Do toho Slovensko!

The work still progresses in Nitra :)! Our numbers with new investigators, baptismal dates, lessons taught, and stuff like that actually were really low this week. It was still a wonderful and successful week though.

I did my first service project this past week! We actually did three different service projects for three different people. The first one was for this one family that we have been trying to teach more these past few weeks. The Pyriovi are extremely Catholic-- well... at least the mother is-- but have been coming to our English classes and have allowed us to teach little pieces of the gospel here and there but not too much. This project was for the hopes of becoming better friends and to show even more that we are really here to help them in whatever way we can. We went to there house tuesday evening and finally met the dad for the first time. He loves us! He's so nice and just really fun to talk with. Him, Starsi Clem, and I all went out into the garden and tilled about 1/3 of an acre with just shovels. Rilovat' ("to till the earth" you could say) is a new word I learned that day and I loved it! You basically just go in a line with some friends and uproot the dirt and work your way down the field... I'm not exactly sure how to explain much better, so I won't, haha! It's hard work and I'm so grateful that we had a lot of clouds that day. The weather has been fantastic the past few days which is a little surprising. Usually, at this time, Slovakia would be freezing and terrible-- so I have been told. There was kind of this unsaid competition between me and the father at who could work the hardest as well. I loved that guy! His name is Pavlo by the way. We were basically the same during the whole project but Starsi Clem was way behind. At one point, Pavlo yelled over that Starsi Clem had to catch up. At then end of the day I wound up having 10 blisters on my hands! That's what being in the MTC for 2 months will make of you, hah. We didn't use gloves and worked so quickly that we got the job finished in about 1.45 hours. Afterwards, we asked if we could come back next week and it really impressed Pavlo. He said yes and actually invited to take us up the mountain to the oldest church building in Slovakia! So we have a good week coming up :). The other two projects were for Brat Herczog and Sestra Psnakova. We did the same thing for Brat Herczog as we did for the Pyriovi but Sestra Psnakova hates allowing missionaries to do service for her so she just cooked as a huge meal and made us eat until it was too late-- or that we were too full-- to doing any service.

We have to travel so much to get to members, investigators, and places that it not only drains our money but also how much we can teach people. Brat Majtan lives about two hours away and it takes about 10 euros round trip in order for us to travel. We've been going out there 1-2 times every week so it takes a lot of our time and money. We went out there this week to start teaching them the commandments. They accepted it well, as usual, and Brat Majtan actually said something that surprised us. Last Sunday was his first time coming back to church and he loved it! We set the record for having 12 people attend church I might add (Nitra is so young right now). He was very impressed with it and fit right in. He asked us if he could give a talk in sacrament meeting sometime in November on why he now knows that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the absolute true church. He's been searching for awhile ever since he hasn't had the church in his life or anywhere near him for twenty years and he has finally realized and found what he's been looking for. Of course, we said yes and he is going to practice it this week-- I won't be able to go this time because I will be on splits :/. Another amazing thing is that we gave both him and his mother the commitments to stop smoking and drinking coffee. He smokes and hates it and she drinks coffee and loves it. He's been trying to quit for awhile and we gave him the churches program that helps people quit smoking. She was hesitant at first but we Starsi Clem explained about this drink, Karo, that is made from wheat, tastes exactly the same, is much healthier, and doesn't have the smae traits as coffee that she could try. They both accepted the commitments and she made a bet with Brat Majtan saying that she would do better than him. We've called them ever since and they've been fantastic :)!

Have a wonderful week all of you wonderful people :)!

Neboj sa!

Another great week in Slovakia my friends :). This week has gone by so quickly but looking back to the last time I was here it feels like so long ago. Strasi Clem and I had a great week and were always busy-- as missionaries should be. This week has been filled with so many hilarious and amazing experiences. One incident happened this morning as I said goodbye to a women that wasn't very interested in our message. I basically said "Have a nice day you pretty thing!" when I tried to say just "Have a nice day!" What even made it worse was that I put it into the masculine form and called her a man a long with it, haha XD! 

This morning Starsi Clem and I decided to go out right at 8:00 am to do contacting for three hours. We went to one of our favorite parks and had some success there and then walked a path next to the river that cuts the city in half (we can't think of the name right now). We took that for a long time and passed Nitra Castle along the way. Eventually, we made it to one of the coolest places in Nitra. Kalvaria (Calvary) is this big hill in the middle of the city that has Catholic seminary at the bottom and all of these stations of worship as you walk up the hill which depict the saviors walk up Calvary with the cross upon his back. There are about 13 stations s along the way and when you get to the top there are three large, stone crosses with the savior in the middle and the theives on the sides and a small, old church building. From there you can see all of Nitra and everywhere beyond that. We had planned to go up after contacting to look around as we made some weekly calls and I'm so grateful we did. The weather was nice and cool, everything was quiet, alight breeze was in the air and I realized how much I already love this country. I love everything about it and I'm so grateful to be here as I serve the Lord.

