Monday, September 28, 2009
More Photos coming
I'll post more photos tonight. I'm in Texas and don't have great internet access where I am working. Brent sent quite a few and I need to find the best pictures to post. Brent's dad
Batting 1.000 ( Week 6 in Třebíč, Week 24 in Czech )
( Sorry for the Baseball metaphor, and 1.000 is the correct format.:)
Hey Everyone,
Regrettably the time has wound long today and I don't have a ton of time for longer letters home. So, here are the highlights without all the wordiness.
We found a man on Monday (We batted 1000 - no one said "no") who said Nephi was his hero and are meeting with him this week on Wednesday. Golden!
We taught about Prophets to a woman named Iveta who, when we introduced what God does in the past with prophets and dispensations, got incredibly excited. "Is there a prophet today? Who is he! I want to know!" She also nearly jumped out of her seat when we taught the plan of salvation lesson. So excited to hear about the truth, even if she's studied with other churches for years and been a Catholic her entire life. She's also read all of 1st nephi.
We went to a family baptism in Jihlava on Saturday. A mother and three children baptized! Iva came and felt the spirit, too, and she knows know how her actions and obedience will make or break her progress and covenant with God.
We taught Miloš again on Sunday and he is now praying about baptism. He's also read all the way to Alma in a week. Sweet!
A couple randomly showed up to english along with 2 new youth, bringing the total number of youth to 11.
The pope came to Brno on Sunday, and when one of our Catholic investigators asked "why doesn't Christ reveal himself to the pope?" the door was opened wide for us to teach more principles of the restoration.
I sent home a ton of photos that should be posted soon, if not already.
We're happy, healthy, and I discovered something about Prophets, Seers, and Revelators last week of note that works well into this conference weekend (you are all so lucky to have conference this week, we have to wait). Imagine a novel. A prophet is someone who flips ahead, reads about what's going to happen, and then tells people about it. A revelator is someone who picks up the book, looks as the typeface, the paper, the binding, and the plot structure and mechanics, and then tells us about it (like when an apostle teaches about doctrines of the kingdom and how to apply them). A seer is the storyteller - perhaps that's why stories are so appealing to us, it helps us envision what things could be like in the future - the "why" of what we do. I hope you all have a great week. We're doing fine here in Trebic and are excited for what this week will bring (we started prototyping our weeks in pencil on Friday, and we have 17 lessons on the plan plus any tracting and contacting we'll be doing. If all goes well, this will be a record breaking week.
I'll be more careful with writing next week so you get a full letter. Otherwise, have a great week!
Elder Brent Anderson
Hey Everyone,
Regrettably the time has wound long today and I don't have a ton of time for longer letters home. So, here are the highlights without all the wordiness.
We found a man on Monday (We batted 1000 - no one said "no") who said Nephi was his hero and are meeting with him this week on Wednesday. Golden!
We taught about Prophets to a woman named Iveta who, when we introduced what God does in the past with prophets and dispensations, got incredibly excited. "Is there a prophet today? Who is he! I want to know!" She also nearly jumped out of her seat when we taught the plan of salvation lesson. So excited to hear about the truth, even if she's studied with other churches for years and been a Catholic her entire life. She's also read all of 1st nephi.
We went to a family baptism in Jihlava on Saturday. A mother and three children baptized! Iva came and felt the spirit, too, and she knows know how her actions and obedience will make or break her progress and covenant with God.
We taught Miloš again on Sunday and he is now praying about baptism. He's also read all the way to Alma in a week. Sweet!
A couple randomly showed up to english along with 2 new youth, bringing the total number of youth to 11.
The pope came to Brno on Sunday, and when one of our Catholic investigators asked "why doesn't Christ reveal himself to the pope?" the door was opened wide for us to teach more principles of the restoration.
I sent home a ton of photos that should be posted soon, if not already.
We're happy, healthy, and I discovered something about Prophets, Seers, and Revelators last week of note that works well into this conference weekend (you are all so lucky to have conference this week, we have to wait). Imagine a novel. A prophet is someone who flips ahead, reads about what's going to happen, and then tells people about it. A revelator is someone who picks up the book, looks as the typeface, the paper, the binding, and the plot structure and mechanics, and then tells us about it (like when an apostle teaches about doctrines of the kingdom and how to apply them). A seer is the storyteller - perhaps that's why stories are so appealing to us, it helps us envision what things could be like in the future - the "why" of what we do. I hope you all have a great week. We're doing fine here in Trebic and are excited for what this week will bring (we started prototyping our weeks in pencil on Friday, and we have 17 lessons on the plan plus any tracting and contacting we'll be doing. If all goes well, this will be a record breaking week.
