Dear Family,
So the other day I was thinking about how fast time is flying by, just in general, not even only here on the mission. I was thinking about how recent high school felt, how fast that one year of college was and the thought that it would be a while before I would be on the mission, however, that's all wrong... time goes by far too quickly. To make things even worse, my mission is already about one third over! I can't even begin to believe that. At the end of this transfer, I will have been on the mission for eight months. That right there is ridiculous. I might cry. Anyway... on to what I wanted to talk about today.
So, a few days ago, we were sitting in companionship study, and we were talking about something, and I started being ridiculous because I thought it was funny, and Elder Kreitzer kept playing along with it, but really it was bothering him and we've talked about doing that before. At one point I was acting like an atheist and he was trying to tell me that there were people in the book, and I said that there's no way that people could be in a book, there's only words there. So he opened up the book and pointed to the name "Alma" and I said, that's not a person, that's the name of a person and he's probably in the ground somewhere. Anyway, Elder Kreitzer got so frustrated with me and I had no idea because he would just put on a face and play along with it, that he grabbed my legs and pulled me around the room. I didn't really care so I just went limp and let him do what he wanted. Turns out that he ended up dragging me all around the house basically, and then into the bedroom where he commenced to try putting me on the bed so that he could leave me there. I'm not sure what his intentions where but he soon found out that I weigh a lot more than he thinks. So that was a pretty good companionship inventory, and we ended up talking about it later, because other things happened, and we started finding each others buttons. So, that night, we came back to the house, and I could see that there was a definite need to talk. So I had each of us say ten good things about the other and then two new things that we haven't said before, that we can work on. We ended up saying the ten things pretty easily, but the two were hard. We found out that we like each other a lot more than we thought we did, and there's much less that we need to work on than it sometimes seems. We both came out of that time feeling much better, and right now we're trying to find some way to keep those good feelings.
Then yesterday, we called a potential investigator to set up a meeting. Elder Kreitzer and McGowan found her; she's really cool and she speaks perfect English. So Kreitzer called her yesterday and set up a meeting with her on Thursday next week, but she also told us that there's a festival going on the next day (today) at the castle in Lipnik, and that was one of the ones that we wanted to go see really badly. So we decided that it'd be a good investment of our time to go. So we got all of our times figured out and we did our grocery shopping really fast in the morning today (15 minutes - which, by the way, is ridiculous) and then we ran to the train station so that we could get our train. Turns out that we had a really easy time getting there and then we found out that the castle was in the next town over. It's not like it was a really far way away, so we decided to go and take a bus there, but when we got to the bus station, it was already gone (by two minutes) and the next one wouldn't be coming for another hour. So we decided to walk, but we got sorely lost. It was only 5 kilometers away, how could we get lost? I'll tell you: because we didn't have a map and European cities are really crazy and ridiculous. So we asked one lady how to get there, and she said, "Oh you're going the complete wrong way, you need to go back down this way and" so on and so forth. So we did and we kept following the road came to a gas station. From there we could see the castle up on the mountain from where we were, but it was still quite a long way off. However, again, we didn't know which way we needed to go, so we asked a police officer, and he said that he was from Olomouc and didn't know his way around there too much and had never been there before, but advised us to go back down into town to buy a map. So we started heading down back toward town, and we saw a road that looked promising so we went down it and came across a few people and asked them where we needed to go, and they told us to follow the road we were on back a little way and then take this little mud trail thing through someone's field and then follow the road up to the bridge and then cross it and then follow the road up to the castle. What?! So, once we were past the field, it looked like we were in someone's private property, but there was a lady there, so we asked her where we needed to go, and she told us that we were almost to the road that led up to the bridge. Long story short, we got there but almost two hours after we left the train station. However, it was worth it. It was nothing short of amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if people were working year round to get this festival ready and the way that it is. They were having shows of medieval fightings and stuff, and I got a whole bunch of fun videos. I'll probably send a sim card home soon so you guys can see them. I think that I got about two good ones of full out battles between all the actors. It was way sweet.
