Me on the 'namesti' at sunset.
June 4, 2012:
Best Week Ever
This week was wonderful. So full of Heavenly Father's love for us. It was beautiful. That man I mentioned last week? AMAZING. He is... words can't even describe it. And unfortunately it's been so busy that I haven’t had time to write it all down in my journal yet, so I'm going to have to get all the details in here so that there is some kind of record. AH, I feel so lucky to be able to work with someone so wonderful.
So this last Tuesday I think it was, we had a meeting with [our investigator] set up at the main mall in Mlada Boleslav, another city we are in charge of. We got there, and we were laughing as we were walking up to the back doors, and we were a little early, so we thought we'd have time to get inside and call him and see where he was, so we weren't expecting it when he walked right up to us and introduced himself. He is a fantastic man, who just radiates the Spirit. We had asked a member to come, and she did, and she was fantastic. We went upstairs where there were chairs and sat down with some Sprite. We started the lesson and let him talk about his experience. He told us that he'd been meeting with the Sisters, and I don’t know what happened, but the lessons stopped, and he kept investigating on his own. They never gave him a Book of Mormon, which was weird since that's like the first thing you should give someone, but he found the website that has the Book of Mormon in Czech and read it for about a year. He investigated other churches and then asked God what he should do. He had a really strong dream telling him to join our Church, that it was the right one. He woke up and said to himself, “Oh, that was just a dream.” But then the dream repeated itself either the next night or a few later. He then realized it was from God, but still didn’t have the guts to call us, but told his friend about it who then also contacted us, and the Elders are trying to teach him now. So then God sent the same vivid dream to him, and after the third time, he had the courage to call us and receive the lessons. Sister Ginova was so great and bore her testimony about how he really will be joining the true Church. We taught the whole Restoration [of the Gospel], and he bore his testimony about how he knows that Joseph Smith is a Prophet.
Best Week Ever
This week was wonderful. So full of Heavenly Father's love for us. It was beautiful. That man I mentioned last week? AMAZING. He is... words can't even describe it. And unfortunately it's been so busy that I haven’t had time to write it all down in my journal yet, so I'm going to have to get all the details in here so that there is some kind of record. AH, I feel so lucky to be able to work with someone so wonderful.
So this last Tuesday I think it was, we had a meeting with [our investigator] set up at the main mall in Mlada Boleslav, another city we are in charge of. We got there, and we were laughing as we were walking up to the back doors, and we were a little early, so we thought we'd have time to get inside and call him and see where he was, so we weren't expecting it when he walked right up to us and introduced himself. He is a fantastic man, who just radiates the Spirit. We had asked a member to come, and she did, and she was fantastic. We went upstairs where there were chairs and sat down with some Sprite. We started the lesson and let him talk about his experience. He told us that he'd been meeting with the Sisters, and I don’t know what happened, but the lessons stopped, and he kept investigating on his own. They never gave him a Book of Mormon, which was weird since that's like the first thing you should give someone, but he found the website that has the Book of Mormon in Czech and read it for about a year. He investigated other churches and then asked God what he should do. He had a really strong dream telling him to join our Church, that it was the right one. He woke up and said to himself, “Oh, that was just a dream.” But then the dream repeated itself either the next night or a few later. He then realized it was from God, but still didn’t have the guts to call us, but told his friend about it who then also contacted us, and the Elders are trying to teach him now. So then God sent the same vivid dream to him, and after the third time, he had the courage to call us and receive the lessons. Sister Ginova was so great and bore her testimony about how he really will be joining the true Church. We taught the whole Restoration [of the Gospel], and he bore his testimony about how he knows that Joseph Smith is a Prophet.
