Dear Family,
This week has had some pretty cool little blessings. About a week and a half ago, we spoke with Brother Čaňo (the second councilor in the branch presidency) about meeting with him and his family (him, his son and his less active daughter) so that we could teach them the lessons, because we're not teaching very much. He agreed but said that probably not the week that I asked him because his kids would be off at some camp or something, but he would love to have us over the next week. So we called him this last week and set something up on Friday. Elder Bown ran off with Elder Uremovich to go to a lesson because Elder Dietrich was sick, so Elder Gabrielsen and I went off alone. Just he and his son were there. He said that his daughter had ran off to grandma's house before he even came home. No matter. We asked them to act like they were investigators and that they didn't know about our message, and we taught the first lesson. It was a very good first lesson in which Elder Gabrielsen took a big part. He taught "God is our Loving Heavenly Father," "Gospel Blesses Families," and then some of Dispensations and then handed it off to me and then later he quoted the first vision and taught a large chunk of the restoration. Brother Čaňo was asking lots of questions like he was an investigator, and it was really good for our practice. I even made Elder Gabrielsen answer many of the questions. After the lesson/practice, Brother Čaňo said that he really liked it and that he'd really like for us to come over again some time. He also said that he would invite his mother over and we could teach her exactly the way that we just taught them. She's not a member, and he said that she hasn't ever met with the missionaries. He did say, however, that he wouldn't be able to set up that meeting or have us over for three or four weeks because he's going to Sweden either yesterday evening or today. Then we asked him if he knew any other members who he thought could benefit from hearing the lessons, like we shared with him. He thought about it for a second, and referred us to a member who's been a little less active, and who's wife is not a member, but is perfectly fine with listening to gospel topics whenever he goes over and speaks with them. It was just such a cool thing to see that we went over, had him pretend to be an investigator, taught the lesson and then afterward, he could see that we wanted to help him. Yes, we came over to practice teaching, but we also came to strengthen him, and he saw that. We didn't really even ask for referrals, but instead, he saw that it was a good thing and that he recognized people that he wanted to share it with. This was probably the best member visit that I've had, perhaps because we also told him that we wanted to come and teach, not eat dinner. That always helps. I got to know Brother Čaňo a lot better as well. I heard about his conversion story, and how when he read the Book of Mormon, he said that it was what he was looking for. That sparked a question in me. I asked him then, "When you first met the missionaries, did you know that you were looking for something?" He told me that he didn't and that he was grateful that the missionaries had started meeting with him and that they gave him the Book of Mormon. I'm really excited to keep meeting with other members, because I know that members have much more potential than they know as far as it comes to missionary work.
Another thing this last that was a little out of the ordinary was that on Tuesday, Elder Bown got a call from President Irwin during district meeting, so he left the room to answer it, but soon came back and handed me the phone. So, I left the room and started speaking with President. He started by asking me what I was doing a little bit later in the day, and I said not much. He said, "Great, then I'd like you to be at the building to do some translating work for us." Well. It turned out that they're trying to institute a new program here in the Czech Republic and they had a meeting consisting President Irwin, two officials from the church, a senior couple from Jihlava, the first councilor in the branch presidency of Brno, and me. Basically I was there for the councilor, because he was the only Czech at the meeting. President told me that he speaks English and understands quite well, but just in case he doesn't catch something or he doesn't know how to say something, I'd be there to do that translating. The meeting turned out to be about an hour and a half, and through the entire meeting, I had to translate two questions from Czech into English. He understood the rest and could express himself how he wanted. I came out of it with a little bit of a headache because the entire time I was translating everything into Czech in my head just to keep up in case he asked me what something meant. He didn't, but I was prepared. I actually learned a few new words, but I'm not really sure how often I'll use them.
Other than that, it's been the same old work. I love it and we're doing great. We actually came up with a game this last week for contacting people on public transportation - which by the way is really hard. We call it "futbal," or in English, "football." Basically, while we're waiting for the tram or bus to come, we decide who's going to be pointing out someone for the other to contact. That way we're not picking our own person to talk to. When the tram or bus comes up, then we all pick someone for the other and then we get on. So that it's a game where we're working together instead of against each other, we only get the point if all of us talk to our designated person. That also motivates us to talk to our person because we don't want to be the one responsible for being the one that didn't do it. Then we decided that we could get an extra point if one of us talks to another person on top of the one that was pointed out for them. It's the little things that keep us focused on the bigger picture.
This week has been really rewarding, even though we don't see a whole lot of outward results all the time. I love my companions. They're both fantastic. I love you all and hope that everything is going well for you and that you're keeping up on your reading and praying! It's important.
Love you all,
Starší Monk