Some end-of-mission thoughts from Elder Knapp

It has been such a privilege for me to serve as an ordained representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great blessing for us as young people to be entrusted with such a sacred calling. It afforded me my first opportunities to experience how the Lord works through us and with us. I now know that it is real, and that even I can be an instrument in His hands. I also know that it is a pattern that will continue in my life of service and ministry in this, His Church. While my full-time service as a missionary may be finished, for now, I have learned that by virtue of my covenants with the Lord, I am called to be His disciple forever.

My mission has totally shaped my life. The way I think, the goals I have, my perspective, my desires, everything has been absolutely transformed by the sacred experience of these two years. I cannot imagine what my life would look like without my mission. Because of my time in the Czech Republic, my life has focus and direction, and I draw comfort from the knowledge that the Lord keeps His covenants when we keep ours. I know that this is His work. God is with us. This is the one true Church of Jesus Christ, as it has been restored by His prophet, Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is true, and the Jesus of whom it testifies is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. This testimony I have gained thanks to the Spirit I have felt as a minister of the restored Gospel.

Last Email

Draha rodino,

It's been a wild week. I'll get right to it.

Sunday we had testimony meeting of course. It was good. We said good-bye a lot of missionaries who were transferred elsewhere after the meeting, but the meeting itself was good. I bore my testimony, along with a couple other missionaries from the districts. I love this bunch of Elders and Sisters. We've grown close these past few months. Sunday we also picked up my replacement, Elder Burton, as well as my old MTC companion, Elder Greener. He went home a couple days early to see his cousin of on a mission, so he came in and stayed the night with us. We had a few lessons as well on Sunday, but I left my old planner at home, so I only remember having a good lesson with Jitka and Maruska. But there were more. 34 in total last week.

Monday we got up way too early and took Elder Greener to the airport. We came back and got the weekly mission newsletter off, had office meeting, lunch, and then taught Vera. She's doing well, like always. We had a lesson on missionary work, but it was like...ahhh my english vocabulary is gone...I can't remember. Retrospective? I'm not sure if that's right. But what I'm trying to say is that she has already been doing missionary work for a long time. We're teaching her son, she invited us to her house to meet her boyfriend, she's given out tons of copies of the Book of Mormon, and she is constantly inviting friends to church and activities. the lesson was mostly to say good job, you're awesome. We also met with Drahomir at his house, and then taught Sergei, Vera's son. We had Ary and Artur and FHE, and a special guest showed up part way through...Elder Sewell!!! We knew he was coming back, and I was so excited to see him. I was over the moon. He probably is my very favorite companion. I guess that's what happens when you serve for six months and baptize 7 people together.

Tuesday we taught Artur in the morning, and we also had a lesson with a guy Elder Sewell and I taught once together. His name is Petr, and he called me and set up with us. I was a little skeptical because the last lesson ended with us inviting him to meet, and him saying probably not, he only wanted to learn english. Well, this time he agreed to meet, and even bring a lot of people too, if we would advertise his real estate company. We said no. But it was an adventure! We then went to the airport to pick up the new missionaries! It was a great walk, emotional for me, but I'm way running out of time so I'll have to fill you in later.

Wednesday we paired up the new missionaries with their trainers, and sent them off, and then Elder Strobel and Elder Hansen joined me, and we went around Prague for a few hours. It's tradition that the missionaries who are going out together spend a day with their MTC group just seeing the city one last time. We did some sight-seeing, and some shopping. Then we had a tearful last dinner and testimony meeting in the McConkie apartment. Then, the three of us spent the night in the same hotel we started teh mission in.

Thursday we met both the Hansen family adn the Strobel family. It's always interesting watching missionaries see their families for the first time in two years. Then we had district meeting, a lesson with Vera, one of our investigators Veronika, Maruska, Sergei, then skyped with Veronika in England, then...I think that's all on thursday.

Friday we had game night...and taught 12 lessons, the most I've ever taught in one day. Being in a threesome means that you can go on all kinds of exchanges. I think we went on three today. we tuaght Viktor (a different one), Ary, Drahomir, Pavlicovi, Pet'a, Vera, Sasha, Artur, Martin Novak, Miroslav (a new guy)...and two others. I can't think of who. They were scheduled last minute, so they aren't in my planner.

Saturday, today, we went to a place called Petřin, where there is a replica Eiffel Tower. Took some good pics, had good fun, and good food. And taught five lessons.

I love you all so much, I totally ran out of time, so we'll do some major catch up.

Elder Knapp 

Running Through the Finish Line

Draha rodino,

That's so cool about Dallin! Is he already 18? I have no idea anymore. I realized awhile ago, and this is no joke, that I have legitimately forgotten the names of some people that I used to hang out with before the mission. That's going to be awkward..."Hi! Yeah, it's good to see you...what's your name again? Disregard the fact we've known each other for years, tell me your name!"  Real quick, before I get started on the week, yes Mom, we did teach a record number of lessons. It was intense. We were pretty excited about it. President was proud of us.

The week! Sunday we had a meeting before church, then met Ary and Viktor after church, then made a couple of visits after singing with the missionaries at the train station. We taught our 41st lesson at seven o clock Sunday evening. The previous record was 35. Also, we had the first ever Sunday without our late night calls to all the zone leaders! It was nice to go to bed on time.

Monday was pretty normal. We had a meeting with President, then office meeting. After office meeting we went to Elder Boysen's first driving lesson!!! I may have mentioned this already, but the new AP doesn't have a driver's license, so Elder Boysen is getting one. It's an adventure haha. We had a nice lesson with Vera once we got back, ate some lunch, then went to the Cambelovi. Whew.  We went to FHE later, and taught Maxim. We started teaching Vera's son, Sergei, today. he's a good guy, a really really good guy. He  is making fantastic progress.

