Christmas Week (Vánoční Týden)

Dear Family,

There's not a whole lot to talk about from this last week. We had quite a few P-days in a row, as I explained last week, and so we had lots of time. It was very strange actually, not doing anything. Even though that's what I mainly did before the mission. It felt really weird going back to that kind of feel for a bit. One day, we were playing a card game called "Bang!" (kind of like "Cowboys and Indians" in card form - really pretty fun) and we'd play one round, look at the clock, play another round, look at the clock again, be surprised that basically no time had passed, play another round, etc... One day we were looking at the clock almost every fifteen to thirty minutes for a few hours.

On Thursday, however, we went to the Christmas conference that I mentioned last week, and it was really good. In the morning half, all the districts got to do a performance of whatever they wanted. We had everything from singing spiritual songs to Czech Prague mission's 12 days of Christmas and a video of missionary work in Košice (it was really funny - and was meant to be). Then we split the entire conference into three groups and went to different parts of Prague and did singing street displays. Ours was really good. We were on Můstek. People by the dozens were stopping, taking pictures, listening, and most importantly, getting contacted by missionaries. I think that it was really successful. I sang for about thirty minutes and then went out contacting and actually spoke to some really cool people. Singing really brought the Spirit. Sadly, one of the groups had a protest come by while they were singing. They were protesting the cruel killing and eating of carp for Christmas (that's a Czech tradition). They protested by taking normal Christmas carols and changing the words toward their cause. The missionaries from that group said that it kind of destroyed it. That's too bad. At least ours was good. :D

Other than that, we did a lot of sitting around, watched a Czech fairytale or two, visited members (mostly all were earlier on in the week because they already had plans for Christmas with their families) and stared at each other. We basically spent the entire four days we had free together with the other missionaries. We had a pretty good time, despite our boredom. :-)

On Christmas we opened our presents, and I have a picture of my present opened! It's a tradition in our family to take a picture of the person sitting on the couch with all their gifts around them, so I thought, why not this year too? I love my present.

Hope you all had a 'wonderfultastic' Christmas! Have an even more wonderful new year.

Starší Monk

Christmas!

Dear Family,

Sorry that I'm writing a little late. On Monday we were told to work so that we could have Christmas off. Actually this week we have four p-days because Czechs have Christmas the day before until the day after (all together three days) so people wouldn't be out on the town, nothing would be open, and people would not be very likely to want to listen to us if we came tracting. So, that's how that's going.

We're going to Prague tomorrow for a Christmas Mission Conference. I'm excited to see everyone.

It's just a few days before Christmas and I figured, instead of telling some of the stories from our work here, because there really hasn't been anything huge, but that's not to say we haven't been seeing miracles. Instead I want to give you all my Christmas testimony (also because I don't have a lot of time).

I came on the mission because I knew that it was the right thing to do and I had a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but sadly, only recently have I really started to realize what that all means for me; why it applies to me and why it's important for me. We've been spending some time reading Alma 7:10-14 and talking about the importance of the birth of Christ, but we know that he was prophesied because of the things that He would do. I've found out that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for me. Every rejection that I get here, every time that someone tells me to go back to America, every time that someone slams a door in my face, every single time that someone tells me that they don't have time, I know that the Lord Jesus Christ felt every single one of them through his infinite atonement. At the root of Christmas lies the love of God. He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten son so that we could all live and not perish. What a great blessing and gift is that? Isn't that something to rejoice about? I know that there are people here who are waiting for that message. They want, need and are yearning to find this message, whether or not they know it right now and this is the solution. I love Christ and I know that every single hardship is worth it. He loves me. At Christmas, we have the wonderful opportunity to sit and have some time to think about how Christ gave us the ultimate gift: the gift of life through the one that He gave for us. It is wonderful. I want you all as a family to pick a song, preferably a slow one, and sing it together. Thrive in the spirit of song. Know that the composers and writers were inspired in the Spirit of Christ to write the melodies and texts that can touch us to the soul. I love being a representative of Christ, because I get to carry his name on my jacket; that everyone can see that I am devoted to Christ and that I know him. I have found Christ and His gospel. We can all live again, just as He did. He laid down his life, but took it up again! Glory in it. He loved us enough to take up His life so that we could live through His life.

I love you all and wish you all a wonderful Christmas.
Srdečně,
Starší Monk

Sending Hoang Off :(

Dear Family,

This last week has been kind of crazy.  Hoang has still been sick just about all week, but we've made things work, despite that.  We got a little forceful with Hoang one time.  He was telling us that he was feeling sick and that we would meet the next day, and so we told him that was fine and that we'd be at his house at 7:00pm.  A few minutes later we got a phone call from Hoang.  I picked up and said hi, and he asked if we could come earlier, like 3:00pm or 4:00pm.  That was pretty cool.  We went over and taught him a lesson and then gave him a blessing so that he could get better faster.  As the week progressed on, we could see that he was getting better and we think that he was almost completely better before he left yesterday.

