Week 3 in Ostrava

Hey all,

I hope everything is going well at home. No worries, just hoping everything's going alright. It can be really difficult when life gets moving faster and all. This week felt kind of like that for me, I think. It's been a great week overall, but a lot of really goofy stuff happened. Two of our investigators landed in the hospital, one of them got diabetes, another had to stop meeting with us entirely to catch up on his work, and several of them stood us up on appointments. Even so, we got a lot accomplished this week. I believe I already wrote about mission conference. The next day was P-day and we spent the morning with the other elder's landlord on a golf course. I'm a realy crummy golfer :P but it was fun nonetheless, and there was great contact made with the landlord. Another great opportunity came with one of our investigators in the hospital, Jan Travniček. He had kidney stones, so we went to go visit him and taught him more about the restoration and, specifically, about the priesthood. We then gave him a blessing, and I got to do my first annointing in Czech. Haha, it was kind of funny since I looked up for a second from my cheat sheet card, and when I looked back again I was on the confirmation prayer. I didn't get very far before I stopped and started over, but he just about got confirmed instead of annointed. Even so, he has a great testimony of the priesthood and the restoration, especially Joseph Smith. He really loves that man.

In other news, we went on a member activity on Saturday. We hiked up to Ivánčena, a mountain nearby, with a bunch of investigators. Apparently, back in 1945 before the war was over, a bunch of Czech boy scouts were killed in battle at the top of this mountain. There is a huge wall of stones placed by people when they come to commemorate it. I placed a rock I hauled up the 1000 meter climb there too. And, when we went it was the anniversary so there were thousands of Czech scouts up there. The catholic church even held a memorial service. It was really interesting to talk to so many people and to see a catholic service of some kind. The priest was talking about scouting and being a good example and such, and it felt like he was saying good things. Then they went to pray, and it just felt really really weird. I didn't even understand what they were saying, but it was definitely not a comfortable environment. They did another service later on the actual memorial, and again it was just weird. I don't even know how to describe it. Either way, it was neat having that experience. Everyone was freaking out about the americans there, though. So many people wanted to take pictures with us, and they were even more shocked to find out that I'd only been here for two weeks or so. It kind of frustrated them since they study english for 10 years through school, and still don't speak it very well. "How is it that you can speak Czech so well and understand us after only two weeks?" Haha, if only they knew. It helps that I'm in their country, sure, but the gift of tongues eclipses any formal training or experience in communication. We then hiked up another 1000 or so meters to the top of Lisa Hora, the tallest mountain in the area. I can now say I've seen Poland. Kind of - it was really foggy. Even still, I got a lot of pictures and a great view of the countryside. I'll be sending them home soon so you all get a good view of where I'm at. Honestly, it looks a lot like the greener, wooded parts of Utah and Idaho. Mostly Idaho, I think. There are just ancient villages and castles around too. :P

Largely, that was my week. We have meetings regularly, there are a lot of people we work with, and people are all very friendly. Very very friendly. It's kind of crazy how friendly people are when they take the time to talk to you. Definitely wasn't expecting that. Oh, something else that's been interesting. I've had a number of experiences here where my business experiences have helped me relate to and teach the gospel to people. Having the gospel principles as a foundation for doing business was a great blessing, since I can directly take the gospel patterns and apply them to the lives of others. "If you will listen to what we have to say and apply it, it will change your life personally, spiritually, in your business life, at home..." That's a great promise, and it's wonderful that I have been blessed with such a powerful tool in relating to people individually and personally. No one is going to want to listen unless there is a reason for it. Because of experiences and blessings I've had, there are a certain group of people I can reach with great ease. I'm finding that every week here, sometimes every day or so, and I believe that as I apply myself, I will find great people here who will be baptized and become powerful influences in the branches here. Leaders, bishops, stake presidents, temple presidents will come from the people I find in this way. Ahh, it's good to be here.

