Hellllllllllllllllo rodino a pratele!
Martin's baptism was absolutely perfect. Seriously! The talks were great, we missionaries sang "Lord, I would Follow Thee" and the acoustics in the pool room (yes, it's basically in a swimming pool...like where we used to go in Auburn, but smaller. I know) made it sound really neat. Martin was all laughs before hand, but afterwards he said he felt something that he'd never felt before in his life--that he felt so clean. It was so beautiful to be a part of that. So. In loving memory of Martin Grochol and his baptismal date of January 22, here are 22 things about Martin:
1. 23 years old
2. really skinny
3. has one younger sister and his parents are divorced
4. doesn't have a great relationship with any of them
5. when he finally worked up the courage to tell his mom about his baptism, the only response she gave was that she had to work
6. was hit by a car on his way to school when he was 12 and completely lost his memory--seriously, the guy doesn't remember a single thing from before the age of 12!
7. used to do karate and wants to get back in to it
8. owns an online store and works as a health consultant, as well as working for his dad building some sort of garage
9. is learning English--his favorite thing to say is "big boss"
10. gets along with everyone. really, it amazes me sometimes
11. is always joking. and after a vast majority of his jokes he says, "delal jsem si srandu", which basically means, "i just made a joke".
12. likes techno music
13. always wore this particular red jacket every time we saw him. until one day sister laws and I spotted him from the tram because of his red jacket. We told him later that day that we'd recognized him because of his jacket. the next day he came wearing a blue jacket. He told us that he if he could be recognized by that jacket, he was probably wearing it too much and had decided that he'd wear his blue jacket 2 days in a row and his red jacket every 3rd day to even it out. haha!
14. was raised atheist. but was so open to trying new things that his testimony grew rapidly.
15. is really self confident and doesn't fear anything, as far as I'm aware.
16. can't sing to save his life! seriously! WAYYYYYY worse than Dad (I hope he never reads this...). Sometimes we would sing at the beginning of our meetings with him. He really tried, but has absolutely no sense of tune. One day in particular I just couldn't help myself and busted up laughing several times during the song. Fortunately we were already good pals by then, so it didn't matter so much
17. has a really squeaky voice for someone who's already 23--like he's still going through puberty. Sister Laws and I wonder if it maybe has something to do with that accident when he was younger. He never acts like he notices it, but his voice changes pitch mid-sentence rather often.
18. always calls us "buddies"--another English word he likes
19. the first thing we taught him to say in english was "if I told you, then I'd have to kill you"--we tried to get him to use it on another Elder during English class, but he didn't. skoda
20. when he first tried on his baptismal clothes he said he felt like a spaceman and began walking around like he was on the moon
21. after his baptism, Olga (who came! it was really SO good for her to see it...and to know that she was supposed to be baptised that day too. afterwards she kept talking about how excited she was for her own. and she came to church the next day and stayed the whole time and actually got a little dressed up for it) asked him if he was going to come to her baptism. He said, 'Of course--i'll come and baptize you myself!" He was mostly joking, but Sister Laws and I think it's a great idea! We'll work on it. :)
22. I asked him afterwards why he'd wanted to get baptised (probably something I should have asked him a long time ago, I know) and he said, "Because I know this is the right path." Once he told me that he was looking for a way to find satisfaction in his life--on Saturday he told me that he was more satisfied and he knew that through God's true church he would be truly happy with his life. Cool, right?
Whew! Hopefuly the next person is baptised sometime before the 10th.
Other than that, we actually had a really fantastic week! In fact, President Irwin himself called us unexpectedly last night to tell us that "we'd made an old man proud." It's really weird--he's called us FOUR times in the past week--two of them were just to talk and ask about our week. That NEVER happens. Every time he calls, I about have a heart attack and worry that we're getting unexpectedly transferred again or something.
One of the times he called, it was to tell me that we can move the call to whenever we want, I just have to let him know beforehand. All signs say go.
Speaking of MICHAL, the MIRACLE!! We gave him a baptismal date last night--for the 26th of February! The meeting was SO spiritual, it was kind of draining. But we explained baptism and the holy ghost to him in a bit of detail and shared experiences we'd had about being led by the spirit. Then we told him straight up how much of a miracle it was that we found him. He almost cried during part of it! We were supposed to practice english with him afterwards, but he said he didn't feel like it. Instead he asked us to show him the plan of salvation again, so we pulled out the pictures and went over it all again. Then, in his funny czech accent, he said, "It's true," in English. (actually we didn't understand what he said at all at first because he didn't pronounce it correctly. ha) The big skoda (or pity, in english) is that the branch is having an activity the 26th, which means we'll have to move it to the next saturday--the 5th of march. Which is after transfers. And chances are that one of us will go. :( But maybe we'll be able to come back. I think there are enough good people in the ward to fellowship him well. He gets along with basically everyone we've introduced to him so far. No one really his age, but I think it'll be okay.
Something funny: a lady we've taught a few times who was at church last week called us and told us that her daughter wants to be baptized! Miracle, right? When we taught her about baptism, however, the main thing she wants is to have two names like her dad (she's 10). :) We told her we don't do that and she was a little disappointed, but still is considering it. Then the member we were teaching with explained all about the second names we get in the temple and how they're a big secret--laid out the vast majority of temple ordinances for her and made it sound really fun. sister laws and I almost fainted. How helpful of her.
I'm not sure if we have a co detector, but the mission will fund it. I'll check.
Bad news: I had to buy a new camera today. Mine started having seizures during Martin's baptism. Bad timing, right? But not too bad--only $150 for the camera and an 8 gig card. I'm forwarding an email w/ pics that sister laws took of the baptism.
That's about all I have. I love you all so much!
Shout outs:
Beks: a letter is on the way! I just lurve you!
Chri: and Corey: I forgot to wish you happy anniversary! Woo!
S. Wheeler: ahahahahahaah! again! You're so great!
s laskou,
sestra dean
No comments:
Post a Comment