Tuesday we had a lesson in the morning, it went okay. It was with a really nice guy, who claims yoga as his religion. He has a lot of interesting ideas, which mostly just means that he is confused about the world. I think we're making progress with him though. His name is Michal. We taught Vera again, then visited the Cambelovi. We had a really good lesson with Sergei after that, the Restoration. He's going to get baptized, I can feel it.  We had a good lesson with Artur as well, who is also going to get baptized, he's making great progress.  After that we had a nice lesson with Maxim again, and then we had a part inthe mission prep class here, so we went to that. 

Wednesday we taught a first lesson with a waaaaaaaaaaay cool guy I found last week at singing display. He's a self-employed accountant, well-off, searching for the truth, two kids, cool cool guy. His name's Lad'a. We had another driving lesson, taught Vera, skyped with Veronika in England, got dropped by the Cambelovi, taught a family history class, then visited Jitka Zahradnikova. The Cambelovi dropped us by leaving their Book of Mormon in a plastic bag on the church door. I've never had that happen to me before. I've heard Elder Holland talk about it, but this was the first time for me. But we're not licked! We are so not done there. They were doing so well, then they got attacked by this catholic guy that comes and waits outside the chapel every Sunday. It shook Sis Cambelova pretty bad. We were annoyed. And are. But not finished!

Thursday we had a good day. We had a big lunch together with both Prague districts, then we had a short singing display. It was good, got some good potentials. Then we headed back to the building to meet with one of our Italian investigators, Eleanora. She is currently working on her PhD thesis, which sounds like a total nightmare. She will be defending it in three different languages, Czech, French, and English. Then we met with Sergei, had a good lesson with him, watching the Joseph Smith film. We then went and visited our Filipino investigators, Millette and Maricel. We had a good lesson with them about the First Vision and what it means. They are extremely attached to their Catholic traditions. Tradition seems to be as binding as doctrine at times. 

Friday we had good lessons with Vera, Pet'a, Sergei, Ary, Viktor, and Maxim. We started the Plan of Salvation with Sergei, and he is great. We asked if he'd read in the Book of Mormon, and he said, "Yeah just a little...the first seven chapters." We were pleased with that, but he was way low-key about it, and was just like "It's no big deal, I just had 30 minutes free at work, so I read some." We asked how he'd understood it all, and he proceeded to summarize in great detail the first seven chapters of the Book. It was great.

Today we have fun things on plan. A hike at a nature preserve, a baptism, and then dinner at the McConkie's.

Love you all,

Elder Knapp

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

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

Draha rodino,

Sunday we had a pretty normal day. Taught a bit after church, did some planning and things after that, then met with President. They were in brno this weekend, so we met them in their house to give President a little surprise. I don't really know how do describe it. It's a glass cube with my and Elder Sewell's faces engraved on the inside. I don't know how they do it, but it had President laughing for a good 10-15 minutes. Every time he looked at it he just lost it again and again. He's not usually like that, so it means we done good.

Monday We had a nice lesson with Ary before we went to FHE. We also had athe opportunity to give a YSA girl here a blessing, which is always a nice thing. We had some good meetings with President earlier in the day, discussing transfers and such. It's tonight we make the calls, I'm so excited! I love doing this.

Tuesday we had a conference here in Prague. It went really well. We talked about the importance of planning and preparation, specifically in getting ready for Christmas because the mission historically goes through a dip around this time of year. I love listening to President McConkie. He has such vision, and is so inspired. I wish we all had a similar vision to him, because the mission would explode. I think that we often don't realize how willing the Lord is to bless us, and how many of His children are prepared. If we all could grasp that, and the power of the Holy Ghost in conversion, we would baptize hundreds, all over the world. We also had some really good lessons, one with Elianora, our Italian, one with Artur, one of our Russians, a way cool new guy named Pavel, and Maxim! Maxim is so great. His baptism is today. He's in, he's going to do it. I love the guy so much. Pavel is going to be awesome. He's a successful man, and is just cool. He's going to really embrace the message I think. Also after the conference President called the new AP, but I can't say yet, hehe.

Wednesday morning I had my transferly interview with President, which I was very excited for. It was great. I love to learn from wise men. We had a great talk, just chatting about different things. I am determined to learn as much as I can from him. We met later with another cool new guy, his name is Tomas. He works just across the street from the building, and I have a lot of hope for him as well. We had a good lesson with a youong guy named Ondrej, answered a bunch of his questions and talked more about the Restoration. It went well. We also had a good lesson with Drahomir, Isabel, a slightly struggling sister named named Jitka, and then visited Viktor at his work. He had gotten the sauna all ready for us and was going to give us a free session in the sauna. We didn't feel comfortable with that, called President and received confirmation that we should avoid that. I felt bad because Viktor tried hard to do something special for us and we couldn't. He's such a good guy, he was actually called to the YM presidency here last Sunday.

Thursday was awesome. We helped Isabel move a little bit, payed some dental bills for Elder Sewell, then started teaching. Maxim had his interview, and then we taught him a short message, then had a great lesson with Mirek and Lukas. We were talking about baptism and the Holy Ghost, and at the end we asked if they had questions, and Lukas said, "No, I don't. Well, maybe a small one. I've never been baptized, could I get baptized?" Yes Lukas. You can. You have to understand folks, these two are not believers, or rather, weren't. We have been very sneaky with them how we've taught them, but you know what? The Holy Ghost is REAL. And they have felt it. We're so stoked for them. Both 23, both cool, smart guys. We refer to these sort as kingdom builders. We also had a really good lesson with Patrik, who has recently returned from Mali and Afghanistan on Army assignments. He's such a good guy. He is going to be baptized. Really. Pray for him though. We also visited a member family that night, the Matejckovi, and had dinner and shared a thought of course. We also looked at a bunch of stuff from Bro Matejcek's mission in Arizona. Good times. Happy Thanksgiving.

