Elder Ammon Smith, June 27, 20011

Hello family,

Sounds like everyone is doing just great at home. Dan is getting ready to leave on his mission, dad getting better, mom is having too much fun with her sisters and family and Abby can swim.

We’re doing great here as well.  We were in Budapest last week for a zone conference. I was hoping to find a box waiting for me but I didn’t find anything. I’ll be sending my box home now that I have an address. There is some things for Dan inside so you will have to send those things to him.

The work is going great here. We have been having trouble finding people that want to meet with us but we are working hard on find those people and sharing the gospel with them. We were blessed to teach an inactive family this last week and put a 10 year old boy in that family on bap date. He is a very smart kid and wants to be baptized and knows why it is important. Please pray for him to come to church lol.  We feel this might be something that will hold him back from being baptized. Péter, the man who was baptized last transfer, painted me a picture of the dream Lehi had in chapter 8, it’s very cool, I’ll send a picture of it if I remember to take a picture of it. He has never seen a picture of it before so it’s kinda different but it is great! He is doing so good and is a very active, the members love him a lot. Flora the girl that was baptized last transfer is also doing very well. She fits right in with the youth and has a new glow about her and its burning bright.

I feel that this is my last transfer here in Veszprém. This city has a big place in my heart. I love the people here so much and we have been through so much together. We are already 3 weeks in the transfer so there are only 2 and a half left. Time is just flying by and it seems like Elder Austin and I just got the call that we would be staying together another transfer.

I’m going to take some time now to try and send some pictures. I love you all have a great week!!!

Elder Ammon Smith, 19 June 2011 - Father's Day! :D

Wow sounds like everyone is just doing great!

 I don't know where to begin. We had another great week here in Veszprém. I’m beginning to get a little nervous, our zone leader said that they are using our district as an example of how missionary work should be done in our mission. There was a zone leader meeting and he said they kept talking about the Veszprém district. So I feel the pressure and feel like I need to do everything perfect. That’s how I felt at the beginning of the week but I’ve learned to just forget about it and do what we were doing before. I'm so grateful for how well the work is going. I love seeing the change that the gospel brings into peoples lives. What a wonderful blessing to be a part of something so important and what an even bigger responsibility it is to be the ones to share that message with them that will bring them joy for all eternity.

On Saturday we went to a Hungarian cowboy  carnival. Wow was my name just written all over that place. There was just so much fun stuff everywhere, don't worry I didn't buy anything, I wanted to but I didn't. There was a competition were you go around doing a few things like whipping, shooting an arrow, throwing a knife and some other things. Anyway the most you can score is a 75, I scored a 71 and one of the people leading this thing said to me, you must be Hungarian. He was a little shocked when I told him I’m American.  I’ll send some pictures next week, I took a lot. I forgot to bring it today.

 That's great to here that dad is doing better and that Dan is so close to leaving on his mission.

I hope you all have a great week,

Elder smith

P.S.  Only 5 transfers and I could be home. That’s as long as I have been here in Veszprém.

Ammon Smith, June 12, 2011

I put lots of new pictures up on facebook!!!

Hey family and friends,

I thank everyone for all the letters I got last week. I went up to Budapest last week and was shocked at how many letters I got! I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing great. I think it's so wonderful how many missionaries are leaving from our stake. I'm so proud of everyone for making such good choices.

It really hit me last week that I don't have much time left in Hungary. I started to miss all the old places I had served in and how amazing they are and all the kind people that I've met. I was really motivated by these feelings to work harder.

I was so happy to find out that I would be staying here in Veszprém. There is so much work here right now; my companion and I are always busy. I've been here so long, since christmas and because of that we walk down the street and always see people that we have spoke with on the street and at their homes. So there is just a feeling of home here; so I think I will stay when the time comes to go home. It seems unreal when I think of what home will be like when I'm back so I don't think about it!

