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!
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