Alright, this week was much better than last week. I've got a lesson in 20 minutes and I still haven't showered. But, I've got to tell you everything!
We had zone conferences this week. This means that we planned out a 7 hour conference and we got to deliver it three times to three groups of missionaries across the whole mission. These conferences focused on basic missionary skills and so consequently we had a lot of trainings that we were able to give ourselves. I was very excited about it, I love presentation environments like these to lead and direct and serve the missionaries more effectively. I taught about teaching good member lessons (catchphrase: Just like brushing your teeth, only teach member lessons with the investigators you want to keep!) and Elder Doxey and I jointly introduced a change to our schedule as a mission moving us from goals each transfer to goals each month for baptisms. We believe this will help the mission double baptisms and will change the way that we are able to focus as missionaries on the work.
We spent the mean time on the road to olomouc, ostrava, and Banska Bystrica for exchanges which were mildly successful. I was ecstatic to see the members in Ostrava again and I even had the opportunity to teach the english class there again. There weren't many people there, but I really love those who came a lot. It was so great seeing what had happened since this time last year when I was just leaving ostrava.
While in Banska Bystrica (slovakia) I had a singular experience I will never forget. We were both prompted to go to a park (I was with a slovakian zone leader) and we headed there to find the person who needed us. We found her on a bench. She didn't want to talk to us at first, but we gently and lovingly persisted, talking to her about what brought her happiness in life. She said that Love did, and we proceeded to introduce the Book of Mormon, particularly Moroni 7 to her. As she read, she started to tear up and it was very easy to feel the spirit strongly. We testified that through Jesus Christ we can find greater hope in our lives, and she began to cry even more, and began talking to us about some challenges she's had. She thought that she needed to suffer for it by herself, and was overwhelmed in tears when we testified by the Spirit that Christ had already done so, and she didn't need to suffer any more for it. It was easily one of the highlight experiences of my entire mission rolled into a 15 minute lesson on a bench. We left her on that bench poring through the book of mormon and looking forward to her next meeting with the missionaries.
Finally, reports came in this week of massive flooding in northern bohemia, so massive that the Czech Army got called in for cleanup. The missionary force in this part of the country swapped the shirts and ties for shovels and yellow "Mormonske Pomahajici Ruce" shirts and headed out to lend a hand. I was there all day with the missionaries and, without being too nasty, we cleaned up a yard buried in the muck that had settled in from a neighboring pasture. We probably had about a swimming pool worth of slushy, stinky muddy stuff that we shoveled out, and then we moved to another house to haul wood and materials from a basement out for further cleaning. It was a very eventful day. Now I'm emailing, I've got to go change, and we'll be teaching a lesson.
We'll be having a baptism in a few weeks too. Svetlana is sticking to her date, loves church, loves the Restored gospel, and loves the Savior very much. Every meeting she tells us that this is her last chance in life to really make things right and to get on the right path. And she's right!
Love you all, hope your week was fantastic, and I wish you all the best of luck as school starts up again in a few weeks.
Elder Brent Anderson
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