Week 81: Smrdí to smrťou and Week 82: Hello, John speaking!

Week 81:  Smrdí to smrťou

This email is two weeks late.  You're reading this by tape delay. 

Elder Akina is dying.  In other words, he's finishing his mission and leaving to America.  So is Elder Raymond, my companion during my 2nd and 3rd transfers.  Because a huge group of elders are ending their missions and not so many are replacing them, they are closing some areas around the mission.  Elders Raymond and Clayton were the others serving in Bratislava, so we all supposed that our new mission president, President Gehring, would stick me and Elder Clayton together in one of our areas and close the other's area, and then we would be combining the two areas' investigators, seeing as we were the only ones that knew them.  Makes sense.  Transfer brackets are fun. 

Elder Akina will be missed?  Yeah sure maybe.  In his memory, I'll just send a bunch of pics of him.

I'll also add a recording of one of the last times we sang together.  I think I mentioned how I was trying to teach him how to sing?  How proud of him I am!  It might sound weird because we had to harmonize with another recording of us doing base.

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Week 82: Hello, John speaking!

So... I didn't end up being companions with Elder Clayton like everyone thought.  President Gehring is giving Prezident Pohořelický a run for his money regarding crazy transfer calls.  I wish I had the recording of the phone call... but I could just tell you.  I'm back in Banská Bystrica for at least another two transfers, possibly till the end of my mission, which is fine because now we have a car here. 

There's a man by the name of Ján (John) whom we've been teaching since the beginning of my first time in Bystrica, so we know him pretty well.  After our lessons, we both head home on the same bus, so we have some more time to chat about "normal" things.  One particular evening, a girl whom we're also teaching got on the same bus by chance.  She sat next to my companion, across from me and Ján.  Ján tried to start a conversation with her, but she was more interested in my companion.  She was talking about how he should go to an amusement park with her or something.  Ján, my companion and I got off the bus while the girl continued on her way home.  Ján had some questions.

"Do you teach her about faith?" he asked.

"Yes," said my companion.

"Yes?" he looked pleasantly surprised.  "And how does she accept it?" 

"She's interested," we said.  Then an image came to my mind where Ján was our mission leader and was making sure the work was going alright with those we teach.  So I told him he could be our mission leader.  

"No!" he exclaimed, but he was laughing.  "That's not--- that's not what that was!"  I got him good.  

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Week 80: Čo to pieklo? (What did it say?)

What is up brothers and sisters?  We are back for another email. 

We met in Žilina for a training this week.  When that happens, we have a lot of missionaries in one place.  Kind of fun, actually.  In recent months, there has been across the mission an emphasis on trying to be friends with people.  So at this training, the assistants to the president started by asking how it's going with this whole "friendship" concept that's so foreign to all of us.  A few people shared their experiences, including Elder Akina.  This is what he said: "We're teaching someone who's a professional athlete.  At the end of our first lesson with him, our friendship was strengthened when Elder Aillery and he talked about bodybuilding, as Elder Aillery's trying to get bigger."  Everyone then looked at me, who was in a slouched position, so I straightened my posture to show everyone I was serious, and I am serious.  You better believe it. 

Later, the zone and sister-training leaders gave a training on becoming more like Jesus Christ.  As part of it, they needed "the strongest person in the room" as a volunteer.  Elder Papenfuss, whom I would describe as a číslo (number), pushed me up out of my seat and onto my feet.  I volunteer, I guess?  They had me lift a barbell high above my head.  They started adding weights.  One missionary called out, "Don't lock your knees!"  Thanks, buddy.  Huh, this dumb barbell is getting heavy.  

"How long do you think you can hold this up for?" Elder Jackson asked.

"Probably... minutes," I said.  Then the thinkable happened.  They called on some missionaries, a few of which were my past companions, to help me hold it up.  The point was that we don't have to lift our burdens alone.  

In other news, remember how Elder Akina left me on the bus my first transfer? 

Day 122 - "Let's go!" says Elder Akina.  We're about to get off the bus (after a 1-hour long ride), but wait!  My study material is all over the seat beside me.  Of course I didn't clean it all up in time, so the bus begins leaving.  Elder Akina then realizes that I'm still on the bus, and as I pass him, our eyes meet.  You should have seen his face.

Yeah.  And you thought I'd never get payback.  On our way home, we missed our tram stop because I was busy getting someone's Facebook.  So when we got off, we crossed the tracks and waited for the next tram, which didn't take too long.  We only had one stop to go, but when we got on we saw a kid sitting there.  We just had to give it a shot.  Leave it to Elder Akina to be concise.  He said something like this: "Hi, we're missionaries, we have a message about Jesus Christ, do you have interest?"

"Yeah," said the kid, who didn't seem as taken aback as I was.  I've seen much more thought-out approaches not work. 

"Quick, this is our stop, what's your number?" said Elder Akina as the tram slowed down.  He said his number so quickly that I didn't catch all of it, so I gave him my phone.  He typed it in.  The tram stopped, doors opened.  Elder Akina: "What's your name?"

The kid: *Something complicated*

Elder Akina didn't quite catch his name but I was already jumping through the closing doors.  We stood there staring at each other, separated by a glass pane.  I don't know what was going through his mind as the tram rolled on, but in my opinion, there could have been no better way to end a transfer.