Photo from Třebíč

Here is a photo from Elder Brent's new area. Can you imagine a 16 year old driving and parking on that street?

An exciting and productive week (Week 3 in Třebíč, Week20 in Czech)

Hey everyone!

 

So, it's been a week and a few days since I last wrote home. What a week it's been! We had zone conference on Monday and, basically, we are starting to prepare to launch into the next stage of missionary work here in the Czech Republic as well as Europe at large. Elder Perry led a mission president's conference in England a few weeks ago and, apart from the fact that as Czech missionaries we are leading the missionary work in the Europe area, we have been called upon to be teaching at least 20 lessons per week, as well as to be regularly baptizing every transfer and double the number of active members in the church within the next 10 years. How exciting is that? What's really exciting is that we are also being empowered with the tools to accomplish this powerful vision. I've been learning so much about vision here as a missionary that I don't know how I ever accomplished anything before. When we expect results before we go to accomplish something, our effectiveness increases by incredible degrees. When we go tracting or contacting, we aren't just looking for our lucky "golden" family or individual. We expect the results to be there. The results of this include us finding a family that started giving us referrals before we had taught them, finding an older couple who started to small talk with us when the husband suddenly interrupted and basically demanded that we teach him our message, going tracting and being let in immediately after saying a prayer, and other powerful miracles that serve as evidence that truly we are involved in a mighty work here. I'm so stoked for this week it might even be somewhat unhealthy (consequently, we're starting to go running in the morning along with our regular sprint to get to the shower first in the morning).

 

Iva, our baptismal date, is also progressing. She knows she needs to be baptized and, even if she doesn't agree with everything yet, it is evident that the spirit is working on her to help her receive the truthfulness of the message we have. Isn't it remarkable how the Lord has provided for every one of our needs? The plan of salvation is so comprehensive, it is almost overwhelming for many people. Indeed, one of our investigators started to get upset and went on a tangent for 45 minutes trying to find a hole in the plan of salvation, but never even got close. There aren't any, is the problem. And, the blessings from preparing for and building a powerful home built on faith, prayer, and obedience are so evident that it is just humbling to think about. To consider that I was born into a family with such a foundation when so many people come from broken homes or from unsure foundations makes me so incredibly grateful. I guess what prophets have been telling us for thousands of years really is true, that the only thing that will save the human family from destroying itself is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in it's fullness. Really, that is the answer, and it's not because everyone will just be on the same page. It's because there is pure power that comes from righteous individuals, power that changes lives for the better. I see it every say when people keep commitments. It's evident in the way they hold themselves, in the way they take care of their appearance. They know who they are: they are children of God with divine destiny, and nothing short of that will satisfy them.

 

Elder Machado is fantastic and is an incredibly balanced missionary. Between obedience, teaching by the spirit, finding with vision, and constantly working on self-improvement, he's a great example to me of what a missionary really should be. It's a shame that he's starting to wind up his mission in a few months, but I'm also very fortunate to learn from him while I'm here and incorporate that into my work as a missionary personally.

 

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. Whenever I get letters from anyone back home I can't help but be happy for a few weeks on end since I'll read them several times over. I hope you're all doing well and that these brief tangents and views into what we're doing here in Trebic help you all to see what it's like here. It's so beautiful, so green. I need to get out and take a lot more pictures than I have been (I've not been documenting as well as I should be) and start sending them home. Trebic is like a classic czech or european town, and it's covered in history (We found a part of the original walls of the city that dates to the 1100's last week - I'd say that's pretty sweet).

 

Good luck to all you who are starting school! It's crazy thinking that a year ago I was just getting my feet wet at BYU. Kind of crazy how time flies, isn't it? Even still, I know there are a million more experiences to be had here in Trebic and I'm looking forward to pushing the work ahead that much more this week. I'll try to be a little more organized next week when I write. In the mean time, good luck. Attached is a picture I took next to the library. It gives a pretty good idea of what it's like here.