Then later that week we set up a meeting at his home, and we tried to get a member there but no one we thought of who lives there in our Branch could do it, so I called sister Tmejova for any ideas she might have. She had someone from the Prague Branch come to mind who works in Mlada Boleslav, and she called her right up for us. This sister answered and started laughing and said, "I have been hoping to teach with the missionaries more, and I even asked the Branch President to tell them that I have set apart an entire day for them, every Tuesday to teach, but NONE of the missionaries in Prague have called me yet! I'd love to teach with the Sisters!!” And that was that. Sister Tmejova called, just amazed, and said that this man really needed to come to Church, because she felt that she had been inspired to call this particular sister. So we met at his home this Thursday, and the Spirit was SO STRONG. He has a little three-year-old daughter, and she is a riot. Totally out of control and has the best facial expressions. She came right up to me and started making facial expressions, so I started making them right back! Haha, she was not expecting that, so she kept throwing me the best ones she had, and it was hilarious. She and I bonded. When we got there we had on plan to teach the Plan of Salvation, and before we started he straight up said, "Do you know what I’d really like to learn about? The Plan of Salvation. That's really interesting to me." And we said, "Well good thing, because that's what we had on plan!" And he was amazed, and the sister said that we were led by God, so that was another testimony that he was doing the right thing. We laid the Plan of Salvation down on the ground with the little pictures I have, and [our investigator] got so excited he came and sat on the floor so he could see it better. He asked so many questions, and one thing that really stood out to me was when he said, "This plan makes God just. And I know that God is just!" And I was so happy. It's so true, the Plan of Salvation really does make sense. The lesson was really good, the Spirit was strong, and we ended with saying we'd see him at Church. His daughter held onto my hand, and he said it was bizarre, because she usually doesn’t take to people like that.
We were just sooo happy and talked about [our investigator] all day! Then on Thursday night I remembered that Liberec was having a baptism in Prague that Saturday. So I invited [our investigator], even though it was a day away. He wrote back and said he'd love to go and that he'd have to find babysitting for [his daughter], but that he'll get back to us. Friday he told us he could come, and AGH, I was so happy. So sister Tmej figured out the bus schedules for us, and on Saturday morning we went to Mlada Boleslav by bus, and then [our investigator] got onto the same bus, and we were off to Prague. We talked the whole time, and it was amazing, I could understand everything even though he speaks in Polish at times (the languages are related), and I am still so bad at Czech. It was a two hour-ish travel time, and we had so much fun just talking and getting to know him better. We got to Prague, and they were having another service for two more baptisms that night, so none of the Prague members came, and it was the Prague missionaries’ Preparation Day, so no one else was really there. We gave him a tour of the building, and he LOVED looking at the Prophet, and when he saw Elder Nelson's face he said, "He is a good man, I can tell." And then he saw this painting of the pioneers, and he knew about them already.
We were just sooo happy and talked about [our investigator] all day! Then on Thursday night I remembered that Liberec was having a baptism in Prague that Saturday. So I invited [our investigator], even though it was a day away. He wrote back and said he'd love to go and that he'd have to find babysitting for [his daughter], but that he'll get back to us. Friday he told us he could come, and AGH, I was so happy. So sister Tmej figured out the bus schedules for us, and on Saturday morning we went to Mlada Boleslav by bus, and then [our investigator] got onto the same bus, and we were off to Prague. We talked the whole time, and it was amazing, I could understand everything even though he speaks in Polish at times (the languages are related), and I am still so bad at Czech. It was a two hour-ish travel time, and we had so much fun just talking and getting to know him better. We got to Prague, and they were having another service for two more baptisms that night, so none of the Prague members came, and it was the Prague missionaries’ Preparation Day, so no one else was really there. We gave him a tour of the building, and he LOVED looking at the Prophet, and when he saw Elder Nelson's face he said, "He is a good man, I can tell." And then he saw this painting of the pioneers, and he knew about them already.
Me and Sister Dolinar caught in the rain.
The baptismal service was for a beautiful Mongolian family, and they were all late, so we listened to hymns with [our investigator] for a half an hour while we waited. He loves the hymns. The family finally came, and they were so beautiful. The husband has been a member for a while, and so has his mom, and miraculously they got really long visas to stay here, when usually Mongolians get six month visas. He met his wife, who is also Mongolian, and they have a three-year-old GORGEOUS baby. The mom is also pregnant, and anyway, the Elders have been teaching them via Skype with the missionaries in MONGOLIA. So great! And now she knows the Church is true. It was a gorgeous service, and I got to give the opening prayer which was a privilege. The baptism was downstairs in the beautiful font Prague has (it was my first time seeing it), and it was so interesting, the first time she went down, something didn’t go right, and they did it again, then the second time everything went right, and the Spirit hit me like a rock. It was incredible! The Holy Ghost really was there, sealing the deal and approving of the second one. Sister Dolinar sat by [our investigator], and she said when she went down, he gasped in air. After the service, everyone started moving upstairs, and [our investigator] didn’t want to move. I know that feeling. When you're so happy that you can’t move, because you're scared that feeling will go away. [Our investigator] looked at us and said, "My heart is beating so fast. Inside of me is just going to explode!" It was BEAUTIFUL. I told him that that is the Spirit!
