July 30 : Weekend Edition

Friday: Today was a training day! we had the Assistants and the zone leaders and Prezident as our guests here in Brno. minus the zone leaders they're here normally. And we had our "specialized Training." don't know where the name came from, but they are awesome!! just about the entire MTC group was there becuase it was for Brno Zone (brno and bratislava) and Olomouc Zone (olomouc, ostrava, and zlin). one of the trainings was about studying more effectively, which i'm pretty excited to start applying. We also learned about the Book of Mormon, and the role that it plays in our work. The leadership we have here is just stacked. they're like an allstar team! later in the day we were out talking to people and ran into one guy who had seen the south park episode about Mormons (an amazing number of younger people have!) He had no idea that we were a real religion; we showed him the book of mormon, and he said, "oh wow! it's real!" :) we talked more about it and why we went on missions. He had a beatles shirt on, so i told him that the gospel was like a really good song. In that, we heard this wonderful music and now we want to share it with everybody!

Saturday: Wow saturdays. every saturday i ask myself where the week has gone, today being no exception. we had our massive planning session (we tried a wild new way that was passed down from elder stradling's follow up trainer) it was nice! I'm always a fan of trying new things to figure out what is nice and efficient. needless to say the rest of saturday was amazing. exciting things that happened: elder stradling and i contacted forrest gump. but seriously. it was forrest gump after running accross america. hair, beard, look. everything. we saw him the first time far away from us going in another direction, and i told elder stradling that my eyes were deceiving me... then about 20 min later our paths crossed! destiny! haha we, later, had dinner at a really tasty hotel restaurant where some pretty stinking amazing svickova is sold. is it on par with sister renata's... of course not. but was it terribly tasty, ano! :)  tonight was our czech learning class, quite enjoyable. czech is stinking tough. that's all i've got to say about that.

Sunday: whoaaaaaa. today was great! great morning! talked with a guy from armenia on the bus (how often can one say that?). church was fantastic! funny story: last week it was brought up that any elder in the church should be able to, whenever called upon, to give a solid talk on a gospel topic for 10 minutes. well... i got called upon. haha for some reason or another there was some open time in sacrament meeting. the weird part was that the new missionaries also introduced themselves today... so they all went up. and then i went up (not to introduce myself, but to bear testimony, being called upon to do so) and have a lil testimony that was all over the place. :) i read moroni 6:4-6, 8. i love those verses. needless to say they wont call on me to go up and speak anytime soon :) he he he. just playing it wasn't a complete plane wreck... more like a nice tumble down a mountain. something that is thrilling at the time but nothing that you would like to repeat anytime soon. otherwise church was fantastic! a  guy who we've been teaching was able to come (he's a doctor and doing post-grad work so time is a huge factor), and he really enjoyed it! stayed for the entire time and even at the end said, "you know, 3 hours isn't enough time for this kinda stuff." :) he's great. on the tram back from church i talked with a guy who came to believe in God becuase he had hit rock bottom in life. Which brings me to another thing i really enjoy about our relationship with God, we can be in any walk of life, and still have an incredibly strong relationship with him. the rest of the day was nice. i really love studies on sunday. a nice chance to look back at the week and see the progress made. it's just fun. and then call ins! it's a real pleasure to be able to talk to the companionships every week. i just love em! goodness.


love ya tons momma!!!
elder stimpson

July 23 : Two weeks worth

Monday: monday was wild for a few reasons

1. we still had no phone... so we had no communication with the district whatsoever for a while, which only proved to be unforturnate when we got the phone and realized that the rest of the district was meeting on the other side of town for a district vilet. we jumped on the bus and made it, though. it was so wild! we went down into these crypts... bodies from who knows when. it was pretty neat! haha there was all kinds of wild history down there, i can't even begin, forgive me.