 

Love and miss you all,

Elder Anderson

Early P-Day (Week 2 in Třebíč, Week19 in Czech)

Hey All,

 

So, today is Saturday and I'm sitting in a rather loud, obnoxious computer lounge. My companion and I are surrounded by several other cubicles where the local teenage population is hanging out, playing loud, obnoxious video games and talking trash to each other. Not exactly as ideal as the library where it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop and the librarian is an investigator. But, even still, it's been a great week and I'm really excited for Monday when we have Zone Conference.

 

This week we've taught a ton of lessons and have worked a lot with our baptismal date investigator, Iva. Iva is a great lady who is getting baptized because she knows it's right, not because it's easy or even because she agrees with us 100%. Since deciding to be baptized, her views, faith, and perspective has noticeably changed. She's more open, more insightful, and more teachable. Even still, however, there are a lot of points of doctrine that she's still trying to understand. What's so fantastic about her, though, is that she knows that eventually it will come and that, in the mean time, she received her answer from God that she needs to be baptized. So, she's preparing for that and continuing to progress and learn day by day.

 

Otherwise, we found a new investigator on Wednesday named Eva. We've already had two meetings with her, and she's very excited about what we have to teach as missionaries. She's so interested, that we're planning on extending her a baptismal date as well in the next week or so. It's so exciting being a missionary! Last transfer was very difficult. It was a powerful learning experience, however, and it helped to strengthen my faith. I learned a lot about the necessity of relying on the savior and about doing everything you can to push the work forward. Actually, the fruits of our labors started to pay off towards the end. The last week I was in Ostrava, we found a man named Daniel. He was so interested in what we had to say, he took every piece of literature we had home to read it. We left, and the new missionaries started teaching him. Surprisingly enough, he already has a baptismal commitment for the 5th of September. He will be the first man that I was involved in finding and teaching. So exciting!

 

Elder Machado, my companion, is a very wise missionary with a lot of experience. He actually will be concluding his mission here next transfer. In the meantime, however, I've been learning a lot about vision. I think I might have talked a little about vision last week, but it's starting to really take shape for me. We are shooting to meet the mission standards set for us right now, meaning we find 3 new investigators per week, teach 4 lessons with members, have 2 people actively pursuing baptism with dates, and speak at least 56 hours of Czech per week (we're shooting for 70 at the moment, though). It's incredibly difficult to do every one of those in a week, but it's becoming very apparent to me that when we sacrifice and are obedient, that god rewards our desires. I've wondered sometimes why we have the word "want" in our vocabulary. Why don't we just leave it up to God to determine the paths we should take? Really, it sounds silly typing it out because that's why we have agency - to make a difference in what is around us! All living things have some agency, but not like we do. Our agency is so powerful it sculpts the Earth we live on and influences the lives of everyone around us. I'm starting to realize that when we have righteous desires and are obedient to God (and we figure that out through speaking with God in prayer and learning about who He is through living and scriptural prophets) that we are entitled to ask for things. When we go looking for new investigators, we expect to find people. It's not just a certain degree of hope or desire, it's not just about putting your hook in the water and hoping someone bites. When you are so focused on your goal and mission, you are empowered to find who or what you're looking for. Families, individuals, anyone. We are trying to build our vision, focus, and faith to a point where we always are fully charged spiritually, so charged that those who are prepared start coming to us. It's been interesting this week, because when we go out finding with such intensity of focus and desire, we usually find new investigators within the first 5 people we talk to. It used to be that I had to spend hours with my companion, both of us talking to every person we could find. Now, it's much easier than it used to be. The difference isn't in obedience or working harder. It's not even working smarter. It's working with focus, vision, desire, love. I don't think there is a sufficient word in English to describe it, but that enthusiasm and sheer desire to achieve is becoming so strong in our companionship that when we set out to do something, it gets done. It's not left up to chance anymore, and it is all because of our reliance on God and our self preparation so that we are able to honestly ask God to enable us to fulfill our plans. That's why our Heavenly Father doesn't just send us planners with our days filled in. We get blank ones, and he expects us to govern ourselves. When we do that and rely on God for help, we can accomplish all our goals, desires, and dreams completely and without fear.

