My mission Daddy wrote me! He lives and loves me. :)
I just liked this picture so much I wanted it on the blog.
Diky Staršímu Pricovi
Starší Monk
Monday, January 31, 2011
A Picture from Price! :D
My mission Daddy wrote me! He lives and loves me. :)
I just liked this picture so much I wanted it on the blog.
Diky Staršímu Pricovi
Starší Monk
Things Slowed a Little
Dear Family,
So as usual, the mission, like everything else, is like a roller-coaster: full of ups and downs. Seems that we've started to come to a down point, but Elder Ingalls and I are fighting to get it going up again soon! We've realized these past few weeks that as we were struggling to get fifteen to twenty lessons a week, we've sorely neglected finding times, and in return our teaching pool has become very static. Also, something else: I've been feeling a little, I wouldn't say downhearted, but probably just rote about the work. I get up in the mornings, do my studies, and then go out and work. I'm not seeing a whole lot of fun in the work, and I really think that it's because our lack of finding and looking for people to teach. Finding time is where mission stories are born, and I haven't been doing a whole lot of that.
Anyway, that's a little depressing. Don't want to talk about that too much. Yes, the work has gotten a little slow this past week, but things are still doing good. By far, not the worst week I've had on my mission. Our investigators aren't really doing anything new, and for the most part, they aren't really meeting with us. I would bet that half the town has caught the yearly bug these past two weeks. Everyone is sick. The past few weeks we've been getting those less actives to church. The first week (two weeks ago) there were four of them; the second week there were three, because one was at home watching her grandson, waiting for her son to come pick him up; and this last week, yesterday, only one came, but it was the one that was watching her grandson. Turns out that the other three had all gotten sick. That's no fun. According to church records, they're all active now because they've been to church twice this month. That's kind of cool. I'm going to talk to President Pohořelický (branch president) about getting them all callings. I think that will get them all to be even more solid and feel like they're more involved.
This last week at seminary, we had a test on D&C. Elder Ingalls and I got the highest scores on it. Elder Ingalls got a 100%, and I got two questions wrong because 1) I didn't know how many pages were in the Czech D&C, and 2) I didn't remember if we had homework from our last seminary class (it was two weeks ago; the last question on the test was, 'Did you do your homework?') That was quite entertaining. The youth here are a hoot. If you're having a tough week in Třebíč, just wait until Thursday and then go to seminary and everything will be better. I love the kids here. They're amazing; except for yesterday when I asked them all if they're going to serve missions. Every one of them gave me a half-hearted "I don't know," or some other excuse. I'm sure they were just being silly. I hope they serve missions. It will change their lives and they'll be better people because of it, at least.
There's not a whole lot to say from this last week. It's a little bit of a slow time, but things are going to pick up. Winter is pulling through and it's not getting dark by 4:00pm anymore! Hurrah!
I hope and pray that you're all doing well and you're all healthy. I love you all,
Starší Monk
So as usual, the mission, like everything else, is like a roller-coaster: full of ups and downs. Seems that we've started to come to a down point, but Elder Ingalls and I are fighting to get it going up again soon! We've realized these past few weeks that as we were struggling to get fifteen to twenty lessons a week, we've sorely neglected finding times, and in return our teaching pool has become very static. Also, something else: I've been feeling a little, I wouldn't say downhearted, but probably just rote about the work. I get up in the mornings, do my studies, and then go out and work. I'm not seeing a whole lot of fun in the work, and I really think that it's because our lack of finding and looking for people to teach. Finding time is where mission stories are born, and I haven't been doing a whole lot of that.
Anyway, that's a little depressing. Don't want to talk about that too much. Yes, the work has gotten a little slow this past week, but things are still doing good. By far, not the worst week I've had on my mission. Our investigators aren't really doing anything new, and for the most part, they aren't really meeting with us. I would bet that half the town has caught the yearly bug these past two weeks. Everyone is sick. The past few weeks we've been getting those less actives to church. The first week (two weeks ago) there were four of them; the second week there were three, because one was at home watching her grandson, waiting for her son to come pick him up; and this last week, yesterday, only one came, but it was the one that was watching her grandson. Turns out that the other three had all gotten sick. That's no fun. According to church records, they're all active now because they've been to church twice this month. That's kind of cool. I'm going to talk to President Pohořelický (branch president) about getting them all callings. I think that will get them all to be even more solid and feel like they're more involved.
