Olomouc

Well this week was probably the best week of my mission. This less active member from Slovakia moved to Olomouc to study a couple months ago. Her mom is very active in the church, both her brothers served mission. One just got back and the other was a branch president in Slovakia. She was very against the church and when she moved to Olomouc she said she wanted nothing to do with the church, missionaries or anything. So we started out with inviting her to Family Home Evening. Eventually she came to FHE but still didn't want to hear the spiritual thought or anything. We invited her to lunch one day and asked if we could share our favorite verse with her, at first she said no but eventually she let us. Time went by and she kept coming to FHE and a few of our missionary activities. She became pretty good friends with us so we finally just asked her why she was against the church and she opened up to us and told us about what has happened in her life. We asked her to start praying again and if she would come to the stake conference next week and she said she would think about it. On Wednesday we had our culture night and went to a Kostel for a classical music concert which was way fun but that girl came with us and told us the she had been thinking about what we were saying but she just didn't feel like it could work for her. We ended up talking about Gods love and prayer for an hour during the concert then later that night she sent us a text and said "thank you for not giving up on me. I listen to everything you guys say to me and really do think about it. You guys are the best and I am grateful to have you in my life. You are doing a great job." We were amazed to see that text. She went to Slovakia for the weekend but we asked her if she would be willing to come back for church on Sunday and after a little bit of convincing her to come she said she would. We have been fasting and praying for this girl for months and now she is coming to church and praying again. The change we have seen in her life is incredible. I have a strong testimony that fasting and praying works and I know that we all need to befriend those that are going through a hard time right now and help them remember the love God has for them. The littlest things we do for people could change their life.

Also this week we have been teaching this two girls that referred themselves. Within two lessons with them, one is in Heleman 8 and the other is in the end of Mosiah. They told us that they know that the Book of Mormon is true but they are just waiting for the answer about baptism because they are strong Catholics. We know that they will get their answer soon though. On Saturday we had a pretty crazy day. We watched a man die on the street but we don't know how he died. Then we did a chalk display and this girl came up and interrupted us saying that we were crazy for doing that. Then she thought that I was the 'holy spirit' and she started asking me about all of her dead friends. After that she convinced herself that I was her expartner reincarnated into a new body and she kept saying that she loved me! I didn't know what to do and all the other missionaries just stood there and laughed while this girl fell in love with me. Finally we got away from here with out her doing anything else too crazy!
Sunday we had a lot of nonmembers come to church and that less active girl came for the first time in a long long time. It was a blessing. Then we did a singing display and we got a member to come with us and that less active girl. While some of the missionaries sang with the members I was contacting and a homeless guy came up and tried to fight me. He started screaming at the top of his lungs saying that I don't truly fallow Christ and that I am just a rich, white boy from America that doesn't care about anybody else. He screamed at me for a good 5 minutes and a huge random guy on the street was coming up to fight the homeless guy and get him away from me but I finally got him to leave so luckily they didn't fight. That homeless guy yells at the one of us missionaries at least once a week but I think this week was the most mad he has ever gotten. It was pretty crazy.
Today we played squash with a member and it was a blast. Czech people really like playing squash. So it was a pretty good week for me. I hope you all have a great week. God loves you all and is always there for you!

Sbohem,
Elder Paxton

Olomouc

Good week! We were still stuck in side for a lot of the week but by the end we were able to get back to normal missionary life and that was nice!
Saturday we went to a members house and she has been a member for 67 years and was even a member through communism and all the crazy wars so she tolds us all of the stories and I am just so grateful for the blessing of always having the gospel in my life. She got baptized and wasn't able to take the sacrament for the first time until 40 years later becuase of communism. Then we went tracting that night and there were two really sketchy guys so we werent sure if we should contact them but we decided we needed to but they had no interest. Later we were knocking on this door and a guy rides up on his bike and said hey these two guys back there told me that you tried to stop them and talk about God so I came to find you, I want to learn more. It was really cool cause we were prompted to talk to those two men and even though they didn't have interest, it led another guy to us. Also on Sunday we only had 9 members at church not including the missionaries. That's probably the least amount of people I have ever seen at church. Things are just so different here but I'm glad I get to see what it is like and what others go through because they know these things are true. In America we are so blessed to have churches and temples everywhere. This morning we went to an old Catholic church and tooks some pretty sweet pictures so that was a lot of fun!

