3 new members in Pardubice!

Well. This week was the best week of my life. We did indeed have three baptisms, all of them beautiful, and the confirmations were as well. I love that family so much, I just hope and pray that everything goes well for them.

Friday. The day. It was actually a very full day. We drove to Prague that morning for Zone Leader Council, probably the best ever. We just were very effective, everything worked out super well, everyone just worked like a council. Loved it. Zone Leader council is always great. We got a call from Martina though, saying that they didn't have money for the train to the pool where we baptized, and her husband was working out of town, in Prague actually, and couldn't get money to her in time. We freaked out. But, President Irwin very wisely advised us to call the branch president, who then said that he would pick them all up and bring them. Problem solved. We then drove back to pick up Elder Sewell! and his companion at the train station. President allowed Elder Sewell to come back for the baptism. The service itself was beautiful. The branch did a great job with it.

Sunday they were all confirmed. I had the pleasure of confirming Tomas. I also baptized Simona by the way. I had been praying all week to be ready for this, and had some inspiration throughout the week, then right before sacrament meeting I just felt that I needed to listen, and it would be okay. It was AMAZING. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I said, "Prijmi Ducha Svateho" and then pronounced a blessing on him. It was wonderful. After church, we had branch council. This branch is awesome. They had everything already taken care of. by the time branch council started, Tomas had had an interview for the Aaronic Priesthood, they had been assigned home teachers, and visiting teachers for them are in the works. Amazing.

With Elder Sewell at the train station.


 

The Week in Pardubice

Draha rodino,

Good week this week, had some good things, and it was a tough one too. As far as weather, it's still snowing here. It's not very cold, so nothing is sticking, but snow is falling. And when I say tough week, it wasn't a huge deal, we just didn't find a ton of people. We're hurting for new investigators right now. But we have a few lined up, so this is the week!

Monday! You already know most of it, but after I emailed last time we did teach L. It was okay, he's just being very difficult right now. He's a good kid though. He'll make it. We also learned from A, I believe I mentioned her, that if you sleep with a stocking hat pulled down over your eyes, your eyes will eventually fix themselves. I think it sounds absolutely ridiculous, and have now slept with a hat over my eyes for a week straight. I mean, what have I got to lose, my eyesight?

Tuesday we had some interesting lessons. One with Sister E, always interesting, one with a kid named Z, under an overpass thing because his 25 yr old knees are to weak to walk to our office. It was tough. We also taught Martin. It didn't go well. He views his afflictions as great above all, so he complains a lot. we've decided to teach him only once a week until he finds a job. But we did have a nice lesson with the Zlesakovi about families, Heavenly Father, and the Book of Mormon.

Wednesday we got to teach the cool young kid, K, again. he is super busy, so once a week is about all he can manage, but whatever. Once he starts reading in the book of Mormon he'll find more time to meet. We also found a waaaay cool guy named Z. He's great. We're going to meet with him this week sometime, and I am excited for it. He's young, super cheerful, and funny. I have great hopes for him.

Thursday was a good day, first district meeting of the transfer. Our district leader, Elder S, went to school with Elder K in Flagstaff. You could ask the K's if they know a him. H'es a great guy, so happy and loving. It was a good meeting. We did have a new area opened in our district, we now have sisters in Hradec Kralove, the other city in our district. so, two of us in Pardubice, and four in HK. By the way, in Czech, the "c" makes a "ts" sound. Just so you know how the pronunciation goes. On the way home from HK we stopped at M's to teach the family. They really are amazing, and are excited to be baptized. I am also quite excited.

Friday we taught them again, at their house. They've been a bit sick, so they haven't been able to travel much, so we've just visited them. By the way, we had a very important and anxious comp study trying to figure out how to thoroughly yet appropriately teach the Law of Chastity to an eleven yr old. Try that. I think we did well though. W taught Sis E again. We talked about forgiveness, and she just won't do it. She says it's impossible. We are at a bit of a loss with her. But, we keep hope!

