So the week! Monday we taught the two kids, T. and S. but
M wasn't there so we just taught them. A member was there of
course. It went really well. We watched the Joseph Smith film. Children
believe without any protest, and resistance. It isn't a mystery to me
why we are commanded to be as a little child. They already have strong
testimonies of everything. We loaned them the dvd so that M could
watch it. We also got haircuts. My hair was a little long, it is now
very short. She went to work on it. We also taught J. Z. ,
the wife of the family we teach English to. It went okay, but she is a
talker. That night we taught L. again. We had a good lesson with him,
but just you wait until Thursday.
Tuesday was the last district meeting of t he transfer, the last of
Elder C.oleman's mission. it was good, and I'm a little sad. I love Elder
Coleman. He's a great missionary, and I've served around him for the
past six months. After the meeting, I stayed in HK again to go on an
exchange wit the Greenie, Elder Bushnell. He's a great kid. We had a
blast. Had a really good exchange, had some great times, taught a few
nice lessons.
Wednesday we drove back to Pardubice and ended the exchange. That day
all of our lessons fell through except for one, with a less active Sis
E. Everyone cancelled for English except for one person, so we
just taught them. It was also Sis E. So we taught her twice haha.
Thursday. Thursday was greeat. We taught a lot, which is always
good, but the quality of the lessons was super. In the morning we taught
this new kid, probably 21 or so, named K. He
is so cool. He's young, smart, and very stylish. I hope Elder Tenney
sees this part, because he would absolutely love K. While he was
waiting for us, he had some extra time so he just went shopping. When we
met him he already had a full bag of his purchases. The lesson was good
too. He's really searching, and all he needs to do is read and pray and
come to church with us and he will see that this is what he's searching
for. We have a meeting set up for tomorrow with him. We taught a few
other lessons as well, but the best was with L. that night. We
started by following up on his reading, he was in Alma 14, and we had on
plan to cover the Restoration with him again. But, for some reason I
felt like we needed to go deeper into his reading with him. In case you
don't know off the top of your head, and don't want to look it up, Alma
14 is when Alma and Amulek witness the burning of the women and
children. As we discussed it, somehow, and Elder Sewell and I honestly
do not remember how, we got onto the subject of baptism. He expressed
his desire to grow closer to God, and how he wanted to do that by making
the baptismal covenant. We were absolutely blown away. He didn't accept
a date, but he clearly expressed his intent, and we have a lesson with
him today and we want to give him a date tonight. We were so pumped
after that lesson. He's a great kid, just a slow investigator, but he is
sooooo close now!
Friday we taught the Z.. It went okay, we just weren't as
straightforward as we should have been with them. I feel like we wasted a
really good opportunity with them, and now we have to do whatever we
can to make up for it. Do you remember our investigator from last week,
M., the guy who looks like Napoleon Dynamite? We taught him a few
times this week, including Friday. He's a good guy. He's going through a
tough time right now, and is certainly a little peculiar, but he is
progressing and sincere. I really love the guy and hope everything turns
out okay.
Saturday we taught E again. We had a few more ideas for her,
and if she isn't progressing after that, we're probably going to stop
meeting with her. It's too bad, because she really is a nice lady, she
just refuses to give up certain things. We can't spend any more time
with her if she's not going to change. We had an amazing lesson with
T, M and S. We started by reviewing the Resto film and
asking if M had a chance to see it. She had and loved it. She bore
testimony, no joke, about Joseph's prophetic call and the importance
of the Restoration. For not the first time, and I would assume not the
last, they have said things that I would never guess investigators of
three or so weeks would say. They are simply amazing. We taught M
again, and found a guy right outside our office named L who agreed
to meet with us right away. He's a young guy, 25, 26 maybe, and funny.
But he has the weirdest beliefs I have ever heard in my entire life.
