ř

that's a letter that most people have never seen before, and it's one that i never really had to pronounce very much until now. the "hooked" r is one of the many nuances of the czech language that makes crossing the border fairly difficult. to pronounce it you need to mix two different bucchal sounds. first you take a rolled r. then, you add the sound made by the s in the word "pleasure." now say those two sounds simultaneously and you will get a hooked r. the declinations here are also a little bit different, so that's been the main thing i've been battling so far. there are so many times when we'll be teaching somebody and i'll want to say something, but then i have to double take because although i know the word in slovak i'm not even sure if the word exists in czech. i have to so that i'm doing pretty well, but there was one day in the week when i just really kept stumbling over my czech words. it went on like that for a few hours until we ran into a few people on the square. we started talking to them. one of the men asked "ako sa vam paci tu v jihlave?" (how do you like it in jihlava). i did a big double take becuase that is most definitely not a czech phrase. i paused for a moment and then asked "are you a slovak?" the man and his friend replied that yes, they were both slovak. one from spisska nova ves and the other from nitra. it was like running into one of your friends or relatives who you had been away from for a long time by chance on the street. i immediately jumped into slovak mode. i'm really enjoying myself in jihlava so far, but not going to lie running into a pair of slovaks was pretty great.

 

ahoj'te

sam

Czech yourself before you wreck yourself

that's right. the cat is out of the bag and the meredith is out of the banska bystrica--actually he is out of the entire slovakia. this last week was a crazy week. president irwin always tells me how much fun he has doing the transfers, but man he isn't kidding. elder macneish and i got blinded out of banska bystrica to be replaced by (wait for it)....SISTERS! the first set of sisters ever in banska and the first sisters in slovakia in like 10 years! insane! that's almost as insane as my assignment. i am proud to say that i am the fist slovak missionary to serve in lovely jihlava--a small city literally right in the middle of slovakia. i've been assigned to be the district leader here. our district includes my companion and i (elder simcock from manchester, england), the pages (the senior couple in jihlava), and the missionaries in nearby trebic. this district is comprised of two of the smallest cities in the mission. i'm so honored that president has allowed my to ascend to such a presigious rank. i mean, district leader in jihlava is just one of the positions that all ambitious people have aspired to throughout the ages, like being governor of north dakota, or captain of the caltech basketball team, or starting pitcher for the kansas city royals (they're still a really cruddy small-market franchise, right?). anyway, all jokes aside, i'm really excited for this transfer. this will be a wonderful learning opportunity. i pray that i will be able to represent the Lord, my family, and all other slovak missionaries well. it's going to be a challenge to do a lot of things like being a district leader (i haven't done that since the mtc) and learning czech (never done that ever), but i know that there are great things in store for this city, and i'm so excited to find out what they are.

 

na shledanou!

sam

Macneish & Meredith: Soul Hunters

i think that will be the name of the motion picture that will someday be made about this transfer (i'll tell you why near the end of this email). i guess i typed something wrong in my email last week because this week is actually the last week of the transfer. so, i'm still here in banska presiding over church, assigning talks and doing all of that fun stuff. we will get our transfer fax this coming monday and then the transfer will take place on wednesday. everybody is placing their bets and it's looking like i'm going to be saying dovidenia to slovensko and getting a nice "vitej" from the czech republic. we will see. regardless of where i go, it has been such a pleasure to serve in this city, in this district and in this zone, especially this transfer. missionary work in slovakia right now is better than it ever has been. EVER. like in the entire history of missionary work in slovakia. the zone leaders have been sending us texts every week telling us how we've been breaking old records and setting new ones every week. certainly numbers aren't everything, but it is quite the accomplishment. the mission office gathers statistics at the end of each week and the end of each transfer and compares the statistics between zones. this transfer it's going to be zona slovensko by a long shot. i think slovakia has finished first probably only one other time in the whole history of the mission. it has been so wonderful to work here with all of these wonderful members and missionaries. i will certainly miss it when i go. it has been really difficult at times here in banska, but it's all been worth it--particularly for kristina who is still doing wonderful after her baptism. we taught her this week about member-missionary work. at the beginning of the lesson we just asked her "why do you think we are here as missionaries?" she replied with the most gang-busters explanation of missionary work ever. she said "lovite dusicky" (you're hunting souls). yes we are kristina, yes we are--and what a wonderful calling it is.

 

ahoj'te

sam

The week that was

preparing people for baptism can be stressful, but in the end it is so totally worth it. kristina, the most amazing investigator i have ever had, was baptized this week. it was a wonderful service. we had the baptism in a hotel pool here in banska. i had the honor of performing the baptism. kristina had a smile on her face throughout the entire baptismal service. it was an amazing experience. i'm so glad that elder macneish and i have been able to help kristina. i have waited so long for something like this, but it was definitely worth the wait. ever since i came to banska bystrica i have just wanted to give the branch something to be excited about--something to cheer them up and make them a little more enthusiastic. i knew that baptizing a very prepared individual would probably suffice. all we needed was a miracle--you know--that's all. kristina was that miracle. yesterday we had fast and testimony meeting. elder macneish comfirmed kristina and then the time came for testimonies. my eyes began to fill with tears as i saw kristina get up and approach the pulpit. the water works started coming in full measure as she said how thankful she is that she met the missionaries, and that she is happier and closer to God than she has ever been. i don't know if i've ever felt so happy in my life. and just knowing how happy i feel after having seen kristina get baptized i can only imagine how Heavenly Father must feel. i'm so glad taht i've been able to work in this wonderful city with these wonderful people. the transfer comes in about 2 weeks. it's going to be really hard to get on the train and leave.

 

ahoj'te

sam

deti

kids. not something i have a lot of experience with. i suppose that's what happens when you are the youngest in the family. oddly enough, though, serving in banska bystrica has even given me a little bit of experience entertaining the little ones. i've mentioned several times the church service that we hold every sunday morning for people living near the city of zvolen. well, a lot of the people that go to this church service have kids, and somebody needs to keep them occupied while their parents are attending sunday school. so, the four of us take turns every week taking the kids into the back of the 1-room school building where we hold church and teaching them primary. it's been pretty fun. here are some of the highlights of primary in budca so far:

 

"if you could have anything in the world what would you kids have?...yes, kristian..."

"a sword!"

"right on! good answer! what about you, zdenka?"

"my family."

"...also really good, but swords are cool too, kristian, don't worry."

 

 

"so, children, why do we need faith in Christ?"

"so we don't swear!"

"so we don't smoke!"

"so we don't drink alcohol!"

"so we don't drink green tea!"

"or black tea!"

 

so as you can see, working to teach the primary has been quite the pleasure. we even had a baptism into the primary in zvolen this week. little kristian still doesn't have his sword, but he does have the gift of the Holy Ghost now.

 

maj'te sa!

sam

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