Breaking Records

Draha rodino,

This week has been absolutely crazy! We have been working our tails off running around, teaching, finding, doing everything we can. We have taught more lessons this week than ever before. I'm stoked. We've been busy, and we are pretty excited to see how the week ends out.

Sunday! We had a nice meeting with Vera about the nature of God before church. She had met some Jehovah's Witness lady the day before and had questions about who God is and that sort of thing. So we cleared some things up, and she really enjoyed it. I love talking with people about the nature of God, because it's such a great doctrine that makes so much sense and gives us such personal meaning. We also had a good meeting on the same topic with a recent convert named Eva after church. We were actually on splits, I taught Eva with a different missionary while Elder Boysen taught Viktor with the other missionary's companion. We also visited Jitka and her daughter Maruska that evening and had a nice lesson about the last couple points in the Plan of Salvation. Then, we went to the office and had last ever call-ins! Most missions in the church have stopped having Sunday night calls, preferring to have the missionaries report their own numbers on pdays. So, we have officially made the switch, which means no more late nights on Sunday. We are glad. But call-ins went well. I get frustrated from time to time when people, be it missionaries or others, just don't get it. It's sad to see missionaries who aren't having the experience they could be having on a mission. 

Monday we had a very nice lesson with Vera and the wife of the first counselor in the branch presidency. We have started going through the baptismal questions with her, simultaneously reteaching the lessons. It's been good. She's so great! You'll get to meet her when we come in the spring. We also had good meetings with Ary, Maxim, and Viktor

Tuesday we met with Elder Boysen's driving teacher in the morning to get the last steps of registration done before he starts driving lessons. After that we finished our studies, then went to district meeting. It was a good meeting. The new format is just great. President is a genius. By that I mean spiritual. After District meeting we had a good lesson with Artur about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well. He still has growing faith, but he's come along really well, and I really think he will get baptized. He's a great kid. We then had an interesting experience with President. He had a meeting with an ex-member who wants to be rebaptized, and the meeting was to determine whether or not he could. Because of his history, president wanted us there. There were certain criteria that the branch president requested be explained to this man, and he didn't take them well. He ended up saying some things he shouldn't have and storming out of the office. But, so it goes. He needs to humble himself a bit more before he can really come back. But we had a nice visit with Jitka and her daughter again, visited the Pavlicovi, and met with...a recent convert later taht night, but I cannot for the life of me remember who it was. It was one we set up later in the day, so I don't have it written. Hmm.

Wednesday we met our Buddhist friend Michal in the morning, had a relatively nice meeting with him. It was much more under control than usual, and we think it's because he came to churhc this week. We then met with Vera, had a singing display and met some really cool people, taught a guy from Cameroon named John, and had a very interesting experience...Earlier in the day, we got a call from the Mendenhalls saying that a man had showed up at the church building wanting to talk to missionaries. He was a former from like four or five years ago. He wanted us to get him in contact with a religious TV network so he could preach the Gospel to the world. We made a deal with him. If he let us teach him the restoration, we would help him get in contact with the network. His name is Steve, or at least that's what he calls himself. He's czech, but he goes by Steve when speaking English. I would guess his real name is Stepan, the Czech equivalent to Steven. He has...interesting ideas. Probably an after-mission discussion.

Thursday we taught Steve again. For the lasst time incidentally. But then we went to sing again, at a place called namesti republiky. It was not as successful as the one yesterday, but we did find a cool lady from Ukraine. We then taught Vera, and had a cool thing happen. There was a random lady waiting with Vera and the member we taught her with. We didn't think much of it because we needed to start the lesson, but she joined us! After the lesson, I talked with her more, and it turns out she is the nonmember wife of an inactive member here! We set up to visit her the next day. We also taught Jitka again, then a really cool half-Czech half-Italian girl named Karolina with Sister Munro. We then visited our Filipino investigator at her home, taught her the Restoration. We then had a good lesson with a less active girl about some of her friends who are inactive so that we can start finding them.

Friday we had Polar Bear (joint language study) with the district, a great lesson with Pet'a, visited the Cambelovi (the part-member family from Thursday), taught Ary, Artur, and then Viktor. Nothing quite so exciting as the rest of the week, just the norm. Some good lessons.

Tomorrow is Australia Day, so for P-day we went to the Munros today and celebrated. I can't wait for you to meet them. They are the greatest ever. I love them so much. We had a blast with them. They made the food they have ever year at the barbecue, did some trivia with us (did you know that our ancestor, John Murdock, was one of the two missionaries who opened Australia for missionary work?), taught us some songs, just an all around good time. We taught Vera, her daughter in law, and the Cambelovi again this morning. Now, for the goal. We have a record in this mission. The most lessons ever taught in one week was by Elders Clyde and De Angelis a few months ago. 35. Two weeks ago, we taught 32. This week, we've taught 35 so far, and we're shooting for 40! We have a few on plan tomorrow, we should get even more than that.