There were so many times during that lesson when I was just blown away
by the confusion he believes in. Elder Sewell and I talked afterwards
about how blinded some people are. Satan doesn't need us to commit
terrible sins, he just wants to blind the hearts of men. When that
happens, his purposes are fulfilled. That is where Lukas is right now.
He just needs help. That's why we're here.
Sunday was good. We taught a lesson before church to M and
S. T couldn't come because they're uncle was visiting, and he
needed to be home to meet him. but we were way impressed that M
and S came even though they had a visitor. They are on date for the
29th, and they are so going to make it. Church was nice, and call ins
went well. Our zone is still doing fantastic.
Well folks, I do love you all greatly. I already look forward to
your next email, and I'll be telling you where I am, if it's changed,
and who I'm with! Transfers are on Monday. We're off to a castle today,
so I should have some great pics next week. Love you all!
Starsi Knapp
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
"Worst Culinary Experience" and other things...
1) We eat pretty much the same things. Beef stroganoff, a dish called
halusky, a lot of rice and beans, the occasional pizza, tacos, and every
so often someone feeds us. I'll make a reference to an experience we
had this week later on. 2) The branch probably has about 50 members,
most of which are part of active families. It's an amazing branch with
tons of potential. I would say that in 15 years or so, it will be one of
the biggest in the country, maybe the biggest even. Well, probably
Prague will always be biggest, but anyway. 3) Pardubice is really small -
have you looked it up online? - so we walk mostly. when we have to go a
little farther away we drive. We have a brand new car, whose purchase I
oversaw while in the office. Elder Sewell isn't allowed to drive
because he never got his license before his mission, so I drive always.
It's fun. 4) Elder Sewell is from Bristol, specifically Pucklechurch.
He's a good guy. We have some good times and get along well. He's a
great missionary, and I'm lucky to get to learn from him.
Thursday we had an amaaaaazing lesson with Martina. She brought her two kids, 15 yr old Tomas and 11 yr old Simona, and they are awesome. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and after teaching the Atonement we asked, "Why would Christ be important for your family?" Tomas answered, "It means through him we can live forever as a family!" WE were blown away. It was awesome. They are all on date for the 29th of March, and are so willing. EVery time we call them Martina answers, "Cetli jsme!" Which means "We read!" It's great.
SAturday was quite a day. We went that morning to a less actives house to teach and help out her mother with some moving, just a couple beds and cabinets and stuff. When we came downstairs, we were surprised to see that she had cooked lunch for us. We received another, less pleasant, surprise a little later. We saw the food, thought it was just some sort of rice/ground beef meal or something with sauerkraut and potatoes. Her daughter, who lived in England 20 years and speaks perfect English looks in and says, "What has she made you? oh! Blood pudding and tripe." BAsically every part of the pig that you don't normally eat, we ate. Except maybe the feet. I have not felt good since. I can't stop thinking about he way it tasted, looked, smell, and felt. I literally could throw up right now just thinking about it. It is awful. I know, Kaitlin, you ate blood sausage inParaguay, and you probably think I'm being a little baby about this all, but it was the worst culinary experience of my life.
Sunday was great! We had good testimonies and so forth, but the best part was that Martina, Tomas, and Simona came to church and had a great experience. They are so solid. WE did calls with the zone and assistents that night, and found out that our zone had literally one of the best weeks in history. It's awesome. The missionaries have really grown this transfer, and we are starting to see the fruits. For example, Pardubice hasn't baptized in over a year, We have five on schedule for this month.
I love you all, it's great to hear from you all. I've been studying Christ's ministry in 3 Nephi and also the New Testament lately, and it is amazing. So inspiring. Recommended.
This is a picture of the zone leaders, mission president, and area authority.
Thursday we had an amaaaaazing lesson with Martina. She brought her two kids, 15 yr old Tomas and 11 yr old Simona, and they are awesome. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and after teaching the Atonement we asked, "Why would Christ be important for your family?" Tomas answered, "It means through him we can live forever as a family!" WE were blown away. It was awesome. They are all on date for the 29th of March, and are so willing. EVery time we call them Martina answers, "Cetli jsme!" Which means "We read!" It's great.
