Seriously, no cliff-hanger! Last week we had transfers, and I stayed in Prešov.
My new companion has been serving for 18 weeks longer than I, but in the Czech Republic until a week ago. A lot of Czech missionaries don't want to learn Slovak if and when they come here, but Elder Papworth's motto is "Na Slovensku, po slovensky!" which, being interpreted, means "In Slovakia, in Slovak!" I'm excited to purge the Czech out of him.
***
Another cold week in eastern Slovakia. On Friday, we received an assignment to visit a non-member family of a missionary (serving in England). We were at the train station after having been out in the cold for hours, waiting for the train to take us to the nearby village in which lived the family.
"I have an idea," I said. "Let's call some old contacts listed as 'investigator' in our phone, so we can find out who from the past still has interest." That sounded good to us, because that meant we could stay in the train station building. Sure, it wasn't the most productive thing, but my fingers had to thaw.
***
The train finally took us to Kendice, where that non-member family lived. From the time we got off the train, we had an hour to find the family, deliver the invitation, and get back to the station before the last train of the night left. And we had no idea where they lived. Yes, we had a house number, but there were no street names. And it was cold.
We wandered for a while, occasionally knocking on doors to ask for directions. Every time someone would open the door, the warmth from the house would rush out and fog up my glasses. At least I'm warm, but now I can't see.
While finding this family, I got a phone call. My stiff hands managed to retrieve the phone from my pocket. It was a guy named Andrej, labeled as an investigator in our phone. Hey, I just tried calling him!
Me: "Hello, this is Elder Aillery."
Andrej: "Hey, what's up?"
Me: "I'm fine, thanks. So I heard you met with missionaries in the past, is that true?"
Andrej: "Don't you remember me?"
Me: "No?"
Andrej: "You call me every month and say the same thing."
Me: "......... I do?"
Andrej: "Yep."
Me: "Okay. How are you though?"
Andrej: "Great, and you?"
Me: "Pretty good. Well, talk to you next month."
Andrej: *chuckles*
***
We finally found the family, the Kostrobovci. We give the door a solid knock, and then we wait. Then a lady opens the door.
"Who are you?" asked Pani Kostrobová.
"We're the missionaries, and we have an invitation for you," said Elder Papworth.
The husband shouted from inside the house: "Go away!" He sounded pretty Slavic, there is no other way to describe it. Pani Kostrobová didn't shut the door on us, but then Pán Kostrob came to the door. He stepped outside towards us.
"We'd like you to come to this Christmas party. Brother Van Dalen says hello," I said.
Pán Kostrob looked at us for a moment, then said: "Do you have time for tea?"
"Our train leaves at 7:08," I said. Elder Papworth and I looked at each other. "Yeah, we have time!"
We spent some time getting to know them. They talked about their son, Fero, who is on a mission in England. We enjoyed some Christmas bread and Cola. They asked us about what we believe. They're excited to call their son on Christmas.
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| Just another example of my cooking gone wrong. |
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| On the train back from Kendice. |
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| He looks like Ben Stiller, doesn't he? |
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| This photo and the next two were taken in rapid succession. We didn't coordinate whether we would smile or move our heads in a certain way, so it's funny that we are doing the exact same thing in each photo. |
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