This last week at seminary, we had a test on D&C. Elder Ingalls and I got the highest scores on it. Elder Ingalls got a 100%, and I got two questions wrong because 1) I didn't know how many pages were in the Czech D&C, and 2) I didn't remember if we had homework from our last seminary class (it was two weeks ago; the last question on the test was, 'Did you do your homework?') That was quite entertaining. The youth here are a hoot. If you're having a tough week in Třebíč, just wait until Thursday and then go to seminary and everything will be better. I love the kids here. They're amazing; except for yesterday when I asked them all if they're going to serve missions. Every one of them gave me a half-hearted "I don't know," or some other excuse. I'm sure they were just being silly. I hope they serve missions. It will change their lives and they'll be better people because of it, at least.
There's not a whole lot to say from this last week. It's a little bit of a slow time, but things are going to pick up. Winter is pulling through and it's not getting dark by 4:00pm anymore! Hurrah!
I hope and pray that you're all doing well and you're all healthy. I love you all,
Starší Monk
Monday, January 24, 2011
Another Great Week! (Další Užasný Týden!)
Dear Family,
This week was another like last week. There were so many blessings and miracles. I can't talk about every one of them because I just don't have a ton of time, but I'd love to tell you about this one guy that we started teaching.
For the past week or two, Elder Ingalls has been calling this guy in the phone called "F Miloš Horses" (F meaning former, his name, and then something about him). I had no clue who he was, but Elder Ingalls seemed to know something about him. Each time that he called he'd pick up and they'd talk for a while and Miloš would say sometime later or next week. Elder Ingalls told me that he owns a zoo or just really likes horses or something. He couldn't quite remember completely what the "horses" was about. Finally we got a meeting with him, we showed up at the building, waited for a while and then a little past the time that we had arranged for, he showed up. He was a man probably in his mid forties and pretty fit. He pulled his bike into the building and we went into the room and began talking. We quickly found out that he owns his own zoo here in Trebic, just a small one (most of the Czech members that we speak with don't even know that there is a zoo in Trebic, and think that it must be the one in Jihlava or somewhere larger).
Miloš is a really inquisitive guy and really just likes asking questions. When I asked him if he's a believer, he said that he doesn't really know. He said that he doesn't know if there is something above us for sure, but he knows that something has to be there because when he looks at nature, he knows that everything couldn't be chance. We told him that we can find out if something exists above us through prayer and we started explaining that. He seemed really interested and intent. He listened to how we pray and then we asked him if we could have an example of prayer with him. He agreed and we had the prayer. Afterward he commented that it's a lot like a conversation. We agreed and told him that when we pray, we're speaking with God. He then asked a really quite random question about whether or not our church does some kind of program where you can leave and have time alone just to think about God and spiritual things, for say, a week or a month or some kind of thing like that. I was about to say no, we don't; but Elder Ingalls said that we do and that time at church is that time from the week, every single week, that we can be away from the world and we can think just about spiritual things. He really liked that. You could see that he wanted that time and that he really thinks about these kinds of things a lot. We promised him that if he came to church, he could have that time away from the world and that he could think about spiritual things. He asked questions about how we can repent after we mentioned repentance, and we summarized it for him. He really seemed to like the idea of it.
Miloš is just such a humble man and is seeking after so much truth. We wanted to commit him to baptism, but we both felt that it wasn't the right time and that perhaps next time, or the time after, would be better. At the end of the meeting, I asked him if he could pray, and he thought for a second. He then said, "So at the beginning, I just say 'My dear Heavenly Father,' or 'Oh God'?" We told him yes. He looked a little confused for a second and then asked, "Can I just say 'God'?" We told him that would be fine. Then he continued, "Then I just speak with Him?" We assured him, and then he asked, "and do I say specifically, 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen' at the end?" We told him yes, and then he said, "Okay." When he prayed, it was exactly like he was speaking with God. His prayer reminded me a lot of the prayer that Ling Lamoni gives in the Book of Mormon; King Lamoni prayed and said to God that he doesn't know if He's there or not, but he knew the words of Ammon were true and that he was willing to try the things that he told him. Miloš said that he doesn't know if God exists, but he's working and trying to find out. It was probably one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. At the end, we were all feeling really good, and you could tell that Miloš was also enlightened by our meeting. We're excited to meet him again later this week. We think that he was put into the former list because it was so long and hard to get a meeting set up with him. Blessings are everywhere!
