Typical Sunday

Sunday morning, August 5, 2018, was a beautiful sunny warm morning. We drove to church which is a 30 minute drive and 35 kilometers south past farmland, rolling hills, and small villages. We sometimes give a couple young missionaries a ride along with us, but they often take the train. A train ride takes about 50-minutes with a short walk from the station to the church building.

The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints was established in Slovakia just a few years ago and is unknown by most local people. Our church services are held inside a very old four-story rented office building. We occupy a few rooms on the first floor that once was a medical office. The front of the chapel faces a tall window covered by a curtain and azure blue walls. We administer the sacrament in this room. Chairs are set in rows, a table for the sacrament, a piano for hymns, and a podium for preaching. Few buildings have air conditioning so we often open windows and use a portable fan during the summer. It's small but cozy.

There were five branch members in attendance and two investigators. A family of four from the United States visited with their son who finished his mission in Slovakia. We also had eight missionaries some who traveled from rural villages to attend.

The sister missionaries play and conduct the music. The hymns are sung in Slovak but the music is familiar to us. The Slovak language is spoken so Greg and I use headsets. A young missionary will translate Slovak into English through a microphone to our transmitters so we can follow along.

Today, is fast and testimony meeting. The members of the congregation have a chance to stand and speak what they believe about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The young missionaries who recently transferred to Košice were encouraged to share their testimonies. A young married woman stood to bear her testimony and share her recent experiences at the Frieberg temple in Germany.

Greg and I frequently teach Sunday School and other adult classes. I am scheduled to teach Sunday School and Greg the Priesthood quorum (all the men). We both teach in English so the headsets are passed to the native speakers. Everything gets translated and even writing words on the board need to be translated. Throughout the lesson, we pause for the translator to catch up. When a class member makes a comment, it too is translated. Communication is always a challenge, there are members who speak Slovak, Czech, Dutch, and most recently a man from India. But all speak either English or Slovak. Speaking with a translator is difficult to get used to but it is normal now.

A young man who was recently baptized showed up an hour late as he traveled on the train about 90 minutes from his town. Most young people do not own vehicles here in Slovakia, and everyone utilizes the trains. Even missionaries in our district travel by train or bus, as two of them live in a village 85 minutes away. 

It's quite an experience to see these small branches or groups of the church out in these isolated locations. But there are some great people here and we really enjoy our time together. We often bring lunch for everyone as the journey to and from church takes several hours. There have been some very dedicated new converts to the church and we have grown in friendship with them. In the past several months we have seen four young people baptized and join the church. One young man who converted a couple years ago has already left to serve a mission in England.

Later in the evening we arranged for all the missionaries to rally at our apartment to break the fast. There were ten of us for dinner and it was a great time to be together, but within 60 minutes they were out the door to catch a train, and traveling back to their assigned areas.

Yes, we are a long way from our home, but we have grown to love serving the people of Slovakia.

Slovakia was dedicated for the preaching the gospel just twelve years ago. We have only the Book of Mormon translated into Slovak at this time, with other scriptures and teaching manuals to be released later this year. Currently, the scriptures and church manuals are in Czech.

On General Conference weekend, our branch will have fast and testimony Sunday, the following week we hope to get Slovak translations completed so we can listen to conference. Our district conference is held in Bratislava, which is six hours travel for us to attend, so we usually get a hotel the night before so we are present in the morning. 

I share some of these differences to let you know how faithful these members are in these foreign lands and how much they struggle just to attend church compared to our large wards and stakes in Las Vegas. We love them for the dedication and striving to follow the Savior and His teachings. We will leave to go back to the USA where our struggles are different, but we will leave with a greater appreciation for this worldwide church and the faithful members who live the commandments of the Lord.