Well folks. I love you. I look forward to hearing from you next week.

Elder Knapp

Bittersweet

Draha rodino,

Thanks to all who emailed me, it was good to hear from almost everyone.  It's been a good week. Everything seems bittersweet now a little, I think I've come to that point in my mission. The week itself was great, the bitter part was that I gave my last departing testimony, four in all, at a zone conference this week. It's hard, but I've been thinking a lot about it lately, and I am feeling more confident and at peace about the near future. But there will be time for a lot of that later, no need to go into that now.

Sunday was a good day last week, we were way busy. we taught two lessons before church, and three after. We had solid, solid week last week, 32 lessons in total, a personal record for both of us. We feel really good about it, because we found some new people, and had two zone conferences, and still managed to, as President would say, teach our brains out.

Monday we had the normal office work, had some nice lunch, and then we had a lesson with one of our really cool new investigators from last week. Only problem, she tried to give us her Book of Mormon back. She had talked to her teenage daughters, and they said she was crazy for wanting to study a religion. Don't ask teenagers about those things. But! We didn't let her get away. Not only does she still have the book, but we are hoping to visit her and her husband and kids next week! After her lesson, we drove with President to Brno to get ready for zone conference and meet with the zone leaders and the Sister Trainer Leader to basically train them for our training the next day. 

Tuesday! We just had zone conference in Brno, and then we waited for President to finish interviews, and then drove together to Bratislava. When we got there it was the same drill as Monday night, met with the zone leaders and two sisters and talked about our training. Training in Brno went really well, it's all about a stake and what we need to do in order to get a stake. I think I mentioned that to you last week. Our training went well, which I believe I also already told you about, the fake district meeting and all.

Wednesday we had the last zone conference, and then President let Elder Boysen and I take a quick look around Bratislava while he finished interviews. It is not as pretty as Prague. After he finished we headed back home, to Prague, and then we had a lesson with Maxim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He'd been called to Kazakhstan for a family emergency, but he's back, we talked to him a couple days before and then we were able to meet Wednesday night. He's so great. We had a good lesson, caught up with him a bit, and he's doing fine. 

Thursday we had a pretty busy day. We've been really pack-scheduling lessons to make up for the first half of the week. Before anything else though, we needed to take Elder Boysen to get a physical. He needs to get a driver's license, and he needed a physical. We had a good district meeting, and then taught some lessons. We taught a new lady named Anya, Vera, Marek, Katka and Miguel, and Martin. It was a good full day.

Friday we taught Isabel and Cristina, Michal, Vera, Pet'a, had a singing display, tuaght Drahomir, and Ary. It was also a very full day. We had such a good lesson with Pet'a! She's great. We answered some of her questions, and it was good progress I think. We also had a good lesson with Vera. We talked about prophets and gave her a couple talks by President Monson so she could be familiar with his teachings. Ary is getting the Priesthood!!! He didn't wnat to at first, didn't feel ready, so we sat him down, and compared preparing for the Priesthood with preparing for baptism. He is set to get the Priesthood on the first of february. WE also refound Marek, the one with the crazy hair and glasses, if you remember the picture I sent awhile ago. He's such a good kid, I hope he can make it this time.

Today we had a really good lesson with Vera about tithing, and she committed to pay it after baptism. She also read both of the president Monson talks, and loved loved loved them. For Pday we all went to Karlstejn the castle near which the mission was dedicated. IT was fun, the castle was closed though. But we enjoyed each others' company, and the senior couple came with us too. We have a couple more lessons on plan tonight before the day ends.

I love you all so much, I pray for you always,

Starsi Knapp

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 Counting down....

And a few snippets from last week's email, which I forgot to post....


Monday we had a good office meeting, it's really a fun meeting. I love all of the people involved in the office, and we just have a good time discussing issues and stuff. We had lunch at my favorite restaurant with the office elders, the sisters in our district, and President. We had a nice meeting with Drahomir, we taught him the Word of Wisdom. We've really focused on him getting the Melchizedek Priesthood, and it was a really good lesson for him. He admitted that he didn't see anything wrong with small transgression of the WoW, like the occasional toast, or coffee with his mom and that kind of thing. It went well though, but we didn't find out how well until later. We also visited a new investigator, a very old lady, but she is sweet. She is really lonely, so it's really good for her that we visit and give her a chance to talk to someone.

Wednesday we had a singing display, then hurried back to teach Drahomir again. He started off by just talking about how last lesson was a real wake up call for him, and he was determined to live the commandments 100% no matter what. We started to watch the full Joseph Smith film with him, because one thing we really want for him is to strengthen his testimony of the Prophet Joseph. We had afirst lesson with a super cool lady named Eva. She is married, has two daughters, and is a nurse. It was a fantastic first lesson, she loved it. We visited Jitka again, and had good lesson about the Fall and Atonement. We've been going through the Plan of Salvation with her, and it's helping her understand a lot.

Thursday we had the first of four Zone Conferences. It was great. Our training was a demo district meeting, at which we discussed the progress of our investigators and really received inspiration for them. IT was awesome. Before us President trained on our vision for 2014, and what we need to become a stake. It was intense. The tough part of the training, and the tough part of the week, was the fact that missionaries, in their last training bear their testimony of their missions. So, Elder Strobel, Elder Greener, and I, closed the training with our testimonies. It was not fun. After the training we taught Vera, Alena, Jitka again, and a new kid named Alan. He's czech, but he actually lived in Farmington, Utah for awhile. He's a cool guy, but not really very religious. He is way excited to read the Book of Mormon though, so there is hope.

Friday we had another zone conference, with the same elements as the first. It was also great. One downside to being assistant is that I have to bear my testimony in all four zone conferences. It doesn't get easier. We did have good lessons with Vera and Pet'a, and Martin Novak. 

This morning we taught Vera the WoW, and it was so great. She has grown so much in her faith and testimony, it's amazing. we are going shopping right now, and then on to...the BRAZILIAN RESTAURANT!!! We're making a return. 

And the latest...

Draha rodino,

Well, we haven't had any snow yet. Nor is it in the forecast. It's been unnaturally warm here this winter. Of course, everyone says it's due to global warming, but I believe that just as much as I believe...dunno I can't think of a fitting comparison. The point is, I don't believe it. Thanks for setting up the gmail account, it's very helpful. My license arrived! It's different, I was surprised actually. 

Sunday we ran around and taught like crazy. We wanted so badly to hit 21 lessons, and we jsut scraped by this week. It was the real test. Christmas week presents a lot of different challenges, so we wanted to make sure we had a good, successful week. We did. When we told President that we hit 21, he was way pumped. We really wanted to get it so that we could show that the time of year doesn't influence the success of the missionaries.

Monday had a pretty good day. We had a few meetings which is always important for Monday. You have to start the week off right so as to ensure taht it's a good week. We had a couple people cancel, but we had a kid, Artur, text us and say he had time to meet so, we met. It was a pretty solid lesson. He's a good kid. We also met with Jitka at her house with her daughter, and Drahomir.

Tuesday we had a curfew of 5 o clock because, yes Mom, Czechs celebrate New Year's with drinking and riotous living. So we had to get in early. We Did teach Phuc and also the Pavlicovi before heading home though. We tried to get a haircut because my head is starting to look ridiculous, but the place is closed all week, so I'll have to just try again. So we didn't watch movies on Christmas this year, but on New Year's eve. We had the office Elders stay at our place, and borrowed a projector and President's speaker, and had a little theater night. It was pretty great. We watched The Best Two Years, Monsters University (I recommend it if you haven't seen it) and Holes. 

Wednesday the city was quite quiet. We had a good district meeting, and then did some singing displays in various places in the city. Not a ton happened, and besides, I left my planner at home that day, so I don't have anything written down and don't much recall what all we did.

Thursday though, was good. And frustrating. I don't know what real Buddhists believe, but European Buddhists drive me totally up the wall! It is so nonsensical. I cannot fathom what leads a person to believe in this kind of stuff. All this undefined and unnamed and unknowable trash about who God could possibly be. They don't really know what they believe, so when you ask them, it's just them, their imagination, and the two and a half minutes they think they need to fill. We heard some pretty crazy things today. We had two different, back-to-back lessons with Buddhists. Or at least with people who share eastern idealogies. They are Korihors with an abstract belief in some higher, undefined (that's a very important point in their doctrine. It's very difficult for undefined energy to make demands and give commandments, you see.) power. But we also met with Artur and gave him a date! February 1st. We taught Phuc again, had a nice lesson with him, and also visited Katka and her family in the evening.

