Week 9: This is the Place (Hastings)

We finally had a break in the weather! It's a freaking miracle! It felt like sunny and 75 even though it was really just partly cloudy with some sun and 55... basically the same thing when you've had a lack of sun in your life for weeks. Man the sun just puts you in a better mood that's for sure!

To have some fun in the sun we did some garden work for our nana of the area, sister Brown. We even had a cute little classic lunch by grandma in the garden while we working! I even ate tomatoes on my ham and tomato sandwiches she made us... I know I'm growing up.

The rest of the week was filled with the standard missionary work. Doing some some street contacting, teaching Samule, and we taught this new girl named Aga at the beach on Monday! I found her in the old area books and just decided to call her and met with her. She's from Poland! Raquel would love her.

Yesterday we had a dinner appointment with the Meacham family. He's from west Virginia so of course of they're American they are cool and usually normal. He just bought a bench press so we worked out on it after dinner. We're gonna go workout again some other time with a nonmember and teach while working out. It wasn't enough weight though for me ;)

Today we are currently packing and getting ready to move into our flat today! Finally it's a miracle! That's what the plan for the day is!

That's really it for this week... Love you all and enjoy the week!

With love,
Elder Hruby

All the weight

Week 8: Easter Week! (Hastings)

My first holiday in the field!

Well peeps I'm back. It was General Conference this week, so fun it was a good week!

We were on exchange last week in Maidstone which is always a blast! We spent the night there Wednesday night and then on Thursday after exchange we had our district meeting. The zone leaders, STL's, and our senior couple were all there as well. It was pretty good. At the end we all shared experiences in our lives when Christ has been there for us and it was very spirit filled which was awesome.

Friday it was pouring all day so we did not have any success outside. We did a lot of planning and did some packing in our flat to get ourselves ready to move by next week... which we still don't know where we are moving yet! Oh how joyful it's been not knowing where we are gonna live!

Saturday we spent most of the day helping a family move flats. After that we got ready and then headed to the chapel for General Conference! We got there about an hour early because there was a baby shower and the member told us to come early and eat all the leftovers, so knowing me of course we went and feasted. It was awesome. We then watched the Saturday morning session! It was freaking fantastic. All i know is when we sustained President Nelson as the new prophet of God I got goosebumps and could just feel and know that he is a prophet of God.

Sunday was spent all day at the church. We had a priesthood breakfast before the priesthood session which was flipping dank. Bishops wife was cooking all this food for us. It made it hard to stay awake during that session. Our friend Samule came with us and stayed for 6 hours! He doesn't even really understand what was being said yet he stayed that long! Elder Tollestrup and I were at the chapel from 9-7. It was quite the day.

On Monday we found out we had to go to Maidstone that night because our district leader, Elder Lopiano, was getting transferred to Brighton. We had to go stay the night there Monday so when he left in the morning elder Kápolnási wouldn't be alone. We thought we would just be spending part of the day there until our new district leader, Elder Rhee, got there. He didn't end up getting to Maidstone until 9:30 P.M. we had to stay the night again! It was a freaking party.

We work up this morning and took a train back to Hastings. We went on a run today, like we do every preparation day, and got some groceries and such. The weather is supposed to not be as rainy and as cold this week which is a positive!

The good news is I know that the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true. It's such an awesome book that I would highly recommend to anyone who requires oxygen to breathe.... oh wait. Anyways love you all!

With love,
Elder Hruby

Week 7: Sun's Out, Gun's Out (Hastings)

Hello all!

It was another good week! Thursday last week we headed to President and sister Gubler's house for interviews. It was a good time. They live in a very posh area which was a change from where we are... Hastings is like the hood. There are a lot of drugs and violence. Somebody actually got killed here last week so that is always good. Interviews were fun though and we had a good time! We watched the videos of everyone opening their calls. When I was talking about mine it made me pretty emotional. It made me realize how lucky I am with the friends and family that I have. You guys are the absolute best and I am blessed with the best!

We only have 1 progressing friend and that is Samule. He came to church again this week and we have met with him several times. He is on date to be baptized on April 28th so hopefuly we can continue to progress towards that date. We finally got him a book of Mormon in Amharic which should help!

The weather has finally gotten nice for a little! We actually saw the sun and it was glorious When the sun is out we go to the beach and it is so beautiful there! We had lunch/dinner at the Hobbs home sunday after church. They are probably the most normal family in the ward, so it was nice being around them!

Other than that the week was pretty normal. We are in Maidstone today and then tomorrow as well due to exchanges. It should be a good time!

