Houžev

I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a long week, but once more, I really can’t remember much of the specifics. That’s life when you never go outside I guess. This week was not really the best for our area, despite our best efforts. A few of our friends all decided that they were done learning about God for the time being.

Because there was so little actually happening this week, I really don’t have too much else to convey. We got to go give a local member a priesthood blessing on Sunday, which provided a much needed trip outside of the city. It was also so good to enter the house of a family again. There is a special kind of love found only in families and nowhere else. It is also always good to have an opportunity to serve and bless the life of another through the priesthood with which I have been entrusted.

This week during our weekly church broadcast one of the speakers spoke of the Czech concept of houžev. Now if you translate the word houžev, google will probably just tell you it means ‘tenacity,’ which isn’t entirely incorrect, but in Czech the word carries more meaning. I could go off on the stories I’ve heard of wise old Moravian kings and foolish sons, but in essence the word refers to the fact that when a bundle of twigs is wound together it has a much higher tensile strength than any piece separate would. The speaker then drew the connection between that principle and us as members of Christ’s church, especially during times of trial. When we face challenges alone, it is easy for us to feel stretched thin, bent out of shape, or almost broken. Luckily for us, we never have to face our challenges alone. All of us that have entered the baptismal covenant have the promise of comfort when we stand in need of it, and support from those around us, just as we promised to help our neighbor when they stand in need. As we remember the principle of houžev, we can remember that with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ we can handle things that we could not on our own.

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a wonderful week!

Čus,

Starší O’Barr