Zilina hopeful

Hello family,


This week has been a quick couple of days. Thanksgiving was a feast that I was really thankful for. We went over to a members house for dinner. Then we had an English class and someone came! Zilina's English class is usually empty. We show up at 5 and then if no one comes, we leave. But this week a woman came to learn English! It was a good class (the secret is the charm ;) and she'll be back with friends. English was one of my favorite activities in Kosice, we had a good, big class that came every week. But we're going to do our best to see Zilina's class grow. Along with our teaching pool.


On Saturday we had Specialized Training--no more travelling for me! Most of the conferences are in Zilina from now on :) It was really good--as always. President talked about the Doctrine of Christ. We pretty much read and discussed 2 Nephi 31. I really enjoyed it. The Zone Leaders talked about unity within companionships (using the usual sport analogies that are inevitable with our ZLs) And the Assistants trained us on using better questions. I love when we have conferences and trainings. I always come out ready to work a little smarter. Next month we won't have any because we'll have the Christmas conference. I am SO excited for another Christmas in Prague!


Have I ever expressed how thankful I am to be in Slovakia as a missionary?? Elder Tomlinson and I ran into an American girl-it had been a long time since I had talked to an American on the street about religion. She had such an American attitude. "Oh, I already know all about you Mormons", "I've done a lot of research". "I believe in 'inclusiveness' ", "No, I've never read the Book of Mormon", etc etc. I got a little frustrated afterwards how the conversation went nowhere. Americans would be the hardest people to talk to I think. I always get a little disappointed when people flat out refuse to do some honest looking and are content with their superficial "understanding" on Mormonism. If people truly took the time to look at it objectively they would see that God's plan of salvation is about as inclusive as it gets! The idea that EVERY person who has ever lived, or will ever live, has an equal chance to hear the Gospel and an equal standing before God is unique to His church. But I guess you can't look at in objectively. You have to look at it prayerfully and faithfully that fairness actually exists in this world. I love that this all makes sense. Sometimes it's hard to keep going, but that's usually because we forget what the Doctrine of Christ means for us. In short, I just love Slovaks and the fact that no one knows who we are. We have a little bit of an advantage.:)


I hope everything is perfect for you all. I love you and I'll talk to you next week! Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I'll try to send more next week.


Elder Williams