WEEK 33: Short and Sweet

This was a great week, but it will probably be a short email. One of our friends, named Julia, is excited to be working to baptism. She has been progressing tons. She reads the BoM and enjoys coming  to church.  She is looking for greater stability for her family as she is a single mom with a young boy. The gospel has been able to help her and we are excited.

We had lots of fun this week and I had the chance to go on exchange with Elder Peck.  That is always a great chance. He is so great and I always learn lots from him. Nothing super crazy happened this week on exchange, but I had a blast being with Elder Peck again. He also had the chance to translate sacrament meeting again. We are switching weeks so that our language and translating skills can improve and we can be ready for when the new Elders come in a few weeks.

Love you all,
Elder Pace

His answers to my questions....

 1. In a family history book, I imagine it being full of stories and pictures of everyone. We are planning on making our own Slovak genealogy for the mission. We only have a few lines to track, so we have much better records than everyone else. We are going to include how everyone is related, including adoptive fathers and than leave it in every Slovak flat to be remembered.

2. Yeah we do. We have tea with the Nettleships. This is the first time we have been there since Christmas. Our schedule and their schedule doesn't work as well together anymore so it has been hard.  Tea is the same thing as dinner just in case I forgot to clarify

3. (Regarding contacting the new elders coming in March) Yes we have, I email Niver's friend Elder Eberhard. He seems like a nice guy

4. (Regarding how often they meet with their mission president) We meet with him for interviews once a transfer period. This was a change from before as passed down from the first presidency. Any more than that is luck. We do see him at zone conferences, but it isn't personal interaction.

5. No more snow. The day we did have it, nothing stuck, it was just flakes. But I take what I can get

6. I think my favorite meal had been crepes with Nutella and fruit. I also enjoyed chicken croissants which I made and ate on Valentines Day to keep the tradition alive

7. I am fine. They have some stuff here that you can't get in America and vise versa. The American stuff over here is notably turned down in flavor though. Whenever we get actual American food, we have a good time getting used to the increased flavor. But we don't miss anything over here. Don't worry

8. Way more people take public transportation than in America, but there are still enough cars to cause some traffic issues. That may also be do to their road system. It makes no sense. They out traffic lights in the roundabouts which defeats the point of the roundabouts since it stops the glow of traffic.

9. Living in a rainy place hasn't gotten down on me. It just makes me appreciate the sun when it comes. I do prefer a bit dryer of an area since that would mean I don't need a raincoat all the time and the extra layer makes me pretty hot since I have a full suit underneath

10. (I asked what his companion's favorite treat was.) He says he loves ice cream

Love,
Starší Pace

WEEK 32: Slovak Translation

We began a recording of the Book of Mormon in Slovak since a decent number of people we come across can't read or seriously struggle with reading. We are up through 1 Nephi. It has been such a cool experience to take the time to go verse by verse of the Book of Mormon in Slovak.  You really come to appreciate some of the words more and get to learn more about the meaning from how it is phrased. That's been fun.

Also, I translated sacrament meeting this week. It was great since the only two speakers were really prepared to help me. Elder Poggemann was very kind to me and Sister Wills/Denisa had their talk printed out with scriptures already found for me so it was easy to translate since I could look at what the thoughts were ahead of time. The second talk was interesting. Sister Wills is the Young Woman advisor and started the talk. Denisa is the only young woman that comes with any sort of regularity. She is normally super shy, but she had the courage to get up and give a mini talk within Sister Wills' talk. She even gave it in English which is her third language. I was at first surprised by the change in her, but then I gave it some thought. Sister Wills is such a great example of charity. Charity changes us. Even though Denisa is shy and has not previously been too interested by the church, Sister Wills constantly loving her even when Denisa didn't care made her decide to give it a try. She got ready to go on a trip to the temple with Sister Wills and she loved it. They had a great time and Denisa felt the Spirit of God tell her there that this was right. It told her that this is where she wants her family to be and this is where she will be the most happy. Feeling God's love and His approval for what she is doing gave Denise the courage to take more steps forward and begin to change. She stood up in front of a group of people who she was nervous around and spoke about how amazing the temple was in her third language. She told me after about how shaky she was and she was terrified. She did so great and you can see in her eyes that she is happy. She was always a bit upset and sad before this trip, but since then, she has a light in her eyes. It comes from the love that she feels from Sister Wills and our Loving Father in Heaven. I was grateful for the lesson I saw from this. Helping people be happy is only going to happen when we love them like God does. It doesn't matter to him what we are like, if we want Him to care, if we listen, if we try at all to do what he asks. He loves us still. That love is what makes me want to be better and it is what changed Denisa so much.

