Branching Out

Dear Family,

This week has had some pretty cool little blessings.  About a week and a half ago, we spoke with Brother Čaňo (the second councilor in the branch presidency) about meeting with him and his family (him, his son and his less active daughter) so that we could teach them the lessons, because we're not teaching very much.  He agreed but said that probably not the week that I asked him because his kids would be off at some camp or something, but he would love to have us over the next week.  So we called him this last week and set something up on Friday.  Elder Bown ran off with Elder Uremovich to go to a lesson because Elder Dietrich was sick, so Elder Gabrielsen and I went off alone.  Just he and his son were there.  He said that his daughter had ran off to grandma's house before he even came home.  No matter.  We asked them to act like they were investigators and that they didn't know about our message, and we taught the first lesson.  It was a very good first lesson in which Elder Gabrielsen took a big part.  He taught "God is our Loving Heavenly Father," "Gospel Blesses Families," and then some of Dispensations and then handed it off to me and then later he quoted the first vision and taught a large chunk of the restoration.  Brother Čaňo was asking lots of questions like he was an investigator, and it was really good for our practice.  I even made Elder Gabrielsen answer many of the questions.  After the lesson/practice, Brother Čaňo said that he really liked it and that he'd really like for us to come over again some time.  He also said that he would invite his mother over and we could teach her exactly the way that we just taught them.  She's not a member, and he said that she hasn't ever met with the missionaries.  He did say, however, that he wouldn't be able to set up that meeting or have us over for three or four weeks because he's going to Sweden either yesterday evening or today.  Then we asked him if he knew any other members who he thought could benefit from hearing the lessons, like we shared with him.  He thought about it for a second, and referred us to a member who's been a little less active, and who's wife is not a member, but is perfectly fine with listening to gospel topics whenever he goes over and speaks with them.  It was just such a cool thing to see that we went over, had him pretend to be an investigator, taught the lesson and then afterward, he could see that we wanted to help him.  Yes, we came over to practice teaching, but we also came to strengthen him, and he saw that.  We didn't really even ask for referrals, but instead, he saw that it was a good thing and that he recognized people that he wanted to share it with.  This was probably the best member visit that I've had, perhaps because we also told him that we wanted to come and teach, not eat dinner.  That always helps.  I got to know Brother Čaňo a lot better as well.  I heard about his conversion story, and how when he read the Book of Mormon, he said that it was what he was looking for.  That sparked a question in me.  I asked him then, "When you first met the missionaries, did you know that you were looking for something?"  He told me that he didn't and that he was grateful that the missionaries had started meeting with him and that they gave him the Book of Mormon.  I'm really excited to keep meeting with other members, because I know that members have much more potential than they know as far as it comes to missionary work.

Another thing this last that was a little out of the ordinary was that on Tuesday, Elder Bown got a call from President Irwin during district meeting, so he left the room to answer it, but soon came back and handed me the phone.  So, I left the room and started speaking with President.  He started by asking me what I was doing a little bit later in the day, and I said not much.  He said, "Great, then I'd like you to be at the building to do some translating work for us."  Well.  It turned out that they're trying to institute a new program here in the Czech Republic and they had a meeting consisting President Irwin, two officials from the church, a senior couple from Jihlava, the first councilor in the branch presidency of Brno, and me.  Basically I was there for the councilor, because he was the only Czech at the meeting.  President told me that he speaks English and understands quite well, but just in case he doesn't catch something or he doesn't know how to say something, I'd be there to do that translating.  The meeting turned out to be about an hour and a half, and through the entire meeting, I had to translate two questions from Czech into English.  He understood the rest and could express himself how he wanted.  I came out of it with a little bit of a headache because the entire time I was translating everything into Czech in my head just to keep up in case he asked me what something meant.  He didn't, but I was prepared.  I actually learned a few new words, but I'm not really sure how often I'll use them.

