Monday, April 25, 2016

Week 18 in Liberec

All,
This week has been a full week and it has been busy! We started off last Monday with some really sweet contacting. We had about an hour of time and ended up finding two new investigators on the street. With both of them we read out of the Book of Mormon and had solid conversations. Both didn't end up coming to their lesson but one we called Saturday night and he said he could meet at 8 Sunday morning! So we got to meet with him and a member and he came to sacrament meeting! That was one of the highlights of the week!

Tuesday was a pretty normal day, It was our last district meeting of the transfer and then we had a mission prayer later in the day which was super cool! On Thursday we had our culture night for the transfer! We were planning on doing a tour of the radnice (the government building, it's the big pretty one in the pictures) But it turned out when we showed up that we could only go up to the tower and look. But someone else in the tour group was one of the members of that family of 4 from last week.. Coincidence? It was really cool! But it only took 10 minutes. So we went to the science museum here and it was the coolest museum. They had floors on all of the different sense of the body and different motions. We could have spent all day there! It was super fun! WE then had out first bible study and one person came! That also went really well. The bad news though was that I was not feeling well. Most of Thursday I was feeling sick and bible study took the last out of me. We got home and I crashed pretty hard. Friday I was feeling a little better but not much and sister McConkie told me to take a little nap(first one of the mission) at about 9 in the morning. I slept and felt a lot better. At least some and just stuck a smile on my face and went and worked hard the rest of the day!

That night we were seeding a neighborhood to tract and we met a guy on the street with his daughter( Always talk to a man with a kid) and he ended up inviting us into his house. We had a good conversation with him but not too much there. Saturday we went service tracting! and it was awesome! We knocked on a few peoples doors and nothing and then a guy was out mowing his lawn and he let me mow! IT was pretty enjoyable! Then his neighbor saw us helping so when after we asked him if we could help he said yes and we took out a tree! IT was a monster! In the end he even pulled out his Stihl... Too bad we can't use chainsaws. While we were helping him, his other neighbor saw us helping and asked if we could help here so the sisters went and helped. It was a super successful morning!

Sunday was a great day! We taught young men's and have really been struggling to get them engaged so we had them all come up with a question about anything. We had 4 questions in total, about who would win the hockey game? IF we would live on other planets? What's for diner? And if my companions Brother would be a professional surfer? We then said we are going to find the answers, We prayed and opened up the scriptures and discussed them all! They were engaged and we had a great discussion about scriptures. We also said for sure liberec would win. This morning we got a call from one of their moms to let us now liberec in fact had won! and they knew prayer worked! Pretty funny! We also had CRAZY weather. IT snowed, and then not a cloud in the sky and then snowed again. All in about 2 hours. That's been continuing all yesterday and today!

Sorry this is getting a little long but today was the busiest day! WE had a ton to do! But we ended up getting everything we had to do by about 3 so we hopped on a tram towards Jested the big mountain! Took the gondola to the top and had a great view! It was awesome! Then we came down and we decided to grab diner! We ate tatarak which is raw meet with an egg cracked on top on toasted bread! IT was delicious!

Anyways got to run!




Monday, April 18, 2016

Week 17 in Liberec

This week was another full week! Things are slowly beginning to change here. We started this week on Tuesday with district meeting and got into the details of finding. My companion and I took it to the extreme. We taught the most lessons on transportation, talking about Joseph Smith and on Wednesdays. I can tell you everything you want to know about our finding here but it has been really cool to try and use it to mix it up more and be the most effective! On Tuesday we went tracting in the area we were going to go last week when we received inspiration not to go. On the second house we rang someone came to the window and looked like they said go away. We waited another 10 seconds and she came out and we had the greatest conversation. In the end she wasn't ready but she was prepared for someone by us being there. At the end she said "wow you really believe this?'' It was pretty cool and to recognize why were there.

