March 26 letter

dearest momma:

 

here are some pictures: two i think are the group we had helping sister krizova move... it was a trip. i'm still sore, but sore is good! it was a saturday project, and when someone is moving to the 16th floor of any building it's always an exciting experience!

 

i think the other is the huge rice krispie the thordersons sent me... needless to say i'm glad i'm in a triple so i get to share it with two people instead of just one haha (its huge!)

 

 

 

firstly i need to tell you guys that studying the gospel is so much fun! it just makes me happy! it's like drugs. or what i would imagine drugs to be like (my trip after having the wisdom teeth out was just a big blur.... all i remember was golf the next day haha! :) studying is so much fun though! cause it seems like no matter where i study i always get to hear exactly what i need to hear! or read i guess. i sure do love it.

 

this week absolutely flew by. oh my goodness. we went on exchanges with the zone leaders which was just a ton of fun! (both of them trained other elders in my group so i knew both of them beforehand) the one who came and worked in our area had just come over from slovakia, so he just spoke slovak the whole time we were teaching, the czechs we were teaching had no trouble understanding him, but as far as my testifiying of his teaching, it was a lot of: "i know what my companion has said is true" (cause he's a good missionary and i trust him even if i don't get every word :) it was a blast though!

 

we taught this new investigator, vlastik, who is super solid. he was very open to everything and is just really prepared to learn about the restored gospel! adam is progressing like crazy, and it's good too cause his date is coming up whether we're ready for it or not! haha i love it though!

 

sorry this is kinda shorter, the last 15 min really fly by on ya!

 

love ya tons!

elder stimpson

March 19 Letter

Attached are some pictures of elder gleue and my last hurrah before transfers haha we went out with adam and did some castle hopping/ gramma visiting. it was just wonderful haha i think the included one is Stramberk. super awesome castle. also went to hukvaldy. but it was closed so we didn't get a ton of great pictures. still super super awesome though.

the others are elders bahr and clyde, my new companions! elder clyde has the brown hair. and adam is also in those. we went out to a park cause the weather was way way nice. it was a super cool meeting out there! and he's getting excited for baptism! :D

these past few days have been super nuts! my first district meeting was just a fiasco to say the least. haha and the next one is tomorrow! haha and the zone leaders are coming too! goodness me gracious. it's so great though. our district is so stacked! i feel like i got the dream team here in ostrava. We have elder bahr, clyde and i in one area (the last area, so now i know ostrava about as well as a missionary can having served in all 3 areas haha) my old area has an old awesome missionary and a greenie so they are bound for greatness, and the other area is the same! an old awesome hard working missionary (who actually got trained here in ostrava) with a greenie! giving ostrava 6 new missionaries trained in 3 transfers. i don't know if that has happened too recently haha but it's cool. but yeah. the district is way too cool. and the members here are way excited about the work. a wonderful combination!

So really cool story about preparation and prayer this sunday. last transfer our district leader taught the gospel principles class. He had been here 2 years so knew czech super well and was a great teacher. as transfers happened i thought people kinda knew that he was going home and that someone from the branch would have to teach that class?.. i don't know if that's terribly reasonable to assume or what... but needless to say when i was asked to teach the class after sacrament meeting i was a little... how do you say.... nervous? yes. that one. goodness me was i nervous. last week (rather two weeks ago, last week we were in prague) our lesson was about the fall of adam, quite the topic to be teaching about in a class of people who aren't yet members. It was a wonderful lesson, but not without a few, "hold on i don't get that." or "wait... one more time?" so, needless to say, i was a little nervous about this sunday's lesson and what it would be on!

i got into the class and looked into the book, and the topic was prayer! :D i was so excited! haha i love prayer and had a little note card in czech that i had prepared from a "true to the faith" reading a few weeks back that was all about prayer! it was a really cool meeting and i think everybody had a good time learning about prayer? we'll see if they come back i guess haha!

goodness me. til next time in about a week :)

love ya'll tons!

