Saturday morning. The previous night we had decided that we would need to wake up early enough to catch a city bus at 5:45, which would take us to the train station, from where a bus would leave to Trenčín at 6:35.
In Trenčín, there would be the "zasvätenie", which is that yearly event celebrating the dedication of Slovakia for the preaching of the gospel. I was excited to return to what had been my home for 4 months. President Raymond is still banished there, as I say. Classic.
As much as we tried, we were not able to make the bus at 5:45, but there was still hope: another bus would leave at 6:15, but would only get us there with six minutes to get to the bus station, which was a six-minute walk from the train station. But I was happy to have more time to get ready.
Since this was a special event, we had to wear our full suits. Just as I was fitting my tie snuggly around my neck, my companion called out to me from the other room: "Elder, there's no bus at 6:15."
"Yeah there is," I said, "I checked the times last night."
"But that wasn't according to the weekend and holiday schedule," he answered, "so we don't have a bus. Do you wanna run for it?"
"Well, my GPS says it's a 45-minute walk and we only have 25."
"So do you wanna run?"
"Yup."
We scrambled to get the rest of what we needed and took off.
Now imagine running in a suit. You'd probably want to check at some random bus stop along the main road to see if anything would take you to the železničná stanica. That's what we did! As luck would have it, there would be a bus in one minute, so we relaxed the rest of the journey.
***
In Trenčín, there was a wonderful program. Testimonies were born, musical numbers were given, but the highlight was probably when Elder Rasmussen stood up to play his musical number on the violin. He started, and to be honest I wasn't paying too much attention to what he was playing. But all of the sudden, I started to tune in and recognized the melody as "Family History" from the children's song book. That also happens to be the same melody as the tribute song I made for him called "Starší Rasmussen." The same one I would sing non-stop in the MTC and also played at the Christmas talent show for half of the mission. It was a highlight of my mission.
***
I just can't stop missing busses! Earlier today, we had finished most of everything we needed to do for P-day, and now we needed to get to the železničná stanica once again, since we were trying to see a cool castle near Žilina. As we left our apartment, we checked the first bus station. There wasn't anything that would get us there in time. We started toward the second bus stop and saw bus #26 leaving. Well, that was something that could get us to where we needed to go. But it was gone.
Being the classic guy he is, Elder Barton said, "Do you think we could catch it?"
"Maybe, do you?"
"Probably not."
But we ran for it. We had to take a shortcut between paneláks, but we came through and saw #26 at a stop. We made it. Now as I type this email, we are on our way to the castle where they filmed some Dracula movie. I have great pics from last week and maybe from this week, but I can't really send them for now. You'll have to wait til next week.
 |
| From the left: Tyler (one of my MTC teachers), Sestra Dobiášová, Shae, Людмила, Elder Barton, me, Brat Ragan |
No comments:
Post a Comment