Miloš is a really inquisitive guy and really just likes asking questions. When I asked him if he's a believer, he said that he doesn't really know. He said that he doesn't know if there is something above us for sure, but he knows that something has to be there because when he looks at nature, he knows that everything couldn't be chance. We told him that we can find out if something exists above us through prayer and we started explaining that. He seemed really interested and intent. He listened to how we pray and then we asked him if we could have an example of prayer with him. He agreed and we had the prayer. Afterward he commented that it's a lot like a conversation. We agreed and told him that when we pray, we're speaking with God. He then asked a really quite random question about whether or not our church does some kind of program where you can leave and have time alone just to think about God and spiritual things, for say, a week or a month or some kind of thing like that. I was about to say no, we don't; but Elder Ingalls said that we do and that time at church is that time from the week, every single week, that we can be away from the world and we can think just about spiritual things. He really liked that. You could see that he wanted that time and that he really thinks about these kinds of things a lot. We promised him that if he came to church, he could have that time away from the world and that he could think about spiritual things. He asked questions about how we can repent after we mentioned repentance, and we summarized it for him. He really seemed to like the idea of it.
Miloš is just such a humble man and is seeking after so much truth. We wanted to commit him to baptism, but we both felt that it wasn't the right time and that perhaps next time, or the time after, would be better. At the end of the meeting, I asked him if he could pray, and he thought for a second. He then said, "So at the beginning, I just say 'My dear Heavenly Father,' or 'Oh God'?" We told him yes. He looked a little confused for a second and then asked, "Can I just say 'God'?" We told him that would be fine. Then he continued, "Then I just speak with Him?" We assured him, and then he asked, "and do I say specifically, 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen' at the end?" We told him yes, and then he said, "Okay." When he prayed, it was exactly like he was speaking with God. His prayer reminded me a lot of the prayer that Ling Lamoni gives in the Book of Mormon; King Lamoni prayed and said to God that he doesn't know if He's there or not, but he knew the words of Ammon were true and that he was willing to try the things that he told him. Miloš said that he doesn't know if God exists, but he's working and trying to find out. It was probably one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. At the end, we were all feeling really good, and you could tell that Miloš was also enlightened by our meeting. We're excited to meet him again later this week. We think that he was put into the former list because it was so long and hard to get a meeting set up with him. Blessings are everywhere!
I'm sorry that I don't have a ton of time today to write about more of our adventures this week. I finished the Book of Mormon again. I then went and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and I got the same answer I've gotten the past three or four times, "You already know it's true." I keep trying to see if I'll get some large and amazing answer that the Book of Mormon is true, but sometimes you just have to know that knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon doesn't always have to be something big and stupendous - sometimes it's just a small knowing that you have in your heart. I'm studying Proverbs now. Holy smokes, they're awesome. I'm glad that I studied the Book of Mormon first, though, so I could get used to the way things are said a little because without that, I would be very, very lost.
My time is up, but I hope that you all have an amazing week and see lots and lots of blessings in your every day lives! I certainly do.
Love you all,
Starší Monk
Monday, January 17, 2011
Amazing Week and Still Moving Up!
Dear Family,
This week has been purely amazing! I don't know what else to really say, except for taking you through just about every single day. Every day had awesome miracles.
On Monday, we were dogged on one lesson in the morning, but the we had another in the afternoon. There's not really a whole lot you can say about good lessons other than you know that you were being led by the Spirit the whole time. We had a lesson with a man named Karel Novak. This was the first time that I've met him, and we sat down and talked to him about the Book of Mormon and asked him what he thinks about it. He says that he knows it's true because he can feel God's Spirit around it. We then asked him about the restoration (this is a really watered down version of the lesson) and he said that he believes that too. We tied all of this together and told him that if the Book of Mormon and restoration are true, then that means that this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church of Jesus Christ here on the Earth. He heard us out but didn't really give a response. We then asked him to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, and he told us that he's already been baptized. Then we read D&C 22 with him (this is the section which talks about being baptized 100 times and profiting him nothing if it's done by dead works) and talked about dead and living works. We said that living works are done by God and works can only be done here on earth in God's name through his authority and power! He understood, but I still don't think that he liked it too much. He's such a humble guy and he understands what we talk about, but he keeps resorting back to his silly retorts that we've already addressed. I'm not really sure what else to do for him. He needs to come to church, but as we found out this last time, he works at a few cathedrals outside of Trebic and that keeps him from coming to our church meetings. We'll see what we can do with him.