This last week was full of great work and many miracles. I was given the assignment to stay as district leader. I was very grateful for that privilege again. I really enjoyed the opportunity last transfer to serve such wonderful Elders. My companion and I were so excited when we heard that we will be serving another transfer together and even more excited when we heard that no one in our district would be leaving. We have seen so many miracles together and have a very strong love for each other. The Branch president pulled us aside this last Sunday just to let us know how grateful he is to have such fine missionaries serving in the branch. (I think it became a ward last week.) I have never had anyone do something similar to that in my mission. We are very grateful for him as well and the love that he has for the ward.

The ward farm is looking beautiful, there are so many delicious things growing right now. The ward has become so much closer because of the farm and the members are out there every night to take care of their crops. So they have so much time to become closer and serve each other.

This last week we went cherry picking. We picked about 4 pounds of cherries. They were so good we even picked some strawberries. I can't even explain how good they were. I also feel sorry for Elder Austin because I ate them all.

On Monday we went on an all day picnic with the branch; we all had so much fun together. We rode our bikes about 20 miles away to a beautiful place. We played games had some good food and enjoyed each others company. I got a little sick from being in the sun so long but it was worth it. I'm doing great now.

I love you all,

Elder Smith

"THE BEST WAY TO DO MISSIONARY WORK IS BY EXAMPLE 

AND THEN IF NEEDED USE WORDS."




Ammon Smith, 5 June 2011

Hello family,

 It’s so good to hear that everyone is doing good and that the move is going well. I’m sure that Dan is very excited to go to the temple. Once again, not one word in the letter about how dad is doing and what he has been up to?????

This week was transfer week. We got our call this morning and my companion and I will be staying together here in Veszprém!!! This will be my 5th transfer here. So I have been here for over a half a year and now it will be a little more. That’s no problem, I really love where I am serving.

Ács Flora is name of the girl that was baptized last week I’ll try and send some pictures of the baptism and lots of other fun pictures.

This week was great. We worked very hard thinking that it would be our last week together as a companionship. We also had a concert this week here in our city, 2 of the sister missionaries came and put on a musical concert, it was great. There was a huge turn-out and the music was beautiful. The concert was really the highlight of our week, other than that we have just been working. Kata has been out of town all week so we are hoping to be able to meet with her this week sometime.

The weather is getting very hot here and it’s raining a lot so it’s hot and humid. I don’t know if I told you all last week but last p-day we went to the zoo. We had so much fun there. Today we played tennis, that was fun. And the week after this week,we are going to go whip, hehehe. I now own 3 whips, 2 of them I bought and one of them I made. It’s not the best looking thing but I think it’s fun that I made one. I was thinking about sending one home. I also hope that you  found some time to send that box for me. I’m waiting but I’ll have to admit I’m getting impatient haha.

Love to all,

Elder Smith

Ammon Smith, 30 May 2011

Hello family,

Well everything is going good on this side of the world. We were blessed with another baptism this last weekend. I will send some pictures next week. The work is still going great for us. It’s not easy, we have to always be working hard but it’s worth it. This last week went by very fast. We did a ton of things but they are not coming to mind at this moment. 

As I said before, the branch that we are serving in has a farm; we went out there to work a little bit and will be going out there again later on today. We also went to a small village this week where we have been teaching some people. The place is called a garden town because it’s made of farms and gardens; these towns are all over Hungary. So we went out there to help them farm a little bit and teach. We have been blessed here with many people to teach. We love them all very much. We have seen so many amazing things lately. We see Gods hand in our work all the time. For example this last week we met with someone named Kata. It was our first time meeting with her. We started to teach her about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit, she told us that she wants to believe that it is true. She also wanted to have those feeling that the spirit brings into our lives so we told her if she really wants to know so badly then we could kneel and she could pray and ask. We promised her that she would receive an answer. So we knelt and she began to pray. She asked if the church was true then she closed the prayer. We asked her, “Did you receive and answer?” she said no. We then asked did you wait for one, did you listen for one? She said no. We all smiled then asked her to try again and listen this time. So she asked one more time if the church was true then she waited in silence a few minuets then closed. She told us she received an answer. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did we have many other story to tell but I’ll save those for another time.

Have a great week. I love you all.

Elder Smith