Friday we met our investigator Vera after a long pause, and it was great. She's coming to church this week, and we're excited to start teaching her again. We went to a really good burger joint, then sang some songs on the street. WE found a really cool mom, we'll start teaching her next week. Added bonus, her husband is Nigerian. We had such a good lesson with Pet'a! She is going to start the Book of Mormon for the third time and try praying and studying again. Please pray for her!!! SHe is so great, once she's baptized she'll be a great member. We had a Czech lesson with a member, then taught Ary a good lesson, he may go on a mission! We'll talk with him more about that later of course. Then we went and had end-of-transfer-we-love-the-office-missionaries-and-APs-dinner at the McConkies. It was of course enjoyable.

Today we had a turkey bowl.  It was a way fun time and now we're getting prepped for a feast, and two baptisms. We have six through the mission this weekend, some real miracles. This is the greatest work! I love you all, keep strong.

Love,

Starsi Knapp

The Latest News from Prague

Draha rodino,

It's been a good week, but we'll get to that in a bit. How many losses does the basketball team have, is that the first? I hate dirty play. I hate it! I can't even begin to describe how much it bothers me. It's just low. But, I'm a missionary. There is no such thing as cheap shots in missionary work. It's not a competition, so there can't be. Hunter, BYU is still the best. They'll be okay, it's early in the year. Who did they play last week, did they win, or was that the Wisconsin game?

Sunday was good, we had a few at church, and went and taught an investigator and her friend, and did some study and planning. We then had our normal Sunday night schedule, meeting with President and calls with the zone leaders.

Monday we taught one of the new folks we found from the concert, a young Russian kid named Artur. He's a really good guy. We also taught a new guy that Elder Sewell had found the week before at a singing display. he's a really nice guy, but I think he thought it was supposed to be an English lesson, not a Gospel discussion. He was a bit surprised I think. We also taught Ary afterwards, about the Priesthood. We need to explain a bit more. he doesn't want to get it yet. I think it's just because of a little bit of misunderstanding, so we'll do what we can to clear it up. We also had a lesson after FHE with a young guy we started teaching a couple weeks ago. It was not fantastic. He is a very firm atheist, and very critical and derisive about religion. I was not enjoying myself. I have some fire, and sometimes I struggle with maintain a friendly attitude and telling someone that they're being ridiculous. I usually do well, I just stay quiet rather than trust myself to speak. I can only remember a few times when I have spoken my mind in these type of situations. Don't judge me.

Tuesday was good. We had a couple lessons we didn't expect, and one was with Maxim, the kid from Kazakhstan, and it was awesome. It had been awhile since we'd seen him, but he called and said he had time to meet, so we did. It was great. We talked about his impending baptism, which is planned for next weekend, and whether or not he can make it. At first, he said he wanted more time, so we talked it out. We told him that we felt he was ready, the decision was now his. We asked him if he believes the Book of Mormon is true, if Joseph was a prophet, and if this is the one true Church of Christ. He answered in the affirmative to each question. We just told him, Maxim, that's all you need! His greatest desire is to be an instrument in the hands of God, and he agreed with me when I suggested that the best place to do that was in God's church. It was just a good lesson, and he could still make it. He's going to tell us his decision tomorrow at church. Pray for him. We also met with Drahomir, a less active guy, and a new girl, Ellianora. She's Italian.

Wednesday we visited one of our investigators at the Filipino embassy where she works with Sister Munro which was nice. It was good for her I think. We visited Drahomir again, and then he took us to an Indian all you can eat buffet. ITwas actually really good. We did some planning for our training on Thursday, then went and taught a kid I found at a singing display lasts week. He's a cool young Slovak kid named Simon. He's way interested in the Book of Mormon, so I have high hopes for him. WE had a lesson again with Ary, and it was good. We talked more about the Priesthood, and he's closer to getting it. It was a turning point when Elder Sewell informed him that he received the Priesthood when he was 12. Ary started to think, and decided he could probably get the priesthood at 22 if we could get it at 12. We taught Artur again, and had a really good lesson on the Restoration with him, and he really grasped it well. That night we headed to Brno to sleep over before the training early in the morning.

Thursday's training was one of the best I've been to. We just demonstrated how to teach a 10 minute Christmas lesson so as to stay busy the week of Christmas. The work usually takes a dive around this time of year, and we are working with President frantically to avoid such a dip. But President's training was great, all about the greatness of the work and especially in the Czech Republic. Then, and this was not fun but very inspiring, we had departing testimonies. Such missionaries included in the group going home in a couple weeks as Elder Clyde, Elder De Angelis, and Elder Sewell. Between those three, I have over a year's worth of companions. It was not nice to see them all stand up and share their last testimony. I love those guys. We then drove back and taught Simon again, then Maxim! We taught the Sabbath Day and the Law of Chastity. It was great. He is so close! He has no problems with any of the commandments, stopped drinking coffee and smoking a couple weeks ago, and just needs to be baptized! he's a great kid.

