August 6, 2012:
My Scriptures have become my best friends
Oh Slovakia
Well hello again. Today was just full of adventures. I have never sweat so much in my life. Slovakia is HOT. I literally drip every day. I don’t even know why we shower. Sister Pysnakova always looks over and says, "You're dripping." Hahaha, ok, like I can do anything about it! So classy. Anyway, this morning we got permission from President to buy a vacuum (so that we can finally vacuum the apartment) as well as a fan and a toaster. YESSS, but that took forever, and we just had so much fun with it, and I helped Sister Pysnakova find new shoes. They are so cute and European! Love them. Anyway, the work has been great this week. We [accomplished a lot] again, and President just couldn’t believe it, because this area has been termed dead for so many years. But in Mosiah we read that if we pray continually, repent, and work hard we can bring thousands of souls unto repentance. So that’s what we are doing. We are going forward with faith. We are working SO HARD, and it feels so good!
This week we had a lesson with [an investigator], a [person] who has been investigating for years. He has read the whole Book of Mormon but hasn’t gotten an answer yet. So I promised him that if he makes the goal of being baptized and then asks God in prayer that he'll get an answer before that day. And so he accepted. But he didn’t come to Church, and he said that he got an answer, but that it might not be what we were expecting, although he didn’t want to explain via phone. So hopefully we'll meet with him tomorrow and ask him what that means exactly. Pray for him. [Our other investigators] are coming along well. They both came to Church on Sunday and just loved it. And the best part was that [even though] they were gone all last week at their cabin (chalupa), and [one of them] wanted to stay all weekend, [the other one] said, “No Dad, we need to go to Church!” Aaaah yesss. I love that. They are definitely in our prayers.
On Saturday we had a service activity in the city where we cleaned out a bike trail and got to wear the yellow ‘helping hands’ shirts. I texted all [possible investigators] and members about it. And one of our potential [investigators] came. And it was absolutely not who we expected would come. Last week we [started talking to] this man, and for almost an hour we walked alongside him across the city talking to him about the gospel. He kept saying that missionaries stop him at least twice a year, and he doesn’t know why our Church sends out such inexperienced people, that it's not very convincing. And we said that we don’t have much life experience, but that we know what we are saying is true. I testified that the truth is simple and beautiful and that the Book of Mormon has it laid out so that all men can understand God's gospel. He said that is where we are wrong, that truth is so complicated, that we will never understand it. Anyway, so we exchanged numbers, even though he said he has church on Sunday and is very involved in it so won’t be joining us. And I texted him, and he came. We were standing outside the train station waiting for the Elders, and he came. And he smiled and said, "You invited me so I came!" That just goes to show you that judgments need to be left up to God. We have no idea what people are actually like. And he worked SO hard. He was climbing up and down steep slopes to pick up trash, and then told us to invite him if we do anything like that again. So great.
This week I was really grateful for the Scriptures. I love that we can open them and learn so much. I love that my Scriptures have become my best friends, I feel so light and happy. I really have felt myself change this transfer as I have once again been dropped into a totally new situation and have had to turn to God. I love that. I love that He is always there, although sometimes the days are hot and sticky and really long and everything aches. But we have yet to be stoned and cast into prison and bound with strong cords. So alas we must press on! I love these people so much. I want to help the Church here. We don’t even have the Book of Mormon in Slovak. Did you know that? They have to read it in Czech. And it is hard for them. I hear from people that Slovak's relationship to Czech is sort of like Spanish to Portuguese. So it's not the greatest situation, but that book still has power, and people will feel it even if they don't understand everything. But I'm really hoping the Slovak version comes out soon. President said he's really pushing that. Also, the Elders in Zvolen are still trying to find a building, or even an office space to have church in. We held church yesterday in Zvolen in a rented room which had had a party in it the night before, because the whole place just reeked of cigarette smoke. But I just smiled and started playing the prelude music. We held church for two members who said they'd come. And they did! That's how important the Sacrament is.
Ah, sorry, gotta run. Hopefully in two weeks you'll get pictures again, when the library returns from its vacation.
