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