May 25, 2015 - In which we have a wedding

Dear family,

Last week was (as ever) exciting! We had some good meetings with investigators and we're finding new people pretty steadily. Elder Smith has a special talent for finding people and teaching them on the go, and we've been finding a lot of people in that way. Some of them are starting to progress more and more, which is exciting to see. Not all of them are able to meet very much, but we're trying to be bold about the blessings of the gospel and give strong, specific commitments. Yesterday we had a great lesson with a new investigator Mr. S. We met him a couple of weeks ago and taught a lesson, and yesterday we returned to teach about the plan of salvation. It was a rewarding lesson for us to see him understand the gospel. As a companionship we've set a goal that we want to practice teaching for understanding, and we did well in helping him understand.

L is doing pretty well. She is excited for her baptism on Saturday, but is apparently having some opposition from her family. Her parents seem to like us (we always chat when we go to visit), but apparently her extended family that lives on the same street as her is almost aggressively against us. It's been difficult for L because she's worried about the influence that her extended family will have on her parents, but she is strongly committed to her baptism. She is excited for it! She's grateful for your prayers for her :)

L is also doing well. Saturday was her wedding, which was quite nice. The service was short and simple and President Zatloukal emphasized how L and M can prepare for a sealing in the Temple. Quite a few members came and L especially seemed happy. She continues to prepare for her baptism on the sixth, which is now only two weeks away! She's keeping all the commandments. Our goal is to try to keep her more in the scriptures before her baptism, because while she's reading she doesn't seem to feel like she gets much from them. She loves coming to church, though, and has been able to come the last two weeks with the Relief Society president.

We've also started working with M, L's husband. L and President Zatloukal seem very enthusiastic about M getting baptized also. While M isn’t quite as thrilled about it yet, he’s agreed to work towards it :)

H is continuing to do well. It always seems to me that he's withstanding a lot of opposition from his friends and family for being a member. They are sometimes really hard on him, but he's doing really well. We think it would be good for L to talk with him because they are both going through a lot of opposition now.

That's just about everything that's new in our area! We have a few newer investigators that seem like they could have some potential.

This Wednesday we have training in Bratislava in Slovakia! We're excited to head there!! On Wednesday we'll probably have to leave our apartment at 3:30am to catch a train to Slovakia at 4:24, but it will be a lot of fun. We've been studying and preparing for it. Elder Kearon of the first quorom of the Seventy is coming on a tour. As of the first of July or something like that he'll also be the new president of the European area. I'm excited to learn from him. We've been learning a lot in preparation for his visit. Unfortunately there was a problem with the Internet at the library so I had to finish writing this really fast at the Keppners after FHE, but love you lots and hope you have a great week :)

Love,
Elder Boyce

PS I had some photos from the wedding to send, but unfortunately I ran out of time to send them because of the Internet problems. I'll send them on Saturday, hopefully with some photos from L's baptism! :)