Elder Anderson: Visa Warrior ( Week 16 in Prague, Week 76 in Czech )

Let's preface the following with some context: I wrote on Saturday and woke up on sunday congested and with a chest-cold. From there, it didn't take long to garner the attention of the wonderful senior sister missionaries in Prague to load me up with medication and everything to clean me up. Then we started making plans for the longest three days of my life.

Sister Ganbataar the mongolian missionary arrived after waiting for a whole year last week. In preparing for new missionaries we have to register visas with the foreign police so they can work here without any problems. The difficulty in that is that there are two offices for registrations: one for Europeans and Americans, the other for everybody else. Our story begins this week on a dark, cold street corner with a single washed out street light and a line of foreigners from russia, the ukraine, vietnam, and the clump of huddled missionary coats and nametags working to stay ahead in a line of people, some of them more shady than others.

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"I can only imagine...what it will be like...." *CLICK*

Elder Anderson reached up and pressed the snooze button on his phone for the first time on his mission. It was 4:00 AM and Elder Thompson had already gotten in the shower, meaning that he could afford a few more minutes. He layed there for a few minutes not really falling back asleep but enjoying the strange combination of NyQuill wearing off, the early morning waking hours on a Wednesday, and the thought of standing in a line of foreigners to register Sister Ganbaatar, the new mongolian sister, into the country. The line would be long, it would be cold, it would be dark, and it would be full of unsavory activity, enough to garner the attention of 5 or 6 czech crowd control policemen who would be regulating conditions at the police station.

"Tomorrow...tomorrow is Thursday! We might get to sleep in to 6:30!" the happy thought drifted by but was interrupted by his red-headed companion hopping out of the bathroom and Elder Anderson taking his turn. As he switched on the hot water, he looked at himself in the mirror and just about didn't recognize himself. A cold, three days of 4 AM trying to get sister ganbataar registered, and the life of a Czech Prague assistant had added a few wrinkles to his otherwise well shaven, well groomed complexion.

Then he thought to himself, "My, it's a good thing I took all those pictures before this week hit. I'm a mess!"

The first two days at the police had been fruitless. Day one they turned him away at the counter when he tried to use a power of attorney to represent Sister ganbataar since she'd already left for her proselyting area. "It has to be her, you can't do it for her," they said. Day two they brought her in and started standing in line. The Czech sunrise was nice at this time of day. At 7:30 however, just as they were about to get into the building, the police closed the line. "The office closes at noon and we've taken enough people for today. Go home and come back tomorrow." The missionaries were furious and to make up for it, Elder Anderson got breakfast for them. It seemed that when he could share food with somebody, or anybody, it made him happy. So he did.

Wednesday had come quickly enough, and after they'd dressed, picked up the sister missionaries, and headed over to the police station, they were ready to go to bat against red tape, sneaky foreigners trying to jump the line, and the layers of bureaucracy that didn't quite moult off over the years.

At about 7:30 they made it into the building and were issued number 829. They left and watched the tally board for a few minutes and calculated that they would be accommodated in about 5 hours. Sister Ganbaatar was about as excited as a toddler at christmas time. "Lets go contacting! We should start talking to everyone! Look at all the people!"

To his eternal shame, the hour of the morning and the lack of breakfast got the best of the otherwise stalwart Elder, and he settled on just doing contacting practice in the hallway. Later, the excited sister piped up again: "We should sing to everybody! Wouldn't that be great? Here's my hymnbook....how about "if you could hie to kolob?"" Elder Anderson was feeling better by this point, but suggested that we sing something a little more mainstream like "I know that my redeemer lives" or the Czech Prague mission song. After a few rousing chouruses from the trio of cold, hungry missionaries, the number "828" flashed on the board and they headed upstairs.

After weaving in and out of the lines and the crowds of people, the missionaries made their way to the desk. They presented the paperwork and declared her entry in the country, but the agent behind the desk frowned. "I'm sorry, but we're missing some paperwork."

Elder Anderson kept his cool, but there was part of him that was livid. He was determined to not leave that desk until her visa entry stamp was properly placed in her passport. After some words with the insurance agent, they arranged for the registration and left successfully.

