This week has been quite interesting - to say the least. We finally had a week where we could just stay and work in Olomouc all week and we were very excited and very sure that some awesome things were going to happen. Well... they did, but as we say in physics - for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Seems that that applies with spiritual things as well.
On Monday and Tuesday, we didn't really see anything as far as key indicators, but we continued to work hard. Then on Wednesday morning, I got the feeling that we needed to have companionship blessings so that we could get ourselves boosted and ready for the work, so after studies we gave each other blessings and it was a really strong and powerful experience. After that we went out and hit the town hard - we got three bench lessons that day and every one of them accepted a Book of Mormon and a follow up appointment - and that means that we had three new investigators that day. Not too shabby. Actually, that's really awesome.
One of the people that we sat down with was named Filip and he was an interesting contact. We were on the town square and I got the feeling that we needed to go to the wall park (one of the parks in Olomouc - many of the sides are surrounded by the old battlements) and Elder Pearson said that he was getting the same kind of feeling. We realized that it had been a little while since we had been at that park so we figured that it would be a good idea to go and hit it. So we walked to the park and contacted the first guy that was walking out of the park toward us and he didn't really have much interest. Elder Pearson, almost immediately, pointed out a guy who was a little way off on a different path sitting on a bench, and I agreed. As we started getting closer, I said, "I think I've spoken to him before," and I was going to pass, but I thought, "what the heck, I'll go ahead and talk to him." One of the first things that I asked him was if he had spoken with us before, and he said that he hadn't. So we sat down with him and started talking; about why we're here as missionaries, how we can come to find God better in our lives, and the importance of the Book of Mormon. He told us that he was a Catholic but that he didn't feel that his faith in Christ was strong enough and that it wasn't going very well for him. So we promised him that he could find a better connection with God and a better understanding of the way that we need to follow Christ in our lives through the Book of Mormon. He seemed pretty excited to take a Book of Mormon and we had him read just a little bit of the introduction. That turned out really well, and you could almost see a visible change in him as he read it. We then reccomended 2 Nephi 31 to him, prayed and set up for the next day.
The next day, he came and we took him up to the building (might I say that I was ecstatic that he came - we get stood up about 80% of the time) and we taught him a lesson. The lesson was less than perfect and most of the time it felt like we were trying to strong arm our way into his life. For some reason it just didn't have the same impact and meaning as it did the day before. However, when we had him read a little out of 3 Nephi 11 pertaining to baptism, there was a great influence of the Spirit, and sadly, we didn't jump on the opportunity to commit him to baptism because we were afraid of committing him to baptism only fifteen minutes into the lesson. So instead we continued with the lesson and we could tell that the spirit didn't stay that long. We had kind of missed our chance. However, we continued with the lesson and extended him a baptismal commitment at the end and he seemed quite reluctant to the idea. I tried getting him to state his concerns but he was being a little timid and closed off. We tried to end it well, so I asked if he would like to pray - hoping that he'd feel something through praying for himself. Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't.
Then later that day and also a few times through the next day, we kept seeing him around (turns out he's waiting for his school to start). One time, the day after our meeting at the building, we saw him in the park and felt like we should go and talk to him. So we went up and started talking, just trying to show him that we're normal people and that we're just trying to help him out, instead of being people looking for more baptisms. Then about three minutes into the conversation at an awkward pause, he said, "I've been giving that baptism thing some thought, and I think that it should be a personal thing and I don't think that I'm quite ready yet." We completely agreed with him, and told him that we ask people to be baptized so early because we know how important it is for every one of us and we want people to know our expectations. So now it seems like we're getting off pretty well and things are going okay. We have yet to set up our next meeting and see how things continue, but at least we know that he really thinks about the things we ask him. That's refreshing. Also, when we met with him we found out that he had read 2 Nephi 31, the entire introduction, the three witnesses, the eight witnesses, the Joseph Smith testimony and the first four chapters of 1 Nephi. I think he's looking for something. I really hope that he goes somewhere and that we get something set up with him.
Other than that, we had a really cool bench lesson with a guy on Wednesday - turns out he's a father so we tied the Book of Mormon to him by saying that we can grow closer to our family members through the teachings of Jesus Christ, which we can find in the Book of Mormon. He seemed really interested in improving his family and helping them in any way that he could and we promised him that he could. We had the lesson, set up the next meeting (which was going to be the branch family home evening - we even invited President and his family to come), but he didn't end up coming. Sad thing was, neither did President. Turns out that he was in Brno for "School of the Prophets," so he couldn't make it.
This entire week, I've been having a really hard time concentrating because some time this last week, AP Elder Anderson sent me a text saying that it was time to renew my visa! I just got here, how can it be time to renew it?! So yes, that's bothering me a little, among other things. It seems like I have a lot more on my mind than I should and a lot more than is really needed to get lost in the work. So... that is among my foremost thoughts right now.
Today, Wlastik (Vlastik) took us on a trip to one of the really big cathedrals and it was really cool, however afterward we walked through the hills/mountains/forests for thirty to forty minutes to get to the place where he wanted to have lunch and then we had an hour wait until the bus came to take us back to Olomouc. So, we decided to walk to get to another bus stop. At the next stop we missed by three minutes and would have had to wait for a long time before the next one came, so we ended up walking down the highway for about forty minutes before we got to another bus stop and finally that one came after thirteen minutes. I really think that today we walked a good seven to ten kilometers. Yes, that's a lot. So, our four hour trip (how long Wlastik promised us) ended up being about five or five and a half.
We're going to have zone conference this week, and I'm looking forward to it.
Anyway, interesting week. Hope that all of you are doing well and I hope and pray all the best for you all.
Starší Monk
Svatý Kopečk - the cathedral that we visited with Wlastik
Here I am out front of this massive things,
but inside it's not as large as it looks.
An interesting sign that I saw on the highway back to Olomouc.
"Pozor" means "Caution/Danger" and then it has an upside down car.
What's it warning against? Flipping cars?