Dear Family,
This week has been one of those when you say that the days feel weeks and the weeks feel like days. Right now I'm thinking about the week that just passed and some of the things that were at the beginning of the week feel like they were forever ago, but the week seemed to pass so quickly.
On Wednesday, I was on an exchange with Elder Engstrom (Elder Thompson's greenie) and we had a pretty enjoyable day of contacting. While we were on the exchange, Elder Betts and Elder Thompson gave a baptismal date to one of our investigators: Patricia. She's a really cool lady, but we think that she's afraid to make and keep larger commitments than read and pray because her husband is pretty anti-religion. We met her at a grocery store the other day and we saw her husband; he's a big guy, not to say that that's why she's afraid of him, but that's why I'm afraid of him. She always feels good when she meets with us, and she agrees and accepts everything that we speak about, but when it comes to larger commitments, she doesn't really feel like she can. So when they gave her the baptismal commitment, they said the second of July, and she laughed and said, "That's funny, that's my son's birthday." They all giggled about it a little and then they recommitted her to the nineth, and according to Elder Thompson, she said yes, but it wasn't a definite "yes I will do it," so we're going to follow up with her and make sure that she's really looking toward that date as her baptismal date and that it will happen. We bump into her every now and then, and she just looks so happy when she sees us. We actually saw her today, and she said that she needed to boast of herself, that on Friday and Saturday, she found two hours to read the Book of Mormon. She couldn't remember exactly where she is in 1 Nephi right off the top of her head, but we were happy to hear that she had read so much.
Then the next day, we met with a boy named Honza who has had a baptismal date before, but the date fell through because he couldn't do it on that day due to work, so we met and gave him another date for the twenty-fifth of June, and he told us that he'd have to check and see if it would work out with his work, but then later we asked him and he said that he didn't check, but if a problem does come up, he'd change his work or find a way that it would work. At that lesson we spoke more about the Apostasy and the Restoration and the need for that Restoration. He ended up telling us that he didn't think that it's too important which church is right, because they all lead us closer to God, but he said that he chose the "Mormon Church" because it's where he's felt the best. He said that whenever he's around us, or around members, he just feels like they care about him and that he's wanted. He's a really open-minded kid who is really one of the people who "don't know where to find it." Last week we spoke to him about the Word of Wisdom and he told us that he would try it. We committed him to living it for one week, and he accepted because we told him that we have it so that we can be free from addictions. He was really curious whether or not he is addicted to cigars or not (he says that he smokes because it gives him instant relaxation when he's at work and because he likes the taste), so he's doing this as a sort of experiment but as we know from Alma 32, experiments aren't bad. He started that week challenge on Thursday. On Saturday at sports day, he told me that he was at his grandmother's house (he visits her two or three times a week) and whenever he goes there they have coffee and smoke a couple cigarettes. He said that when he was there, his grandmother offered him some coffee and he said, "No, I don't want any," and she said, "What? Are you sick?" he said, "No, I just don't want any." He said that he had to refuse three times before she'd leave him alone. He then told me that he was going to be going there again on Sunday and that she would probably ask, "Are you still sick?" As for the smoking at work, he said that it's a lot harder than he thought it would be. At one point he got in the truck at work and someone who was smoking got in with him, and he was breathing really deeply trying to get as much as he could. I think that he saw from this that he doesn't smoke just for the taste. He's still hanging in there strong and I think that we're going to be able to commit him to living it more after this week is over. He's going to be doing well.