Anyway, if only every výlet could be that awesome. It was quite an adventure, getting lost and all, but it was a lot of fun too. I think that we need to take life the same way. It's a big long journey, and we can stop and ask for directions all along the way, but the directions that we get from our Heavenly Father are perfect, and only our idiocy and lack of following the directions perfectly takes us astray, but with that getting lost, we need to remember that we need to have fun. I think that is something that I'm really learning out here: have fun no matter the worries and the frustrations.
I love you all very much and I hope that you can love to laugh at the hard times.
Starší Monk
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Fwd: Mission Roller-Coaster
Dear Family,
I will have you know that I am wearing a coat right now. Yes, the Czech Republic is still cold. This might be the coldest birthday that I've had, probably ever if it doesn't heat up in these next few weeks. So the Czech people aren't too happy; they all want good weather because they are much more outside dwellers than us Americans. Seriously, last transfer we came to the conclusion that the Czech people are crosses between hobbits and elves because they love to be outside, they love their gardens, they love their beer, they basically live in hills sometimes, and they're way tall. So I guess they're basically hobbits, with one trait of the elves. That's ok, I'm still here and am much shorter than they are. One good thing about that, however, is that it makes it fairly easy to find people because they're always out on the náměstí, so we don't have to go and tract houses all day long.
Now that I think about it, I think that we have had about three weeks collectively over my entire mission here in the Czech Republic where we have had sunny nice weather. Seriously, the rest of it has been terrible overcast, snowing or raining. It's a little bit depressing, but we make out some how.
So, as for the title of this post, this week has been really up and down, starting with last Sunday (not yesterday, but the one before that). So, on that day, I got to have my family call and that was way cool, and to make that day even better, we went out and did some finding right before they called. In that one hour finding block, we found this super awesome, super solid woman named Šarka (Shark-ah) and that just kind of made our day, and then we got to top it even more with calls. Then on Monday we went to Šternberk and saw a Kostel (Cathedral) they have there, and to be honest, I wasn't impressed. They've also got a castle there which we're going to go back to see sometime, and that should be better. So this week has been really up and down. I've been really low and depressed a few times this week and other times, we were on fire just working working working. I don't really know what I can write about this week. We met with Šarka this week and that made her a new investigator. That was way cool, and kind of depressing that she's so solid, but she's the first one of the transfer. So, three weeks down and only one new investigator. That's kind of terrible, but I'm learning how to lead a companionship so that we can be effective and good missionaries all the time.
Also, once this week, our companionship kind of boiled over, and we didn't speak with each other for a while and then the next day (yesterday) we talked it all out and found stuff out about each other that we should have gotten out in the open right at the beginning of the transfer. So, now our companionship should be moving much more smoothly and we should be able to call upon all the blessings that Heavenly Father has in store for us now that we're being completely open and helpful toward each other.
As for this week, I'm sorry that I don't really have any stories to share, but nothing really exciting or funny happened. I guess that I'll make up for it by giving you a few pictures. I made a little buddy in the branch here. His name is Honza and he's a little bit crazy, but he's really awesome too. I like him alot, and I think that he kind of looks up to me as a brother. That's way awesome. Also, his little sister basically things I'm family. They're a really cute family. Their father is really, really inactive, but the mother is super solid, so I can see him coming back to the gospel if she stays worthy and stalwart. I'll also add a picture of David, who we call a blazen (which means crazy man). Another fun word for you, Ricky, is bulbiček (bull-bee-check) which means idiot. Oh gosh, where to start with David. Perhaps I'll write about him some other time.
Anyway, I love you all very much and I love hearing from each of you. I can already see how the Lord has blessed every one of us, but be attentive to see how he blesses us in the small ways every day.
Starší Monk
PS - for all the people who love their beer, the third picture is of the hop fields in the Czech Republic. It's a self contained industry here - they grow it, brew it and drink it all in the same country. Seriously, these fields are everywhere, and the Czech people seem to think they have to drink it all themselves.
