Už tady jsou Vanoce?

November 28, 2011
Hey everyone!

So I heard the news and saw the pictures, Elise has her baby!!! Still haven't heard anything about his name yet but I'm sure I will soon enough. That's really exciting! He seems like a really cool little guy already!

So can anybody guess when the Christmas season starts in the Czech Republic? The day after Thanksgiving. It's really interesting, because they definitely don't celebrate Thanksgiving here. So on the main square though all the stands are open selling food and other Christmas items. It's really exciting! We have already eaten at several and they're all really good! It's so cool though, there are just so many Christmas things and it's nothing like I've ever experienced! It's exciting.

The missionary work has started slowing down a bit though and I keep hearing it only gets worse as Christmas (Christmases in Czech, yes it's plural) gets closer. People are just too busy with their family and other things to have time for missionaries I guess. We aren't letting that get us down though!

Last night we had a cool experience! We were talking with people on the streets around the main center when we saw some of the other missionaries. We snuck up behind them, then started talking to them for a minute seeing how the work was going for them. We were standing in a circle talking and then this guy just came and started standing in our circle. It was really weird and he didn't say anything for a minute. Then he just introduces himself. Elder Odell and I were surprised. It was this guy who is a former investigator and who we had talked to on the phone a few times, but had never been able to set up a time to meet with him. However, now that we finally met him face to face, he was willing to set up a time to meet and it was really cool! He is a really nice guy.

Cool story of today is that we were getting money from the ATM and this guy saw us and stopped. It was a guy we had talked to last week who said he was going to come to church, but didn't. We were able to talk to him again though and we set up a meeting this time (last time he didn't want to). So that was really cool that we met him there!

Not too much has happened since Thursday though. It has snowed twice, but it was nothing like real snow. Just enough to turn the grass white and then it was gone the next day. It snowed last night but it's already all gone today. Nothing like Utah. It is just as cold as Utah though I wish we had the snow to go with it! Today was really warm though and we even saw some blue in the sky.

So we're really looking forward to a great week though and to seeing some miracles again!

Hope everyone had a great week and hope baby Wallace does well!!!

sLaskou

-Starsi Salas

Jak se Daři

November 24, 2011

Hey Everyone!

So it's been quite the miracle week. Elder Odell and I have been working hard talking with everyone on the streets and we've seen some really cool things!

First story-

Elder Odell and I were contacting at this park around Spilberk Castle last week, and we didn't get any success there. It was starting to get dark so we were headed down the hill and we almost walked past this guy because we didn't notice him at first but Elder Odell stopped him. He has heard of us and our church before and was super excited to talk to us. He just kept talking about how cool it was that we were missionaries and how he wishes he could do something like that. He said he was really busy with work and school but would love to meet with us. So we called him this week and set up for last night. Came to the meeting, loved our church building, we taught by the spirit, and he accepted a baptismal date for January. Way awesome! He is just a really solid guy all around and is very prepared for the message! We feel so blessed to have met him.

Second story-

During companion study, Elder Odell and I were talking about in Preach My Gospel about how it says to look for ways to serve people in small ways. So this is the same day we met the last guy I talked about. So it was dark and we were contacting in this other park that has lights so it's good for night contacting. We saw this girl about 27 years old looking for something in the leaves in the grass. We asked her if we could help her with anything. She said she was looking for something and I didn't understand what it was so I told her I didn't understand some word. She was confused and asked where we were from. Told her we're from America. She speaks English. Said she never would have guessed we were foreigners. That was pretty cool. But then she said she was looking for her dog leash. We told her we could help but she didn't want to bother us. Talked a little more and it turns out her husband is from Costa Mesa, and is working there at the moment. She was way excited to hear I was from Orange County. So then we told her we really wanted to help her look. Found her dog leash, she was way excited. Told her about our English class and she came to that and we have a meeting set up with her next week! It's really crazy how a little bit of small service can really make a big difference. So that was a really cool experience as well.

So the main square here in Brno is all decorated for Christmas and it looks really awesome! They have a huge nativity here too. I'll get some pictures mom don't worry. Today we have p-day and Thanksgiving and we're getting together as missionaries and having a big lunch. We have a senior couple here in Brno so we're going over there to have turkey. We're really lucky here in Brno.

So it's been a great week and we're really looking forward to continuing to serve here in Brno! Good things are happening here!

-Starsi Salas

Brno!

November 14, 2011

So it's been a crazy week this week. Opening up an area is definitely not the easiest thing. It's been good though. Elder Odell and I have hit the pavement talking with people and we've already seen some cool things! We talked with a ton of people this week and have about 10 potential investigators! We have 3 lessons set up for Wednesday and we're really excited about that!

We met this one guy who seems super interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he committed to read and pray about it! It was really cool. From the moment we started talking to him he kept getting more and more excited. We'll try to meet with him this week again and see how that goes.

We have 11 missionaries here in Brno. 7 Elders (one is finishing his mission in the middle of the transfer), and 2 sisters and a senior couple. It is really cool to have so many missionaries here, and we see each other every so often on the streets.

