September 16, 2013 - Košice

Hello Everyone!!

     Okay. So this week was an adventure week!! Monday we went to Spišsky Hrad and it was awesome! It made life super rushed but it was totes worth it. We took a bus from Kosice and then had to hike up to the castle (which was a killer. Dad, please don't disown me 'cause of my inability to hike up a mountain w/out being winded. I will now repent and stop eating so much.) But it was really fun with nice, cool weather. On the way back we seemed to catch every single bus just in time to get us home in a timely manner.

 This week we did SERVICE!! It was super great! We helped President van Dalen in his yard with weeding and what not...things I was raised doing (every single Saturday of my life. Thanks Mom and Dad. ;) ). It was really fun and a nice relief to actually do some manual labor.

And we also had a missionary organized vylet! As a finding tool, to boost our teaching pool and to help introduce non members and investigators to members and missionaries, we do vylets. On Saturday, we went to Slancsky Hrad...well that was the plan at least. We met in the morning at the Church building, which is a stones throw away from the train station. It was us four proselyting missionaries, the humanitarian couple, Pres. van Dalen and one of the elders investigators.

Sadly, the weather was overcast with chance of rain so a few people canceled. The train ride wasn't very long and when we arrived at our stop we couldn't get the doors open!! So at the next stop we jumped off. Unfortunately for us the next train didn't come for another 2 hours so we decided to walk back to Slanec. Which took most of our time. By the time we got to the town, it was time to head back to Kosice (we had other things we needed to see to) and everyone was tuckered from our cross country walk across Slovakia! But it was a good experience for the Elders'  investigator.

I've been learning more and more hymns for church. It's fun and awful at the same time. But I really love being able to help the branch out.

 Okay so about a few of my investigators...

One of them, V, is just amazing. She is really open to our message, asks good questions and said she would be baptized if she knew the Book of Mormon is true! Our problem though, is when we tried to set a specific date, she'll be out of town! But that's okay and an easy concern to work through. V is super sweet and really enjoys our visits. She also speaks English (and actually teaches English) but always lets us talk in Slovak.

Pani K (Pani means Mrs and her last name is long so I'm just gonna leave it at K) is a really nice lady we contacted last transfer. She is Catholic (like most of the country). She's reading in the KM (Kniha Mormonova) and told us she believes it's the word of God. And she told us that if she knew the Church was true she would be baptized. She has something holding her back though and she's missed the connection between authority and KM. She really likes visiting with us and we've been able to help resolve a few of her concerns (such as what happens after death).

K and H and baby D are a really nice Catholic family. They sometimes are hard to commit. They might just be meeting with us because we talk about religious but they are very sensitive to the Spirit and they feel a difference with us in their home.

Well this isn't quite a long letter but I've mailed one off to you. Quick question...have you gotten my other letters? That's pretty much it. I love you all and wish you a beautiful day!

S Laskou,

Sestra Whitney Sarah Johnson <3