The remainder of the week consisted of recovery from a cold, another leadership conference, and extending a baptismal date to Armen again. He had quit smoking in the interim, and was prepared for making his first covenant with the Lord.

It had been a good week, he knew that the Lord was pleased with his labors thus far, and he was looking forward to a week of a bit more normalcy before hitting the road again for another three weeks. It was a good life, albeit hectic, and he was looking forward to getting many of these trainings behind him.

Love,

Elder Brent Anderson

A week with the Teixeirovi ( Week 15 in Prague, Week 75 in Czech )

The long drive home from Brno to Prague was a pleasant one. Elder Thompson and Elder Anderson had been asked to retrieve some property from an old apartment and were headed back to Prague on a bright saturday morning. Fog laced the edges of the rolling hills in the czech highland countryside, and the hum of the diesel van was rhythmic and almost soothing.

That week had been a whirlwind, and it was almost alien to think that it was now behind them and that there was that much more ahead of them.

Monday had been occupied with teaching and preparing for the conferences that week, as was tuesday. Unfortunately, Elder Thompson took sick as well and spent those days recovering, while Elder Anderson prepared reports, planned, and drafted agendas for the week. They found a few neat people to teach as well, and knew that their purpose was to baptize them, which was coming up for some of them.

The Elders first met Elder Teixeira on wednesday. He was an impressive man with piercing blue eyes, silvery hair, and a uniquely fluent yet foreign accent that had a uniquely Portuguese flair. His mission and vision for this tour was clear, and he spent little time mincing words. He had a job to do.

It was evident from the beginning to Elder Anderson that this man was united with the spirit of the Lord and was an instrument in the Lord's hands when it came to his teachings and training and instruction to the Elders. They spoke of goals, accountability, teaching by the spirit, praying with investigators, preach my gospel, the scriptures. They expounded the parable of the talents and talked about leadership, they discussed stories of missionaries modern and ancient. Promises were made and given to the Missionaries that stretched their faith and raised their vision, and the missionaries across the mission in all three of the conferences and both evening firesides knew that he was called of God.

It was like drinking from a fire-hose.

Interestingly enough, Elder Teixeira didn't use notes, neither did his wife. But both of them were inspiring in their delivery and application of their remarks, and Elder Anderson wished that, while this week had been exhausting, that it could have lasted just a bit longer.

In looking back on the week, he saw a few things that were most important, those being that there was so much more to be done in the field, there was so much more he could become in the time left, and there were yet many baptisms that had not been realized.

Of note, his birthday had been a great one. Many gifts had been given, but the most important gift was seeing where he had been able to make a difference in the lives of all these people, and knowing that the best was yet to come.

Elder Anderson recalled an email from many many months ago, where he suggested that a mission is like a 4 quarter sporting event with overtime, and he knew where he stood in the game and what was most important. It was overtime, and he was glad to have everything he'd ever done leading up to the moment when it would all become meaningful as he preached the gospel. It was all coming to a climax and, as far as he was concerned, that climax was going to crescendo right through the rest of his life.

He had so much more to live up to that he couldn't afford to not let his mission change him, and he knew that despite the opinions of some, the Lord changes the hearts of men for good if it is to be meaningful.

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I'm grateful to be a missionary and I'm glad to see and hear missionary work changing your lives as it's changed mine. It will be interesting to read all of these letters from beginning to end and see that in myself. In the mean time, it's about the same as watching yourself grow or grow older. It happens, but you don't notice it until someone points it out.

Love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week! I know I will, we have another four day conference ahead of us, then more trainings, baptisms, and it just keeps going...

Elder Brent Anderson

A brief thought ( Week 14 in Prague, Week 74 in Czech )

Hello everyone,

I've not much to say today, believe it or not. I guess the ebb and flow of life is just as evident in missionary work. We did see some amazing things happen at the end of this week thanks to a renewed commitment to effective planning and goal setting, and I believe that when we take the time to iron out the details in what we do and especially in our discipleship, the Lord can bless us more abundantly because we are prepared for it.

I think I would like to share some thoughts about what it means to completely give ones self over to the Lord. I have a quote from Germaine Greer which reads like this:

Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.

