November 12, 2012:
Rain helps us see brilliant colors more clearly
Hello again :)
Well, this week went well, and I am happy it is Preparation Day again. I am so tired! (but happy) We had three traveling days this week, so we didn't teach a ton, but I still learned a ton. On Friday we had training just for our zone in Zilina, an hour and a half away by train. So we got up bright and early to make that, had training, and then came back just in time to have dinner and go to bed pretty much. While up there we had a great training, aaaand I got a package :). Thank you Mother Dear. I opened it on the train and let everyone partake of my candy corn. I DIED when I got the shirt. I just LOVE it. I AM A MORMON! I know it! I live it! And I LOVE it! The Elders weren’t as excited as I was while I was quoting it in the train car, but that's alright! ‘Twas my nameday. My shirt. Tak, dakujem!
Rain helps us see brilliant colors more clearly
Hello again :)
Well, this week went well, and I am happy it is Preparation Day again. I am so tired! (but happy) We had three traveling days this week, so we didn't teach a ton, but I still learned a ton. On Friday we had training just for our zone in Zilina, an hour and a half away by train. So we got up bright and early to make that, had training, and then came back just in time to have dinner and go to bed pretty much. While up there we had a great training, aaaand I got a package :). Thank you Mother Dear. I opened it on the train and let everyone partake of my candy corn. I DIED when I got the shirt. I just LOVE it. I AM A MORMON! I know it! I live it! And I LOVE it! The Elders weren’t as excited as I was while I was quoting it in the train car, but that's alright! ‘Twas my nameday. My shirt. Tak, dakujem!
Saturday we weekly planned and then got on the train to... BRNO! Yep. Again. It is one LOOONG train ride. This time we got to ride the whole way up with the Elders in our District, which was fun, but talking that long feels so strange now, because we are so used to just working and working. We mostly kept it on spiritual things however, which was good. Six hours.
We got to the Sisters’ apartment at ten o’cklock that night, and I slept on the floor, and Sister Brimhall had the couch. We all had a little pow wow on the floor talking about our investigators. I love that about missionary work. There is always something to talk about, because we are always focused on other people. Brno is doing well.
Sunday was Conference. Last year... I cannot believe it was last YEAR.... it was held in the Brno chapel, and there were so many people, that every missionary had to sit in the hallway. We had chairs going all the way down the hallways, and the foyer was full of our bodies while we tried to listen to what was being said in the chapel. So this year, they ordered a hotel conference room, thank heavens.
We got there really early and met up with Katarina and sister Dobiasova. There had been a Relief Society meeting thing the day before, and we'd arranged housing for Katarina with a member we know well in Brno, so she was able to go to that and Conference. That was a great start for her membership. She loved it.
And it was so great to see all of these faces I love. I wish Jičín was in our District. I just miss all of them. Anyway, the Conference consisted of President Irwin speaking, Sister Irwin, the new District Presidency, and a Seventy from Germany who came.
It was fun, and the best part for me was seeing Pavla play the flute for the choir and being totally involved. I'd written her a letter a few weeks ago, and she gave me a letter there... She is planning on going on a mission :). Is there anything that could fill me with more joy at this point? She tasted the fruit. And wants to share it with her family, her brothers and sisters wherever the Prophet sends her. She'll be a member for a year come this March. I love her. She's going to serve a mission!
After the Conference we trained back with the Banska members, so sister D, Katarina, and another member who's been in America for a while but is back now. That was fun. We got home just in time for callings, and then went to bed. We were SO TIRED. I still am so tired. But missions keep you young!
Sister Brimhall, I, and Vladimir
Oh, on Friday we had some GREAT NEWS! I called [some investigators], and THEY ACCEPTED ANOTHER VISIT! We are going back on Friday at 3. I am so excited. Keep them in your prayers! They are just amazing.
Also, we have a really neat new investigator. She has quite the miracle story attached to her, and I hope I have time to tell it all.
Also, we have a really neat new investigator. She has quite the miracle story attached to her, and I hope I have time to tell it all.
A few weeks ago, actually, it was Sister Brimhall’s and my second day together, we were walking down this street talking to people. We had actually just gotten Katarina's phone number, and we were continuing down. We stopped this young girl, and I said, "Hi, we are talking to people about the Book of Mormon, have you heard of it?" And she literally reaches into her purse... this image is still so clear to me... and she pulls out this little notebook and smiles. I look down at the notebook, and in perfect cursive tiny handwriting we see the words: Nephi, Helaman, Alma, Mosiah... with numbers of how many chapters are in each book written to the right of the names, and the chapters she'd read she'd crossed out. In my head I was just so confused because it is quite common for people to be rude, brush us off, say they've heard of it but aren’t interested... not once have I found someone who is actually, already, studying the Book of Mormon without missionary help on their own! What on earth!
This looked like the city dump before we started cleaning.
We both got very excited and told her that we actually meet with people to discuss this book and explain what Church it belongs to. She told us that she doesn’t want help or need it, but that she can just continue reading it on her own. I asked her to please call when she can and gave her our contact card. And then she walked away. And Sister Brimhall and I were totally confused as to what had just happened. I kept talking about it all day because it was so unreal. Those little tiny words that are so familiar to us but so unfamiliar to the world were in that girl’s purse. In Slovakia.
Fast forward two months to last week. We get a text saying that she doesn’t know if we remember her, but she'd like to meet. How about Monday? Aaaaaaah! Haha, so we set up with her for Monday morning and yep, same girl. Same notebook. Except this time I got to touch it to make sure it was real. It is! And she is too. I have hugged her. So I know she is real! We met with her, explained the Restoration [of the Gospel], and it went well. She is a good girl, and she will make it someday. We are meeting with her again this week, we met twice last week. She only wants to read the Book of Mormon in English to help her English, but hey that is better than nothing. Unfortunately, she came to our lesson with tons of anti-Mormon stuff she'd found on the internet, and I was just so... blah! So I just bore testimony, and Sister Brimhall told her to look for information on our website, not on other websites because those won’t be accurate to what we believe. I hope she keeps reading that Book of Mormon. She will, we will help her. We both think she can make it! Keep her in your prayers.
Children in Zvolen.
So that's all for now from Banska. It is rainy and gray and cloudy... but the great thing about that is that all makes the red roofs look that much more brilliant. And that's how life is. It gets cloudy sometimes, but the rain clears away impurities in our lives, and we can better see the beautiful colors of life and the gospel. God lives, He loves us so much. I fasted this morning for help with the language. Fasting works, I had words come to memory quicker today. And prayer works. I gain so much strength from it.
I love you all,
Sestra Izattova
I love you all,
Sestra Izattova