Friday we taught a few lessons, a good one with Pet'a, and also Ary. He was going to teach with us, but the investigator didn't come, so we taught him about hte temple. He really enjoyed it. We also had a meeting with a member who taught us some Czech, practiced a musical number, and had lunch. Now, we don't always have lunch, but the scarcity of the event is not what warranted it's inclusion in the email. I, Elder Howell, and Elder King (the office elders), all have birthdays within a week of each other, 20th, 22nd, and 26th respectively. Elder Sewell set up a reservation through Isabel at the restaurant where she works for lunch for us, Pres and Sis McConkie, the Munros, and the Mendenhalls. Where does she work? Dad, do you know what a Brazilian steakhouse is? Yeah. It was amazing. Basically all my culinary dreams come true. they had a great salad bar and so many different kinds of meat that I probably couldn't name them all. Okay I probably could, I remember this kind of thing pretty well. Elder Sewell and I had been eating special things to prepare ourselves for it. It paid off. I ate quite a bit, and could have continued but we ran out of time. It was a good experience.

Today we're not doing anything to exciting, just some business-type stuff for Elder Sewell. Love you all!

Starsi Knapp

Draha rodino,

IT's been a good week. We've had some ups and downs, as life tends to have, but everything's been great. I did indeed receive my birthday package! I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks so much for that!

Monday! Sorry I have no news about Sunday, I have anew planner and I don't remember anything except that Ary got the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was great. He's the best. He told us a few days later that it was the highlight of his week. He's great. But anyway, Monday. We did a singing display in the morning again, it went really well, then we had the normal office stuff. That evening we taught Phuc, I still need to get a picture of him, and then Ary.

Tuesday after a good district meeting we met with a kid we started teaching last week, Radovan, and it went really well. He's a great kid, we're really excited for him. He's very open and willing to do things, and he's progressing as a result. That's what reading and praying does for you. He also promised to come to church tomorrow, so we're pumped for that. We had a good lesson with a lady named Ivana, she just doesn't get it! She thinks all paths are good, and we are going back to God whether we want to or deserve it or not. She also has a lot of other really weird beliefs. I don't think email can accurately portray them. But we had a recently returned missionary teaching with us, and she's awesome. It was a good lesson, we taught well, she just still wasn't quite there. Perseverance. 

Wednesday was a good day, we met a new kid named Ondrej, he's a funny kid. We had a good lesson, he's not 100% committed, so we don't know exactly when we're going to meet him again, but we will soon. We had a great lesson with Isabel about the plan of salvation. Her grandmother recently died, and she was a bit down about that, and we had a good chat, and she felt a lot better after. We had an interesting lesson with Martin Koca. His words, in English, "I want to disengage from all Church activities." We were like "...Martin. You do nothing. You are totally disengaged." We did have a really good lesson with Viktor, and also earlier with a less active, Drahomir. I don't know if I told you his story from last week. We had a lesson with him, and later in the day he sent us a text thanking us for the lesson and talking about how he heard some things that really influenced him to start making changes and being better. Since then we have seen a total change in him. It's awesome. We had a great lesson with him again, and he's doing so well. 

Thursday we did the final singing display before the concert, yikes! and then taught. We found some way cool people at the display though. We have a great week set up for next week. We then taught a great lesson with Mirek and Lukas, who really are doing well. We have woven our way into the message, and they are really enjoying it. They accepted a Book of Mormon on thursday, and I really think they'll read. We visited the Pavlicovi, and had a good lesson there. The older daughter was actually really involved, and it was good. We had another really good lesson with Phuc, and then a decent one with a less active Russian kid who we're trying to get to go on a mission.

Friday. Concert day. We were all pretty nervous. But before the concert we had a great lesson with Pet'a, and Elder Sewell and a member taught a good one with Radovan. I was not present because I was recruited to go and pick up some new cars for the mission. Elder Sewell can't drive, so we went on splits and I picked up one of the cars. It was kind of fun to drive a brand new car straight of the lot. The lesson with Pet'a was sooo good! She's a great girl, and she just needs a spiritual experience to motivate her to baptism. We've been wondering how to bring up baptism with her, and it has been a focus of my prayers lately, and she totally brought it up herself and we had a great discussion. we're all set to talk about it next meeting. She is possibly the smartest person I've ever met, and it's going ot be great once she's baptized. So, the concert. We had a pretty good turnout. Actually, it was great. We had over 100 people show up, and all the missionaries got some people from it. I was really pleased with how it went. I've had very little solo experience, so I was way nervous for my piece. But, it went really well, honest. I sang O Divine Redeemer, and one of the sisters in my district accompanied me. I'm relieved it's over though. We were all way pumped up about it, President especially. he had a violin piece he played, and duet with one of the senior missionaries, she on the piano he on the violin, and after it he came into the hall where we were all waiting and totally chest-bumped Elder Sewell.

And today, we're going to that little village that Hitler blew up, and we're going to check out the grounds and see the monument. It should be good. Love you all tons, I'm excited to hear from you next week!

Elder Knapp

And a few more pictures...

Viktor's Baptism

With the McConkie boys

With  member from Prague before he heads to the MTC in Provo on his way to a mission in South Africa

Surprise visit from a former Czech/Slovak missionary--Elder Tenney

With Isabel, Ary, and friends

Ary's Baptism

Best Email Ever!

Draha rodino,

Sunday was of course great. We had a good church, with a short lesson beforehand, and then at 5 we had the baptism! Pictures included. Right after he came out of the water he yelled, "That was awesome!" Not the most reverent reaction, but it was just a pure expression of joy from a pure man. After it, Isabel and Cristina had a bunch of Angolan food prepared. Ahhhh. So so so good. It was amazing. Then we had callins and that was the day.

Monday we had something a little unusual. We did a singing display in the morning. Like I mentioned in my last email, we have a concert coming up next Friday, and we are doing more singing than usual in order to advertise for it. We also met Ary, first time as a baptized man. WE go to the FHE every week, and the senior couple here, the Mendenhalls - who incidentally remind me a lot of Grandma and Grandpa Gage - cook amazing food. IT is so delicious. After the dinner we had a lesson with Maxim. He's doing well, needs to quit smoking, but he's doing well. We're meeting with him tonight.