I'll be more careful with writing next week so you get a full letter. Otherwise, have a great week!
Elder Brent Anderson
Monday, September 21, 2009
Challenges and growth ( Week 5 in Třebíč, Week 23 in Czech )
It's been an interesting week here in Třebíč. I do have to say thank you to everyone sending letters and sorry at the same time - we aren't having Zone Conference this month so mail is delayed. They did make up for it by sending a shipment to all the districts, and apparently the last two months worth of mail or so has backed up. In the words of Elder Hicken from Jihlava (where they sent everything), "You have a metric tonne of mail here, Elder." So, thanks! But, on the other hand, I've not had any letters to shoot replies from, since many of you are now going to school I don't have current addresses (yet), so my replies are still coming. Once we get mail tomorrow things will start getting worked out over the next couple of P-Days. So, sorry about not getting replies out like I used to with regularity. Rest assured, however, that there are letters coming soon and you've not been forgotten. :)
In other news, last week was markedly more difficult than weeks in the past. Recently, the Lord has been blessing us with a lot of contacts, investigators, potentials, lessons, member interest, and progress. It's been exciting to watch and enjoyable to behold. During last week, we had an interesting experience. Independently of each other, we prayed to be prepared for a new wave of progress and growth, even if it meant getting trials. I have a testimony for you all that, if you ask the Lord for things, he'll definitely send them. And, if it's a trial, he will probably not be afraid to express-ship it. Last week from Wednesday through Friday, we were working with a limited supply of the Spirit. We knew what was going on, but we didn't know what to do other than keep going, so we did. We were blessed for it, but we both saw our rougher selves start to come out with the lack of divine support. It became a lot easier to get frustrated and impatient. Planning took forever. Teaching lessons was good, but little progress was made even on that front. Members were all tied up in personal problems and unable to help teach. Overall, a very draining couple of days. Saturday arrived, and we saw how the lack of Spirit we had experienced had made it so hard to do the work that our weekly statistics were abysmal compared to the earlier weeks. Progress was made, Iva is starting to look and act like a future baptism, but for us personally the price was much higher than usual, and for a lot less. But, the weekend came and went, we spiritually recharged, and we're ready to hit the ground again this week, helping to invite others to come unto Christ one step of service at a time.
I do have to say that last week I had nothing short of a revelation regarding how limited my scripture study program is. Elder Machado mentioned that Elder Bruce R. McConkie came to a point in his studies where he decided to write an entire personal commentary on the standard canon of the church. Verse by verse, chapter by chapter, he annotated and broke down what he read under the influence of the spirit. In the end, he threw out his notes because he was just trying to get the message of the scriptures into his head, but I personally became interested in that method and started looking at doing my own verse by verse breakdown. I've studied a couple chapters of scripture last week, from 1 nephi 20 to 2 Nephi 2, and my scriptures probably weigh another pound from the ink I added. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that scripture study is a lot like any other study, in school, work, or elsewhere, and if you sit down to process and outline chapters from a textbook in school, the same thing should apply in scripture study. I'm learning so much right now, it's almost ridiculous. I suppose that the Lord makes up the difference to us somehow; the week was hard, but my study program completely hit a new level last week, and that will probably last. If you're interested in improving your own scripture study, I would highly recommend getting a book of lined paper and, as you read prayerfully, write down what you think about and what you discover. It will make a huge difference in the output of your studies, even if they are nothing more than a few minutes.
Good luck everyone! I sometimes wonder if I should be praying all the time for everyone back home since all of you seem to be focusing your prayers on me. I hope these letters make up that difference in exchange, but, then again, I'm sure that He is blessing you all for your support of all the missionaries out in the field. I miss you all, and hope your week is full of blessings. I'm confident that mine will be as well.