2. the emailing place was once again closed! it was a nightmare! the only good thing was that the new location is right next to a lovely tie shop so elder hansen and i made it a fruitful trip even without the emailing home. :) i got a killer tie. and a tie for the temple (am i looking forward to it already... maybe :) haha)

3.FHE was awesome! the spiritual thought at the end was great. it was given by a member here who got back from his mission about 8 months ago or so and it was great. all about christlike attributes- which we've been studying as a mission for the last transfer or so (it's my favorite part of studies! well studies are all awesome. it's kinda just a whole time of favorites.) and the commitment that he gave us was to ask God in prayer how we can become more christlike. it's a genious idea, becuase no matter where we are we can all improve, and who better to ask than Heavenly Father! it was a great thing to do and since i'm writing this a few days in the future i can say, it worked! haha

Wednesday: WHERE TO BEGIN. wednesday... we had a lesson in the morning with a woman that we met a few weeks ago, lined up a meeting and it went great! she was very willing to try things out which is always nice for us, becuase pretty much all we do is invite people to do things! :D she had never thought of prayer really as a conversation with God (reminds me of the line in elder scott's talk, the supernal gift of prayer, "He has created numberless cosmos and populated them with worlds, yet you and I can talk with Him personally, and He will ever answer" a few more lessons on wednesday, sorry this is now super super super hindsight. it was great though. good hard work and seeing the spirit start to work on people's lives!

Thursday: Today was just awesome!!! wow. this is all in super hindsight so i apologize for the rushed nature. we had a really really really cool lesson with pavlina about Jesus Christ and why he is important to us. It was just super cool. It was a great reminder to me of the scriptures and how important they are. we litteraly did nothing but talk about scriptures. and she totally understood everything. The spirit was definitely there, and it was just really cool to feel it. we were teaching with a really cool member here (the same who visits the older member with us who has the killer singing voice) And she did a great job of testifying very simply and really helping pavlina understand the heart of the matter. The best/most wild part of the thursday was outreach, the young single adult activity here on thursdays. it was no doubt one of the best ones ever. it wasn't because there were tons of people there (even though there were) and it wasn't becuase we had a wildly intense game of ping pong (even though that definitely happened), but the coolest part was hearing the members teach this one student who came. He was curious about what we believe, and was sitting with a few members who were doing a wonderful job of teaching/explaining that we believe in Jesus. Luckily i was able to play some jenga with a few people within earshot of them. It just hit me how one of the fruits of the gospel is forgiveness. it's something as a missionary i don't think about to much becuase we don't really do things that normal people do. but the members did a great job of explaining the atonement and how when we live according to the gospel we don't have to feel any of the gguilt or shame that would otherwise beset us in our lives. beautifully simple.

Friday: A day of miracles. wow. firstly we had district lunch and district finding. lunch was at this really cool place that vasek, a member here, referred us to (delicious. only another testament to seeking referrals) :) delicious food. and he had all these food coupony thingies from work (it honestly looks like fancy monopoly money but it actually has monotary (sp?) value! amazing!) so he paid for us! hooray! :) we followed lunch with our weekly district finding, the singing for which we are becoming increasingly known. it was nice. the miracles began from then, we had a first lesson with a referral from pavlina! it was a really neat lesson, but the best part was undoubtedly (sp?) hearing pavlina get to testify of all the things she liked about the church and the Book of Mormon. it was just neat... but that wasn't even the best part! the biggest miracle of the day happened right before the branch council meeting. elder hansen and i decided to walk the long way around the building to get some fresh air when we saw, near the entrance, a guy just hanging out. he approached us and said, "are you guys mormons?" We said yes, and we proceded to have a nice talk about what we believe and the book of mormon and such. it was something we hadn't planned on at all but it turned out to be a huge miracle. we felt pretty cool afterward :)

Friday: Friday was a pretty sweet day. We got to go singing, which is just a pleasure every time. I swear people arer starting to almost plan on us being out there. Many of the people i talked with talked about recognizing us from weeks before, and how we sing nicely. :) It was a goodsounding group of missinaries! later in the day we visited a member who is just great. it was oodles of fun. We went with another member who had the lesson planned from a thought by President Uchtdorfs message for this month, I think? about having eternal perspective. and not just celebrating the start or end of a a year (school or calendar or whatever), but also the middle, or the during. It was really cool. Especially as a missionary nearly halfway through (AAAAHHHHHH time is flying) I felt like it was as much for my companion and I (he's in the same group) as for the member.