I will have you know that I am wearing a coat right now. Yes, the Czech Republic is still cold. This might be the coldest birthday that I've had, probably ever if it doesn't heat up in these next few weeks. So the Czech people aren't too happy; they all want good weather because they are much more outside dwellers than us Americans. Seriously, last transfer we came to the conclusion that the Czech people are crosses between hobbits and elves because they love to be outside, they love their gardens, they love their beer, they basically live in hills sometimes, and they're way tall. So I guess they're basically hobbits, with one trait of the elves. That's ok, I'm still here and am much shorter than they are. One good thing about that, however, is that it makes it fairly easy to find people because they're always out on the náměstí, so we don't have to go and tract houses all day long.
Now that I think about it, I think that we have had about three weeks collectively over my entire mission here in the Czech Republic where we have had sunny nice weather. Seriously, the rest of it has been terrible overcast, snowing or raining. It's a little bit depressing, but we make out some how.
So, as for the title of this post, this week has been really up and down, starting with last Sunday (not yesterday, but the one before that). So, on that day, I got to have my family call and that was way cool, and to make that day even better, we went out and did some finding right before they called. In that one hour finding block, we found this super awesome, super solid woman named Šarka (Shark-ah) and that just kind of made our day, and then we got to top it even more with calls. Then on Monday we went to Šternberk and saw a Kostel (Cathedral) they have there, and to be honest, I wasn't impressed. They've also got a castle there which we're going to go back to see sometime, and that should be better. So this week has been really up and down. I've been really low and depressed a few times this week and other times, we were on fire just working working working. I don't really know what I can write about this week. We met with Šarka this week and that made her a new investigator. That was way cool, and kind of depressing that she's so solid, but she's the first one of the transfer. So, three weeks down and only one new investigator. That's kind of terrible, but I'm learning how to lead a companionship so that we can be effective and good missionaries all the time.
Also, once this week, our companionship kind of boiled over, and we didn't speak with each other for a while and then the next day (yesterday) we talked it all out and found stuff out about each other that we should have gotten out in the open right at the beginning of the transfer. So, now our companionship should be moving much more smoothly and we should be able to call upon all the blessings that Heavenly Father has in store for us now that we're being completely open and helpful toward each other.
As for this week, I'm sorry that I don't really have any stories to share, but nothing really exciting or funny happened. I guess that I'll make up for it by giving you a few pictures. I made a little buddy in the branch here. His name is Honza and he's a little bit crazy, but he's really awesome too. I like him alot, and I think that he kind of looks up to me as a brother. That's way awesome. Also, his little sister basically things I'm family. They're a really cute family. Their father is really, really inactive, but the mother is super solid, so I can see him coming back to the gospel if she stays worthy and stalwart. I'll also add a picture of David, who we call a blazen (which means crazy man). Another fun word for you, Ricky, is bulbiček (bull-bee-check) which means idiot. Oh gosh, where to start with David. Perhaps I'll write about him some other time.
Anyway, I love you all very much and I love hearing from each of you. I can already see how the Lord has blessed every one of us, but be attentive to see how he blesses us in the small ways every day.
Starší Monk
PS - for all the people who love their beer, the third picture is of the hop fields in the Czech Republic. It's a self contained industry here - they grow it, brew it and drink it all in the same country. Seriously, these fields are everywhere, and the Czech people seem to think they have to drink it all themselves.
Monday, May 10, 2010
České Pivo, Hurá! (Czech Beer, Yay!)
Dear Family,
I have come down to one simple truth: the beer here is the root of many of the experiences that I will bring home. I'm sure of it. I've already had probably 10 - 15 really funny encounters with drunk people. One time we were at the train station going home, and it was after dark (with Elders Thompson and Mills) and a drunk Slovak guy stopped us and started talking and was really funny, loud and happy. We came away smiling. Even though alcohol is a bad thing, and we know that, sometimes they're a little tender mercy from the Lord, because after those ridiculous encounters, you always come away smiling, no matter the day you've had.