elder stimpson

March 14 letter

I forget the neice/nephew prediction... but i think i'm at liberty to reassess it considering i'm about 1/4 through and already have 2 new ones. i def didn't guess 8! (nor would i hahaha)

[Dean guessed that two new nieces or nephews would be born while he is on his mission.  Two nieces are coming soon, Tessa’s in May and Lindsey’s in July.]

that's awesome about the braves. coach febach is so great. i'm sure their stacked but it sure does make me reminisce about senior year. (we had some good luck against glacier too hahah) [Dean was starting guard and captain of his HS basketball team, who also went to state.]

funny you should mention the routine..... because my life is completely different now! hahaha oh garsh. got the call monday afternoon that i'm gonna be a district leader. i have no idea what that really means... but it's gonna be fun!

i'm serving with elder bahr and elder clyde. they were both here in ostrava last transfer so i know them! we're in privoz so i may have the claim to fame of being one of few of any other missionaries to serve in every area of Ostrava! it's fun and goodness me am i excited. it's gonna be nuts. our district is going to consist of us three, and two golden greenies being trained by two missionaries who are going home soon. this transfer is gonna be a load of fun i do know that much! haha

as far as last week goes it was pretty wild cause elder gleue got a call on wednesday about his new area! (normally they are on sunday for trainers and monday for everybody else) he's in the office now which is cool cause he wanted to go there and he'll get to hang around president all the time and do all kinds of fun stuff! 

but yeah this last week was super nuts with elder christopherson being in prague for a conference. it was so awesome! we got to have a meeting with him afterwards, us missionaries here, which was super awesome cause it was almost like a question and answer session. it's amazing how simple the gospel is but how much there is to learn about it! and trust me those apostles know a TON! the icing on the cake however was when elder christopherson came to ostrava with his wife and son (his son served here about 17 years back) he gave another talk and trying to describe the spirit felt there in words is just futile. His message on monday was about the role of an apostle in today's world, and how it hasn't changed much since back in peter's day…. still testifying of Jesus, bringing the gospel to the entire world, and feeding the sheep. He tied that in to the role of membership in the church that we too are called to be witnesses of Christ and share the gospel. It was so great for the members here. it was way neat.

but time is about out so til next monday!

love ya tons momma!

March 5 Letter

Transfers are next week so I'll be emailing on Wednesday.  :) Probably won’t be with Elder Gleue again but we'll see if I stay in Ostrava, or go someplace else.

Elder Christopherson is coming to Prague for a huge conference on Sunday!!!! Everybody ‘and they momma’ is excited and gonna be there haha. I can't wait - it's gonna be so so so awesome. and on top of that - HE'S COMING TO OSTRAVA THE DAY AFTER! Can you say FHE with an apostle? cause i say that and i get the chills! haha his son served a mission here, in Ostrava for a while too, so he's coming to Ostrava after Prague and he's going to speak! Oh man are we pumped.

In other news, Elder Gleue and I went to Krnov today…super stinking close to Poland. like I-coulda-thrown-a-rock-and-hit-Poland close. haha We saw this awesome church and a cool look out tower that was closed, and it was way cool. Then we read this thing on the map about some old ruins and weren't sure if we wanted to catch the early train or start bushwackin to find these old ruins. Well we chose the latter and boy was it a good decision! These ruins were awesome!!!!! super old and super cool! We got some good pictures, it was the trip of the transfer no doubt.

Time’s already up though but i sure do love yall!

Can't wait till next week! i'll let you know how Prague/Elder Christopherson is and what kinda wildness awaits me for next transfer!

Love,

Elder Stimpson

These pictures are from the Radnice (town hall) in Ostrava! It's super super tall and I'm actually emailing in one of the wings of it right now, but this thing has been up since like 1915 or something! It's seen A TON (one of the pictures up in it was when the Nazis were in power and they hung a huge swastika on the top of it.) Terrible but it was nuts to think that this tower saw so much history!