After this, we walked down to a tea shop that we had found a few days ago. Starsi Clem and I wante to get into herbal and fruit teas more so every week we are going to each buy a new tea and both try them out together. We are both doing so well and becoming great friends. I'm so grateful that I have a great companion like him for my first transfer out here in the mission. We had a lot of success this week, despite the fact that about 6 of our lessons were cancelled. Our companionship has our 1st baptismal date set! Her name is Lidia, she's 22, and she's just wonderful person. We taught her the Restoration and she accepted it really well. We're meeting with her tomorrow and wednesday and will see how she is doing with her Book of Mormon reading. Her baptism date is November 23! We were actually hoping to have three baptismal dates set by the end of this week but we couldn't meet with one of them (Rastio) and the other says she needs to think about it... but we both think that she will say yes :). She is Brat Majtan's mother and she loves us and everything that we are teaching. Turns out that her cousin translated the Book of Mormon into Hungarian... funny how things come together. Brat Majtan had a divorce 6 years ago and has told us that he's been suffering from some extreme depression from that for awhile. He's such a fantastic guy but you can just see that he is so much happier lately. He's making friends with the members, getting closer with his mom, and coming back into the true gospel. He's literally beaming when we are teaching him. We got him and his mother to come to church this week and they really enjoyed it. I want to get Brat Majtan the Aaronic Priesthood (He doesn't have it yet) so that he can baptize his mother when the time comes :).

Great things are happening in Nitra and I'm so excited for this next week :). I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week!

Starsi Lyman

Ahoj!

Well, sorry for my little email delay, everybody! Hah, I hope that my message makes it to all of this time.

This past week has definitely been wonderful. It's been hard and a little stressful at times but it wasn't hard to get over it when you lose yourself in the work.
This week wasn't even close to as succesfull (number-wise) as last week. We were working hard and doing the same things as the week before but this week we had a LOT of traveling and other things that took up our time. I went and saw Bratislava (the capital) for the first time on wednesday! Me and the other three new missionaries spent almost the entire day traveling (we also traveled the night before and slept in Bratislava so we wouldn't have to wke up as early) and then getting visa and health clearance work all sorted out with the Foreign Police. It was really cool. The food here in Slovakia is reallly good, as well. I've been able to have a lot of signature meals from the Czech/Slovak Republics these past two weeks. Haha I ate fried cheese! I felt terible about myself afterwards but it was dang good. Another day was spent traveling back to the Czech Republic to a training in Brno for all of the missions new missionaries and their companions. It was so great to see everyone again and to talk about everything that had happened. I love my mission president and it's great getting to know him better. Two and a half other days were also taken up by both preparing for General Conference and then watching it. Starsi Clem and I had to go buy a new TV for the building and that took forever. I loved General Conference! It was great to hear the words of the prophet and apostles and also to give that experience to our members once again. With all of this, we also had another day full of traveling to a members home about 1.5 hours away (Taking the bus takes forever). He is the coolest guy ever and is the one I told you about that crossed the border into Germany. We are teaching all of the lessons to him over again and we taught about the Restoration this week. It was such a great lesson and I tried to participate as much as I could. Nitra is really close to the border of Hungary so a lot of Hungarian is spoken around here. Lajos Majtan (the member) is Hungarian and has a tough accent when he speaks in Slovak so it's pretty hard for me to understand him. I'm grateful that Starsi Clem can speak.
So yeah, we've been doing a lot of different things that took up a lot of our proselyting and teaching time. A few of our lessons actually fell through and had to be pushed back for next week... so that didn't completely help either. This past week was a great testimoney builder and spiritual uplifter. We might not have been "on the surface" succesful but we definitely got a lot of things finished and ready which has primed our next week to be perhaps even better than our first week. Starsi Clem and I have big goals/hopes for this coming week. We are really excited.
Starsi Clem and I are working really well together. There are some people out there that don't realize how important actual relationships with people are... but we aren't like that. We're becoming really good friends and I'm very excited and hopeful for this transfer.

I, personally, am doing very well. The personal goals I have set and keep on setting are really pushing me and keeping me driven. If you haven't noticed it yet then there is one thing you should know about me: I love working and being driven. Striving for goals and hiting them are just things that I have really found joy in these past few years. I love being organized and staying on task and it's just a great tool out here. I also love service-- especially yard work-- and can't wait to do more of it! I pray someone will ask us to do some wood choping for them for the winter, haha. We are doing some service for a family this thursday and will then teach them about the Plan of Salvation.

Anyways, I got to run! I love you all and are hoping you are all doing well!

P.S. The mailing address is just the mission home address on my missionary card :). Let me know if you need it emailed.

Ahoj od Slovenska!

Hey everyone! It has really happened... I'm in Slovakia! Wow... did all of you know they speak different languages out here? I don't even know where to begin so I'm sorry if this sounds a little sporadic and, especially, if it is rushed (To everyone that reads this, never take time for granted).

