Elder Tyler Hanis: Week 2

Ahoy,

Dobry den, this week time has really started to fly. There are no more problems falling asleep at night and getting up is hard. Falling asleep in class or devotionals may happen often, but we all keep each other awake. A few logistical things-- I could use addresses and emails of family members. I'm constrained by what i remember which isn't very much.

The dear elder letters are awesome and I hope to be able to respond today to the letters. The temple is still closed so we played basketball this morning at 6:40, had breakfast and now were writing emails while doing laundry. I have a feeling we will hit two more gym times before the day is over. Our zone is awesome and super athletic. The nice thing about companionship's is that there is almost always even numbers. Today i think we are having a beach volleyball tournament up by the temple. A little more information on our district and zone. Last transfer in the MTC, I don't think there were any Czech missionaries or very few. It sounds like the generally have 4 or so. In our zone we have 10 Czech speaking missionaries (8 elders, 2 sisters), 2 Slovak speaking (1 Elder, 1 Sister, one elder went home from this district), 4 Turkish speaking elders, 1 polish elder (one went home) we just got a polish sister, There is one sloven speaking elder and one sloven speaking sister (she just switched languages two weeks ago after learning a different language for her first three weeks. There are 4 or 6 Bulgarian speaking elders and one sister, there are also four or so elders speaking Serbian and Croation. We are very diverse but all pretty good friends.

Our first investigator is Bratr Knapp, He is a super cool guy and a fantastic teacher. In total we have three teachers. As i mentioned last week one of them got engaged, the other sister teacher got engaged, Monday as well. They are dropping like flies. The language is tough but we continue to learn more. My goal is to learn 30 vocab words a day which works out better some days then others. I was able to memorize our missionary purpose in Czech and have begun trying to memorize the first vision but that might take a little while. I have also tried to memorize a scripture a day in English but it is a difficult goal. The days go fast and there isn't much time. WE never have enough time to study. Our typical day consists of 6:30 wake up and prepare, however the people in my room like to get up earlier, 7:15 breakfast, 7:45 we are in the classroom studying and planning with the teachers beginning at 8:30. At 11:35 we have lunch and at 12:20 we are back in the class room. 3:20 we go to gym and then to dinner at 4:50. WE have a four hour classroom block after most days but that is an hour of personal, an hour of language and an hour of free study. It is hard to not get distracted and working hard always is hard? any suggestions? Gym is very fun and well needed. The language was getting easier but now we keep adding more. We conjugate verbs similar to Spanish but we also have two words for every verb one is a imperfect verb and perfect verb that describes the action of something. Twice as much vocab and applying is just as difficult. We need a lot of practice. Along with that we also conjugate verbs in what are called cases. everything you say has a different ending which we haven't learned how to do yet but starting next week. WE now have a teaching schedule and we teach our teachers as investigators. Our first lesson will be tomorrow, however we have TRC tonight where we teach a member in Czech. This will be an interesting experience and we can no longer use our phrase book. In 6 weeks this member visits will be done over Skye with members in the Czech republic.

The dear elder works great and i really love to hear from everybody. I hope to be able to respond to more today. I got dads package, the box was kinda bettered and the soap box snap broke, It turns out they have a soap thing in the store so i was able to get it. as of right now i cant think of anything i really need but i have a few things written down back in the residence that i forgot. Pictures wise, any more water polo ones that are a little more impressive? Higher and bigger? i love all the pictures. There were a few i sent to your phone right before i left? any of those pictures. If you haven't had a chance to watch the character of Christ video you should definitely watch it. This week we went to see meet the Mormons. I do have to say the college football part made me miss home a little more especially this upcoming sports season. There was another video we watched showing how the church is grown. The lord is absolutely hastening his work. There are tons of missionaries and lots of languages. For the fourth of July we had a special devotional about the world, freedom and religion. It was about 2 hours long from about 8-10 at night. I did not hear all of it. After words we could go watch the fireworks. But we left because we could barely see them. Five minutes later the show really began and we had a small glimpse outside our window. We also had our first fast sunday. It is a day full of meetings at the MTC, We had and hour and a half mission conference, followed by priesthood, study time, then sacrament, (my companion and i passed the sacrament), then district meeting, temple walk, dinner, more study and a devotional. The sunday night devotional was by Jennie Oaks Baker and her family which was a very cool night to hear how talented they are. They emphasize a 24 hour fast but ours was more like 20, still pretty close. The importance of being completely focused on the work and why we can only write home on pdays is important. Total focus is needed for the language and it is difficult enough as it is. On tuesday Elder Kondie, an emeritus general authority spoke. HE taught with power and authority of the calling of the prophet Joseph smith. HE emphasized the converting power of the first vision and converted an entire room full of missionaries young and old. It was a powerful meeting with the strongest spirit we have felt since being here. The witness that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God was greatly manifest and although he taught with power and authority it wasn't until the choir director changed the closing song to Joseph smith first prayer and we sang did we truly feel the spirit testify. There is great power in the witness that Christ appeared with heavenly Father. This is what sets us apart and we should never shy away from it.

Along with spiritual highs the work is hard but we have a lot of fun throughout the week. One elder in our district wrote the branch president and in his email he included two jokes?

1. Where do you find a dog with no legs?

2. What do you call a dog with no legs?

A1. Right where you left him

A2. It doesn't matter what you call him he's not coming

Just let those settle in on you

Our zone has had a thought about drowning a fly and resurrecting it with salt. Last night when we got home there was a dragon fly in someones room and they caught it. we proceeded to drown it and resurrect it. IT was pretty awesome!

Our quote of the week " how long does it take you to pick up your girlfriend? Oh about a year and a half"

Its been a great week, i hope to hear from you and such. The language is hard but good and exciting. There is lots of joy here and a unique spirit, I also saw Robby Ferguson yesterday. He just got here. It is cool to see all the new missionaries come in.

Hope all is well

Ya nase milovam

I love you all,