Happy New Year, friends and family!
What a wonderful holiday break it has been here in Györ. I wish my letter could do justice explaining all the miracles we’ve seen throughout this week. It has sure been deathly cold and I think my buns have fallen off. On one freezing day, we headed out to find a referral we had received. We got completely lost and somehow made it on the other side of town. We stopped a man to ask for directions and his reply, “Yes! Hello sisters!” It was quite the surprise for us because it was in perfect English. Turns out, he is from Hungary, lived in Canada for over 40 years and got deported back to Hungary. He’s got a handle bar mustache, tattoos and the voice of a very sincere, good man. He had met with sisters in the past but stopped because he didn’t understand a few things they taught. Recently, he had a dream that he would meet the sisters again on this same street. God is very aware of each and every one of us. He is always putting people in our paths.
After we met John, we headed in the right direction and finally made it to our referrals apartment. Unfortunately, we didn’t know their ringer so we were stuck outside and had to wait. About 2 minutes after a family comes to the door and I ask the lady if she knows a woman named Aggie. With complete shock on her face, she says, “that is me!” We told her who we were and she remembered meeting missionaries in the past. She was warm and welcoming and told us to come back next week.
Hungarians know how to party hard during the holidays. They go all out and during new years they have stands full of hair wigs and pigs, who knew?! Doesn’t matter if your 90 or 10 years old, you’ll be wearing some kind of pink or curly haired wig. There are no rules when it comes to fireworks. We didn’t think we’d make it through the night by how loud it was. Definitely a New Years we will never forget.
We had quite the miracle this week while out streeting one night. We did our last circle around town and decided to go in for the night. A family randomly stopped us and asked us if we spoke Italian. A few minutes later they were insisting we go with them to a fish restaurant and bought us dinner and were so incredibly kind to us. We talked to them about the Mormon Church and why God is so important in our lives. Turns out, the whole family is musically talented and they are all professional violinists who are now living in Vienna. We were so taken back by there kindness, we just kept asking them over and over why in the world they would take two young girls who were complete strangers out to dinner. The father replied, “I just had a feeling I should. I work with people all the time and I can tell what kind of people they are. You two just had such special spirits about you, I just knew I had to take you out to dinner and get to know you.” They ended up giving us all their information and told us to come stay with them in Vienna at anytime.
I am blown away that it is already 2015. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I have a feeling this will be the best year yet. Life is too short so make the most of each day. I know God lives and I know this church is true.
All my love, Whittaker Nővér.