 

Well, it's been a great week. Lots of finding, lots of teaching. Today we went to a little village nearby to search for the ruins of a castle in the forest. We didn't find them, unfortunately, until we realized we were standing on them and that a villager had used the remains to build a retaining wall. It's such a different experience here, walking around where warlords have fought for centuries, where the houses are older than some parts of the United States, and where farmers really do have the option to recycle old castle remains into parts of their farms. I sent a memory card on Monday so the rest of my travels in Ostrava should be arriving soon. In the mean time, I'm trying to document as much as possible and help record my service as best as possible for all of you. In the mean time, I'll let you know how zone conference and the next week 1/2 of service goes (I won't be writing again until the 31st of August). Other than that, I love you all and hope you're happy, healthy, and finding out what your relationship with the Savior means to you personally, because when everything is said and done, it's those kind of relationships that last for eternity.

 

Thanks,

Elder Brent Anderson

A new adventure ( Week 1 in Třebíč! Week 18 in Czech)

Hey All!

So, here I am in Třebíč! I don't have a ton of time to write today, but I'll have enough. Elder Machado, my new companion, is awesome. He's from Boise, Idaho, and has a really great grasp on vision, teaching, service, and how teach boldly and powerfully with love. I'm going to be learning a lot this transfer from him, and I'm excited to be here. The branch here is rather small with about 30 regularly attending members. We're planning to fix that this transfer and have a baptismal date, Iva (That's pronounced "Eee-vahh" - think Wall-E from Pixar ;) ). She's an Adventist and she doesn't agree with everything we believe yet, but she's received her personal spiritual witness that what we teach is true and she's making small steps piece by piece. She's hilarious and reminds me of a little girl stuck in a 42 year old lady's body. I haven't had a chance to meet most of our other investigators, but the members here are amazing. It's funny, because we try to teach a lot of member lessons as missionaries, but sometimes we can't do that here because the members are so successful that they don't have time to teach with us.

In other news, our refridgerator works! I've been insanely excited about that one, and have been eating fresh-er food for the last week. Peaches never tasted soo good! I'm also looking into trying a lot more traditional czech food here, since it's a lot smaller town and it feels more like a village in the middle of a forest instead of a big city on the border of two other countries like Ostrava. I really miss Ostrava and the members there, but I'm excited to get to work here in Třebíč!

And, just so you all know, my next letter will be coming in on Saturday. P-Day this week has been moved in observance of Zone Conference on Monday. So, if you're wanting to get anything in the mail before our next conference at the end of September, today or tomorrow would work. I think that it takes about 6 days to get something from Utah to Prague, just for the record. At the very least, I got some very fresh mail on Friday when we went to the leadership conference in Brno for Elder Machado (he's the district leader here, working with our companionship and the 2 elders in Jihlava about an hour away by train). Speaking of which, leadership conferences, I got a fine on Friday. 700 crowns really hurts, especially when your tram ticket is only expired by about 10 minutes. I think that's the most embarrassed I've been on my mission, when the ticket checker started writing out the fine, and said 'Sedmset'. That sounds a lot like 'sedmdesat', which is just 70, so I started grabbing some coins. He then repeated himself in broken english. You could have heard a pin drop. Better still, I didn't have 700 crowns so I had to borrow money from another missionary until I found an ATM. But, it was still a great day. I'm really excited to work in a smaller town. Even people who are typically millitant against religion or Latter Day Saints are friendly. And, the town is small enough, it seems that most people know us already so it's almost like we're just looking for friendly opportunities to build relationships and share the gospel with people. It's great here.

