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