April 29

wow. what a week!

first. i need puns. i can't think of any and i figure i'll give everyone homework to email me :)  second, pictures. this weird new way of writing emails has confused me so i'll have to wait to send pictures. sorry. next time :)

love you tons. now into the week!

WHAT A WEEK!  it went by far to fast. in the words of elder jaynes- because we were teaching so dang much. very true. getting into the new area wasn't completely like starting anew, but we did have to find out who is worth meeting with and who's not really progressing (always figuring that one out :)

we were busy. and it didn't help slowing down the time that on friday we spent most of the day in brno (for a training. it was AMAZING. president irwin is great. and the leaders did a great job. it was just a blast.) and on sunday we also spent some time in brno (district conference) it was nuts. nice to see brno again, and show starsi jaynes a big town. he'll see plenty over his mission though. :)

it was just a blast of a week. i don't really know where to begin... so i'll share some things taken from the training and district conference.

firstly. training, wow! we had training with brno zone, slovakia, and olomouc zone. so we had quite a few missionaries there. got to see elder gleue again, always a blast. he's doing great (but going home crazy soon. he got accepting into west point again (no surprise there, he's amazing.) but it's just nuts to think of our group going already! haven't come to grips with it yet. it's too weird to think about. someday i'll get there. at least i hope so, i sure need to! haha) it was nuts at the district conference because all the members who recognized me would say- but you can't have much time left then can you? to which i never lied but was never 100% truthful... that's alright for a missionary? anywho's i don't like to count. still haven't learned the czech months for a reason. i know them, but don't know the order :) so i only every know the one i'm in (for eases sake) and the one ahead (for setting goals with members and investigators) it's great. it was simply a pleasure to see the members! :)

but back to the training- president showed us a quick film about czech history, and wow. it made mention of operation anthropoid.  pretty nuts stuff. and one of those times where you just can't really imagine what it was like. makes me very grateful for freedom, the gospel, and the plan of salvation. it was a pretty powerful one. also very motivating (trainings always are!)

so on to studying this week! boy do the scriptures come to life on a mission! it's been a real blessing to be able to dive into them, and really gain a knowledge of them. especially in my language study i'm working on telling more stories from the scriptures (or at least getting the words that the prophets use in them) which is great, because there are so many! and so many little words to learn. i don't plan on mastering the czech language anytime soon, that's for sure. i just love studying. we're teaching someone right now who has a few concerns about the book of mormon, some more legitimate than others (some i had to hold back just telling him, that's absurd... it's good i don't know how to say that in czech.) :) but just one of them was kind of a "well, tell me what truths have been restored through the book of mormon that were lost through mistranslations or things being removed from the bible." (next piece of homework for all ya'll. think of this answer) i spent about 5 minutes during studies and got a pretty good list :) in any case it has just strengthened my testimony that regardless of what we are told, what we see, what we read, a testimony from the Holy Ghost is more powerful than any of that. So i'm very grateful that I have a testimony. I think of president Monson's talk from a few conferences ago with the story of the man who after listening to a church meeting, said something along the lines of "i would give everything to know that this is true". like king lamoni! (where i am right now in the book of mormon :) it's so intense! ammon is a machine! i mean a wonderful example ;) i got to work on my vocabulary! haha)

sure do love ya momma and am very grateful for you!

Lovelovelove

edlerstimpson