Here is a map showing the relative locations of Olomouc and Plzeň.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Mission Conference and Transfers!
Dear Family,
This past week has been quite unique in terms of what kind of events we have had. (Also, I feel that I should warn you that if I get my "y"s and "z"s backwards, it is because I cannot change this keyboard into English - it is stuck in Czech. Also, I cannot use any contractions because there is no such thing as an apostrophe in Czech. Consider yourselves warned!)
So I will start by letting you know why I am writing today instead of last Monday. The APs have been seeing that every transfer week, the effectiveness of the work has gone down, clearly because missionaries are getting excited about going to their new areas and are not focusing on the work, but instead about saying goodbye to all the people from the area. Also, it does not make much sense to have a P-day on Monday and then have a transfer day on Wednesday, which usually gets almost completely wasted. So, they have started doing something new and they are talking to individual people who are moving (to them only) on Monday evening or Tuesday morning and telling them where they will be going. They are told to contact their new areas to see who their new companion will be and to arrange travel. Then on Wednesday the entire mission has a P-day and transfers together.
I actually think that it is a good idea and that it will increase effectiveness during transfer weeks. So I should probably let you know that I have been moved! I got a call on Monday night and Elder Anderson told me that I would be moving to Plzeň. Look for it on a map - it is on the opposite side of Prague from Olomouc. I got on the train this morning at 6:30 and arrived in Prague at 8:30. Then changed to a train that left at 9:00 and got into Plzeň at almost 11:00. I am already off to a pretty long day. Despite this, I am not really tired and I am very excited to be working here with Elder Rhodes. Also, the other companionship here will be Elder McGowan and Elder Horvath - yes, I have already served around both of them. Elder McGowan in Olomouc and Elder Horvath in the MTC. They have already had one transfer together and they are doing very well. I cannot say that there were any fun stories about exchanging this time. It all went pretty smoothly except for the fact that I brought the phone from Olomouc with me on the train. Yeah, that was a mistake. In the morning the ZLs in Olomouc came to drop me off at the train station. They called to tell us that they were already at our apartment so I picked up and said okay and then dropped the phone in my pocket without thinking. After I was on the train and it had left the station, I got a call from the others Elders who were quite surprised when I picked up! I think that they called it to try and find it at the apartment. Surprise! So I have to put it into a paded envelope and send it back to them ASAP.
Also this last week we had a mission conference and it was with Elder Pearson from the Quorum of the Seventy. It was amazing. Spiritual slam on all of us that were there. I cannot begin to tell you how much I felt like I was not fulfilling my duties as a missionary and how much I wanted to do better. I guess that the Holy Ghost taught me pretty well through that meeting. Elder Pearson told us that he was going to be as bold as he could and he definitely did. He spoke a lot about how people can see whether someone has the Holy Ghost or not by how the spirit in each one of us will recognize it or not. When we do not have that spirit, people do not feel the importance of our message or do not care, but when they can feel the Spirit and see it, then they are different and they progress. He made it very clear to me that the Holy Ghost is an essential part of missionary work even to the point that it does not matter what we say or do as long as we have and are following the Spirit. In reality, we are not here to convince people, we are not here to find people - the only thing that we are here to do is to turn ourselves over to the Lord 100% and then he guides and leads us and does the work for us. The hard part is having the Spirit enough so that we are led all the time and that we always have that connection with God through the Holy Ghost. It was truly amazing. I do not think that he really said anything new, but everything made so much more sense and it seems that everything was unfolded just a little more and I comprehended just that much more of how helpless I am in the work and how grateful I need to be that I can be just a part of it all.
Aside from that, I can tell you about two contacts that we had this last week, and then one from two weeks ago that I forgot to tell you about before.
The first one from this week was a guy that we found in a park right after we had been having a really rough morning. He was a nicer looking guy - suit, nice big long jacket, suitcase - and did not look like he had a whole lot of time. We stopped him anyway. As we started talking, he was really friendly and we asked him if he had just a little bit of time that we could sit down and talk for a minute. He said that he had thirty minutes, and we said that we only had ten (we really did have to get somewhere), but we sat on a bench nonetheless and kept talking some more. He had really good questions and said that he had spoken with our colleagues before, but he had never had a lot of time. He said that he wanted to speak with us and he was interested in what we have to say but he figured instead of trying to track us down, he knew that we would contact him again. So we got his number and set up a meeting for the next day. The next day he did not come to the meeting, but when we called him, his boss that he had to stay at work longer and that he could not come. He then set up with us again for the next day and said that he would still like to meet with us. The next day, in the morning, he texted us and said that he did not know if he was going to be able to make it, but he would let us know as the time came nearer. As the time came nearer, he sent us a text saying that his boss was again holding him at work and that he was not going to be able to make it. That is the last that I have heard from him, but I anticipate that the other elders will get him rolling. He is going to be awesome. By the way, his name is Honza - which is the Czech equivalent of Johnny.
Then our other contact was actually yesterday. It was another person in the park and we started talking to him. Elder Pearson did a little bit of an awkward move to speak with him, but he did not seem to mind. As we began speaking we could see that he was really interested in the things that we were saying and he kept asking really good questions which all led perfectly into gospel topics. We kept referring back to the principles to answer his questions and he seemed to just eat it up. We ended up speaking with him for about 25 minutes, which is not terribly long, but it is still long enough to take notice. At the end he told us that after he finished his class, he was thinking about whether he needed to go back home or go to the library, and he decided to go to the library. While he was on his way there, he met us. He said that he does not believe in coincidences - he knew that God had put us together and that he knows that we have something for him. It is too bad that I am leaving and I will not be able to see the progression of Daniel - that is his name.
