WEEK FIFTEEN: Being Humbled

 A couple pictures of their apartment.  Not bad!!  Tyson's bed has the brown blanket.  His companion has the dresser (looks just like the ones I grew up with :) and he says his stuff is across the room.  I thought it was interesting how they have two small refrigerators stacked on top of each other.  He said they also have a freezer.

Well, this week was a good one, but we had our ups and downs, didn't we?

We began the week with meeting with some great people who were recently baptized. That is Justin and Patricia. Justin is a funny little dude. He is part deaf and has a hearing aid, but he is fun to teach and gets me laughing. He is super nice to his little sister Nancy, even though she can be right nasty some times. Also, I found out he is a Bruce Lee fan so we showed him the Bruce Lee Ab workout we have and he was in heaven. He started immediately and the next time we were there he showed us his progress and was so proud. He also doesn't get the concept of pointing at someone's shirt to make them look and then flicking their nose. We did that once, and he has been trying ever since. He will point at something on a wall across the room and have me look and then will flick my nose if I do. We tried explaining, but he doesn't get it.

I went on an exchange this week with the Polish elders. This means that I was all by myself with Elder Larson in an area where the people only know Slovak. That was a challenge, let me tell you. We are two of the newest elders and both don't know the language that well and he doesn't even know the right language. They only understand some Polish. So that was an adventure. We got stiffed by tons of people and did lots of walking that day. I quite enjoyed it and I think he did as well. This week I am going on exchange with Elder Peck! That's going to be a blast!

The next exciting thing that happened was when we went to visit some people who are struggling in their faith with Brother Nettleship. That was so great. Brother Nettleship is one of the greatest men you will find and we all love him. The best thing is that the Slovaks do as well. The people who normally would not let us in allowed us to come and teach since he was with us. He bore some strong testimony of the truth and touched the hearts of everyone we visited that night. We visited the previous branch president who has stopped coming to church and it was one of the best meetings with him we have had in a long time.

A man named Milan also told us about Communism in Slovakia this week. That was fun. He had some great experiences about declaring his belief in God even knowing that he would be beat and thrown in prison for it. He always told them that it would end and they would be free so he supported his beliefs. I was so proud of him. Despite all this, he has fond memories of communism. He told us about his job during the time. He would plant small trees. He describes them with such care and tenderness it is hilarious. He was very passionate about this work and is so sad that he can't do it here in England.

The bumps: The bumps in the road this week were mainly related to the language. I was told on our exchange that my Slovak is really bad... 

Any ways, I suffered several more blows to confidence this week. My companion has been pretty up front this week on how I can improve. It stung a little. One that hurt the most was when he said that I really needed to step up my teaching in the lessons and to stop asking questions about words because it makes the investigators confused on if I know what I am saying and they will doubt the message. I have learned a lot about taking advice humbly this week.  

To add some salt to the wound, we watched conference in Czech and even though they are insanely close languages, I barely understood anything and it made me sad. I was

feeling pretty down, but then I took a moment to say a heartfelt prayer and reach out to my Father in Heaven. I was so comforted in that moment that it made everything alright. I knew I would be able to communicate and do my calling as a missionary. 

Later that day, a man only wanted to argue, but I felt impressed to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon with him when he finally let us speak. Before, things felt wrong and contentious, but after, he was willing to listen and the Spirit testified it was true. We were able to share a quick video to help him with a concern he had in life and it was good for him. I knew this was God telling me that my limited language skills were enough to bring the blessings of the gospel to the lives of the people here if I listen to the Spirit.

All in all, the week was good.

Love you all,