In this past week I've had a few interesting ones. Two Fridays ago, we were walking through the park and were stopped by a guy drinking on a bench. He asked us (in English) if we were the Mormons and continued to talk to us after we told him that we were. He said that he had spoken to us before and that we never got back to him and that he still wanted to talk to us. Turns out that he was a Jehovah's Witness and I'm sure he just wanted to have someone to bible bash or just speak religion with. Many times we find people who just want to talk religion because no one else will. So this Jehovah's Witness guy starts talking to us about his beliefs and that when Jesus Christ was on earth, He didn't establish a church, and many other things that didn't really make sense. If Jesus wasn't here on earth establishing his church, setting the new law for the Jews and the Gentiles, what was he doing? Just speaking and doing miracles for fun? That didn't make much sense to me.
Anyway, at one point he accidentally said the F word and was immediately taken aback and was like, "Oh I'm sorry... but, I don't think that's a bad word if you use it in the right places," and then he continued to talk about how there are certain instances when it's ok. His example was, "If you see some old woman on the ground getting beat by some bad man and he is taking her purse, that is ********." Why wouldn't you just help her instead of cussing him out? Anyway, this guy had a few interesting ideas and he was kind of gone anyway because he had been drinking. He said that he didn't drink too often, and then he was really proud to tell us that this was his first drink in seven days! He was so proud of that. So, we ended up getting his number and we called him so he'd have ours and it turned out that we already had his number! Funny, huh? So the elders in our area had contacted him before and probably didn't call him because he seemed like a dead end, but we'll give him a shot.
Then on Saturday, we had probably one of my funniest experiences to date. It was getting a little late and we were really hungry. It was like 8:00 and so we were thinking of going home, but I had the feeling that we could go to the náměstí (town square) and see what we could get. So we headed up the road and we were looking around and there weren't a whole lot of people out. One funny thing about Europe, or at least the Czech Republic, is that during the week people are out and about, but on the weekends, they all disappear. Strange. Anyway, so there's basically no one on the náměstí but there's this one girl walking right at us. She was having a hard time walking in a straight line, so we could see that she had been drinking. So she got up to us, and we guessed she was about 17 or 18 years old, and she said right off the bat to us, "Ahoj Kluci, jsem opilá." (Hey boys, I'm drunk.) Oh great. And then about five seconds later her friend comes up and we could see that she was drunk too, however, that girl came up and hugged Elder Kreitzer right off the bat. So we've got these two drunk girls talking to us and they're not really talking about anything. They were more giggly and flirty than actually saying anything worthwhile, which is understandable, because 17-18 year old girls don't really know what to say a lot of the time when they're not drunk. So these two were talking, talking, talking and we were piping in just to make the conversation interesting, and they started asking us if we party and if we like to do that kind of stuff, and we said no. They asked if we party at home, and I said maybe, but then I made a correction statement that we maybe party back in America. Oh gosh, I don't even know what to say, they were all over the place. Then they asked if we spoke English and we said yes and they broke into English, and badly at that, and they were all screaming at the whole square and at us that they love America, they love English and they love us. They said that they loved us a few times and that was weird. So they're going off in English now and still not making a whole lot of sense. Then they got the bright idea to invite us to a party or so I assume. They just left it at, "you should come with us," and they kept repeating it over and over, and we'd just keep saying that we couldn't. Then I told them, in English, that we needed to go and they said, in English, that they didn't understand me. I tried that a few times, and then I switched it into Czech and said, "Musíme odejit," which means we really need to go, and they responded, in Czech, "We don't understand." Oh gosh... these girls are just being flirty. It was way weird. I didn't really know what to do with the situation. So they kind of agreed to let us go, but the second one came up and hugged Elder Kreitzer again (this is like the fourth time - she'd hugged him a few times during the conversation) and then wouldn't let go and kept saying "kiss, kiss, kiss" and moving closer and closer to his face. Elder Kreitzer tried to get away, but it amounted to his face just stretching away from hers, so she settled with kissing him on the neck. And then the other girl went and gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek. And then they both went after me! Oh no! I was petrified. I had no clue what to do, so they hugged me and got me on both my cheeks. That was way weird. We walked away thinking, why did I get the feeling to come to the náměstí? I still don't know, but we came away laughing. So how's that?