Now the contact a few weeks ago. We were walking around the town hall on the town square and a guy on the bench yelled out to us and said, "Hey boys! I have your next person right here! She has interest!" The woman looked very confused and very uncomfortable next to him, and he seemed quite drunk. We came up to the man and played along with it for a little bit, and then Elder Pearson looked at the lady and asked if she knew the guy. She said that she did not so we just kept up the conversation with the guy and let the poor lady escape. I figured it is better to leave a person with something than just leave them with nothing and I had the feeling that we should leave him with a Book of Mormon. So we sat down with him and he just wanted to talk. I do not think that he cared too much for listening. Anyway, we worked our way around to the Book of Mormon and he asked if he could have it. I told him of course and asked him to read some of it later that day. Then he told me that he could not just take it for free, but he had to give me something in return for it! So, he opened his backpack, this entire time I am trying to refuse whatever it is he wanted to give me, and he took out two books and handed them to me. One is about some random guy who he claims to be his army commander and the other was an old interactive calendar (I think it was 2001). Then he started pulling out a ton of candy that the various people from different political campaigns were giving out (city and regional votes were going on). He then took my backpack and started shoving all the candy and books into it and other random things that he had. I just sat there and acted very grateful for what he was giving me. I was more confused and regretful that we had sat down with this guy than grateful (which is probably not good) and once he finished with that, he wanted me to sign the Book of Mormon for him so he could remember when he got it and from whom it was. Then he asked if he could use my pen and I thought, "sure why not?" and he finished signing it with his own signature. The he told me that he was stealing my pen and put it into his coat and handed me a cardboard pen from one of the political campaigns in exchange for it. What could I say? Nothing really, so I just let it go. So, Dad, that was the pen that I asked the refills for. Do not worry about sending refills now.
The work is great and the blessings are abounding around us. Can we recognize them? I know that for me, for a very long time I could not because I was looking for what I wanted instead of what the Lord was giving me.
I love you all very much,
Starší Monk
This past week has been quite unique in terms of what kind of events we have had. (Also, I feel that I should warn you that if I get my "y"s and "z"s backwards, it is because I cannot change this keyboard into English - it is stuck in Czech. Also, I cannot use any contractions because there is no such thing as an apostrophe in Czech. Consider yourselves warned!)
So I will start by letting you know why I am writing today instead of last Monday. The APs have been seeing that every transfer week, the effectiveness of the work has gone down, clearly because missionaries are getting excited about going to their new areas and are not focusing on the work, but instead about saying goodbye to all the people from the area. Also, it does not make much sense to have a P-day on Monday and then have a transfer day on Wednesday, which usually gets almost completely wasted. So, they have started doing something new and they are talking to individual people who are moving (to them only) on Monday evening or Tuesday morning and telling them where they will be going. They are told to contact their new areas to see who their new companion will be and to arrange travel. Then on Wednesday the entire mission has a P-day and transfers together.
I actually think that it is a good idea and that it will increase effectiveness during transfer weeks. So I should probably let you know that I have been moved! I got a call on Monday night and Elder Anderson told me that I would be moving to Plzeň. Look for it on a map - it is on the opposite side of Prague from Olomouc. I got on the train this morning at 6:30 and arrived in Prague at 8:30. Then changed to a train that left at 9:00 and got into Plzeň at almost 11:00. I am already off to a pretty long day. Despite this, I am not really tired and I am very excited to be working here with Elder Rhodes. Also, the other companionship here will be Elder McGowan and Elder Horvath - yes, I have already served around both of them. Elder McGowan in Olomouc and Elder Horvath in the MTC. They have already had one transfer together and they are doing very well. I cannot say that there were any fun stories about exchanging this time. It all went pretty smoothly except for the fact that I brought the phone from Olomouc with me on the train. Yeah, that was a mistake. In the morning the ZLs in Olomouc came to drop me off at the train station. They called to tell us that they were already at our apartment so I picked up and said okay and then dropped the phone in my pocket without thinking. After I was on the train and it had left the station, I got a call from the others Elders who were quite surprised when I picked up! I think that they called it to try and find it at the apartment. Surprise! So I have to put it into a paded envelope and send it back to them ASAP.
Also this last week we had a mission conference and it was with Elder Pearson from the Quorum of the Seventy. It was amazing. Spiritual slam on all of us that were there. I cannot begin to tell you how much I felt like I was not fulfilling my duties as a missionary and how much I wanted to do better. I guess that the Holy Ghost taught me pretty well through that meeting. Elder Pearson told us that he was going to be as bold as he could and he definitely did. He spoke a lot about how people can see whether someone has the Holy Ghost or not by how the spirit in each one of us will recognize it or not. When we do not have that spirit, people do not feel the importance of our message or do not care, but when they can feel the Spirit and see it, then they are different and they progress. He made it very clear to me that the Holy Ghost is an essential part of missionary work even to the point that it does not matter what we say or do as long as we have and are following the Spirit. In reality, we are not here to convince people, we are not here to find people - the only thing that we are here to do is to turn ourselves over to the Lord 100% and then he guides and leads us and does the work for us. The hard part is having the Spirit enough so that we are led all the time and that we always have that connection with God through the Holy Ghost. It was truly amazing. I do not think that he really said anything new, but everything made so much more sense and it seems that everything was unfolded just a little more and I comprehended just that much more of how helpless I am in the work and how grateful I need to be that I can be just a part of it all.
Aside from that, I can tell you about two contacts that we had this last week, and then one from two weeks ago that I forgot to tell you about before.
The first one from this week was a guy that we found in a park right after we had been having a really rough morning. He was a nicer looking guy - suit, nice big long jacket, suitcase - and did not look like he had a whole lot of time. We stopped him anyway. As we started talking, he was really friendly and we asked him if he had just a little bit of time that we could sit down and talk for a minute. He said that he had thirty minutes, and we said that we only had ten (we really did have to get somewhere), but we sat on a bench nonetheless and kept talking some more. He had really good questions and said that he had spoken with our colleagues before, but he had never had a lot of time. He said that he wanted to speak with us and he was interested in what we have to say but he figured instead of trying to track us down, he knew that we would contact him again. So we got his number and set up a meeting for the next day. The next day he did not come to the meeting, but when we called him, his boss that he had to stay at work longer and that he could not come. He then set up with us again for the next day and said that he would still like to meet with us. The next day, in the morning, he texted us and said that he did not know if he was going to be able to make it, but he would let us know as the time came nearer. As the time came nearer, he sent us a text saying that his boss was again holding him at work and that he was not going to be able to make it. That is the last that I have heard from him, but I anticipate that the other elders will get him rolling. He is going to be awesome. By the way, his name is Honza - which is the Czech equivalent of Johnny.