A little about Třebíč: It's made up of about 50,000 people, most of whom work in a power plant that provides about 1/3 of the power for the czech republic. It's also built on several hills that are very steep, so there aren't any trams (they'd slip) and the transportation isn't very frequent (not a ton of people here). Consequently, I'm getting a pretty good workout. All that MTC/Elder-Smith-is-a-great-cook weight is starting to disappear.

Hope you're all doing well in the states! I'm going to fire up my camera and start taking a ton of pictures. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and I want you all to see what it's like doing missionary work in Třebíč. Good luck for a few days, and I'll be writing again soon.

Cheers,
Elder Brent Anderson

Success and sadness. Transfers this week. I'm going to Třebíč (Week 17 in Ostrava)

Hello Everybody,

 

So this week is transfers. That means that everyone is on pins and needles all weekend as we wait to see what the next 9 weeks will bring us. Turns out, actually, that Ostrava is getting turned upside down! Out of the six missionaries here right now, five are leaving; there won't be any sisters in Ostrava next transfer, a threesome, a new missionary blinding in with a missionary who's been in Ostrava in the past, and Elder Anderson is going to Třebíč with Elder Machado, the district leader there! We've already spoken with a few members and they're all calling it a catastrophe, they're really sad to see us all go. I am too: I really love it here in Ostrava and I really hope I get to come back. The members here are great, the people here are great, and the work was just starting to perk up over the last two weeks. Helena, Sister Ivanova's friend, had a great member lesson at Sister Ivanova's garden where we talked about prayer and our relationship to our Heavenly Father. Jana was there (which was a big surprise) and it was great seeing her and talking to her all evening and the next day at church. We haven't set up anything with the family we started teaching last week, but we did find a new man who's already read about the Church in magazines, was really interested in the Restoration and Prophets when we taught him on a bench, and when we had our second meeting with him, he asked if he could take an assortment of reading materials about the plan of salvation, the gospel, a complete rundown of the restoration, Joseph Smith's testimony, and two pamphlets about the Church statistically. He was so interested that he wanted to set up for tonight but didn't have enough time so instead we're on the plan for tomorrow evening with him.

 

In other news, we've really seen the Lord's hand in the work this last week. Both Elder Smith and I have had experiences praying before starting a teaching session where we'll receive revelation on where we need to go. We go there, we find the person we need to, and it's perfect. For instance, on Tuesday when we were planning, I felt inspired that we had to be in the park by the Statue at 3:00. We put it on the plan, and the next day everything went wrong. We had impromptu lessons, missed trams, and all sorts of opposition. But, we still made it to the park on time. Even then, nobody was there, just a little girl scooting around on her tricycle and her dad sitting on a bench nearby. But, that man turned out to be Jan Travnicek, the man who's wanted to be baptized for so long but has had long periods of health, money, and family problems, so long that we'd lost contact with him. We found him again and he's set up to start learning with the new missionaries on Wednesday. Then the next day, we were at the building prepping to head out street contacting. We prayed, and we both felt inspired to the center, while Elder Smith knew we needed to contact one person by the bridge. We headed out there, and standing there was a random boy about our age with band equipment. Elder Smith was like a kid at Christmas time talking to him, since he had his own band before his mission. To put the icing on the cake, one of our former investigators walked past and I restablished contact with him at the same time.

 

I think the best part about last week, though, was our musical program. I would bet that Sister Ivanova has already put up pictures and video on facebook of the program on Wednesday where we taught several contacts, investigators, new members, and even old members a complete first lesson fireside, with music, solo's, and originally scored music. The spirit was strong, a less active member was reactivated, and all the investigators present took copies of the book of mormon. They were so excited and interested by it that they're still feeling the spirit from it.

