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