I hope you're all doing well in school, work, life, church, and all. Good luck this week! Sometimes I feel like you need it more than I do. :)

Love, Brent

Week Two in Ostrava!

Wow, it's been a day. It's right now about 3:45 over here, and so far I've travelled what feels like 1000 miles, gone golfing with one of our landlords, hiked all over ostrava getting some things put together for p-day, and had some mixups with the language when getting some lunch on the namesti (I ended up with a tray full of food instead of just a sandwich...no idea how that happened).

In other news, I'm finally here! Sorry I wasn't able to write out to everyone last week; I was very short on time and it just didn't work out very well. But, I believe my parents forwarded my email to them on to the blog to get everyone updated. I'm here, I'm healthy, I'm happy, and I'm working hard in getting everything that I can accomplished out here.

A few highlights from the week. Yesterday was zone conference, and we travelled to Brno (about 2 hours away by train). Conference was amazing. Our zone has some of the highest goals ever set in the mission and we have some very great plans to accomplish them. It's incredible what's happening here. We've found so many people interested in the gospel, are preparing to set baptismal dates with a few more, and day to day see changes in people's lives around us because of the work. Truly incredible. My favorite experience from this week was a veitnamese kid we found who spoke little czech and little english. But, he's very interested in our message. I get to practice with him a lot because he doesn't speak very complexly and I can actually conduct full lessons with him because of it. We got him a book of mormon the second lesson we taught with him, and he remembered everything we taught despite the language barrier, about our heavenly father and who he is, how he has a plan, and everything. Ah, it's great! The best part, though, was that he remembered Jesus Christ and some of the details about who He is and His mission. There are pictures in the front of the book of mormon of Christ and scenes from within the book. When he saw Christ's picture, he identified him immediately. Seeing Joseph Smith, he wanted to know more and so I taught him briefly about it. I say briefly because he was shortly distracted when he saw the picture of Christ standing among the Nephites shortly after his resurrection. He just pointed over and over and looked at it, not saying a word. I really couldn't say anything either, because I knew he was having his first experience with the Holy Ghost bearing record of the truth. It was great. We're meeting with him again tonight, and it will be great to talk with and teach him again.

Largely, I don't know what to write about apart from a few specific events. We teach several lessons a day, go street contacting, my companion is a stud and people think he's a native (until he breaks out his english - he's from Spanish Fork and has a really strong country accent), the food is fantastic (even the boxed milk, which I heard wasn't as good as our milk in the US), the members are loving, and the people are largely cordial and friendly. I've had a few experiences with getting yelled at by people, shut down by atheists, and even running into a professor of the New Testament at the University of Ostrava who sneered at us a bit, wished us good luck in our contacting, and walked away. He seemed to think we didn't believe in the bible or something. His mistake.

That's something I'm really discovering out here is how much the bible and the book of mormon go hand in hand. Really, if you believe in the bible, then you should believe in the book of mormon. The teachings in the bible are not disjoint with the Book of Mormon. In fact, the Bible calls for witnesses to the truth, of which the Book of Mormon serves excellently. It fits perfectly together as one. What a great blessing for us. In addition to that extra witness, it also provides the evidence of a prophet of God. Every prophet has been known by his miracles, his contributions to the children of God to help them return to Him. The Book of Mormon is that miracle. Ah, it's great. I love the gospel.

My past work in business has come up a few times here. Apart from the fact that, because all the companionships have free calling/texting together in order to have constant communication throughout or organization, I think my MTC companions started some rumors about me with their companions that have gotten around a bit. Apart from missionaries, some of our investigators have businesses of their own. It's very gratifying to be able to combine my experience and the gospel (which, really, is how my experience is founded in the first place - gospel principles applied in everyday life) to bless others. For instance, an entrepreneur we know here in Ostrava is having troubles. She's just getting started and is at that halfway point in the tunnel of progress, so to speak. She's in the darkest part of that process, too far in to go back, but it's too dark to see ahead. I explained to her principles of Prayer, our Father in Heaven's identity, and her relationship to him. She received it well, and would really like to meet with us more.

