jam or chocolate hazelnut spread (cheaper nutell). But also just eating leftovers from dinner is good. Dinner, I explain the dish I had last week, it was super good and after my comp made it for me I made it again myself. This week Im trying stuffed peppers, which no offence Mom, are better in Hungary, different peppers and such. 
• Whats my address- Im not sure, sorry, maybe next week. But I hear its best to  send packages to the mission home which is probably the best bet anyways.
• Am I settled in- Pretty much I think. I think Im finally getting used to the in-field routine and that I have finally pretty well adjusted to the timezone and new culture. Good question!
• Is the language easier- Well, Im sure Im getting better everyday but I think its a slow process. The important part is that Im improving.
• Do I dream in Hungarian yet- I dont think so, but one night I might have a little. One day!
• Dan made a comment that there is more than 1 way of learning going on. This is a very very good point. Its so intresting to be learning the language, the gospel, the culture, different peoples lives, a new way of living and eating and cooking, how to help the Branch (missinoaries play a big part in a branch where theres only 30 or so members at church every week and the branch president is a senior missionary who doesnt really speak much Hungarian.)
• Do they live like us- Actually, yes. That is one thing that has been a bit of a shock to me. How normal it all is compared to what Im used to. Slightly different but I think very similair.
• Do they live in houses or apartments? Like in America, both. Me and my companion have been focussing on apartments recently though.
• Do they have toys like barbies- Im not sure if I have seen any barbies, but yes they have toys that they like to play with Im sure. It seems that a lot of people here have less money than I think we are used to though, so they might not have as many toys.
• Can I understand the language when people talk- That is the really hard part. If they are talking about something in a missionary lesson then I think I can usually follow it kind of because that is what I have learned the most. Out side of that understanding people is very hard.

Sorry if I missed any questions. Thank you all so much for your support, love, prayers, and testimonies. I say it every week, but I really do mean it because it helps me so much through hard times. I wish you all the best, miss you, and love you all.

- Elder Shoop

August 5th, First Week in Eger!

Sziasztok! (Hello everyone)

Before I start, the Hungarian keyboard is a bit different from the English one.

Im in Hungary!!!!! In Eger!!!!! Eger is a glorious city in North East Hungary of about 50,000. It is, in my mind atleast, very Hungarian. I really want to send pictures but now that I have a bit more time to send pictures, I cant because the computers dont have sd slots, Ill look into and figure out some way to get you all some pics. My new companion is Elder Quinton, who is way awesome. I really like him and we get along very well I think. He is from Seattle and played football and golf in highschool, did a year of BYU before his mission, and has been in Hungary for a year, which might not seem too long, but he speaks great Hungarian I think he has picked it up faster than others.

I want to talk about patience for a bit. I have found patience is a very important Christ Like attribute and it is something I focussed alot on in the MTC. I appreciate all of your testimonies that you sent me so much, theyve really helped me and I want to be able to write about something that can help you all. So I want to bring up patience with ourselves. It is important to be patient with God and other people, but it is also so incredibly important to be patient with ourselves. This is something I need to work on alot, being a new missionary who can hardly speak the language. These past days have been so much fun. So exciting. But so frustrating. So frustrating. I want to help these people and bless them. I know they would be so much more happy with the gospel. And I have a testimony. I have this knowledge that they need. But sometimes I cant express it how I want or alot of times I cant follow the conversation to even know what theyre talking about. 

Thats where patience with ourselves comes in. I think its something we all need, not just me. I know I need to work on it a ton but we all have trials and challenges in our lives. Im sure we all have question and doubts. We all lack faith in some things at times, or strugle in some way. God wants us to be perfect but I dont think we should expect ourselves to be perfect immediately. We can grow, we can learn, we can be happy, but it takes time. We just need to try every day to be just a little bit better.

One family Ive gotten pretty close with since getting here is the Putton family, theyre recent converts and an awesome, way fun family. We were at their house recently and the Dad asked how I could stand being away from family, I told him that I love you all and that I miss you all so much, I gave him a number of reasons (D+C 31:2, I always wanted to be a missionary, it helps me focus, I like serving people) but I also told him that they all were my family. The branch has about 30 members which is pretty small but theyre great and were growing.

My birthday went great, The day before at the branch game night Sister Herd (The Herds are the senior couple that serve here, Elder Herd is the Branch president.) brought a cake and they sang to me in English and then in Hungarian (in Hungarian its a different song). Then on my birthday me and my companion met up with Elder Sterri and Elder Buechannon at a really cool restaurant.

My companion is a great cook and has made some awesome Hungarian dishes, which require Hungarian ingredients to really taste great. My favorite was this one dish where there was a lazer of sliced potatoe, then a layer of sliced hard boilded eggs, then a layer of super good Hungarian meat, then a layer of Tejfö (Hungarian stuff, super good), then a layer of cheese, and then all of those layers again. Then baked. Its delicious. 

Ive found the people here are nice and we have had some success finding. There are these buildings called 10 stories and buildings called 5 stories, theyre super communist, and theyres a ton of them. Basically theyre all just like identicall square apartment complexes. We go door to door in these alot but I really like streeting. We tried tabling (Table with a sign in a public place) but it wasnt too successful, apparently other cities it works ok but not Eger. 

Just a second left for one last thing. We had some neet experiences where one night we got back to the appartment just a bit early. We decided to go back out and work just a little longer. In that short time we found someone who seemed interested and Im really excited about. I think thats so neat that because we worked a little longer we found someone else and Ive seen that happen a few times already.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. I love the birthday testimonies they mean so much to me.

Sok szeretettel (with much love)

Elder Shoop