July 18, 2012

Uz jsem zpatky!!!

Hey Everyone!!!
So it's been transfers! 

It's been a really exciting one this time!
First off, Trencin. Our investigator was baptised this Saturday! It was really cool! She was so prepared and we were really sure it was going to happen. So I had the privledge to do that! We had the baptism in the Vah, the river right by the church building. The really cool part is that just like she really wanted, it rained at her baptism! She said she prayed that it would. She really likes the rain. It was a really great service though, and the members were great and she is so ready to continue on as an active member! It really was a blessing to help the branch in Trencin accept a new member, as they have not really seen success for a long time. The last baptism was 3 years ago, and it was good to give them hope for the future. Elder Zabriskie confirmed her a member on Sunday. One member, the branch President's mother had us and her over for dinner, and it was a really great experience for us all. This member has such a desire to share the gospel and has helped us out so much this last transfer. It was a great end of the transfer. 

I loved my time with Elder Zabriskie and we really worked hard and did our best there in Trencin! I love Trencin so much and will miss it there.

This last week we were able to see some really cool things. We finally were able to meet with this one investigator that we have. It was a really great lesson. He was really open and accepted to read and pray, and to be baptised when he knows it's all true. It was such a blessing for me to see this success right as I was leaving the area, and I know the next missionaries will do great there. Elder Zabriskie is staying there and will train a new missionary.

As for the new transfer, I'm going to an area I'm partially familiar with. I have been assigned to serve as a Zone Leader in the city of Pardubice, with Elder Heath!!! I'm really excited about this! So Pardubice is the only city in the mission with missionaries that attends in a different city. We go to church in Hradec Kralove, which is my first city for anyone who remembers that. So we will be spending some time there in Hradec Kralove this transfer. I'm really excited to be here. It's definitely a blessed opportunity to serve these members again, and to serve and love these people here. Elder Heath is from my MTC group, and is just such a great guy. I love him so much. He is a really hard worker and I know we'll serve great together this transfer. He is from Masachusetts.

So everything else is going great! We have a really great area right now and are teaching a family. They all have baptisimal dates, and I'm really excited to be working with them! Things are looking really good, and I'm so excited to work this transfer! Hope you all have a great week! Again I enjoy all your emails and your spiritual experiences you all have every week. Love you all!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Posledni Tyzden

July 9, 2012

Hey Everyone!

So it's my last week here in Slovakia. We will have transfers next Wednesday, so you won't hear from me until then. It was great to hear from all of you. Sounds like everything is going really well! The river rafting trip sounded really great, as it always is! Glad to hear things are good, and glad to hear your great church experiences as well.

 

So this week was good, but a bit harder to work. It is now extremely hot and today is the first cooler day all week. Half of our members were in the temple in Freiburg Germany this week, so they couldn't help us this week with missionary work, but it was really good anyways!

 

First, our investigator. She is still doing so great! She is still very excited for her baptism this Saturday! We're definitely looking forward to it as well. The members as well are just really excited for it, and so there is a good atmosphere here. We went to Zilina with her and another member this Saturday to see a baptism there. It was really great! She was able to meet the members there in Zilina and build relationships with them. It was just a great event overall.

 

We are working with this inactive member, who is just the coolest guy ever! He's about 25 and just really great. He works on Sundays though so can't come to church. We had a really good lesson with him though and he said he would pray and search for new work to be able to keep that commandment. He said he wasn't going to be able to make it to church this Sunday though. So church is about to start, and all of a sudden, he comes in! I was so excited to see him. It just proves that he really has real intent and he really wants these blessings in his life. I can just see how much of a strength he could be to this branch in Trencin, and I'm so grateful to see him working so hard to do that. He is great!

 

Elder Zabriskie and I are still trying really hard to find new investigators. We haven't found any in 2 weeks now, so we're still doing our best to find them. We haven't been teaching very much because of that, but we still have really high hopes! Trencin is still just full of miracles waiting to happen!

 

So everything is going really well though, and we're just looking to finish the transfer really strong! I've been working a lot this last week on humility, and recognizing that without the Lord's help, we really can't do anything. I really can't deny how without the help of our Father in heaven, the work here doesn't and won't progress. I've also been strengthening my testimony that if we really study the scriptures and look to our Father in heaven, He does show us His will, and He does show us truth. If only everyone could realize this simple truth, that if they humble themselves and seek the will of their God, He will show them how to live happily and safely.

Thank you all for your letters of love and support. I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!!!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

July 2, 2012

Vela Stastia

Hey Everyone!

So sounds like everything is going really well still! Glad to hear it. Thanks for all the emails again. I really appreciate hearing all the spiritual highlights of everyone's week.

 

So this week was a really really good one. First of all, the mission. As a mission we are doing so well! The mission has seriously never been doing so good since I got here. In Slovakia this transfer alone, there are 8 baptisms. Thats 8 baptisms in 2 months, more then all of Slovakia got in 2010! We are really just doing so well right now, as Elder Christofferson told us, the work is starting to speed up here, and we're so lucky to be here during it. I really feel that I am the best missionary I have been since getting here too.

