Week 40: Bryce "Elder" Hamilton

I'm on Milan and Sylvia: They have a baptismal date, and they ask Elder Raymond about me.  That's all I know.

***

About a year before I got my mission call, Bryce Hamilton, one of my friends from New York, received his mission call to the Czech/Slovak mission, speaking Czech.  What a lame mission, I thought, who knows where that is, anyway?  Then I got my mission call to the same place, except Slovak speaking.  Wow!  What a great mission, I thought.  

For a long time, I never saw him personally.  We had been in contact here and there, and I spent a lot of time around many who knew him.  Why was I the only one who couldn't see him?  That was about to change, as Elder Cook, one of the Twelve Apostles, was coming to Prague.  

I met "Elder" Hamilton for the first time in Prague.  Oh my, he had lost weight.  I wish I had a picture of him for you, but as luck would have it, my mom will probably get her hands on one from his mom, so it'll probably be on the blog.  [Christine, can you get me before and after pics?]  

So we hit the streets of Prague, he speaking Czech, I Slovak, sharing the message of the restored gospel.  We had been in a similar situation before the mission.  In New York City, we've had a couple opportunities to do missionary work for a day, but none of us was quite so bold at that time.  How things have changed.  

***

As I said, Elder Cook came to Prague.  He first spoke to the missionaries.  He said many things, but he ended with a powerful testimony.  He said that a boy came up to him and said, "Why doesn't God lead His Church and talk to His prophets and apostles as he did in Joseph Smith's time?"  Elder Cook then told us something to this effect:  "Without speaking too openly about sacred things, I will tell you that I know the Savior's voice, and I know His face.  Most of the time, we receive guidance only from the Holy Ghost, and that's all we need, really.  But on very important matters regarding missionary work and temples, the Savior makes His will known."  While hearing this testimony, I felt the undeniable power of the Holy Ghost, testifying that Elder Cook's words were true.  On another occation that evening, I heard him bear the same testimony to the members of the Czech Republic, and the confirmation of the Holy Ghost came to me again.  I know this work is important, although it can be very hard sometimes.  

***

I can't steal photos from Elder Raymond anymore, so I'm back to taking mostly my own pics:

Prague

Prague

OG squad (except Elder Smith) in Prague.

Week 39: Aký bol koláč?

To meet standards in a given week (as a district consisting of 4 companionships), we need to get 2 new people on baptismal date, 2 new people at church, and 8 new investigators.  Come Sunday, we had met all standards except for church attendance, not only because church hadn't happened yet, but also because there was no one new planning on coming.  

Thankfully, we had two chances to meet that standard, as we have church both in Košice as well as in Spišská nová ves.  After the first two hours of church in Košice, Elders McCallister and Barton (Spišská) invited us to leave early with them so we could get people to church in Spišská.  That's quite last-second, but we were down for it.  One problem: they were going to have cake after the last hour of church, and we couldn't eat the cake if we weren't there.  So we just told the other missionaries to bring some to Spišská.  They agreed, and we thought that was all taken care of.  

Our first stop was a small village where the missionaries are somewhat well-known.  Almost immediately, Elder McCallister started a conversation with a man off the street as if they knew each other.  

"Do you want to come to church with us?"  said Elder McCallister.

"Maybe," said the man. "If the other kids go, I'll go."

After we walked farther along, I asked Elder McCallister, "Do you know him?"

"No," said Elder McCallister, "but his dog bit me once."

Our efforts brought forth no fruit from that village, so we drove to Spišská, stopping at each bus stop along the way.  Why?  So we could invite the people at the bus stops to church!  No one came, but it was worth a try.  