People it is time for General Conference this week!! We get to here from prophets and apostles of God on Saturday and Sunday! I encourage you all to watch as much as possible and to prepare yourself for it. You get out of it what you put in. You can find answers to so many questions if you pray and ponder them before the sessions begin. It is going to be an amzing time!!

Well I love you all! Talk to you guys soon!!

With love,
Elder Hruby

Week 6: Harvest Week (Hastings)

People what is up?

It seemed like a quick week did it Not? Well maybe not for you guys since you get to enjoy freaking March madness! Are you kidding me?!?! The games this year are amazing! Hope you all are watching extra just for me!

So I have finally figured out why people in our ward don't seem to great. It's because the missionaries in the past were terrible. Like for a good while they haven't has good missionaries here. We had 6 dinner appointments in a row this week! The members really like us and know we're legit unlike those in the past. We don't have as many scheduled this week, but they definitely like us more in 3 weeksthan they did others in months. So that's pretty amazing! After dinner at our bishops house Wednesday we were walking home when brother Marshall called us. Now brother Marshall and his family remind me of the honey boo boo family, but instead he is the mom. They have like 8 pets and they literally live in a pig sty. Like imagine hoarders hurried alive and that's them. Anyways he called us and seemed very frantic saying he needed us immediately, so he said he would come pick us up. Meanwhile my companion and i are thinking we are about to give a blessing (Brother Marshall doesn't have the priesthood) and getting ourselves prepared. He pulls up and skids to a stop and says hurry get in! While driving he told us the story that a local shop got all their deliveries of sandwiches on the same day and were selling them for 20 pence (about a quarter) and they bought 60 pounds worth (about $80) of them. He needed us to come take some home because he had already eaten about 10 and couldn't handle it. So that was that night... They are literally the funniest group of people I have ever seen in my life.

On Thursday we met a man named Samule from Ethiopia! He doesn't speak the best English and can only read Amharic! But he came to church on Sunday and seemed to like it and we taught him yesterday again. He accepted a baptismal date... We think. It's hard teaching him and getting him to understand everything clearly but we are working on it.

We had dinner with an older woman Thursday night and she took us out which was awesome. We got some fat bacon burgers, fries, and onion rings!! She hooked it up real nice and went on to tell us her life story and how the missionaries in the past nobody liked and how much she liked us already! She's so great and we have dinner with her next week as Well! Her name is sister brown and she's my nana for while I'm here and I'm not even mad!

Friday we had a teach in a nearby town with a man named Dave who's in his 70's. He literally talked the whole time and we could barely say anything. Basically he told us at the end of it that he was never gonna change what he believes so that was a bust... Oh well

Friday and Saturday were nothing special and our dinner appointments were with some weird people, but hey you gotta love them and the food!

Sunday we had Samule and a guy named James show up to church. We had never met James but he just showed up. I guess he has come before and decided he wanted to come. He's a really odd dude who wants to start his own yoga religion, but hey he was still at church. There was a munch and mingle after church but we were fasting so we didn't get to participate. The members hooked it up though and gave us a lot of the leftovers that we devoured after our fast. We were fasting for the harvest week.

Harvest week is where everybody in the entire mission focuses on getting as many friends in one week. Our zone has a goal of 90 friends in one week, which is 10 per companionship. It's definitely tough but we've already got 4 so far. Not sure how solid they all are but it's just a big push week. That's what we are doing this whole week basically is just finding!

We do have interviews at presidents house tomorrow as a zone which should be fun. It's always nice when you get together in a big group with everyone!

I appreciate the prayers from everyone... I can definitely feel the power of them helping me through!! I love you all and miss you all so much. You guys are the best and I'm blessed to have you guys in my life!

With love,
Elder Hruby

Week 5: Hastings

Hello everyone! Another week is in the books!

Well this week was your typical week as a missionary. Lots of street contacting and many unfriendly people, but hey that's england for you!

On Thursday I went on exchange in Maidstone with my district leader elder Lopiano! He's from Connecticut and a super cool guy! We just did some finding and went to a dinner appointment which is always fun!

Friday consisted of more finding with elder Lopiano! No success but still fun. We had a dinner appointment that night with a super cool couple, the Evans. He has the biggest movie collection and soooooooo many good movies. We spend a lot of the night just talking about all these different movies!

Saturday was more finding. We found a new friend named James who was actually married to a Mormon years ago. We are meeting with him again tomorrow at subway!

Sunday was actually mothers day here which was fun. Makes me miss the best mom a young man could have ever asked for. Got me excited for may!! Like come on people does anyone even come close to Stefanie (Ellen) Hruby?? I'm sorry but no.

Monday was very typical with lots of finding but no new friends, but there are some potentials! Eventually people will have to start to listen to what we have to say right?!

