Tyzden Sedem

ahoj! ako sa mate?

fist things first: mom please send my drivers' license when it gets there, and also it would be great if you could send me a few more t-shirts. that utah state basketball shirt i have would be good, as well as that gray nike shirt. thanks!

anyway, things are going pretty well here. just before i came into the computer lab to email, elder engstrom pointed out that we will be in europe in twelve days. yikes! i am so excited to go to slovakia, but it really is just crazy how fast this mtc experience went. i can't believe that i am already almost through my first transfer! it has been a great experience so far and i know that things are only going to get better. everytime our teachers tell us stories or show us pictures from their time in slovakia, i get so excited to go and serve! this week has been good, and for the most part i'm just getting excited to get out into the field. i didn't have a big screw up in the trc this week, which was good. the volunteer we worked with this week only spoke czech, but i think we did pretty well in spite of all of that. it is interesting to see how some cultural stereotypes are perpetuated in the missionaries that serve in those cultures. for example, we (the slovaks, czechs, croats, bulgs, slovenes, poles) just can't stand the russian missionaries. i mean, don't get me wrong, there are a few that are okay people, but those missionaries are the exception and not the rule. they all just think they are the bees knees because they are learning russian. they all live in this fantasy land where they think that they have to be here 12 weeks because they have to learn the cyrilic alphabet. please. three weeks to learn an alphabet? i don't think so. the only reason they are here longer than us is because they have six week transfers in russia instead of nine week transfers. i was talking to brother starling the other day and he said that the harderst language they teach in the mtc (other than the asian languages) is probably slovene or possibly finnish. anyway, i think all of us will be glad once we don't have to deal with the ruskys anymore. they always come up to us when we are outside and ask us if they can practice contacting us in russian. thus far i have obliged, but i think the next time one of them asks me i'm just going to say no. i don't speak russian, therefore, this exercise is completely pointless. i can't respond, unless your companion translates and even then i can only respond in english or slovak. it just seems to me that it would be just as well, nay, perhaps even better if they just went and talked to a tree, or perhaps the flagpole. those objects can respond in russian just as well as i can, and i'm also sure that these objects have much more time in their schedule for pointless activities such as these. this week the mtc presidency finally started allowing us to walk around campus without a suit coat on. it's about time! we have had some pretty hot days here and all of them have been made worse by the fact that we had to wear our suitcoats. the first day where we didn't have to wear them, it rained pretty heavily, but we trotted out of the residence hall without our coats on anyway simply because we could. it's crazy to see how close we are getting to leaving. in a matter of days it will be may and i will again be pakcing up my things and moving yet again. one of our teachers, brother van de graaff, is leaving before the end of the transfer because he is taking an internship in chicago for the summer. his last day with us is tomorrow. it's crazy! he was probably my favorite teacher. they have all become really good friends of mine and it will be tough to say goodbye to all of them, but it will be especially hard in the case of bro. van de graaff. maybe that's just because he's the only one of my teachers that has interest in the nba or mlb, but i think it's also because we just get along pretty well. hopefully i can stay in touch with all of my teachers while i'm in slovakia. i can be certain that i will have some great stories to tell them. this week will be an interesting one. elder bezas' case will go before the quorum of the 12 tomorrow, and we will know on thursday if he is going to be reassigned to a state-side mission. from what the doctor said the other day, it is looking pretty likely that that will be the case. i hope he gets to go to slovakia, but the bretheren will decide what is best. if he does get reassigned, it is likely that he will be sent out of the mtc the next day, meaning, i will be without a companion for my last week of training. that would be weird, so i hope that doesn't happen. we will see. you guys want to learn something funny about slovak? well, the word "peach" is harmless in english, but in slovak it is pretty much the worst word in the book. yesterday brother van de graaff told us that we will hear that word a lot, but we should never ever say it, unless we want to really offend someone, so there you go. when i heard that i was reminded of one of the many witty phrases that my good friend lindsay always comes up with. to compliment me, she often says: "sam, you are a peach." when lindsay says this, i know that she has nothing but the best intentions in mind, so i just hope that she never meets a slovak and has the desire to give them that compliment. in all likelihood, they will take it the wrong way. anyway, sorry if this email is so sporadic. i'm sitting here literally playing beat the clock, and i never know what to talk about because I DO THE SAME THING EVERY SINGLE DAY. anyway, i hope everything back home is going well. i'm really enjoying my mission so far and i know that i am involved in a great work. i am very excited to serve in slovakia. keep sending me your letters. they always make my day