Finally, 30 minutes before church started in Spišská, we tried inviting people off the streets to come to church.  Nothing.  Oh well, we won't meet standards, but I'm excited for that cake.  Guess what?  As luck would have it, the other missionaries, who were driving a car to Spišská with our cake, who were just two minutes away from our church building, found out that no one new would be attending church, so they figured they were no longer needed at church.  They turned around and drove back.  Maybe they had forgotten about the cake, but neither Elders McCallister, Barton, McQuivey nor I had forgotten.  I wish I could show you the look on Elder Barton's face upon hearing the news that we weren't going to get cake.  Yes, it was tragic in the moment, but already it's something to look back on and laugh at. 

Week 38: Lightning McQuivey

Elder McQuivey is known by many names.  One of them comes from his speedy ability to get ready in the morning.  He even lets me shower first.  Then, before I've had a chance to finish shaving, he's out of the shower, dressed, and is washing dishes.  I haven't figured out how he does it.

Something we're working on as a companionship is learning to work diligently.  As a result, we've found more people who potentially have interest in our message (breaking our personal records from past transfers).  One such man was hearing out our explanation of the Book of Mormon, when all of the sudden, he said, "They don't talk about this in church."  

There were a few seconds of silence, until Elder McQuivey broke it by saying, "That's because they don't have the Book of Mormon!"

"Yeah!"  I added.  The man's name was Jozef, and he happened to have time to sit down and have a meeting with us on the spot.  We found a nice row of chairs at the train station and sat down, Jozef seated between me and Elder McQuivey.  

We began with an overview of the restoration of Jesus Christ's church, which had been lost for many centuries after the martyrdom of the apostles.  As we explained our message, Jozef was very receptive to everything we were saying, which is always a plus.  We explained the restoration of priesthood keys and authority to the prophet Joseph Smith, which gives power and authority to lead God's church and perform necessary ordinances, such as baptism and confirmation.  We explained that this church, the restored Church of Jesus Christ, was the only church with that power and authority, being led by God's prophet to this day.  

"So you're telling me," said Jozef slowly, "that my baptism was invalid?"

Leaning over in my chair, I looked past Jozef for a brief moment at Elder McQuivey, who gave me a solid thumbs up.  I looked Jozef in the eyes and said, "Yes."

Jozef said, "You're probably right.  I thought so anyway!"  

Jozef agreed to come to church, but didn't know Košice very well, which is where we hold our services.  We agreed to call so we could meet at the Prešov train station and ride up together, but for whatever reason, his phone stopped working.  After multiple failed attempts to contact him, we waited at the Košice train station, where he would have gotten off had he ridden by himself.  He didn't show up, so we'll continue trying to contact him in the future.  

Forgive my typos.  This new computer doesn't know English, so as a result, there are red, squiggly lines under half my words.  I don't even know what's right or wrong anymore.  Mom, Czech this one thoughroughly before posting it to the blog.

We think we're cool.

Tallest cathedral in Central Europe, so they say. Careful, you'll break your neck looking at it.

"Hm," I thought, "I haven't taken enough pictures this week." So I pulled out my camera and took this shot.

Week 37: Prinášajúc oheň

Some of you pointed out that I left the Milan and Sylvia story on a cliffhanger.  Just so you know, that's how lots of stories from the mission end.  When my various companions have told me stories from previous transfers, I asked, "What happened next?"  The usual response: "I don't know, I got transferred."  We're hanging off the same cliff as you.  

Every once in a while, we'll get our words mixed up in Slovak.  Sometimes, it's funny.  For instance, I tried to explain that we baptize at the earliest age of 8 by immersion.  The word for "by immersion" is "ponorením," but instead I said, "Krstíme pokorením," which means "We baptize by humiliation."  Our investigator got a pretty good kick out of that (almost died of laughter).  

***

Elder McQuivey suggested one day: "Why don't we start our contact with people by testifying right away?"  I told him that sounded crazy, but then I thought about it more.  When we testify, we allow the Spirit to reach the hearts of those who are ready for our message.  That sounds like an efficient way to find more quickly those who are prepared.  In Doctrine & Covenants section 6, we read about God's revelation to Oliver Cowdry, who was seeking a greater witness of the truthfulness of the gospel:

"22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?"