For anyone that is having a hard time, I invite you to pray somewhere quiet, out loud. Ask God to help you know what He thinks about you. Then go to church to have the sacrament. That is the bread and water.  It is a representation of Christ's sacrifice. If you do that, honestly trying to find out, God will speak to you in the most profound and personal way. And what he will say is that He loves you more than anything, and whatever you are struggling with, He, the most powerful being in the universe, is there to help. That is my promise as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I love you all and I want to give a shout out to Brittany and Jesse.  They just had their first daughter, Adalae, and I am so excited for them!

Starší Pace

Some additional information from his responses to me...

 It snowed this week, I was so stoked even though we had to run in our suits for about two miles to catch the bus and we still missed it.  Snow is awesome.

This was a better week. Sunday really lifted my spirits. Most of the week was good, but Saturday had me really frustrated. I was getting on myself for some shortcomings that I repeatedly have. But our last lesson that night helped me to think it through more and realize what the problems I needed to change were. I did my best to prepare for church, especially the sacrament, since I knew I would need the Spirit as I tried translating. Church was then one of the greatest spiritual meetings we had despite a few incidents which we will not go into.  Just stuff between a few members. I finished off church by getting to talk to this little eight year old girl named Dominika. She is so great. She is one of my favorites. She shared her skittles with me and gave me a little pep talk. It was pretty awesome.

I don't think that Elder Armstrong would only speak Slovak with me that frequently. It really stresses him out and our conversations are limited. He really likes our conversations so I don't think so. We
have talked about it before and I have gotten him to agree to a monthly English fast with me, but any more than that I don't think he is going to be excited about. It is a good thought. I wish we would.
That would be the most beneficial.

I was just realizing that I am starting to drop the word "the" and other articles since they don't exist in Slovak. Also, is "realizing" spelled with an s or a z? I can't remember and the British spelling is killing my gut instinct.

We both had studied "Charity" this past week and here are his thoughts from his studies.....I liked his view on correction from Heavenly Father as a form of charity...

I did get through it all, and I thought  the cold within poem was good. It was interesting to think about at least. I agree that the attribute of charity really is central to the gospel. The Atonement was an act of perfect charity, and in Moroni, we learn that without charity we are nothing. I think charity comes partly from a relationship with Jesus and a relationship with His sacrifice. If we understand, or strive to understand what he did for us, we naturally and filled with gratitude, hope, and forgiveness. These will then drive us to forgive others, to teach them this message of hope, and to brush off any mean or unfair thing that happens to us. Knowing that it will all be made right through Christ and knowing that He is willing to change us with His love is what makes us so willing to love others.

Charity is a changing element. As I think of an example of this, I think of Sister Wills or Brother Nettleship in our branch. Sister Wills is the Young Woman advisor and she goes to visit all of the young women even though only one ever comes to church. Her parents take her. But, recently, Denisa, this girl, has had more of an interest and has taken great steps forward. Sister Wills loves her so much and does everything imaginable to help her that Denisa is willing to try things for Sister Wills. They recently prepared to go to the temple and were able to perform Baptisms for the dead. The Change in Denisa is amazing. She is happier, was more confident, and even gave a talk, in English, this week. Sister Wills through her unending Christ like love and service was able to help Denisa see what our Savior wants for and feels about her and that is what led to her changing and going to the temple. From there, God's love made some more changes. Our love takes people to the love of God and gives them the courage to change.

