Dear Family,
This week has been a little interesting. Last Sunday after call-ins with Elder Thompson, we got a call from the zone leaders, and there was Elder Rigby. He started, "Hey guys, can you guess why I'm calling?" Basically it turned out that they weren't terribly happy that we haven't had very many member lessons the past couple weeks. Actually, I think that the entire transfer, we've had like three or four. We made a goal to get two member lessons this week, and it's been good, we even got one, but I think more than actually teaching with members, I learned how important it is and how much we need to be working with them. Really, to the Czech people, we're just a bunch of crazy Americans who want to convert people. While that's true, they don't realize why we're doing it. On the other hand, if one of their friends comes up and talks to them about it, they're far more likely to accept, because they already know and respect the person that they're receiving it from. Random aside not about missionary work.
So, one crazy thing that happened actually last week, is that we had to go visit this one family who are gypsies because they saw us on the namesti and were angry that we haven't visited them in so long (the missionaries visited them about half a year ago), and so we set up and went to visit them. When we got there, they said that we're actually going to go to their children's house, and so we follow them and get to this really small place that, to be nice, isn't very pleasant. We stood there trying to teach something or anything, while kids run in and out of the one room place, baby fussing, no one paying attention but just wanting to show us their this picture of someone's wedding. On and on. Then one of the boys that had been coming in and out, probably about fourteen years old, comes in and says that we have to go and meet his dad. Oh boy. Wasn't terribly enthused about this one, but we decided to go anyway. We walk down the hall a little way and get to another room that's exactly like the last one, but much better kept up. There we met František (frawn-tea-shek). He told us a little about himself, but we didn't have a ton of time so we had to push our way out. He seemed really cool and said that the "Mormon Bible" is the only Bible that he hasn't completely read, so he wanted us to come back some time so that we could give him one and we could talk some more. Great, so we set up for Tuesday.
When we came back, they had kind of forgotten and were finishing up lunch, but they finished fast and cleaned up. We had a good long chat about the Book of Mormon, his spiritual experiences while he was in jail and how he basically converted all the inmates when he cast out a devil from a man and no one saw it except for him and the other man and so on. He's a little strange, but he's really a good listener and he accepts everything that we say because he says that he's already asked the same questions and that our answers are what he believes. At the end we left the Book of Mormon there and asked him to come to church. He seemed really interested in that too. Since he kind of forgot about our meeting, we decided to stop in at his place on Saturday and remind him of that. He wasn't home, but his wife was, so we wrote down where and when we were going to meet before church and left it with her. Come the next day, he came! He also brought his son Kevin with him, and they both stayed for the first hour. They had to go after that because the boy needed to recuperate from the day before of soccer because he got kicked really hard in the face, and supposedly so hard that he doesn't remember it at all! He has a little rug-burn looking rash on his face. Poor kid. He already read thirty-two pages from the Book of Mormon and said that he knew that there was stuff missing from Bible and that there had to be more prophets than those just in Jerusalem, so it made sense that there would be more people and more scripture. Elder Betts said to me that he seems a little too perfect, so we're going to keep teaching him, but with just a little bit of a careful eye.
Then we taught Renata this week. She's doing wonderfully. We spoke about obedience with a member and it went really well. She seems to be having troubles right now with commandments and the need for a church, but hopefully with her new understanding of obedience to commandments, she should be able to swallow them a little easier. Elder Betts used a really good analogy that struck a good chord with her. Commandments are like a string that holds a kite up in the air. Sometimes they seem to bind and restrict us, but as soon as we cut that string, we go up for a little while, but soon are drug to the ground by the air. Also, when the string is secure to the kite, there is resistance on the kite, that can be our trials or hardships, but we know that only because of that wind or resistance, the kite can keep flying and see the great view. We kept referring back to that analogy because it just worked so well. She also seemed to understand better because of it as well. She's not going to make her baptismal date for this Saturday, but we're hoping to give her a new one for the thirtieth of July.
On Friday we had a wonderful conference with Elder Kerr of the fourth (I think) quorum of the Seventy. He explained what being a Seventy is and how the different quorums of the seventy work. He explained that there are eight quorums of the Seventy, but each one does not have Seventy people. Basically you have full time Seventies (the first through third) who serve as such until they're seventy years old. Then the other quorums of the seventy are just part time, basically they squeeze any time that they can and give it to church service, and they serve for three to five years. Let me just tell you, this guy was amazing. He was so enthusiastic it was infectious and I hope that even a little bit of it stayed with me. He's from Scotland, so he had a great accent to go along with it. He really wanted to let us know that we're only going to learn the most when we're all working together, so really it wasn't so much of him lecturing us, but we had an open floor so that everyone could speak and we could all learn together. Through that conference, I learned a ton about the importance of good members and using the members in missionary work. One thing that he said to us, that stood out in my mind, is that "every member [is] a missionary, but also, every missionary [is] a member. We, as missionaries, need to be kingdom builders!" I had never thought of it that way before. I need to be a kingdom builder? That's a pretty big commitment, but then again so is coming on a mission for two years of my life. Pretty crazy.
I can't say how much I love being here and how confused (sad and happy) I am about coming home in just a few months. Elder Thompson and Vomocil (both people I've served with) gave their final testimonies at the conference on Friday, and it scares me a little bit to know that I'm the next one up! Where does the time go! It's weird how many things I've learned this last transfer that I wish I had known at the beginning of my mission. I would have been so much better a missionary if I had known them. Oh well. All things are in the Lord's hands and if He had wanted me to know them earlier, He would have let me know. It's just up to me now to do what I can with the knowledge and time that I have.
I love you all a ton and hope that everything's going fantastically.
Starší Monk
PS - Mom, I'm eating fine. This last week we were fed at a member's home on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. that's probably the most number of lunch appointments I've had in one week on my entire mission! Also, at each one, they basically shoved food down our throats. Yeah, I'm not feeling too good now, but I'll get over it. I have to. :P