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).  

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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.