I'm too young for this

a mission is a funny thing. sometimes when i have a quiet moment i like to think of all the different ins and outs of missionary service--all of the important things that are entrusted to us. being a missionary is a lot of responsibility, and yet that responsibility is placed upon the backs of young men and women who aren't even old enough to have attained a bachelor's degree. i know that it says in the doctrine and covenants that the Lord calls upon the "weak" things of the world to thrash the nations, but still when i think of the level of my maturity when i started my mission the word "weak" would have been the word used to describe me if somebody wanted to make the understatement of the 21st century. as missionaries we are very young, inexperienced, and immature, and yet we are out here bringing the gospel to the whole world. it's pretty amazing when you really think about it. i have served around incredible people on my mission and yet all of them are only in their twenties. to me it is just big proof that when we are dedicated to the gospel and we exercise faith in the Lord he can help us be a part of marvelous works and wonders. sometimes when i think about how harsh the difficulties can be and how enormous the obstacels are i'm prompted to stop for a moment, take a break from the thoughts have been constantly coming at me over the last eight months as i've tried to run a branch of the church, and say: "i'm too young for this." it's a good thing i've got access to heavenly help along the way, because i'd be absolutely clueless otherwise.

s laskou

sam

hudba

that is the slovak word for music. my mission so far has given me a lot of wonderful opportunities to share and develop my musical talents. i really think the Lord has blessed me for my missionary service in the form of helping me develop my musical talents further. i think i'm probably a better singer than i was when i left even though i don't sing nearly as much as i did when i was living in logan. i've also become a much better piano player (i have had to play the piano at sacrament meeting A LOT), and by virtue of serving with elder  macneish for two transfers, i have even learned how to play a good amount of chords on the guitar. it's wonderful. there has been, however, one downfall to serving in banska. we have a really small district of only four people and i'm the person who has always had to run sacrament meeting. so, i haven't had nearly as many musical numbers in sacrament meeting here as i have in my other areas. i always thought that the missionaries should all do a quartet in sacrament meeting, but we have never really had a district of four  strong singers--never, that is, until now. elder tenney has quite a nice voice, so yesterday i had my first sacrament meeting musical number in quite a while. the four of us sang "o Boze my ti dakujeme" (we thank thee, o God, for a prophet). it went really well, and everyone really enjoyed it. the rest of sacrament meeting was great too, in both banska and zvolen. sunday, once again proved to be the best day of the week.

 

maj'te sa!

sam

Svadba

i don't have much time to make a journal entry today (to make a long story short i really dislike computers sometimes) so, i'll just share a quick experience that elder macneish and i had this last weekend. we were out contacting on the square when we saw a great crowd of people coming out of the catholic chapel. there are weddings there fairly commonly on saturdays, so i've seen a lot of wedding processions on my mission so far, but this one was my favorite. the slovak tradition is that you get married in the church and then you walk (with all your guests behind you) into the town hall where everybody celebrates as you sign the marriage contracts. this procession to the town hall, however, was led by a slovak folk string quartet all dressed in slovak garb with tradtional slovak dancers parading around them to boot. it's a shame i didn't have my camera because it was quite the sight. this country has so many beautiful traditions. it's a pleasure to be able to serve these people.

 

ahoj'te

sam

Usvit

hello from bratislava!
i randomly had to come here today to renew my visa which expires soon, so elder macneish and i are taking care of our normal p day activities here before we catch the train back to banska this afternoon. we had another wonderful week this week. we were able to attend a wonderful specialized training in zilina. after our training i was able to have an interview with president irwin, something which has become one of my favorite things in the entire world. we had a good chat. the first thing he asked me was: "how long have you been in banska bystrica?" looking at the date written in my planner i realized that it has been over seven months since i hopped on the train with elder bacon and rode into banska. both president irwin and i were surprised that it had been so long. as the conversation went on president went on to tell me that it would be a good idea to get everything in order (plans, paperwork, etc.) because fairly soon somebody else may have to blind into my position here in banska. i certainly won't tell you about everything that happened in our interview, but i wanted to tell you all of that so that you can know where my mind has been ever since then: i actually have to leave banska bystrica. i knew that it was going to happen someday, but now things have all of a sudden become much more real. i have loved serving in this city so much. i don't think i have ever learned more in a period of 7 months. banska bystrica (and in particular the banska and zvolen units) own a huge chunk of my heart, and i want nothing more than to give them the best that i have. i have tried to do just that over the last months, and know my time is running low. my time in banska is coming to a twilight (usvit), and i want to leave it all on the floor as we say in basketball. i am pleased with my service so far but just as in music in missionary work i sure do love a good finale. tak do toho!

