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

Kontrola

this week i had an interesting opportunity. this week at church we had a visit from both the district relief society president, and a member of the district council (the equivalent of the high council in an area where a stake doesn't exist). i don't know why but i was so nervous. the whole week i was worried that there was something that i had neglected, some little minute detail that was barely noticeable, but still against church policy. i felt much like i did shortly before scholarship auditions at utah state. fortunately the reaction i received from the visiting authorities was similar to the reaction of the judges at the auditions at USU: pretty darn good. they had a lot of nice things to say about how the building looked, how the sacrament meeting was conducted and about how the members carry themselves when they are at church. that was a big relief to hear. i wish i could take credit for all of the praise, but in all honesty most of it has to go to these great members here in banska. they are all such a great example to me and i have been so blessed to be able to serve them over the last 6 months. it's sad to think that my time in banska bystrica could be winding down (i probably have one more transfer after this one); it's going to be really hard to leave when that time comes.

 

ahoj'te

sam

Genralna Konferencia

originally i thought that we would watch conference in this branch this next weekend. i figured that it would be a good idea to let as many people as possible come and avoid the possibility of low attendance because of the easter holiday. due to a few previously unseen road blocks, however, we had to change our plan a little bit, so we watched the first half of conference on sunday and we will watch the second half this saturday. i'm glad we ended up watching it this week. i really enjoyed a lot of the talks. every time when conference comes around i am just marveled at how inspired all of these people are. sometimes when i'm watching some of these talks it seems as though the speaker wrote that talk with me specifically in mind. i really enjoyed president uchtdorf's talk. i also really enjoyed the talk that elder baxter of the seventy gave. i also really enjoyed elder oaks' talk abot sacrifice. sacrifice is something that i have learned a lot about on my mission. it truly is an eternal law--a law that we all must apply. we must all sacrifice something of lower quality (that something can even be something good) for something of deeper importance. we must sacrifice our time in order to have successful family relationships, and to go to church to renew our covenants every week. we must sacrifice our money so that we can declare ourselves as full tithe payers and help the Lord build His kingdom further. whatever the case, whenever we sacrifice righteously in order to keep a commandment, Heavenly Father blesses us. it is all a key part of our common goal to follow our Savior--the man who became the greatest sacrifice the world will ever know--the man whose sacrifice we commemorate with this weekends celebration. i pray that i will be willing and able to sacrifice enough, and consecrate myself approriately so that i can be worthy of His blessing as i try to bless these people.

Church

it's the most amazing thing. i think one of the biggest and most important things that i am going to take away from my service as a missionary is a greater appreciation for the sabbath day (and a greater feeling of guilt and shame for days of old when i had to be dragged kicking and screaming just to get me to go to sacrament meeting). how wonderful an opportunity it is to e able to take one day every week to concentrate on spiritual things and worship the Lord with other people who have the same beliefs and values that you do. i have been so blessed over the last five months to be the priesthood holder in this city who presides over that process. we had a great fast and testimony meeting this week. the branches out here may be small, but the testimonies here are as powerful as anywhere else. after that we quickly hopped in the car and drove down to zvolen. some of the investigators that the zone leaders have down in zvolen needed help getting to church, so elder romero and i drove out to the village where they live, sprinted to flag down the bus and got him to hold on for a few seconds while the investigators were getting out the door. it wasn't easy, but we got everyone to church, and we had a wonderful sacrament meeting in zvolen as well. what an opportunity it is to be the person that brings the church to these people for the first time. what a blessing it is to be able to give these people their first experiences with the sacrament. being a missionary in slovakia brings so many blessings and miracles every day. as we were walking through the town after church we were all musing about the day when there will be stakes here-- when all of these people will get up in fast and testimony meeting and talk about how many miracles the Lord has worked since those days when the missionaries traveled into a far-away village and ran down the bus just so they could help people come to church. to make a long story short i love my mission!

 

s laskou

sam

 

ps- score two "steve meredith" points for using the phrase: "to make a long story short."