On Sunday, we had district conference (Stake Conference) so we didn't get to see how many people are normally in the branch. Brno has the second biggest branch though I think (behind Prague) and it has a church building! It is big enough to be a ward, but there aren't enough wards for a stake, so it's still a branch. It's cool though, everyone seems really nice.

We had an opportunity to do service for an older lady in the branch painting a room in her house and it was really cool. We got to meet a few members that way.

Brno is a really cool city though. It is super beautiful and is just really awesome! Plus there aren't a lot of tourists like there are in Prague, so it's nicer to go around talking to people. Brno is just way cool though.

Elder Odell is great! He already knows Czech pretty well so there's not the problem of me talking too much. We understand about the same so that's good. He really likes things clean though, so he's always cleaning.

Funny story, we were telling this guy the first vision in Czech, and I forgot a word so then all of a sudden, Elder Odell continues on with it. Then he forgot the last part, so I finished it. It was pretty funny.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week, and I can't wait to hear from you all next week! Hope I have some good things to report! Love you all!

-Starsi Salas

Transfers!

November 9, 2011

Hey everyone!

So, the big news, transfers. So the first news, I left Hradec Kralove. It was sad, but that's alright. I'll be able to go back after my mission. Second news, I'm in Brno!!!! It's the seconds biggest city in the Czech Republic. It's in Moravia (East half of the Czech Republic). Only been here a few hours but it's such a beautiful city! It's such a great city for missionary work. I also here it's the best city to be in at Christmas time! (Here and Prague) Last big news, I'm blinding in an area and following up training, meaning, I'm opening an area that was temporarily closed, with a companion who has been in the country 2 months less than me. Probably the most nerve wracking experience of my life. Ha, it will work out just fine though. I'm with Elder Odell, who came into the MTC right after my group. He is from Georgia, and more recently Nevada. He is a good guy and speaks Czech just as well if not a better than me which is good. However, neither of us are amazing so we have a lot of learning to do these next 2 months. Things will be just fine though. It's really exciting to be here.

So, this last week in Hradec Kralove. It was a really good week. Our less active member came to church and bore his testimony. That was one of the coolest things ever. He thanked Elder Bracken and I for helping him return to church and build his testimony up again. He is a really cool guy and I'm glad I was able to help him.

Other events of the last week, basically no one was able to meet with us so Elder Bracken and I did a lot of contacting. A LOT, of contacting. One day we seriously did not talk to a single person for more than 30 seconds. It was a lot of fun though. We talked with probably 100 people that day. It was hard work, but it was fulfilling work. We were able to talk to this one guy though who just looked like he had had the worst day. We talked about prayer and finding joy in strengthening our relationship with our Heavenly Father. It seemed to help him out, but that was Monday so we haven't met with him again yet.

So the Halloween Party was really good though. There were 4 families that came in the branch so we had a lot of people! 3 of the families were really big families so there were a lot of kids. It was a lot of fun and they all seemed to enjoy it. It's interesting for them because they don't celebrate Halloween here. It was a good event though.

So, I hope everyone is doing well though, and I hope you all have a great week. There will probably be a lot more to report this next coming week though so it should be exciting! Now we just have to figure out how to get back to our apartment tonight.......

sLaskou
-Starsi Salas

Happy Halloween

October 31, 2011
Autumn in Hradec Kralove
Hey Everyone!
Been a really cool week this week! So it was a long and a hard week, but it was good as well. Elder Bracken and I had several days where we did nothing but contact people all day. Those were long days, but they weren't so bad. Just really tiring. We were not able to meet with our Croatian investigator, which was sad, but we are definitely going to try to this week! We were able to meet with the guy we contacted about prophets last week, and he is a really cool guy! He is having a really hard time right now, and we don't know if we'll be able to help him for some things, but we always pray for the best. We have this other long time investigator who just needs to get a job before he can be baptised, and he has 2 job interviews this week! We are so excited for this, because he is so ready to be baptised. He simply just needs a job so he can get a place to live and he will be ready. He has been waiting a while for this too, so we're extremely excited! Keep him in your prayers.

So we had 3 investigators at church this week, quite a feat at times. Sometimes it's frustrating when investigators can make it to every meeting throughout the week, but can't make it to church for some reason, but we had several this week so it was good.

Today, we've been getting ready for the Halloween party tomorrow for the branch. The 6 missionaries here are basically doing everything for the party, but the branch is paying for it, so its good. It's a lot of work, but it will be really cool. I'm super excited for it. We're going to show the branch a real American Halloween party. It's not a holiday normally celebrated in The Czech Republic, but I think it's becoming more popular here.

Anyways, the days are getting way shorter here, and especially since daylight savings time, it is dark at like 5 PM. Daylight savings was a very nice surprise this week though. Days are getting colder, even though today was pretty warm. Leaves are turning colors, it's really beautiful. It's a really cool time to be here. I'm really excited to be a missionary right now. Transfers are next Wednesday I'm pretty sure, so we'll see where I'm headed off to. Thanks for everything everyone.
Love you all lots. Have a great week!
sLaskou
-Starsi Salas