Dear Family,
This week has been purely amazing! I don't know what else to really say, except for taking you through just about every single day. Every day had awesome miracles.
On Monday, we were dogged on one lesson in the morning, but the we had another in the afternoon. There's not really a whole lot you can say about good lessons other than you know that you were being led by the Spirit the whole time. We had a lesson with a man named Karel Novak. This was the first time that I've met him, and we sat down and talked to him about the Book of Mormon and asked him what he thinks about it. He says that he knows it's true because he can feel God's Spirit around it. We then asked him about the restoration (this is a really watered down version of the lesson) and he said that he believes that too. We tied all of this together and told him that if the Book of Mormon and restoration are true, then that means that this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church of Jesus Christ here on the Earth. He heard us out but didn't really give a response. We then asked him to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, and he told us that he's already been baptized. Then we read D&C 22 with him (this is the section which talks about being baptized 100 times and profiting him nothing if it's done by dead works) and talked about dead and living works. We said that living works are done by God and works can only be done here on earth in God's name through his authority and power! He understood, but I still don't think that he liked it too much. He's such a humble guy and he understands what we talk about, but he keeps resorting back to his silly retorts that we've already addressed. I'm not really sure what else to do for him. He needs to come to church, but as we found out this last time, he works at a few cathedrals outside of Trebic and that keeps him from coming to our church meetings. We'll see what we can do with him.
Later that day, I got a call from Olomouc. Olomouc got cut down to only two missionaries this last transfer. Elder Tall is still there, and I was really excited to talk to him but a little confused why he called. He asked me if I remembered a Standa guy that Elder Pearson and I found while we were there. I told him of course. He was one of the only people that we actually found that did anything! Well, Elder Tall recounted to me that that day they were sitting at the building, not really knowing why, and in walks Standa. He told the missionaries that he completely read the Book of Mormon and that it helped him get through the tough times that he was having. His problems were already past, for the most part, and I guess he wanted to keep talking with the missionaries. Elder Tall and Elder Weser, his companion now, gave him a baptismal date on the spot. He didn't accept right away, but said that he'd think about it. So in short, Elder Tall called me to tell me the good news about Standa, that my efforts in Olomouc weren't wasted, and also to get information about him: what kind of problems he had, who his member friends were, etc. I was overjoyed Standa recontacted the missionaries. Elder Tall also told me about Vlada, a less active in Olomouc, and that he's coming back to church, that he wants to go to the temple and that he's preparing himself to do it. Also, his even less active wife has been coming to church! The entire six, almost seven, months that I was in Olomouc, I think that Vlada had been to church four or five times, probably three of which he left early because of other reasons, and his wife, Mila, had been to church a grand total of one time. Elder Tall said that they've been coming for a few weeks now, and they're both really liking it! I just love hearing about this and I am really overjoyed for Vlada and his wife. I love those two and hope that they end up going to the temple.
A really big thing that we did this week was that we planned every single day really thoroughly and we saw amazing blessings from it. Our lessons were more solid, our lessons were better, and we found that we were more diligent with the time that we had. On Wednesday, we had three lessons in that same day, and Elder Ingalls is convinced that that is the most lessons that have been taught in one day in Trebic in a long time. He said that every time that they've had over three lessons on plan, things would fall through, people would call and cancel or they'd just not come. We taught three lessons that day and we were both very happy because of it!
Also something else that we've done a little differently this last week is that we went to visit less active members that live here in Trebic. We visited three this last week, and every one of them was a spiritual meeting where the member knew the truthfulness of what we were speaking about and that they had to act and change things in their lives. All of them read and prayed daily, for the most part, but we told them it wasn't complete without coming to church. We invited every one of them to church on Sunday and they all accepted. Even cooler, they actually all came! None of them had been to church in multiple years and the branch saw the fruit of our labors. We could see a difference in the branch. Best of all, the branch reached back out to these people, spoke with them and re-fellowshipped them. We planned really well for next week and we asked a bunch of the members if they would be able to teach with us this week, and I think because of the inactives that we got to church, they were much more willing and open to teaching with us. This week should be even more amazing.
I feel that every single lesson that we have with people puts us in a better and better situation to helping people along better. I don't think I can recall the last time that I've felt so sure about what we're doing with each person, what we're doing with the area, and what the Lord wants with us as His missionaries. It's an amazing feeling. I might say that this is one of the most successful weeks on my mission. I've come home extremely tired every single day, but I've looked back on the day and felt satisfied with what I did. Every where that I go, I know that I'm leaving a footprint for the better. This next week Elder Ingalls and I have made a goal to teach twenty lessons, and that's going to be very hard, but we know that it is very possible; we're just going to have to be more bold and straight-forward with people. That way, if things don't go the way that we want them to, we know it's not because of a lack of effort or other fault on our part.
Last of all, yesterday on Sunday, we went outside of Trebic with President (of the branch) and visited a few members that live in the villages that can't find a way to town on Sunday for sacrament. We went and picked up a lovely lady and her daughter, both have been members of the church for over sixty years, and then drove further to another family's home. This family was a man and his wife and her mother. The wife and mother spoke no Czech, only Russian, which made for interesting conversation trying to step over the language barrier. I found that even Czechs have lots of trouble speaking to and understanding Russians. There at this home, we had a small sacrament meeting and Sunday School which lasted about an hour and a half. We had a lovely talk and got to know each of the members we were visiting: their testimonies and how they came into the church. As I watched Sister Prochazkova, the mother who's been a member for over sixty years, as she recounted her story of how she came into the church, I had the same feeling that Elder Holland referred to when he said to that old member, that some of us can only hope and wish of gaining the same standing that they have before God. I looked at this elderly sister, and just hoped that I would one day have the same standing before God that she's already attained. She has truly become a saint through the blood of Christ.
This week I've really learned, to another degree, the importance of the Spirit and always living worthy of it. Life is too hard to press on with our own strength. As the scriptures say, we are less than the dust of the Earth, and I've felt that time and time again in my life, however, when we couple our strengths with the Lord's, anything is possible; all He asks of us is for us to give ourselves to Him. Is that so hard? At times it may seem so, but after we do it, we know that it was well worth it.
I love you all so very much and pray that we can all come closer to Christ in every way that we act and live. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the Spirit whenever you can,
Starší Monk