Dear Family,
This week was another like last week. There were so many blessings and miracles. I can't talk about every one of them because I just don't have a ton of time, but I'd love to tell you about this one guy that we started teaching.
For the past week or two, Elder Ingalls has been calling this guy in the phone called "F Miloš Horses" (F meaning former, his name, and then something about him). I had no clue who he was, but Elder Ingalls seemed to know something about him. Each time that he called he'd pick up and they'd talk for a while and Miloš would say sometime later or next week. Elder Ingalls told me that he owns a zoo or just really likes horses or something. He couldn't quite remember completely what the "horses" was about. Finally we got a meeting with him, we showed up at the building, waited for a while and then a little past the time that we had arranged for, he showed up. He was a man probably in his mid forties and pretty fit. He pulled his bike into the building and we went into the room and began talking. We quickly found out that he owns his own zoo here in Trebic, just a small one (most of the Czech members that we speak with don't even know that there is a zoo in Trebic, and think that it must be the one in Jihlava or somewhere larger).
Miloš is a really inquisitive guy and really just likes asking questions. When I asked him if he's a believer, he said that he doesn't really know. He said that he doesn't know if there is something above us for sure, but he knows that something has to be there because when he looks at nature, he knows that everything couldn't be chance. We told him that we can find out if something exists above us through prayer and we started explaining that. He seemed really interested and intent. He listened to how we pray and then we asked him if we could have an example of prayer with him. He agreed and we had the prayer. Afterward he commented that it's a lot like a conversation. We agreed and told him that when we pray, we're speaking with God. He then asked a really quite random question about whether or not our church does some kind of program where you can leave and have time alone just to think about God and spiritual things, for say, a week or a month or some kind of thing like that. I was about to say no, we don't; but Elder Ingalls said that we do and that time at church is that time from the week, every single week, that we can be away from the world and we can think just about spiritual things. He really liked that. You could see that he wanted that time and that he really thinks about these kinds of things a lot. We promised him that if he came to church, he could have that time away from the world and that he could think about spiritual things. He asked questions about how we can repent after we mentioned repentance, and we summarized it for him. He really seemed to like the idea of it.
Miloš is just such a humble man and is seeking after so much truth. We wanted to commit him to baptism, but we both felt that it wasn't the right time and that perhaps next time, or the time after, would be better. At the end of the meeting, I asked him if he could pray, and he thought for a second. He then said, "So at the beginning, I just say 'My dear Heavenly Father,' or 'Oh God'?" We told him yes. He looked a little confused for a second and then asked, "Can I just say 'God'?" We told him that would be fine. Then he continued, "Then I just speak with Him?" We assured him, and then he asked, "and do I say specifically, 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen' at the end?" We told him yes, and then he said, "Okay." When he prayed, it was exactly like he was speaking with God. His prayer reminded me a lot of the prayer that Ling Lamoni gives in the Book of Mormon; King Lamoni prayed and said to God that he doesn't know if He's there or not, but he knew the words of Ammon were true and that he was willing to try the things that he told him. Miloš said that he doesn't know if God exists, but he's working and trying to find out. It was probably one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. At the end, we were all feeling really good, and you could tell that Miloš was also enlightened by our meeting. We're excited to meet him again later this week. We think that he was put into the former list because it was so long and hard to get a meeting set up with him. Blessings are everywhere!
Miloš is a really inquisitive guy and really just likes asking questions. When I asked him if he's a believer, he said that he doesn't really know. He said that he doesn't know if there is something above us for sure, but he knows that something has to be there because when he looks at nature, he knows that everything couldn't be chance. We told him that we can find out if something exists above us through prayer and we started explaining that. He seemed really interested and intent. He listened to how we pray and then we asked him if we could have an example of prayer with him. He agreed and we had the prayer. Afterward he commented that it's a lot like a conversation. We agreed and told him that when we pray, we're speaking with God. He then asked a really quite random question about whether or not our church does some kind of program where you can leave and have time alone just to think about God and spiritual things, for say, a week or a month or some kind of thing like that. I was about to say no, we don't; but Elder Ingalls said that we do and that time at church is that time from the week, every single week, that we can be away from the world and we can think just about spiritual things. He really liked that. You could see that he wanted that time and that he really thinks about these kinds of things a lot. We promised him that if he came to church, he could have that time away from the world and that he could think about spiritual things. He asked questions about how we can repent after we mentioned repentance, and we summarized it for him. He really seemed to like the idea of it.
Miloš is just such a humble man and is seeking after so much truth. We wanted to commit him to baptism, but we both felt that it wasn't the right time and that perhaps next time, or the time after, would be better. At the end of the meeting, I asked him if he could pray, and he thought for a second. He then said, "So at the beginning, I just say 'My dear Heavenly Father,' or 'Oh God'?" We told him yes. He looked a little confused for a second and then asked, "Can I just say 'God'?" We told him that would be fine. Then he continued, "Then I just speak with Him?" We assured him, and then he asked, "and do I say specifically, 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen' at the end?" We told him yes, and then he said, "Okay." When he prayed, it was exactly like he was speaking with God. His prayer reminded me a lot of the prayer that Ling Lamoni gives in the Book of Mormon; King Lamoni prayed and said to God that he doesn't know if He's there or not, but he knew the words of Ammon were true and that he was willing to try the things that he told him. Miloš said that he doesn't know if God exists, but he's working and trying to find out. It was probably one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. At the end, we were all feeling really good, and you could tell that Miloš was also enlightened by our meeting. We're excited to meet him again later this week. We think that he was put into the former list because it was so long and hard to get a meeting set up with him. Blessings are everywhere!
I'm sorry that I don't have a ton of time today to write about more of our adventures this week. I finished the Book of Mormon again. I then went and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and I got the same answer I've gotten the past three or four times, "You already know it's true." I keep trying to see if I'll get some large and amazing answer that the Book of Mormon is true, but sometimes you just have to know that knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon doesn't always have to be something big and stupendous - sometimes it's just a small knowing that you have in your heart. I'm studying Proverbs now. Holy smokes, they're awesome. I'm glad that I studied the Book of Mormon first, though, so I could get used to the way things are said a little because without that, I would be very, very lost.
My time is up, but I hope that you all have an amazing week and see lots and lots of blessings in your every day lives! I certainly do.
Love you all,
Starší Monk