This week we taught him the restoration (the Joseph Smith story, the Book of Mormon and Praying to know it's true), the entire third lesson, priesthood authority, word of wisdom, tithing, chastity, studying the scriptures and how to donate tithing and fast offerings.  Hoang  is just so awesome.  He accepted everything, hands down, without asking questions.  It was just like Denisa all over again.  When we were teaching Denisa, whever she would ask why, we'd just tell her it's because it's a commandment from God and that if we lived by it, He would help us.  It was the exact same with Hoang.  We would just tell him that it was a commandment before we'd talk about what it was, and then he would accept without asking.

When we taught him about tithing, we had him read the section out of Preach my Gospel in vietnamese about it, and after he read it, he looked up at us smiling and said, "I agree everything."  Just the way he was smiling, you could tell that light was entering into his life and that he really knew that these things would help him.  There's nothing that you can replace those kinds of feelings of satisfaction and joy with; just knowing that you're helping one of your brothers or sisters come back unto our Father in Heaven.  It has no price.  As we continued talking about tithing, after this, we could see that he didn't completely understand it, but he had already committed to it in his heart.  We started talking about on what money of ours we need to pay tithing.  He was a little confused, but he just told us that the missionaries in Vietnam would explain it better because they'll be able to speak his langauge and tell him the way that he needs to hear.

We also gave him the study program that we've been making for a long time now, so that he will have something to learn and read with his family while he's in Vietnam.  We split up all the principles from the first three lessons (restoration, plan of salvation and gospel of Jesus Christ) and gave them one to read every other day, and also threw in the commandments where we thought they'd work the best.  So, by the end of his stay in Vietnam, his family will have learned all the material together, and they'll be completely prepared to be baptized.  We put so much time and prayer into that program, and we know that Hoang could see it.  He was extremely excited, and wanted to read every single one with them.  You could just see that he had such a desire to share these things with his family.  It was far too cool.

Also, this last week, we were in Prague for a conference and we spoke to President about Hoang going to Vietnam and how we don't know what the church is like there; whether there's meetings, members, missionaries, anything!  So President got on it, called up the church, found out where the missionaries were, got their number, got the church building's address and gave them to us.  We took the information and showed it to Hoang at one of our meetings, and he looked at it and said, "What's this?"  We told him that that is where the church is in Vietnam.  He was very surprised and excited.  He then told us that the address was just ten kilometers away from where he lived!  He then gave us his information and we gave that to president to give the missionaries in Vietnam.

Hoang is so prepared and ready to go to Vietnam and share the gospel with his family.  We were thinking about how it would be so awesome, but also a little bit of a downer if he got baptized there.  We would love to be at his baptism, but we know that it's important for something this important to not be procrastinated.  We are just glad that we're working on the same team as the missionaries in Vietnam.  This'll be one of the stories that they go home talking about.  Some man who's been living in the Czech Republic comes home for Christmas, finds the missionaries, tells them he wants to be baptized because he knows that everything is true, and that he has a wife and two daughters who can all be baptized and that he'll help them come unto the waters of baptism!  How awesome is this work!  Hoang said that he'd keep in contact with us, and we know that he will.  He's going to be gone for about two and a half months.  That's a long time, but I know he'll be there in good hands, rooting his family firmly into the gospel.

I love you all and hope that you will all be having a wonderful and pleasant Christmas,
Starší Monk

Fwd: Hoang! Our Main Man! (Hoange! Naš Hlavní Muž!)

Dear Family,

This last week has been... interesting. It snowed all last week and a half of the week before that, so the snow is here, and it's here to stay. That has made contacting difficult, and just getting places a little bit of a mess. Yeah, the snow clean-up crews in this country probably could be better. All the roads and walk ways are full of slush. So we're walking through slush and snow all day. It's good, however, that the snow is fairly dry, so the slush isn't wet enough to make a big mess. :D

Anyway, update on Hoang. We already knew that he was going to go back to Vietnam to be with his family for a while, but we didn't know when it was going to be. That was the reason why he wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. So, this last week when we met with him on Tuesday, he told us that he was going to be leaving on the twelfth. He then asked us if he could be baptized on the eleventh so that he could be baptized before he went home. We then taught him really quickly that baptism and confirmation are inseparably connected and that if he were to be baptized on the eleventh and then leave the twelfth, he would leave without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. He understood and agreed that he would be baptized when he came back. Then we asked him how long he would be in Vietnam and he told us that he would be there for two months! That surprised us and took us a little bit back, but we were sure that there was a reason why. We then told him that we had a lot of information that we still wanted to give to him before he left, and that we would need to meet three times both weeks before he left. He agreed and we mapped out three times both weeks that we could meet according to his work schedule. That meeting with Hoang was amazing. We finished up the second lesson and asked him if he believed if it was all true. Without really even batting an eyelash, he agreed and said that he believes it is true. The thing that I've seen with Hoang is that he speaks extremely little, but understands much more than we may think. He's also really honest. When he says that he believes, that means, for me at least, that he knows it is true and that he already has the starting, at least, of a testimony of that given topic. When we teach him things, he already knows them because we've already given him the pamphlets in Vietnamese, and I'm sure that he's already read each of them at least five to ten times each. They all look worn out and thoroughly studied.