One interesting that happened (it was pretty stinking hilarious) was talking with this older man later in the day. he was throwing stuff away, so we offered to help him. He was a very funny guy, and in letting us know how we can convince more people of our message he said, "you have to know how to talk and have to talk so fast that people don't have time to think about what you are saying." i laughed on the inside, firstly, becuase my czech is terrible. i wouldn't believe a word i heard myself say if the words weren't about the gospel. Secondly, silence in lessons is so incredibly important. It lets the spirit talk! and thank heavens becuase the Spirit speaks amazing czech! it was pertty neat.

Sunday: Sunday was a little wilder. church was great. I'm starting to understand the words a little better, so aside from just feeling the spirit of the meeting, I'm also understanding the stories and some jokes, too! It's great! I love church even more now! haha  Lunch at the martins was delicious. I'm definitely way too spoiled getting to stay here two transfers :] the wild thing that happened, however, was this: we had a lesson later that day at the building, so we decided to do our studies there also rather than travel home and have to travel all the way back. so we were studying at the building, when all of the sudden we hear the door to the building open... (we weren't expecting anyone by this time) We went out, and it was a guy who is meeting with another missionary companionship here. He had missed coming to church, but decided he would come to the building anyway becuase he didn't have their correct number to call them. he had a few questions for us (it was all stuff that had been talked about at church, it's funny how things work out like that) and the meanwhile we called the other companionship so they could come on down to the building. It was pretty neat knowing that even little things like studying at the building were being lead by the Lord. The rest of the night was just an average amazing sunday. talked with some really cool people on the buses on the way back; there are a surprising number of people out at 7 on sundays! oodles were out and the buses were pretty stinkin full! i was amazed. call ins went well. the district is just amazing and the zone leaders are great. i really couldn't ask for much more!

July 18 letter

WOW!!! so transfer week! goodness me. firstly today is nuts. i don't have the cord for the keyboard thangy so i apologize but i'm going to make you wait til monday to hear the wild day to day activities of the district. i don't know if ya'll know yet... but i'm staying in BRNO!!! round 2! haha. i get to be district leader again which i'm super pumped about becuase i absolutely love it. i get to work so closely with all of the members (and it's another big district: the missionary couple, elder bahr (still hanging out with me haha) elder strobel (came down from ostrava! :), the zone leaders, three sister missionaries and then i'm with elder stradling! who was at the mTC with me! he's just awesome and a great missionary. his czech is also amazing. so i'm very excited to see what we can do this transfer. it's going to be oodles of fun and work that's for sure!

i apologize for the shorter email this time but i will try to include some wild things that come to mind quickly. we had some great lessons this last week! oh man were they great. plenty of miracles and some great things to look forward to this week! it's just a great blessing. being able to stay in an area two transfers is a great blessing becuase now i can see the difference between the two. and it's the first time i've had to introduce someone to an area... it's pretty wild.

i don't know much else of what to say so i'll try to answer some questions about the district or otherwise that i've been getting:

in the czech republic, not many natives are called to serve here in the CZ. i don't know why, but as a result most of my companions are americans (there are a few englishman in the mission, starting with our fearless/prezident/leader, prez. Irwin.; as well as a german/itilian/austrian a few other nationalities? i don't know the entire mission :/ ) but yea. 