Then our other contact was actually yesterday. It was another person in the park and we started talking to him. Elder Pearson did a little bit of an awkward move to speak with him, but he did not seem to mind. As we began speaking we could see that he was really interested in the things that we were saying and he kept asking really good questions which all led perfectly into gospel topics. We kept referring back to the principles to answer his questions and he seemed to just eat it up. We ended up speaking with him for about 25 minutes, which is not terribly long, but it is still long enough to take notice. At the end he told us that after he finished his class, he was thinking about whether he needed to go back home or go to the library, and he decided to go to the library. While he was on his way there, he met us. He said that he does not believe in coincidences - he knew that God had put us together and that he knows that we have something for him. It is too bad that I am leaving and I will not be able to see the progression of Daniel - that is his name.
Now the contact a few weeks ago. We were walking around the town hall on the town square and a guy on the bench yelled out to us and said, "Hey boys! I have your next person right here! She has interest!" The woman looked very confused and very uncomfortable next to him, and he seemed quite drunk. We came up to the man and played along with it for a little bit, and then Elder Pearson looked at the lady and asked if she knew the guy. She said that she did not so we just kept up the conversation with the guy and let the poor lady escape. I figured it is better to leave a person with something than just leave them with nothing and I had the feeling that we should leave him with a Book of Mormon. So we sat down with him and he just wanted to talk. I do not think that he cared too much for listening. Anyway, we worked our way around to the Book of Mormon and he asked if he could have it. I told him of course and asked him to read some of it later that day. Then he told me that he could not just take it for free, but he had to give me something in return for it! So, he opened his backpack, this entire time I am trying to refuse whatever it is he wanted to give me, and he took out two books and handed them to me. One is about some random guy who he claims to be his army commander and the other was an old interactive calendar (I think it was 2001). Then he started pulling out a ton of candy that the various people from different political campaigns were giving out (city and regional votes were going on). He then took my backpack and started shoving all the candy and books into it and other random things that he had. I just sat there and acted very grateful for what he was giving me. I was more confused and regretful that we had sat down with this guy than grateful (which is probably not good) and once he finished with that, he wanted me to sign the Book of Mormon for him so he could remember when he got it and from whom it was. Then he asked if he could use my pen and I thought, "sure why not?" and he finished signing it with his own signature. The he told me that he was stealing my pen and put it into his coat and handed me a cardboard pen from one of the political campaigns in exchange for it. What could I say? Nothing really, so I just let it go. So, Dad, that was the pen that I asked the refills for. Do not worry about sending refills now.
The work is great and the blessings are abounding around us. Can we recognize them? I know that for me, for a very long time I could not because I was looking for what I wanted instead of what the Lord was giving me.
I love you all very much,
Starší Monk
Monday, October 18, 2010
It's Really Cold! Is it Autumn Already?
Dear Family,
There were a few interesting little things that I'd like to tell you about this week. First off, I think that a few weeks ago I wrote you and told you about a man named Standa. We met him in the park when it was raining. He said that he didn't have anyone to talk to about religion and we met with him the next day. Then on that Sunday, he came to church. Well, on Tuesday during our companionship study, we got a call from Brother Zatloukal. I picked up and he sounded extremely happy, which isn't terribly strange, so I didn't make much of it. I asked him how he was doing and then he asked me what we were doing on Thursday. I opened up my planner and saw we had nothing on schedule. I told him nothing. He said, "Great, then I'll see you at the building at 4:00pm." I was a little confused and asked why we were going to the building at 4:00pm and he told me that he had called Standa and set up a lesson with him, based on their schedules and seeing when they had time! That was amazing. That's how missionary work is supposed to go, at least if I had it my way. You find the person (or even better - get a referral) and you get the meeting set up, you invite the member, and then after that, they set everything up and just invite you to it so you can teach! It was really awesome. It's too bad that I was on an exchange with Elder Tall that day, but the two Elder Pearsons said that it was really good. Elder Pearson (the older one from Olomouc North) said that whenever they'd get stumped on what to say, Brother Zatloukal would take over and keep it really solid with testimony and experiences. I wish I had been there. It sounds like the meeting went perfectly because they got Standa to commit to praying and they found out that he had read thirteen chapters of 1 Nephi. They didn't say he had any issues. Things are looking good on that front, except for the fact that he's a little bit sketchy on coming to church. He had promised that he'd come to church this week, and when we turned up at his home this Sunday to bring him, a lady (perhaps his wife?) came to the window and said that he wasn't home. Let's hope that something changes and he starts coming to church more.
Other than that, we've been doing a lot of finding. We have one other investigator that we're really meeting with regularly, and he's a really interesting case. Perhaps I'll tell you more about him when I have more time. His name is Vit.
We found this one guy this last week. We were coming up around a corner in the park and we saw him and I greeted him with a warm hello and started talking to him. He responded much the same and before I could really say anything, he was telling me that we could go and sit down on a bench. I was very confused. He's a very big man. Probably around 230 lbs of muscle and fairly tall. As we were walking to the bench, he said that we probably wanted to talk about religion and faith, and we responded, yes. We began talking and he was very open to everything that we were saying. We also found out that he speaks very good English, so we began talking to him in English for our sakes. Basically the entire time that we were sitting there, we were just answering questions, and listening to him talk about his ideas on religion. He's personally Catholic, but is extremely open to other religions and thinks that they're all right, as long as they help you live a good life. I don't think he was quite as interested in hearing our message as he was in hearing our opinions. By the end of the conversation, we got his number and told him that we'd love to meet with him again and that he could bring friends if he'd like! He was a little reluctant to give us his number, but he thought it over and gave it to us. We both came out of the contact quite exhausted and thinking, "What are we going to do next time?" We kept our heads up and our hopes high, thinking that something could come of this contact (you get them every now and then - I've probably had about three or four of the sort). We called him two days later and before I could really say why I was calling, he said, "Yeah, I suppose you want to meet and talk some more. Do you have time tonight?" We looked at our plan, and we didn't really have time. I told him that and he was a little put off, but said okay and I said that I'd call him back again later. I called him in another two days, on Friday, and he wanted to meet in the afternoon again, but we again didn't have time, so he asked if we'd have time on Saturday around 3:00pm and I told him that that would be perfect. He then told me that he'd probably bring his girlfriend and his buddy. Oh boy. On Saturday we showed up at the place that we had decided and he came up to us with his girlfriend. We began talking, and we suggested that we go to our building, which was probably about thirty seconds walking distance from where we were, but they were quite insistant that we go to this little tea house that they know. After some more of their insisting, we went and might I say, it was pretty legit. The music there was a little distracting, but it was nice none the less. Where we sat we had to take our shoes off and then walk up to this little indoor patio. Anyway, we had a very interesting Q and A session with them, but the entire time we were trying to get little principles and hooks out so we could teach them. The girlfriend was picking up on them and I think that she wanted to hear more, but Petr (the guy we originally met) kept steering away (I think intentionally). The friend was very athiest and couldn't have cared less what we were talking about (he showed up at the tea house after we arrived). At the end, we gave Iveta (the girlfriend) and Pavel (the friend) each a Book of Mormon and a chapter to read together. We then invited them to church, and before I even finished the invitation, Petr started giving this excuse for why they probably wouldn't be able to make it - that she would be going back to her home town and that they wouldn't have time to make it, but the best part was that as soon as he started saying this, she looked at him like, "What are you saying!" I told them that it would start at 9:00am and then they said that maybe they'd be able to make it. She seemed really awesome. Sadly we didn't get her number, but I'm sure that we'll meet again somehow. At one point in the meeting, I bore testimony about the Book of Mormon and how it can change the world if everyone would believe in it, and she said something to the effect that it was a really nice testiomony of how the world can be. I think that she's prepared and the Lord won't let her slip through our fingers too long.
