The nokia handset quit buzzing and Elder Anderson rolled out of bed. "Dobre rano!" he yelled out to his companion, and they both got the day off right with some prayers and exercise. Elder Anderson had set a new goal to get up to doing 100 push ups a day while in the office, but he knew it was going to take some time since he could still feel his morning situps from the other day. But, the bench-press in his apartment (yes, they have a home-made bench press made from old chairs and carpet) was there, and they pumped that press morning and night in efforts to meet their transfer goal of becoming more like Chief Captain Moroni.
Beyond the iron and the exercise, however, Elder Anderson was feeling very content in his heart. The Lord had blessed them immensely in their service that week, and had provided them with very unique experiences all week. The office half of the picture was rather thin, but he was being put to use in filling out visa paperwork (and then, after filling out one two many of the six page forms of bureaucracy, decided he'd make another spreadsheet to do the same thing for next time), putting the finishing touches on the publishing module of the new missionary reporting system, and holding down the fort with Elder Doxey while president was in Poland for the annual young single adult conference. All of the small victories in the office versus red tape and real-time data, however, didn't compare to the miracles wrought throughout the week.
The first was on Wednesday on Karlovo Namesti, when the missionaries (after a mildly complicated turn of events) were following the spirit, not knowing beforehand what they should do. They showed up and started talking to everyone they could find. Then, they saw Alena sitting on a bench. They walked over and happily introduced themselves. After a brief conversation about life priorities, they made the connection with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she began to express how she'd been raised in a church, but now was turning over many different options and ideas in her head and wanted to choose for herself how she wanted to believe. The Elders were grateful as the spirit guided them through a lesson talking about commandments being spiritual laws that enable us to achieve greater heights, just like an airplane achieves greater heights by obeying physical laws. This view of commandments was groundbreaking for her, and the Elders followed up with 2 Nephi 31, where Nephi teaches the commandments regarding baptism and the gospel plan. She loved the idea and the doctrines, and they arranged to meet again after her vacation the next day. At the end, she said "I'm very grateful that the Lord led you to me today."
The second was on Thursday in the park Letencke Sady, when the missionaries (after finishing their appointments for the day 30 minutes early) had almost an hour to spend that they hadn't expected. Guided by the spirit, they went into the park. It seemed a slow evening, and they didn't see a whole lot of success in the first 25 minutes. Then they ran into Blanka. The missionaries, careful to not rush into too much too fast, asked Blanka if she believed. She said yes. She than said she believed in God. The Elders rejoiced, and proceeded to talk about the book of mormon. She had said that the most important thing in her life was love, and it wasn't long before Moroni 7 was being read in turn by each of them. The spirit was present, and Blanka was very grateful for the meeting, already looking forward to meeting up again on Saturday. That night, she sent the Elders a text, explaining she had been at home, but had had the most powerful impression that she needed to go to the park and sit on a bench. She did, and she knew it was the Lord bringing the restored gospel into her life. That night, the elders were very joyful indeed.
The last was on Friday. Once again, the Elders found themselves with about 50 minutes at the end of a long day. They had planned on going to Karlovo Namesti, but then decided to go to Namesti Miru. As they stepped into the metro station, the impression was clear: "Go to Dejvicka", one stop away from the building, instead of 20 minutes into the center. They started talking to everyone they could and, halfway through a bench lesson with a Slovak man, Elder Anderson spotted Tomas, a man they had met and taught a month ago, but who had since fallen out of contact. He jumped up, let his companion continue teaching, and Tomas, in about 10 seconds, wanted to sit down and ask the excited Elder why the church was true? The last meeting with Tomas was about the restoration, but it hadn't been clear and Tomas left early, feeling uncomfortable. This time he was ready, and his loving Heavenly father had arranged a meeting with his servants, the missionaries, to give him another go. Tomas thought hard about the message, and said at the end of the meeting, "It would be extremely important to know that Joseph Smith is God's Prophet!" He is consequently coming to church on Sunday.
In the end, Elder Anderson felt that the most important things this week had been working hard and doing his part, and keeping himself aligned with the Gospel and with the Spirit. The Lord provided each of His children in turn, and the Elders knew that they were fulfilling their calling to teach and baptize all nations by inviting others to come unto Christ through the gospel. To the fortunate readers of his weekly epistles, Elder Anderson wanted to say "I love you all, and I want you all to know that you should have a goal to go on a mission. Old, young, in the church, out of the church: You will see the greatest blessings ever in doing it. If you're not in a position to go now, set a goal and start planning now to make the changes you need in order to go. It's such a beautiful thing!"
Love,
Elder Brent Anderson
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