1 Year?

April 30, 2012

Hi Everyone!

So yeah, I guess this Friday will be my year mark, I haven't been out that long. So it's going really well though! We had a super week! So here it is:

First miracle, we are teaching this 27 year old girl, who had been taught for about 8 months now. She is doing really well, and progressing really steadily, but slowly. However, this week she really started praying more to find out answers to her questions, and she is really progressing! She is just super excited about the gospel, and it really brings her a lot of joy! She comes to church almost every week, and is doing really well! She had this great moment of understanding this week when we were talking about the Plan of Salvation, which was really cool! She just seemed to get it. Great week with her!

 

So our second story, we got this member's less active son to come to church last week, and we met with him this week. We talked about missionary work, and he got really excited! He came to church with us on Sunday, and kept asking this one member who just got back from a mission about missions! He is just really really excited and is looking forward to serving now! He still has about 2 years (he's almost 17), but is really excited about it. It was really awesome to see!

 

Our third story happened this morning. We woke up, and had a few text messages. One of them was from this guy we've met with a few times, he said "I got it!". Of course, it was early, and I didn't really understand, so we asked him what he got. Apparently, he'd been praying, and found out that God really is there, that He really loves him! Such a great thing to hear! We're really excited to meet with him again this week!

 

So, we had several lessons not show up this week, but we've been really blessed anyways, and the Lord really is watching out for Elder Hansen and I. We're doing really well together still, and we're definitely working hard. Elder Hansen really helps me stay motivated, seeing how hard he tries to work! Our district here in Brno is doing awesome, and I'm really lucky to be serving such a great district!

 

So I read this week in 2 Nephi 33:10-11, which talks about the Book of Mormon. It says, if you believe in Christ, you will believe in these words (the BoM). It really is true, that the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ, and if people would just look past their negative feeling about the Book of Mormon, and just read it, they would see it testifies of Christ, and everything He taught! I know the Book of Mormon is true, and is the word of God! It is a great book!

 

Congratulations Eric for graduating! I would have been there

So, questions people had this week:

-My favorite hymn, I don't really know. I like a lot. Maybe Come thou Fount, even though it's not in the English hymnbook at the moment

-We have a choir here in Brno, there is a spring concert next Saturday, but I don't sing in it at the moment

-Suggestions for members back home, just share the gospel with everyone, invite them to read the Book of Mormon, because that is what our entire religion stands on, the truthfullness of the Book of Mormon. If it's true, everything else is true

-Transfers are the 16 of May, so I'll email that Wednesday.

Thanks for all the emails everyone! I really appreciate them! Have a great week! Love you all!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Hello

April 23, 2012

Hey Everyone!!!

Hope you had a great week, and it sounds like everyone is doing great! So it's been a really great week this week! President Irwin was at our District Meeting, which it was great to see him and Sister Irwin. It was a good one this week! 

 

So this week we we're able to reach some of our goals of teaching lessons, which was good! We are teaching this doctor, who is a really great guy! He is such a humble guy and is really finding our message helpful and enlightening. He is progressing so much, the only problem is that he works and studies so much that he can only meet once every other week, and works often on Sundays. 

 

One  great miracle we saw was this one girl we are teaching hasn't really been making too much progress. She does a lot of the things she needs to, but doesn't really believe in God, and has been unwilling to pray to know if He's there. But, she came into this last meeting, and she said that she has started doing that! It ws a really cool thing to see, and even though she doesn't have a specific answer yet, she is definitely progressing. 

 

We also met with this one kid for the first time and it was an awesome lesson! He told us he would read the Book of Mormon in a week. Just a really great kid, and we're really excited to meet with him again this week! There really are prepared people! Also, we got one of our member's less active sons to come to church. He is about 17 and is a really cool kid! Now we just need to help him realize that he should serve a mission! Just a great kid though.

 

So, other things though. I'm just really realizing more everyday the importance of the gospel, and the importance of declaring it to everyone. I still really love the scripture on my plaque back home in Romans, about how "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ". I'm realizing everyday, that I am really living that, as I go and talk with people who don't want to hear anything about the gospel, and I realize that I really am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I also am really trying to internalize that verse in 3 Nephi 5:13 "behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am called of Him to declare His gospel, among His people, that they might have eternal life" or something like that, I'm just quoting it from memory. It really is a great verse though, and I'm definitely trying to live it. 

 

Elder Hansen is doing awesome as well! We are working hard to declare the gospel to everyone! He is a great hard worker, and I'm really glad to serve with him. He's a great help!

 

Hope you all had a great week this week! Sounds like things are going great! Congratulations to Eric on graduating! You did it!!! Have a great week everyone! Love you all!

