Len Kratké Posolstvo

Sorry that I didn't get to write last week. The christmas season makes everything a lot crazier here as missionaries! Plus it didn't help that we had to go all the way to Prague for a training on the 23rd.

Last week we had to say goodbye to our favorite investigator. Lucia went to her families home in a town 80 klm away for the christmas break and won't be back for several weeks. It's really too bad because she was progressing very well and we had almost taught every lesson to her that is required for her to make that next step. She already finished the book of mormon and is reading it again. She decided from the beginning that she wanted to read it quickly, like a regular book, for the first time through and then read it a second time while marking everything and taking her time. She is so great and she's grown a lot since the first time we met with her. Both her and I were talking about books that we like (we actually like a lot of the same books) and I recommended her my favorite book, The Alchemist. In a few days she bought it in Czech and read it. She loved it! She says she wants to read it every summer like I did back at home.

I wrote everything above this sentance two weeks ago in preparation for these past two weeks.

I love Prague! Haha I just had to get that out of my system. It really is a gorgious city but I dont get to see it too often since Im a missionary in an even better city called Nitra. I wont be able to speak too much right now because I dont have any time to email today. Our normal place that we email at is closed for two weeks so Im at this little slovak internet cafe that we took FOREVER to find-- the only other place we could use in Nitra. Ill have a ton more next week to say about Slovak Christmas traditions, how the work is going, and everything.

Love all of you!

Ahoj everyone!

This past week hasn't been the most successful one, unfortunately. The changes with companions kind of makes everything a little slow at first. We've been busy getting a lot of things ready for chirstmas, building up our classes (English and Family History), visiting families that are far away, and a bunch of stuff. It was really weird because on Friday we went out to Zeliezovce, to the Majtanovci, and nobody was there to pick us up from the bus stop. After waiting for awhile and calling a phone that wouldn't answer a few times, we decided to walk to their house. No one was home. So we went and grabbed lunch and caught the next bus back to Nitra. It was really too bad because it took an entire day away from us to be able to do anything productive. We later learned that Brat Majtan was really sick that day and had actually thought that we were going to visit another member instead.

Good news is that I like my new companion! He's kind of weird and has some things that bug me (like not waking up in the morning and using his time wisely!) but he's nice and a fun kid. He's not an extrememly hard worker and it's a little sad to see an elder that isn't as ambitious as others. He has been getting progressivly better at his studies and I'll keep nudging hime in the right direction ;). He's been here for 6 months (8 months including the MTC) and I'm not too afraid to say that he probably speaks the language just a little bit more than I do. A good thing with that is that I can be a much bigger part in our lessons (Saw it a lot this week)! I'm so grateful for how much the Lord blesses us and helps us in this work and our daily lives. We had a couple of fantastic lessons with Lutcia. I think that she is almost finished with Helaman in the Book of Mormon. She loves everything that we are teaching her. She's been raised Catholic and her parents, along with everyone around her, are strong Catholics but she said something very interesting the other day. She said that in her head she thinks that the Catholic church is true but that in her heart she feels that our church is true. She said that she thinks the Book of Mormon is true too! She hasn't prayed about it yet (she wants to wait until she finishes it) so we're excited to about our next lesson today.

Yesterday, we only had three people at church (Be grateful America!). December has been known to have the worst numbers of the year because everybody leaves to visit family and go on vacations, are too busy to during the week to meet, bus schedules aren't as good, it's cold and people are grumpy, and lots more. Several of our members were sick as well (Not just Brat Majtan). This next week should definitely be more successful.

Despite what was said in this email, the work is still hastening :)! We see it so much out here as missionaries and I hope all of you do to. I love you all and hopeyou have a great week :)!

Od Nitry

It has been an exhausting week. Everytime I come here to write all of
you I feel like I can't even remember what happened the past seven
days!
Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! How am I 19 and on a
mission already!? Before I know it all be back home with all of you.

I'll start off with today because I had my first mission transfer! I
got my call two days ago telling me whether I would travel to another
area of Slovakia or stay in Nitra and it was decided that I would stay
here (President told me that forever ago). I love this place and want
to make it better and better, I wouldn't mind staying here another
transfer if I could. I said goodbye to Starsi Clem this morning and it
was a little sad. We had so much fun together and did some fantastic
things in these past two months. I met my new companion at 4:00 this
evening. He's from Finland! That's so cool! His father is spanish and
his mother is finish, he speaks finnish, english, spanish, and slovak!
Starsi Garlick got his new companion as well. Its pretty crazy because
our district (us 4 elders) is the youngest district in the entire
mission. Starsi Garlick and I have only been in country for 2 months,
his companion, Elder Ringer, has only been in for 4 months, and my
companion, Elder cladearan (I doubt I spelt that right), has only been
here for 6 months (Which is pretty long i guess). We have a lot of
growing coming up and I suspect that my Slovak will be incredibly (out
of necessity) better by the end of this transfer.

I'll have to stop responding to everyones individual emails pretty
soon, I think, because I never really have enough time to write a good
enough mass-email anymore (Hah that doesn't mean that I don't want
them!). I already need to go but I hope that you all had a wonderful
Thanksgiving and will have a great week.

Love,

Starsi Lyman