Oh gosh, there are more stories about drunk people and they're all funny. I need to get going, though. I love you all, and hope that these little stories brightened your day as they did mine when I had them. I love you all very much, I miss you all very much, but I know I'm here for all of you.
Much love from the Czech Republic,
Starší Monk
PS - the picture is of a little basket that one of our investigators (not the guy in the photo - he's a member named Laďa) found at the building and was thoroughly convinced it was a hat.
I have come down to one simple truth: the beer here is the root of many of the experiences that I will bring home. I'm sure of it. I've already had probably 10 - 15 really funny encounters with drunk people. One time we were at the train station going home, and it was after dark (with Elders Thompson and Mills) and a drunk Slovak guy stopped us and started talking and was really funny, loud and happy. We came away smiling. Even though alcohol is a bad thing, and we know that, sometimes they're a little tender mercy from the Lord, because after those ridiculous encounters, you always come away smiling, no matter the day you've had.
In this past week I've had a few interesting ones. Two Fridays ago, we were walking through the park and were stopped by a guy drinking on a bench. He asked us (in English) if we were the Mormons and continued to talk to us after we told him that we were. He said that he had spoken to us before and that we never got back to him and that he still wanted to talk to us. Turns out that he was a Jehovah's Witness and I'm sure he just wanted to have someone to bible bash or just speak religion with. Many times we find people who just want to talk religion because no one else will. So this Jehovah's Witness guy starts talking to us about his beliefs and that when Jesus Christ was on earth, He didn't establish a church, and many other things that didn't really make sense. If Jesus wasn't here on earth establishing his church, setting the new law for the Jews and the Gentiles, what was he doing? Just speaking and doing miracles for fun? That didn't make much sense to me.
Anyway, at one point he accidentally said the F word and was immediately taken aback and was like, "Oh I'm sorry... but, I don't think that's a bad word if you use it in the right places," and then he continued to talk about how there are certain instances when it's ok. His example was, "If you see some old woman on the ground getting beat by some bad man and he is taking her purse, that is ********." Why wouldn't you just help her instead of cussing him out? Anyway, this guy had a few interesting ideas and he was kind of gone anyway because he had been drinking. He said that he didn't drink too often, and then he was really proud to tell us that this was his first drink in seven days! He was so proud of that. So, we ended up getting his number and we called him so he'd have ours and it turned out that we already had his number! Funny, huh? So the elders in our area had contacted him before and probably didn't call him because he seemed like a dead end, but we'll give him a shot.
Then on Saturday, we had probably one of my funniest experiences to date. It was getting a little late and we were really hungry. It was like 8:00 and so we were thinking of going home, but I had the feeling that we could go to the náměstí (town square) and see what we could get. So we headed up the road and we were looking around and there weren't a whole lot of people out. One funny thing about Europe, or at least the Czech Republic, is that during the week people are out and about, but on the weekends, they all disappear. Strange. Anyway, so there's basically no one on the náměstí but there's this one girl walking right at us. She was having a hard time walking in a straight line, so we could see that she had been drinking. So she got up to us, and we guessed she was about 17 or 18 years old, and she said right off the bat to us, "Ahoj Kluci, jsem opilá." (Hey boys, I'm drunk.) Oh great. And then about five seconds later her friend comes up and we could see that she was drunk too, however, that girl came up and hugged Elder Kreitzer right off the bat. So we've got these two drunk girls talking to us and they're not really talking about anything. They were more giggly and flirty than actually saying anything worthwhile, which is understandable, because 17-18 year old girls don't really know what to say a lot of the time when they're not drunk. So these two were talking, talking, talking and we were piping in just to make the conversation interesting, and they started asking us if we party and if we like to do that kind of stuff, and we said no. They asked if we party at home, and I said maybe, but then I made a correction statement that we maybe party back in America. Oh gosh, I don't even know what to say, they were all over the place. Then they asked if we spoke English and we said yes and they broke into English, and badly at that, and they were all screaming at the whole square and at us that they love America, they love English and they love us. They said that they loved us a few times and that was weird. So they're going off in English now and still not making a whole lot of sense. Then they got the bright idea to invite us to a party or so I assume. They just left it at, "you should come with us," and they kept repeating it over and over, and we'd just keep saying that we couldn't. Then I told them, in English, that we