 

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Dešť

 April 16, 2012

Hey Family!

So This has been a good week! There wasn't too much new going on this week. We did have a district leader training here in Brno with all the district leaders. It was a really inspiring meeting, and really good. President Irwin always knows how to lift and inspire us. I'm really learning what it takes to be a leader in church callings. A calling of leadership is definitely a calling of service. I'm really learning what it means to be a servant. It's definitely something that really brings joy to my life. I'm definitely learning that we may have huge tasks in front of us, but with the Lord's help, we can do whatever He asks us to do.

So cool story though this week, called up a less active member, and he committed himself to church before we could ask. Showed up, and it was really cool!

Elder Hansen is doing great too! We are really working hard to do the Lord's will here in Brno right now.

The other Elders here in Brno are teaching a Bulgarian, who is really committed to baptism! How's that sound Eric?

Thanks for all the letters family!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Vesele Velikonoce!

April 9, 2012

Happy Easter Everyone!

So we got to see conference this week! It was really good, and I really learned a lot! We even had an investigator come to a session, which was really awesome! I really enjoyed the talk, I think by Neil L. Anderson about not caring what anyone thinks but the Savior. Such a great talk!

 

So we didn't teach very many lessons this week, we've been loosing a few investigators lately, but we found a lot of new people with some potential, so we're really looking forward to meeting with them!

 

We had a training meeting for all the new missionaries and their trainers, so that was really good this week. I had the opportunity to work with Elder Nichol, one of the assistants to President Irwin, for a few hours. It was a really good experience. He taught me a lot about being really bold, and not letting people go, just to keep them talking until they feel the spirit and agree to meet with us. It was really great, and he is a great missionary. We also got one of our investigators to commit to baptism, for this month! It was really cool because we have been trying to help him accept a date for a while, but I just kept saying this next one is the time, and it was! He is a really great guy, and we're really going to help him make this date.

 

For Easter, we didn't do too much. We watched conference, and ate lunch at the Martin's, the senior couple here in Brno, which was really good. They are really good to us! Easter traditions here in Czech Republic, the only one I know is where the women get hit with these woven sticks by the men, because it brings them better health. Pretty interesting! There is a lot of stands selling stuff on the namesti again like there were at Christmas, it's exciting!

 

It's been a great week, and I'm looking forward to another great one! Hope you all have a great week this week, I love you all and pray for you all!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

On a side note, there is this member here in Brno who is from Arizona, who went home for a week, and brought me back Cholula hot sauce!!! It was such a happy day. Already used some, and it's better than I remember!

Easter in Brno!

April 8, 2012

Main Dish!!

April 2, 2012

Hey Everyone!

So It's been a great one! This last week has been really good. There was another baptism here in Brno, so that was pretty exciting! This one guy Dalibor, about 25 years old was baptized. He is a really great guy! He will be a real strength to the Branch here.

 

We're really trying to build up our teaching pool here, haven't found too many new people recently. There was a training here though last week, and President Irwin talked about finding new people. It was really good, and really helped to build my faith. We did find this one really great kid so we'll see if we can't start teaching him. 

 

The coolest part of the week was when this one girl we're teaching came to church, and stayed all 3 hours, which she doesn't normally, and just really had a great experience from it! It was just really cool to see how the spirit affects people when they attend church.

 

So no, we didn't get to see conference yet, but we will next week. I'm not entirely sure how it will work out, but we'll find out when the time comes. I'm really looking forward to it! We will watch it in English, for those who asked. Sounds like everyone had a great week, and I really hope you have another great one! Love and miss you all!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Hey!

March 26, 2012

Hi Family!

It's been a good one this week. So, there was another baptism here in Brno. The sisters were teaching this girl who decided that she wanted to be baptized this week so she was! I got to do the interview too, so that was something new. It was a really great experience. 

So our area is doing good though. I still see our old investigators, and they are doing great. We extended a lot of baptisimal dates this week, but no one accepted any, so we're  working with that. It's going well though.

So this Sunday, about 5 minutes before sacrament meeting, the Branch President asks me to give my testimony during church. It was really cool though! I had never done that, or given a talk in church before, so it was pretty neat to do. 

We also working with some of the young single adults this Sunday to find some less active members. It was a really cool experience! I hope it helped them out, to have a good missionary experience. I heard it was fast Sunday there, but it wasn't here this week. It was daylight savings though, so that wasn't too fun. We will be watching general conference in 2 weeks I think it is, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Elder Hansen is still doing great! He really understands Czech really well. He really likes to work hard and get the work done. Not too much else exciting happened this week. We're just doing all that we can to find these prepared people! Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas