BOLDOG HÚSVÉTI ÜNNEPEKET! Happy Easter! April 18, 2017

Brooke's email - brooke.gertsch@myldsmail.net

HAPPY EASTER!

Because of the the “surprise transfer” these past 8 weeks flew by.  I literally blinked and now it’s over.  Time is a confusing thing, what’s new??

 ice cream season!!! this is with Heni, a member here in Nyíregyháza

The Elders investigator! Easter Sunday

BOLDOG HÚSVÉTI ÜNNEPEKET!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.  As a missionary, holidays never feel like they do at home.  It’s hard to be away from family, but I have been blessed with incredible strength and perspective and this weekend was a special one. In Hungary, the entire weekend of Easter is a holiday, so a lot of people were gone or busy when we would go finding.  None the less, we kept finding and brought our little DVD player and would show the Easter video to people at their doorstep.  It was really amazing to ask someone if they have 2 minutes to watch it and when they do, to just see their faces soften and the Spirit touching them to the core.  At one door we went to, this man opened up the door and agreed to watch the video. Afterwards, he invited us in and now we are meeting with him and he is progressing so well!

the dream team district! it was a fun four weeks!!!

Jutka néni one of the sweetest members here. who am i kidding, they are all incredible!

 I also got to see MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER - Johanna from Győr on Easter and it was like being with family.  Her parents live here in Nyiregyháza, and she was so kind and invited us over!  She is the absolute sweetest! 

I was the absolute happiest spending some time with this one! Johanna, from Győr

Add Loved spending Easter with Johanna and her parents!

This was also the last week of the transfer.  I have learned to trust in the Lord and His plan for me, but sometimes I can’t help but stress out.  I did not want my best friend and comp to leave me and I most DEFINITELY did not want to leave this city.  I love this place and it’s people so much.  Good thing I am staying!!!  I am so happy about it!  Sadly, Dorny Nővér will be leaving and gong to Kecskemét, but I am getting Day Nővér and we will be Sister Training Leaders together.  I feel really good about this transfer and am determined to make it the best one yet.  It was also my LAST transfer call!  So hard to believe!

More to come next week!

 Splits in Eger.  Music Finding with the Sisters and Elders in Eger!

Hope all is well, I love and miss you so very much!

Sok sok szeretettel

Gertsch Nővér 

I have started reading the Book of Mormon one last time on my mission, and on each page, I find all of the things we have to do to "gain peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come" and within a few days, already filled up a page and finished 1 Nephi! I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON. 

Some beautiful pictures of Eger

Megjött a tavasz (Spring came!) 4/3/2017

megjött a tavasz (spring came!)

It seriously seems like everything grew overnight and this weekend was absolutely beautiful.  Sunshine, flowers, ice cream, no tights - all my favorite things!

Another thing I love, is going on splits.  This week the sisters from the city Eger came over to Nyiregyháza and I had the pleasure of going on splits with Morris Nővér (small world - she is friends with one of my friends from home Kambria Porter!)  Anyway… Splits are so much fun.  And although it is a chance for a Sister Training Leader to help a fellow sister, I always end up learning so much from them!  Morris Nővér is so bold and such a hard worker and we talked to so many people.  Because the weather has gotten so nice, there are a lot of people in the Belváros (city square) so we decided to switch things up and do some music finding!  We actually have found so much success and many potential investigators, so that is exciting.  Music is a good thing. 

 Splits in Nyíregyháza,with the Eger Sisters - chalking and music finding

Chalking - The Plan of Salvation -  the questions: honnan jöttünk (where did we come from?) miért itt vagyunk (why are we here?) and hova megyünk (where are we going?)

We had many miracles this week but the one I want to share was not with an investigator.  It was with a member.  First of all, this man reminds me of my Grandpa Telford and I kind of love him just for that reason among many others.  The first day I got here in Nyiregyhaza, he walked up to me and told me to feel right at home.  This week, we got to go over to his place for dinner.  Feri Bácsi, the member, had prepared this delicious gulyás, or stew, and as we ate, he taught us about simple doctrines with deep meaning and I could have sat there for hours listening to him.  But this was my little miracle - towards the end, he got all choked up and started bearing his testimony and the Spirit filled the little dining room we were sitting in.  Then he started thanking us for all we do and said how much our Heavenly Father loves us and appreciated us and our sacrifice.  He didn't just say these things, but I sincerely felt his love and admiration and we were all balling like babies by the time he was finished.  I have been so all over the place lately, but in that moment, my mind was clear and I felt perfect peace. 

