Dear Family,
Well, this week, as you can see from the subject, was an awesome week for getting new investigators. In weeks past, we've gotten between one or two investigators, and sometimes none, but this week we got three with two more that are very close to being called new investigators. Let me just tell a few little stories (which, knowing me, will probably be the entire email/post).
First on the list is Viktor. Viktor was a pretty interesting find. So, we had a meeting with someone and we were supposed to meet them outside of McDonalds. So we go there and we waited and waited but he never came. By the way, the meeting which we were supposed to have was another person who would have been a new investigator, but Karel (his name) never showed up. So we stood out there in the freezing cold for quite a while and we didn't really know why. I think it was something like negative twelve degrees Celsius which is about ten and a half degrees Farenheit, but when you throw in some humidity, it feels way colder... then just stand in it. Yeah, it's way cold. Anyway, we're standing out in this freezing cold for like twenty minutes or something and we look at each other and Elder Price says, "We're waiting for someone." Duh... Karel. Then he added, "We need to go find them. Now, who is it?" That was surprising. So we were standing in the cold until the right time to go find someone? Why not, no? (yes in czech - that brings up a fun topic... in Czech you have "ano" for yes, however sometimes they'll shorten it to "no" which is pronounced the same way as "no" in English. Then you also have "jo" which is pronounced "yo" which also means yes, but more as a yeah. Then you have, if you're from Slovakia, "hej" which sounds like "hey" and means yeah as well, but used after just about everything like a stereotypical Canadian. Then you have "ne" for no. That's about it for no.) So we went to the naměstí (town square) which was very close to McDonalds. We tried talking to a few people, and we got the normal "Ne mám čas" (I don't have time) and other such things. But then we contacted this one guy because Elder Price wanted to contact someone who looked like they were "chillin," but everyone's "chillin" because it's freezing and by this time, I thought that my sinuses would freeze over. Anyway, Elder Price stopped a guy who was eating a Subway sandwich and started talking to him. He was really awesome. We started talking with him, and he said, "Do you guys mind if I keep eating?" and of course we let him, but he was really open and I think he just enjoyed talking with us. We found out that he was a student at the university in town and that he was headed back that way but didn't really have anything to do that evening. So Elder Price asked him if he'd like to come watch a short movie with us, which is the Finding Happiness movie, and he agreed. So we walked to the church building from where we were, which is like a two minute walk. On the way there we figured out that he's studying physical therapy. I think. Not quite sure on that detail. Anyway, we got to the building and watched the movie and he really liked it. He also liked the church building because it was new and nice. I think he was thinking that we'd take him to a Kostel-ish place. We spoke for a while after the movie, and we set up another meeting with him. So we're going to meet with him right before English class on Tuesday. YAY!
Then there's Vilém and his family! Yes, family. Basically, they're golden. Last week when I was on exchanges with Elder Anderson from Olomouc and Elder Price was with Elder Hatch, I contacted Vilém and I just tried to be super, super friendly. I started off by saying that I'm Starší Monk and that I was with my friend, Starší Anderson. Then I asked how he was doing. I didn't tell him that we were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ, because he could see that already. But he was super friendly back. As we kept talking, I stumbled a little and said, "Omlouvám se, nemluvím dobře," (Pardon me, I don't speak well.) and then he asked if we speak English, and we then found out that he speaks just about perfect English, too. Basically, he was waiting for his wife and daughter to get out of a store somewhere. They soon came over and they were super nice too. Their daughter is like five years old and she's so cute. She's really shy and she hid behind her mother the entire time. Anyway, he invited us to his house to speak with them some more, gave us his number and told us to call him on Monday. Sadly, we forgot to call him on Monday, but we called him on Tuesday. He said that he was looking forward to seeing us that day, but that his daughter was feeling sick. So, we set up for Saturday. When we went over, He and his wife sat through the entire meeting and we spoke about who we are and who they are. Basically, they've been looking for a church for a long time and they want to find a church together. They've tried doing some meditation sort of things before for "praying" and that was interesting to us. So we watched the movie with them and asked them to look for a question that pops out to them. At the end, he said that the one that popped out to him was the one about balancing life and finding happiness in everything. We then taught them that one way we can balance our lives is through setting apart just thirty minutes of the week for Family Home Evening and we taught them a little about that. So we're going to go to their house again this next Saturday to have an FHE with them. They're so sweet. We also taught them how to pray and asked them to try it sometime before we meet them again and they accepted to try it. They said, "why not try it?" That was in response to everything. They're very, very open to anything and everything.
Then there is Jarda. We found Jarda while were doing some finding right before Christmas, so that's crazy right off the bat. He had a little open stand in the naměstí and was selling little wooden toys. He was my contact so I went up to him and asked, "Co máte rad o vanocých?" to which he said, "I hate Christmas." After that I couldn't understand anything. Basically Elder Price told me that he didn't like Christmas because everyone's in too much of a hurry and they forget what's important. We continued to talk with him and we eventually got his number and promised to call him back. Finally, we called him back and set up an appointment to go see him. So this last Saturday, we hopped in the car and drove from Zlín to Vsetín which is a good thirty minute drive. Then up there we met up with him and, little did we know amongst the Christmas craziness, he's a really, really happy, nice guy. So we met up with him, and he took us to his shop where he and a few other guys make all these toys. I gotta say, they're awesome. The shop was incredible. So he gave us a tour of the entire place, and then we talked for a while. Basically, we got another appointment set up with him and his girlfriend at dinner! Yeah, he wants to get us dinner. Anyway, he let us choose a toy to take as a souvenir. So I picked a cannon because it's awesome. Also, I think, it looks alot like a little cannon that my dad has, except mine's cooler. It's big... and it's wood. My dad's is metal. And mine was free! Yipee.
Anyway, there's our three new investigators this week for ya. The work moves on, and the language gets easier every week. I love you all and hope to hear from each of you next week. I wish you all the great blessings that our Father in Heaven has for us.
Starší Monk