Tuesday we met with Marek. Now, Marek is someone who cannot be fully described in an email. He is legendary. He's been known for years. A few weeks ago he showed up to the building, has been to churhc four weeks in a row, and asked us to teach him so he can get baptized. He is Czech, but he speaks the fastest English I've ever heard. We also met with katka, someone who has been taught for over a year. WE also had Mission Leadership Council in the morning. It was good. We have a good leader group. I love spending time with the other missionaries. 

Wednesday we visited with Phuc, the vietnamese kid. He's great. I love him to death. We also had a nice chat with President about he mission and how things are going. I've decided that Mission presidents have the hardest job. Bless him. We also had a good chat with Veronika, the one I baptized who now lives in England. We then visited a lady from the Philippines and Martin Koca.

Thursday we met with a less active in the morning, had a really good meeting with him. Later in the day he texted us and said that it was just what he needed to hear, and that he was ready to start making some changes in his life. It was great. We also met with a really cool new kid, Radovan, that we met last week. We had a really good lesson with Mirek and Lukas, then with patrik who we haven't seen forever, but it was great. He leaves for Afghanistan next week for 14 days, then goes to mali straight after. We visited a family we teach that night as well, and only the dad was home which was good. We had some good one on one, or really one on two time with him and taught him the Restoration.

Friday was a bunch of fun, we did another singing display, and we handed out over 800 fliers in an hour and a half. IT was incredible. We also sang on the metro, which was actually surprisingly scary, but we did it and we're glad to say that we did. It was a good experience. We had a group singing on the metro and then we had the rest handing out fliers as fast as they could. We also taught Isabel in the morning and Ary, pet'a and Otakar later. It went well. We went and played games with Ary after his lesson. It was a bunch of fun. Every Friday we get together with the YSA, missionaries, and investigators and we play ping pong, foosball, card games, air hockey, that kind of thing.

Today was a fun pday. We got a call from Sis McConkie Friday night asking if we would be able to spend some time this morning doing basketball drills with Wilson who is in the process of trying out for the team. only 10 from about 40 make it, and he really wants to. It was a blast. We were with him and also his brother Hyrum, and at the end President showed up and we five had a quick pick up game. It was good. and my team won. Do you remember a few months ago when I mentioned how we had watched a documentary about the assassination of Hitler's right hand man? We visited the site today where it happened, well actually where the aftermath happened. It was really neat. It's an old church, and you can still see the bullet holes and the places where the Nazis shot trying to get to those involved in the assassination. They've built a monument there honoring those who died. It was sad, but inspiring at the same time.

Well family, time is officially up. i love you all so much, and I can't wait to hear from you next week.

Starsi Knapp

The week in Prague

 Draha Radino!

Sunday we had good church, and then we taught a family from India. So cool. They are a referral from a member that used to live here, and they are great. It's a young couple with a two year old daughter. We are way excited for them. We had good calls wit hthe zone leader as well. The mission is doing well.

Monday we had a good day. We taught Viktor, and then after his lesson we taught Michal with Viktor, first time ever for Viktor. He did such a good job, perfect. There has been discussion of him replacing the current branch mission leader. He would be soo great. We also taught Ary later in the evening, fasting, and it was great. He agreed to fast with us this weekend and pay offerings after baptism and everything.

Tuesday we had district meeting and planned the concert that we are putting on in a couple weeks. It should be good. I was pretty skeptical because it's been on plan for a long time and rescheduled many times because no one has acted on it. But, we got down to business and planned it. I'm performing a number, I'll tell what it is after the concert, if it goes well. That night we taught a couple less-actives, a lady and her Guatemalan husband, and Ary. We also taught Martin Koca, and it was rough. He talked to some Buddhist guy, and took some big steps backward as far as his progress goes to baptism. He has lost all concept of truth and who God is. WE had a surprise today. We walked into the building to teach someone, and Elder Tenney was there! He's living in Ukraine teaching English right now, and he is on a trip around Europe with a stop in Prague. It was good to see him.

Wednesday we wnet to Brno for a conference. It was good. I love the missionaries in our mission. We trained on reading and prayer, and we got to stay for the whole conference this time. It was good to see the other missionaries train, especially the zone leaders. Presidnet McConkie has them in two different cities so as to spread out the missionary goodness. One is going home in a month and the other is a new zone leader, so it was good to see them working together. They're great. We drove to Brno with Sis McConkie, and it was pretty fun. She is very talkative, and kept us entertained thoughout the drive. She is good at facilitating conversation. We came back and taught Martin Koca again this evening. We just went through every book of scripture and taught the nature of God. He took it ok. You can't contend with the scriptures, they have a special authority.

Thursday we taught Ary and Viktor, and Ary had his baptismal interview. Passed! He's great. President McConkie loves him, and is really excited for his future. We are too. We then went to a singing display and had great success. I had the idea, that we could set goals a little differently for finding. instead of setting a number goal, we set a type of person goal, and then do all we can to find that person. We decided we needed to look for a husband for some of the YSA girls here, and we focused our finding on young cool guys. We found four. It was neat. The Lord is good. We also taught a new young guy named Jan today. He's not a believer at all, but he's willing ot learn. we taught Mirek and Lukas again, and it was so good! we reviewed the Plan of Salvation with them, and it really went well. Lukas agreed to pray for the first time in his life! He did a great job. HE has made such great progress. We went with Presidnet to Jicin that night to have a meeting with the District Presidency. We're finally going to have a district high council! President is pretty excited about it.