Other than that, it's been the same old work.  I love it and we're doing great.  We actually came up with a game this last week for contacting people on public transportation - which by the way is really hard.  We call it "futbal," or in English, "football."  Basically, while we're waiting for the tram or bus to come, we decide who's going to be pointing out someone for the other to contact.  That way we're not picking our own person to talk to.  When the tram or bus comes up, then we all pick someone for the other and then we get on.  So that it's a game where we're working together instead of against each other, we only get the point if all of us talk to our designated person.  That also motivates us to talk to our person because we don't want to be the one responsible for being the one that didn't do it.  Then we decided that we could get an extra point if one of us talks to another person on top of the one that was pointed out for them.  It's the little things that keep us focused on the bigger picture.

This week has been really rewarding, even though we don't see a whole lot of outward results all the time.  I love my companions.  They're both fantastic.  I love you all and hope that everything is going well for you and that you're keeping up on your reading and praying!  It's important.

Love you all,

Starší Monk

More of the Same

Dear Family,

This week has been a lot of the same old jazz.  Lots of finding, standing at meetings that don't come, atd (a tak dale - Czech for 'etc.').  We actually had a conference this last week and it was really weird to see another one of my companions give his last testimony.  (When it's a missionary's last conference, they have the opportunity to give their testimony in front of everyone.  We call it a missionary's dying testimony, but I still have another conference, so I'll give mine then.)  Elder Bown gave a really good one and it really made me think about how and why I'm doing missionary work.  I've found it's good to ponder, but it's also good to just go and do.  Sometimes when we think too long, we lose the opportunity to do something really meaningful.  Anyway, that was one of my epiphanies this last week.

Other than that, we're still working hard.  Seeing all the little successes along the way.  Elder Gabrielsen is doing amazing with the language, and with the work.  He's really gung-ho and it's really crazy trying to keep up with him.  I thought, for just a small moment, that I was the trainer, but I feel like I'm just the language coach and he's really showing me the ropes.  It's nuts, but I love it.

I don't really have a whole lot to share, but I'd like to share one of the scriptures that I like to read when I starts slowing down:

Doctrine and Covenants 6:33-37

"Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward.

Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.

Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Amen."

I've read this scripture many times and every single time, I learn or just feel something little that helps me along.  I love how it says, "...fear not, little flock..."  I'm not completely sure why, but it always gives me the assurance that, even though I'm just a stupid little sheep, he doesn't forget about me and I have nothing to fear.

I love you all and hope you're all doing amazingly well!

Love,

Starší Monk

Missionary Success

Dear Family,

This week has been really cool because we've been doing everything that's been in our power, and we've been seeing a lot of... different blessings.  I guess sometimes we just need to remember what "success" is while we're on the mission.  It's not the number of people we find to teach, it's not the number of people who are "progressing" and it's not even the number of people that we baptize.  Yeah, those things would be nice, however, they're not what define a successful missionary.  I remember studying, not this week but some time else, in chapter one of "Preach My Gospel" about what a successful missionary is.  It's funny, that when you read it, not a single point under that section talks anything about what other people do; every single point is about you, about what you do, about how you feel the Holy Ghost and about how you follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

So, with that in mind, we had a really successful week.  We taught very few lessons, however, we were out working every day, very hard.  I felt that we were doing well in following the Holy Ghost, and we did something really impressive: we set up around sixteen lessons, and almost all of them would have been new investigators.  Sadly, all of them except for two ended up not coming.  That's a bit of a bummer, but Elder Gabrielsen is taking it really well.  In fact, he's really excited every day to go out and find.  It's really cool to see the enthusiasm that he has and how he wants to go straight at it every single day.  I really like the way that he contacts: he sees someone he wants to talk to, he walks right at them and then he stands in the way.  It's a little intrusive, but our message is intrusive: we've here to call people to repentance.  Isn't that intrusive?  Isn't that bold?  I really love this kid.  He's doing really well.