 

All in all, it's been a good week, and a good transfer. We started strong, we fell into the summer slump, but we pulled ourselves out at the end and can say that we did a great job. Next week I'll be writing from Třebíč. It's been an excellent transfer with Elder Smith and I'm going to miss him, but moving on and going for greater heights and trying my potential will be very exciting. I'm feeling that next transfer will be packed with growth and inspiration that will last forever.

 

I hope you all have just as great a week! If you see my brother or his fiance anytime soon, say "mazzelltoff" for me, as they are getting married on Saturday. Good luck this week, and I look forward to seeing what the next transfer brings to us all.

 

Hodně Stěstí!

Starší Anderson

Success (Week 16 from Ostrava)

Hello Everybody!




So this week was full of the success we've been looking for! Over the weekend, we found 4 new investigators and taught a full first lesson to a really great family! It was such a breath of fresh air, since I love teaching so much. In looking back on the last five weeks of work, and on a transfer full of looking for the prepared but not finding, I have to say that I couldn't appreciate what I have if I didn't have the trials and sacrifice from beforehand.



Regretably, the line is long at the library today and I don't have a ton of time to finish this letter. But, I do have something that might be a bit better. I'd like to take the liberty of sharing a letter from my mission president to the rest of the mission. We get a weekly newsletter, and this week's was particularly inspiring. Have a great week!



Love,

Brent





Faith to Fly 3.08.09



We spent most of last week at the Young Single Adult Conference at Seč. There we were with more than 200 Young Single Adults from Cypress, Albania, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Poland and of course Slovakia and Czech Republic. It was a fantastic experience for them and for us.



There, we really saw a vision of what we are to be doing and why we are doing it. Some of these young people rode on buses and in vans for 20 to 30 hours to have these three or four days with other Latter Day Saint youth. Some spent the equivalent of a months’ pay to come and spend this precious time to be uplifted and to gain a greater vision of what this work is all about. We sat back and observed love for the Savior and His church overcome cultural and language barriers; and it was miraculous.



One vision really impressed me. There are long-standing and bitter feelings between the Serbs and the Albanians. Literally millions have been killed in the decades of strife between these two countries and peoples. When the Albanian young singles adults drove up with their missionary couple in a van with their Albanian Flag on the hood, the youth from Serbia bristled and felt harsh feelings well up inside of them; for the Albanian government had oppressed the Serbs terribly for years. Yet as these two groups of youth interacted over the week, they recognized not differences and hostilities, but a common love for the Savior and a commitment to live according to His commandments. At the testimony meeting on the final night, gratitude was expressed; especially between the Serbs and the Albanians as they shared their love for each other. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring lasting peace to the world; by bringing it into the heart of every individual.



As we shared a Fireside the last evening, we asked those who had been baptized in the last two years to please stand. Gradually, one by one arose from their chairs until fully 25% of the youth there were on their feet. The gospel of Jesus Christ was being brought into and changing the lives of these young people. And these young people will be the Branch Presidents and Relief Society Presidents in these countries in the near future; they will be raising righteous, active families in the light of the Gospel very soon. This was the future of the Lord’s Kingdom in this area.



Elders and Sisters, This is why we search diligently night and day to find the elect; to find and teach those who seek for something more.



There are many investigators we are teaching here in this mission who have met the requirements for baptism. They have attended church and have committed to living the commandments of God. But we must work with them to help them gain a vision of what membership in the Kingdom of God means; to help them have a great desire to not only be baptized but to claim all of the blessings that can be theirs. We read in D & C 20:37, a description of those to be baptized “…all those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all of their sins…having a determination to serve Him to the end…”. Let us keep teaching and challenging and helping these investigators to gain a vision and then to retain that vision after baptism so that they can indeed claim the great blessings promised them.



We hope each of you is committed to reach the Standards of Excellence this week! What a great way to finish up a transfer to accelerate through the finish line. There is so much good to be done here and wonderful people wanting the truth and not knowing where to find it. Let us work every night and day to find those who so desperately need the Living Waters we bring.



All of our Love,







President and Sister Slovacek