Friday we taught a young guy named Marek who has been around forever about baptism. It was good. He has more energy than anyone else I have ever met. But he's a supergenius, and a really nice guy. We also taught a young mother named Jana, and she accepted a baptismal date! The 21 of December. After them we taught Isabel about eternal marriage, and then taught Cristina with her. They are so hilarious. Cristina also accepted a baptismal date for the 21! She's going to make it too. She's great. WE watched the Joseph Smith video with her, and she loved it. AFter lunch we taught Pet'a, the girl from Slovakia, and it went well, then we went looking for some less actives with President McConkie. No one was home, but we found a cool guy on the way. He's recently married, and cool.

today we are going to teach a few folks, practice for our concert, and play soccer! Love you all, the Gospel is true!

Starsi Knapp

Draha rodino,

It's been a nice week. We've been way busy as usual, but that's the way it's supposed to be. It's great that you received that Email. A group of us were eating at my favorite restaurant and two members from Utah saw us and took our picture! There is always a possibility of running into members of the church in Prague. it's happened to me on several occasions. I have no special requests, except for maybe emails from my sisters. They struck out this week.

Monday! Monday as usual was very busy. Came into the office early to prepare of the statistical reports. After office meeting we taught Viktor about missionary work. It went really well! He loves everything we teach and makes great progress. We also taught Veronika, and Ary later in the day. They were both really good lessons. Veronika to this point has kind of had the attitude of "there's no way I can believe, I'm too set in my ways" but she told us this past lesson that she really wants to understand our message. She's a great girl, and we're excited about her potential. Ary as always is doing great. We taught him the 10 commandments with a focus on the Sabbath Day. He's awesome. Whenever we teach a commandment and it is a little different than his current lifestyle, he just says, hmmm, than talks himself through it, and then says, "yeah, yeah I can do that, no problem." He is the greatest.

On Tuesday we also came in early because we had new district leader training. It went really well. Elder Sewell and I both did individual trainings; he on district meeting, I on exchanges. After we finished the training we had a meeting wth President and a lesson with Phuc, the Vietnamese member. 

Wednesday we had a district meeting, it went really well. Elder Howell is a good district leader, I really enjoy his district meetings. We taught Michal later, he's also doing really well. He's really excited for baptism. We had a nice call session, set up some meetings and did some work on a project about RCLAs for one of the District presidencies here, then taught the most frustrating lesson of all tiem. Do you remember that Ukrainian girl I told you about a couple weeks ago, the golden miracle turned sour? We had a lesson with her again, and she definitely read some anti stuff online and that's why she has lost interest, and she refused to tell us what she heard so that we could talk it out. She jsut told us, "I really like you, and how I feel when I'm here, but I will never join your church." We taught a solid solid Restoration lesson, asked her what it means if the Book of Mormon is true, and she said, "this church is the only true church." And then told us again that there is no point in meeting anymore. Ahhhh. Someday.

Thursday had a good singing display. We found some way cool folks, including a guy who is going to turn over to us the direction of his Bible study group once he leaves for England to work for a couple weeks. We also met a cool kid named Lukas later, he's a nonbeliever and a little wary of religion. we met with Otakar as well. It was okay, he's a great guy and is progressing well, he just has some strange ideas. But, he's coming along. we visited the pavlicovi afterwards, then came back and had a good lesson with Michal in the evening.

Friday we had weekly planning, and the annual pumpkin carving, as well as a few lessons. We taught a way cool Slovak girl with Sister Munro, Ary, and also another one of Isabel's friends! She's an amazing missionary. Ary taught wtih us, even though he's not a memmber yet. This girl, Cristina, doesn't speak much English or Czech, just Portuguese, so Ary translated for us. It was good though, she really wants to meet with us. Elder Osterloh, the AP before me, walked into the pumpkin carving part way through with his parents and brother! We knew he was coming to visit, but it was fun to see him. They'll be touring Prague a bit, then they'll come to church on sunday.

And today! Not much on plan today. We'll teach a few lessons, then play some soccer.

Love you all, you're the best.

Elder Knapp  

Draha rodino,

It's been a great week! We've had some great things happen. 

Monday was, of course, busy. Mondays are. We had a very full schedule in the afternoon. We taught Viktor, Veronika, Maxim, who is doing so great btw, and Cristina, Isabel's friends. We helped her move and then taught her. She's great! She really wanted to get a Book of Mormon, and when we gave it to her she was way excited. She is a sassy African, and hilarious. She also doesn't speak much English or Czech, which I think I mentioned. But it went well. Viktor got the Priesthood on Sunday which was great, and we talked a lot about he temple, because he's going in a couple weeks. He's the best.

Tuesday we didn't have District Meeting because we had a conference Thursday, so we went and sang instead. The only problem is the place we went was not great for a singing display. I accidentally contacted a guy who was...not in his right state of mind though he looked very normal, and we had a nice chat about knights templar and the like before I could terminate the contact. But we came back and taught Michal the Word of Wisdom! He knows it's all right, he does smoke a bit though. So, we stole his cigs, and cut them up in the dumpster. Okay, he gave them to us, but I always love doing that to people, just like when we took tea away from the Pavlicovi. We also had dinner at a member's house, prepared for our training.

Wednesday was totally full. We taught 8 lessons and got haircuts. We don't do haircuts on pday because most places are closed on Saturdays, so we can't. We went through a little bit of the "preparing to enter the holy temple" pamphlet with Viktor, he's excited. We had a good talk about families and gave him a proclamation, which he loved. We also met with Isabel, Otakar, had a great study of John 15 with Pet'a, taught Ary reading and prayer as commandments, and taught Martin Koca the Word of Wisdom. He is so funny. I hope you get to meet him someday. He is the most interesting character I've ever met. He's just lovable. Ary is doing so so well. His baptism is officially for Sunday the 3rd, at 5:00. pray for him!

