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
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