SAturday was quite a day. We went that morning to a less actives house to teach and help out her mother with some moving, just a couple beds and cabinets and stuff. When we came downstairs, we were surprised to see that she had cooked lunch for us. We received another, less pleasant, surprise a little later. We saw the food, thought it was just some sort of rice/ground beef meal or something with sauerkraut and potatoes. Her daughter, who lived in England 20 years and speaks perfect English looks in and says, "What has she made you? oh! Blood pudding and tripe." BAsically every part of the pig that you don't normally eat, we ate. Except maybe the feet. I have not felt good since. I can't stop thinking about he way it tasted, looked, smell, and felt. I literally could throw up right now just thinking about it. It is awful. I know, Kaitlin, you ate blood sausage inParaguay, and you probably think I'm being a little baby about this all, but it was the worst culinary experience of my life.
Sunday was great! We had good testimonies and so forth, but the best part was that Martina, Tomas, and Simona came to church and had a great experience. They are so solid. WE did calls with the zone and assistents that night, and found out that our zone had literally one of the best weeks in history. It's awesome. The missionaries have really grown this transfer, and we are starting to see the fruits. For example, Pardubice hasn't baptized in over a year, We have five on schedule for this month.
I love you all, it's great to hear from you all. I've been studying Christ's ministry in 3 Nephi and also the New Testament lately, and it is amazing. So inspiring. Recommended.
This is a picture of the zone leaders, mission president, and area authority.
This is from a couple of weeks ago, but it's great and I wanted to share it.
Draha rodino,
This week has been unbelievable. I didn't get a chance to record anything this week, for which I humbly apologize and repent, but I'll do better next week. This week was really incredible though. I'll get to it in just a second. First off, thanks so much for the update on all the missionaries! I was just thinking about some of them recently, so I didn't have to even ask. Thanks! Really, that's all. No other special requests or anything like that.
Monday was a good start to the week. We had a lesson after all the Pday stuff with a cool less active kid named Petr. He has just let some things, work, take priority in his life, and he's having a hard time getting it back to what it's supposed to be. As we learned in a recent general conference, it's easier to keep the commandments 100% of the time than 98% of the time. Don't forget that. We also taught a really good lesson to our investigator Ludek about hte sacrament, because the one thing he doesn't do is go to church, and it has killed his progress. If he would do it, he would get baptized. But, right now he's being difficult and he really isn't progressing. The lesson was good though, had a member there who did a great job, and...SPOILER ALERT...he still didn't come to church. We feel like we are just beating our heads against a wall with this kid. But, I love him. Two lessons.
Tuesday. No district meeting today because we have a secret mission-wide meeting on Friday. It really is top secret. Nobody knows what's going on. But, no district meeting today which is a bummer because I love district meetings, but whatevs. The highlight of the day was English class. We only had two students there, but it's the couple that we want to teach, very badly, so we got to focus an entire spiritual thought on them. It was great. We actually met with the husband by himself last week, sent a Book of Mormon home for his wife, and she expressed how she has already found comfort in the book. I love the Book of Mormon so much, I cannot express it. More on that later. Three lessons.
