Two Years in Hungary

From '06 - '08 I knocked 59,000+ doors in Hungary, speaking broken Hungarian

‍

Of those 59,000 doors I had ~17,000 conversations

Of those 17,000 conversations about half slammed the door in my face

Of the 8,500 actual conversations I was invited inside about 1,300 times

‍

From those 1,300 sit down conversations I was invited to come back about 950 times

Of those 950 2nd appointments about 400 followed through and let us in again.

Of those 400 follow-up appointments, I got a 3rd appointment about 80 times.

Of those 80 3rd appointments, about 50 followed through and didn't ghost us.

‍

Of those 50 remaining individuals or families, I ended up playing a role in baptizing 12 people total, that I know of, into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Of those remaining 12 people, 17 years later, there are about 16 of them, as some of them had children.

Of those 16 people, around 7 are still actively going to church today, that I know of.

‍

To recap:

- 59,000 doors knocked

- 746 days served

- Many thousands more conversations from referrals and street contacting

- 14 mission companions, one of them @CoFoundersNik

‍

is a best friend and biz partner today. I'm still in touch with about 4 others.

- I called home exactly 4 times

- I wrote and emailed home about 100 times

- I served in 2 different leadership positions and trained 2 other brand new missionaries

- I learned one of the hardest languages in the world

‍

- I learned to wake up at 6:30 and workout + study every day

- I walked over 7,000 miles (no bikes or cars)

- I learned to plan out and schedule my day

- I learned how to follow up, persuade and ask for commitments

‍

- I learned how to deal with difficult companions, and how to not be a difficult companion myself

- I lived in 5 different cities: Buda, Pest, Gyor, Sopron, Godollo.

- I opened Godollo to missionary work for the first time, which prepared me to opening companies in new cities, years later.

- I learned to overcome my fiance marrying my friend back home after only 6 months! (story for another day 😂😭)

‍

- I met thousands of amazing, beautiful, kind Hungarians.

- I met hundreds of other missionaries from around the world.

- I braved temps from -10 to 110 and just kept knocking.

‍

- I experienced months of acting like an idiot and months of acting like a saint.

- I served under 2 different mission presidents and their wives. They were great human beings that served as mentors in life, church and business

- Aside from church stuff, I did acts of service for many hundreds of hours

‍

- I formed a deep love and appreciation for the United States of America and the opportunity she provides

- I gained a level of confidence that I didn't know existed. I went from an unmotivated 19 year old to a driven and committed 21 year old, ready to take on the world.

- All this for "only" 7 people to become and stay "converted"

‍

- Perhaps most importantly, I developed a deep love and appreciation for Jesus Christ, his role as my Savior, and a strong commitment to His church.

‍

The inspiration for this post was a lesson I taught 15 year old young men at church today. I asked them to guess how many people I baptized after 59,000 door-knocks.

They were shocked when I told them.

‍

The effects of compounding are usually invisible, but very, very real. Months and years of seemingly no progress are simply dollars deposited into a very high-interest yielding bank, waiting for us to withdraw at a later date.

‍

I learned in those 2 years that rejection = progress, and that quitting was the only potential negative, as it interrupts compounding.

Hitting "pause" for 2 years was the greatest accelerant to my life I could have ever imagined, and I look forward to doing it again one day.

‍

You don't have to be spiritual or religious to take something from this. Just keep waking up, walking outside and putting yourself out there, and good things will come in due time.

Thanks for reading.