Ups and Downs

 Here are some excerpts from Starsi Knapp's email, which actually came a week ago. We haven't heard from him yet this week. The Czech/Slovak Mission secretary emailed us to let us know all the missionaries would be emailing late this week.

What a week! Ups and downs folks, that's the way of a missionary. For example, the ups. P-day is always great, and Tuesdays are right there with them. I think I told you a little about our investigator Marek? Well, Tuesday's lesson with him was amazing! If you remember, he's the one who wouldn't pray and didn't see the need for physical baptism because he's already promised to follow Christ. Well, for one thing, he committed to a date! He said he couldn't get baptized because he didn't know the commandments, and didn't know if he could keep them all. We told him of course we would teach him the commandments, but he would have to pray about each one, and about baptism itself. Then...he said he has been praying! We double checked, and he said yes, it was addressing the Father and ending in the name of Jesus Christ! His baptism is set for the 5th of May. So happy for him. He is one of my favorite people I've met here, and he's just such a good guy and tries so hard to do what's right, once he's baptized he will build the branch here so much. Of course, since Tuesday was so great, Wednesday had to humble us. We had the BEST schedule set up. Four lessons, one with a member there, one with a less active guy, and two potential investigators. So the inactive cancelled. Then the other missionaries took too long teaching with the same member so we didn't get to, and that fell through. Then, the lessons we had set up in the evening both cancelled as well. We spent so much time travelling places just to find out that nobody was going to show up. It was a little rough.

Taylor also talked about a blizzard, which he loved, except he had to walk a lot in it and he'd forgotten his coat...

Quick story about a miracle. Literally. Last Saturday we did have sports day, and it was a blast. I think I already mentioned it to you, about how we played Ultimate Frisbee and such? Well, knowing me, I sprained my ankle. Badly. Not my fault, Mom, I was being careful, there was a hole. I was devastated. I knew taht it was going to hurt, and really slow us down. So, I prayed, because that is always the answer. That night, it hurt. It swelled up, I had a hard time walking on it, and I was really worried. The next morning, It wasn't really working like an ankle should, which is normal the first morning. By that evening, the swelling was gone, the pain was gone, and I've walked all day everday for over a week since it happened. The Lord watches out for His missionaries. I've done this to myself many times, and I know that if I wasn't where I was right now, it would not have healed like this. It is such a blessing. That, like so many other things that have happened are a definite testimony that this is the Lord's work. I know it is, and I was a called by a prophet of God to do this.

Getting Settled in Ostrava

 Here are some excerpts from Taylor's email this week.

 

Okay, so lessons. We had one early this week with a lady named Marie. She is really bitter because her 30 yr old son, with a wife and kids, just died. We of course taught her about Heavenly Father's plan for us and how we can live with our families forever through His Gospel, but she was too upset to talk about it. She took a Book of Mormon, but said she would call us when she was ready. It was so sad to see her talk about her son, she is so cut up by it. The Gospel would really help her. Well, of course, it is for everyone, but you get what I'm saying.

 

We also had a lesson with a guy named Marek. He is a great guy, super nice, intelligent, easy to talk to, and speaks English which is nice. Had a great lesson with him, asked him to pray about what he reads in the Book of Mormon, which he loves, and he straight said no. He doesn't pray. He's very religious and doesn't pray. We had another lesson with him on Friday, and he admitted he had an experience where he prayed and he felt it didn't work, so he hasn't prayed since. He'll pray with us, but never on his own. As we were talking I felt impressed to ask him a few questions, and helped him realize that his prayers really were answered, just not in the way that he intended. We teach him again tomorrow and are going to talk more about prayer and why we need it and how we can look for answers. It was a great experience. He would be such a strong member of the branch, and a huge contributor to the work. I love the guy.