Thanks,
Elder Brent Anderson
In other news, last week was markedly more difficult than weeks in the past. Recently, the Lord has been blessing us with a lot of contacts, investigators, potentials, lessons, member interest, and progress. It's been exciting to watch and enjoyable to behold. During last week, we had an interesting experience. Independently of each other, we prayed to be prepared for a new wave of progress and growth, even if it meant getting trials. I have a testimony for you all that, if you ask the Lord for things, he'll definitely send them. And, if it's a trial, he will probably not be afraid to express-ship it. Last week from Wednesday through Friday, we were working with a limited supply of the Spirit. We knew what was going on, but we didn't know what to do other than keep going, so we did. We were blessed for it, but we both saw our rougher selves start to come out with the lack of divine support. It became a lot easier to get frustrated and impatient. Planning took forever. Teaching lessons was good, but little progress was made even on that front. Members were all tied up in personal problems and unable to help teach. Overall, a very draining couple of days. Saturday arrived, and we saw how the lack of Spirit we had experienced had made it so hard to do the work that our weekly statistics were abysmal compared to the earlier weeks. Progress was made, Iva is starting to look and act like a future baptism, but for us personally the price was much higher than usual, and for a lot less. But, the weekend came and went, we spiritually recharged, and we're ready to hit the ground again this week, helping to invite others to come unto Christ one step of service at a time.
I do have to say that last week I had nothing short of a revelation regarding how limited my scripture study program is. Elder Machado mentioned that Elder Bruce R. McConkie came to a point in his studies where he decided to write an entire personal commentary on the standard canon of the church. Verse by verse, chapter by chapter, he annotated and broke down what he read under the influence of the spirit. In the end, he threw out his notes because he was just trying to get the message of the scriptures into his head, but I personally became interested in that method and started looking at doing my own verse by verse breakdown. I've studied a couple chapters of scripture last week, from 1 nephi 20 to 2 Nephi 2, and my scriptures probably weigh another pound from the ink I added. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that scripture study is a lot like any other study, in school, work, or elsewhere, and if you sit down to process and outline chapters from a textbook in school, the same thing should apply in scripture study. I'm learning so much right now, it's almost ridiculous. I suppose that the Lord makes up the difference to us somehow; the week was hard, but my study program completely hit a new level last week, and that will probably last. If you're interested in improving your own scripture study, I would highly recommend getting a book of lined paper and, as you read prayerfully, write down what you think about and what you discover. It will make a huge difference in the output of your studies, even if they are nothing more than a few minutes.
Good luck everyone! I sometimes wonder if I should be praying all the time for everyone back home since all of you seem to be focusing your prayers on me. I hope these letters make up that difference in exchange, but, then again, I'm sure that He is blessing you all for your support of all the missionaries out in the field. I miss you all, and hope your week is full of blessings. I'm confident that mine will be as well.
Thanks,
Elder Brent Anderson
Monday, September 14, 2009
Autobiography ( Week 4 in Třebíč, Week 22 in Czech )
On September 14th, 1989, on a quiet floor in the maternity ward of the Logan, Utah regional hospital, Brent John Anderson was born to Kathy and Brian Anderson. One thing led to another, and, on September 14th, 2009, Elder Anderson found himself in a missionary size bed wearing tie dye pajama bottoms and a fluffy white t-shirt, looking at the clock, had only one thing to say:
"What on earth happened????"
Yes, friends, it's been 20 years. Kind of exciting, kind of scary. It's also kind of ironic that I'll be putting my last journal entry in my current mission journal tonight, effectively closing another chapter as I also approach the close of the first 1/3 of my mission and open up on a new frontier of possibilities. This week has been a type of that, I think, in that we spent all of 1 hour finding new investigators this week but found 3, taught 4 member lessons, a slough of other lessons, received referrals, met our 70 hours of Czech speaking goal once again, and continued keeping Iva on the path towards baptism. Pretty remarkable.
I do have a few things to say about this morning before I dive into anything else that happened this week, though. As I found myself in that missionary size bed wearing my usual P-J's, I also noticed that a draft had sucked a few strange, round objects into the room that weren't in our apartment before. At least, they were, but they had been sitting on Elder Machado's desk in a big manila envelope marked "Shhh...it's a surprise for elder Anderson!" Yes, it's true: Our apartment was full of large blue balloons and a sign on the wall saying "Happy Birthday, Gordo - Love Lizzie and Miranda" hung on the wall. I suppose in my haste to pray and get into bed, I'd somehow fallen asleep while Elder Machado got the apartment in order for some surprise birthday greetings! To those of you unfamiliar with what happened last year, you can visit my dormant Facebook page and look for pictures of two girls sitting on my couch at 3 in the morning amidst a sea of blue balloons, just about to leave the mess for me to wake up to. Obviously, as a missionary it wouldn't work out very well for foreign female friends from home to sneak into our apartment and leave piles of balloons. So, they hired Elder Machado to help out. Thanks you two - you're the best!