One of my favorite people Feri bácsi

 I feel so beyond grateful to be serving these people and to be gaining so many life-long friends that I never would have met if it weren’t for the mission.  They are changing my life.  Oh and who could forget General Conference?!  I had been waiting so long for the day to come where we would hear from the Prophet and the leaders of our church.  It was so uplifting and rebuilding.  I am so happy to be a member of this church and to receive divine revelation through our prophet and his apostles.  We don’t have to feel lost in this crazy world! Aren’t we lucky?!?!

For p-day, we went over to a members and she taught us how to make some Hungarian food! Also the son, Kristóf, is the sweetest soul. I'm obsessed. 

Sok sok szeretettel, 

Gertsch Nővér

ÁLDOTT VAGYOK (I am blessed) Week of 3/20 - 3/27

Brooke's email address:  brooke.gertsch@myldsmail.net

My mission President and his beautiful wife 

I feel like I talk about it every single week, but he fact that the month of March is pretty much over is absolutely insane!  Our weeks are so busy that it feels like 2 days and then it’s p-day again.  As a missionary, you experience different types of exhaustion - mental, when you can’t speak the language and are trying every minute to understand people.  Spiritual, when you get lost and kind of forget what you are doing here.  Emotional, when homesickness gets the best of you and rejection hurts your heart.  I am now currently only experiencing the physical exhaustion from the constant go, go, go.  But as my companion and I push through the temptations of just sleeping, we have been rewarded with so many miracles.  And going to bed is the best part of the day, because as I lay down, I know I did all I could to serve the Lord.  What a great feeling, let me tell you!

Vékony Viktor is the branch president here in Nyíregyháza, and he was baptized by my Sunday School teacher from home, Brother Horrocks when he served his mission in Hungary! Such a small world! 

We love bikes!!

ZONE TRAINING was this week. Dorny Nővér and I had to give a training on our power and authority as missionaries.  The cool thing about having to do that is preparing and studying the topic and then personally learning so much.  We found that as we do our best to be worthy and to humbly submit ourselves to the Lord’s will, that is the authority we gain, as we have been set apart.  When we do that, we receive the power and the companionship of the Holy Ghost and can do anything.  Best part of the Training was seeing President and Sister Szabadkai.  They are my absolute favorites.  I had to stay the night in the mission home because I had a doctor’s appointment, so we got to spend some extra time with them and had a good heart to heart and said family prayer with them and their daughter.  It felt just like home, with family.  

Selfie with the Szabadkai’s!!

I love to see my former companions!

Cool walls underneath the train station 

SPLITS IN DEBRECEN.  As a Sister Training Leader, we get to travel to other cities and go on splits with the sisters there.  This week we went to the beautiful city of Debrecen and I got to go on splits with a new missionary, Tischner Nővér. She is so sweet and is already such a great missionary.  So brave and loving.  I learned so much from her.

Splits in Debrecen with Tischner Nővér

We also had a little miracle while tracting together.  we rang a csengő and noticed that in front of this house, there was a bácsi sitting on the porch.  I introduced myself and my companion and asked how he was doing.  He then tried talking back, but something had happened to him and his tongue stuck out of his mouth as he talked.  It was pretty much impossible to understand him.  But I felt like we should keep standing there talking to him, so we did for another 10 minutes.  I guess his wife had seen us patiently listening to her husband had she came out and invited us in.  We then had an incredible lesson about Jesus Christ and the Atonement.  Meeting them made me want to become a better person myself and I know that they needed the comfort and perspective our message gives.  Splits miracles are fun!