 

Really, that's all. Marek is our only investigator now, but we're meeting with some new people this week, (including a family!) and have high hopes. Oh, and we teach English every Tuesday. It's really fun, and the people love it. We're going to talk to some of them about the possibility of teaching them too. I love when they speak English, especially Marek. They sound sooo Russian. "He is great man," said Marek about a previous missionary. Actually, he said, "He is, he is, can I say, great man." Awesome.

 

Hahahaha our apartment. Ahhh. Our apartment. It actually isn't too bad, it's pretty big, just absolutely barren. We have almost nothing. Just room and air. We finally got kitchen utensils because we borrowed extras from the elders in the other to areas in Ostrava, but we have two beds, two rickety old tables, with matching chairs, a thing that looks like a diving board with legs for a dinner table, two chairs and a half couch for sitting on. Oh, and my bed doesn't have a mattress. We laugh about where we live. I literally am laughing right now as I write this in the library.  

 

Thank you all for the great emails, they were wonderful, and hilarious.

Keep working hard, and stay strong in the Gospel. There is no excuse for getting lazy in our duties, we all have them and they must be fulfilled. God has a plan for His children overall, but also for each individually. Work to find and fulfill that call.

 

We heard from Taylor this past Monday. He is getting settled in and beginning the adventure of living in a foreign country. He says:

I found out this week that people really do speak this language. Also
  thatI can't understand it. The weirdest is hearing little kids speak
Czech. These are strange sounds to come out of a child's mouth. Some
things really common here: rollerblading. Everybody rollerblades. Even
oooold people. It's hilarious, but I worry about hips and knees.
Another thing: smoke. Everybody 10 and up, no joke. We saw a kid this
morning no older than 11 smoking. Emily, don't smoke. One older lady
did not breathe in unless she had a cig in her mouth. It's crazy. We
have some things to teach haha.

Even though Taylor is having a hard time understanding the people, the people can understand him, so his Czech must be pretty good. 

His companion is new to the area as well so they are starting fresh, looking for people to teach. Most people are kind and willing to listen, except for the few that say, "You are Americans? Go back to America!"

Taylor says, "The Church is true and that's why I'm here." We look forward to hearing from him again tomorrow1

The Czech Republic

Here's how Taylor felt on Saturday when we heard from him:

"I'm freaking out and so pumped and everything. Craziness. I fly out in 49 hours. For the first time in my life I'm leaving America. Whew. I can't really belive this actually.

We've said goodbye to two of our three teachers so far. It's weird. We've grown so close in the past two months, and now I won't see them for a long time. Same with the other missionaries going to Europe with us. We've done so much together and now we'll all separate into our various missions across Eastern Europe.

I don't really have much more. This week has been different. I'm half packed, it was a struggle without you Mom, and we had a thing called in-field orientation yesterday. We basically just went over the logistics of planning and contacting and meetings and stuff like that. It was actually pretty cool."

Taylor flew away on Monday. He got to call us from the airport and talk with us for a little while. It was great to hear his voice. He was very excited! He spoke some Czech to us---he spoke pretty confidently with just a few pauses here and there. He traveled to London and then on to Prague with 7 other missionaries. He arrived Tuesday and we received an email from his mission president, Pres. Irwin, along with a picture of Taylor and the Irwin's. The Irwin's are from England. They preside over the Czech Republic and Slovakia and take care of all those missionaries!

We have welcomed your son, Starší Taylor Sterling Knapp, to the Czech/Slovak Mission. We are so impressed with your son and want to thank you for all that you have done in preparing this wonderful young man for his mission.  Today we will do our best to keep Starší Knapp awake until early this evening.  Tomorrow after a good night's rest, he will meet his new companion and travel to his first area.

We have attached a photo of him with us, which was taken today just after he arrived here in Prague.  Starší Knapp will bless this mission greatly with his enthusiasm and dedication. We love him and pledge our best efforts in directing his service here.

            Your son, Starší Knapp, has accepted a call that will change his life and the lives of those with whom he is serving.  These first few months will be full of new and challenging experiences, and your support in the form of encouraging and uplifting letters will help him greatly.