Wednesday. We taught another one of our baptismal dates today, Sarka. We taught the Restoration and it went sooo well. All in all, we taught the Restoration a ton this week, and Elder Sewell and I both expressed how our testimonies of Joseph Smith and everything associated with the Restoration have been strengthed because of it this week. It's been great. Anyway, Sarka is on date for the 1st of March, and she is just so humble, and open, and willing to learn, it is a delight to teach her. After the lesson the member we had with us asked if we would teach with her next time we hada meeting set up with Sarka. That is great. That's wphat we want. We want hte members having good experiences while teaching with us because then they are more willing to work with us, as well as share the Gospel with their friends. It was super. WE had very interesting English class today though. The spiritual thought was also the Restoration, and it was going great. the problem is that one of the students in our Wednesday class is a less active member with very interesting ideas. Just as we were testifying of Joseph Smith and so forth, she jumped in. "But it's an American church. Joseph Smith was a prophet. For America. Here in Europe we have the Pope, and he's a prophet too, right?" Uhh, no. Wrong. We did our best to move on, but we worry about hte effect it had on the rest of the class. For example, there is a young Catholic girl there who we really wnat to teach. It probably wasn't good for her to hear someone testify of Joseph Smith and the Pope at the same time. Four lessons.
Thursday was amazing! We had five lessons on plan today. One of them dropped, then we had two people call us, CALL US, and ask to meet. One of whom was the wife in the couple that we want to teach. It was crazy. The Lord blessed us so much. We met with one kid, Jiri, who talked about since the missionaries met him, about 6 months ago, he has just been pondering about the message they shared. In those six months he has gone from athiest to wanting to spread the love of God across the whole world. We had a sweet lesson with him, alos the Restoration. WE also taught a professional hockey player, a girl named Iveta, in the food court of this shopping center called AFI. All of the members in this town except one are out of town this week, and we couldn't get anyone to teach with us, and obviously we can't teach her by ourselves. So, we do it in public. Missionaries have taught in AFI for years. We got kicked out on Thursday. We think that the security thought we were proselyting in there, so they told us to leave. It was a bummer, but we finished the lesson and Iveta loved it. We'll see how to continue from here with that. Six lessons.
Friday. The day. The secret conference day. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. First off, it was great to see everyone, all my buddies from across the mission. But that was nothing. The first real amazing part was an announcement by President irwin. He said that he received word from the Missionary Department that as of the 8th of February he was allowed to tell us...the name of his replacement as Mission President. Friday was feb 8th. As for who it will be, I would recommend you look in the Feb 23rd edition of the Church News. His name will be there. It was cool to hear who it will be and hear about him and stuff, but it was also very sad. But The Spirit was there as President testified that the new President will be, or rather is, called of God. He expressed his love for us, not to much because as he said, he would get too emotional. For some reason it was just powerful. Powerful in that we could see so clearly how the Lord directs His work. It's a marvelous work, and a wonder. Shortly thereafter was a miracle, or rather the culmination of many miracles. I don't know what this will mean to you, but for Mom and Dad, and certainly Kaitlin as a recently returned missionary, it will mean something. President unveiled the newly printed Book of Mormon in Slovak. For years missionaries there have labored without the Book of Mormon, having to use the Czech one. As of this week, they will have full access to the Book of Mormon in Slovak. The Spirit that came into that room as we discussed, contemplated, and marvelled at the miracle and possibilities that this book will bring to the work in this mission will never be forgotten. WE closed the meeting by singing the Mission song altogether, standing. In that moment, I had impressed upon me the magnitude and privilege of this call as a missionary more forcefully than ever before. It was difficult to control my emotions, especially when I glanced at President Irwin and could see him struggling with the same thing. I love him, so much. I love this work. And, as I said, I love the Book of Mormon. Anyone who doesn't know if it's true, must. It is the key. To everything. Peace, happiness, and growth in this life, and exaltation in the life to come. As I said, I struggled throught that song. The third verse starts like this, "The seeds are sown, the field is white in Czech and Slovak tongue." From that line to the end of the song I could not sing. I couldn't. I was overcome. I have never felt like that before, and want that feeling forever.
We also taught one lesson that day.
Saturday we weekly planned, and had another really good lesson with Sarka. She's doing great. WE also taught Vlasta, another of our baptismal dates. he's a good kid. WE have to postpone, but he'll get there. He's a great kid, 21, and is really making progress to baptism. His date is now the 1st of March as well. Three lessons.