I think that's what makes the difference when we teach - personally applied gospel principles and invitations to come unto Christ. That's why we teach the gospel to individuals, not large groups. That's how Christ did and does it today - he takes the individual and their personal needs, addresses those needs with the gospel, and then extends the invitation to follow him in some way or another. Really, that's all he expects of us - have faith, be blessed, follow closer than before.

It's been a fantastic week. I hope you're all doing well at home - I'm certainly doing fine out here. Good luck this week!

Starší Brent Anderson

What a first week here in Ostrava

Hello Everyone! I've made it safely from the states to Prague, from Prague to Ostrava my first area, and survived a week here in the country. Whew! It's amazing here, absolutely fantastic. Strong members, wonderful people, great food, great elders and sisters - it's just incredible. Ahhh, it's so great to be here! I'll answer a few questions real quick first, then dive into a bit of a travelogue.

First, Sister Vankova is awesome. (She is a sister from Slovakia that served her mission at Temple Square and my parents got to know her). I got to call her when I met with the other trainers. A slovak elder said she was excited to get to meet me and gave her a call on his cell phone (we all have cell phones to get the work done better since it's so cheap over here). So, I talked to her for a few minutes.

Second, the people here are awesome - members or otherwise. People here love to talk, believe it or not. You just have to catch them at the right time and make it relevant to them. We talked to a few people our first day here and spent about an hour total between the three of them. Trams, buses, on the street - I don't know what I heard before my mission, but if you know how to talk to them they'll talk your ear off. A lot of the things I studied from Dale Carnegie help a lot. A lot a lot. Although my Czech isn't as good as it needs to be, I understand most everything and I'm putting together colloquial Czech very quickly. One great blessing I have received is my pronunciation. When I talk with people, my vocab and my grammar aren't always perfect. But my pronunciation sounds native, so I do have a leg up in that arena. Way exciting.

The trip was pretty uneventful. We all had seats right next to each other, so it was really hard for us to contact people. Someone bought us breakfast on the plane from salt lake and most people were members. There was a Hungarian and a woman from DC area that we talked to though, however they weren't particularly interested in the gospel. Same thing on the austrian airline, pretty much. I did get to speak German with a few of the people on the airplane, and made friends with some of them, but since my German gospel vocab is pretty limited, I couldn't make much headway. It's been kind of frustrating, since my colloquial german is way better than my Czech, and here in Ostrava they put a lot of things in German. Consequently, I understand a ton of the German and not as much of the Czech. But, I'm getting around alright. Restaurants, getting bus tickets, etc. is doable. It is a little frustrating here in Ostrava, because they are notorious for "Ostravsky" and speaking really fast. They have their own variation of Czech kind of. Lots of slang. Not everyone uses it, but it makes it difficult to discern whether I have a full vocabulary or not. I'm surviving though.

So, we got to Vienna, and I had to get some water. They don't have drinking fountains here, so we picked up some way overpriced water. Hence the $3.50 charge that you noticed on my debit card. We headed to Prague from Vienna, and started hearing Czech everywhere. Prague was much easier to understand than Ostrava, now that I think about it. We talked to a lot of people there, listened to some converations, and it was very gratifying to understand what they were saying.

President and Sister Slovacek are pretty much amazing and then some. Very loving, very active, they get things done and they are both very accomplished in the gospel and in-world experience. They run the mission very powerfully, with lots of structure that is missionary driven. "Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves" is the rule, coupled with high expectations and lots of faith. The result of this is that we have 30 baptismal dates across the mission right now, we're up about 1400% from last year's Jan-Mar, and we're not just finding "a few" or seeking out "the one." Just since being here in Ostrava, we've picked up 3 new investigators and several potential investigators, placed several books of Mormon, and more. We talk to people all the time, and people are largely receptive. I think the crux of our success hinges around the love we have for the people, however. I'm still working on that, but Starsi Auger has a heart of gold when it comes to the people here, and it comes through in his teaching in amazing ways. How he speaks to people, how he cares about them more than about forcing a spiritual thought down their throat like some missionaries, it just opens doors. Most people think he's a native and they're shocked when they find out he's been here for almost two years (this is his last transfer) and I've been here for a week. It's great to be here in every way, and I'm very fortunate to have been blessed so much so far.