            Our greatest hope is that each missionary has a positive and growing experience, which will help give him a foundation for a lifetime of service to others. We appreciate the time you have spent raising your son to be such a responsible young man.  We thank you for your willingness to share Starší Knapp with us.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Irwin

 Sorry for the long blog, but....there's more! We got another email with a picture of Taylor and his first companion, Elder Uremovich. He looks like a good young man. And then...an email from Taylor! He told us that his flight was good but he didn't sleep much on the 9 hour flight to London. As soon as they got to Prague they met the Irwin's and some of the missionaries and they went on what they called "The Death March of Prague"--they went on a whirlwind tour of Prague. Then to dinner, then finally to bed. This morning they were told where their first assignment would be and they boarded the train with their new companions and headed out. Taylor is serving in a city near the Slovakian border. He is super excited. He says:

"Everyone who has served here loves it. It's supposedly some kind of baptism by fire experience, because it's the city that apparently speaks the fastest Czech. So it'll be rough, but I'll learn tons."

"It's amazing here. I don't know anything, but I know I'll learn. It feels so strange not being able to communicate with people, even for simple things. Oh wait, I have to tell you about what we've eaten so far. So for our first meal, we had this stuff called svidčkova, which is just beef in a vegetable sauce, tons and tons of it, and bread. It was sooo good. For dessert we had this stuff called knedliki or something like that, which is just a bread dumpling, stuffed with fruit and covered in some kind of frosting. Also delicious. We ate at some little Czech kitchen that was on the way from the end of the death march back to the mission home. Tasty tasty tasty."

Well, he's happy and we're happy! What an adventure! We'll hear more from him on Monday.

The MTC Experience is Almost Over!

The evolution of Taylor's weekly email greeting:
Drahy rodinu a kamaradi----Drahy rodina---Draha rodiny---Drahy rodino---Draha rodino!!  He explains:

"You may have noticed that my greeting has slowly changed, just a few letters each time. That's because I'm learning Czech. I'm learning the right way to change the nouns and adjectives and whatnot. I love learning a language." 

We could read them all just fine.They all said: "Dear family". 

He's had another great week, is happy, learning, and growing. He hurt his thumb about 10 days ago,playing basketball, but reports that it is fine--a bad sprain but no tears. "The dang doctor started by saying that if I needed surgery, I would be stuck here at the MTC for another three months! When I went in, my thumb didn't hurt. After this crazy guy was done experimenting to see how many different ways he could twist my thumb, it hurt somewhat. Then, to show that the fact my thumb wouldn't move to a certain position and that it hurt was proof there wasn't a complete tear, he proceeded to pull it as far as he could in that direction. Pain. I don't like him much."

"Thursday we had TRC. That's where we teach people who are actually themselves. All are returned Czech missionaries, except one or two, and we just teach them, more like home teaching than misssionary lessons. AFterwards, Br Pearson said he has never seen us teach so well. Then the sting. He said, why don't you teach your investigators like that! So, we determined to ask better questions, make the investigators think and such. Friday, who do we teach? Michal, who if you remember, is Br Pearson. IT was great! He was much more engaged, and we stopped him after the lesson and asked for his thoughts and he gave us very positive feedback. we're growing."

Last Sunday the missionaries watched a movie about Joseph Smith. Taylor's experience with that: 

"I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I've known that for a long time. But never have I had the Spirit bear witness to me as powerfully as it did Sunday night. THis church is Christ's church. IT is true."

And, ending an email he sent to his Dad he says, "The Lord wants me to serve Him, and I cannot let Him down."

Taylor is very, very excited to be on his way to Prague! 

 Taylor continues to progress in the MTC. His happiness and excitement are contagious. This week he writes:

Another great week at the MTC. I have less than 3 weeks left here! So crazy. I'm really going to miss this place though. I'm am sooo excited to get to the country I can hardly stand it. Whenever we have a really powerful spiritual experience, which is often, my desire to teach people the gospel and help them change their lives through coming to Christ is just through the roof. Soon. Soon.

