Nitra je uzasne!

A lot of stuff happened this week that I probably won't have time to speak about. First on the list is that I got to travel to Brno twice this week. Brno is a gorgious city in the Czech Republic and is the second biggest branch in the mission. We had two trainings there and they were fantastic. The first training was on thursday and it was a zone conference. We have one every month and this time it ended up in Brno (last time it was as well). This is where we get to see everyone again, speak with the president, learn much more about how to be better, and find new things to apply in our areas for the coming month. The second training was actually a very special one. My companion is actually the Branch President of our branch here in Nitra because of how new and small it is. The training was for all of the Branch President's of the entire mission! I have never seen such an amazing group of leaders, happy, and just  good men in a long time than at that training. I'd say that we had about 60-70 people consisting of Branch Presidents, their wives, and other various leaders at that training. It was such a wonderful experience and definitely a good time to practice my Czech on top of my Slovak-- the whole meeting was in Czech of course. I got to meet almost all of the Presidents and many of the members from across the mission, I hope that they will all remember me the nexttime that we see each other some point down the road. The training was focused on hasting the work and how we can get a stake in 4 years. A stake requires 1900 active members and it is projected that we will be able to getall of the qualifications by 4 years. I personally think that we could actually could be on our way to a second stake by that time judging on how well the work is moving right now.

With traveling two days to Brno along with two days to Zeliezovce for the Majtanovci, this past week

took kind of a hit with our numbers. We still had a really successful week though. This Sunday we had 16 people at church! 

The weather here in Nitra is starting to get very cold. Honestly, it just feels like every morning when I went to school in Cedar. I got my first taste of Nitra's wind today and it reminded so much of Cedar City. I got a big smile on my face while companion, whose from Florida, bunkered down into his coat and whimpered. I love Nitra so much and the people here. I've known the entire time ever since when President McConkie hinted at it a month and a half ago that I would be staying in Nitra for the next transfer as well (I hope that I can stay two more transfers here!). The two senior companions here are going home in a week and someone needs to be able to teach and coordinate the other Elders how to function in such a new area. It's so exciting and I have high hopes for this next transfer. December is sadly the toughest month of the year for our mission though. Christmas and New Years are huge holidays here and it makes it really hard to set up appointments and find new people when everyone is in such a rush or busy with their families. A lot of the training in Brno was focused on using certain techniques and planning to make this a change. President McConkie is a fantastic and amazing man. He's bring a lot of changes to the mission and he has a great vision for the work here.

My first transfer will be over in 6 days and I will then have a new companion who will "follow-up train" me. I'm excited to see who my new companion is and pray tat we can have a wonderful and successful transfer. I want Nitra to grow so much and I will do my best to make it happen. My Slovak is continually getting better. There is a language learning program that the mission follows here and gives to each of the new missionaries called, "The Key To Their Hearts." There are three levels and it looks like I will reach the first level by the end of this transfer. I really worked hard for this and set this as a goal from the beginning. I don't want to sound prideful but it's true that not very many missionaries reach the first level on their first transfer. I'm so grateful that I've been able to learn so much these past few weeks. I still have a very long way to go (I can't put enough emphasis into that phrase) but the Lord has blessed me so much.

I'm out of time so I will leave it at the y'all :). Love you!

život je dobrý!

Hey everyone! Sorry that I didnt have enough time to write a big email.

