Dear Family,
How are all of you? This past week was pretty sad... number-wise. Every week we have to make goals of what we want to accomplish the next week and then through the week we take down what we actually get in a few different categories. With Elder Price, we were always teaching up around twenty lessons a week, and then this transfer it came down a little to about fifteen. That's a pretty easy way to guage how the week was. Then this past week, we had five lessons. Yeah, it was pretty sad. But the thing is, it's not because we weren't working. We probably weren't working as hard as we could because Elder Thompson is having personal problems, I was feeling home sick and Elder Mills has been literally sick this past week. All-in-all, things haven't been so great this last week, but right now we're feeling very good and ready to do better this week! Things are looking good. The weather is awesome and people are in the parks.
Hmm... since we didn't do a whole lot this week, what can I tell you? Oh, I can tell you a few little interesting stories. :-)
Well, this one dates back to the beginning of this transfer, so about a month and a half ago. At that point I had been companions with Elders Thompson and Mills for about a week or so, and we went out panelak-ing (tracting) and we got up to the one that we wanted to get into. So Elder Thompson goes up to try and get someone to let us in (basically you have to buzz someone and ask them to let you into the building because the doors are locked and can be unlocked from any of the apartments) and Elder Thompson asks, "Mužete nás pustit?" and he got rejected. Then Elder Mills tried and also got rejected. Then I, being the Czech idiot that I am, get up and try. Instead of saying what the others said, even though I tried, I said, "Mužete nás odpustit?" which basically comes out to "Can you forgive us?" Gah... they had a good time laughing at me for that one. The guy on the other end was a little confused and he didn't end up opening the door for me.
Then this last Tuesday, we were out contacting people outside because it was really nice weather, and people were out on the naměstí and in the parks. Anyway, how we do contacting with the three of us is that one of us goes off alone and the other two of us go and contact together. We only do this for about twenty minute increments and then go and switch again. Well, on this one occasion, Elder Thompson and I were together and we were walking through the park. This day was being particularly hard for us and all of us weren't feeling really good about the work. So Thompson and I were walking around, and while we were going through the park, there were about five people together in a group up the path from us. Three of them were sitting and two were standing. They just looked like 20-25 year old guys, two girls and three guys and I think that Elder Thompson was thinking the same thing that I was thinking - let's just walk past them and keep talking. I guess one of the guys, who was kind of a jerk decided to be a wise guy and stop us and ask why we're dressed all weird. So he stopped us and we started talking with them - and when I say us, I mean I stood there and looked like I was understanding everything. Basically the guy was asking dumb questions - found out that we're from America, asked if we had Czech girlfriends yet (everyone here is obsessed with the fact that they have really beautiful girls in the Czech Republic and they all want to know our opinion about them - that makes for very awkward conversations sometimes) and we told them no. Elder Thompson told them that he already had one, and then the guy started asking really weird personal questions about him and his girlfriend. One of the girls on the bench stopped him and said, that's personal stuff, you don't ask about that. Then we started talking with them because the other guy had to take a phone call, which luckily, lasted the rest of the time. We spoke to the three on the bench, because the other guy standing didn't seem particularly interested, but the three on the bench did. We spoke to them a while about why we're here as missionaries, how our church is different from the Catholic church and why we need to find out for ourselves if the thing we have is important. At the end we gave them pass along cards and I'm hoping that they call us, because they seemed really cool/interested. We also told them that we had a free English class every Tuesday, and actually we had to leave so that we could prepare for it. They seemed kind of torn whether to come to that or not, but they actually gave it some consideration. They didn't come, but perhaps they will come other time.
That was a good experience just to get us feeling good about the work again, because it seemed like it had been forever since we had spoken with anyone.
As for the language, this last week has been amazing. I've been really struggling with comprehension of the language. Many times I'll be able to pick out one or two words from a sentence before they're already talking about the next thing. My speaking ability is okay, but still no where close to where I want it to be, but this last week both have shot up, especially my understanding! I'm very, very stoked about it. It seems like something just all of a sudden clicked. Things make sense and I can understand what people are talking about. It's not just random words being thrown together. Of course I still have to pay attention really hard and listen to what they're saying, but I get it now! Well, still it's only about 50-60% at best, but it's better than the 10% I had before. :D
Well, that's about all that I have for this week. I can't really think up much more to really say right now. You all know, but I'll say it again, I love you all very much. Miss you all, but I know that I'm here for the right reason at the right time. Sometimes it's hard, but I love the support that you all give me. I'm praying for you all and hope that you all are having a great success in your own lives!
S Laskou (With Love),
Starší Monk