Tomas Update: Week 14 in Trenčín

Ahojte všetci! It’s actually been a pretty crazy week out here, or at least I hope you all agree. Last week also was but this one was too. 

Tuesday was a very normal Tuesday. I know I said the week was crazy but I’m getting around to it. I actually don’t really have much to say whatsoever about Tuesday. 

Wendesday we managed to get back into contact with someone we were teaching! We had a nice lesson with her and she’s doing well, just life got a little crazy. We also had good ol English class, this time we were explaining something complex but I can’t remember what it was. Although ol reliable is any word with “th,” those are super super hard because that sound literally doesn’t exist in Slovak. Also we noticed that “usually” has a ž in it (written the Slovak way it would be júžuali) so that was cool. 

Thursday highlights were a lesson with Kevin, weekly planning, and a branch council meeting over the phone. Also buying a ridiculous amount of ties for everyone who wanted them at zone conference. Since all the good ties are here, we get orders and then gotta lug em to Blava. Honestly we should start charging a commission, but don’t tell anyone I said that in case I ever do. 

Friday was aforementioned zone conference, we drove over with the APs (assistants to prezident) and had a good day full of trainings, role plays, and good food. Leaves you real tired though because it’s a lot of information. But we came back and then just chilled out a bit, Osborne let me try his fujara (enormous Slovak shepherd flute) and we slept very good that night. 

Saturday we had interviews with Prezident! I realize that doesn’t mean a ton to most of you, but our mission president makes the rounds every while to just talk to us about how we are doing, how our area is doing, and in general get to know us better. He’s a really wise person so I always learn a lot. After interviews we went out to lunch with him and his son (who was actually in online MTC literally right then so that was cool), good luck to Elder Skousen! We had really good burgers. Then another good lesson with Kevin, studies, and an average rest of the day. 

Sunday was absolutely wild. We had 14 people at church! And none of them were from like America but me, so no one was visiting. We had a member from Ukraine who moved here, plus a Ukranian man being taught remotely both come, and it was so cool to see them meet each other and develop a relationship. Also it’s really good we have a Ukranian speaker, we can sorta get the gist but communication is hard even over text with my “Ukranian” (read: Slovak that I’ve translated with Google translate). And just church in general was so much more energetic with that many people there, it was so different. Then after church we went with Kevin to visit a less active member and it went super super well, we are really hoping she will pull up to church this Sunday. Kevin did a really good job and we are very proud of him, he has just progressed so fast (it’s been like 6 months since he was found). That took up most of our day what with also taking trains , but it was totally worth it. She really needed the visit too. 

Then finally Monday we went and visited a castle right around Žilina called Strečno, gets like a 7.5/10 from me. Cool castle, tour felt a bit rushed and the price was weirdly high. Good view though. I’m glad it was good however especially because it was one of the few things I haven’t done around Žilina. We also had to take a ferry to get there which was weird but cool. And we saw some sheep and ducks and a very friendly cat. Cool guy.

In other news we are also having some time set aside to crank out some baby blankets for Ukranian refugees, so I have learned how to crotchet. That’s been kinda fun but man this blanket is big and it’s gonna be a bit. I also keep having the random desire to make myself a sweater when I finish although I am pretty sure that’s not super feasible. We will see. 

Finally, here’s my photos link (I’ll put more up in a bit, still going through em): https://photos.app.goo.gl/GHgGUxN4X6y5nvio8

Hope you’re all well and enjoying the slow transition to fall, I sure am after all this heat. 

S láskou ,

Starší Cundick