Debrecen is one of the most beautiful and big cities in Hungary

Church building in Debrecen

THE POWER OF MUSIC - We have an investigator who chose a baptism date the first day I got to Nyiregyháza, and recently he has been experiencing a lot of temptations and trials as the day gets closer.  So it has been hard, but we are trying our very best to help him push through and stay strong.  We had this one idea to somehow incorporate music because for both of us, that’s how we feel the Spirit so strongly.  Dorny Nővér is incredibly talented on the violin and I brought my ukulele and we just sat and sang/played for awhile and it was such a cool experience to see him completely let go of his worries and his soul at rest, even if it was just for a little.  Music is so powerful and I firmly believe it is one of the best ways to feel the Spirit.

Well, this week was amazing .  I love being a missionary.  I love this gospel and would be lost without it.  I am so beyond thankful to be here in the Hungary Budapest mission and for all the people this mission has given me the opportunity to make friendships with.  

ÁLDOTT VAGYOK  (I am blessed)

Taking a quick break!

Have a great week and enjoy conference!  Miss and love you so much!

Sok szeretettek, 

Gertsch Nővér 

Surprise transfer - Better than okay!!

Brooke email - brooke.gertsch@myldsmail.net

MEGLEPETÉS!

Magyarország - jó itt- (Hungary- its good here)

March 15th was a national holiday and everyone wears these.

I must have been getting too comfortable with where I was because this week, we got a call that a sister had to go home early and in 2 days, Evans Nővér and I would have to be in Budapest with all our suitcases and would be going to a new city.  I was so shocked and really sad to leave all of my family and friends in Győr.  But through it all, I prayed to the Lord, telling Him I trusted him and in return, he reassured me that everything is going to be okay - better than ok and I was at peace amid all of the chaos of our surprise transfer. 

Viki, my mother here in hungary.jpg

I love you Johanna!!

Surprise transfer!  On train headed to Budapest

I am now serving in the city of Nyiregyhaza. As part of this transfer call, I am now a Sister Training Leader which means I get to go on splits with Sisters in other cities (Debrecen and Eger) I am so excited to help them and have this opportunity to learn from them!!

I feel so blessed to have been able to serve with Evans Nővér.  We have become so close and have laughed lots and worked hard over the past 4 weeks that we had been companions.  I always get blessed with the BEST companions! I don’t know what I do to deserve them! The pattern just continues because my new companion is Dorney Nővér and it has only been 3 days together and she is already one of my best friends.  We feel like we have known each other for years. It is pretty special.  

new comp, new city, HAPPY AS CAN BE!!!

ÁLDOTT VAGYOK (I am blessed).  Our first day together was full of little miracles.  Here is one of them:

We went tracting our first day together.  We knocked on about 3 doors and Dorney Nővér asked me about why I am serving a mission and it turned into a pretty spiritual discussion about our moments of personal conversion. Now, as I look back at it, having that discussion made my spirit so strong and my confidence and testimony unbreakable.  As people were slamming the doors, I felt strong and I knew the Spirit was with us and those who were ready and open would feel it and want to hear more.  On the last floor, we found Zsanett.  When we told her we were missionaries and wanted to share a message of happiness, she immediately let us in.   We sat down and we had one of the best lessons I have ever experienced.  I think she had muscle dystrophy and life has not been easy for her.  As we started to talk about Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon she was beaming and accepted all of what we were saying.   We had been led to someone who had been prepared. And I almost cried as she said the closing prayer already asking God if all of this was true and I could see the Holy Ghost touching her and telling her it was. 

We left her apartment and as we were walking out the building, my companion and I just threw our arms around each other.  I have never been so happy in my entire mission.  And it’s only been 3 days in this city!  Change can be hard, but also can be needed and I can feel that we are going to get so much work done here in Nyiregyhaza.  Never been so pumped and motivated!  

Our District went to the Zoo on P-day 

Also - I love the branch here!  We went to a Relief Society activity and then church on Sunday and I already feel so at home.  they are constantly hugging us and smiling and it is easy to say that I am going to like it here!  

The Relief Society Activity was learning to make food look beautiful!!

So yeah, this week was pretty crazy.  And I can’t help but be thankful for the hard weeks because they really make me appreciate the good ones.  And these past few days have been some of the best.  

More to come next week!

Fagyi (ice cream) season is starting!!!

Sok Szeretettel,

GERTSCH NŐVÉR 

Győr, I love you with all my heart