I'm just about out of time, but I'll share this one last story with you - it's a funny one. It happened last night. We were out tracting panelaky (big apartment like buildings) and we were ringing through the buzzer trying to get someone to let us into the building. I had just rung about three names and then I rang the fourth. An old lady picked up the buzzer and I said that we were here as volunteer missionaries from America and that we wanted to speak with her about the Book of Mormon. She then said, "Jaci Američani?" ("What kind of Americans?") That caught me off guard, and so I said missionaries again and she said that she didn't really have interest and I said thank you and she hung up. So I went to ring the next one, and a few seconds later the same old lady came on the buzzer again! I thought I pressed the next one. I told her that I think the buzzer was broken but I don't think she heard/understood me and she was a little confused herself. We had a little strange conversation trying to iron out the problem accross the buzzer and then she hung up again after saying good bye. Then I made sure that I pressed the next one and not the same one, but alas! the same old lady picked up. She got on and said, "What do you want?" sounding a little scared and intimidated "Just tell me what you want and I'll let you in!" I told her that I was sorry and that the buzzer was broken. She then told me again that she'd let me in if I told her what I wanted. I told her I wanted to speak with her and quickly she retorted, "Where?" Now I was confused, and said, "Where? At your place," and then she got even more scared and said, "No no no no, you can't come up to my place," and she said her little feeble good bye and hung up the phone. We left that panelak because I was afraid that I'd ring that poor old lady's apartment again. I know that I pressed the three consecutive buzzers and not the same one THREE times.
I love you all very much. I hope you have fun reading these blogs. I have fun writing them and reminising about the past week. This one wasn't as successful as I would have hoped, but all things are in the Lord and His ways will not be frustrated. I am glad to be a part of this work. I pray for you all and hope that all is well.
Love, your missionary,
Starší Monk
There were a few interesting little things that I'd like to tell you about this week. First off, I think that a few weeks ago I wrote you and told you about a man named Standa. We met him in the park when it was raining. He said that he didn't have anyone to talk to about religion and we met with him the next day. Then on that Sunday, he came to church. Well, on Tuesday during our companionship study, we got a call from Brother Zatloukal. I picked up and he sounded extremely happy, which isn't terribly strange, so I didn't make much of it. I asked him how he was doing and then he asked me what we were doing on Thursday. I opened up my planner and saw we had nothing on schedule. I told him nothing. He said, "Great, then I'll see you at the building at 4:00pm." I was a little confused and asked why we were going to the building at 4:00pm and he told me that he had called Standa and set up a lesson with him, based on their schedules and seeing when they had time! That was amazing. That's how missionary work is supposed to go, at least if I had it my way. You find the person (or even better - get a referral) and you get the meeting set up, you invite the member, and then after that, they set everything up and just invite you to it so you can teach! It was really awesome. It's too bad that I was on an exchange with Elder Tall that day, but the two Elder Pearsons said that it was really good. Elder Pearson (the older one from Olomouc North) said that whenever they'd get stumped on what to say, Brother Zatloukal would take over and keep it really solid with testimony and experiences. I wish I had been there. It sounds like the meeting went perfectly because they got Standa to commit to praying and they found out that he had read thirteen chapters of 1 Nephi. They didn't say he had any issues. Things are looking good on that front, except for the fact that he's a little bit sketchy on coming to church. He had promised that he'd come to church this week, and when we turned up at his home this Sunday to bring him, a lady (perhaps his wife?) came to the window and said that he wasn't home. Let's hope that something changes and he starts coming to church more.
Other than that, we've been doing a lot of finding. We have one other investigator that we're really meeting with regularly, and he's a really interesting case. Perhaps I'll tell you more about him when I have more time. His name is Vit.