I've got to wrap things up, but know that I'm here, alive, well, taken care of (for Velikonoce - easter - we had about 2 kilos worth of food each, not even kidding; the members love us missionaries; we had so much that our district leader just about got sick on the way to our 4th "lunch" for the day; the night before, one of our investigators made us dinner and food too;)

Everything is great, the work is exploding, the people are listening, there will be many baptized, and I'm just getting started. Woo!

Love,

Starší Brent

PS: I can only use email to communciate with my family. It is not supposed to become a distraction for us, thus the rule. I do love letters and will answer them as I am able. It is so busy, but I will really try. I will make sure that my Dad gets information for the blog to post, so, keep reading the blog.

Video from Brent

Some of Brent's MTC thoughts

MTC memories

Some photos from Brent

Brent and Elder Shields
The Czech flag
We're going here
Czech District missionaries and our teacher Sister Cassina
Hail the conquering hero

Brent and Brother Cardon

Finally in Prague (really Ostrava)

Hello everyone,
Here is a letter we received from the mission secretary this morning:


"I just wanted to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in Prague yeasterday.  After lunch in the mission home, they were taken on a walk around Prague and then to a typical Czech restaurant for dinner.  They returned to the mission home after dinner where they gratefully crashed into bed for a long awaited night's sleep."

Today they received some training in the morning, met their training companion and will be shortly on their way to their new area.  We ae very impressed with this group of missionaries and know that they will serve well.  Thank you for sharing them with us.  President and Sister Slovacek are wonderful and will love your son or daughter.


We also received a note from our friend, Lucia Vankova, who lives in Slovakia. Slovakia is also part of Brent's mission. We met her twice while she was serving her mission at Temple Square and had a truly remarkable experience with her. Brent's first assignment is in her district! The city that he will be serving in is Ostrava, which is in the east of Czech Republic, near the borders with Poland and Slovakia. There are certaily no coincidences when the Lord is involved. There was a deeper reason why we went to Temple Square that day several years ago. She actually spoke to him on the phone when he was in the Mission home. Here is what she wrote to us:


"I just talked to Elder Anderson on the phone from Prague!!!! He's doing great. They showed them around Prague yesterday and they also went contacting and got some phone numbers. He sounded very excited. He is going to be serving in Ostrava, which is my district, so I might see him at a district conference sometime and his companion is Elder Auger.

I am sooo excited! This is sooo cool! I'm sure he'll do great here and if there's anything he needs, I'll be sure to help."


We are truly blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior to help us along our journey in life.
Have a great spring day,

Starší Brent's dad

Starší Brent on his way to Prague

We were mistaken. He thought he would be leaving April 7 but it is really April 6.
Brent called us from the airport this morning and is on his way to Prague. He will be stopping in Washington DC, Vienna and then on to Prague. He sounds fantastic and is anxious to get there. I am sure that he would appreciate any letters that find their way to him. Use the address from the last posting and all should get there in good order. Lets make sure that he continues to feel the support from our corner of the world.




Starší Brent's dad

Brent's Prague address

This is Brent's address while he is in the Czech Republic. It needs to be in this format, with the Church name before the missionary name. Sometimes the post office will not release the mail to the office Elders unless the Church is listed first.

Církev Ježíše Krista
Elder Brent John Anderson
Milady Horákové 85/95
170 00 Praha 7
Czech Republic- Europe

He leaves for Prague on April 7 2009

Brents Dad