Week 18 - Prague - the last week - the last letter

Well, this has been the last full week of my mission. It has been full and busy. Our investigators are doing so well. We are teaching a lot of great people. We are teaching a girl from Iran with a baptismal date and we got a Book of Mormon in her language. She was so excited! We also committed another woman to baptism who is a referral from our recent convert! Its how Missionary work is supposed to go! Also teaching a Catholic girl who is dating someone on a mission in England. Elder Carlson and I have been teaching the best we have ever taught and we are teaching the most! This week Tuesday we headed with President to Bratislava. We had some time and got to contact around the city before having dinner with president and getting things ready for training.

Wednesday we had a great training. We trained on giving baptismal commitments. It went well! President had a really good training about spiritual gifts, faith, and the price paid for us to be here. Then had to share my departing testimony. We rode back with president to Prague then Thursday had lots of lessons, we had culture night, and had to prepare for Karlstejn on Friday

Friday was a busy day. all the missionaries in the Czech Republic met at the place where the land was dedicated for the preaching of the Gospel. We had a special conference. There are 60 missionaries and it was a great conference. So spiritual. President had me train by myself about the history of Preaching the Gospel here. Things went well, Then we had departing testimonies. There are 12 of us going home. So weird. We then went up to the place next to the castle. There bore my testimony and we had a prayer from president. It is a natural temple and a very cool place. It was an amazing day. We ended it with a transfer meeting with president. Going through transfers. This morning called everyone about transfers and have some good things tonight. 

My mission is coming to a close. have a few more days and then will be home Thursday. I will be speaking in the Maplewood ward and Sienna plantation ward at some point. This has been the highlight of my life.

Someone at training shared a quote this week that went something like this "When someone has a meeting with Jesus Christ, they are never the same after" The last two years I have walked, and felt, and been discouraged, and found hope all in Jesus Christ. I know he lives, He knows me and I know him. The level to which I know that he is the Christ and the God lives has grown immensely. I love them. I love the Czechs and Slovaks. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, the Book of Mormon is true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses individuals and families in ways people can not imagine. There is no doubt in my mind about this truths. I would not have done this had it not been so.

Love you all, See you soon Tyler

Week 17 - Prague

With our mission being a 25 month mission the last couple of weeks have been overtime and the Lord has been blessing us so much!  This week was one of the coolest weeks yet!

On Sunday we had a great day. The cougarettes were visiting Prague. That meant there were 50 extra people at church plus all the normal visitors. Translating was fun but their tour guide came to church with them and is now a new investigator! Then We went tracting and found one of the coolest streets. A lot of foreigners were there but we met three families who all work with an american family in our ward. One of them just got here, His wife started to investigate our church in America and he wants his daughter to find the way! So that was really cool and then at inspirational night. Michal brought a friend and we set up with another new person that came! Sunday was pretty successful 

On Monday president showed us the talk from Elder Holland from the mission president seminar. That was so spiritual! Then we had a lesson at their house with a young girl. She is dating someone from the Czech republic on a mission, She promised him that when she graduated college she would take all the lessons. Well the week she graduated she just "happened" to run into us! So we had a way solid first lesson and then met again on Friday! Things are going really well! We also met with a member from Brno on his way to the temple for the first time! Worked a lot with him when i was there. Tuesday we had MLC and after a fourth of July grill which was pretty awesome!

Took off that night for Trebic. That is where president and sister pohorelicti are from. They said i couldn't leave my mission without seeing their city so we had an exchange there and it was one of the best days! We had lunch with presidents mom. Found a family of 6 and then started talking to a mom. She said she didn't have too much time but we could walk with her. We had a really good conversation until her husband came up but he just listened. We asked if we could meet another day and they said they still had time if we could keep teaching them. So we did and then they invited us to sit down at a restaurant with them. Turns out he was a drug dealer and she was a user. That's how they met. But they both stopped and have been clean for two years and have a one year old son! They are so open and so cool! That night back in Prague we were on another exchange and Elder Raines and i went and taught a bar! Always a fun experience

The next day we had a really cool lesson with a girl from Iran. President and Elder Carlson met her on Monday and she came to the grilovani on Tuesday and Thursday we taught her and she now has a baptismal date! That night we had a lesson with Michals friend from Sunday and was one of the most spiritual lessons! 

I had my last district meeting of my mission on Friday and i have to admit i slept through most of it... I am so tired. This week has been amazing! Today we were with president at Karlstejn getting things ready for our training we will have next week! They are amazing! Love them a lot! Last full week as a missionary. Pretty crazy but Going to the end. I love my mission, God and these people! 

With love, Tyler

Week 16 - Prague

Crazy that it is July. Time is flying here. This week has had some unique experiences! So last Sunday Jana came to church and had a meeting with us and the Bishop and she had some concerns and decided to not get baptized. So disappointing to see people use their agency in bad ways. But we learned a lot from that.

Monday we were preparing for a lesson when president walked by, came in and sat down and he talked to us for about an hour. It was one of the best conversations. We talked a lot about the harvest and how to help missionaries and our questions. He is amazing! He is just like a dad. For about a month one of my eyes has been really bloodshot. So last week he made me drive home from training and he set up a doctors appointment for my eye and took me to that on Monday. Things are fine just have some drops for ti. 

Tuesday was also a good day. The senior couple in the office is also amazing. During our studies we started talking to Elder Scott and had a really spiritual conversation. it was a great spiritual experience. They invited us for dinner that night and got to here lots of great stories from their different missions. This is their third senior couple mission. 

Wednesday we got up at 430 and took off to go to Slovakia. In Brno i picked up Elder Collins and we went and visited Dominika the girl that was a foreign exchange student in SOuthlake. We had a great visit with her and her dad. They made us Halusky! Hopefully the missionaries there will be able to teach them now. We brought back other missionaries on exchanges and had great exchanges on Thursday! IT was raining harder than i have seen it on my mission and we got pretty wet! but had some great times! One mom recognized me from the magazine last week! WE met some cool people and had a good exchange. 

Friday was moving day! They are closing an area here in Prague next transfer and they sold our apartment so we had to move. It was a long day since we left it till the last day. We went up and down so many stairs but got it all moved out and now we are living with another set of elders for the last two weeks of the transfer! Things have been going good! Next week is MLC, two exchanges and prep for The last week! Its gonna be great! Love ya!

Week 15 - Prague

Well its been getting pretty warm here this week! Lots of great teaching happening too! Last week at the inspirational nights two new families with Kids came! Hopefully well start meeting with them soon! We also set up with a different family again and had a good lesson this week at her friends home. There was a lot of visa work this week. Inevitably something always goes wrong. Either we make a mistake on the form or the Visa place tells us the wrong date but we are learning to have more patience! 

Tuesday we had training in Brno and it went pretty well! I have learned a lot about commitments and things are good! We drove with president to training and he had us drive on the way back so he could work. But we just ended up talking the whole way. President and his wife are amazing! They took us out for ice cream and we always end up talking about marriage and the second coming. He is one of the most faithful guys. He gave an amazing training about faith again! We brought back with us missionaries from Slovakia to have an exchange here in Prague! Missionaries in Slovakia almost never get to come here so they were pretty excited and we had really great exchanges! They are pretty young in the mission and should take some fire back to Slovakia! 

We had some funny experiences this week. Elder Carlson ran straight into a pole while helping a lady with her bags. We met two African guys from London who want to find a church here. Jana passed her baptismal interview and is getting baptized next Saturday! We started doing a feasibility report for Smart phones in our mission and had a lot of great things happening! Today we are headed to Brno again for the first stake priesthood meeting. It'll be a fun pday! Things are going great! Love you all