This week we have really tried to smile more. Often we smile and say high to everyone but we just turned it up a notch this week and it has been funny to see people reactions. First off Czechs never do that so they all think we already know each other. It's been pretty fun! We helped out a student from English translate a few things and after he showed us his rabbits! He has about 20 in his backyard that he raises and things. Then for dinner that night we got to go to our branch president's house. They texted us asking to come an hour later than we had planned and we ended up having some great contacting. Another way we were blessed and then we had dinner with them and it was a feast. He cooked a huge Australian steak about medium rare and it was awesome! It was a lot of fun!

This week we had a meeting with one guy who we often see next to our church building. He has even greeted me with "Hello Mr. president!" Before. Pretty funny guy but it turned into a business pitch! It was pretty funny though. The hockey team here is also in the finals against Prague. Every night they play they have a huge watching party on the namesti it is quite the sight. I will have to send a Picture.

On Saturday we got to do some service. IT was a clean the Czech republic day and there were projects everywhere and all the missionaries participated. We helped at this outdoor nature place and cleaned behind some garages. We probably filled up 15 huge trash bags there of just garbage. But then we went and helped another group who had another area. When we arrived all of the original group left just leaving us to do it. We filled up another 10 or so there and pulled up some huge suitcases and big junk. Then at the end an entire group didn't show up in another part of town. We went there and filled up 24 of the big garbage bags. Also had a pile of big junk and roof tiles. We worked from 9-5 and were just exhausted but we went home showered and went out and did some finding until dinner

And then on Sunday the blessing came! We had church and after went finding. It was cold and rainy and usually no one is outside. But there were people all over and we ended up teaching 3 people and we found a family of 4. They had two teenage daughters. And they were just out for a walk together... That is not normal for them to be out! It was crazy! we taught them about the restoration and in the end they were super excited to read the book of Mormon. They asked if we could write something in it as well! It turns out earlier this week I had the thought to write my testimony in a book of Mormon. And then I was able to give it to them. They were so excited! It was such a great experience!

Anyways this week has been a great week and a busy one. This coming week is no different! Love you all!




a picture of their garbage???


the watching party in the Namesti

Monday, April 11, 2016

Week 16 Liberec

I hear you all took bets on what I would right... Well it was just a normal week. Nothing happened and we worked hard...

Just Kidding! This week was a great week! We didn't go to Prague or get assigned seats but we had a lot of fun things! Last Monday we went to the botanical gardens which was a lot of fun and then had a cool fhe with a missionary who served here18 years ago. It was really cool! On Tuesday we had district meeting and we talked about questions and had some really good practice in coming up with questions, improving them. One thing president said at our last training was that when we are young missionaries we say what we can say instead of what we should say! That goes along with questions as well! After district meeting we had some contacting and then we headed out to Jablonec. As we waited to get on the tram Elder Collins and I started talking to two different people. We both taught really solid lessons and they both became new investigators and that just got the night going. We got off the tram and missionary work just worked. Every person we talked with was a good conversation. It was a pretty fun night! Until we got up to a group of teenagers. One of them had a skateboard and trying to break the ice my companion asked if he could see it. He was a skater before the mission. He did a trick, kind of messed it up and then tried again. Then on the third try he nailed it! It was beautiful until he landed and the skateboard broke... Oops it got pretty awkward but it was awfully funny. They thought it was funny and it all worked out.

Tuesday night president called and we talked to him about finding and how we can do even more here. It was really good and made some things possible. We are trying to start a bible study class here and also have some other activities. We had a good council and way to make it possible. Tomorrow in district meeting we are getting into the details of finding. Today Elder Collins and I really got into the details. how many places, on what days and times, what we talked about, how many lessons we taught. It is really interesting stuff! We have taught the most lessons on transportation and the second was tracting, whether people who let us in or we met on the way or on the street there. There are so many more interesting things but it has been our science project, Tomorrow we are going to have a district meeting about it all and try to change some more things.