That greater witness comes from the Holy Ghost, not from a rushed, broken explanation of our message.  What we're going to try this week is to testify first, then refer to our message about the restoration of the gospel. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures.

Miles's email to me:
Yep, I'm all the way east!  Travel time was almost 6 hours.  For a lot of those hours, I was with no other missionary (the missionaries with me got off in Žilina).  I tried to talk to a woman from Ukraine in Russian, but that didn't work.  Then I tried to share the gospel with a lady, but as she lost interest, I just had a friendly conversation with her.  

Then the guy across from us woke up and joined the conversation.  After a moment, I mentioned something about me being a foreigner, and the man asked, "You're not a Slovak?"  I told him no, and then he asked if my parents were Slovaks.  He couldn't believe that I had only been here 6 months.  

In another incident just yesterday, a man mistook me for a Slovak, then asked if my parents were Slovaks.  I wouldn't say that I try to imitate the Slovak accent in every way, but I make sure to have good pronunciation, good vowel sounds, and good grammar. 

Week 36: ... then I was transferred

The beginning of this transfer marks my 1/3 checkpoint.  How time flies.  My new companion, Elder McQuivey, is that "Starší Slovník" from the MTC.  Things are about to get lit in Prešov.  

The following story starts in Trenčín.  Elder Raymond and I had a daily goal to talk with 10 random people on the street.  By the end of the day, we had reached our goal, so we could have easily called it and went home.  Then we saw a couple about to cross the street, the same street we were about to cross.  I thought, "Okay, although we met our goal, why not talk with this last couple?"  We started with a warm greeting, which quickly turned into a chat about American films and the gospel.  We got their numbers.  We set up a meeting.  We learned that goals are meant to push you to do more, not to put a threshold on your level of achievement.  

We began meeting with this couple as regularly as their work schedules permitted.  His name was Milan, hers Silvia.  They were living together, unmarried, but both had been married in the past.  Both of them had their own children.  It was amazing to see their progress; the first time he prayed at the end of a meeting, his reading of the Book of Mormon to her as she fell asleep, their acceptance of a baptismal date.  

There were just a few obstacles to get over before they could get baptized, of which they were not aware at this point.  Firstly, they would need to live by the Word of Wisdom, which meant that she would need to quit smoking and he would need to quit drinking.   Secondly, they would need to live by the Law of Chastity, which meant that they would either need to get married before baptism or separate, stop living together.  

For our second lesson with both of them present (we were able to meet with them separately a couple of times), we had on plan to give them these commitments, namely to live the Word of Wisdom and keep the Law of Chastity.  We taught the Plan of Salvation, which explains where we came from, why we're here, and where we're going after this life.  

It was incredible to see their level of humility in accepting everything we taught, even when it was new information.  But two big bombs were coming at the end of the lesson.  We dropped the first one, live the Word of Wisdom.  They said it would be hard, but to my surprise, they both committed to live by it!  Then Sylvia said, "We're not married, will that be a problem?"

"Actually," said Elder Raymond, "we were going to talk about that next."  He explained the Law of Chastity and that they needed to live by it before they were baptized, which meant marriage or separation.  

"We don't want to get married," they said in one accord, "is there no other way?"

"Can't we get baptized without being married?" said Sylvia.

"No," said Milan, "that would be pointless, the baptism would mean nothing, and we would still be living in sin."  Wow.  This man gets it.  He actually understands what we are teaching.  "Would you marry me?" he asked.

"No!" she replied.  We told them that they don't need to make the decision now, but we committed them to pray about it, to which they agreed.  We promised that they will receive peace and guidance from the Holy Ghost.  We gave them both priesthood blessings of comfort and strength to live the Lord's commandments.  

I am impressed with their humility and willingness to act upon what they learn.  I know they will gain a greater testimony of these things as they search the scriptures, pray sincerely, and live the commandments.  But then I was transferred.