From the Archives: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

When I was on my mission one of the verses I really loved in the Book of Mormon was 2 Nephi 25:26.

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This was our lives as missionaries. All we did every day was to talk of Christ, to rejoice in Christ, to preach of Christ. We did it when we talked about the blessings of the Temple. We did it as we shared the pioneers’ stories. We did it when we bore our testimonies of His love, sacrifice, and triumph over death. At the flagpole, in the Tabernacle, at the Christus statue. As my friend Gabi said, it was easy to be good on Temple Square. It was easy, because our whole life was centered around Christ and serving Him.

We often recited this verse, and one day I decided to put it to a test when it came to the Book of Mormon. During my personal study the next two months I marked every time He is mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

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On Sunday when I opened my missionary scriptures in preparation of reading it together with a good friend, I was, again, surprised at all the red marks in the Book of Mormon, showing all the mentions of Christ. Considering that one of my favorite Bible books, Esther, doesn’t even mention God directly, the straightforward witness of the Book of Mormon prophets seems so simple and uncomplicated. Simple and uncomplicated are good, because that is something even I can understand.

As I said earlier, for me the greatest purpose of the Book of Mormon is to invite people to come unto Christ, to bear witness that Christ loves us, and is always ready to receive the faithful and repentant. The Book of Mormon is truly for our time, and the opportunity of learning from it is one of those things that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with in these latter days.

Pathway Connect: PC101, az első hét

A Pathway egyik nagy előnye, hogy nem csak szeptemberben lehet elkezdeni, hanem mind a három szemeszter alatt indulnak új 101 csoportok. Nyugat-Afrikában ez az első félév, amikor a 14 hetes félévek helyett két 7 hetes blokkban végzik el a diákok a PC101 és a PC102 kurzusokat, és egy teljes, 14 hetes félév alatt a PC103 és az első a választott szakjukhoz tartozó kurzust. Ez egy izgalmas változás a misszionáriusoknak is, és kihívás a diákok nagy részének is. Sokan közülük nem fejezték be a középiskolát, vagy már hosszú ideje nem tanultak szervezett keretek közt, és megkopott a tudásuk. Gyakran az angol nyelven való tanulás is kihívás. Szerencsére a mostani, libériai csapatomnak a nyelv nem jelent gondot.

Az első gyűlésen a 18 diáknak pont a fele, 9 fő vett részt. Ez nem olyan meglepő, pláne, hogy pont lehalt a rendszer, és aki valamiért nem volt a WhatsApp csoportunkban, vagy nem látta az e-mailjeit, az nem tudta, hogy milyen linket használjon. A 9 diák, akik viszont részt vettek az órán, nagyon aktívak voltak. A legtöbbjük már bőven a második heti feladatokat csinálja, és felkészülten jöttek a gyűlésre is.

Mindent egybevéve nagyon jó első hetünk volt. Ami számomra egy nagy tanulság volt, hogy a közös kultúra mennyire össze tudja kovácsolni a csapatot az első pillanattól kezdve.

Advent Open House Activity

This Advent the Stake Primary president, who happens to be in my ward came up with a wonderful idea: throughout Advent people could choose days when they welcomed members of the ward in their homes. We started advertising a little late, but from December 2 to December 26 there were open doors waiting for our brothers and sisters at least once a week. There were no requirements of feeding your guests or taking anything, or even letting the host know ahead people were going, but us being Hungarians we ended up doing all three. I mean why have people over if you don’t feed them?

One of the greatest thing, for me, in this activity was that I got to get to know people that I hardly ever talk to a little better. Particularly one brother in my ward, who is amazingly smart, speaks like seven languages, including English, Russian, and Swedish, and is definitely someone who is seeking to grow in the gospel. We have, however, not talked much before, because most of our interests are on the opposite end of the spectrum, with the exception of family history. When I saw his name on the list, I decided that I’m definitely going to visit him. Then I put my own name on the list for Christmas Eve, which is when Hungarians really celebrate Christmas. He approached me if I really meant it, and I was really happy to tell him that yes, he is welcome to come spend Christmas with my dad and I. And with the missionaries. And with this other couple. And the afternoon with two big families.

Visiting him, and him spending Christmas Eve with us has given me a completely different experience with him from what I get at church. We had such a pleasant time together, and I am super happy I could get to know more about him. I’m excited to continue to get to know him better, and I wish I had made the effort and taken the time to talk to him earlier.

We are already talking about what we’ll do this year, and how we’ll change the program. Maybe extend it to the other wards in Budapest, maybe put up the sign up calendar before Halloween, maybe add a theme for each visit. One thing is for sure. We want to do it again, so we can get to know each other better, and keep our homes and hearts open to others. Because there is always place in the inn.