We finished the service, and it was really late, so we ran out the door to get to the metro right after the closing song. We had a bus at 4:30 pm, and the metro took 45 minutes to get there, and it was already like 3:50 pm. So we were praying for a miracle. We got to the bus station as the bus was pulling away. We all started sprinting, and [our investigator] waved his hands like crazy, and the bus stopped for us! Hahaha, oh, I was so grateful for him. We were laughing like crazy as we got on, and we all sat in the back so we were able to sit together. Hahahah, oh my gosh, it was the best. We talked and talked and talked. At the end of that he said that he'd be coming to Church tomorrow, [and that] he was really interested in the Fast and Testimony Meeting and what that would be like and wanted to be able to concentrate on that.
We picked him up the next day at the bus stop before Church :). He stayed for all three hours of Church, and during Testimony Meeting sister Tmejova got up and bore her testimony about... [our investigator]! Hahaha, that was hilarious. She told everyone that they needed to get to know him and listen to his conversion story, because it proves that God lives and loves us. [Our investigator] was embarrassed, but I think he liked it. [Our investigator] kept telling me that his chest was burning, and I told him that if he wanted to get up he could, and he said, "I will after I'm baptized." He said that he has never seen another Church where people speak so much from their hearts and know that what they believe is TRUE. He loved Sunday School, and Priesthood [Meeting] helped him understand the levels of the priesthood. Afterwards we had a really quick lesson before his bus came, and I felt awful about it, because it was so fast and rushed and didn’t make sense, and I was worried all day that he'd drop us after that, but then Sunday night he texted us and said thank you for Church and that he really felt something there. We have another meeting with him on Wednesday.
The group of boys is going ok… keep praying for them. I love you! Gotta run. [Our investigator] is AMAZING.
You’re in my prayers!
Satu
We finished the service, and it was really late, so we ran out the door to get to the metro right after the closing song. We had a bus at 4:30 pm, and the metro took 45 minutes to get there, and it was already like 3:50 pm. So we were praying for a miracle. We got to the bus station as the bus was pulling away. We all started sprinting, and [our investigator] waved his hands like crazy, and the bus stopped for us! Hahaha, oh, I was so grateful for him. We were laughing like crazy as we got on, and we all sat in the back so we were able to sit together. Hahahah, oh my gosh, it was the best. We talked and talked and talked. At the end of that he said that he'd be coming to Church tomorrow, [and that] he was really interested in the Fast and Testimony Meeting and what that would be like and wanted to be able to concentrate on that.
We picked him up the next day at the bus stop before Church :). He stayed for all three hours of Church, and during Testimony Meeting sister Tmejova got up and bore her testimony about... [our investigator]! Hahaha, that was hilarious. She told everyone that they needed to get to know him and listen to his conversion story, because it proves that God lives and loves us. [Our investigator] was embarrassed, but I think he liked it. [Our investigator] kept telling me that his chest was burning, and I told him that if he wanted to get up he could, and he said, "I will after I'm baptized." He said that he has never seen another Church where people speak so much from their hearts and know that what they believe is TRUE. He loved Sunday School, and Priesthood [Meeting] helped him understand the levels of the priesthood. Afterwards we had a really quick lesson before his bus came, and I felt awful about it, because it was so fast and rushed and didn’t make sense, and I was worried all day that he'd drop us after that, but then Sunday night he texted us and said thank you for Church and that he really felt something there. We have another meeting with him on Wednesday.
The group of boys is going ok… keep praying for them. I love you! Gotta run. [Our investigator] is AMAZING.
You’re in my prayers!
Satu