We found this one guy this last week. We were coming up around a corner in the park and we saw him and I greeted him with a warm hello and started talking to him. He responded much the same and before I could really say anything, he was telling me that we could go and sit down on a bench. I was very confused. He's a very big man. Probably around 230 lbs of muscle and fairly tall. As we were walking to the bench, he said that we probably wanted to talk about religion and faith, and we responded, yes. We began talking and he was very open to everything that we were saying. We also found out that he speaks very good English, so we began talking to him in English for our sakes. Basically the entire time that we were sitting there, we were just answering questions, and listening to him talk about his ideas on religion. He's personally Catholic, but is extremely open to other religions and thinks that they're all right, as long as they help you live a good life. I don't think he was quite as interested in hearing our message as he was in hearing our opinions. By the end of the conversation, we got his number and told him that we'd love to meet with him again and that he could bring friends if he'd like! He was a little reluctant to give us his number, but he thought it over and gave it to us. We both came out of the contact quite exhausted and thinking, "What are we going to do next time?" We kept our heads up and our hopes high, thinking that something could come of this contact (you get them every now and then - I've probably had about three or four of the sort). We called him two days later and before I could really say why I was calling, he said, "Yeah, I suppose you want to meet and talk some more. Do you have time tonight?" We looked at our plan, and we didn't really have time. I told him that and he was a little put off, but said okay and I said that I'd call him back again later. I called him in another two days, on Friday, and he wanted to meet in the afternoon again, but we again didn't have time, so he asked if we'd have time on Saturday around 3:00pm and I told him that that would be perfect. He then told me that he'd probably bring his girlfriend and his buddy. Oh boy. On Saturday we showed up at the place that we had decided and he came up to us with his girlfriend. We began talking, and we suggested that we go to our building, which was probably about thirty seconds walking distance from where we were, but they were quite insistant that we go to this little tea house that they know. After some more of their insisting, we went and might I say, it was pretty legit. The music there was a little distracting, but it was nice none the less. Where we sat we had to take our shoes off and then walk up to this little indoor patio. Anyway, we had a very interesting Q and A session with them, but the entire time we were trying to get little principles and hooks out so we could teach them. The girlfriend was picking up on them and I think that she wanted to hear more, but Petr (the guy we originally met) kept steering away (I think intentionally). The friend was very athiest and couldn't have cared less what we were talking about (he showed up at the tea house after we arrived). At the end, we gave Iveta (the girlfriend) and Pavel (the friend) each a Book of Mormon and a chapter to read together. We then invited them to church, and before I even finished the invitation, Petr started giving this excuse for why they probably wouldn't be able to make it - that she would be going back to her home town and that they wouldn't have time to make it, but the best part was that as soon as he started saying this, she looked at him like, "What are you saying!" I told them that it would start at 9:00am and then they said that maybe they'd be able to make it. She seemed really awesome. Sadly we didn't get her number, but I'm sure that we'll meet again somehow. At one point in the meeting, I bore testimony about the Book of Mormon and how it can change the world if everyone would believe in it, and she said something to the effect that it was a really nice testiomony of how the world can be. I think that she's prepared and the Lord won't let her slip through our fingers too long.
I'm just about out of time, but I'll share this one last story with you - it's a funny one. It happened last night. We were out tracting panelaky (big apartment like buildings) and we were ringing through the buzzer trying to get someone to let us into the building. I had just rung about three names and then I rang the fourth. An old lady picked up the buzzer and I said that we were here as volunteer missionaries from America and that we wanted to speak with her about the Book of Mormon. She then said, "Jaci Američani?" ("What kind of Americans?") That caught me off guard, and so I said missionaries again and she said that she didn't really have interest and I said thank you and she hung up. So I went to ring the next one, and a few seconds later the same old lady came on the buzzer again! I thought I pressed the next one. I told her that I think the buzzer was broken but I don't think she heard/understood me and she was a little confused herself. We had a little strange conversation trying to iron out the problem accross the buzzer and then she hung up again after saying good bye. Then I made sure that I pressed the next one and not the same one, but alas! the same old lady picked up. She got on and said, "What do you want?" sounding a little scared and intimidated "Just tell me what you want and I'll let you in!" I told her that I was sorry and that the buzzer was broken. She then told me again that she'd let me in if I told her what I wanted. I told her I wanted to speak with her and quickly she retorted, "Where?" Now I was confused, and said, "Where? At your place," and then she got even more scared and said, "No no no no, you can't come up to my place," and she said her little feeble good bye and hung up the phone. We left that panelak because I was afraid that I'd ring that poor old lady's apartment again. I know that I pressed the three consecutive buzzers and not the same one THREE times.
I love you all very much. I hope you have fun reading these blogs. I have fun writing them and reminising about the past week. This one wasn't as successful as I would have hoped, but all things are in the Lord and His ways will not be frustrated. I am glad to be a part of this work. I pray for you all and hope that all is well.
Love, your missionary,
Starší Monk
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sometimes I think I'm a Finding Machine! (Občas si myslím že jsem nachazení nastroj!)
Dear Family,
This last week was a week of awesome contacts! Of course I'd love to teach lessons and see people making progress toward baptism, but when we don't have that, at least we're having really good contacts with people. Last week we had two lessons and both of them we really solid. Something that I've seen in the mission very recently is that we're not focusing so much on getting high numbers as we are on getting real numbers. Missionaries used to get twenty, thirty and sometimes even close to fifty lessons, but at the end of the week, they could look at it and see that they had no contacts or that none of those people were meeting with them anymore. We've really taken a big step toward making real numbers instead of fluff. Also something else that we've enacted (that's been in the white handbook, but no one followed until now) is wearing proselyting clothes and having a full three hours of studies on P-day. We've already seen some blessings from that - mainly for me, feeling like I'm not changing who I am for P-day and then feeling out of place again when I change back into missionary clothes.
Since I don't have a lot of other news, let me tell you about one or two of our contacts that we had this week.
On Tuesday we had two really cool contacts. The first one was a man named Petr and we met him when we had just walked out of the building after making goals and praying. We had only walked up the sidewalk on the square a little way when we talked to a young guy. He was probably in his mid to late twenties and we started by asking him about his beliefs. He said that he was a believer, but didn't really know what exactly exists above us. He said that he's a "Catholic," but only says that because that's what he finds to come the closest to what he believes personally. We told him that he could come to know exactly what is above us and that we could gain a relationship with Him through the Book of Mormon. I then asked him if he had a little bit of time and if he'd like to come to our building and talk some more about the book. He agreed and we went there and had a really in depth lesson about the Book of Mormon - everything from where it comes from, how it was written, why it was written and how we can use it. At the end we had a kneeling prayer and we felt really good about it. We then switched numbers and arranged to meet again the next day, but unfortunately he didn't come. We're not sure why, but he hasn't picked up his phone or answered texts. Sadly, I can't say that this is the first, second, third or even ninth time that this has happened. It's happened many times. I just hope that I planted a good enough seed within him, that next time he will be even more prepared to hear the message.
Then later, I think it was even the next hour block, we went out and on the same town square and we spoke to another man. He was really humble and soft spoken. His name was Roman and we found out that he works night shifts (from 1800 to 0600 - sorry for the military time; I've gotten kind of used to it 'cause they use it a lot here). We asked him what he believes and he said that he believes in a God who created everything. Literally, that's what he said. That was really cool. We talked to him for a little bit about how we can come to know who God is better and gain a relationship with Him through the Book of Mormon and he seemed quite interested in it, but he was also a little hesitant because he works nights and sleeps during the day (we happened to catch him on the way to work) and he didn't think that it would really work out too well. We exchanged numbers and asked him to call us when he has a little time and we'd set something up. Of course, I'm still sending him little text messages and reminders to let him know that we still exist and that we still want to speak with him. We also saw him the next day on his way to work again and he looked very tired and depressed - quite similar to the way when we first met him. I hope that he calls us.