Saturday was fun. We spent a lot of time contacting, but we did teach Martina and the fam again. We've almost taught everything, so they're almost ready to go! No problems. I love them. We did have two other lessons fall through, which is no fun. The biggest adventure was that night. We were tracting a panelak, or a huge communist-era apartment building. Things were going okay, we'd almost tracted an entire floor, when we knocked on the second to last door. The man was not interested at all. He started to shut the door, then changed his mind and decided that we shouldn't be inside the panelak at all. He told us to leave, and we stood there. He then said, "Come with me, I'll escort you down." So we rode the elevator down together, he said some not nice things about religion in general, and about how no one in that panelak wants anything to do with us, then sent us out into the night. I got kicked out of my first panelak! It was quite an experience. And while we appreciate his desire to speak for about 100 other people, we will probably be going back to ask them ourselves if they want it.

Sunday was good, even thought it was daylight savings time. We felt the lost hour for sure. The new missionaries introduced themselves and we had some really good lessons.

Well folks, that's about it! Sorry it's a bit short, we'll find some new people and have a bunch of new miracles to share!

Love you all,

Starsi Knapp
 

This Week's News from the Czech Republic

So the week! Monday we taught the two kids, T. and S. but M wasn't there so we just taught them. A member was there of course. It went really well. We watched the Joseph Smith film. Children believe without any protest, and resistance. It isn't a mystery to me why we are commanded to be as a little child. They already have strong testimonies of everything. We loaned them the dvd so that M could watch it. We also got haircuts. My hair was a little long, it is now very short. She went to work on it. We also taught J. Z. , the wife of the family we teach English to. It went okay, but she is a talker. That night we taught L. again. We had a good lesson with him, but just you wait until Thursday.

Tuesday was the last district meeting of t he transfer, the last of Elder C.oleman's mission. it was good, and I'm a little sad. I love Elder Coleman. He's a great missionary, and I've served around him for the past six months. After the meeting, I stayed in HK again to go on an exchange wit the Greenie, Elder Bushnell. He's a great kid. We had a blast. Had a really good exchange, had some great times, taught a few nice lessons.

Wednesday we drove back to Pardubice and ended the exchange. That day all of our lessons fell through except for one, with a less active Sis E. Everyone cancelled for English except for one person, so we just taught them. It was also Sis E. So we taught her twice haha.

Thursday. Thursday was greeat. We taught a lot, which is always good, but the quality of the lessons was super. In the morning we taught this new kid, probably 21 or so, named K. He is so cool. He's young, smart, and very stylish. I hope Elder Tenney sees this part, because he would absolutely love K. While he was waiting for us, he had some extra time so he just went shopping. When we met him he already had a full bag of his purchases. The lesson was good too. He's really searching, and all he needs to do is read and pray and come to church with us and he will see that this is what he's searching for. We have a meeting set up for tomorrow with him. We taught a few other lessons as well, but the best was with L. that night. We started by following up on his reading, he was in Alma 14, and we had on plan to cover the Restoration with him again. But, for some reason I felt like we needed to go deeper into his reading with him. In case you don't know off the top of your head, and don't want to look it up, Alma 14 is when Alma and Amulek witness the burning of the women and children. As we discussed it, somehow, and Elder Sewell and I honestly do not remember how, we got onto the subject of baptism. He expressed his desire to grow closer to God, and how he wanted to do that by making the baptismal covenant. We were absolutely blown away. He didn't accept a date, but he clearly expressed his intent, and we have a lesson with him today and we want to give him a date tonight. We were so pumped after that lesson. He's a great kid, just a slow investigator, but he is sooooo close now!

Friday we taught the Z.. It went okay, we just weren't as straightforward as we should have been with them. I feel like we wasted a really good opportunity with them, and now we have to do whatever we can to make up for it. Do you remember our investigator from last week, M., the guy who looks like Napoleon Dynamite? We taught him a few times this week, including Friday. He's a good guy. He's going through a tough time right now, and is certainly a little peculiar, but he is progressing and sincere. I really love the guy and hope everything turns out okay.