As we approach that "edge" and reach a point where we are between the comfortable, the familiar, the normal and the unknown, the uncharted, what some have called the "realm of the miraculous", we have a choice. To cross that threshold requires us to rely on the Lord deeper than we have before. As we selflessly and in charity give ourselves over to Him, we cross that line and the Lord turns our faith in Him and faith that there will be something across that edge into reality. The Lord loves us and desires for us to see further and become more than we can imagine now. He gives a glimpse in the pattern of the Gospel, and when we trust Him then we can begin to see what is on the other side of the hurdle for every spiritual athlete.

Love you all, and the photos are in the mail. Yes!

Elder Brent Anderson

Two mormons, a JW, and Kafka walk into a panelak...( Week 13 in Prague, Week 73 in Czech )

Elder Anderson stared out the window of the train whizzing through Czech countryside. He loved to see the cottages, flocks of sheep, old farmers who still did everything by hand, and then pass through a mountain tunnel and land in the middle of a sprawling metropolis, and then gradually slip back to rolling green hills and fog laced landscape.

It was the greatest mission in the world.

That morning had been spent with the Wallace Toronto foundation doing service in Uherske Hradiste, a city on the complete opposite side of the country from Prague. But fortuitously they had been there, and they had enjoyed meeting and serving with members from all over the mission. As the train picked up speed from it's last stop, the exhausted Elder looked down at himself. Not quite the appearance of a servant of the Lord, wearing muddy shoes, dark trousers (yes, trousers: they were made in the UK), his white shirt slightly unbuttoned with the service project t-shirt over the top, and his suit coat that didn't match any of his dress to put the finishing touch on what could have been a fashion nightmare. Fortunately, the drapes were drawn, Elder Thompson the new AP was sprawled on the bench in the train car fast asleep. He had been since before they'd left Uherske Hradiste. Elder Anderson's scriptures were out and he'd been deep in study about the Doctrine of Christ from 2 Nephi 31 after a spiritual intense and spiritually fruitful conference all week in Bratislava.

Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, is one of the best places to visit in Europe. Convenient, close, up to date, but with all the charm and curiosity of an ancient city, the mission selected it as the center for the Moravian-Slovakian conference for mission leaders, and the entire event was a great success. The conference had been called to introduce and kickoff the new MTC Simplified Curriculum that had begun to make it's way around the world. Apparently, few missions had been bold enough to pull it's leadership out for a week for the sake of a week-long training. But, President Irwin took the helm, planned a four day long event, and the missionaries came together. The curriculum, in essence, empowers missionaries to base their entire effort in testimony and the doctrines given by the Lord to us all, particularly from the scriptures (esp. the Book of Mormon) and from Preach My Gospel. The conference started with the Doctrine of Christ and the necessity of using it as the core of our purpose as missionaries, closely followed by challenging others to baptism within the first or second meeting. The other topics were primarily focused in using Revelation and helping investigators and members receive revelation themselves, using the book of mormon as the key to conversion, extending commitments, and setting expectations when we begin teaching. Each day was a spiritual outpouring of insights and revelation and were incredibly spiritually drawing. Elder Anderson recalled Elder Machado mentioning that he spent a whole day in the temple prior to his departure, and how exhausted he was from the work he did there. It must have felt something like a week of intense study and practice. In the evenings the missionaries went out to teach. While there were many miracles that occurred each night, one was worth particular sharing.

The first night, a storm rolled in just as the conference concluded. It thundered, flashed, and poured like they hadn't seen for quite some time. It was not time to contact, but the missionaries started hitting the panelaks. One great benefit of serving here was that apartments were inside of enclosed buildings. No getting wet or cold knocking on hundreds of doors, since they were all inside the building. The great downside, however, was that you had to get into the building first. Being czech speakers, no slovak would logically let someone in if they just randomly buzzed and asked for the door to be opened, especially when a major shooting had happened just outside of Bratislava that rocked European news. The sets of panelaks were alright, but no one was particularly interested. The missionaries moved to another row of buildings and started buzzing to get let in. No one spoke to the cold wet missionaries longer than 10 seconds via the door intercom, but they pressed on at the first door. A man came down after a few buzzes and began yelling loud and clear. "Get out of here! You don't belong here!" It was quite evident that there people to be found that night and that everything was against Elder Anderson and Pearson (his temporary companion due to sleeping arrangements). They moved to the next door and got let in, but again to no avail: No one was interested in the priceless truths the Elders had brought to teach. Elder Anderson and Elder Pearson talked it over, and they decided to pray before every door they knocked for the rest of the night. As they did so, an intense reception to the Spirit was acquired and the Elders took courage with each contact at the door. Unfortunately, the results were similar up until the last section of the panelak.