Then on Wednesday, we had made a goal to go out and in the next hour we would get a number and a person that would set up a meeting with us. We prayed and went out with the goal in mind and went to the park (the pictures attached are from this park) and contacted this one kid. He turned out to be really cool and spoke English. As we spoke with him we found out his name was Ludvik and that he studied in Olomouc. As conversation progressed, he asked us what we were doing in the Czech Republic and we told him but then he even asked us what our purpose was here. That morning we had just had a conference of our zone in Olomouc and we had been talking about our purpose as missionaries and how it applies to the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31 if any of you want to read it - it's very good). Elder Pearson basically recited our purpose from "Preach My Gospel" to him and he seemed to really think about it. We spoke about the Book of Mormon and how we could find out personally why we're here and also how he could build a relationship with God through it. His countenance changed a little and he seemed to be a little more interested. We ended up exchanging numbers and set up a meeting for Monday (today in a few hours) and he seemed really interested to come.
We also have been trying to work harder on talking to couples more this week. For some reason, they're much harder to contact. On Friday evening, I think it was right before we were about to go home, we were walking up a street that's connected to the main square, and Elder Pearson contacted two guys, obviously friends, who looked like they were just having a good time. When Elder Pearson stopped them, one stopped and looked intrigued but the other had planned on blowing us off and kept walking but stopped because his friend wasn't following him. He then looked up at the sky, slouched and did a kind of pout thing, probably thinking, "Why is he talking to these guys?" We spoke to the one guy for a few seconds, and then I looked at the other guy and asked him what he thought about the subject. He, knowing that he was being pulled into the conversation and without resorting to being very rude, couldn't get out of it, came over and started talking with us. By the end, I felt like they were pretty comfortable with us and we had taught them a little bit. They knew why we were here as missionaries, and they were actually a little interested in our message. We gave them pass along cards and asked them to call us when they would have a little time and we'd get together and talk some more. This was probably my favorite contact of the week, just because of that one guy (Tomaš) who didn't particularly want to talk to us probably found some interest by the end and saw that we were just normal people.
Last one, I promise (maybe). On Saturday, we were out finding, and we weren't seeing a whole lot of success. Saturdays aren't super busy like they are in America. Actually, they're kind of dead. Anyway, we were out and about and weren't talking to a whole bunch of people but Elder Pearson got the feeling that we needed to go to this one really obscure park and so we walked over there and there was nothing. You could stand in one place at the entrance and see the entire park and there was nobody there. Then he figured that we were there and we weren't there by chance so we decided to take this one path that's a little way off but also pretty isolated. The path winds down along the side of the river and it's really gorgeous, but I haven't had any good experiences contacting there but he had the feeling so we followed it. As we got on this path it was like we found everyone. Well, we saw at least ten people. As we started walking down this path we spoke to this one old lady and her granddaughter and she turned out to be really awesome. She said that she was Catholic and that she thinks that it's a pity that there aren't more people who are believers. We told her about the Book of Mormon and that we know that if everyone accepted the Book of Mormon we would have a better world. We also told her that she could understand the Bible and God better through reading in the Book of Mormon. She really seemed to like the thought of that. She asked us where she could buy a copy of the book, and then we told her that we give them out for free but we only ask that we can meet with people so we can talk about what's in it and how we can apply these things. She said of course and that it only makes sense. We asked her for her number and she gave us one and then she said, "Wait, there's a better number. I always have this other one with me," and then she gave me this other number. We've got a meeting set up with her tomorrow and we've already texted her about it and she responded back three minutes later. That's very awesome. We have lots of hopes for her (Věra).
It seems to me sometimes that we have many awesome contacts like this on the mission and we get so hopeful and even start to love the people but then when they don't go through, or they miss their lessons, that's when I start to become discouraged. I've made a cool little discovery for myself this last week. We need to love the people and be sad when they don't make the progress that we know will lead them to eternal happiness, but we shouldn't get discouraged when this happens because then our hope is in danger of fading and then our faith will follow. Without faith, we have nothing. I'm still trying to enact and work on this, but sometimes it seems very hard to keep these feelings separate.
I can only begin to see how much I'm learning on my mission, but I know that looking in hindsight, I will be able to see much more. I just want to make sure that I'm making the most of my mission, and I think that I'm doing fairly well turning myself over to the Lord.
Love you all, and hope that all is well with each one of you.
Starší Monk
Monday, October 4, 2010
Konečně, Já si citím jako Misionař. :)
Dear Family,
This week was much better, I must say. We still didn't get a whole ton of lessons or anything of that sort, but each day seemed to have it's own special miracle. On Monday we had a meeting with a man named Vít and he's crazy. He's studying to be a lawyer and speaks English but it just seems that he gets so excited to speak to someone in English that his mind flies a million miles and his mouth has a hard time keeping up. He doesn't stutter, but he finds himself stumbling across his thoughts quite a lot of the time. I think that the only way that I can really explain him is that he's seems to be a little hyperactive and very happy all the time. We've spoken to him about the Book of Mormon and about praying and he's agreed and is doing both of them. We met with him twice this week, once on Monday and the other on Friday. We also seem to be talking a lot about the nature of God and how he's righteous and perfectly just, and then as soon as you say that he gets really philosophical. He agrees with what we're saying, but he also thinks that he has to get really deep by asking things like, "what is justice?" He's a funny guy and we like him a lot. We are steering conversation with him pretty well, but it just seems he takes between ten to fifteen minutes to explain anything that he wants to say, and you can see that that can become a problem. At least he likes to meet with us and he likes what he hears from us! Elder Pearson keeps saying, "well, he hasn't said anything contrary to what we're teaching, yet." So finally we have a progressing investigator! YAY!