Later that day, I got a call from Olomouc. Olomouc got cut down to only two missionaries this last transfer. Elder Tall is still there, and I was really excited to talk to him but a little confused why he called. He asked me if I remembered a Standa guy that Elder Pearson and I found while we were there. I told him of course. He was one of the only people that we actually found that did anything! Well, Elder Tall recounted to me that that day they were sitting at the building, not really knowing why, and in walks Standa. He told the missionaries that he completely read the Book of Mormon and that it helped him get through the tough times that he was having. His problems were already past, for the most part, and I guess he wanted to keep talking with the missionaries. Elder Tall and Elder Weser, his companion now, gave him a baptismal date on the spot. He didn't accept right away, but said that he'd think about it. So in short, Elder Tall called me to tell me the good news about Standa, that my efforts in Olomouc weren't wasted, and also to get information about him: what kind of problems he had, who his member friends were, etc. I was overjoyed Standa recontacted the missionaries. Elder Tall also told me about Vlada, a less active in Olomouc, and that he's coming back to church, that he wants to go to the temple and that he's preparing himself to do it. Also, his even less active wife has been coming to church! The entire six, almost seven, months that I was in Olomouc, I think that Vlada had been to church four or five times, probably three of which he left early because of other reasons, and his wife, Mila, had been to church a grand total of one time. Elder Tall said that they've been coming for a few weeks now, and they're both really liking it! I just love hearing about this and I am really overjoyed for Vlada and his wife. I love those two and hope that they end up going to the temple.
A really big thing that we did this week was that we planned every single day really thoroughly and we saw amazing blessings from it. Our lessons were more solid, our lessons were better, and we found that we were more diligent with the time that we had. On Wednesday, we had three lessons in that same day, and Elder Ingalls is convinced that that is the most lessons that have been taught in one day in Trebic in a long time. He said that every time that they've had over three lessons on plan, things would fall through, people would call and cancel or they'd just not come. We taught three lessons that day and we were both very happy because of it!
Also something else that we've done a little differently this last week is that we went to visit less active members that live here in Trebic. We visited three this last week, and every one of them was a spiritual meeting where the member knew the truthfulness of what we were speaking about and that they had to act and change things in their lives. All of them read and prayed daily, for the most part, but we told them it wasn't complete without coming to church. We invited every one of them to church on Sunday and they all accepted. Even cooler, they actually all came! None of them had been to church in multiple years and the branch saw the fruit of our labors. We could see a difference in the branch. Best of all, the branch reached back out to these people, spoke with them and re-fellowshipped them. We planned really well for next week and we asked a bunch of the members if they would be able to teach with us this week, and I think because of the inactives that we got to church, they were much more willing and open to teaching with us. This week should be even more amazing.
I feel that every single lesson that we have with people puts us in a better and better situation to helping people along better. I don't think I can recall the last time that I've felt so sure about what we're doing with each person, what we're doing with the area, and what the Lord wants with us as His missionaries. It's an amazing feeling. I might say that this is one of the most successful weeks on my mission. I've come home extremely tired every single day, but I've looked back on the day and felt satisfied with what I did. Every where that I go, I know that I'm leaving a footprint for the better. This next week Elder Ingalls and I have made a goal to teach twenty lessons, and that's going to be very hard, but we know that it is very possible; we're just going to have to be more bold and straight-forward with people. That way, if things don't go the way that we want them to, we know it's not because of a lack of effort or other fault on our part.