The Elders arrived at the entrance to the last part of the panelak and the storm was beating down harder than ever. They started buzzing one name after another. Some didn't answer, others were quick in their rejection. The third to last name on the list said he would come down. After several minutes of waiting, the Elders buzzed the second to last name and then the last name. Just as they pressed the name "Kafka" the Elders saw a man open the door for them. The door was magnetic, and it required someone to come down to actually open the door. The man stared at the elders, glanced at their name tags, then said "Hello, my name is Peter and I'm a Jehova's Witness."

Elder Anderson just about laughed! This was going to be interesting.

The man didn't seem to listen intently and tried to explain that he let us in more out of pity than interest, and just as the Elders were about to ask if they could go further into the building, another man walked down with a dazed look on his face. He was tall, an older man, wearing old but comfortable looking clothes.

"Umm, what are you two doing here?"

Elder Anderson bounced back and forth between the two of them, not sure who to address next. He felt good about the second and, sensing the urgency of the moment, declared their purpose. "Hello, we're here as missionaries sharing a message about Jesus Christ and about how he has called another living prophet for our day. May we come in?"

The first man just stared at the situation, wondering what would happen next. The Elders, with prayers in their hearts, watched Mr. Kafka. Kafka thought for a second, looked at the Elders and said, "Sure, come in." They walked past the threshold and stepped into the elevator.

Mr. Kafka had been to English lessons in the past, but had never learned much about the church. He spoke perfect English and studied the scriptures diligently in English, and was earnestly searching for more truth. The Elders simply but clearly laid out the message of the restoration and used the new skills they had acquired from that day's training to testify to him by the spirit. He had many questions and, for the next three days, met with the Elders to learn more about the restored gospel. He even planned on coming to church, and Elder Anderson was confident that his baptism wouldn't be too far off in the future. The Elders had never felt such a strong feeling of love for one of their investigators in such a short period of time as they did with this man, and they knew it was because the Lord had proven them and provided a way to reap the blessings they had been diligently seeking.

Another miracle (we'll keep this one shorter): The next day with Elder Read, they went to the park but had a hard time getting people to stop and listen. They sat for a moment, prayed, read a scripture, set a goal, and started off again. A few minutes later, they had an intense feeling that someone needed them on the other side of the park. They fled to the inspired spot and there on a bench was a girl in a pink coat. "That's her!" they said to each other, and they rushed over to speak with here. Her name was Nancy, and she was studying slavic languages there in Bratislava. She spoke some english and some slovak, and the Elders quickly sat down and introduced the book of mormon, bearing testimony of it. Nancy, a student from Russia, found it hard to understand in English but she did feel the spirit from Alma 7 where there is the testimony of the Savior. "Can I get this book in Russian?" The Elders were very ecstatic, prayed with her, and exchanged contact details. As they prayed, a feeling of depression left her and she felt the warmth of the Spirit from the missionaries. "I've been feeling for a while" she said before they parted, "depression, but meeting with you and your prayer have left me feeling...." she couldn't describe the feeling, and while the Elders didn't understand her russian vocabulary, they knew what she was saying. "I know this meeting was an answer to my prayers." Little did she know, she was also an answer to a heartfelt prayer.

The week had been epic, it had been draining, and Elder Anderson and Elder Thompson were looking forward to their foam mattresses on their bunk bed, right next to the leaky windows that looked out over northern Prague. It wasn't much, but it was home, and they were happy to be on their way back again. Elder Anderson did feel pangs of guilt for not getting those photo cds off as he'd been promising for some time, but they were at least burned and would be on their way soon. They had a week to breathe ahead of them and then it was zone conferences, another 4 day conference, and trainings galore until the end of October.

And he smiled.

Love,

Elder Brent Anderson