Charakter

no, i didn't spell that word wrong. that is just the slovak spelling for the work for "character" and character is one of the big advantages of serving in a small city. although it is flattering that some of you think i'm serving in a big glamorous city like prague (i'm actually not serving in prague for those of you who are still fooled by the address that constantly abides on my webpage and my sacrament meeting program), really these smaller cities like banska bystrica have something that bigger cities just don't have and that's characters. when you live in a small city of less than 100,000 people and you are constantly walking on the main square every single day, you are bound to run into the "regulars." in my 4 months in zilina i racked up quite a few friends by contacting on the main square, and so far banska has been the same way. for example we have one character here who everybody calls "elvis." he's this guy with long black hair and a high, whiny voice who just talks to everyone on the square. he was being his normal self today when we were out on the square. he came up to elder smith and i and offered to sell us a picture of himself. we turned it down because the banksa east apartment is already the proud owner of one for some odd reason. i guess he has had some good business in the past. i guess anything is more successful than his other current business venture--trying to sell elder nichol his watch...for a million dollars. i guess it can't hurt to try. anyway, that's just a taste of the interesting people here in banska bystrica. in the end i think that is what determines the value of a city is the caliber of the people. yes, prague is a much more beautiful city than banska, and zilina, and bratislava, and probably any other town i will serve in. prague has nice parks, museums, cathedrals and historical sites, but there is one thing they don't have...and that's elvis.

 

ahoj'te

sam