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