Later that week when our next meeting with Hoang was coming up, we called him to set up a time when we could meet, and he sounded terrible. Turns out that Hoang is sick! He was really sorry that he couldn't meet with us and he told us a few times that he's coughing really badly, even though we could hear, and that we would meet the next day. The next day we called him again, and he was still sick, and even sounded worse. He then told us that he would try really hard to meet us the next day (Saturday). The next day came and he called us and said that he was still really sick and that his entire body hurt and that he hasn't been doing anything except lying down, sleeping, and reading the Book of Mormon. He then promised us that even though he was sick, he would come to church because he knows that it's a commandment and that he needs to come. So later that day, while we were going to sports night, we met up with a member, named Vraťa and walked with us to the gym. He's about our age and really solid in the church. We've taught Hoang with him twice so we told him about Hoang's condition, but also about his determination to come to church. Vraťa said, "He's only physically sick, but spiritually he's healthy." How true that is, but unfortunately the next day about thirty minutes before church stared, we got a text from Hoang saying that he was still really sick and that he was sorry that he couldn't come to church. I have the text attached.

Today we met with Hoang. He's still pretty sick, but looking much better. He said that he's not going to be working this week so that he can get better before he goes home, so that should help us meet with him some more. When we met with him today, we spoke about authority and the priesthood. We spoke about how it was given to Joseph Smith and that through the priesthood, the church is organized and lead by the Prophet. We then spoke about revelation and how the prophet receives revelation for the church, but we can receive personal revelation too, through the Holy Ghost. We tied that back into needing to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so that we can receive our own revelation. We then spoke about the Word of Wisdom and how that helps us stay worthy of having the Holy Ghost and stay clean and healthy. That appealed to Hoang, at this point in time, and when we spoke about it, he accepted it all. He did look a little worried when he read the part in preach my gospel about Word of Wisdom, looked up and asked if it means that we can't eat certain kinds of meat. We cleared that and told him the main points of the Word of Wisdom, and he accepted it all. He told us that he only drinks occasionally and that will be easy to quit, and that he already quit smoking two years ago. The only thing that seems to be any bit of a problem is that he drinks tea, but he understands that we don't drink green and black tea, and he agreed to it.

At one point in the lesson, Hoang said something really cool. When we were talking about the priesthood, we told him that as missionaries, we have the priesthood and that we even have the higher priesthood, that was restored to Joseph Smith. He then said to us, "I don't understand everything, I don't know everything, but I believe everything that you tell me." Just that kind of faith and trust in our words has to be because he feels the Holy Ghost. Every meeting, we feel guided, we feel like we learn things, and we feel like he comes closer to his Heavenly Father. It is amazing to see the progress that he is making, and I know that while he is in Vietnam, he will help his own family come unto the gospel of Jesus Christ and become a family in eternity. Right now, Elder Rhodes and I are putting a lot of time into a study plan for him and his family that will take up the nine weeks while he's gone, because we're not very sure if there are missionaries or even branches in Vietnam! Recently we've found out that there are service missionaries and that they do have branches, but they're under the table. So we've told President Irwin about this, and he's working on finding the missionaries in Vietnam and getting Hoang in contact with them.

It's going to be a pity not having Hoang here with us, but we know that he will come back and that he'll be just as prepared as ever to make his covenants with the Lord. Perhaps he'll even come back baptized! That'd be a surprise.

I love you all and hope that you're enjoying your winters!

Starší Monk

Here's a picture of us with Hoang at his home.

The text that Hoang sent us before church. It says, in really broken Czech, "I am still sick, I cannot sit, I am really tired and that's why today I can't come. I hope that the Holy Ghost will understand for me. We'll see tomorrow if I am better, we will get together. I'll call tomorrow by phone. Bye friend."

Here's a funny text that we got from Hoang. It's in really broken Czech as well, "I got home at 9:30. Thank you, I will read the Book of Mormon (which was written in Vietnamese) whenever I have free time so I can understand more. I hope everything will be better for us. Have yourself well well. Say hi to Monk. I Huy Hoang." I love that last part. Whenever he picks up the phone he says, I Huy Hoang. It makes no sense, but he always says it. :)

Thanksgiving and Hoang

Dear Family,

What can I say to you since I wrote last Thursday? There's not really a whole lot, but we did have a Thanksgiving and another meeting with Hoang. So, I guess I'll tell you about those.