Last of all, yesterday on Sunday, we went outside of Trebic with President (of the branch) and visited a few members that live in the villages that can't find a way to town on Sunday for sacrament. We went and picked up a lovely lady and her daughter, both have been members of the church for over sixty years, and then drove further to another family's home. This family was a man and his wife and her mother. The wife and mother spoke no Czech, only Russian, which made for interesting conversation trying to step over the language barrier. I found that even Czechs have lots of trouble speaking to and understanding Russians. There at this home, we had a small sacrament meeting and Sunday School which lasted about an hour and a half. We had a lovely talk and got to know each of the members we were visiting: their testimonies and how they came into the church. As I watched Sister Prochazkova, the mother who's been a member for over sixty years, as she recounted her story of how she came into the church, I had the same feeling that Elder Holland referred to when he said to that old member, that some of us can only hope and wish of gaining the same standing that they have before God. I looked at this elderly sister, and just hoped that I would one day have the same standing before God that she's already attained. She has truly become a saint through the blood of Christ.
This week I've really learned, to another degree, the importance of the Spirit and always living worthy of it. Life is too hard to press on with our own strength. As the scriptures say, we are less than the dust of the Earth, and I've felt that time and time again in my life, however, when we couple our strengths with the Lord's, anything is possible; all He asks of us is for us to give ourselves to Him. Is that so hard? At times it may seem so, but after we do it, we know that it was well worth it.
I love you all so very much and pray that we can all come closer to Christ in every way that we act and live. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the Spirit whenever you can,
Starší Monk
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Work in Třebíč
Dear Family,
I must say, it's a little strange working here in Třebíč. Each town has it's quirks and ways that the work functions there in that particular town based on geography, people and situations with the branch. Of course there are lots of different things that factor in, but most probably, these are the biggest ones. So, here in Třebíč, I think I've already told you about the geography... yes, everything is basically uphill. All your prayers have been answered. You've all been telling me to lose weight (I don't think I'm that fat, and I don't think that the pictures I'm sending home really do justice, and all the people here I show pictures to say that I've lost weight since those pictures were taken - I don't know what to think anymore) and now I get to walk uphill all day every day! It's a little annoying because we walk uphill for about twenty minutes to get to an appointment at someone's house, go in, take our coats off, and I'm sweating like crazy for the next thirty minutes and by the time that I stop, so has the lesson. It's a little distracting. I'm sure I'll get used to it and get more in shape or something.
The people are much friendlier here. I'm thinking that it's due to the fact that it's a small town so everyone knows everyone else and there aren't the walls and barriers that people have in larger towns. That makes it easy for me as a missionary, because that means that just about every person is at least decently considerate when they don't want to talk to you. I'll take that. We also have a teaching pool! It's taking a little while to get our area rehabilitated, but it's getting there. This last week we had a lesson set up with our baptismal date, Ari (she's a Mongolian lady) and we set up for a member to come as well. Ari then later called us and told us that she'd like to meet in an hour, about three hours earlier than our arranged time, because she wanted to bring a friend along who wouldn't really have time otherwise. So we said that we'd be there and we told the member friend, president of the branch's wife, that they wanted to meet right away; if she could make it, great, if not, then it'd be okay. She said that she couldn't. So we come to the meeting and Ari brought her two year old son, hilarious kid, and her friend. Her friend is named Batbayar, also a Mongolian guy but basically only speaks Russian. That makes things interesting.
As we tried to teach the lesson, we laid down our expectations as missionaries, taught about prayer and reading and committed them both to do so that week. They both agreed. During the lesson it was really cool. Ari has been really sketchy - I'm not really sure what to make of it. When we asked her to pray at the beginning of the meeting, she giggled and tried brushing it off and said that Batbayar could do it. I didn't want to be overly pushy, but I did want her to pray, so I asked her again. She brushed it onto Batbayar again. So we turned to him, opened up the Preach my Gospel in Mongolian to the page where it talks about prayer, with the steps outlined, and asked him if he could try that. He was a little confused, so we explained prayer to him and when he wouldn't get it, he'd turn to Ari and she'd translate for him to Mongolian (she speaks really good Czech - don't quite know how much she understands, but she speaks well) and then he'd seem like he had an epiphany each time when he understood and then he'd go back to listening to us. While we were speaking about it, and when Ari was translating, something clicked in her head and you could see it. Something changed. She explained it to Batbayar and then he agreed to pray. He basically read the box word for word, but he at least made the attempt to do it. Afterward, we explained that the middle step can be whatever he wants to say, and that it doesn't have to be about asking God if the Book of Mormon is true every time (it's under the section "Pray to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon" or something like that at the end of the first lesson in the third chapter of Preach my Gospel). He understood and said that he'd continue to pray.