Thursday we had training, and it went well, or at least the parts we were present for. We had to go pick up lunch so we missed a part. Actually a very long part. We ordered from this Chinese restaurant, and they don't really speak a language we know. So, when we went to pick it up, they had 2 boxes ready for us, not 55. So, we cleared up the confusion and waited for an hour and a half for our food. We had a good laugh. We then missed the end because we had some lessons. Otakar is doing really well. We talked about why we have commandments and the blessings associated with them. We also taught Ivana, we haven't met with her for a few weeks, and it was a bit of a tough one. She has very different views, one of which is that all paths are good. Still not sure how to get around that one. We visited afterwards a recent convert who is having some struggles right now, her Catholic friends are trying to pull her back, and then the Elder's quorum president and his wife. 

Friday was fun. We taught Cristina with Isabel, and we were dying laughing. They are so funny. It was good, but a little tough bcause of the language. We then went to lunch with a member and his girlfriend, the Vietnamese one. We should get the pictures back next week, so I can send them. We taught Ary tithing! The last hurdle. he's great. I love that guy so much. When we asked if he would begin to pay after baptism, he said," Hmm...two more weeks of being a freeloader." So funny.

Today we're going to a war memorial and it should be good. It's a beautiful day in Prague, and we're excited.

Love you!

Elder Knapp

A Happy Missionary

Draha rodino!

Wow. This week has been the greatest. So many good things

The week!!!

Sunday was good, we had a few at church, including Viktor and Ary, then right after sacrament meeting we left. We had a zone conference in Brno Sunday afternoon, and we had to leave as soon as we could to get there on time. So, after a good meeting we left Viktor and Ary in each others' care and we took the two oldest McConkie kids with us to Brno. It was a good conference, Elder Sewell and I actually didn't train this time, so we just got to listen and enjoy. Tonight while doing call ins, I added up how many lessons we had taught to this point in the transfer. Our goal is 200 in the transfer, and this is the last week. I'll tell you where we're at by the end of the email. 

Monday we had a good day. We taught a young Russian recent convert, and then she helped us teach Viktor. It was a good meeting, he's doing really well. We also had a way good lesson with Ary, he said at the end, "this baptism, I think I can do it, I think I can make it." Yeah he can! he told us about his Catholic baptism, how he was 5, and had no idea what was going on, and now he wants to be baptized because he chooses to be. We also had a good lesson with a guy named Michal, from Uzbekistan, and he's on date now for the 16th of November. I'll mention him more later.

Tuesday we taught Viktor again, the last big hurdle before baptism: tithing! We had President McConkie with us, and it went great! He accepted it no problem and he is excited to get baptized next week. Keep praying for him, he needs it still! We taught Vera via iPhone, and a couple others. We had one of the most frustrating lessons ever tonight. It was with this young guy Josef. He claims to be an honest seeker of truth, but you can tell by his questions that he's not. He claims we haven't answered any of his questions, and when we asked what questions we hadn't answered, he listed off a bunch of questions we had discussed at length. It's not that we haven't answered them, he just doesn't like our answers. But, we meet those type now and then. We can't just have Viktors and Arys! We had a singing display, found a couple of people, and had a cool phone call from Michal. He talked about how he had read the Book of Mormon and our website all night, and was stoked about what he had found. We met with him later in the day, and he talked about how everything he's been looking for is here, and it answers all his questions, and how true it all feels. So cool.

Wednesday we had some cool miracles, evidence that the Lord wants us to achieve our goal of 200 lessons. We taught both Viktor and Michal in the morning, had lunch with all the missionaries in Prague and the McConkies, and it was a really good time. We then went and met a former investigator, and really cool guy named Petr. he's Jehovah's witness, so it's going to be a battle with him, but he's a nice guy. We had another great lesson with Ary, at the end of which he of course prayed again. After his prayer, like every time, he was just excited. Smiling, happy, feeling the Spirit. He said, "It just gets better and better! I'm getting good at this." He is the greatest. We also had two lessons that we didin't really expect to get, one with a really cool kid from Kazakhstan that we met with last week, and a really good one with a long time investigator named Martin Koca. We also had a meeting with the branch president, President Pilka, about less actives and how we can better work together to brign some back. It was good, and his trust in us is growing, and we're starting to have a good relationship with him. 

Thursday we had training here in Prague, and it was good. The zone leaders did a good job. We had two lessons immediately afterwards, one with Veronika and one with Viktor. Both were really really good. It was Viktor's birthday, and we had a small celebration with him, and some of the other missionaries. He really appreciated it. He's 38. And he says hello haha. We talk about our families a lot, and he said today that I must have a great family. He's right. Right after his lesson we headed to a university to teach two new guys, Lukas and Mirek. They're way cool, and we had a good lesson with them. They are both not really believers much, but they have good questions, and they are willing to meet with us. 

Yesterday was way packed, we taught 8 lessons, which is a new high for me. We had such a cool miracle in the morning! we had a lesson set up with a Ukrainian lady, so we invited the same Russian RC, Sasha, to teach with us. The lady didn't show up, so we taught Sasha a quick lesson. We finished, and walked to the door with her, where a young college-age girl was waiting. We let her in, and started to talk to her, and she told us right away that she wasn't Czech. We heard her accent, and it turns out she is Russian! Her name is Maria, and she said that she has never been a believer, but that she has been thinking about God a lot lately, and that she felt it was time to start believing! We sat down with her and chatted a bit about our purpose and all, and she is soooo cool. We had to leave to go meet another investigator, but no worries, our Russian member took her on a tour of the building, and by the end they were just best friends, and now Maria is coming to church, and we're going to meet with her! WAs it a coincidence that we happened to be there with a Russian member just as a Russian girl walked up to the Restored Church of Jesus Christ? Not a chance. God is good. 

