December 27 letter

Dear Momma - 
 

As far as wild stuff i figured since we talked two days ago i would mostly send some pictures today. so i sent a bunch. but! something AMAZING happened yesterday! the carolling was simply amazing. it was great to see the light of Christ come back into these peoples' faces as they listened to the carols. That may have been the best gift of all. BUT!

even wilder! we were walking through the namesti and elder lisonbee said hi to someone (dobry den) (it's just what we do) and the guy turned around and said, "Dobry Den!? what's that supposed to mean!" turns out he's from the states! haha it was nice to chat. he knows a little about us. was impressed and respected our decisions to come out here and teach people about christianity, and to avoid getting deep into any politics, left him with a card and said, if we can help with anything, give us a call. by the time we got to the other side of the namesti, he had run up to us and had something for us to help with! (that never happens hahah) he asked us to go sing to his girlfriend (a czech), who could say no to that! haha so we went. it was just amazing. sang to her a few carols. of course she was feeling the Holy Ghost like mad! so 1. she didn't notice our nasty accents, and 2. wanted to give us money and really anything she could. we got their address and are really excited to visit them in the future. she was getting kind of emotional as we were singing. but at this time of year who doesn't thinking about the Savior.

love ya'll tons.

Time to fly!

lovelovelove

elder stimpson

Pics: me and the penguins. not quite the same as the ones at the boston aquarium... but i'll take what i can get haha.The MTC group I came out with. At a member's house.

December 10 Letter

What a week! it's amazing firstly pictures a few more of the namesti- a nativity scene and a flying angel. that's right A FLYING ANGEL! so when reading moroni 9 or mormon 7 (or a chapter near there, no time to double check haha) it's legit. angels are real. on a more serious note, angels are real even when all of them don't come flying from a tower (ironically called the black tower) and serenely descend (zipline) across the namesti sprinkling magical-silver-good-luck-dust. but in this particular instance, the angel previously mentioned was doing all of the above mentioned acts. it was a nice little cultural event, that was just good fun.

In other news this week was fantastic. I don't know that i have ever had a week with such a wide array of everything! we had just about everything one can encounter in a week, this past week. i'll share just a few of the highlights:

on monday after emailing we just had a really good time teaching lessons. it was a great start to the week, and one of the meetings was with a man who will be preparing for a baptism on the 29th! white Christmas now takes on dual meanings haha

moving on rather breifly to give a recap before going into greater detail, on tuesday we taught about 5 first lessons. it was nuts. but really cool at the same time. we had a very wide range of lessons, from people who were super super attentive and just ready to go, to other lessons where about halfway through the guy we were meeting with realized that we were not catholics... don't really know what to say to that... and at the time we also didn't really know what to say, other than, no, we are not. we're from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. he's a way cool guy, and, although he did, after realizing we weren't catholic, say "well, i'm not so sure i should be here?" is looking forward to coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon! (sorry if the last sentence's structure is poor... my english is going down the pipes. it's baaad.)

This week was a little different cause the sisters went to prauge for a specialized training for the new missionaries, which meant district meeting was on a different day. it was a real blast, however, and this next week's is going to be even better! (i can honestly say i've never felt this good about a district meeting on a monday for the entire duration of my mission. i don't know what is up...) In food news, i had an indian dish that burned (with spice not heat, don't worry i still have my tastebuds ;), not only most of my mouth and throaht, but it honestly felt like a barbeque in my insides. i had tried a "spicy dish" there and wasn't impressed at all (it tasted fantastic, just spicy here is a very different level than taco bell or flaming hot cheetos) so i decided to try the "really spicey dish"... i realized something was up when it was served on a platter that came with a candle underneath, heating it, and also maintaining it's spicey hotness. goodness me. learning experience. on the bright side at least i had some complimenting come from the cashier, when, upon saying what i'd ordered, he replied, "oooh, strong man" now i can say that having the receipt with that quote on it, is worth whatever my digestive tract was feeling on wednesday.

we've seen some really cool teaching experiences lately with asking questions. it's amazing how much a question can teach, completely on it's own. we're all trying to work on better question asking, and it's really showing in our teaching. i just love it. As with all teaching skills, the best example is the Savior. I couldn't be more happy for his example. This past week the testimony of the Book of Mormon grew. also prayer. and the realization that by living the gospel we can become very very successful people. temporally and spiritually. not that i didn't know that earlier, but it always helps to have reminders :)

in other news everything else is great! plan on another tape for christmas and something in the mail either by christmas or new years (we'll see how the holiday mail is haha)

love ya'll tons! especially you momma!!!

got your mail this past week! i'll write back asap. love love love

elderstimpson

December 4th Letter

attached is a picture on the namesti, it looks completely diff now (there was a tree-lighting over the weekend) pictures of that will be coming next week :)

CHRISTMASSSSSS!!!!!