Love you all,
Sestra Izattova
My Scriptures have become my best friends
Oh Slovakia
Well hello again. Today was just full of adventures. I have never sweat so much in my life. Slovakia is HOT. I literally drip every day. I don’t even know why we shower. Sister Pysnakova always looks over and says, "You're dripping." Hahaha, ok, like I can do anything about it! So classy. Anyway, this morning we got permission from President to buy a vacuum (so that we can finally vacuum the apartment) as well as a fan and a toaster. YESSS, but that took forever, and we just had so much fun with it, and I helped Sister Pysnakova find new shoes. They are so cute and European! Love them. Anyway, the work has been great this week. We [accomplished a lot] again, and President just couldn’t believe it, because this area has been termed dead for so many years. But in Mosiah we read that if we pray continually, repent, and work hard we can bring thousands of souls unto repentance. So that’s what we are doing. We are going forward with faith. We are working SO HARD, and it feels so good!
This week we had a lesson with [an investigator], a [person] who has been investigating for years. He has read the whole Book of Mormon but hasn’t gotten an answer yet. So I promised him that if he makes the goal of being baptized and then asks God in prayer that he'll get an answer before that day. And so he accepted. But he didn’t come to Church, and he said that he got an answer, but that it might not be what we were expecting, although he didn’t want to explain via phone. So hopefully we'll meet with him tomorrow and ask him what that means exactly. Pray for him. [Our other investigators] are coming along well. They both came to Church on Sunday and just loved it. And the best part was that [even though] they were gone all last week at their cabin (chalupa), and [one of them] wanted to stay all weekend, [the other one] said, “No Dad, we need to go to Church!” Aaaah yesss. I love that. They are definitely in our prayers.
On Saturday we had a service activity in the city where we cleaned out a bike trail and got to wear the yellow ‘helping hands’ shirts. I texted all [possible investigators] and members about it. And one of our potential [investigators] came. And it was absolutely not who we expected would come. Last week we [started talking to] this man, and for almost an hour we walked alongside him across the city talking to him about the gospel. He kept saying that missionaries stop him at least twice a year, and he doesn’t know why our Church sends out such inexperienced people, that it's not very convincing. And we said that we don’t have much life experience, but that we know what we are saying is true. I testified that the truth is simple and beautiful and that the Book of Mormon has it laid out so that all men can understand God's gospel. He said that is where we are wrong, that truth is so complicated, that we will never understand it. Anyway, so we exchanged numbers, even though he said he has church on Sunday and is very involved in it so won’t be joining us. And I texted him, and he came. We were standing outside the train station waiting for the Elders, and he came. And he smiled and said, "You invited me so I came!" That just goes to show you that judgments need to be left up to God. We have no idea what people are actually like. And he worked SO hard. He was climbing up and down steep slopes to pick up trash, and then told us to invite him if we do anything like that again. So great.
This week I was really grateful for the Scriptures. I love that we can open them and learn so much. I love that my Scriptures have become my best friends, I feel so light and happy. I really have felt myself change this transfer as I have once again been dropped into a totally new situation and have had to turn to God. I love that. I love that He is always there, although sometimes the days are hot and sticky and really long and everything aches. But we have yet to be stoned and cast into prison and bound with strong cords. So alas we must press on! I love these people so much. I want to help the Church here. We don’t even have the Book of Mormon in Slovak. Did you know that? They have to read it in Czech. And it is hard for them. I hear from people that Slovak's relationship to Czech is sort of like Spanish to Portuguese. So it's not the greatest situation, but that book still has power, and people will feel it even if they don't understand everything. But I'm really hoping the Slovak version comes out soon. President said he's really pushing that. Also, the Elders in Zvolen are still trying to find a building, or even an office space to have church in. We held church yesterday in Zvolen in a rented room which had had a party in it the night before, because the whole place just reeked of cigarette smoke. But I just smiled and started playing the prelude music. We held church for two members who said they'd come. And they did! That's how important the Sacrament is.
Ah, sorry, gotta run. Hopefully in two weeks you'll get pictures again, when the library returns from its vacation.
Love you all,
Sestra Izattova