Then on Tuesday we went out and were working around the town, but it was raining and there really wasn't anyone around town, but we stuck it out and kept working. While we were on the town square, there was one guy there and we went up to talk to him but we could see that he was probably a tourist and when he turned around so that his umbrella wasn't facing towards us, we saw that he was also Chinese. We spoke to him anyway and he spoke perfect English. We spoke to him for a second and asked where he was from. He said Shanghai and that they had a vacation in China so they let them go out to somewhere. He said that he was here with a couple of friends and that they were off somewhere else and that he had to go and catch them, but he asked where we were from and asked why we were here. We told him that we were Americans and that we were here as missionaries. He thought that was really cool and said that it was a problem in China that they don't really have religion. Then he said he had to run and so he did, kind of abruptly. We looked at each other and were kind of like, "Okay, that was interesting. Let's go around that corner there and keep working." As we walked toward the corner, we heard him behind us calling after us. We turned around and he was hurrying toward us and then asked if he could get a picture of us. He said that he wanted to get pictures of all the interesting people he met. Sure, why not? He took our picture, thanked us and then left again. Now we were even more entertained by the entire situation. After that we kept working and about an hour later, we were going through a hall that goes back to the town hall, and guess who we see. Yes, it was our little Chinese man and this time he had two women with him and said that these were his friends. He said that he had already told them about us and that he showed them the picture of us. We got talking about found out that they work for Intel and that one of the women was actually a recruiter. I had told them before that I wanted to study computer engineering and that peaked their interest. I told them that I wouldn't be able to talk to them for about two years, but they said that was okay. So... that was very interesting. They took our emails and we took theirs. I have no idea what's going to come of that if anything, but it makes for a good little spirit booster. :D
Then on Wednesday, it was raining more and we weren't really getting anything around the town. We decided to stop and pray and seek the guidance of the Spirit about what we should do. When I say that it was raining, I mean it had been raining for about two days now so nobody wanted to be outside, but I got the feeling that we needed to go to the park. Why? I wasn't sure why, but we headed in that direction. When we got to the park, there was one man walking down the path in our direction and Elder Pearson said, "perfect, just us," and then contacted him. He was really awesome. We found out that his name is Standa and said that he wasn't a believer, but as we testified of the Book of Mormon, you could see that something was turning in his head. We testified of the Book of Mormon and we spoke about how he could find out for himself. At the end of the contact, I asked why he had any interest about these things (I don't usually ask questions like this - but every time that I have, I've gotten a good response) and he said that he doesn't have anyone to talk with about spiritual matters. So we set up for the next day and we invited Brother Zatloukal to come and I must say, it was an awesome lesson. Brother Zatloukal immediately friendshipped this man and bore really awesome testimony about how the Book of Mormon helped him get through the tough time of when his wife was sick and then of when she died. I know that Standa felt the Spirit, even if he didn't know what it was. Then Brother Zatloukal asked him to come to church and he accepted (I had asked Brother Zatloukal to do that before Standa showed up). The meeting was short, powerful and simple. I wish that every one could be the same way.
However, despite these good meetings, you have to have your share of bad meetings. About two weeks ago we found a really cool potential girl named Kristina and we had kept a little contact with her through text messages and she was really awesome. Finally on Friday, we met up with her, and I have no idea why, but I couldn't carry a lesson/conversation to save my life and Elder Pearson said that he couldn't speak Czech nearly at all. I don't know what our problem was, but just about the entire lesson was a giant train wreck. She didn't seem engaged, we didn't seem to be giving good/solid teachings and overall I think it was just kind of creepy. At the end, we saved it a little bit just by switching back into BRT (build a relationship of trust - having conversation), but I'm afraid that the lesson beforehand may have ruined our relationship. We gave her a commitment and she accepted, so we're praying and hoping that she does it and feels something special and wants to meet with us again, despite this lesson. Luckily, later that night, we had a lesson with Vít and that went very well.
Saturday we had a really fun trip with the branch. Standa was supposed to come, but couldn't make it, so we ended up going alone with the branch and a few eternal investigators. But then on Sunday, we had a bunch of really cool blessings. On Saturday evening, we called Standa and told him that the branch missed him and that they were still looking forward to him coming to church the next day. We asked him for his home address so we could stop by his place and pick him up and so he gave it to us. Turns out that he lives just down the road from us! That made that easy. So we went to his place in the morning to pick him up and we didn't know what his last name was so we didn't know who to ring on the buzzer. We tried remembering, but just couldn't. So we started ringing people and they'd come to their windows to talk to us, because there was no intercom, and we'd ask if Standa lived there and a few said that they didn't know who that was, but finally one old lady said that it was that Navratilovi. We rang them and a lady came to the window, and we asked if Standa lived there and she said yes, and then closed the window and we figured she had gone to get him. Then the old lady came to her window again and asked if I had spoken to them yet, and I told her yes. Then she disappeared into her house again. (I just thought it was funny that she came to check up on us.) About ten minutes later, Standa came down and told us that he had been out a little later than he had wanted the night before (three in the morning) and that he probably would have slept through church if we hadn't come to pick him up. He came to church and had a pretty good time and the branch didn't really know how to react, because it's been such a long time since anyone has come to church it seems, but all went well.
There are so many more stories that I could tell you from this week, but I think that this letter is long enough. I hope you can all see that when we turn ourselves over to the Lord instead of resisting, He truly turns us into Himself so that others can see that there is something different about us: that we are followers of Christ. I loved this week and I hope that you have fun reading about it. Next week will be just as awesome, if not better! I love you all so very much and hope that you can all see the hand of the Lord in your own individual lives.
Much Love,
Starší Monk
PS - on the trip with the branch, there were mushrooms everywhere! The ones on the tree are good for eating, but the branch kept warning me against the red ones. I'm sure they were thinking something along the lines, "These silly missionaries. They don't know their mushrooms!" Czechs love going and hunting for mushrooms.
This week was much better, I must say. We still didn't get a whole ton of lessons or anything of that sort, but each day seemed to have it's own special miracle. On Monday we had a meeting with a man named Vít and he's crazy. He's studying to be a lawyer and speaks English but it just seems that he gets so excited to speak to someone in English that his mind flies a million miles and his mouth has a hard time keeping up. He doesn't stutter, but he finds himself stumbling across his thoughts quite a lot of the time. I think that the only way that I can really explain him is that he's seems to be a little hyperactive and very happy all the time. We've spoken to him about the Book of Mormon and about praying and he's agreed and is doing both of them. We met with him twice this week, once on Monday and the other on Friday. We also seem to be talking a lot about the nature of God and how he's righteous and perfectly just, and then as soon as you say that he gets really philosophical. He agrees with what we're saying, but he also thinks that he has to get really deep by asking things like, "what is justice?" He's a funny guy and we like him a lot. We are steering conversation with him pretty well, but it just seems he takes between ten to fifteen minutes to explain anything that he wants to say, and you can see that that can become a problem. At least he likes to meet with us and he likes what he hears from us! Elder Pearson keeps saying, "well, he hasn't said anything contrary to what we're teaching, yet." So finally we have a progressing investigator! YAY!
