Dear Family,
This last week was a week of awesome contacts! Of course I'd love to teach lessons and see people making progress toward baptism, but when we don't have that, at least we're having really good contacts with people. Last week we had two lessons and both of them we really solid. Something that I've seen in the mission very recently is that we're not focusing so much on getting high numbers as we are on getting real numbers. Missionaries used to get twenty, thirty and sometimes even close to fifty lessons, but at the end of the week, they could look at it and see that they had no contacts or that none of those people were meeting with them anymore. We've really taken a big step toward making real numbers instead of fluff. Also something else that we've enacted (that's been in the white handbook, but no one followed until now) is wearing proselyting clothes and having a full three hours of studies on P-day. We've already seen some blessings from that - mainly for me, feeling like I'm not changing who I am for P-day and then feeling out of place again when I change back into missionary clothes.
Since I don't have a lot of other news, let me tell you about one or two of our contacts that we had this week.
On Tuesday we had two really cool contacts. The first one was a man named Petr and we met him when we had just walked out of the building after making goals and praying. We had only walked up the sidewalk on the square a little way when we talked to a young guy. He was probably in his mid to late twenties and we started by asking him about his beliefs. He said that he was a believer, but didn't really know what exactly exists above us. He said that he's a "Catholic," but only says that because that's what he finds to come the closest to what he believes personally. We told him that he could come to know exactly what is above us and that we could gain a relationship with Him through the Book of Mormon. I then asked him if he had a little bit of time and if he'd like to come to our building and talk some more about the book. He agreed and we went there and had a really in depth lesson about the Book of Mormon - everything from where it comes from, how it was written, why it was written and how we can use it. At the end we had a kneeling prayer and we felt really good about it. We then switched numbers and arranged to meet again the next day, but unfortunately he didn't come. We're not sure why, but he hasn't picked up his phone or answered texts. Sadly, I can't say that this is the first, second, third or even ninth time that this has happened. It's happened many times. I just hope that I planted a good enough seed within him, that next time he will be even more prepared to hear the message.
Then later, I think it was even the next hour block, we went out and on the same town square and we spoke to another man. He was really humble and soft spoken. His name was Roman and we found out that he works night shifts (from 1800 to 0600 - sorry for the military time; I've gotten kind of used to it 'cause they use it a lot here). We asked him what he believes and he said that he believes in a God who created everything. Literally, that's what he said. That was really cool. We talked to him for a little bit about how we can come to know who God is better and gain a relationship with Him through the Book of Mormon and he seemed quite interested in it, but he was also a little hesitant because he works nights and sleeps during the day (we happened to catch him on the way to work) and he didn't think that it would really work out too well. We exchanged numbers and asked him to call us when he has a little time and we'd set something up. Of course, I'm still sending him little text messages and reminders to let him know that we still exist and that we still want to speak with him. We also saw him the next day on his way to work again and he looked very tired and depressed - quite similar to the way when we first met him. I hope that he calls us.
Then on Wednesday, we had made a goal to go out and in the next hour we would get a number and a person that would set up a meeting with us. We prayed and went out with the goal in mind and went to the park (the pictures attached are from this park) and contacted this one kid. He turned out to be really cool and spoke English. As we spoke with him we found out his name was Ludvik and that he studied in Olomouc. As conversation progressed, he asked us what we were doing in the Czech Republic and we told him but then he even asked us what our purpose was here. That morning we had just had a conference of our zone in Olomouc and we had been talking about our purpose as missionaries and how it applies to the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31 if any of you want to read it - it's very good). Elder Pearson basically recited our purpose from "Preach My Gospel" to him and he seemed to really think about it. We spoke about the Book of Mormon and how we could find out personally why we're here and also how he could build a relationship with God through it. His countenance changed a little and he seemed to be a little more interested. We ended up exchanging numbers and set up a meeting for Monday (today in a few hours) and he seemed really interested to come.
We also have been trying to work harder on talking to couples more this week. For some reason, they're much harder to contact. On Friday evening, I think it was right before we were about to go home, we were walking up a street that's connected to the main square, and Elder Pearson contacted two guys, obviously friends, who looked like they were just having a good time. When Elder Pearson stopped them, one stopped and looked intrigued but the other had planned on blowing us off and kept walking but stopped because his friend wasn't following him. He then looked up at the sky, slouched and did a kind of pout thing, probably thinking, "Why is he talking to these guys?" We spoke to the one guy for a few seconds, and then I looked at the other guy and asked him what he thought about the subject. He, knowing that he was being pulled into the conversation and without resorting to being very rude, couldn't get out of it, came over and started talking with us. By the end, I felt like they were pretty comfortable with us and we had taught them a little bit. They knew why we were here as missionaries, and they were actually a little interested in our message. We gave them pass along cards and asked them to call us when they would have a little time and we'd get together and talk some more. This was probably my favorite contact of the week, just because of that one guy (Tomaš) who didn't particularly want to talk to us probably found some interest by the end and saw that we were just normal people.
Last one, I promise (maybe). On Saturday, we were out finding, and we weren't seeing a whole lot of success. Saturdays aren't super busy like they are in America. Actually, they're kind of dead. Anyway, we were out and about and weren't talking to a whole bunch of people but Elder Pearson got the feeling that we needed to go to this one really obscure park and so we walked over there and there was nothing. You could stand in one place at the entrance and see the entire park and there was nobody there. Then he figured that we were there and we weren't there by chance so we decided to take this one path that's a little way off but also pretty isolated. The path winds down along the side of the river and it's really gorgeous, but I haven't had any good experiences contacting there but he had the feeling so we followed it. As we got on this path it was like we found everyone. Well, we saw at least ten people. As we started walking down this path we spoke to this one old lady and her granddaughter and she turned out to be really awesome. She said that she was Catholic and that she thinks that it's a pity that there aren't more people who are believers. We told her about the Book of Mormon and that we know that if everyone accepted the Book of Mormon we would have a better world. We also told her that she could understand the Bible and God better through reading in the Book of Mormon. She really seemed to like the thought of that. She asked us where she could buy a copy of the book, and then we told her that we give them out for free but we only ask that we can meet with people so we can talk about what's in it and how we can apply these things. She said of course and that it only makes sense. We asked her for her number and she gave us one and then she said, "Wait, there's a better number. I always have this other one with me," and then she gave me this other number. We've got a meeting set up with her tomorrow and we've already texted her about it and she responded back three minutes later. That's very awesome. We have lots of hopes for her (Věra).
It seems to me sometimes that we have many awesome contacts like this on the mission and we get so hopeful and even start to love the people but then when they don't go through, or they miss their lessons, that's when I start to become discouraged. I've made a cool little discovery for myself this last week. We need to love the people and be sad when they don't make the progress that we know will lead them to eternal happiness, but we shouldn't get discouraged when this happens because then our hope is in danger of fading and then our faith will follow. Without faith, we have nothing. I'm still trying to enact and work on this, but sometimes it seems very hard to keep these feelings separate.
I can only begin to see how much I'm learning on my mission, but I know that looking in hindsight, I will be able to see much more. I just want to make sure that I'm making the most of my mission, and I think that I'm doing fairly well turning myself over to the Lord.
Love you all, and hope that all is well with each one of you.
Starší Monk