 (we say that very often now, thusly the subject)

wow. time flies. i'll work on getting a bigger email next week with more day to day details. but up to this point just know that the district caught on fire this week. it's amazing. really cool to witness. i feel really proud of them. we're seeing a ton of success and are having way too much fun.

love ya tons and tons.

elderstimpon

November 26 letter

wow! what a week! and best part, CHRISTMAS!!!! (elder hansen and i are having way too much fun in the christmas spirit. way too much fun. elder lisonbee was hesitant before thanksgiving, but now he has joined in the fun :) lets be honest, one of the many purposes of thanksgiving (along with initiating the winter coat phenomenon (i'm going to see if it happens this year haha) also letting us know when to start celebrating christmas. but it was so early this year that, that threw me off, and then in the czech rep, thanksgiving isn't a holiday, so they just start whenever they feel like it. the decorations are up around town (i'll try to get some pictures) and christmas is nearly in full swing. fun fact-i don't know if you remember, but instead of santa here they have jezisek, pronounced... that's a toughie actually. it's like ye-shee (but with a more z sound) and then shek at the end. like shrek but without the "r". and a popular song here is "uz se zase tesime na jeziska" which, translated, is we're already looking forward to little jesus. or something along those lines. i'm no good at translating.

anywho's that's tons and tons of fun. we're just pumped for christmas.

some amazing stuff happened this week- on the train of running into people that we don't normally run into- we found a guy that we've been trying to set up with for along time (he's about to be a branch president) when we were out doing some finding this past week. it's tough to describe in detail, but pretty much the Lord can be as specific as to tell us what street to go on and when to do so. it's awesome.  we had quite a few first lessons this week with people, which was wonderful because we got to practice our teaching with elder hansen a lot! i just love threesomes. aside from having way too much fun, we're also working super hard, which is great :)

thanksgiving was great. i think i said some of what we had already. but it was some indian chicken and bread (delicious) and some czech desserts (you really can't go wrong). and then in the spirit of america we had some cranberry juice (that is one of the few "american" items sold at the grocery store during "american week..." apparently we just eat sweet popcorn, chicken, oven pizza's, and drink cranberry juice and milkshakes..... while that's not entirely false... i do get a nice laugh out of the stereotypical national foods. (i had a sesame seed bar... really just strait sesame seeds and a lil honey turned into a granola bar.. and apparently it's greek! go figure!)

as far as the spirit goes, this week was amazing. we had, at family home evening, the commitment to strengthen our testimony of the restoration. so a saturday of preparation and prayers was spent, and sunday was a beautiful day. it's just amazing. it started with the sacrament (there is a picture of the first vision at the back of the chapel/multipurpose room where we have the sacrament) just one of those powerful moments where you pick up your head from a prayer or reading something, see a picture, and then get that warm/fiery/amazing feeling inside and you just start smiling (or i did... which was good). that was really cool, but then it just came back to the simplicity of our testimony and all of the simple, wonderful truths that the restoration brought back, like the real identity of God and all kinds of great stuff. it's wonderful.

time to fly

November 19 Letter

pictures: fredy is a liquidator. i dunno if you can see the pictures but it litterally says it will destroy everything. from hair to nails to food to pets (it actually has a picture of a dog on it! WHAAAA it's nuts!) to hands to anything and everything. needless to say whatever was in the tub drain is no longer there hahaha

the other is a picture from a big shaky bridge here. it's super fun. it was from last week (sorry if i sent it already) and i can't tell if i'm making a funny face-i apologize if it's too nuts ;)

SO president threw us for another curveball, transfer week was a little differnet, which for missionary work is wonderful (we can really hit the ground running (and we certainly will) rather then losing a week between getting ready to leave and then getting back settled in. the big news regarding transfers is.....