needed to go and they said, in English, that they didn't understand me. I tried that a few times, and then I switched it into Czech and said, "Musíme odejit," which means we really need to go, and they responded, in Czech, "We don't understand." Oh gosh... these girls are just being flirty. It was way weird. I didn't really know what to do with the situation. So they kind of agreed to let us go, but the second one came up and hugged Elder Kreitzer again (this is like the fourth time - she'd hugged him a few times during the conversation) and then wouldn't let go and kept saying "kiss, kiss, kiss" and moving closer and closer to his face. Elder Kreitzer tried to get away, but it amounted to his face just stretching away from hers, so she settled with kissing him on the neck. And then the other girl went and gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek. And then they both went after me! Oh no! I was petrified. I had no clue what to do, so they hugged me and got me on both my cheeks. That was way weird. We walked away thinking, why did I get the feeling to come to the náměstí? I still don't know, but we came away laughing. So how's that?
Oh gosh, there are more stories about drunk people and they're all funny. I need to get going, though. I love you all, and hope that these little stories brightened your day as they did mine when I had them. I love you all very much, I miss you all very much, but I know I'm here for all of you.
Much love from the Czech Republic,
Starší Monk
PS - the picture is of a little basket that one of our investigators (not the guy in the photo - he's a member named Laďa) found at the building and was thoroughly convinced it was a hat.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Fwd: How is it being the Elder Elder?
Dear Family,
Well, this week has been quite strange. I've never really been looked upon as the person that was required to keep the companionship driven. It's not that we didn't work this week, and that's very far from the point. It's just that our numbers and stuff weren't hot because I haven't been pushing things as the elder companion always does, so things were kind of just coasting right now. Despite this, we have had some really cool things happen. I've started to break Elder Kreitzer out of his routine of contacting everyone the same way. I've started trying to get him to talk to people instead of reciting at people. That's been cool. Also my language ability has gone through the roof these past few weeks. It seems like if we're placed in a circumstance that we can't quite control, the Lord blesses us with the things that we need so that we can do what is expected of us.
One thing that happened this past week is that we gave a baptismal challenge to one of our investigators! And he accepted! Elder Kreitzer has been having a lot of vision for him. He's a 25 year old Indian man and they found him last transfer. When they did, he was a complete atheist. Elder Kreitzer has had lots of hope and excitement for him because he could see the entire change from atheist to believing that possibly God exists, to praying and reading, and now, to accepting a baptismal commitment. This was the first meeting I had with him, so I didn't really know what to think, but Elder Kreitzer told me that we'd teach him the third lesson because they had already taught him the first two. So we went out finding, and we were getting thrown around by people right and left. No one wanted to talk to us, and we even received one of my favorite insults from people. Most of the time we start our contacts by saying that we're volunteers from America, and then comes the excuse why they can't talk or where they're going or the insult. I've received this one before, but it's still fun to me. The guy said, "Go back to America." Love it. :)
Anyway, after some finding we went back to the building and sat there for a little while for a break and played some ping pong. I asked Elder Kreitzer to practice giving me a baptismal commitment because he gets caught up in words and talks in circles and has a hard time just getting to the point because he's afraid of coming off too bold or strong armed. So we started practicing the commitment, and it ended up with us brainstorming different ways to give it and practicing speaking simply and so forth for about an hour before the lesson with him. By the way his name is Lakes but it's pronounced La-kus. So up comes the time for our lesson and we walk him up to the building (we met him out front) and started to talk with him just so I could find out who he is. He told us that he didn't have a whole lot of time, really only 30 minutes, and that turned out perfect because it forced Elder Kreitzer to speak really simply and to the point because we were on limited time. Anyway, we got through the entire lesson (and for those of you who don't know what the third lesson is, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ - faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end). After the lesson, Elder Kreitzer knew that it was time for the commitment and he tried to go after it and ended up beating around the bush for about 20 seconds, but he eventually just came out and said it. It was actually very good the way that he did it, and Lakes accepted it without a heartbeat. I could see that Elder Kreitzer just wanted to scream right then because he was so happy for him. That was a pretty cool moment. The Spirit in that room at that moment was almost palpable.