maj'te sa
sam

Majstrovsto Sveta

we had an interesting cultural experience this week here in slovakia. over the past few weeks the hockey world championship has been going on in finland and sweden. i don't think i remember anybody in america ever saying anything about the yearly hockey world championships in america when i was living there, but in slovakia it's the talk of the town. the second anybody mentions anything about hockey (especially international hockey) everybody in slovakia drops everything to sit down and watch. elder macneish and i went outside after making some calls in the church building on saturday night to see an absolutely empty town square. as we walked a little further we discovered that everybody was in the bars and restaurants on the side of the square with their eyes glued to the television as they watched their team play against the czech republic. we heard loud screams, cheers, and fireworks late into the night as all of slovakia celebrated their victory over their biggest rival. unfortunately slovakia lost in the gold medal game to russia, but it was still cool to see slovakia make at least a little bit of a fuss. i'm fully aware of the fact that in the end athletic victories mean pretty much nothing, but even still being successful in something as meaningless as ice hockey is extremely good for this country that, in all honesty, struggles in the area of self respect sometimes. after years of playing pawn to germans, hungarians, czechs, russians, and others slovaks feel sometimes that they are forgotten--they they are just a worthless strip of countryside for the rest of europe to dump their litter on as they make their journey from prague to budapest. every now and then, however, something happens that proves otherwise. so, i'm glad that slovakia could have success in the world championships, but moreso i'm glad that i can be a missionary for this wonderful church--that i can be a minister of this wonderful gospel that teaches these people that they are valuable and they are precious--even people who have a divine and royal origin as children of our Heavenly Father. this message is just what this country needs. it is the only thing that will help these people realize who they really are, and it is the only thing that will help these people fulfill their exceedingly great potential. i'm so honored that i can be one of the people who can help bring them the good news.

 

slovensko do toho!

sam

Meredith & Macneish part deux: it's only the beginning

if i had to make a movie about this upcoming transfer, that would be the title of it. i found out this week that not only will i be staying in banska bystrica for another transfer, but that i will also be staying with my good buddy elder macneish. i'm so excited. things have been so great here recently, and i think this last week was one of the happiest of my mission. i have mentioned a lot that we have been working on establishing a branch in nearby zvolen for some investigators who were unable to attend church in banska. well, this week we saw some of the first fruits of those labors. two of the investigators down there this weekend were baptized, becoming the first people to join the church in the newly established zvolen area. these people live in a small village outside of zvolen, so we had the baptism in the nearby forest. we gathered at a campsight near a small creek that gathers into a small watershed. we gathered campfire style in a circle and had the baptismal service. we had great talks and a musical number by me (i put the church building's keyboard on battery power). after that we performed the ordinances. one of the investigators had requested that i baptize her, so i conducted the service in my whites. i was so honored to be able to do that. you can only have one first baptism in a new city, and the Lord was willing to let me perform that ordinance. another baptism, performed by elder romero, followed mine. after the baptisms, one of the investigators expressed that she had never felt so good as she did just after her baptism. i don't know if i've had a happier day in my life. the entire day i had a grin on my face that stretched from one ear to the other (as witnessed by the photos, which--due to technical difficulties--will come in my email next week). all in all, just an absolutely glorious week. i don't know what the waters of Mormon looked like, but for the rest of my life i will look upon the waters of Budca with feelings that are similar to those held by those book of mormon converts with regards to the place where they entered into a covenant with the Lord. we have seen the Lord's hand so much recently. He blessed us so abundantly this week, and yet: it's only the beginning.

 

s laskou

sam

kniha mormonova

the book of mormon. what a wonderful missionary tool. i was really proud of the way that elder macneish and i used the book of mormon this week in our work. it is such an important book for every person on the planet, and it has been so cool this week to see some of our investigators realize that. we had one meeting with an investigator who has trouble accepting anything but the bible as scripture. we explained to him that God reveals the doctrines of His gospel through prophets, and that the book of mormon is proof that God still calls prophets today. we had another meeting where we saw how the book of mormon has power to answer the questions of the soul. we had an investigator who had a lot of questions regarding our purpose in life, and why God allows us to have trials and difficulties. after reading a few chapters in alma before our meeting, her questions were answer. she said that: "these chaters completely sat on my situation" (that's a completely literal translation, mind you). elder macneish and i have been reading the book of mormon in czech together recently for our language study together, and it's been really great. it truly is the word of God, and i'm so lucky that i can talk to people about it every day.

 

s laskou

sam