Saturday we taught E again. We had a few more ideas for her, and if she isn't progressing after that, we're probably going to stop meeting with her. It's too bad, because she really is a nice lady, she just refuses to give up certain things. We can't spend any more time with her if she's not going to change. We had an amazing lesson with T, M and S. We started by reviewing the Resto film and asking if M had a chance to see it. She had and loved it. She bore testimony, no joke, about Joseph's prophetic call and the importance of the Restoration. For not the first time, and I would assume not the last, they have said things that I would never guess investigators of three or so weeks would say. They are simply amazing. We taught M again, and found a guy right outside our office named L who agreed to meet with us right away. He's a young guy, 25, 26 maybe, and funny. But he has the weirdest beliefs I have ever heard in my entire life. There were so many times during that lesson when I was just blown away by the confusion he believes in. Elder Sewell and I talked afterwards about how blinded some people are. Satan doesn't need us to commit terrible sins, he just wants to blind the hearts of men. When that happens, his purposes are fulfilled. That is where Lukas is right now. He just needs help. That's why we're here.

Sunday was good. We taught a lesson before church to M and S. T couldn't come because they're uncle was visiting, and he needed to be home to meet him. but we were way impressed that M and S came even though they had a visitor. They are on date for the 29th, and they are so going to make it. Church was nice, and call ins went well. Our zone is still doing fantastic.

Well folks, I do love you all greatly. I already look forward to your next email, and I'll be telling you where I am, if it's changed, and who I'm with! Transfers are on Monday. We're off to a castle today, so I should have some great pics next week. Love you all!

Starsi Knapp

"Worst Culinary Experience" and other things...

1) We eat pretty much the same things. Beef stroganoff, a dish called halusky, a lot of rice and beans, the occasional pizza, tacos, and every so often someone feeds us. I'll make a reference to an experience we had this week later on. 2) The branch probably has about 50 members, most of which are part of active families. It's an amazing branch with tons of potential. I would say that in 15 years or so, it will be one of the biggest in the country, maybe the biggest even. Well, probably Prague will always be biggest, but anyway. 3) Pardubice is really small - have you looked it up online? - so we walk mostly. when we have to go a little farther away we drive. We have a brand new car, whose purchase I oversaw while in the office. Elder Sewell isn't allowed to drive because he never got his license before his mission, so I drive always. It's fun. 4) Elder Sewell is from Bristol, specifically Pucklechurch. He's a good guy. We have some good times and get along well. He's a great missionary, and I'm lucky to get to learn from him.


Thursday we had an amaaaaazing lesson with Martina. She brought her two kids, 15 yr old Tomas and 11 yr old Simona, and they are awesome. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and after teaching the Atonement we asked, "Why would Christ be important for your family?" Tomas answered, "It means through him we can live forever as a family!" WE were blown away. It was awesome. They are all on date for the 29th of March, and are so willing. EVery time we call them Martina answers, "Cetli jsme!" Which means "We read!" It's great.


SAturday was quite a day. We went that morning to a less actives house to teach and help out her mother with some moving, just a couple beds and cabinets and stuff. When we came downstairs, we were surprised to see that she had cooked lunch for us. We received another, less pleasant, surprise a little later. We saw the food, thought it was just some sort of rice/ground beef meal or something with sauerkraut and potatoes. Her daughter, who lived in England 20 years and speaks perfect English looks in and says, "What has she made you? oh! Blood pudding and tripe." BAsically every part of the pig that you don't normally eat, we ate. Except maybe the feet. I have not felt good since. I can't stop thinking about he way it tasted, looked, smell, and felt. I literally could throw up right now just thinking about it. It is awful. I know, Kaitlin, you ate blood sausage inParaguay, and you probably think I'm being a little baby about this all, but it was the worst culinary experience of my life.

Sunday was great! We had good testimonies and so forth, but the best part was that Martina, Tomas, and Simona came to church and had a great experience. They are so solid. WE did calls with the zone and assistents that night, and found out that our zone had literally one of the best weeks in history. It's awesome. The missionaries have really grown this transfer, and we are starting to see the fruits. For example, Pardubice hasn't baptized in over a year,  We have five on schedule for this month.

I love you all, it's great to hear from you all. I've been studying Christ's ministry in 3 Nephi and also the New Testament lately, and it is amazing. So inspiring. Recommended.


This is a picture of the zone leaders, mission president, and area authority.

 This is from a couple of weeks ago, but it's great and  I wanted to share it.

Draha rodino,

This week has been unbelievable. I didn't get a chance to record anything this week, for which I humbly apologize and repent, but I'll do better next week. This week was really incredible though. I'll get to it in just a second. First off, thanks so much for the update on all the missionaries! I was just thinking about some of them recently, so I didn't have to even ask. Thanks! Really, that's all. No other special requests or anything like that.