The lesson went fairly well, but we didn't really get to teach much, because the little boy, Jaromir, was really quite loud, but nonetheless, we taught them both. It went fairly well and then at the end we arranged another lesson two days later in the evening and then we arranged for the president of the branch and his wife to show up as well.
Then Batbayar asked us if we could help him find an English school/course in Canada or Australia because he wants to learn so he can manage stores better. He said that he wants to own some stores in America and that he needs to have a good English course so he can speak well. So we set up a time for the next day, the day before our lesson with them, to meet up at the library and find him a course. Oh my word. That was probably the most mind numbing/pounding experience of my life. We went into finding a course, that wasn't too bad, but then we started finding out that if you added housing, it would basically double the cost and that he wouldn't be able to afford that. We tried finding just about any course in English that would be about five to six months long in any location, and the cheapest one with housing would be too expensive for him. THEN, he wanted me to help him find out if he would be eligible for a Canadian study visa. That was probably the worst part. Just about every thing we did would get hung up on because he doesn't completely know what's happening on the computer screen, he asks me every ten to fifteen seconds what's going on, giving me advice, telling me again and again what he needs etc etc. Not to mention the fact that this entire thing was in Russian. Ouch. I even started looking for other apartments that are around the campus of the school that he wanted to go to. Luckily I didn't start searching flight plans. That would have killed me. Also, luckily, everything that I was looking at on the computer screen was in English. I had a few breaks cut to me, but not many. Elder Ingalls was sitting over on the side just chilling out while I duked it out with the computer and Batbayar, trying to figure out what he wanted and how to find something that might satisfy him. Oh, it was terrible. We got out of the library about two and a half hours later, and he was very thankful that we helped him with that. Basically what we found him was the cheapest English course, without rooming, where it would be and the Canadian consulate in Mongolia so he can contact them about getting a visa. I would rather not worry about that. Afterward we asked him if he had read that last night and if he prayed. He said that he did He felt good, but he didn't really know anything yet. We told him that would come in time and that he just needs to continue doing that. He accepted that and we said good-bye and then I went to unwind my brain for a bit before we got back to the work. I don't regret helping him out, I never regret helping people. I'm just saying that it was really, really painful.
Through the week, I've come to grow to love members more and more and learned that they have really neat conversion stories, even the less actives. I've made a goal to really go out of our way to meet with members during the week, with or without an investigator, so that we can get to know them and so they can feel like the missionaries care about them as well, and not just for member lessons. There was an inactive lady at church this last week. Her name is Iva, and she's been thinking about taking her records out of the church database, but we think it was all just for show. We went and visited her, and that took forever too, but she came to church! So it wasn't a complete waste. There was also a very inactive member at church this last week. He was the previous branch president but after he got released, he went completely inactive all at once. Missionaries and most members don't know why. I'm sure that the new branch president does, but it's not my business. If it's ever appropriate, I'll ask.
I'm really looking forward to this next week. We're going to do amazing things and we're going to see blessings. As of right now we have a few lessons on plan, but I'm really excited about meeting with less actives and getting them reactivated. That's something that I've seen in a new light recently. How great is it to bring someone unto the flock of God, but how much greater is it to bring one that has been lost back unto Him?
I love you all and hope everything is doing well. I'll keep working at losing weight. Walking hills all day is hard work. We estimated we walk about seven or eight miles a day and all of it is on hills. Love you all muches, and pray for you,
Starší Monk
I must say, it's a little strange working here in Třebíč. Each town has it's quirks and ways that the work functions there in that particular town based on geography, people and situations with the branch. Of course there are lots of different things that factor in, but most probably, these are the biggest ones. So, here in Třebíč, I think I've already told you about the geography... yes, everything is basically uphill. All your prayers have been answered. You've all been telling me to lose weight (I don't think I'm that fat, and I don't think that the pictures I'm sending home really do justice, and all the people here I show pictures to say that I've lost weight since those pictures were taken - I don't know what to think anymore) and now I get to walk uphill all day every day! It's a little annoying because we walk uphill for about twenty minutes to get to an appointment at someone's house, go in, take our coats off, and I'm sweating like crazy for the next thirty minutes and by the time that I stop, so has the lesson. It's a little distracting. I'm sure I'll get used to it and get more in shape or something.