Otherwise, it's been a great day and a great start to a great week, one that will be even better than the last. I hope you all understand that, although I seem rather enthusiastic as I write these letters home, things really are that good here. I don't make up any of the stories or how I feel about them. God has blessed us all beyond measure, and it only takes a few quiet moments of pondering to consider that, ultimately, God's gift of life to us and the fruits that we receive from it, be it new investigators, bottled fruit for food storage, good grades and success in school, or even surprise wake up calls as balloons come drifting into your bedroom, all should inspire us to love others more and to try and fulfill the vision of our divine potential within us along the way. We are all really blessed beyond measure, even in a world that is confused and searching for some stay of balance.
Thanks to you all for your support, your letters, and your prayers. You too make a difference in the work the Lord is performing through his missionaries. Good luck this week!
Thanks,
Elder Anderson
"What on earth happened????"
Yes, friends, it's been 20 years. Kind of exciting, kind of scary. It's also kind of ironic that I'll be putting my last journal entry in my current mission journal tonight, effectively closing another chapter as I also approach the close of the first 1/3 of my mission and open up on a new frontier of possibilities. This week has been a type of that, I think, in that we spent all of 1 hour finding new investigators this week but found 3, taught 4 member lessons, a slough of other lessons, received referrals, met our 70 hours of Czech speaking goal once again, and continued keeping Iva on the path towards baptism. Pretty remarkable.
I do have a few things to say about this morning before I dive into anything else that happened this week, though. As I found myself in that missionary size bed wearing my usual P-J's, I also noticed that a draft had sucked a few strange, round objects into the room that weren't in our apartment before. At least, they were, but they had been sitting on Elder Machado's desk in a big manila envelope marked "Shhh...it's a surprise for elder Anderson!" Yes, it's true: Our apartment was full of large blue balloons and a sign on the wall saying "Happy Birthday, Gordo - Love Lizzie and Miranda" hung on the wall. I suppose in my haste to pray and get into bed, I'd somehow fallen asleep while Elder Machado got the apartment in order for some surprise birthday greetings! To those of you unfamiliar with what happened last year, you can visit my dormant Facebook page and look for pictures of two girls sitting on my couch at 3 in the morning amidst a sea of blue balloons, just about to leave the mess for me to wake up to. Obviously, as a missionary it wouldn't work out very well for foreign female friends from home to sneak into our apartment and leave piles of balloons. So, they hired Elder Machado to help out. Thanks you two - you're the best!
Otherwise, it's been a great day and a great start to a great week, one that will be even better than the last. I hope you all understand that, although I seem rather enthusiastic as I write these letters home, things really are that good here. I don't make up any of the stories or how I feel about them. God has blessed us all beyond measure, and it only takes a few quiet moments of pondering to consider that, ultimately, God's gift of life to us and the fruits that we receive from it, be it new investigators, bottled fruit for food storage, good grades and success in school, or even surprise wake up calls as balloons come drifting into your bedroom, all should inspire us to love others more and to try and fulfill the vision of our divine potential within us along the way. We are all really blessed beyond measure, even in a world that is confused and searching for some stay of balance.
Thanks to you all for your support, your letters, and your prayers. You too make a difference in the work the Lord is performing through his missionaries. Good luck this week!
Thanks,
Elder Anderson
Monday, September 7, 2009
A Baptism and other great things (Week 3 in Třebíč, Week 21 in Czech)
Hey Everyone,
Hope you've all had as great a week as I have - It's been a really good one in comparison to some of those other, decently good and on-the-whole rather great weeks. This week is probably going down as one of the best yet, right up there with the last week of last transfer when we had that music program, found 5 investigators, and found a man who got BAPTIZED over the weekend. Yeah - a man Elder Smith and I found named Daniel (we found him on the 7th or something, last month) entered the waters of Baptism on Saturday. He is my first investigator to get baptized that I was involved in finding from the beginning. It was great working with him last transfer, as he loves to read and took not only the Book of Mormon, but a Liahona, all our lesson pamphlets, the testimony of Joseph Smith, and a Church information brochure. He's now preparing to receive the priesthood. Oh, how wonderfully exciting!