Monday was a good start to the week. We had a lesson after all the Pday stuff with a cool less active kid named Petr. He has just let some things, work, take priority in his life, and he's having a hard time getting it back to what it's supposed to be. As we learned in a recent general conference, it's easier to keep the commandments 100% of the time than 98% of the time. Don't forget that. We also taught a really good lesson to our investigator Ludek about hte sacrament, because the one thing he doesn't do is go to church, and it has killed his progress. If he would do it, he would get baptized. But, right now he's being difficult and he really isn't progressing. The lesson was good though, had a member there who did a great job, and...SPOILER ALERT...he still didn't come to church. We feel like we are just beating our heads against a wall with this kid. But, I love him. Two lessons.

Tuesday. No district meeting today because we have a secret mission-wide meeting on Friday. It really is top secret. Nobody knows what's going on. But, no district meeting today which is a bummer because I love district meetings, but whatevs. The highlight of the day was English class. We only had two students there, but it's the couple that we want to teach, very badly, so we got to focus an entire spiritual thought on them. It was great. We actually met with the husband by himself last week, sent a Book of Mormon home for his wife, and she expressed how she has already found comfort in the book. I love the Book of Mormon so much, I cannot express it. More on that later. Three lessons.

Wednesday. We taught another one of our baptismal dates today, Sarka. We taught the Restoration and it went sooo well. All in all, we taught the Restoration a ton this week, and Elder Sewell and I both expressed how our testimonies of Joseph Smith and everything associated with the Restoration have been strengthed because of it this week. It's been great. Anyway, Sarka is on date for the 1st of March, and she is just so humble, and open, and willing to learn, it is a delight to teach her. After the lesson the member we had with us asked if we would teach with her next time we hada meeting set up with Sarka. That is great. That's wphat we want. We want hte members having good experiences while teaching with us because then they are more willing to work with us, as well as share the Gospel with their friends. It was super. WE had very interesting English class today though. The spiritual thought was also the Restoration, and it was going great. the problem is that one of the students in our Wednesday class is a less active member with very interesting ideas. Just as we were testifying of Joseph Smith and so forth, she jumped in. "But it's an American church. Joseph Smith was a prophet. For America. Here in Europe we have the Pope, and he's a prophet too, right?" Uhh, no. Wrong. We did our best to move on, but we worry about hte effect it had on the rest of the class. For example, there is a young Catholic girl there who we really wnat to teach. It probably wasn't good for her to hear someone testify of Joseph Smith and the Pope at the same time. Four lessons.

Thursday was amazing! We had five lessons on plan today. One of them dropped, then we had two people call us, CALL US, and ask to meet. One of whom was the wife in the couple that we want to teach. It was crazy. The Lord blessed us so much. We met with one kid, Jiri, who talked about since the missionaries met him, about 6 months ago, he has just been pondering about the message they shared. In those six months he has gone from athiest to wanting to spread the love of God across the whole world. We had a sweet lesson with him, alos the Restoration. WE also taught a professional hockey player, a girl named Iveta, in the food court of this shopping center called AFI. All of the members in this town except one are out of town this week, and we couldn't get anyone to teach with us, and obviously we can't teach her by ourselves. So, we do it in public. Missionaries have taught in AFI for years. We got kicked out on Thursday. We think that the security thought we were proselyting in there, so they told us to leave. It was a bummer, but we finished the lesson and Iveta loved it. We'll see how to continue from here with that. Six lessons.

