Hello Everyone!
Happy New year to you all! A few details about new years, the last week of miracles, my well being, and a spiritual thought is on the plan for the first installment of ever continuing adventures of Starší Anderson in Olomouc for the year 2010! Hope you all had a great christmas, great new year, and are all excited to get back to work this year. I know I am. Missionaries are silly, because we don't like holidays and vacation time is dangerous, if not lethal, to progress. People start leaving areas, losing contact, turning off phones, spending more time in the kitchen making cookies than on their couch reading the book of mormon. It's terrible!
...right up until they deliver the missionaries a box of czech cukrovy (Literally translated, "Little sugary things", or as we say "treats"), and then all is forgiven.
Actually, last week was the most statistically successful and, maybe even spiritually difficult, week of my mission thus far. Two new families, another new family who we're set up for on wednesday, contact with another family who wants to baptize the rest of their kids, a referall from me about a guy from ostrava who moved to new zeland that will be handled in prague, checked in america, and forwarded to a great couple that visited us from new zeland, the husband being a former missionary. Whew!
So, new years is big here. It's been 20 years since the Czech government has been not communist, and they love their fireworks. And alchohol. We had to be indoors no later than 6 PM, and we spent the evening with the other missionaries playing games and talking. We even had some little sparklers that we set off at midnight, in the midst of a billion fireworks going off around us. Pretty crazy.
So, I mentioned all those families, kids, and referrals. Here is a segment from my letter to my parents describing the member work here. And, I might just tack on the spiritual thought from that letter too, since it's what I wanted to mention anyway. So much typing, so little time! I wish there were a better way to share with you all the things we're seeing here. I've seen so much out here, it's humbling. People with nothing to eat, people with so much they don't know what to do with it. Theories, thoughts, confusion, ideas, contension, and apathy. The only thing that will bring this world together is the Love of God and beliving the savior when he says that we can be unified, but we have to love one another and serve each other. So, here are the remarks from that other email:
We had an incredible week in terms of the numbers, and a lot of it is due to Elder Hatch's attention to details and overall excellence as a missionary. We found 10 new investigators this week, in conjunction with Lad'a, a recent convert who wishes he could be a missionary. It's "unfortunate" that he's got a family and other concerns and couldn't commit himself 100% to the work. Instead, he just spends about 90% of his time with us teaching, finding, and looking for people he knows to teach. In fact, he'll go to people he knows, build friendships, teach them the gospel, and then refer them to us for official teaching. It's incredible. The bottom line: Elder Bednar's (which is, by the way, a Czech/Slovak name) counsel is absolutely true. Missionaries are full time teachers, members are full time finders. It's hard in Utah when most people are members, but building those relationships with people and loving them according to christ's teachings is the secret.
To me, it seems calling should be about the same anyway. I remember something that you told me which continually haunts me when I think about what I *could* have done, what I *might* have done with friends who may not have had the strongest testimonies. "Aren't we each our brother's keeper?" Home teachers are, in my opinion, one of the most crucial, important, and vital callings in the church. It's the front lines, where authorized representatives meet god's children and are charged with one simple commission: Serve them. Really, isn't that what it's all about as men and women under priesthood authority? Anyone can believe in christ, those who actually follow him are immediately charged with the message "Feed my sheep." It wasn't until this week when I was reading a little book about becoming an extraordinary missionary that I read something profound. I'm not called to teach, I'm not called to convince, I'm not even called to expose people with the spirit (although that is important). I'm called to serve, and in the end, the mission of God's priesthood is serving people so that they may increase in light and knowledge, prepare to make and keep sacred covenants to protect and direct them, and to refine themselves in love and service to others. And, through this service, we discover that that "fountain of living water" starts to swell up inside us. In losing ourselves, we find ourselves again. That's really what it's all about.
Well, I've got to wrap this up now. It's been a good week, I've learned a lot, and had a few good experiences. From the grab bag: We did have fish, but I didn't know what it was. It wasn't carp, but it wasn't bad. Pike maybe? And this one should make you all laugh: An old member gave us chocolates the other day on a visit. Turns out they were filled with straight shot rum. Yummy. I just laughed and laughed. And, another member, in an effort to be generous, gave us a christmas sausage. It looked and smelled pretty good, and we got to work on cooking with half of it last week when we made Halušky. As we cut it up and started frying it, we realized it wasn't just any sausage. This was a straight-up blood sausage. We figured we'd give it a shot anyway, and it wasn't too bad. But, we're still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of it.
Well, time to wrap up and head out. Hope you're all happy, healthy, and in good spirits. May you find success in school, work, those ever-important daily gospel sessions I'm sure you're all having, and most importantly, the relationships you have with each other and with our Heavenly Father. That's the most important thing.
Thanks,
Elder Brent Anderson
No comments:
Post a Comment