This week was really great here in Trebic, too, but it all happened over the weekend. We had taught some lessons, helped Iva (she's preparing for baptism) with reviewing more of the doctrine and so forth, found an investigator (Actually, we found a new investigator on Tuesday too who had been requested by her priest to stop investigating and return everything; she did, but when we found her again after being prompted to talk to her personally, she wanted to meet immediately and she's very excited to have her Book of Mormon back), but were nowhere near our lesson goals and finding goals. We still needed a new investigator and 3 member lessons, all of which are very hard to do. As we planned, we were stuck. We had no ideas on how to accomplish these things, since members need advance notice and investigators take time, which we didn't have since our weekend was already planned completely. So, we got on our knees. It's an interesting, telling the Lord how you've tried your hardest but, somehow, it didn't add up. But, if he can calm seas, organize worlds, and level mountains, we knew he could organize our plans to help us meet the needs of our area. We concluded our prayer, and started making a few calls. About 10 minutes later, 2 member lessons, one being taught with a less active man that Elder Machado has seen once in the last 3 months, were set up. That meeting with the less active man brought in two new investigators, and the family already knows him personally (In fact, they were so happy to have us over, that the wife started giving us all this food and things and is excited for us to come back). The member had a chance to share his testimony, which always helps us to become stronger and remember who we are and what we know. The second member lesson was completely spirit driven. It would take too long to expound on, but Honza, a 19 year old kid who speaks American (When I heard his accent, I almost started crying, it was so good - He even knows what "Mickey - D's" is) has an iPhone (another plus). His phone's background is two penguins talking to each other, one of them wearing a crash helmet. The caption: "We're all gonna die, but I've got a helmet." We used that to expound on the plan of salvation, along with his personal love of flying airplanes to illustrate the need for instructions, steps, a plan, and the necessity of a savior (helmet). Sure, we are all going to crash now and then - but if you've got the Savior on your side, then your helmet is impenetrable (Paul wasn't the only one who thought about armor and the gospel).
I guess something else happened on Thursday, too. We went on exchanges with the elders in Jihlava. This means that I get to spend 4 hours of my week on trains since my companion is the district leader and is responsible for spending time in the other area. That morning, I woke up with a feeling of dread. I knew that, although it would all work out, I was in for a loooong day. And it was. Our trip to Jihlava was fine, but on the way back we missed our train. So, we contacted for an hour in Jihlava. Then, we went to catch our next train. It was mislabeled, and started taking us towards Plzen. We didn't have a ticket for that line, either, so we got kicked off at the next stop (thank goodness). Then we waited for another train back to Jihlava, where we caught the next train back to Trebic. An hour and a half later (They were doing work on a bridge), we pulled in, and got to work. We needed to make up for lost time, so we started hitting the streets. That night, we batted 1000: every person we talked to had interest and either sat down with us so we could teach a lesson, gave us their number, and one became a new investigator. One man was even a reporter and we're getting the details ironed out for having a newspaper article run here. Woo hoo!
On Saturday, we spent the entire day in Brno (basically) with Iva for a baptism. Unfortunately, the man being baptized didn't make it (We're not sure what happened still, since he had been meeting with the elders almost every day for the last three weeks). But, the program still happened without the baptism, and it answered a lot of Iva's questions. In all, she walked away more prepared for her new baptismal date - October the 10th! While we were there, she told us that she felt the 10th was her first answer but, because of fear and doubt, she told us the 31st of October. She's now scheduled for this transfer, and we've moved our teaching schedule into higher gear to accommodate the welcome change.
All in all, we're very excited. I'm getting a lot of pictures of this beautiful city and the surrounding area. We visited Telc today, probably the most Czech town I've seen thus far. Painted plaster, relief's on buildings, a castle and basilica hooked together, and we also spent time with Jarda from Jihlava who is both a member, a soon-to-be Wisconsin missionary, and Mr. Czech Republic. Pretty neat.
Well, I really really honestly do hope that you are all doing great back home. We have been very blessed this week with everything we've been working on, and I want you all to know that everything that's going on here does not originate from me personally. I'm the one responsible to get it done, but in the end the Lord is the one who gets our lives in order. As His servant, I just do the foot work.
Good luck this week!
Elder Brent Anderson
Hope you've all had as great a week as I have - It's been a really good one in comparison to some of those other, decently good and on-the-whole rather great weeks. This week is probably going down as one of the best yet, right up there with the last week of last transfer when we had that music program, found 5 investigators, and found a man who got BAPTIZED over the weekend. Yeah - a man Elder Smith and I found named Daniel (we found him on the 7th or something, last month) entered the waters of Baptism on Saturday. He is my first investigator to get baptized that I was involved in finding from the beginning. It was great working with him last transfer, as he loves to read and took not only the Book of Mormon, but a Liahona, all our lesson pamphlets, the testimony of Joseph Smith, and a Church information brochure. He's now preparing to receive the priesthood. Oh, how wonderfully exciting!