Friday. The day. The secret conference day. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. First off, it was great to see everyone, all my buddies from across the mission. But that was nothing. The first real amazing part was an announcement by President irwin. He said that he received word from the Missionary Department that as of the 8th of February he was allowed to tell us...the name of his replacement as Mission President. Friday was feb 8th. As for who it will be, I would recommend you look in the Feb 23rd edition of the Church News. His name will be there. It was cool to hear who it will be and hear about him and stuff, but it was also very sad. But The Spirit was there as President testified that the new President will be, or rather is, called of God. He expressed his love for us, not to much because as he said, he would get too emotional. For some reason it was just powerful. Powerful in that we could see so clearly how the Lord directs His work. It's a marvelous work, and a wonder. Shortly thereafter was a miracle, or rather the culmination of many miracles. I don't know what this will mean to you, but for Mom and Dad, and certainly Kaitlin as a recently returned missionary, it will mean something. President unveiled the newly printed Book of Mormon in Slovak. For years missionaries there have labored without the Book of Mormon, having to use the Czech one. As of this week, they will have full access to the Book of Mormon in Slovak. The Spirit that came into that room as we discussed, contemplated, and marvelled at the miracle and possibilities that this book will bring to the work in this mission will never be forgotten. WE closed the meeting by singing the Mission song altogether, standing. In that moment, I had impressed upon me the magnitude and privilege of this call as a missionary more forcefully than ever before. It was difficult to control my emotions, especially when I glanced at President Irwin and could see him struggling with the same thing. I love him, so much. I love this work. And, as I said, I love the Book of Mormon. Anyone who doesn't know if it's true, must. It is the key. To everything. Peace, happiness, and growth in this life, and exaltation in the life to come. As I said, I struggled throught that song. The third verse starts like this, "The seeds are sown, the field is white in Czech and Slovak tongue." From that line to the end of the song I could not sing. I couldn't. I was overcome. I have never felt like that before, and want that feeling forever.

We also taught one lesson that day.

Saturday we weekly planned, and had another really good lesson with Sarka. She's doing great. WE also taught Vlasta, another of our baptismal dates. he's a good kid. WE have to postpone, but he'll get there. He's a great kid, 21, and is really making progress to baptism. His date is now the 1st of March as well. Three lessons.

Sunday was good, another lesson with Sarka and also the less active kid, Petr. Both went well. I also did calls that night, and our zone is doing great. WE're all working hard and really seeing progress and growth. Two lessons.

I should explain the lesson thing. About a year ago, then Elder Causse, now Bishop Causse, conducted a mission tour. One of the things he trained on was teaching 21 lessons a week. He promised that baptisms would double, DOUBLE, if we strove to teach 21 a week. If you've been keeping track, we taught 21 this week. We were stoked. Teaching is the best thing. It's what we are called to do, and there is no other thing I would rather do than teach people the message of Christ, His Atonement, and the Restoration of His Church.

What a privilege and blessing. I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity. Tanner, Hunter, continue to prepare. Savannah and Emily, if it is what the Lord wants, do it. You will never regret it. I love you all, keep the letters and emails coming, and I will try to do the same.

Starsi Knapp

From Prague to Pardubice

Taylor has been transferred from Prague to Pardubice. (pronunciation: Par-DOO-beechay). He is now about 70 miles from Prague. Here are some segments of this weeks' email...

WHat a week! This new area is wonderful. I do miss Prague, but Pardubice is awesome. AS far as size go, it is the second smallest city we have missionaries in in the Czech Republic. I don't know the exact figures. This week has been great though.

Okay! So MOnday. We only taught one lesson that day, but it was to a kid named Ludek, 25, in school and working, way cool kid. He's the type that has about 10,000 questions, so the struggle is to not try and answer every question, but rather just teach him the saving doctrines.

Tuesday, we taught 5 lessons. I don't know, nor do I wnat to know, how many were normally taught in Paraguay, but let me tell you 5 is great for us. They were all nice lessons, but the real miracle was when we were contacting. We didn't have a lot of time to do so, but we found the coolest young kid. His name is Filip, he's 19, and he is my dream investigator. My goal before going home is to baptize a future missionary. Filip is going to be the one. We stopped him, and he kind of wanted to just keep going, didn't really want to talk to us. But, we talked a little about our message and so forth, and he said he'd met missionaries three times already, but was a little curious. We set up with him, and taught him on Wednesday. He's great. We also taught English tonight. It was good. We don't have a very big class, but a family comes to it, the Zlesakovi. They are going to become investigators tomorrow. They're so cool. Jana, Petr, and their four year old daughter Eliska.

Wednesday was also a good day, another five lessons.  We taught one of our baptismal dates today, Ondrej. He's a nice guy, really close to baptism, just needs to kick smoking. He's so close. We meet with him about four times a week.

