Things Are Looking Up!

 Taylor's fabulous email in its entirety (almost). I must be feeling lazy or distracted or something....I'm not even going to attempt to correct all of his typos :)

Draha rodino,

Such a gooood week! I don't even know what our numbers were, because I"m in Prague right now. HA! All new missionaries, from last transfer, are here to renew our visas. So we had a nice little MTC reunion. Prague is waaay beautiful, but I miss Ostrava. Its my city. Anyway, stories about this week. Get pumped.

One of our investigators  is sooooo going to get baptized! The only reason he hasn't yet is because his girlfriend doesn't want to get married, and they live together. HE's divorced and she is a widow, so they both are afraid to be alone again, and she doesn't want to lose her widow money from the government, which she will if they get married. But, his dad just died a few months ago. So, we talked about the Plan of Salvation, and how baptism is a requirement to get into God's kingdom and be with our families forever. He wants ot soo bad. WE're going to start teaching him and his girlfriend, togetehr, and they are going t o be baptized! It was such a good lesson.

We had a couple good lessons with a less actve woman. She just can't stop smoking. It really is rough. WE're going to start working with her and another member who has overcome a similar addiction, to kind of help her see it is possible, and also get some extra support and such. We just don't know what members we can use yet. But that's okay! We'll figure it out. She wants to change, she just is a little week, and afraid to make such a drastic change without a lot of help.

Okay, miracles of the week. First off, we're teaching a family! WE found them in the former investigators section of the area book, and they are totally pumped to meet. We met with them once this past week, and they have a lot of questions and are very willing to learn. The only problem is, they're gypsies, or Mowglis as we call them. It isn't a problem for us, but every single member of our branch is racist, and we don't know who we could possibly teach them with. But, that isn't going to stop us from baptizing them all. The mom, her son, her three year old daughter, who will obviously have to wait to get baptized, and they're friend.

Miracle of miracles. A couple of weeks ago, we were stopped by a woman on the street. She asked if we were misionaries, and we said we were. She asked when we had church, we told her 900 on sundays, and the building was just around the corner. she asked if we had a card of some kind, which of course we do and we gave to her. Then she asked if we had a priest or something. WE explained what a branch president is and does. She then asked kind of a strange question: Does he have power from God? We didn't know why she would ask that, but he does have the priesthood, so we said yes. We didn't think anything of it, because a lot of times weird people do that kind of thing. SHE WAS AT CHURCH YESTERDAY. She is friends with a member here, Olga, and just showed up to church. She was asking about priesthood because her 2yr old son is sick in the hospital and she wants the branch president to give him a blessing. So, Wednesday we're meeting with them, and after we'll teach her. During church something about baptism was mentioned and she had lots of questions about it. I was sitting right behind her and her friend, and it went something like this:  V: Should everyone be baptized?  O: yes, everyone needs it. V, Can I get baptized? O, Of course! V, Well, who can baptize me? O, The missionaries can! Elder Clyde and I were very joyful. Sometimes, some people are so ready to hear the Gospel, they just walk up to athe missionaries and beg to be taught. It was amamzing. WE're so excited for our meeting on Wednesday.

That's about all, my dearest family. I want to repeat the words of my infinitely wiser older sister, Keep the faith. I too know this Church is true, and that's why I'm out here. Nothing is more important than doing waht the Lord wants.

hodne lasek,

Starsi Knapp

 I'm posting Taylor's last email in its entirety--it's short. He's great--he inspires me. There was a time when he was filling out an application for BYU and had to write an essay about a challenge he had overcome. Since he has lived a charmed life, no challenge came to mind. I recall him saying to me, "Mom! I have to have a challenge and overcome it by Friday!" Well, he is finally getting challenged a bit and it's good for him. He's doing great!

 

Draha rodino,

 

Allllllllrighty, here we go. First of all, I believe I have already addressed everyone's personal emails, so that is taken care of. But Mom, you should know, you're email also had me laughing. Ahhh what a great family. What day exactly does kaitlin get home?

 

Okay, so the week. We are seeing some tough times in Ostrava. Actually, in the entire eastern side (Moravia) of this country. We've got nothing. As a district we have...zero investigators with a baptismal date. We had zero at church. Our companionship lead the district in total lessons, and we had 5. To neni tak dobre. But, I will share something shortly that changed the way Elder Clyde and I will do work. We're so ready.

 

Anyway, not much happened this week. Oh, wait, first I need to tell you about Michal. If the name sounds familiar, it's because approximately 8 mil of the 12 mil people in this country are named Michal. But also because it is the same Michal that Brother Pearson played in the MTC. He is so funny. He is more faithful than many of the branch, and is just a goof. But he's one of those who never tries to be funny. We decided he's like a cartoon character. He says everything really fast in Czech, then repeats in English. And he has his own sound effects. He acts everything out. It's just  hilarious. We have some really good ideas about what to teach him, because the only reason he isn't baptized is because he lives with his girlfriend. They would get married, but she's a widow, and they get a lot of money form the govt. If they got married, all that would go away.

 

Alena...she's gone. She told us she's having some huge family issues right now, and she doesn't know when she can meet again. So yeah, that stinks. 

 

Okay, so Elder Clyde and I just finished the 12 week program that every greenie starts. We had to end it by watching all of the episodes of the District 2.  As we finished the last one, this thought came to me, "They get joy from serving the Lord, but the main source of their happiness is the happiness of those they baptize. It's going to be different for me. Of course, I'll be overjoyed when, and if, the baptisms come, but how will I be satisfied in my missionary service otherwise?" Then this thought came to my mind, "Only by working hard enough to constantly feel the Lord's approval everyday. Maybe the numbers will never come. But, if I'm to feel okay with that, I have to know I've done everything in my power to find those people, even if I don't. Then I will know that the Lord is pleased with me, knowing I spent these two years doing everything I could to serve Him." So that's our resolution. We made some plans, some goals and so forth, to ensure we work our tails off.

 

So, even if the numbers don't come, be ready for some great experiences. And hopefully a picture of KC, and even one of Marek! I'm sure you remember him. We looked at an apartment for the senior couple with him, and he wanted a picture with me! I was happy, because I still love that dang guy, even if he thinks God is mean and cruel.

 

You all make me so happy. And proud. Stay happy always, because we have the knowledge of Christ's Gospel. Don't hesitate to share it in it's Restored fullness. And read Our Search for Happiness. It's great.

 

Thank you again for all the great emails. I know this one was short, but really not much happened. We are going to a castle soon...

 

Love,

 

Starsi Knapp