 

love you all!

sam

Tyzden Sest

dobry den!

i hope everything is going well back at home. it has been an interesting week here at the mtc. on thursday, i had my one required weekly screw up at the trc. this week, our task was to share a meal with an investigator. the "waiter" asked elder bezas what he wanted, but elder bezas froze up, so he turned to me and asked me what i wanted. i wasn't really ready to order and i didn't really know what i should have said, so i blurted out the first two food-related words that came to my mind. i ended up ordering beef and an apple with water to drink. so yeah. other than that, though i feel like i did pretty well at the trc this week. this week we taught in the language for the first time and i thought i did a pretty good job communicating with our investigator. i am becoming more and more confident in my ability to teach the gospel, but it's the other simple stuff that i will have to learn when i get there. sometimes i will think i know a lot of words, but then my teacher will say a simple everyday word like "cold" or "different" and i will have no idea what he is saying. on sunday the fireside was given by the byu mens' chorus. catherine always told me very good things about them, but i had never seen them perform until sunday. i can definitely see why she gives them such high praise. it was a really good performance. they had a really nice, unified, and disciplined sound. i do wish, however, that i could have just stuck a mirror in front of the faces of some of the singers. some of them just look so retarded when they are up there singing. they are singing about the Savior, and yet they look like they are smelling a sweaty gym sock. i really liked the arrangement they sang of "brightly beams our father's mercy." i've always liked that tune. they also performed an arrangement of "how firm a foundation" to the original melody, which i thought was really cool. they did their best to get some recruits from the audience. nice try, byu. i mean, the choir was great, but yeah. i don't know why everyone down here takes it upon themselves to try to convince me to go to byu after i get back from my mission. everyday brother starling says: "byu has a really good music program, and if you came here after your mission, you could work at the mtc." both very true statements, but it would take a lot more than that to make me go to the y, i think. watching that choir perform really did make me miss singing in choir. i guess i do participate in the mtc choir, so i guess i should rephrase that and say: "watching that choir on sunday makes me miss singing in a GOOD choir." i mean, the mtc choir isn't terrible, i guess, but they just can't hold a candle to chamber singers, madrigals, or even some of the quartets i sang with while i was in troubadors. i miss sitting in my practice room until 11pm and pounding out some schumann or mozart. o well, i will be able to do those things again soon enough. in other news, this week has been a little bit harder on my district than normal. we saw one of the elders in our zone who was going to croatia go home this week. it was really tough to see him go. we all miss him a lot, but life goes on. also this week elder bezas found out that he may get reassigned to a state-side mission due to medical problems. i hope that doesn't happen. i would really hate it if i learned a slavic language for six weeks and then had someone tell me that i don't even have to use it where i'm going on my mission. i also don't want it to happen because i assume if he got reassigned, he would leave right away and i would be left without a companion for the last two weeks here. that would suck. plus i would feel bad if he didn't at least get to see the czech republic and slovakia. every time our teachers show us pictures or talk about the areas where they served, i get so excited to go. the next three weeks really can't go fast enough. i know i still have a lot to learn, but i am just so pumped to get over there. i have never been out of the united states, but now i'm going to be living outside of the country for two years. it's still so unbelievable to me. anyway, i hope things are going well back at home. i hope that mom had a nice birthday. i was really glad when mom sent me that letter yesterday saying that katy had brought her some banana bread on friday. it was so nice of her to do that. for dad, i hope that all of the preparations for cantata mundi are going well. i wish i could be there to see myself holding the glowing earth-ball of love or whatever it is on the screen. libby, i hope everything is going well with school and i hope that your are enjoying volunteering at the hospital. it's weird to think that you will have graduated by the time i am back from my mission. anyway, everything here is going really well, and it won't be long before i am writing this email from an internet cafe in zilina or kosice or wherever. it's hard to believe that i have less than three weeks left here. i hope that you will all continue to send me your letters. i always enjoy hearing about what is going on in your lives. love you and miss you all!