Sunday was good, another lesson with Sarka and also the less active kid, Petr. Both went well. I also did calls that night, and our zone is doing great. WE're all working hard and really seeing progress and growth. Two lessons.
I should explain the lesson thing. About a year ago, then Elder Causse, now Bishop Causse, conducted a mission tour. One of the things he trained on was teaching 21 lessons a week. He promised that baptisms would double, DOUBLE, if we strove to teach 21 a week. If you've been keeping track, we taught 21 this week. We were stoked. Teaching is the best thing. It's what we are called to do, and there is no other thing I would rather do than teach people the message of Christ, His Atonement, and the Restoration of His Church.
What a privilege and blessing. I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity. Tanner, Hunter, continue to prepare. Savannah and Emily, if it is what the Lord wants, do it. You will never regret it. I love you all, keep the letters and emails coming, and I will try to do the same.
Starsi Knapp
Draha rodino,
This week has been unbelievable. I didn't get a chance to record anything this week, for which I humbly apologize and repent, but I'll do better next week. This week was really incredible though. I'll get to it in just a second. First off, thanks so much for the update on all the missionaries! I was just thinking about some of them recently, so I didn't have to even ask. Thanks! Really, that's all. No other special requests or anything like that.
Monday was a good start to the week. We had a lesson after all the Pday stuff with a cool less active kid named Petr. He has just let some things, work, take priority in his life, and he's having a hard time getting it back to what it's supposed to be. As we learned in a recent general conference, it's easier to keep the commandments 100% of the time than 98% of the time. Don't forget that. We also taught a really good lesson to our investigator Ludek about hte sacrament, because the one thing he doesn't do is go to church, and it has killed his progress. If he would do it, he would get baptized. But, right now he's being difficult and he really isn't progressing. The lesson was good though, had a member there who did a great job, and...SPOILER ALERT...he still didn't come to church. We feel like we are just beating our heads against a wall with this kid. But, I love him. Two lessons.
Tuesday. No district meeting today because we have a secret mission-wide meeting on Friday. It really is top secret. Nobody knows what's going on. But, no district meeting today which is a bummer because I love district meetings, but whatevs. The highlight of the day was English class. We only had two students there, but it's the couple that we want to teach, very badly, so we got to focus an entire spiritual thought on them. It was great. We actually met with the husband by himself last week, sent a Book of Mormon home for his wife, and she expressed how she has already found comfort in the book. I love the Book of Mormon so much, I cannot express it. More on that later. Three lessons.
Wednesday. We taught another one of our baptismal dates today, Sarka. We taught the Restoration and it went sooo well. All in all, we taught the Restoration a ton this week, and Elder Sewell and I both expressed how our testimonies of Joseph Smith and everything associated with the Restoration have been strengthed because of it this week. It's been great. Anyway, Sarka is on date for the 1st of March, and she is just so humble, and open, and willing to learn, it is a delight to teach her. After the lesson the member we had with us asked if we would teach with her next time we hada meeting set up with Sarka. That is great. That's wphat we want. We want hte members having good experiences while teaching with us because then they are more willing to work with us, as well as share the Gospel with their friends. It was super. WE had very interesting English class today though. The spiritual thought was also the Restoration, and it was going great. the problem is that one of the students in our Wednesday class is a less active member with very interesting ideas. Just as we were testifying of Joseph Smith and so forth, she jumped in. "But it's an American church. Joseph Smith was a prophet. For America. Here in Europe we have the Pope, and he's a prophet too, right?" Uhh, no. Wrong. We did our best to move on, but we worry about hte effect it had on the rest of the class. For example, there is a young Catholic girl there who we really wnat to teach. It probably wasn't good for her to hear someone testify of Joseph Smith and the Pope at the same time. Four lessons.