Today, as I've mentioned, we met with Viktor, he is so set for baptism next week. He wants to be baptized in a lake or a river, so we have to find a place for it, but other than that, he's good. Transfers end this weekend, so tonight, for the first time (and I'm so excited), I get to be part of calling all the missionaries to tell them where they're going!!! It's going to be such fun. Elder Sewell and I already know where everyone is going and all, but it's going to be great to get to be the one calling the other missionaries. Also, Elder Sewell and I are staying together! More than six months together total. Wow.

I love you all tons, can't wait to hear from you all again!

Elder Knapp

Email and Pictures

Draha rodino,

Everything is back to normal now as far as our schedule goes, so it is Saturday and I am emailing. What a great game that must have been! I heard from President McConkie last week about it. he's a Ute, but like any good football fan he watches his enemies as close as his friends. I was pretty excited, and so was Sis McConkie and their oldest daughter. You see, their family is divided. President went to the U, so he and his sons are Utes. Sis McConkie went to the Y, so she and her daughter are Cougs. I didn't realize they had a bye this week, but it's good. I hope they get ready, because we have earned every victory we haven't gotten these past few years, and it's time! The two pictures: the couple is the Mills, from Ostrava if you recall.  I love those two so much, it was super sad to see them go. The weird statues are a monument portraying the dehumanizing effect of Communism. I don't know how well you'll be able to see it, but each statue has a little bit less of  the body, symbolizing how with time, Communism makes its citizens less and less human, until at the top stair, there is nothing left. Pretty wild.

Okey doke, Monday. Monday was not the day we wanted it to be. We had many cancellations, which you will soon see has been a theme throughout the week. The thing is, Viktor, our main man, is deeply involved in an intensive construction project right now, so we're seeing him for the first time today. it's been a good week though. On Monday we finally met with Isabel again, she was sick and so hadn't been to church in a couple weeks, but she's better and back now, so we're glad. She is soooo funny. we had the baptismal form for her to fill out at the lesson, and it was hilarious to watch. She has always kept her age a secret from us, we don't know why, so when she saw that she had to write her birthdate and all that she was just appalled. She at first refused to give it, but then she noticed that we were covering something up on the form. Since Elder Sewell baptized her and I confirmed her, both of our first names were there. She said she would only put her birthdate if she could see our names. It was so funny. She was thrilled. We allowed it though because we know that she understands that part of our calling is to go by "Elder," so there was no worry of her calling us by our first names. It's weird to me now to hear my first name. 

Tuesday was amazing! But for reasons that will surprise you. We took the McConkies to the airport because they have a Mission President's conference tuesday to Friday in Paris. Then we had district lunch and district meeting and everything, and it went well. we had lunch at a special restaurant because it was one of the Sisters birthday, then had the meeting, on How to Begin Teaching. We then taught a few lessons, one of which was to a really cool new girl from Russia named Rita. That evening however, we got to do something pretty cool, and out of the ordinary. This following list you must look up.

Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall Krzysztof Penderecki: Adagio from the Symphony No. 3 (adaptation for strings) Antonín Dvořák: Cello Concerto No. 2 in Bminor, Op. 104 Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 7in A major, Op. 92

And listen to. Then look up Alisa Weilerstein and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Elder Sewell and I went and got to see the opening concert of a big music festival here in Prague. It was soooooooo great. Really. I love classical music. Antonín Dvořák is a native Czech composer, and we were in his hall, where he conducted, and heard his music played by the Czech national orchestra. SO GREAT. A little different than normal stuff, but it was amazing. You'll see that once you listen to it. We are blessed. I love this place.

Wednesday we went and visited a semi-active guy, then did a finding exchange with the sisters in Prague who just opened a new area and work is a little slow for them. but, we went out and found them a few folks, so it was good. They're such good sisters, it's just tough to start from zero. We also taught Patrik! He. Is. Awesome. I'll havet o get a picture for you all. The lesson was sos good. We finishedthe Restoration with him and his prayer at the end was so great, so sincere. He really wants to know.

Thursday we had a good day, we had a singing display that went well. We found a few people, set up a few appointments, and that's what it's all about. We also taught a few lessons, including one to a former investigator named Josef. He became a former after reading about how Nephi killed Laban. we had a very interesting discussion with him. He's a good guy, but he's not super open. we'll see where he goes. He's willing to meet at least.

Friday, yesterday, we taught a friend of Isabel's, such a cool kid, his name is Ari, he's from Angola just like she is. We also taught a new guy from Uzbekistan named Michal. He's really cool, his beliefs are, I would say, Muslim that's a bit heavy on Christianity. He's a really good guy. He loves the idea of the Restoration, and loves what we're doing. We also drove to the airport to pick up the McConkies. They are awesome, we've missed them. They had some trainings from Apostles, one from Elder Ballard I think all about Assistants. A little pride moment: The McConkies said we measured up pretty well. There was also some good scriptural insights passed on from Elder Oaks about how to receive a testimony, so I will abridge what was said. God is a God of covenants. If we want a spiritual confirmation of something, we have to be willing to use it as God would want us to. Elder Oaks said, if an investigator prays for a testimony of the Book of Mormon and promises in that prayer to be baptized if they know, Elder Oaks says he has never known anyone, anyone, to pray like that and not get an answer. This morning in my study in three of the four books of the standard works, I found references to this constant covenant making. Great.

Well folks, I love you. Thanks for all the emails, they were great. HAve a great week, I pray for you each day,

Elder Knapp