Then on Tuesday we went out and were working around the town, but it was raining and there really wasn't anyone around town, but we stuck it out and kept working. While we were on the town square, there was one guy there and we went up to talk to him but we could see that he was probably a tourist and when he turned around so that his umbrella wasn't facing towards us, we saw that he was also Chinese. We spoke to him anyway and he spoke perfect English. We spoke to him for a second and asked where he was from. He said Shanghai and that they had a vacation in China so they let them go out to somewhere. He said that he was here with a couple of friends and that they were off somewhere else and that he had to go and catch them, but he asked where we were from and asked why we were here. We told him that we were Americans and that we were here as missionaries. He thought that was really cool and said that it was a problem in China that they don't really have religion. Then he said he had to run and so he did, kind of abruptly. We looked at each other and were kind of like, "Okay, that was interesting. Let's go around that corner there and keep working." As we walked toward the corner, we heard him behind us calling after us. We turned around and he was hurrying toward us and then asked if he could get a picture of us. He said that he wanted to get pictures of all the interesting people he met. Sure, why not? He took our picture, thanked us and then left again. Now we were even more entertained by the entire situation. After that we kept working and about an hour later, we were going through a hall that goes back to the town hall, and guess who we see. Yes, it was our little Chinese man and this time he had two women with him and said that these were his friends. He said that he had already told them about us and that he showed them the picture of us. We got talking about found out that they work for Intel and that one of the women was actually a recruiter. I had told them before that I wanted to study computer engineering and that peaked their interest. I told them that I wouldn't be able to talk to them for about two years, but they said that was okay. So... that was very interesting. They took our emails and we took theirs. I have no idea what's going to come of that if anything, but it makes for a good little spirit booster. :D
Then on Wednesday, it was raining more and we weren't really getting anything around the town. We decided to stop and pray and seek the guidance of the Spirit about what we should do. When I say that it was raining, I mean it had been raining for about two days now so nobody wanted to be outside, but I got the feeling that we needed to go to the park. Why? I wasn't sure why, but we headed in that direction. When we got to the park, there was one man walking down the path in our direction and Elder Pearson said, "perfect, just us," and then contacted him. He was really awesome. We found out that his name is Standa and said that he wasn't a believer, but as we testified of the Book of Mormon, you could see that something was turning in his head. We testified of the Book of Mormon and we spoke about how he could find out for himself. At the end of the contact, I asked why he had any interest about these things (I don't usually ask questions like this - but every time that I have, I've gotten a good response) and he said that he doesn't have anyone to talk with about spiritual matters. So we set up for the next day and we invited Brother Zatloukal to come and I must say, it was an awesome lesson. Brother Zatloukal immediately friendshipped this man and bore really awesome testimony about how the Book of Mormon helped him get through the tough time of when his wife was sick and then of when she died. I know that Standa felt the Spirit, even if he didn't know what it was. Then Brother Zatloukal asked him to come to church and he accepted (I had asked Brother Zatloukal to do that before Standa showed up). The meeting was short, powerful and simple. I wish that every one could be the same way.
However, despite these good meetings, you have to have your share of bad meetings. About two weeks ago we found a really cool potential girl named Kristina and we had kept a little contact with her through text messages and she was really awesome. Finally on Friday, we met up with her, and I have no idea why, but I couldn't carry a lesson/conversation to save my life and Elder Pearson said that he couldn't speak Czech nearly at all. I don't know what our problem was, but just about the entire lesson was a giant train wreck. She didn't seem engaged, we didn't seem to be giving good/solid teachings and overall I think it was just kind of creepy. At the end, we saved it a little bit just by switching back into BRT (build a relationship of trust - having conversation), but I'm afraid that the lesson beforehand may have ruined our relationship. We gave her a commitment and she accepted, so we're praying and hoping that she does it and feels something special and wants to meet with us again, despite this lesson. Luckily, later that night, we had a lesson with Vít and that went very well.
Saturday we had a really fun trip with the branch. Standa was supposed to come, but couldn't make it, so we ended up going alone with the branch and a few eternal investigators. But then on Sunday, we had a bunch of really cool blessings. On Saturday evening, we called Standa and told him that the branch missed him and that they were still looking forward to him coming to church the next day. We asked him for his home address so we could stop by his place and pick him up and so he gave it to us. Turns out that he lives just down the road from us! That made that easy. So we went to his place in the morning to pick him up and we didn't know what his last name was so we didn't know who to ring on the buzzer. We tried remembering, but just couldn't. So we started ringing people and they'd come to their windows to talk to us, because there was no intercom, and we'd ask if Standa lived there and a few said that they didn't know who that was, but finally one old lady said that it was that Navratilovi. We rang them and a lady came to the window, and we asked if Standa lived there and she said yes, and then closed the window and we figured she had gone to get him. Then the old lady came to her window again and asked if I had spoken to them yet, and I told her yes. Then she disappeared into her house again. (I just thought it was funny that she came to check up on us.) About ten minutes later, Standa came down and told us that he had been out a little later than he had wanted the night before (three in the morning) and that he probably would have slept through church if we hadn't come to pick him up. He came to church and had a pretty good time and the branch didn't really know how to react, because it's been such a long time since anyone has come to church it seems, but all went well.
There are so many more stories that I could tell you from this week, but I think that this letter is long enough. I hope you can all see that when we turn ourselves over to the Lord instead of resisting, He truly turns us into Himself so that others can see that there is something different about us: that we are followers of Christ. I loved this week and I hope that you have fun reading about it. Next week will be just as awesome, if not better! I love you all so very much and hope that you can all see the hand of the Lord in your own individual lives.
Much Love,
Starší Monk
PS - on the trip with the branch, there were mushrooms everywhere! The ones on the tree are good for eating, but the branch kept warning me against the red ones. I'm sure they were thinking something along the lines, "These silly missionaries. They don't know their mushrooms!" Czechs love going and hunting for mushrooms.
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