Missionary miracles in Slovakia

Hello everyone,

I hope that you're all having wonderful Mondays and that everything is going swimmingly in your lives. This week was okay, it wasn't the best week I've ever had but it really wasn't a bad week, but it was all right. We just had a ton of things to do and I and Elder Boysen are pretty exhausted from it all. We started off having an exchange on Tuesday with the Bratislava district leader, I was with Elder Lamb, and then we went on Wednesday to Zvolen for an exchange there.  Then we went on a train to Kosice and then a train back and then we drove back from Zvolen on Saturday morning and then we finished out the week and it was just very tiring and long.  But it was still rather fun I must say, seeing all the Elders was great as well as getting back to Kosice was a dream.  And then of course eating at Big Burger was great and heavenly.

Well the beginning of the week was really cool actually, I'm going to break this email up by exchanges and just explain everything that happened on them. So the first one was with Elder Lamb here in Bratislava, and it was good we also had district meeting and it was a little half baked but still good. All of his appointments fell through and so we spent some time contacting together which worked out very well because we were able to get 10 numbers. We taught 4 lessons together as well and the main miracle that happened was that I and Elder Lamb went back to his apartment because he wanted to do calls for an hour. So we get to the apartment and he realizes that his companion, Elder Calderon, has the keys.  And we can't get into the apartment, so we take a tram back into town.  While it's pouring, and get the keys from the other Elders. We get on the tram and I contact the guy next to me that I'm sitting down and he listens and I talk to him and get his number and set up a meeting with him. So I continue to talk to him until I have to get off, and he gets off with me, turns out that he lives very near the other Elders house and we wound up going to his apartment and teach him a whole lesson and set up another one for the next day and they've continued teaching him since. So that's the main thing about that exchange it was good and we were happy to do it.

Then we have Wednesday to work and we do that and I forgot but we also had a party with the ambassador for America and his wife that are living here. If you remember we did a service project for a kid’s hospital where we painted a picture on the wall for them. The ambassadors’ wife was the one running the whole operation and she of course had a party to celebrate the whole thing. It was super fun, they had some good food, and ice cream and we just mingled for the most part, which is what they asked us to do because we're good at it and most of the people are high school students They wanted it to be a lively thing. We got some pictures with the ambassador, which I'll get post sometime later, and he had a pin on his lapel, with the Slovak flag and the American flag and I asked him where he got it and he just took it off his lapel and just gave it to me and said I have tons on my desk.  You can have this one. So that's my souvenir from the awesome party they had it was really fun. And then we drive to Zvolen, which is a beautiful drive, it really is just gorgeous. Then we had our exchange there and I was with Elder Utley who was the previous zone leader before me with Elder Barber. He goes home in 2 transfers and is really good at the language. We had a great exchange together; we got like 5 numbers in 2 hours and a lesson on a bench. Over all it was very successful and exciting and the greatest thing is that we had a great interview at the end because we always have to have an interview with the people we go on exchanges with. He really opened up and we just talked and he sounds so much more excited and he's really fun to do call-ins with.  I love him and he's really great.

Then we had to leave the car in Zvolen and take a train to Kosice and since Elder Utley can drive, we had him drive us to Banska which is really close and drop us off at the train station there. So we catch the train there and we have to take it almost to Zilina which is an hour going the other direction just in order to catch a train to Kosice, because for some reason Zvolen train times are crap and it's really hard to get to Kosice from there. But it's fine.  So we get to a place near Zilina and get off and Elder Boysen tells me that he doesn't have his bag and it's lost, so he calls up the other Elders to drive to the train station and see if his bag is thee, so they do and drive fast over there and are able to find his bag again. During this rush we get on a train and ask the guy in the car just to make sure that that was the train to Kosice and he tells us yes. Then the conductor comes along and tells us that this isn't the train to Kosice and that we need to get off in this town and just pray to catch the train because the one going to Kosice is running late. So we get off and wait and wait and we are able to catch the train to Kosice, so all is well. We finally get there and we start the exchange and it goes pretty well. We didn't have the same amount of time but Elder Boysen and Elder Case were together and I was with Elder Ellingson. Elder Boysen contacted a girl there and said she would bring her friend to the lesson.  So we then find out yesterday that she came and brought her friend and they both set up for the next week. We also ate at Big Burger the best restaurant in the mission, and it was good, and I was happy haha. We unfortunately had to stop our exchange at 3 because we had a train at 4 because that's all we could catch back to zvolen in time. But in that moment I was able to see President Van Dalen for a little bit and give him a hug and it was super exciting. All in all it was a good exchange and we got back to Zvolen, ate some pizza and then were able to drive back to Bratislava and do some more work here. Numbers are a little bit lower this week but it was actually a pretty good week now that I think about it. And this week is going to be crazy great, we're pumped!

other than that, the people in our area have been doing good we have been meeting with a few people on a constant basis while Michaela is out of town, but she's still on plan to be baptized on the 28th. We've been meeting with a man named Michal in English and he's really awesome and loves us to death and is a little disappointed that Elder Boysen is leaving because he trusts him and likes him but its okay because I'm still here. We just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon because he logically doesn't believe in our church because of the whole trinity thing; it's a pain. We've also been meeting with a younger guy who is a referral from a less-active and the less-active told me that he trusts me a lot so that was a bonus to hear. The kid is really nice but a little flaky and wants to meet while Dusan is there and Dusan doesn't want us to talk to him about the church so we’re kind of handicapped there, but that's fine. That's pretty much it, we're doing great work and I'm so proud of everything and so happy with the blessings that we’ve seen it's great!

Well, this letter is rather long so I better finish it up but thank you all for all of the support and the love that you give me, I miss you all and thank you all. Be safe, and I wish you all the best this week!

Elder Ferrell

P.S. Mom and dad could you send me 3 1 dollar bills in a letter, Michal wants them and I said I could probably get them, so if you could do that, that would be great.! Thanks