it'll be christmas in ceske budejovice! :D i'm stinking excited. elder lisonbee is staying (that was pretty set. he is branch president after all haha) and... both the sisters are staying. (sister sears for all transfer, and sister bean only for a few weeks, she wasn't quite ready to head home :). in other news! we're getting new missionaries here as well! elder hansen is coming from ostrava- he's my companion from brno two transfers back, and the sisters are getting a sister fresh from the training center. it's been so long since i've been around greenies i mean new missionaries. goodness me. elder hansen is already here. we've got a few lessons today, so like i said, we're hitting the ground running.the sisters are going to prague tomorrow to pick upthe new sister, and the district meetings begin on thursday! it's really great. we're looking forward to it! it's going to be the best transfer to this point for sure.

in other news, as far as last week goes, we had some really killer lessons. and really cool stuff happen! we got in touch with a few people with whom we'd lost contact, which was a relief and a blessing.

we had a training in prague this past week which was great! it's going to be nuts traveling up there this upcoming transfer becuase there will be 3 of us staying over at the office elders, who are two elders that i was serving around in ostrava! (elder clyde, love the guy, and elder knapp, he's just great) so that'll be something to look forward too. the training was great. we learned a lot about understanding. and we also heard the mormon message about sanctifying ourselves, from elder holland. it was a great conference. and we took away some really great stuff. i'm just really looking forward to this transfer. and the best aprt is that it's already here! i don't even have to wait another two days haha

sunday was maybe one of the most spiritual sundays in a very long time. we heard a talk from a member from Hradec Kralove (kinda like a high councelor kinda thing but at the branch level, i dunno what that's called.) but he gave a wonderful talk about how to endure to the end. he had one example that i really enjoyed, how some group of people, i can't remember who or where, would go to great lengths to have visions or guidiance or something, and by great lengths they took drugs or had some wild rituals... to be honest i didn't really understand the great lengths... cause it was many words i don't understand. needless to say that they had to do some things that are wild. while, with the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are entitled to personal revelation as long as we remain worthy of it! what a great blessing! it was great. then he sait some really motivating things that were just straitforward and blunt. he pretty much just said, start today. change today and start making and keeping covenants with God, today. one thought that he shared that i really really liked (it's so true) was that "the goal of our life is not to get baptized and just come here to church every sunday" which while it is a great thing to do (necessary, even) isn't the limit of our vision. he really emphasized the temple (which we love as missionaries :) and how there are so many things that we can enjoy after baptism, how the gospel really is a way of life that is increasingly rewarding as we continue and increase. it was great. can't write the rest of the notes i took.

then we had preisthood, which i was really lucky to teach :) it was chapter 20 in the G. A. smith manual. it was just great and i could really feel the spirit guiding the lesson and teaching the students. just wonderful.

anywho's i could write all day about the spiritual experiences that are happening. but shortly said, miracles are happening. martin (a guy from my first transfer if you remember :) got in touch with missionaries in prague!!!!! so i'm really keeping my fingers crossed that he can start meeting with them and start feeling more of the Holy Ghost. it's amazing how much feeling the presence of the HOly Ghost means. i'm still learning about all the good stuff :) goodness me. anywho's with all the rambling i've done today i think we know why i don't have htis much time to normally write hahaha cause i get nowwhere. sure do love ya'll tons (we're planning on a trip to hluboka super soon, so you can acutally be jealous now haha)

love YOU momma. i sent a package last pday. lemme know when it gets there. has a tape. variety of chocolate- muzete mit cokoladovou ochutnavku (you can have a chocolate tasting :) and many ties. sorry about the ties. but i had to get rid of them without throwing them away haha. oih and also some letters in there. i hope the pile isn't super huge of htoest. i just don't know what else to do with them. i can't carry themn around but don't wanna just toss them. i am open to ideas! haha

love you tons and tons momma.

all the way to the otherside of the moon and back.

elderstimpson

November 5th Letter

time is flying. literally. but to be honest don't know if flying even cuts it anymore.

 

attached is a picture of the burgers... and our comp jackets. we about died after eating them. and aside from my somewhat traditional (i don't want to call it a tradition cause it's bad and i don't do it regularly enough for it to be traditional) chocolate tasting we ate nothing for the rest of the day hahaha :/ (it'll be a while before we go back for that one haha) goodness me.

