So, I'll start with some things that happened this last week and then I'll tell you about what the subject means, even though you can probably already guess what it means.
This last week has been really awesome because of a few new people we're working with. One is a lady named Věra and the other is František.
I'll start with Věra. She's a lady that we contacted about a month ago and we've been trying really hard to get in contact with her because whenever we called, she'd be really depressed, but would sound like she really wanted to meet with us. So, we kept trying. When we contacted her, she tried to just push by, saying that she was running somewhere, but I kept at it, for whatever reason, and said that we didn't want to intrude, but that we wanted to help her by sharing our message with her and if she would be interested in meeting some other time. She finally stopped for a second and gave us her phone number and we contacted her later. We set up a meeting with her and she ended up not coming. I called her asking where she was, but she said that she had just forgot. Then we set up again another time, and she didn't come again. When I called she took a deep breath and told me about how one of the boys that she takes care of through charity programs was mugged and beaten up really badly. She said that they even broke a few of his bones. It was that bad. She was really stressed about that, but she said that we'd just have to hold it off to another day sometime. So finally this last week, we got a meeting set up by me just being pushy saying that we had time right now and that we want to come to their place. They said not right now because they've got some problems going on, but when I told them that we wouldn't have any other time, they said that we could come over. We actually found the address fairly easy. I was expecting it to be harder, but it wasn't! Yipee. Anyway, we had a really good meeting. We were expecting to just go in and talk and then perhaps talking about prayer because they did have a lot on their plate, so we didn't want to add too much to it right now, however, when we went in, one of her first questions was "What are you doing here as missionaries?" That opened up the can of worms. We ended up teaching them the Book of Mormon, prayer and committing them to both (them as in her, her boyfriend who lives there with her and one of her "sons" through charity work). All three of them were really excited to read and I think that they're going to be really awesome. Every time that we've called since then, they keep asking, "When are you going to come again?" I hope that they progress and have time to meet.
The other, František, was a guy that was referred by his son when we were actually meeting some other people. We didn't really know why we were visiting them, because it was really a big waste of time. When the boy came in, he said, "You need to come meet my dad." I told you about it last week. He was the one who wanted the "Mormon Bible." Well we met with him and it was really good. We explained the Book of Mormon and prayer, and he wants to do them. He was really really open and accepting to the things that we were saying. He seemed to just accept anything that I would say. Then he came to church on Sunday and loved it. He could only stay for the first hour because his son had a pretty good bump on the head from soccer the day before, so they took him home to recover. Then we met with him again through the next week and taught him the first lesson (the Restoration) and he loved it. He kept talking about random things, but all in all, it was really good and at the end we challenged him to be baptized. He accepted. We said that we'd talk more about it next time. Then came around Sunday, and we had asked him to come, but once Sunday came around, he didn't. We were really baffled what happened, so later in the week we went by and visited him, but he wasn't there. His wife was there, so we left a note with her saying that they could come to "family home evening" held by the missionaries the first monday of every month. We said that the entire family could come too. Come that evening, they all came. Frantisek apologized that he didn't come to church on Sunday, because he was really sick and could barely even sit up! We understood that, so we taught him after family home evening, which, by the way, was amazing; there were like twenty-two people. Afterward, we had a lesson with him and a FOUR members. We asked Rosťa to come and then Sister Renata asked to come because she has two girls visiting from Bountiful UT, one of whom is going to be going on a mission soon, so she's trying to get her to do as much missionary stuff here as she can. So there were four members, but Frantisek didn't really mind. He actually liked it. The entire meeting was quite different. Perhaps, for one, it was at the building instead of at his home where there are plenty of distractions, and two he was really focused. He came in and started asking questions about his baptism. It was a really good meeting. We talked about how we do baptism, by what power it has to be done, and then why we need baptism. It was a really awesome lesson.
Renata has been sick the past week and a half, but we finally met with her on Tuesday (yesterday). She's doing fine. We didn't really have much time to talk because we were going to have English class in just a bit.
So, now about the title. We got a call on Monday evening and when I picked up, President was on the other end and said, "Elder Monk! I know that we've been moving you around quite a bit." At this point I started freaking out a little bit, and he continued, "We're going to send you to Brno. However, before you go there, we'd like you to stop here in Prague and pick up a greenie." Oh gosh. He also went on to tell me that I'd be serving with Elder Bown, who's a missionary who's going home a little early (just three weeks) so that he can start school right away. That's pretty crazy. Even crazier than that, after he spoke with me, he asked to speak to Elder Betts. Elder Betts was asked to move to Jičín with Elder Horváth. Yes, that means our area is getting closed, for the time being. There's so many missoinaries leaving this transfer (tomorrow) and during the course of this transfer (six weeks in) that the greenies that just came in aren't enough to fill them all, so our area got closed down, but we're keeping the apartment, so it's probably going to be opened back up in a little bit. It was weird having to divy-up our investigators between the sisters and the other elders. My greenie's name is Elder Gabrielsen and then I'm also with Elder Bown.
Things are crazy and unexpected, but so is life. I've really learned that it's just up to us to make the best of what the Lord throws at us because he's only going to let us encounter the things that are going to be for our best. Anyway, I haven't got a ton of time, but I'm happy to be here in Brno. We got here safely and fairly easily. Love you all lots and hope that things are going well.
Much Love,
Starší Monk
PS - there was a baptism of Honzík Hires and Berunka Šlezarová in Olomouc. They're children of members there. That was way awesome. Honzík has been waiting a long time for this day.