This week has been a blast and very busy as usaul, I dont even know
where to start. We taught a lot of lesson now and we have two new
amaying investigators. Pavol and Lutcia came to our English class last
wednesday after we contacted them and then afterwards were super
excited to learn more about the gospel and why we-- us missionaries--
are here. Weve been meeting with them ever since and today are hoping
to give them both baptismal dates. They are both amazing and Lutcia,
after about three or four dazs from starting, is half-way through the
Book of Mormon! Its really exciting. Sadly, our baptismal date for the
23rd wont make it. Lydia has been too busy for us to meet with her for
a long time and hasnt been progressing because of her schedule. Were
hoping to have a meeting on wedensday with her to kind of do a
"repair" job and get her back on track but if not then we might just
have to drop her as an investigator for awhile.
As usaul, we met with the Majtanovci twice this week. We taught all
about the priesthood, the temple and family history and why they are
so important. Brat Majtan and his mom love the gospel and are so
great. Brat majtan is now an active member and it looks like he is
here to stay :)! Were going to see if we can assign him as the Home
Teaching Coordinator this next week. Pani Majtanova is still
progressing but doesnt want rush into anzthing by setting a date. We
know that she knows this church is true but we can tell that shes
nervous to ask through prayer if its true. I think she has her answer
and will come around this next week though :)! She loves the members
and has been to church these four times already. All of the
qualifications are met for baptism so she just needs to make the next
step :).
Someone that we have been working on these past few weeks is Sestra
Psnakova. Out of our meager but amazing 7 members she is the only one
that is in-active. She loves missionaries and has a great testimony of
this church but she has a tough situation that makes it hard for her
to come to church. She lives an hour away and takes care of her mom by
herself. The past three weeks weve gone to her house to help out. Shes
completely remodeling her apartment so weve been taking down all of
her wallpaper and moving stuff from room to room. She always makes us
a huge meal as well-- Slovak food is amazing. After her apartment is
all finished, I think shell start coming back again. To have the
friendship of the members would bless her so much right now and I know
that she would be so blessed if she became active again.

Musim isť ale milujem všetci aj dufam že tento týžden bude fantastický!

Od Nitry

Im sorry that I couldn't get an email to all of you this week! I'll
write a big one for next time. Have a wonderful week everyone :)!

Ahoj!

Well im on a Slovak keyoard right now so dont judge me for how my
writing is going to look today. All of the szmbols are in different
places and the "z" and "y" are switched... haha so yeah.

This week has been really cool! I finally brought my camera to the
library todaz but I cant figure out how to upload mz photos,
especailly when its in Slovak! Ill keep trzing and will get all of you
some great looks at Slovakia.

So this past week I went to hungary! Holy cow! I was probably onlz
about four hours awaz from the other Elder Lyman! Nitra is pretty
close to the boarder but when we go out to see the Majtans we are onlz
about 30 minutes awaz from it. Hes been wanting to take us to this one
town that he said is just amaying but we couldnt because we needed to
get permission from our president. We asked President McConkie at our
last training-- about a 1.5 weeks ago-- and he said zes! The very next
day we went across the boarder with into Hungarz with Brat Majtan, his
mother, and his son Akoš! The town is called Esztergom and it use to
be the capital of Hungary at one point... if my Slovak is correct,
haha! You should look it up. Itĺs amaying and we went to the gigantic
Cathedral and Castle there at the top of one of the hills. it was so
cool and the Majtans are just so nice and paid for us to tour some of
the areas-- despite how much we tried to decline the offer. It was a
really good chancce for us to start talking and getting to know Akoš
more as well! Hes 17 and very smart, he taught himself how to speak
English over the computer! We didnt talk with him about anz of the
gospel but we could tell that he really liked us. We went back after
about 1.5 hours and ate dinner at there house and taught the more
about commandments-- Akoš listened.

This last fridaz was Slovakias halloween basically. Its called All
Saints Day or "Day of the Dead." What they do is that everzone
decorates all of their ancestors graves with tons of flowers and A LOT
of candles. Then at night everzone goes and tours the gravezards with
their family. We have a big graveyard near our apartment and spent
about 30 minutes taking photos and looking around--it was really cool!
I wish that I could show all of you the photos... i cant even figure
out how to make a frowny face with this keyboard haha.

Oh yeah and heres a funny thing... the ATM stole mz missionarz debit
card! I was trzing to check out some monez and was delazed in pushing
a certain button so it just took it and wouldnt give it back! ATMs
here do that i guess so now i need to call the mission office and
explain that i need to order a new debit card... im a little scared.

Well Im out of time so Ill write to more in a week!

Ahoj!