One of the meetings that did go through was with a guy named Petr Lefky.  Elder Bown found him last transfer and they had been having a bad day, but Elder Bown was determined to get one person before they turned in to go home.  It was a Saturday night, and there weren't a whole lot of people out, but they ended up talking to Petr and they got his number, but according to Elder Bown, he didn't seem too promising.  Nonetheless, he invited him to church and said that he'd call him Sunday morning to remind him.  Come Sunday morning, Elder Bown calls and he doesn't pick up, so they just went to the building and basically said that's that.  However, a little before church starts, a guy walks in and shakes Elder Bown's hand, and Elder Bown didn't remember him for a second, but soon realized that it was Petr.  Petr stayed for all three hours, loved it and actually asked for a Book of Mormon.  Since then, Elder Bown's been trying to get meetings set up with him, but he's been down on himself saying that it's not worth it with him because he's an alcoholic.  Elder Bown fought through that and said that it is worth it.  Recently, he texted us after he didn't come to a meeting saying that he was sorry, but that he couldn't come because he was in the hospital.  We told him that we could come and visit him, so he sent us the place that he was staying at in the hospital and we went and visited him yesterday.  He's in the hospital for rehab.  He's been there before, and the time when Elder Bown contacted him, he had been out for less than a week.  We found out that he was in there because he had drunk seventeen shots of vodka and just about killed himself.  The meeting was really great with him.  He's just such a golden humble guy.  He told us that he loves the Book of Mormon and that he's already read up through Omni.  We shared things from the Book of Mormon with him about how he can conquer the problems that he has right now, but he needs to pray to get over them.  Then he said, he doesn't know how to pray.  So we taught him that and he actually gave a prayer at the end of the lesson.  It was an amazing prayer and he did it completely correctly.  Way amazing guy.  At the end of the lesson, Elder Bown left a Book of Mormon with him, because his copy was at his apartment, and he couldn't leave the hospital.  He also left there a restoration pamphlet and said that we'd talk about it next time.  Then Petr asked about the book that we had read from at church , because he really liked it because it was really clear and straight forward.  It was a Gospel Principles.  Luckily I had mine with me because we had been at church earlier, so I left my copy with him.  I also marked the chapter on the Word of Wisdom.  The man just looked so incredibly happy to have us there.  The entire time we were there, I had the feeling that he didn't have anyone coming to visit him, so I asked if he had a family or if he was alone.  He kind of squirmed like it was a hard question, so I rephrased it and he gave me a weak, "Yeah I have family."  I felt that something with that was wrong, so I just said, "Well, it's okay.  We'll be your family."  He looked really relieved when I said that.  When we left, Elder Bown told me that he had a wife and a ten year old daughter, but they walked out on him, and that was probably the reason that he started drinking again (he had been sober at one point for three and a half years).  Well, I guess I had said the right things, even though I didn't know why.

We're having miracles and success, but it's not always the way that we want.  Sometimes we just need to step back and have the humility to know that we can't do anything, that our success shouldn't be based on results, but based on what we put into it - that's all God is taking notes on.

I love you all alot, and I hope that everything is going amazing with you all!

Much Love,

Starší Monk

Half Week in Brno

Dear Family,

There's not a whole lot to say from this last Wednesday when I wrote last.  I'm really enjoying Brno.  It's kind of weird being in a larger town.  Ostrava was the same size, roughly, in terms of area, but there are far more people here, so that's pretty refreshing when it comes to finding, and we have lots of that.  So far these past few days we've been doing mainly finding, with a few lessons that were found just the day before.

Coming into this area, there's not a whole lot to work with, and Elder Bown agrees with that.  He knows it, but it's looking very promising right now because our finding has been really good.  We've been averaging about three numbers a day these past few days, and we've already got two new investigators.  It's also really strange being in such a large district.  Here there are ten missionaries (the zone leaders, district leader and his companion, our threesome, and a sister threesome) and two senior missionaries.

Right now, Elder Bown and I have a little bit of a joke.  During all of our finding time, Elder Bown has been having all the "success" because he's the one that always comes back with a few numbers and sometimes one or two set up meetings.  I, on the other hand, keep coming back empty handed with a story or two about someone who wants to either convert us or just talk about whatever.  Elder Gabrielsen has been switching off between me and Elder Bown.  He's doing really well, and I think that he's really liking missoinary work.  Perhaps this transfer, so far, has been the transfer that I've worked the hardest and, perhaps, the most satisfied with the work that I'm doing.

I can already see that this transfer is going to be full of miracles, growing and tough times, but it's going to be well more than worth it.  Sorry that I don't have a whole lot to say, but there's just not much to say, right now.

I hope that you're all doing well.  Love you lots,

Starší Monk

PS - here's a picture of Elder Gabrielsen and me.

Transfer to Brno