The people are much friendlier here. I'm thinking that it's due to the fact that it's a small town so everyone knows everyone else and there aren't the walls and barriers that people have in larger towns. That makes it easy for me as a missionary, because that means that just about every person is at least decently considerate when they don't want to talk to you. I'll take that. We also have a teaching pool! It's taking a little while to get our area rehabilitated, but it's getting there. This last week we had a lesson set up with our baptismal date, Ari (she's a Mongolian lady) and we set up for a member to come as well. Ari then later called us and told us that she'd like to meet in an hour, about three hours earlier than our arranged time, because she wanted to bring a friend along who wouldn't really have time otherwise. So we said that we'd be there and we told the member friend, president of the branch's wife, that they wanted to meet right away; if she could make it, great, if not, then it'd be okay. She said that she couldn't. So we come to the meeting and Ari brought her two year old son, hilarious kid, and her friend. Her friend is named Batbayar, also a Mongolian guy but basically only speaks Russian. That makes things interesting.
As we tried to teach the lesson, we laid down our expectations as missionaries, taught about prayer and reading and committed them both to do so that week. They both agreed. During the lesson it was really cool. Ari has been really sketchy - I'm not really sure what to make of it. When we asked her to pray at the beginning of the meeting, she giggled and tried brushing it off and said that Batbayar could do it. I didn't want to be overly pushy, but I did want her to pray, so I asked her again. She brushed it onto Batbayar again. So we turned to him, opened up the Preach my Gospel in Mongolian to the page where it talks about prayer, with the steps outlined, and asked him if he could try that. He was a little confused, so we explained prayer to him and when he wouldn't get it, he'd turn to Ari and she'd translate for him to Mongolian (she speaks really good Czech - don't quite know how much she understands, but she speaks well) and then he'd seem like he had an epiphany each time when he understood and then he'd go back to listening to us. While we were speaking about it, and when Ari was translating, something clicked in her head and you could see it. Something changed. She explained it to Batbayar and then he agreed to pray. He basically read the box word for word, but he at least made the attempt to do it. Afterward, we explained that the middle step can be whatever he wants to say, and that it doesn't have to be about asking God if the Book of Mormon is true every time (it's under the section "Pray to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon" or something like that at the end of the first lesson in the third chapter of Preach my Gospel). He understood and said that he'd continue to pray.
The lesson went fairly well, but we didn't really get to teach much, because the little boy, Jaromir, was really quite loud, but nonetheless, we taught them both. It went fairly well and then at the end we arranged another lesson two days later in the evening and then we arranged for the president of the branch and his wife to show up as well.
Then Batbayar asked us if we could help him find an English school/course in Canada or Australia because he wants to learn so he can manage stores better. He said that he wants to own some stores in America and that he needs to have a good English course so he can speak well. So we set up a time for the next day, the day before our lesson with them, to meet up at the library and find him a course. Oh my word. That was probably the most mind numbing/pounding experience of my life. We went into finding a course, that wasn't too bad, but then we started finding out that if you added housing, it would basically double the cost and that he wouldn't be able to afford that. We tried finding just about any course in English that would be about five to six months long in any location, and the cheapest one with housing would be too expensive for him. THEN, he wanted me to help him find out if he would be eligible for a Canadian study visa. That was probably the worst part. Just about every thing we did would get hung up on because he doesn't completely know what's happening on the computer screen, he asks me every ten to fifteen seconds what's going on, giving me advice, telling me again and again what he needs etc etc. Not to mention the fact that this entire thing was in Russian. Ouch. I even started looking for other apartments that are around the campus of the school that he wanted to go to. Luckily I didn't start searching flight plans. That would have killed me. Also, luckily, everything that I was looking at on the computer screen was in English. I had a few breaks cut to me, but not many. Elder Ingalls was sitting over on the side just chilling out while I duked it out with the computer and Batbayar, trying to figure out what he wanted and how to find something that might satisfy him. Oh, it was terrible. We got out of the library about two and a half hours later, and he was very thankful that we helped him with that. Basically what we found him was the cheapest English course, without rooming, where it would be and the Canadian consulate in Mongolia so he can contact them about getting a visa. I would rather not worry about that. Afterward we asked him if he had read that last night and if he prayed. He said that he did He felt good, but he didn't really know anything yet. We told him that would come in time and that he just needs to continue doing that. He accepted that and we said good-bye and then I went to unwind my brain for a bit before we got back to the work. I don't regret helping him out, I never regret helping people. I'm just saying that it was really, really painful.
