Monday, April 23, 2012

Week 10 Amazingly prepared people!

Family Home Evening at the Brno branch


Draha rodino! [note: Dear family]

It's been a good week. I'm learning a lot and love it! Missionary work is just the best! One of our investigators was sick for a week and a half. He's from a village just outside Zdar nad Sazavou, but studies in Brno during the week. Because he was so sick he went home immediately after school so we didn't meet with him for a week and a half. We were worried about him, especially since his baptism date was set for the first week of May, but we hadn't anticipated him getting sick so we needed to move the date. Well he contacted us at the beginning of the week and had an "I need to meet with you now!" kind of attitude. So we arranged it with him and had a meeting on Thursday. We decided to watch the restoration film to help him remember the feelings he had had when we began teaching him and to help him feel the spirit. We had also been thinking about the best way to bring up his baptismal date and how to get him to come to church. Basically, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that when you don't meet with your investigators for a while you worry about them. I mean you really worry about them. You love them! You think all day everyday of how you can help them come to Christ.

Our meeting with him was amazing! We asked him if he'd been reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and he said yes. We asked him how he felt when he read it and he said good. Then we asked him if he prayed to know if it was true. He said yes and had this huge smile on his face! We said and....what was your answer? He said "I know it's true!" Ahhhhhhhh! It was the best moment ever! Yes, yes everyone! The Book of Mormon is true!!! He then got all concerned and asked us if it would be okay if we moved his baptismal date so that he had a little more time to prepare. We were like of course! It was neat to see how concerned he was and how seriously he takes his baptism. The lesson was so great with him. And his prayer at the end was so sincere. We like to have kneeling prayers at the end of our lessons and have the investigator pray. When he prays it is so powerful. He is so sincere and so so humble. He thanks Heavenly Father in his prayers for us. I just feel so humbled when I listen to him because I know it's not me. These are Heavenly father's children. These are his investigators. If I can only be an instrument in His hands to help his children come back to Him than I am happy.

We wanted to bring up coming to church with him because we know it's quite a distance for him. But he brought it up himself. He was like "I'm so sorry I couldn't come to church last week...but I'm coming this week for sure!" I just thought, could he really be more “zlaty” [note: golden]?! And yes, he did come to church! He said it was a problem though with the travel and he isn't sure how he can travel every Sunday, so please keep him in your prayers. He needs to make that commitment to come to church every Sunday in order to be baptized and we know church is so vital to his progression. So please pray for him! He is so so prepared.

Out other investigator, who just came to church that one Sunday, came to church again this weekend. This makes it her 3rd time coming to church. We talked to her Saturday and asked her if she was coming and she was like "yeah I'm coming!" like it was no big deal, of course she was coming. She has a better church attendance than our baptismal dates right now. She is incredible!! She is very very intelligent and speaks English flawlessly.  She loves learning about the gospel and has really been taking it in well.
Yesterday we had a lesson with her after church. Sister Brimhall and I had to split for the lesson. She went to correlation meeting and I taught her with Sister Martin. We taught her the second half of “plan spaseni” [note: Plan of Salvation]. We had split for the lesson last week and I had taught her with a member from the branch. It had gone well so I wasn't worried about teaching this lesson. But right away from the beginning of the lesson came out all of these concerns. I just prayed that I'd know how to address these concerns and I felt really peaceful. I testified a lot and was able to use the lesson to address her concerns. In the end I extended a soft baptismal commitment which means I said "When you come to know these things are true will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God...." We have extended that invitation to her before and she said that she couldn't promise something she didn't know if she'd keep. But I extended it at the end of the lesson and she said: "Well, I was already baptized..." So we talked about authority and I just laid it out as it is, that our church is the only one with the authority to make that baptism valid. I took her through Joseph Smith again and the restoration and she was like: "Well, if my baptism wasn't valid, then it's important that I am baptized by someone who has that authority!" So she accepted that she'd be baptized once she knows what we are teaching her is true. But, she wouldn't accept a solid date so I asked her to pray about it. Keep her in your prayers!

Well, I have to go. Lots of work to do! I love you all so so much! This gospel is so true. Our message is so simple and so solid and so true! I know that when we are obedient to the Lord's commandments and truly seek to follow the guidance of His Spirit, we are blessed in all we do! Keep up the good work! You are all such great examples to me.

Love, Sister Melissa Pysnakova

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