Thursday we taught four lessons. One was to the branch President and his family of 8. They are great. WE also had the first district meeting of the transfer. I don't know if I told you this, but our district leader is Elder Coleman, who has been AP for the past 8 months. He's amazing. And slightly intimidating. It's great though. The first was really inspiring, and I cannot even tell you how pumped I am to learn everything from him that I can. He's a supermissionary. That is supposed to be one word.

Friday four again. Elder Sewell and I also went to the hospital to get his stitches out. He cut his head last week and got stitches. WE taught Ondrej again and also this less active lady named Sister Evansova. She speaks perfect English and married an English man.

Saturday we had many lessons fall through. But it's okay. We did get to teach our other baptismal date, a young kid named Vlasta. He's been sick, but we visited him at his house and had a nice lesson with him about the plan of salvation and repentance. He's a good kid with a sincere desire to follow Christ, so he'll make it.

Sunday. We don't actually have a branch here. We og to nearby Hradec Kralove to church. It was for me one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings I've ever been in. Answers and other things of a spiritual nature like crazy. It was great. We taught Ondrej again afterwards. He's so close to quitting smoking! Ahhh  That night we were studying, and had some serious revelation. The Book of Mormon. All of our investigators need to start reading the Book of Mormon more intensely. It is the key for them all. They won't go anywhere if they don't. 

 

Love you tons, keep pressing forward. This Gospel means more than any of us know, but as we live according to the knowledge we have, Our Father, in His mercy, reveals just a little more. It is a sweet process of growth and gratitude.

Starsi Knapp

Another week in the life of our missionary..

Monday. Sort of an exciting day. Not because of actual missionary stuff, but because we had to go to the foreign police and start the renewal process for my visa. It took a long time, but there was good group there, so we had a nice chat. Other than that, we just studied and planned because we didn't get a chance to on Sunday. Then, we went to FHE. That's that.

Tuesday was a nice day, last district meeting of the transfer. It was good, but a little sad. I've really liked being District Leader. It's almost like the difference between being a seminary teacher and being an institute director. As a District Leader, I have daily close contact with the members of my district. They're awesome. As Zone Leader, which President has already told me I will be, I'm sure there are great things about it, but I'm going to miss the association with the individual missionaries. We also sang on Tuesday, and taught our golden investigator, Marie. It was great. After that we taught Kamila about the Plan of Salvation and preparation for the temple, and promised that we would do what we needed to to get a date when she can go to the temple for the first time. Then I started an exchange! With Elder Boysen, the talllll British Elder.

So, Wednesday was exchange day. It was fun. Elder Boysen is a party all by himself. We contacted quite a bit, then taught a lesson to their most difficult, and consistent, investigator, Martin. He's young, extremely intelligent, and refuses to pray. The reason? Elder Tenney, who found him and taught him for quite awhile, says that Martin is scared to pray because he knows he'll receive an answer. Which means he will have to change his life. I agree one hundred percent. It's a very interesting situation.

Thursday we all went to lunch for Elder Mullen's birthday, courtesy of his parents. It was real good. After that we sang again, then hurried back to the building to teach a lesson. the lesson we had on plan was with a verrrrry old man, Mojmir. He's great, I really like the guy, but he got confused and thought that we were scheduled for next week. So he didn't come. But we set up for Friday! We contacted for a bit after Mojmir didn't show, then taught a super cool Italian! His name's Alessio, and he is so cool. He's 35, and teaches Italian here in private schools. I love him už. 

 

Friday we went to lunch with the Bohnes, who leave in a week and a half. It's sad. But, we helped them move last week, so they took us to my favorite restaurant EVER. Someday I'll have to take you guys to it. We then taught Lada, the handicapped member, then Mojmir was scheduled at 3. He didn't show. I called him and asked where he was, and he said the meeting was scheduled at 4. Oh well. We keep trying with him. We're set up for Tuesday now. We shall see haha. That night we ate dinner at a member's house with two other Elders, then had Polar Bear.We had a blast!

Today we went on a trip! I'll send some pics. But more importantly, we taught Marie again, and gave her a baptismal date. She is just amazing. As we were leaving, she thanked us over and over again for the meeting, then said, "Every time I come here, it's wonderful. It's like a rock for me, something I can stand on. Our trip was to a church made mostly of...bones. Enjoy.

I love you all so very much,

Love,

 

Starsi Knapp