Last week at church, we spoke to one of the members here in Plzen who is from Britain and we kind of invited ourselves out to his house for Thanksgiving dinner, because last time that we were there for service, he kind of half-intentionally invited us, so we jumped on the opportunity and invited ourselves. He was okay with it and we planned to go over to his place back in the country and do some more service for him in exchange for the dinner. So, on Friday, he came past the other elders' place to pick us all up and then drove us out to his house (which is about an hour outside of Plzen by car). When we got there, we got right to work. Elder McGowan and I cleaned up some of his rooms, where he's had the heaters replaced, and in turn, some of the walls had to be cut and other such stuff, so we were vacuuming up sheetrock and other stuff, and then putting the rooms back into order. After that we went and cleaned windows! Yay. Elder Rhodes cleaned all the snow off the driveway with a little John Deere with a hand operated plow, and Brother Smith and Elder Horvath prepared the food. At one point Brother Smith had to go do another chore for a while and was going to return to put some food on to cook so that it would be ready in time to eat, but Elder Horvath put it on to cook before he was supposed to. When Brother Smith came back and found that the brussel sprouts were on the stove, he started freaking out and saying things like, "He ruined my dinner!" He was pretty angry for a while, and we didn't know what was going to happen. The best part of it was, was that Elder Horvath, after he had done that, went into the other room and started playing piano, so while Brother Smith was freaking out, Elder Horvath was being completely oblivious, playing on the piano. Oh gosh. The food turned out fine, Brother Smith cooled off and Elder Horvath didn't die. :) Dinner was amazing and there was more than plenty to eat. I sincerely thought that I was going to die from over-eating. Probably the liter or so that I drank of ginger ale didn't help much. That was amazing.

Then on Saturday, we had a meeting with Hoang. The meeting before, we gave him the pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation and asked him to read it and think about it, and that we would begin talking about it at the next meeting. When we all got together, we asked him if he read the pamphlet, and he said that he read it several times. Once we started talking about it, it was apparent that he had and that he knew what was in it. We ended up talking about the pre-Earth life, Earth life and Spirit World. We actually got quite deep into the pre-Earth life and talked a little about the war in heaven and how Satan was a son of God who rebelled against God and the Plan of Salvation. We talked about how on Earth, we were going to be tested and how God gives us commandments so we don't follow the temptations of Satan. We also talked about how God helps us when we follow the commandments by giving us blessings. We then talked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. We printed out the entire section in Preach My Gospel about commandments and we had him read the section on the Sabbath day. After he read it, he said that he understood and that he agreed with it. We asked him if he worked on Sundays, and he said that sometimes he does. Then we committed him to try and arrange his work schedule so that he won't have to work Sundays, and he said that he would. I then told him that keeping the Sabbath Day holy means to come to church every single Sunday for the rest of his life, and I actually even said to him, even until death. He said that he understood that. Then we committed him to live that commandment and he began to say that he would, but then changed and said that he must/has to. He then came to church the next day and he actually got there before just about all the members! He sat there patiently and had all the members greet him as they came in. I told a few of the key members that he has a baptismal date, and one in particular went over and said a really hearty hello, and after church went and said goodbye to him when Hoang said that he was leaving. I think that Hoang is really liking church, and Elder Rhodes has been sitting with him and leading him through the meetings and says that he's understanding and loving it all. We're going to try and get a lesson with President Holub (president of the branch here) this next week so he can see if he thinks that Hoang is ready or not, and see what his say is on it. Other than that, the only problems that I'm seeing with Hoang are: one, that there's still the language barrier, and I don't know how much of the information he's actually getting (I completely believe that he is accepting everything that we're telling him and that he will continue to believe) and two, that there won't be enough time to teach him everything before his baptismal date. We're sitting here at two weeks to his date, and we still have so much information to cover. It's just such a problem that he has so little time, and he's giving it to us when he has it, but it's not looking like enough. We're going to need a miracle, but we'll just keep working as hard as we can for him.

Other than that, there's not really much that's happened. Today I had to go to Prague to get my visa renewed and that was a scary thing because that means that I've been on the mission for a year, and I've heard that the second half goes faster than the first. I'm not sure if I'm ready to come home. Gah, there's just so much I still want to do, and it seems like there's just no time. However, the work goes on, and as Alma says in Alma 29, why should I wish to do more than the Lord has alotted me? I am content, and I will do what He commands me.

I love you all, and pray for you to all be warm this Christmas season. Looks like we'll be having a white Christmas here in Plzen,
Starší Monk