On Wednesday we were heading back to liberec from jablonec and started talked to a young kid before getting on. He was an adamant atheist. We talked to him and he had lots of arguments. Even genetics ;) Thanks dad for all those dinner conversations. However as we talked with him we noticed a girl super interested in what we were saying. All of a sudden she gets up and comes over. And she just testifies and testifies. It was crazy! IT was like having a member lesson. IT was pretty cool! She had to run once we got off but we are praying to meet her again! We also had a really cool experience Wednesday night. We felt a really strong prompting we were not supposed to go where we had planned to go. The rest of the night was just a lesson from the spirit. We got tutored in how to follow it. It was super cool!

We had general conference this weekend and it was awesome! We watched the majority of it in English! At 1:30 on Saturday we had a lesson but the guy didn't show up. So we went back into the building and then right as we walked in the bell rings. We were super surprised and it turns out it was someone we had texted and invited. And then 4 minutes later someone else rings the bell. Then on Sunday it happened again! We ended up having 3 investigators at church which is more than my whole time in liberec! It was really cool! One of them is coming this week again and has lots of potential to progress! We also were able to teach with members after which was a boost. It was a great weekend, some miracles and great to have. Sunday we also fasted as a mission for strength and success. It was exciting to see the fruits of that. There is a lot happening in our mission right now and it is exciting!

Today we spent about 3 hours fixing our sign for the building. We were problem solvers! With the resources we had it is pretty good. I will send a Picture. There is lots of other things happening but will have to run! Love you all and hope you have a great week!





Monday, April 4, 2016

Week 15 Liberec

This week flew by! It was crazy. Tuesday we headed to Prague for training. Monday at about 8 at night we realized we forgot to buy bus tickets... So we had to take a train and leave about 3 hours early. The normal hour bus ride turned into a 3 hour train ride too. But training was awesome! President talked a lot about finding and how we can find better. He went through about 10 different things we can be doing each week other than just contacting on the street. Lots of really cool things. Some we already did and others we are going to try this week. The zone leaders trained on how to begin teaching and expectations on the street and the sister training leaders trained on commitments and having the people write down every commitment- even to meet the first time. We had some good practice and then we had a Jesus thought from President. It was from Mark 4 and was just what we needed to hear. He talked about Jesus on the boat with the disciples and how all of us will be on the boat as it starts to sink and has water and we feel like Jesus in our time of need has left us. But often we forgot that Jesus is already on the boat with us. It was a really great training. I got mail from a few of you as well which was always fun!

President after lunch was talking to me and another missionary and started to give us marriage advice. He's a funny guy!

Some cools stories from the week: I talked to a guy on a bus this week. About halfway through he asked if our website was mormoni.cz I said yes. He said yeah during winter I would see it written in the snow all around my house! Almost every day after it would snow. Elder Vickers and I would go write things in it! Pretty cool that someone saw it! We also had the coolest lesson with a recent convert from Prague. I met him a few weeks ago and he had a few spare hours in liberec and asked if we could have a lesson. It was really awesome! Czech is getting better and better. My companion is speaking really well and I've gotten confused as being a Czech a few more times than normal and my companion is doing great! The funniest thing though was when we had district language study we write the words we learn each week on the board. My companion wrote every single word wrong.. It was pretty funny! We are having a blast together and working hard. We have had some killer weather this week. They have a saying here Dubnové počasí it means like April weather.. But basically that it is all over the place. The first day of April we had the biggest storm through the night that I have witnessed here. By about 8 it was snowing, at 9 it was hailing and at 2 in the afternoon there was not a cloud in the sky and it was about 60 degrees. It was pretty funny. Saturday we went tracting for a while and had a really pretty view up on a mountain where we were tracting and it was a gorgeous day with lots of families.

Sunday was a great day but pretty long too! After church we had 7 hours of finding on plan. It flew by though. We talked to lots of people and lots of families at these two lakes. People were outside and it was awesome. Not too many people had interest but that just means good things are coming! This week is going to be awesome and we have general conference to cap it off! It'll be great!

Love you all and thanks for writing!

Here are some pics from the botanical garden.  We stopped for ice cream afterwards too!