 

So, right now it's is so hot. It was the most difficult fast Sunday I have ever had, and I went home and drank liters and liters of water and a liter of chocolate milk. It was really hot. Elder Zabriskie and I we're talking about fasting in relation to missionary work though, and it was really cool. We see how in both cases, we give up something that's not necessarily a bad thing (24 hours of food and water or 2 years of giving up things to be a missionary). The reason we do it though, is for something better. By doing so, we show God that we are willing to draw closer to Him, by following His commandments, and He blessed us with spiritual strength and knowledge. It's really a great trade off.

 

Things are so good here though. Our investigator is still working towards baptism, and we'll probably be going to Zilina this weekend with her to see a baptism there, so we're looking forward to that. We had a lesson on Alma 32 and asked her what we can do to nourish our "trees"and she knew all the things we should do. It was a really cool lesson. She is definitely going to be ready on the 14 of July and we're looking forward to it as well as she is!

 

We had so many cool experiences this week, and I just can't tell all of them. There was this one where this guy kept doing everything he could to disagree with us, whenever we found a common ground, so we had a cool Zeezrom moment and caught him in his words. I learned that if we really teach the gospel, we cannot be caught in our own words, because we are speaking nothing but true doctrine.

 

I have been looking a lot at the Christlike attribute of Humility this week. It is such an important attribute. When we are humble, we admit that we don't have it all figured out. We know that we can't rely wholly on our own wisdom and learning, or the wisdom and learning of others. We realize that only through God can we learn what the truth is and what isn't. In John 5:30, we can see that even Jesus Christ didn't rely on His own learning and understanding, but that of His Father in heaven. Even Jesus Christ was humble and willing looked to His Father for the answers. If only we all could do that. I face that everyday, people who just aren't willing to admit that maybe they don't have it all figured out, and it's sad to see, but we just have to find those who are willing. Humility - 2 Nephi 9:42-43

 

Another word of advice, the more we go out of our way to give to the Lord, the more He will go out of His way to bless us. I'm really learning that a lot.

 

So everything else is going really great! We're really trying to help others as best we can and we're really seeing miracles this transfer! The work is pressing on, the work is true and the church is true! Just remember that, and keep working hard everyone! Keep doing all that you do, you really help us out here a lot with your prayers! Remember, sacrifice obedience and faith=miracles!

Love you all! Have a great week!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Pokračujme

 June 25, 2012

Hey Family!

Sounds like everyone had a good time on the pioneer trek back home!

 It's been another good week, even if not super eventful. We're continuing to teach our investigator and she is making so much progress! It's really a miracle to see whats happening with her. From the time we first met her, she has completely changed so much, she is happier, she has so much desire to do whats right, and she is experiencing the joy of the gospel! We taught the word of wisdom, and she is making so much progress in stopping smoking. She already hasn't for 4 days now! She just wants to live the gospel and she wants all the blessings associated with it. I feel like we're not even doing that much, but it's all coming from God and His help. The members are catching the excitement of the work as well. They love helping us with her and are really enjoying her at church. The Relief Society usually goes over 20 minutes because they don't want to stop talking! Her baptism is still on date for the 14 of July and everyone is looking forward to it, especially her! I feel it is such a blessing to teach her, and I'm learning a lot in the process.

This week I really studied the Atonement a little more in depth. I really just tried to comprehend more what our Savior went through for each one of us. It really is amazing and such an act of love what He did for each of us. We really never will be able to understand what exactly He went through, but I am so very grateful that He did it. For what He did, we can never do enough to even come close to repaying Him. But He loves us, and that's why He makes up the rest with the Atonement. So why can't we just remember that more often, and just do what little He asks.

I spent one day in Zilina this week on exchanges and worked with Elder Johnson there. It is a beautiful city and I really enjoyed it. We saw some really cool things during that time, and worked our hardest. Here in Trencin, we are definitely seeing miracles though! The work is pressing forward, and I'm grateful to be an active part of it.

So it's been so hot this last week. One night we fell asleep with the window open because it was so hot, but then there was this thunderstorm in Trencin at about 2 in the morning so that woke us up. We had to close the window, but then it was extremely hot again. Oh, humidity. We've had to sleep in a different room this week in our apartment.

So, not too much else.  Elder Zabriskie is still just a great companion and I'm loving him! We're continuing to work hard! Keep praying for us!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Pokračujeme ďale

 June 18, 2012

Hey Everyone!!!

So it's been a good one! We were in Brno this week for part of Thursday and Friday. It was great to see the city again. I really love Brno. I got to see Elders Ozmun and Hansen too so that was great! We learned a lot there and it was a really uplifting trip. On the train ride back, I was with Elders Zabriskie and Tenny and Durrant, and we were just talking about how great our missions are and how much we've changed. It really has been the greatest experience of my life so far. I really love it so much, and I love being here, being around these missionaries who are just so extraordinary, being around these members who have given up so much, and being around these great people in these great countries. It's something else out here, but it's so great! I'm just glad to be a missionary here, to be having these experiences which are really changing me, and to share that which is so great in my life, the gospel!