January 3, the Day When New Year’s Resolutions Die

Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution that didn’t last? Famously I failed one of mine, which was to journal every day, on January 2nd, when I forgot to take my journal with me to visit my cousins. Normally, however, my resolutions survive two days, and then I go back to work and they are lost in the hassle of the day.

So this year, again, I decided to have monthly and/or weekly resolutions! This week my resolution is to meditate every day for at least 3 minutes. So far so good…. it’s Tuesday morning and I have had three sessions already! I’m slowly starting to get the hang of it, and not get overly anxious while trying to relax. Next week my goal is to watch one episode of a TV show every day, while crocheting or drawing, but having no other screen in front of me. Then for February I have the standard no sweets. You know, it’s the shortest month of the year! It will be difficult without my protein bars, but then I don’t plan to travel to the Temple either.

In March, as the days start to be longer again I want to go for a walk after work twice a week if the weather permits, in April I’ll plan to have two meat-free days a week instead of my usual one, and try to have at least one fully vegan day. It might be related that in April I want to explore Indian cuisine. May is time to get a pass for the swimming pool (hopefully it will reopen by then), and June…

Well, you can probably see an overall theme in my mini-resolutions. They are all there to help improve my well being this year. Yes, there is a hope for further weight loss (by the way, does anyone want a beautiful blue Maite Kelly coat? Size 52, I think), but the target is becoming ore healthy, both physically and mentally. I need to learn to purposefully set aside time for my own health and to pay attention to my own needs. Sometimes I need to “pamper” myself, but instead of doing something as a quick fix to provide some temporary but immediate satisfaction, like buying things, I need to learn to fill the underlying needs.

So my question for you today is: what do you do for your own wellness?

From the Archives: How I Hear Him

Originally posted on May2, 2020 on The Budapest Crocheter

Last October President Nelson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints promised that the upcoming April General Conference will be nothing like we have ever had before. I’m not sure he meant an empty Conference Center, and absolutely no gathering in the meeting houses to view the sessions together, but he was completely right.

The theme of the Conference, besides the 200th anniversary of the First Vision, seemed to me to be listening to God and fining His presence in the turmoil of these days. When I saw the #HearHim tags on videos, photos and various posts, I knew I had been right.

One of my favorite talks–and there were several this conference as well–was Elder David A. Bednar’s talk, “Let This House Be Built unto My Name”. At the end of his talk, Elder Bednar said, “The fundamental obligations that rest upon us as members of the Lord’s restored Church are (1) to “Hear Him!”24 and have our own hearts changed through covenants and ordinances and (2) to fulfill joyfully the divinely appointed responsibility to offer temple blessings to the entire human family on both sides of the veil. With the Lord’s direction and help, indeed we will fulfill these sacred duties.”

A few weeks later, talking about how he hears Him, Elder Bednar gave us some examples of how we can hear Him, too. Read about it here.

How do I hear Him? Like Elder Bednar said, often I hear Him in the Scriptures. One time I was really struggling with everything, and in particular with my relationship with Heavenly Father. I felt disconnected, and I felt unheard. My bishop advised me to start reading 3 Nephi, regardless of where I had been in my study at that point, or what challenge local or global leaders had given us. So I did. And I heard His voice in the Scripture. I read His words. I saw the resurrected Christ, the Redeemer who had already performed His atoning sacrifice, who no longer needed to perform earthly miracles to bless and serve. I hear Him in the pages of The Book of Mormon every day.

What Seek Ye in 2023?

Yep, I had to rewrite the year in the title. Of course I did.

So here we are on the first Sunday, the first day of 2023, and I went to Sunday school. Those who know me also know that the easiest way to get me to go to Sunday school is to make me teach. No, I didn’t teach, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that we actually talked about the actual topic of the lesson.

The title of this week’s lesson is a personal mantra of mine. “We Are Responsible for Our Own Learning.” And how can we be responsible for our own learning if not by setting goals for ourselves? Realizing what we want to achieve, what our goal is with learning will determine how we approach our learning. By answering to ourselves the question in the title, we can easily determine our course.

Or so we think. We ight have a goal we want to achieve. We might know what we seek, what we are searching for in our scripture study, but then happen upon something completely different. Something we didn’t expect or didn’t want, but something we need. It is the wonder of the journey, and as we follow along we will receive the blessings we really need, but only if we put the work into it. It is our own responsibility, and our own opportunity. Let’s use it.