Dear Family,
I must say, it's a little strange working here in Třebíč. Each town has it's quirks and ways that the work functions there in that particular town based on geography, people and situations with the branch. Of course there are lots of different things that factor in, but most probably, these are the biggest ones. So, here in Třebíč, I think I've already told you about the geography... yes, everything is basically uphill. All your prayers have been answered. You've all been telling me to lose weight (I don't think I'm that fat, and I don't think that the pictures I'm sending home really do justice, and all the people here I show pictures to say that I've lost weight since those pictures were taken - I don't know what to think anymore) and now I get to walk uphill all day every day! It's a little annoying because we walk uphill for about twenty minutes to get to an appointment at someone's house, go in, take our coats off, and I'm sweating like crazy for the next thirty minutes and by the time that I stop, so has the lesson. It's a little distracting. I'm sure I'll get used to it and get more in shape or something.
The people are much friendlier here. I'm thinking that it's due to the fact that it's a small town so everyone knows everyone else and there aren't the walls and barriers that people have in larger towns. That makes it easy for me as a missionary, because that means that just about every person is at least decently considerate when they don't want to talk to you. I'll take that. We also have a teaching pool! It's taking a little while to get our area rehabilitated, but it's getting there. This last week we had a lesson set up with our baptismal date, Ari (she's a Mongolian lady) and we set up for a member to come as well. Ari then later called us and told us that she'd like to meet in an hour, about three hours earlier than our arranged time, because she wanted to bring a friend along who wouldn't really have time otherwise. So we said that we'd be there and we told the member friend, president of the branch's wife, that they wanted to meet right away; if she could make it, great, if not, then it'd be okay. She said that she couldn't. So we come to the meeting and Ari brought her two year old son, hilarious kid, and her friend. Her friend is named Batbayar, also a Mongolian guy but basically only speaks Russian. That makes things interesting.
As we tried to teach the lesson, we laid down our expectations as missionaries, taught about prayer and reading and committed them both to do so that week. They both agreed. During the lesson it was really cool. Ari has been really sketchy - I'm not really sure what to make of it. When we asked her to pray at the beginning of the meeting, she giggled and tried brushing it off and said that Batbayar could do it. I didn't want to be overly pushy, but I did want her to pray, so I asked her again. She brushed it onto Batbayar again. So we turned to him, opened up the Preach my Gospel in Mongolian to the page where it talks about prayer, with the steps outlined, and asked him if he could try that. He was a little confused, so we explained prayer to him and when he wouldn't get it, he'd turn to Ari and she'd translate for him to Mongolian (she speaks really good Czech - don't quite know how much she understands, but she speaks well) and then he'd seem like he had an epiphany each time when he understood and then he'd go back to listening to us. While we were speaking about it, and when Ari was translating, something clicked in her head and you could see it. Something changed. She explained it to Batbayar and then he agreed to pray. He basically read the box word for word, but he at least made the attempt to do it. Afterward, we explained that the middle step can be whatever he wants to say, and that it doesn't have to be about asking God if the Book of Mormon is true every time (it's under the section "Pray to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon" or something like that at the end of the first lesson in the third chapter of Preach my Gospel). He understood and said that he'd continue to pray.
The lesson went fairly well, but we didn't really get to teach much, because the little boy, Jaromir, was really quite loud, but nonetheless, we taught them both. It went fairly well and then at the end we arranged another lesson two days later in the evening and then we arranged for the president of the branch and his wife to show up as well.
Then Batbayar asked us if we could help him find an English school/course in Canada or Australia because he wants to learn so he can manage stores better. He said that he wants to own some stores in America and that he needs to have a good English course so he can speak well. So we set up a time for the next day, the day before our lesson with them, to meet up at the library and find him a course. Oh my word. That was probably the most mind numbing/pounding experience of my life. We went into finding a course, that wasn't too bad, but then we started finding out that if you added housing, it would basically double the cost and that he wouldn't be able to afford that. We tried finding just about any course in English that would be about five to six months long in any location, and the cheapest one with housing would be too expensive for him. THEN, he wanted me to help him find out if he would be eligible for a Canadian study visa. That was probably the worst part. Just about every thing we did would get hung up on because he doesn't completely know what's happening on the computer screen, he asks me every ten to fifteen seconds what's going on, giving me advice, telling me again and again what he needs etc etc. Not to mention the fact that this entire thing was in Russian. Ouch. I even started looking for other apartments that are around the campus of the school that he wanted to go to. Luckily I didn't start searching flight plans. That would have killed me. Also, luckily, everything that I was looking at on the computer screen was in English. I had a few breaks cut to me, but not many. Elder Ingalls was sitting over on the side just chilling out while I duked it out with the computer and Batbayar, trying to figure out what he wanted and how to find something that might satisfy him. Oh, it was terrible. We got out of the library about two and a half hours later, and he was very thankful that we helped him with that. Basically what we found him was the cheapest English course, without rooming, where it would be and the Canadian consulate in Mongolia so he can contact them about getting a visa. I would rather not worry about that. Afterward we asked him if he had read that last night and if he prayed. He said that he did He felt good, but he didn't really know anything yet. We told him that would come in time and that he just needs to continue doing that. He accepted that and we said good-bye and then I went to unwind my brain for a bit before we got back to the work. I don't regret helping him out, I never regret helping people. I'm just saying that it was really, really painful.
Through the week, I've come to grow to love members more and more and learned that they have really neat conversion stories, even the less actives. I've made a goal to really go out of our way to meet with members during the week, with or without an investigator, so that we can get to know them and so they can feel like the missionaries care about them as well, and not just for member lessons. There was an inactive lady at church this last week. Her name is Iva, and she's been thinking about taking her records out of the church database, but we think it was all just for show. We went and visited her, and that took forever too, but she came to church! So it wasn't a complete waste. There was also a very inactive member at church this last week. He was the previous branch president but after he got released, he went completely inactive all at once. Missionaries and most members don't know why. I'm sure that the new branch president does, but it's not my business. If it's ever appropriate, I'll ask.
I'm really looking forward to this next week. We're going to do amazing things and we're going to see blessings. As of right now we have a few lessons on plan, but I'm really excited about meeting with less actives and getting them reactivated. That's something that I've seen in a new light recently. How great is it to bring someone unto the flock of God, but how much greater is it to bring one that has been lost back unto Him?
I love you all and hope everything is doing well. I'll keep working at losing weight. Walking hills all day is hard work. We estimated we walk about seven or eight miles a day and all of it is on hills. Love you all muches, and pray for you,
Starší Monk