Charity is hard for us to accept sometimes. In His perfect charity, Christ corrected his apostles on several occasions and He corrects us as well. This may be through His servants or through revelation. If we aren't humble and reject the love He shares, we will only see the correction and we will be offended. This was the case for Laman and Lemuel. If we humbly accept, then we feel His love since we see He wants us to be better

We can work on charity by doing little charitable acts. Just like any other attribute, as you do it, you develop it. Like dad says, "that which you persist in doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but your power to do has increased" I would change the end in this case to say that the nature of the thing hasn't changed, but you have. It is like studying the Book of Mormon. It is a lifetime pursuit. We learn more and enjoy it more the more we go. It is an everyday effort. If we try to be charitable once a week, we won't be charitable. If we try getting our spiritual nourishment from reading once a week, we are being daft. It won't work

Those are my thoughts. I did my best to describe my thoughts on the example of Sister Wills' charity, but I don't think it all came across. Sorry about that.

Elder Pace

This is from Elder Peck's letter this past week.  He and Tyson are always such a great support system for each other...Here is Elder Peck's view on how Tyson did with translating...

ELDER PACE TRANSLATED SACRAMENT MEETING. He did a right good job translating the entire sacrament meeting. He was not even phased. He was able to translate everything with out even struggling at all! He is a great speaker of the language and I learn a lot from Elder Pace with the Language. Since Elder Pace and I are taking over the translating for Sacrament meeting, that means I am back on deck for Next Sacrament Meeting. I can already feel the butterflies.

WEEK 31: Martina's Daughters

I don't have much time. We had some fun today, but more importantly, this week was the week that Helenka and Danelka were able to be baptized. They are Martina daughters and it was so much fun to be with them. I will send some pictures as well.

We have been using the new missionary schedule this week so that had been exciting. I have some more time in my day so I use that for extra study time and cleaning.

Elder Peck translated for sacrament meeting and it was awesome. He did so great and I know how hard it was for him to get up there even though he didn't feel fully ready. His faith was so inspiring to me and I am grateful for His example.

I think that this week has been a bit of a growth week. I have been a bit frustrated this week to be honest. I needed some help. I am grateful to work with Elder Armstrong, but there have been times this week that I felt a tad fed up. I am feeling better and I know it is only because of the sacrament. I was doing everything I could all week. We didn't see success. My finding efforts were unaffected
because I am still super awkward at talking to people that I don't know. Alex didn't come to church again and all of these things just began to weigh on me. At church on Sunday, during the sacrament I was able to think about all of the things that happened and as I prayed, the Lord was able to comfort me and help renew me so that I am ready for another week of efforts.

Mom: you wanted a recording, but we haven't had the chance to be at a computer for me to send it. I will try this next week.

Love,
Elder Pace

WEEK 30: Farewell Elder Dobbs

Yeah, it was a great week this week. We have met a few new people who
seem excited to learn about our message. Elder Armstrong and I also
found out we are staying together in Rotherham for another transfer. I
am excited. We have made some good progress and even got back in
contact with my old friend Ondrej. I have thought a lot about him
recently so I am glad to visit him again.

This week was the last week of Elder Dobbs as the assistant to
President Turvey and we are sad to see a legend go. In his place will,
be Elder Klinger who is a great missionary and was my zone leader.

This week has been a great one to learn about truly keeping the
Sabbath Day Holy and to pray sincerely. We saw lots of miracles.

A thought that Elder Dobbs shared:
We all have problems and sometimes we say we will hold off on
following God completely until we fix our problems since we are too
busy or too stressed. The secret to being happy is that the path to
follow God is really the same path that will fix our problems. He
loves us so much and will help us in whatever as we do what he asks.
We never are too busy or stressed or too sinful for God to help.

Love you all,
Starší Pace