 

Tuesday night we heard Elder Clarke of the Seventy. His message was fantastic. One thing I've really focused on recently is finding specific promises from the Lord's anointed relating to me as a missionary. His talk was full of them. I like to look for those because a lot of times, they are very specific commandments with very specific blessings. It helps me know what I need to do to be the best I can for the Lord. Which is important to me.  I truly believe what Pres Packer said about true doctrine, understood, changes behavior quicker than the study of behavior changes behavior. It is so true. As I learn and understand, I grow, and I know it is the same for everyone. 

Taylor also talked of the experiences he and his companion, Elder (Starsi) Greener are having as they teach "investigators." Out in the mission field the people who are learning about the gospel are referred to as "investigators." In the MTC, volunteers come in and act as investigators to help the missionaries with their teaching. The volunteer investigators that Taylor and his companion teach are returned missionaries who served in the Czech Republic so all of their teaching is in Czech. Taylor shared an experience he and Elder Greener had with one of these "investigators":

 

Then Monday. We had the BEST lesson yet with Ivan. We gave him a talk by Pres Monson that he wanted to read, and he was really impressed by it. Then he expressed that he still didn't feel like he needed to pray about prophets. No problem. We were so ready for him this time. We spoke with power, and testified with the Spirit. It was one of those times when we knew exactly what to say, and exactly where to take him in the scriptures. I have a little bit of a greater grasp of the language than does Starsi Greener, and there was a point when I felt like I was saying too much. I was impressed to ask him to share his testimony about how God loves us. As he began, I felt strongly that he needed to connect that to the calling of prophets. I couldn't say anything to him, so I prayed. Right after I did, he began to testify that Pres Monson was the Lord's prophet again on the earth, and of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. Then, when we ended, we had the same prompting to have him read Ether 12 out of the Book of Mormon. What a special experience it was for us. We were so grateful. We work very well together. I am continually struck by the blessing that Starsi Greener is. When we do everything we are supposed to, we are powerful.

 

Well, he is a great missionary and a great young man and we love him!

(If all this talk of prophets, the Restoration, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon has lost you, please click  here then click on "our beliefs.")

 

The obligatory missionary picture.

Starsi Greener and Starsi Knapp

Part of Taylor's zone in front of the Provo, Utah Temple

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the MTC

The above picture shows Taylor with his Grandma, aunt, and cousin outside the Provo Temple, just a few minutes before entering the Missionary Training Center. The top picture is Taylor at the MTC, giving one last look back before it all begins.

Taylor reports that he is loving his time in the MTC. He has heard from many inspirational speakers and has been working to incorporate into his life the good things they have taught. One of these things is to have energy! He said, "No matter how tired I am, energy.  Pretend I'm full of energy and excitement, even when I'm not, and soon it will come true.  Study, learn, teach, interact, do everything with a lot of energy.  This has helped me these last few days.  It forces me to focus on being attentive. Attentive to our teachers, attentive to our investigator, and especially attentive to the Spirit."

He and his companion, Elder Greener, were called to be zone leaders and are learning about leadership, patience and charity. Taylor is picking up the language well, even though as he says, it is "harrrrd!" He must be doing well, as one day his Czech teacher couldn't be there so he asked Taylor to lead the Czech lesson, which was quite humbling for him!

He reports he is enjoying the ice cream brought in from the BYU Creamery twice each week and gets some with every meal on those days. He is enjoying playing basketball and even had this to report:
"Speaking of exercise, and basketball, let it be known that I dunked two times, in a game, off the dribble yesterday.  Believe me or not, it matters not to me.  I did it, and I have witnesses.  I was pretty pumped."

Do you believe him? Hmmmm.....I do. I'm his mother!