Another person who has really started picking up this last week is named Renata. She's a pretty awesome girl about nineteen or twenty years old, who actually contacted the missionaries. Before, her meetings were really just meet and speak about what we believe, and then she'd distance herself a little by saying what she believes. She'd always keep that bit of wall. She's really willing to listen and understands what we're saying really well, but she would always just keep that bit of wall up. This last week she finished school, but the way that it works here when people graduate is that they have their last day of school, have an entire week off, and then they have all their finals. This last week she was in her week off, so she had time to meet with us, and we helped her study for her English exams, only after we had a lesson with her. The first time that we met with her this week, we spoke about how there's only one way that leads back to our Heavenly Father, and she listened really intently, but she still felt that she could get to Him her own way, but she accepted to read 2 Nephi 31-33. We spoke about baptism and that we know that the only way is through that baptism, through the gate. When she came to the next meeting, she sat down and opened up the Book of Mormon and said, "This Nephi guy is saying that there's only one way to God. He's really hard and strict." We bore testimony of what Nephi was saying, and told her that Nephi was only being so hard because he knew that there's only one way of perfection, there's only one way to be the best: God's way. We told her that we're her friends and that we want only what's the best for her, and that seemed to really strike home with her. We then extended a baptismal commitment to her and she said no at first, but then we spoke some more about it and how she can be ready by that day, and then we extended it again and she accepted it. Since then, we've been seeing that the wall that she's been keeping up between what we believe and what she believes has been minimal, if not gone. She's been much more willing to accept things that we've been teaching. She has as her baptismal date, as of now, the second of July. She's really awesome and we're confident that she's going to make it.
With another one of our baptismal dates, Jiři, is supposed to get baptized this Saturday. In preparation for that we tried to meet with him at least three times. We met with him twice and they both went pretty well. The situation with Jiri is that his wife isn't very supportive, and recently she didn't even know that he was meeting with us, let alone that he would be getting baptized. Our first meeting with him this week we spoke about the Word of Wisdom and he said that he has nothing to quit besides coffee. He said that wouldn't be a problem, so he committed to living it. Then our next meeting we spoke about the Sabbath Day and fasting and fast offerings. He seemed to agree with everything, and he agreed to live according to it. He was getting really excited about his baptism and it seemed like he was really going to get to it. Then on Sunday we got a text from him saying that he had a talk (with whom we don't know - I'm assuming his wife) and said that some of his ideas about baptism have changed. He said that we could still meet with him, so we're set up to meet him on Tuesday, and we're going to try and find out what's wrong, and if possible keep him on track toward baptism.
Last of all, we were waiting on the namesti for a lesson to come (actually it was Renata), and Elder Betts and I were just talking between ourselves and there was this guy who really kind of stood out, but I didn't take much notice, was standing pretty close to us and seemed like he was just listening. It happens all the time so I don't care anymore. Then the guy turned to us and said, "I don't speak Spanish?" but he put emphasis on the "Spanish" and he was having a really hard time saying even that simple of a sentence, so I thought he was asking a gramatical question, if "Spanish" was the correct form that he wanted to be using, so I said, "Yes, Spanish." The guy's eyes then widened and got really happy and started speaking in Spanish really fast and just kept talking. It really took us by surprise and I had to stop the guy and say, "No. We don't speak Spanish." He then got a little sad again, and we tried to communicate in english. We found out that the guy was from Brazil and that he didn't speak English or Czech. When I told him that we were Mormons, he said, "Oh! San Paulo." I said that I had a friend there and that my brother was going to Brazil. I think he understood that I was going to Brazil, but then I told him that I'm staying here. Poor guy, we couldn't really help him because he didn't speak enough English, and we certainly don't speak enough Spanish or Portuguese. When we were sitting on a different namesti with Renata, we saw him again and he came up and was trying to tell us what his problem was. I guess we were the only people that could even close to help him. As he tried to tell us what the problem was, I came to two conclusions, based on what he was saying. One, he was part of a tour group and he lost his group; that they were on a side street and that now they aren't. Or two, that he needs to find a bank and send money to his brother who lives in Florence. I have no idea how the two of those connect, but he was talking about both. The poor guy, we had to turn him away again, because we just couldn't do anything. Other than that, he was a really cool kid. Probably around twenty or twenty-one years old.
I don't have much else to say. Well, yes I do, but I don't have any more time. I love you all and hope that you're doing well. We had district conference (all of Moravia and Slovakia) in Brno on Sunday. I realized that that was probably the last time that I would be seeing alot of those members. That was a sad thought, but it was also cool to speak with a lot of them and see how much I can speak and understand now, especially those from Zlin.
Love you all a lot, but I have to go.
Starší Monk