All Caught Up Now With Elder Knapp

So! Sunday we didn't do much. We went to churhc and took a lot a lot a lot of pictures because so many missionaries are leaving Prague. Other than that, Elder Sewell and I did some weekly planning, then we went ot pick up Elder Boysen, my new comp! He is big. 6'8" or so, English. I don't know why so many of my companions have been so tall. But he's a good guy, I like him a lot. He's the same age as Elder Prymak, and he was trained in Ostrava when I was there training, and he was in my district when I was DL in Prague.

Monday we began the craziness. We got a bunch of missionaries on trains, got a few more off trains, had office meeting, taught four lessons, met with President, trained Elder Boysen a bit, and went to FHE. First week is always so nuts. It was good though. We've been really trying to touch base with as many people as we can before Elder Sewell left, so we had some good meetings.

Tuesday we did all our studies and things, Elder Sewell packed, we did some cleaning, then we met President for lunch. It was good. I love him tons. I love being around him and drinking from his wisdom. After lunch we went back the the building, met Sister McConkie, and...drove to the airport to pick up new missionaries!!! I love doing that it is absolutely the greatest. I love seeing them come out of the tunnel with all of their stuff, excited, nervous, and totally unaware of what awaits them. I love 'em! We get a lot of opportunity to chat with them one-on-one while we tour Prague with them, and this group is going to be great, really great. It's good to see, because I've had the feeling of 'what are we going to do without all of these amazing missionaries who are going home?!' but recently I just felt, God is going to take care of this mission. New ones will come in who will be great, and the ones who are here will step up and become the next leaders. This group has many of the future leaders of the mission.

Wednesday we paired them with their trainers, and sent them off to their new areas! We have one of the new sisters in Prague, and she is great, fearless. We had good lessons with Maxim and Tomas, we were able to meet Patrik and have a nice lesson about the 10 commandments, taught Isabel and Drahomir, Michal, and Viktor! A busy busy day. We finished with the departing missionary dinner at the McConkies. It was a lot of fun, but also sad obviously. So many great missionaries. I did the math, and more than half of my mission, not including the MTC, I served with missionaries that went home this week. It was a blow.

Thursday was a very sad morning. We got up early, 4:30, which is the first sad part, and then drove to the airport. It was an emotional time for all present. Elder Clyde, Elder De Angelis, and Elder Sewell all went home. I love those guys so much. Elder De Angelis was possibly the saddest departure for me, because unlike with the others, I don't know when I'm going to see him again. I talked to President about it after wards, asked him how he was feeling, and he said, "You know what? This is dumb. This is really really dumb. I hate this." But, life goes on, the millenium approaches. That afternoon we had District Meeting, taught Vera, Pavel, and Maxim, and practiced for our concert coming up this week. I'm doing another solo, O Holy Night.

Friday we had a busy day. We taught six lessons, had a singing display, practiced for our concert, and drove to Brno. Sorry for lack of details, but I'm running out of time.

We were in a town called Uherske Hradiste today for a volleyball tournament that the branch there puts on each year. We are not good volleyball players. It's not that we're not good, but rather that we have no experience playing together. We had the most athletic team by far, including three people who played vb in High school, one sister who played at BYU, we just didn't have good coordination and stuff. We went 1-5. But, we came back safely even though it was snowing, taught a new investigator named Martin, and that's been the day!

I love you all tons, if you want to skype, fine, if not, also fine. It would be nice to talk to everyone individually, and there is something about being able to say that we literally haven't seen each other for two years. It's up to you, I'll send possible times for a call/skype next week. Love you all so very much,

Elder Knapp