the district this transfer just looks great. but seriously we're a good looking group. :) just playing. a bunch of great missionaries though! our zone leaders are elder mullen (a great missionary. i don't know what else to say. he's terribly well rounded in every aspect of the work) and elder gabrielsen (my mission daddy. i'm so excited to serve around him again i can't even begin to describe it. he's great. and i'm excited to see how much he has grown since a few transfers ago when we were in ostrava together!). elder stradling is with me, he's from arizona and was in my group at the MTC so we are super close, and both terribly excited to work together. he's spent much of his mission on the other side of the country so i'm looking forward to how he speaks (accent) or how he understands (we told him about the dialect here and all the wild words they say and he is looking forward to learning it! haha (me too!)) elder strobel (from ostrava. i know him from two transfers ago when he was born a greenie and i was his district leader, he's great! and i can't wait to see how he's grown!) and elder bahr (just realized i included this earlier in the email.... elder bahr is great. i'm just sad he has to serve around me again hahaha (he has his entire mission! :) )) and then the threesome of sisters! two are from my group, so i'm happy to be around them again and see how they have grown since a few transfers ago! and the other sister is in the same group as elder mullen and gabrielsen, it's great. a very experienced district. i plan on using it! haha

well time is about up. plan on a good two weeks worth of the alpha 5 gaggillion on monday :) sure do love ya'll and pray for ya every day!

love

elder stipmson

July 9 : Condensed

Monday: Today was beautiful! preparation day is always nice, just a
good time to relax, but today there was not very much relaxing! haha.
we got knighted! no doubt much of the attached pictures will be of
that. it was a pretty typical preparation day otherwise. we definitely
cruised through tesco (the place we do our shopping) so that we would
have more time for the vilet to veveri (i don't have haceks, so i
apologize i have no idea how to explain the pronounciation of that
place.) beautiful castle though. constructed around 1240. tons of
history. the SS used it as their place around uess the Russains
launched some artillery at it back in WWII times. super nuts. tons of
history. and there is a little chapel around the corner, well in the
fields by the castle (oh man was it a beautiful view) that apparently
has some connection to the templars! wild wild stuff! it was a great
trip though. our district is just awesome. we had a great time out
there (in case the pictures don't show enough smiles ;) we got back,
had Family Home Evening with the youth in the branch (also just a
blast). the Lesson was on reading the scriptures and enduring to the
end. or rather enduring to the end by the means of reading the
scriptures. it was a pretty cool lesson if for no other reason than
hearing all of the different opinions on how to read the scriptures.
some thought morning was best, others thought the evening was better,
secretly i was thinking well of course both are best! becuase anytime
is the best time to read the scriptures. The other topic was where to
study; some really like to study in bed (i learned a long time ago
trying to read frankenstein in bed that, for me, that just doesn't
work. i'm pretty sure i slept the whole day...) others like to study
at a table, or outside, or even at church. Elder Mullen said it best i
think, (and he said it in czech so forgive the poor translation... i
know how to translate, but i don't know how we would say a lot of the
things i say in czech. i don't know if that makes sense... i'll try to
think of examples haha) "The important thing is that we read the
scriptures where and when we can feel the Holy Ghost. Be it in the
morning or the evening, in bed or at the dinner table, the important
thing is that the Holy Ghost can tetsify to us the truthfulness of
what we read."

aaaaamen.

Tuesday: Tuesday was beautiful. Another District meeting gone by. It's
so weird to think that we only have one more district meeting this
transfer! just playing two more. (i just councelled with a missionary
staying  over from slovakia, there is a training tomorrow which means
that we get to house missionaries from accross the border :) it's a
blast!) but yeah. it's just nuts to think about time. i purposely
still don't know the names of the months translated from czech so that
i don't know what time of year it is in english... the theme of
district meeting was  something called "how to begin teaching." it
basically teaches us how to begin teaching. in case it wasn't obvious
enough from the title. It is pure gold. I love it because when we do
what It says, then we wont go wrong. it's just like scriptures and
prophets' councel (sp?). when we obey God's will we wont have to worry
about being right or wrong. It was a great realization of that and
made me want to commit to memory pretty much every word in the
standard works and the missionary library so that i would know what
was expected of me :)

July 2 - Pictures