Afterward, Elder Kreitzer told me that the lesson we just had was probably the most perfect lesson he's had so far on his mission. Of course we were speaking in English because Lakes doesn't really know Czech. In fact, he knows less than we do.
Also, another little fun experience was when we were walking through the park one day, we were trying to find someone to talk to, but the park was basically deserted. Elder Kreitzer and I felt that we needed to be there to find someone, but he turned to me and said, well, maybe we aren't supposed to be here, but I reassured him that there would be someone at the end of the park. So we kept walking, and we saw two guys up the path from us. One of them was sitting down and the other was doing this spinning stick stuff. The stick was probably about four feet long and the size of a quarter in diameter. It was probably made to light the ends on fire because it had cloth wadds on the ends. So, imagine the flaming stick twirlers. Yeah, this guy was doing that kind of stuff, and he was really good. So we started approaching them and I dared Elder Kreitzer to contact him, and he didn't want to, so I went up and asked him if he could teach me to do that. He was kind of taken off guard, but he was really friendly about it and we kind of talked for a little bit. He seemed kind of shy about wanting to teach me. So I asked him if I could just watch for a little bit and he told me that they were having a show down in a different part of the park and we could come and watch there if we'd like, but I had to tell him that we didn't have a whole lot of time. So he just continued practicing and showing us what he could do, and now I really want to learn how to do it. It's really awesome. While he was "performing" for us, we tried speaking to his friend on the bench and he told us that he does it too, but a little differently. After he was done, we spoke to him a little about why we were there and what we were trying to do as missionaries. We found out that he was a believer and that he doesn't like organized religion because it makes God too impersonal. He said that God is very special and we need to build a relationship with Him from our heart. We assured him that we believed the same thing, that we need to have that personal relationship with Him. He asked us for our number, but Elder Kreitzer was taught to give out pass along cards, so he had one out and ready, and we almost lost the opportunity to get his number. Elder Kreitzer gave him the card and went right into his skit where he gives it to them and explains it a little. I kind of saved it by saying, "You have a phone, right?" So we got his number and I told him that maybe we could meet a bit later and we could exchange knowledge - he could teach me to do the stick twirling and we could teach him about how he could come to know God better. That was way cool and I'm really excited about him because he seemed really awesome.
So, I'll forward a few pictures from Olomouc and of my new companion. He's kind of a dork, but that's ok; we get along. :)
Love you all very much, but I must be going.
Starší Monk
Well, this week has been quite strange. I've never really been looked upon as the person that was required to keep the companionship driven. It's not that we didn't work this week, and that's very far from the point. It's just that our numbers and stuff weren't hot because I haven't been pushing things as the elder companion always does, so things were kind of just coasting right now. Despite this, we have had some really cool things happen. I've started to break Elder Kreitzer out of his routine of contacting everyone the same way. I've started trying to get him to talk to people instead of reciting at people. That's been cool. Also my language ability has gone through the roof these past few weeks. It seems like if we're placed in a circumstance that we can't quite control, the Lord blesses us with the things that we need so that we can do what is expected of us.