 

sam

Tyzden Pat

hello all!

hope you are doing well. first things first, mom has my new drivers' license come yet? if so can you please send it to me? now, to business. i hope you all enjoyed watching conference over the weekend. i really enjoyed it. we were all crammed into the gym here to watch every session. it definitely made me miss the days of watching at home wearing my pajamas and laying down on the couch. this time i was in a suit and tie in a really hot and stuffy gymnasium, sitting on a chair that has probably given me a bruised tail bone. other than these few minor discomforts, however, conference was great. it is truly a privilege to listen to the words of modern prophets. i really enjoyed all of the talks, but in particular, i liked elder bednar's talk on revelation. i really liked the analogies of turning on a light and watching the sunrise. i think his talk gave me some really good principles that i will be able to share with investigators over the next few years as they try to receive their own revelations and develop testimonies. i also really liked the talk given by elder robbins of the seventy. he talked about the importance of both "doing" and "being." the relationship between our faith and our works is very important, but can also be hard to explain, so i thought he did a great job explaining why it is so important that we show our faith in Christ by abounding in good works. he said that being without doing is void, and doing without being is hypocrisy. i really liked that. i'm glad to hear that some of you guys were able to watch the special on the mtc that they showed between sessions of conference. for those of you wondering, yes, that was the back of my head you saw in the opening title sequence. i think i can safely say that i have had my .15 seconds of fame. mom asked me in a letter this week if i had gotten one of those terrible mtc haircuts yet. i am sad to report that the answer is yes. i went to the barbershop here on friday. they turned me away from the mirror while i was getting my haircut, which i thought was weird. had i been able to see what was transpiring, i probably would've interjected to stop the carnage from going any further. the girl (who was quite annoying, i might add) who cut my hair asked me how short i wanted. since i had left my ruler at the residence hall, i just said "pretty short." famous last words. should ran the clippers over my head a few times and then shoved the mirror in front of my face. the reflection was shocking and sent a wave of thoughts through my head, the first one being: "i miss jill!" as i sit here typing this e mail, i can see my reflection in the nearby window. every time i look up i think i look like dad circa 1975 or possibly grandpa gary circa 1963. i look like i'm getting ready to ship off to baghdad tomorrow or something like that. my hair wasn't this short when i came out of my mother's womb. o well. it will grow back in a few years i suppose. anyway, in spite of the freaky haircut, it has been a good week. we are doing more and more with the language everyday, and last week i taught my last gospel lesson in english for the next two years, which is insane. elder bezas and i have now taught about four lessons in slovak, and each time it gets slightly easier, which is good. i did have one funny screw up in the trc this last week. i was trying to ask our investigator what role religion has played in her life so i said: "aku ulohu hra vo vasom zivote zenstvo?" those of you who are fluent in slovak know that the word i meant to use was "nabozenstvo" which means religion. "zenstvo" however, means "womanhood." i was able to correct myself, luckily. the conversation probably would've taken an interesting turn if i hadn't. it's crazy to think that my mtc experience is going to be over in less than four weeks now. as far as i know we are set to leave the mtc on the may 2. most of the international missionaries have to leave pretty early. the last czechoslovak district left at 3am. fantastic. the bulgs that left this morning, however, didn't leave until 8am. that's the one i'm rooting for. i don't care if i don't get to prague until 1am, i just want to have a decent night of sleep before i have to travel for 20 hours. hopefully we don't have to change planes too many times and hopefully the train ride to my first assigned area isn't too long. if i'm assigned to serve in kosice, i have a 12 hour train ride from prague. hooray. anyway, i hope all is going well. from what i heard uconn won the tourney? i'm not happy about that per se, but it's a heck of a lot better than kentucky winning it. kentucky is so lame. it saddens me to hear that the jazz have more or less given up. i hope this season can be a lesson to all of those who said that the game had passed jerry sloan by. i'm sad that i couldn't be there to see opening day for baseball. elder marshall (a guy in my zone who is a big rockies fan) and i were talking on april 1st about how it would be a great day to go to a ball game, but alas, we are stuck in the mtc. o well. opeining day 2013, i am so there! have the dbacks fallen to last place yet? if not, just give them time. anyway, i hope all is going well and i also hope that you will continue to send me your letters of support. i love hearing from all of you!

 

vas milujem!

sam