This week was really great here in Trebic, too, but it all happened over the weekend. We had taught some lessons, helped Iva (she's preparing for baptism) with reviewing more of the doctrine and so forth, found an investigator (Actually, we found a new investigator on Tuesday too who had been requested by her priest to stop investigating and return everything; she did, but when we found her again after being prompted to talk to her personally, she wanted to meet immediately and she's very excited to have her Book of Mormon back), but were nowhere near our lesson goals and finding goals. We still needed a new investigator and 3 member lessons, all of which are very hard to do. As we planned, we were stuck. We had no ideas on how to accomplish these things, since members need advance notice and investigators take time, which we didn't have since our weekend was already planned completely. So, we got on our knees. It's an interesting, telling the Lord how you've tried your hardest but, somehow, it didn't add up. But, if he can calm seas, organize worlds, and level mountains, we knew he could organize our plans to help us meet the needs of our area. We concluded our prayer, and started making a few calls. About 10 minutes later, 2 member lessons, one being taught with a less active man that Elder Machado has seen once in the last 3 months, were set up. That meeting with the less active man brought in two new investigators, and the family already knows him personally (In fact, they were so happy to have us over, that the wife started giving us all this food and things and is excited for us to come back). The member had a chance to share his testimony, which always helps us to become stronger and remember who we are and what we know. The second member lesson was completely spirit driven. It would take too long to expound on, but Honza, a 19 year old kid who speaks American (When I heard his accent, I almost started crying, it was so good - He even knows what "Mickey - D's" is) has an iPhone (another plus). His phone's background is two penguins talking to each other, one of them wearing a crash helmet. The caption: "We're all gonna die, but I've got a helmet." We used that to expound on the plan of salvation, along with his personal love of flying airplanes to illustrate the need for instructions, steps, a plan, and the necessity of a savior (helmet). Sure, we are all going to crash now and then - but if you've got the Savior on your side, then your helmet is impenetrable (Paul wasn't the only one who thought about armor and the gospel).
I guess something else happened on Thursday, too. We went on exchanges with the elders in Jihlava. This means that I get to spend 4 hours of my week on trains since my companion is the district leader and is responsible for spending time in the other area. That morning, I woke up with a feeling of dread. I knew that, although it would all work out, I was in for a loooong day. And it was. Our trip to Jihlava was fine, but on the way back we missed our train. So, we contacted for an hour in Jihlava. Then, we went to catch our next train. It was mislabeled, and started taking us towards Plzen. We didn't have a ticket for that line, either, so we got kicked off at the next stop (thank goodness). Then we waited for another train back to Jihlava, where we caught the next train back to Trebic. An hour and a half later (They were doing work on a bridge), we pulled in, and got to work. We needed to make up for lost time, so we started hitting the streets. That night, we batted 1000: every person we talked to had interest and either sat down with us so we could teach a lesson, gave us their number, and one became a new investigator. One man was even a reporter and we're getting the details ironed out for having a newspaper article run here. Woo hoo!
On Saturday, we spent the entire day in Brno (basically) with Iva for a baptism. Unfortunately, the man being baptized didn't make it (We're not sure what happened still, since he had been meeting with the elders almost every day for the last three weeks). But, the program still happened without the baptism, and it answered a lot of Iva's questions. In all, she walked away more prepared for her new baptismal date - October the 10th! While we were there, she told us that she felt the 10th was her first answer but, because of fear and doubt, she told us the 31st of October. She's now scheduled for this transfer, and we've moved our teaching schedule into higher gear to accommodate the welcome change.
All in all, we're very excited. I'm getting a lot of pictures of this beautiful city and the surrounding area. We visited Telc today, probably the most Czech town I've seen thus far. Painted plaster, relief's on buildings, a castle and basilica hooked together, and we also spent time with Jarda from Jihlava who is both a member, a soon-to-be Wisconsin missionary, and Mr. Czech Republic. Pretty neat.
Well, I really really honestly do hope that you are all doing great back home. We have been very blessed this week with everything we've been working on, and I want you all to know that everything that's going on here does not originate from me personally. I'm the one responsible to get it done, but in the end the Lord is the one who gets our lives in order. As His servant, I just do the foot work.
Good luck this week!
Elder Brent Anderson
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