 

 

 

otherwise this past week was just amazing! wow! firstly we just got into contact today with a member with whom we had previously lost all contact :/ so that was a great blessing and elder lisonbee and i are really looking forward to getting back into contact with her and getting her back into the branch!

 

it's seems like a year ago we were prague for visas. but yeah that happened. it was a blast. and we'll be back in two weeks for a training haha so yeah. speaking of the future! we'll prolly go to hluboka next week for preparation day. so google it and then be super jealous (but not to the point of envy, that's bad) cause from what i've seen/heard it's like a disney castle, except real.

 

this past week was just nuts. super nuts! we were watching president monsons talk during lunch on wednesday (we finally got to the sunday morning session in english haha... only one or two more meals of movie watching and we'll be done! haha.. .them we can start over! hahaha) but seriously i love general conference. but yeah. we were watching presidnetm monson's talk and i decide i need to journal better (more prayers being answered, goodness do those happen often!), and also that i need to notice more promptings... during the talk we get a ring on the door (this normally doesn't happen) by some people that want to come in and talk.... we had some things to do right after lunch so i was worried to say yes, so we instead set up another time with them... we shut the door and i realized i had blown it! we were watching a talk pretty much all about listening to promptings of the spirit, and a prompting comes and literally rings the doorbell, pretty much did everything except verbally saying, "hello, i'm a prompting of the spirit, teach me the restored gospel." the good news is that as real as promptings of the spirit are, repentance is also real. so upon seeing that they had gotten around the corner and not wanting to actually chase them down (that'll be a little much) we just called them and said that our plans had changed and that we could meet with them. which was nice cause it gave us time to plan for them and get some russian stuff from the drawer. (they asked if we spoke russian. which eather means that they speak it, or thought that we were from russia, which is a step up from england/america [there is an accent heirarchy and england/america is at the bottom. then poland. then slovakia. then czech]. right now i'm still at america. but i did get an "armenia" once. no idea where that came from.

 

in other news just everything is going great! something else really cool and quick was that we ran into some really cool people at the kolejs (pronounced coal- eh's. like a canadian eh. kinda. except with a czech accent i guess). or dorms rather, at the university here. it was really really cool. and elder lisonbee and i are really looking forward to the lessons we'll have with them in the future! :)

 

otherwise momma please do NOT send me any warm stuff. i love you past the sky (olivia is a cutie!) and as soon as i need anything. i will write it down and send it to you. till then i have more than enough stuff and yeah. after helping a member move last week i'm back in the "get-rid-of-all-my-stuff" mode. so the garbages around our place are full haha.

 

anywho's love ya tons and tons!

elderstimpson

October 29th Letter

this week was nuts. so so so much stuff.

lenka is doing better and better with reading daily! which is awesome. she's just great. really loves reading and learning about the gospel. a real blessing to be teaching her.

the end of the week was the most nuts 4 days ever. starting thursday night we went to prague for a training on friday amazing training. i'd send you the notes if i had them. goodness me it was great. like general conference all over again! friday night got back for some lessons, then saturday helped a member move (it was raining buckets :D hahahahah goodness gracious. then we had a halloween party which was really really great. had plenty of people there and they really enjoyed themselves! it was super wild. just nuts. not enough time to talk all about it haha. sunday had church. then went back to prague for visas! which went well. so now we're back in cbud for the day and have a lesson super soon so i have to go. sorry for the wildly short email. i'll get more next week. but till then have tons of fun momma. hope this week goes really really well. (elder lisonbee and i have a great looking week ahead of us :)

we did have a really cool experience that i'll write quickly about. as missionaries we baptize people. which means we invite people to be baptized. we had one guy who we were a little worried to invite because from what we knew about him he is super active in his church, (he's a great guy i love him to death) but we were gonna pull out all the stops. The assistants gave us a commitment to present people with a calendar to set goals and things to prepare for baptism, which was another step up for this guy too. needless to say we were nervously excited for this lesson. then came the big day. we practiced the heck out of it during studies, and the lesson came around and it went super super well! we even got some really good concerns and questions from him to address in later lessons. basically we got blessed like crazy for being obedient even when we were somewhat nervous about being bolder. and another lesson taken, my companion is the man. love him

love ya tons momma can't wait to hear from ya next week!

til then (the vanocka looked delicious :)

lovelovelove

elderstimpson