 

I'm so glad to be with Elder Zabriskie right now though, and we're just working so hard trying our best to help our investigators accept the gospel. Our investigator is doing great! She is still working towards baptism and her date is for the 14 of July! We are really excited that she is progressing so well. She is just accepting everything, and we really see a change that has come over her since she has started "experimenting upon the word", to quote the prophet Alma. She is so much happier and really wants to change her life, and I'm just glad the gospel gives us that opportunity. We're working with a lot of other investigators, but no one really steadily. We're picking up and dropping investigators a lot, so we're really trying to find those who are willing to meet often. We're doing really well though.

 

I have really been studying the gospel of Jesus Christ though even more, just the entire purpose behind missionary work. My testimony of missionary work is growing so much, and I really am just so anxious to share the gospel with those around me. I know that it is so important to declare the gospel and I'm just so glad I have learned this lesson and that I have this opportunity to do so. I really hope you all take that to heart.

 

So have a great week everyone! I love you so much and really appreciate you all. Thanks for all the letters and I hope you have a great day!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Pomalo ale Usilovne

 June 11, 2012

Cau Cau,

So I hope everyone is well this week! It sounds like you're all busy which is good. Trencin is just great still! I just love it so much. So we're still just working really hard trying our best to do everything we can. We had a lot of things fall through this week, but we also saw a lot of great things!

 

We only had one person at church this week, but it was still fine. It was our Investigator who is just doing amazing! She hasn't missed church yet, the members love her, she loves them, and she is just progressing so well! She is preparing for baptism, and even told her kids about it, for the 7 of July! I'm so very excited for that!

 

We're still doing our best to find and teach people, and it is going really well. One thing I realized, is that we find a lot of people who don't really progress at all, but our time isn't wasted. People are finding out more about us, and the church is becoming more well known with every person we talk to. I just thought about how that really helps the church out anyway. We are finding a lot of people though, and we feel so blessed. 

 

One cool experience with finding someone, we we're going home at the end of the day, and I saw this guy sitting down, but it was kind of off our path, so we just kept going. But then I really felt we needed to go back and talk to him, and he turned out to be this really cool guy and gave us his number and we'll probably meet with him soon! It was a really cool experience! We also almost lost contact with this really great guy we were teaching, but we were able to find him again, and he is still willing to meet and learn more, so we're just really excited about him. He really would be such a strength to this branch here in Trencin.

 

Slovak is coming along well. I can now talk at a more normal speed. It's really great though!

I will be in Brno this Friday for the day! We're having a training there so I'm really excited!!!

Today we didn't really do too much, but last P-Day we hiked out to these ruins, and it was really great! 

 

They we're really cool, but we couldn't go in, because it was a Monday (All castles, art galleries, and other such things are closed Mondays). But it still was really cool and I got some pictures.

 

So everyone, have a great week! I really love you all, and I'm glad to hear from you!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Jejda

June 4, 2012

Hey Everyone!!!

So it sounds like things are going really well! Things are great as always here in Slovakia!!! Just loving it!

So last P-Day we went exploring through the forests of Trancin. We were getting ready to leave, when it started raining super hard! We got trapped under this roof for about an hour while it poured. 

 

So we went back to the church building after to change, and decided we would call former investigators because we we're just soaked and not doing so great, ha! We set up this meeting with this guy, and met with him the next day. It was a great meeting! He is this 24ish year old guy who told us he is looking for a way to get closer to God in his life! We told him the way he can do that is through baptism, and he really seemed to like that idea! We set up another meeting, and he didn't show up. We thought that was sort of the end of that, because he wasn't answering his phone. But then he called us a few hours later and told us he was sorry, he had some work he had to do and he was going to come to church on Sunday and bring a friend! So he came to church on Sunday, had a great time and said he's coming next week and set up another meeting with us. It really is a miracle that we're finding these prepeared people!!! The best part though is that the members were talking to him, and he told them that he had really been thinking about these things a lot, and then we called him! So that was really just quite a blessing that we are able to teach him right now! 

We are also teaching this lady who is just loving everything about the church. She loves the members and they really have just taken her in, so it's really great to see that! We found this family, who are really nice, but didn't really have interest in the gospel. However we taught them twice now, and they are really starting to see how these things make sense and may be true! They are starting to see how the gospel can bless them!

So we're basically just seeing the hand of the Lord in our work and it's really quite a blessing to see that. 

I'm really loving Trencin and my faith and testimony are growing a lot here. Even though there are a lot of people who are stuck in their traditions, there are those who are prepared to hear the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I have seen miracle after miracle here in this country, and I know that the things I am doing are exactly what God wants me to do. I know this is His church here on the earth today, and that He loves and cares about us so much. I just hope I can do everything the Lord expects of me in this short time here on my mission. Love you all, have a great week! Thanks for all you all do for me!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas