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.