Tuesday I had my first zone conference! It was so great to see some of the familiar faces from the MTC!! I got to see elder Murtonen which made my day! Dang I love that man. It was a good conference and the theme for the next 9 weeks is Moroni madness in honor of March madness. Every companionship is going to try to bring one friend to the big dance, aka baptism! It's an exciting time!

Today was spent grocery shopping, cleaning, and relaxing. It's been a nice change up. It's also sunny today for like the first time ever and it's been so great!

We'll that's the week for ya! I love and miss you all! Make sure to watch as much basketball as you can in honor of me! Until next week my dudes!

With love,
Elder Hruby

Delish Japanese food after the exchange with my District Leader

Reunited with MTC companion, Elder Murtonen!

Thanks Mom and Dad. You da real MVPs.

Week 4: Hastings

It definitely feels like it's been much longer than a month that's for sure. This was a week full of adjusting. My days have been filled with contacting people in streets and doing a lot of book work. We had no investigators when I got here and we were able to find one on Friday. Her name is loo and she's an atheist just like every other human being who lives here. It's crazy. Anyways she said she was intrigued by what we were saying and agreed to meet with us. We met with her last night and taught her about the doctrine of Christ and the restoration. She was very attentive and agreed to meet with us again on Monday which is great! Although she doesn't necessarily have a belief in God still, she is willing and wanting to learn more still. We extended a baptismal date of April 14th as a goal to work towards and she accepted!

Church on Sunday was way different than I am used to. It's very small and not a lot of members. We prepared the sacrament, passed the sacrament, and taught Sunday school. I'm so used to our ward and all the people there, so it's gonna take some getting used to. I don't really know any of the members, but we're trying to set up visits so I can get to know them.

We've also been looking at flats this week because we have to be out of the one we're in now by March 21st. We found one in the middle of town that we're really hoping we get! I've also never cooked so much in life. I do most of the cooking which is a shocker I know right?!?! Also our area is huge. Like you can take the train for a good while in any direction and that's still our area!

It snowed a lot here this weekend which caused lots of things to shut down. By a lot i mean it snowed but here any snow is a lot of snow.

I got to meet my district on Monday for our district meeting. It seems like a good group of people which is really nice! Not even close to my mtc group, but no gorup ever will even get close to that.

I got my first haircut here today and it was amazing. My buddy Sergio hooked it up and did me up real nice. I even hooked him up with a tip since most people don't do that here. We're headed to our district leaders area today to hang with our district. I'm also headed back there tomorrow because I'm going on exchange with elder lopiano, the district leader, which should be fun!

There's my first week in the field lady's and gents. Hope all is well back home and somebody needs to fill out a March madness bracket for me!

P.S. it made my day getting the package of cookies (this is Courtney - mama Stef paid an obscene amount to send Ben the Girl Scout cookies he ordered before he left - true love haha)! Those kind of things are what get me through. Also I attached a pic of fast Sunday tie and suit!

With love,
Elder Hruby

Fast Sunday Tie 

Girl Scout Cookies

Area 1 Day 1

Well long time no see am I right?! I guess I'll just give you a recap of the last couple days. So, we traveled on Tuesday by bus for about 4 hours from Preston to Staines. We had some training Tuesday afternoon and then we spent the night in a hotel that night. Wednesday morning we woke up and had some more training. We got put with one of the trainers just for the day, but mine ended up being my actual companion. Like I said his name is Elder Tollestrup and he is from Alburta Canada! He seems pretty cool and normal... So far.

After we got our assignments I said some of the hardest goodbyes I've ever had to say in my life. It actually made my heart ache, but I guess that means they are that good of friends. We then headed for the train station and began the most interesting travel period of my life. We only were about two hours from where we were headed but it took us 7 hours to get there. We missed a train, got on a wrong train, and then they were all delayed due to weather. It's been snowing here and it's cold as balls! All the delay was well worth it because at about 9 at night while we were on our final train we started talking to a man from Slovakia! He loved hearing what we had to talk about! Unfortunately he is headed home soon but he told us that he was going to get into contact with the missionaries when he gets home! It's crazy how Heavenly Father makes things happen!

Our apartment is Better than I expected, but we have to get a new one soon. We have to be out in like 3 weeks so we might just have to spend more money since they haven't found a good one yet which means we would be living large!

So far today we went to town and got a few things and then we went grocery shopping. I think we're gonna walk like 45 minutes to the chapel this afternoon to play some ball. We're also gonna walk back there again tonight for a youth activity, so I can meet some of the youth in the ward!

Other than that there's not much to say considering this is the third time this week! My P day will be Wednesdays from now on! Just wanna tell you again how much I love you guys. You're the best!!!!!

With love,
Elder Hruby