Thursday was amazing! We had five lessons on plan today. One of them dropped, then we had two people call us, CALL US, and ask to meet. One of whom was the wife in the couple that we want to teach. It was crazy. The Lord blessed us so much. We met with one kid, Jiri, who talked about since the missionaries met him, about 6 months ago, he has just been pondering about the message they shared. In those six months he has gone from athiest to wanting to spread the love of God across the whole world. We had a sweet lesson with him, alos the Restoration. WE also taught a professional hockey player, a girl named Iveta, in the food court of this shopping center called AFI. All of the members in this town except one are out of town this week, and we couldn't get anyone to teach with us, and obviously we can't teach her by ourselves. So, we do it in public. Missionaries have taught in AFI for years. We got kicked out on Thursday. We think that the security thought we were proselyting in there, so they told us to leave. It was a bummer, but we finished the lesson and Iveta loved it. We'll see how to continue from here with that. Six lessons.
Friday. The day. The secret conference day. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. First off, it was great to see everyone, all my buddies from across the mission. But that was nothing. The first real amazing part was an announcement by President irwin. He said that he received word from the Missionary Department that as of the 8th of February he was allowed to tell us...the name of his replacement as Mission President. Friday was feb 8th. As for who it will be, I would recommend you look in the Feb 23rd edition of the Church News. His name will be there. It was cool to hear who it will be and hear about him and stuff, but it was also very sad. But The Spirit was there as President testified that the new President will be, or rather is, called of God. He expressed his love for us, not to much because as he said, he would get too emotional. For some reason it was just powerful. Powerful in that we could see so clearly how the Lord directs His work. It's a marvelous work, and a wonder. Shortly thereafter was a miracle, or rather the culmination of many miracles. I don't know what this will mean to you, but for Mom and Dad, and certainly Kaitlin as a recently returned missionary, it will mean something. President unveiled the newly printed Book of Mormon in Slovak. For years missionaries there have labored without the Book of Mormon, having to use the Czech one. As of this week, they will have full access to the Book of Mormon in Slovak. The Spirit that came into that room as we discussed, contemplated, and marvelled at the miracle and possibilities that this book will bring to the work in this mission will never be forgotten. WE closed the meeting by singing the Mission song altogether, standing. In that moment, I had impressed upon me the magnitude and privilege of this call as a missionary more forcefully than ever before. It was difficult to control my emotions, especially when I glanced at President Irwin and could see him struggling with the same thing. I love him, so much. I love this work. And, as I said, I love the Book of Mormon. Anyone who doesn't know if it's true, must. It is the key. To everything. Peace, happiness, and growth in this life, and exaltation in the life to come. As I said, I struggled throught that song. The third verse starts like this, "The seeds are sown, the field is white in Czech and Slovak tongue." From that line to the end of the song I could not sing. I couldn't. I was overcome. I have never felt like that before, and want that feeling forever.
We also taught one lesson that day.
Saturday we weekly planned, and had another really good lesson with Sarka. She's doing great. WE also taught Vlasta, another of our baptismal dates. he's a good kid. WE have to postpone, but he'll get there. He's a great kid, 21, and is really making progress to baptism. His date is now the 1st of March as well. Three lessons.
Sunday was good, another lesson with Sarka and also the less active kid, Petr. Both went well. I also did calls that night, and our zone is doing great. WE're all working hard and really seeing progress and growth. Two lessons.
I should explain the lesson thing. About a year ago, then Elder Causse, now Bishop Causse, conducted a mission tour. One of the things he trained on was teaching 21 lessons a week. He promised that baptisms would double, DOUBLE, if we strove to teach 21 a week. If you've been keeping track, we taught 21 this week. We were stoked. Teaching is the best thing. It's what we are called to do, and there is no other thing I would rather do than teach people the message of Christ, His Atonement, and the Restoration of His Church.
What a privilege and blessing. I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity. Tanner, Hunter, continue to prepare. Savannah and Emily, if it is what the Lord wants, do it. You will never regret it. I love you all, keep the letters and emails coming, and I will try to do the same.
Starsi Knapp
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