Through the week, I've come to grow to love members more and more and learned that they have really neat conversion stories, even the less actives. I've made a goal to really go out of our way to meet with members during the week, with or without an investigator, so that we can get to know them and so they can feel like the missionaries care about them as well, and not just for member lessons. There was an inactive lady at church this last week. Her name is Iva, and she's been thinking about taking her records out of the church database, but we think it was all just for show. We went and visited her, and that took forever too, but she came to church! So it wasn't a complete waste. There was also a very inactive member at church this last week. He was the previous branch president but after he got released, he went completely inactive all at once. Missionaries and most members don't know why. I'm sure that the new branch president does, but it's not my business. If it's ever appropriate, I'll ask.
I'm really looking forward to this next week. We're going to do amazing things and we're going to see blessings. As of right now we have a few lessons on plan, but I'm really excited about meeting with less actives and getting them reactivated. That's something that I've seen in a new light recently. How great is it to bring someone unto the flock of God, but how much greater is it to bring one that has been lost back unto Him?
I love you all and hope everything is doing well. I'll keep working at losing weight. Walking hills all day is hard work. We estimated we walk about seven or eight miles a day and all of it is on hills. Love you all muches, and pray for you,
Starší Monk
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
I Forgot to tell you Something
Dear Family,
I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. I'm kind of glad that it's over, because now we're back to work and no more boredom. It's kind of terrible that I'm saying that I was bored of sitting around for a few days. Kind of strange. Anyway, as you can probably tell from the subject of this entry, I forgot to tell you something last week when I emailed. We had transfers last week and I moved! I actually moved to one of the smallest towns in the mission: Třebíč. It's a quaint little town. You can walk from one end to the other in twenty minutes, and there are lots of hills. I've heard a joke that every way that you walk is up hill. Well, it's true. The center of town is down in a valley and then all the houses and everything else are up on the surrounding hills. It's actually turning into a big pain walking all of them every day. I've heard that the town is about thirty thousand people and I believe it. With such a small town, we get a lot of time to tract, so also in reaction to that, we know where peoples' addresses are so we meet them at their homes instead of at our building. The work here is quite different than in any other town that I've served in so far. That's not to say by any means that I don't like it. I actually love it, so far.
I have a new companion, and funny thing is, he's the companion that Elder Rhodes had before me. So, Elder Rhodes served with him, then I served with Elder Rhodes, and now I'm serving with Elder Ingalls. It's turning out really nice how things are going. For three transfers in a row I had people from Elder Page's group (Elders Page, Pearson [who were companions in the MTC] and Rhodes) and now I'm serving with Elder Rhodes' follow up trainer. I pointed out to Elder Ingalls that he's my oldest companion thus far, with the exception of my trainer. He's a fifth transfer missionary in the mission. My second oldest were my follow up trainers, and they were fourth transfer. This is really strange.
There's not a whole lot to talk about in Třebíč. We actually have a decent teaching pool. I'm really excited about that! It's been a while since I've had that. We have one baptismal date. She's a Mongolian lady. She's really nice, but it's seeming like right now that she's not really retaining information, so we'll have to find some way to get around that. I think that that will be solved with a solid testimony about why we're meeting with her. We'll see. Other than that, all our free time is spent walking up the hills to get to the panelaks so we can tract into people. My town is simple, and thus my life is simple now too. :)
I love this work. Many times missionaries joke around saying that they're going to get sent to Jihlava (which is the other half of our district) or Trebic as a punishment, but I actually really enjoy it and know that the Lord needs me here at this time. The branch is wonderful. They're organized and work just like a ward of 150 people, even though there's only about twenty of them that are active. We finally get to do only missionary work instead of babysitting the branch. It's wonderful.
I love you all and hope that you stay warm this winter,
Starší Monk
PS - the picture is of Elder Rhodes and me when they dropped me off at the train station to come to Třebíč.
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