One thing that happened this past week is that we gave a baptismal challenge to one of our investigators! And he accepted! Elder Kreitzer has been having a lot of vision for him. He's a 25 year old Indian man and they found him last transfer. When they did, he was a complete atheist. Elder Kreitzer has had lots of hope and excitement for him because he could see the entire change from atheist to believing that possibly God exists, to praying and reading, and now, to accepting a baptismal commitment. This was the first meeting I had with him, so I didn't really know what to think, but Elder Kreitzer told me that we'd teach him the third lesson because they had already taught him the first two. So we went out finding, and we were getting thrown around by people right and left. No one wanted to talk to us, and we even received one of my favorite insults from people. Most of the time we start our contacts by saying that we're volunteers from America, and then comes the excuse why they can't talk or where they're going or the insult. I've received this one before, but it's still fun to me. The guy said, "Go back to America." Love it. :)
Anyway, after some finding we went back to the building and sat there for a little while for a break and played some ping pong. I asked Elder Kreitzer to practice giving me a baptismal commitment because he gets caught up in words and talks in circles and has a hard time just getting to the point because he's afraid of coming off too bold or strong armed. So we started practicing the commitment, and it ended up with us brainstorming different ways to give it and practicing speaking simply and so forth for about an hour before the lesson with him. By the way his name is Lakes but it's pronounced La-kus. So up comes the time for our lesson and we walk him up to the building (we met him out front) and started to talk with him just so I could find out who he is. He told us that he didn't have a whole lot of time, really only 30 minutes, and that turned out perfect because it forced Elder Kreitzer to speak really simply and to the point because we were on limited time. Anyway, we got through the entire lesson (and for those of you who don't know what the third lesson is, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ - faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end). After the lesson, Elder Kreitzer knew that it was time for the commitment and he tried to go after it and ended up beating around the bush for about 20 seconds, but he eventually just came out and said it. It was actually very good the way that he did it, and Lakes accepted it without a heartbeat. I could see that Elder Kreitzer just wanted to scream right then because he was so happy for him. That was a pretty cool moment. The Spirit in that room at that moment was almost palpable.
Afterward, Elder Kreitzer told me that the lesson we just had was probably the most perfect lesson he's had so far on his mission. Of course we were speaking in English because Lakes doesn't really know Czech. In fact, he knows less than we do.
Also, another little fun experience was when we were walking through the park one day, we were trying to find someone to talk to, but the park was basically deserted. Elder Kreitzer and I felt that we needed to be there to find someone, but he turned to me and said, well, maybe we aren't supposed to be here, but I reassured him that there would be someone at the end of the park. So we kept walking, and we saw two guys up the path from us. One of them was sitting down and the other was doing this spinning stick stuff. The stick was probably about four feet long and the size of a quarter in diameter. It was probably made to light the ends on fire because it had cloth wadds on the ends. So, imagine the flaming stick twirlers. Yeah, this guy was doing that kind of stuff, and he was really good. So we started approaching them and I dared Elder Kreitzer to contact him, and he didn't want to, so I went up and asked him if he could teach me to do that. He was kind of taken off guard, but he was really friendly about it and we kind of talked for a little bit. He seemed kind of shy about wanting to teach me. So I asked him if I could just watch for a little bit and he told me that they were having a show down in a different part of the park and we could come and watch there if we'd like, but I had to tell him that we didn't have a whole lot of time. So he just continued practicing and showing us what he could do, and now I really want to learn how to do it. It's really awesome. While he was "performing" for us, we tried speaking to his friend on the bench and he told us that he does it too, but a little differently. After he was done, we spoke to him a little about why we were there and what we were trying to do as missionaries. We found out that he was a believer and that he doesn't like organized religion because it makes God too impersonal. He said that God is very special and we need to build a relationship with Him from our heart. We assured him that we believed the same thing, that we need to have that personal relationship with Him. He asked us for our number, but Elder Kreitzer was taught to give out pass along cards, so he had one out and ready, and we almost lost the opportunity to get his number. Elder Kreitzer gave him the card and went right into his skit where he gives it to them and explains it a little. I kind of saved it by saying, "You have a phone, right?" So we got his number and I told him that maybe we could meet a bit later and we could exchange knowledge - he could teach me to do the stick twirling and we could teach him about how he could come to know God better. That was way cool and I'm really excited about him because he seemed really awesome.
So, I'll forward a few pictures from Olomouc and of my new companion. He's kind of a dork, but that's ok; we get along. :)
Love you all very much, but I must be going.
Starší Monk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)