This has been an incredible week, friends. Let's begin from the start.
I didn't mention last week that last Sunday I had a minor fever and chills. I didn't think much of it, perhaps some bad food or maybe a brief cough. Monday rolled around, I felt alright and so I said I was doing well in the letter. But, it was just the beginning. Light headed and feeling sick, we started hitting up appointments. First, a member family with some of their friends who happen to be investigators. We were ready to teach the rest of the Plan of Salvation, but they were stressed out because one of our investigators had been in a car accidenet and was sick, the member husband had also been in a car accident the night before and, with a massive headache, had a major seizure when we walked in the door, employment issues compounded the stress, and the investigators end up being completely unteachable. Not much teaching was done due to the stress, but we did give a blessing to Pán Dvořak (That's right, Mr. Dvořak, like the composer?). We're visiting again tonight, so we'll see what happens. We visited Josef Baliar and his family. His son was baptized recently, but it turns out the family was asleep except for two kids who were in the hospital with their mom, and Josef was up waiting for them. He was pretty tired and stressed as well, we could both feel sickness sneaking in, and to make matters worse, we later found out the kids have meningitis. This is good news, seeing as we've been working with them for months, and this also happens to be one of those families that has 15 people living in 2 1/2 rooms. Wow. I sometimes wonder how I could consider my lot to be hard in the past. We're working with them, helping them stay employed, at home, and healthy in the mean time, but wow - imagine getting that kind of a hit all at once.
That was just monday.
Tuesday was district meeting. We'd started feeling sick and were trying to take things a little easier to keep from getting too sick. District meeting was great, we were in touch with missionaries, investigators, taught lessons, and our current baptismal date, Martin, is plugging along perfectly.
Wednesday we went back to Prostejov, a city south of here, to teach a recent convert who's wife died last month and to meet with the gypsy king we've been teaching. Did I mention we teach a king? Yeah, we're teaching him and his family, and we've started teaching their son as well. He's found great faith in christ recently, and is very interested in the Book of Mormon. Plug for the book of mormon: It does have the answer to the questions of the soul and serves as the foundation for a particularly reliable testimony of Christ.
Thursday we went to Ostrava. It was incredible going back to my "home town", as it were. I've spent the most time there so far, and the people there are amazing. Renata, Eva, Daniel - they are such great examples to me. Eva made a cake for us and Renata gave us a bag full of the world's best svickova. Her food just makes this world a happier place. The day was spent working with people I've known and taught before, getting contact with the missionaries and people I know who could really progress. Finally, we had an interview with Tomas Pesl so he could get baptized on Saturday (which, he was!). We drove home, crashed, and, still feeling flu-ish, got ready for Zone Leader's council on Friday.
Zone Leader's council taught me that I can actually serve as a leader. I realized that my ideas, impressions, and contributions to the work are quality and useful. The spirit was so strong and the missionaries there were so good, I just left with that happy spring in your step that you always are looking for. Even know just thinking about it brings the spirit. We talked about leadership, the mission, Christ as a leader, and many many other subjects. I'm the youngest zone leader in the mission, which is daunting because the rest of them are slated to go home in the next 6 months.
Here is the cool part of the week: I've been thinking about ways to serve and find people in need of the Gospel who can be the next branch presidents, quorum presidents and, eventually, bishops and stake presidents. While it's hard to say what would be most effective since such people come from everywhere, It's occurred to me that a way to serve people here would be to help them improve employment and self-marketing skills. We're looking at a lot of options now, so I'll keep you posted, but it's exciting looking at the possiblities we, as missionaries, have when it comes to blessing and influencing lives through proselyting as well as through christlike service. Never forget that expressing love to others is the sign of the true church of christ. If that's not there, then you'll find the church can't be there either because the Lord can't be there.
Well, we came home and were both feeling under the weather, but things took a turn for the worse. Between diahrhea and stomach pains, the stomach flu had arrived. I had taken some supplements earlier in the week to curb the illness, and it's been largely tolerable. Elder Hatch, however, started getting pretty ill on thursday, progressed through friday, and friday/saturday night was spent in the bathroom. Saturday we stayed home all day, excepting a lesson with two couples looking for the true church. "Yes, we can help you." And sunday was similar, except we had a fantastic time celebrating elder hatch's birthday, despite the illness. We're on the mend and doing alright today, still taking it easy but it seems everything is going well.
I have to say that the experiences from my mission have been priceless. Anyone considering going on a mission should make sure they are in order to go, but don't doubt in any way - just go and do!
Finally, I received a stack of mail on friday. Special thanks goes to the following for making a missionary's day happy and bright, and a merry christmas/ happy new year to you all.
Grandparents Murdoch, Anderson, Grunt, and Joe (Yes, I have four sets of grandparents...)
The Jeppesons
The McCann Clan
My cousin Abby
The Jim Walker family
The Johnstonites from Canada
The faux fam, the fan club, and the forkaster alumni association
I suppose the Czech Postal service/carrier pigeons and the US postal service deserve a hand too.
I'm working on getting letters sent off to each of you, you can expect them in the near future. Otherwise, be healthy, be happy, read your scriptures, and find a way to make someone smile right now. A letter, a note, a hug, a kind word. Be the answer to a prayer today. I'm sure the Lord wouldn't mind help with all those prayers coming in. Ask to be the answer, and I know he'll provide you with the opportunity.
Thanks,
Elder Anderson
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