Friday was a miraculous day. We had mission leadership council, which was fun. It's always a good meeting. Immediately after we had a lesson with Vera. Chastity. We were nervous about this one a bit, because we know that she lives with her boyfriend, her baptism is only two weeks away, and if she didn't move out, then we needed action fast, no time to convince either one that they need to get married. but, when we taught, she accepted everything, and then I said these exact words: "You can't get baptized while living with your boyfriend." It took her aback somewhat I think. She said they've been together 15 years, and that because of various paperwork sort of things and complications it would cause they jsut haven't tied teh knot. So, the member and Elder Boysen told her how she could very easily avoid all such problems, and then I asked, "Would your boyfriend be willing to get married?" a little afraid of the answer. From all taht we knew about the boyfriend, we thought he might be stiff opposition. she said, "Oh, he's been telling me for years that we need to get married, he wants it!" We were overjoyed. So, things are in progress, and hopefully we can get her married soon.

Today has been fun. we played football this morning after teaching a couple lessons, and then went to this really good burger joint. I love being with the other missionaries. Our football game was a bit anticlimactic. We tied. No one likes a tie. We've got some more lessons on plan tonight, and otherwise we're just kind of relaxing, nice and easy.

I love you all so much, have a great week,

Starsi Knapp

Email from two weeks ago

Monday we had the annual Mission-wide Christmas conference here in Prague. It was a blast. We got to see all the missionaries and President's parents were there and their whole family did a presentation, piece by piece, on the birth of Christ. It was awesome. I love the McConkies so much. We also had teh talkent show, which we're always a little worried about because you never quite know what missionaries can come up with in their spare time. But it went well, nothing too nuts haha. We did sing one of our quartet numbers, Away in a Manger, as arranged by the other elder in the quartet.

While ago, President had teh idea that on Christmas Eve we should just spend the whole day going around visiting people and sharing the Nativity with them. When people get really into their Christmas preparations, they have not much time, so it was an easy way to say, 'hey, we know you don't have aton of time right now, can we share this five minute DVD with you and sing a Christmas song?" It was pretty successful across the mission. WE got to teach five lessons in part due to the plan, wihich is kind of unheard of in this mission at Christmas time. Coolest thing though, when we were looking for an inactive lady, we found her address, but none of her neighbors had any idea who she was. But, as we were chatting to some of the people there, they said, "Well, if you're going to talk about Jesus, come back some time!" So we did, and we got to start teaching a couple, Eva and Mirek, and their friend Honza. They are sos funny. They are Evangelicals, and they are way into the whole preach-a-sermon-shout-amen-and-praise-the-Lord kind of stuff. Whenever we said anything they liked, even in prayers, they would chime in with a good alleluia or amen or whatever else popped into their minds.

Wednesday was of course highlighted by our conversation. Again, it was great (and slightly eerie) to see you all again. We actually started teh day off at a rest home, I may have mentioned this, where we sang for the...inmates isn't the right word...patients? But it was nice. We then split, our district to the Munro's and the other to the Mendenhalls'. We had good food and good fun. Sister Munro and the sisters left early because they were invited the the Nutcracker ballet by a member, so we men jsut stayed behind and played some Phase 10. I won. I did hold in my laughter about the Nutcracker in until after the ladies had left though, because they were all pretty excited to see it. I jsut remember two things about that ballet: My awkward experience being exposed to ballet attire for the first time, and, of course, Paige Albrecht's.

Thursday we implemented another of President McConkie's new ideas, singing displays all day, but mostly without contacting, just making people's after Christmas Day with a bunch of carols, Czech and English. It was awesome! We spent the whole day with crowds gathered around us listening intently. We actually want to use it every Sunday to try to spread our name and maybe get a few people to church. We also taught a few lessons at night, and one in the middle of the day. We had way sweet experience at lunch. The Munros came with us, and after lunch Elder Munro had something to say. He, after all the amazing things that they have done for us, stood up and thanked us all for all we do and are, got very emotional which is not like him, and payed for everyone's meal. I love those two so much i cannot express it.

Friday we had a pretty normal working day. We did another singing display, just to try, and it went okay. Not a ton of people were out, but we got a few. After that, we started teaching. We went all over the place. We taught the Pavlicovi, Mirek Eva and Honza, Phuc, Isabel, a guy named Josef, and one other person I can't recall...hmm...oh well. But it was busy and good. 

Today we went to the bone church again! It was fun. I just love spending time with the other missionaries. We had a blast, and my favorite part was just chatting with them and talking about everything, having good laughs, but also serious discussions about the Gospel and missionary work. Such a great time. Some pics are included in the next email.

Okay my dear family, I love you so much. I did actually ask president about the possibility of getting an extension, so...we'll see.

Elder Knapp