So as you all know, I left the MTC at about 3:45 am last Monday morning. We took a bus over to the FrontRunner which took us all the way to downtown Salt Lake City. We (The 10 Czech/Slovak missionaries) then hopped on a shuttle towards the airport. I had such a big smile on my face during all of this. It was so nice to be out and doing something new. I loved talking with everybody as I went. It was wonderful to speak to people in English! While we were in the shuttle (Haha, I just realized how stupid I must've looked: 6:00 am, huge, dorky grin, and three very heavy bags anchoring me to the ground) I made most of my conversation with a man sitting down a few feet from me. I just got to know him and about where he was going, why he was here in Utah, what he does, and things like that. I really liked this guy! What was once a little small-talk erupted into a really interesting conversation. We were talking a lot about business and universities when he was the one who introduced religion. I asked him about his faith and he explained that he was a in-active member of a branch off of the Methodist church (I can't remember the name). He was a great guy-- I need to skip a lot of things now because I have twenty minutes to get only a portion of the crazy and amazing things that have happened this past week-- and within the first five minutes of me entering the Salt Lake City airport I had placed my first Book of Mormon. He accepted it and was actually really grateful for it. I definitely saw something in his eyes as we talked and when I gave him that copy. I'm so grateful for how much the Lord has blessed me.The interesting thing was how closely he watched me, both when we were and when we weren't talking. It's true that not only are we as missionaries being constantly watched but every Latter Day Saint is, as well. For those that read this that are members I urge you to constantly remember to be a good example and to hold onto your morals.

Later that day, I talked with a lot of wonderful and prepared people. I prayed for the Lord to send someone that needed to hear the message that I had to give... and he did. I gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon and two Mormon.org pass-along cards... and I loved every minute of it.

I am now a person who can say that he has seen the great city of Prague. It was beautiful! Shoot, I wish that I could tell all of you about it more but I just don't have enough time. I met my mission president, President McConkie, and he is so cool! After traveling an entire 24 hours we all got situated at the mission office, did a lot of stuff, and went off on the tour. Time for bullet points...

-Sadly, after the first photo I took on the tour, my camera battery died. The photo wasn't even of me! Just four gorgeous bridges over a river that I could have been standing in front of. Sorry mom!

-Ate dinner and desert in one of the restaurants: delicious!

-Tried to contact a lady on the metro but not only did she speak extremely fast... she also was speaking Czech. I said my piece and just tried to ignore that any of that had just happened.

-Met my companion, Starsi Clem. He is great! This will be his last transfer so I am definitely getting the best training I can with a missionary who has been here for almost two years.

-Starsi Garlick and I were assigned to the same area! Nitra! This is the oldest city in Slovakia but is also the newest area in the entire mission. My district is only 4 Elders. The church is very new here but we are progressing very quickly as well. It has been open for 6 months and the branch has a total of six members. The missionaries reactivated 5 and baptized 1. We also found another member in a small town outside of Nitra. He is Hungarian but speaks fairly strong Slovak. He ran across the border into Germany during communism to get baptized! We are meeting with him again next week to start reteaching him everything since he has been without the church for probably about 20 years.

-In just one week we got 7 new investigators and a lot of potential investigators as well. The Lord wants Nitra to grow.

I'm sorry this is short but I now have to go. I love all of you and look forward to writing to you again in a week!

Do videnia!

P.S. To Brat Zabriskie,
Why didn't you tell us that you and your companion recorded some songs here!? Everytime I hear, "Evenjelium," I have to hold back a giggle!

Group Pictures

Dear Families and Missionaries

 

Isn’t this a beautiful group of the Lord’s best!

 

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

Off to their area! Everyone is sooooooooooooo happy!

Dear Brother and Sister Lyman

This morning Elder Lyman met his companion – Elder Clem. Attached is a picture for you to enjoy.

Elder Lyman and Elder Clem are serving in the small town of Nitra. It is approximately 6 hours south-east of Prague by train, in Slovakia.

There are 2 other Elders in their district.

P-Day is next Monday.  Elder Lyman will contact you then to share his adventures. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

We are so delighted to have your son with us. :)

With warm regards from

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

He has arrived safely!

Dear Brother and Sister Lyman

 

Your son, Elder Lyman, has arrived safely in Prague. We are delighted to meet him!

 

Attached is a photograph for you to enjoy. It was taken with President and Sister McConkie when Elder Lyman first arrived.

 

At the moment Elder Lyman and his group are enjoying a ‘Prague Walk’ with the Assistants – Elder Knapp and Elder Sewell. This will help to keep them all awake until an early bed time. They will also have their first Czech dining experience. J

 

 

 

 

Tonight the Elders will stay together at this Pension just around the corner from the Mission Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow Elder Lyman will meet his companion and they will travel to their area. I will email you again tomorrow with a picture of the two happy missionaries! I will also be able to tell you which area they will be serving in and a little bit about it.

 

P-Day is next Monday.  Elder Lyman will contact you then to share his adventures. 

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

 

With warm regards from

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary