November 2 2015

This week has been awesome, and Elder Page and I both feel like this Transfer is going to be something memorable. When I started traveling to Jihlava, I was a little scared knowing that I would be traveling by myself and would be having to transfer over to another bus when I arrived first in Brno. (I traveled from zlín to brno, and then to Jíhláva) I was preparing myself to go and do this all by myself, and I was quite nervous. But all of that changed when I arrived in Jihlava. Elder Page is my new companion, and it's actually quite funny now that we're companions because Elder Page was Follow-up-trained by my Trainer. that means that Elder Page spent his 2nd transfer, in Zlín, while I was in the MTC. and then when I went to Zlín for my 1st transfer, Elder Page went to Jihlava for his 3rd transfer. This is funny because my dad(trainer) is Elder Page's StepDad(follow-up-trainer). AND it's even more funny because that means that THIS TRANSFER I'll be serving my 2nd transfer with an Elder that's only been here for 4 months Longer than me! ha! When I first arrived in Jihlava, Elder Page was with Elder Huffaker, an Elder that came in the same group as my trainer, which means that He will be leaving the mission at the End of this THIS NEW transfer. And Elder Page and Elder Huffaker had already had some time serving together, at least to some degree. This meant that they already had some type of relationship due to time working together. However when I arrived at the Jihlava appartment where the Elders are staying, I just felt something stir, and I felt that the Lord has some big things planned for Jihlava this Transfer. This was first confirmed when Elder Page told me that he also was getting the same impression, and we talked about this idea quite a lot. After the first day, Elder Huffaker went back to his city and Elder Page and I were able to officially discuss more thoughouly our impression that something Big's going to happen in Jihlava this Transfer. We talked about our dedication to our mission, and our dedication to our God, and how we wanted, in all things, to consecrate ourselves to God, and that we'd let nothing stand in our way of doing just that. When this concept of consecration to the Lord was proposed to me, I loved it, and decided to make it a top priority, and I'm seeing just how much is involved with "consecrating ourselves to the Lord". Yet at the same time... it's incredibly simple. The simplicity of the concept was not realized for me until on my 2nd day here in Jihlava, Elder Page talked to me about "why" we are obedient. At first this idea of being Obedient was thought of by me as being something that we do because... I thought about it for a minute or two, then said, "because it's the right thing.". Problem was, that was not the answer. I had provided the answer that didn't actually lead back to the source. I was informed by Elder Page that, "The reason I want to be obedient, is because I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior." Suddenly it all made perfect sense. I wanted to be obedient because I love my God, and I love His Son, Jesus Christ. "Yeah!" was my imediate responce. That was indeed why I want to be obedient, and realizing that was a huge thing for me. President McCoknie asked us to send him our vision for this Transfer, here it is. for me. 1. We will consecrate everything that we do, and who we are to the Lord, because we love Him. 2. Members will know how the Lord is in Jihlava. 3. Members will know how they can contibute to the work. 4. Our Branch Mission Leader will Lead the Work here in Jihlava. 5. We will embrace and seek for miracles. I have already seen in many ways how the Lord is helping us to achieve this Transfer vision, and I know that He is here in Jihlava. The other night, Saturday, Elder Page and I were praying to conclude our daily planning. In the prayer, Elder Page asked our Heavenly father for a miracle to see somebody at church the next day. After the prayer, Elder Page explained to me that he had recieved a prompting to ask for a miracle, and so he did. About 20 minutes later, I'm in the restroom, and Elder Page is preparing for bed, and we hear our phone go off. I hear Elder Page walk out into the other room to check the text and then I hear him mumble something though I wasn't able to tell what it was. After I got out of the restroom Elder Page turns around holding the phone with a huge grin and says, "Luboš is coming to church tomorrow." Luboš was one of the people who we were interested in talking to again in Jihlava and we didn't exactly know how we were going to talk to him. However suddenly, Elder Page and I had that problem taken care of, and we could feel and just knew that the Lord was behinds the scenes. The next day, Luboš did come to church, and on top of that, he brought a friend, and that means we succeeded in our goals of geting two people at church. We are very blessed to be serving here in Jihlava together and I can't wait to see what this transfer holds. President and his wife are taking good care of my companion and I as well, and I can just feel Elder Page's and my desire to just do so much for the Lord. As an after note, It sounds like Halloween was fun over there! Here in Jíhláva we had a Halloween Party with the Branch. I was able to meet and get more aquainted with the Members here in this city, and we have a great Branch. We have a family named the Navratiloví, and they are Czech, but they are also living in the states oftentimes due to the Husband's work, and they have, I think they have 5 kids, the oldest is 11 and then the youngest is probably 2. They're just the coolest Rodina(family). tak, miluji vám!