We reach toward the unknown, but faith lights the way. If we will cultivate that faith, we shall never walk in darkness. Gordon B. Hinckley

Have a great week. sbohem
Elder Paxton

Olomouc

So this week has been kinda slow. My companion got sick so our mission presidents wife made us stay locked up in our apartment for 2 days straight! It was soo boring. Then we finally got let out but by then we were both pretty sick but we didn't want to be inside anymore so we just kept working. We got a referral but he lived about 2 1/2 hours away so we decided to get the other elders in our district and go on a road trip to visit all of the less actives that live that far away and also give this guy a Book of Mormon. It was way fun! We drove all day and ended up in some crazy places! The GPS took us on this sketchy road and we ended up off roading on a really muddy road in our crappy little European car. Eventually we got to the referrals house at 8 at night and gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would come to church this week. Sunday I gave a talk in church and it went really well except for the fact that I am still pretty sick so after church we decided to call our mission presidents wife and once again we are locked up in our apartment until we get better so that kind of sucks. Other than that not much happened. I hope you all have a great week!


Sbohem,
Elder Paxton

We also did a chalk display and that is me contacting so girl.

Olomouc

Yup another great week in Olomouc.
It's pretty freezing now a days but we are surviving. This week we got to watch conference finally and it was great! We got a few of our investigators to come and watch with us so we watched it in Czech with them. That was pretty fun but by the end my head was ready to exploid!
We also had our game night like usually and this week I was playing ping pong with this girl and in the middle of our conversation she just cuts me off and asks will you teach me to pray? So we taught her to pray and it was really cool. The members were there and she got to see how prayer really helps in each of our lives even though we all have different things going on.
We got to go to the Slezarovi for dinner this week and it was amazing to see how big the gospel is in there lives. Every question we would ask they would always bring it back to the gospel and relate it to their lives! Crazy! They are the best example for me! We also found a way sick guy this week. He has a giant lion tattoo on his neck and huge gauges, he set up a lesson with us this Tuesday so I am way pumped for that lesson!

My favorite quote was from Russell M. Nelson, he said “the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, and everything to do with the focus of our lives”. We all have trials in our lives that we can't control but what we can control is the way we react to them. No matter what we are going through we can always find joy with faith in Jesus Christ.

sbohem,
Elder Paxton

Olomouc

Another great week here in Olomouc. Not too much happened but one night was pretty crazy (at least for the life of a missionary) I was on a split with a different missionary in my district and we went back to the building to switch back companions but we end up waiting there until 9 and they still aren't there so we call them a few times and they won't answer so we keep waiting all of the sudden its 9:30 and still nothing. We keep calling and they won't answer so we finally call the zone leaders to see what to do and they told us to just go to my apartment and we can switch back in the morning and they will find out where the other missionaries are. On our way home the AP's call because I was suppose to go on an exchange with them and they heard all this traffic and where like where the heck are you? So I told them what was going on so then they started freaking out cause it was 10 and we were still outside and didn't know where our companions were! Finally at 10:15 my the other missionaries show up and we switched back. They were stuck at a less actives house but nothing bad happened so that was good.
On Wednesday we met with these two girls that were self referrals and are both hard core Catholics but we had a really good lesson and they read past 1 Nefi 11 by the next day.
Sunday a member asked if we would give this lady a blessing and it was really cool. We walked in and I honestly thought she was dead, she wasn't moving or anything. We gave her a blessing and she opened her eyes. Then we sang to her and she got a huge smile on her face and started talking a little bit. We ended with a prayer and she just kept saying "Amen" with a big smile on her face. It was an awesome experience!
Also one of the new YSA's is from Slovakia so she has been teaching me a little Slovak. Pretty fun.
God loves you all. Jesus is our savior.
I hope you have a great week!

sbohem,
Elder Paxton

This girl left on her mission this week.