April 17 Letter

the attached pic is of prague! that's why emails are a day late (we went there for the comps' visa work yesterday)

 

and sorry this email is super short but this time goes by way too fast!!!

 

this week was just awesome! i had some of the best study sessions of my mission right now. instead of worrying about district meeting (the first time i planned for it i was freaked out!) i love it now. i just think of fun games and creative ways to get us going! but here's the kicker this week: PRESIDENT IRWIN IS COMING. i'm excited cause he's awesome and it's gonna be way too much fun in district meeting. (thanks for the bacon chocolate!!!!) we usually start off with a treat-tasting-session and share ideas on what the district thinks of whatever we try(one time we tried every flavor of chocolate that milka has.... there were soooo many!!!! and another we tried different flavors of studenka chocolate (a traditional czech recipe)) it's a blast.

 

i'll have to talk more about this past week next week. but that's okay.

 

we went to prague yesterday which was just a blast. we got lost a few times (and by lost i mean when asked which way we needed to go i would point in a range of about 60 degrees. so general directions were always good! i wasn't really too worried much.  haha it was great fun though! got to hang out in the office a little bit since i didn't have to go to the foreign police. elder gleue and i saw each other again and just had a great time giving president irwin a hard time about putting us on opposite sides of the country.

 

but yeah sorry this is super short. next week will no doubt be a huge one. and it'll come on monday too (these past two weeks were just wild)

 

love ya tons momma!!!

 

 

(maybe that typing thing would be a good idea to avoid weeks like this :/ haha)

 

sorry again, but next week'll be longer!

 

love ya bye!

April 10 letter

dear momma:

 

WOW was this week awesome!!!! Such a wild roller coaster of everything it was nuts!

 

it started about a week ago when we had FHE with some branch members to end Preparation day. Adam came, the elders from poruba (my old area) gave a spiritual though about prayer, and it was stinkin good. a lesson with adam later watching a conference talk, well... basically adam went from kinda sitting on the fence about baptism to knowing that it's all true in a matter of 7 days. His whole conversion reminded me, or rather taught me, how little we actually do as missionaries. I mean it takes all day and all night for two years to do the little tiny peice of conversion that we help out with, but otherwise it's all on the investigator, and the Lord takes care of the rest.

 

(slash can i get the name of our ancestor who was in the martin handcart co.?)

 

We got to watch conference this weekend which just amplified the spiritual high, can you say conference, conference, baptism, more conference. then the next day more conference and easter? needless to say it was a beautiful weekend. for a few hours it wasn't quite 100% that we were going to get conference (something between translation and getting to branch presidents happened or something) but the members are awesome and we got to watch every session of conference right on time :) friday night was just loaded with phone call making haha.

 

elder gleue and his companion came over from prague for the baptism, which was just awesome. adam was way pumped! and we went right back to having way too much fun! haha

 

as far as easter goes in the czech republic. it's a lovely time of year. the sun was shinning nicely. birds were chirping away. as far as traditions go, this country is full of them! wow. from a missionaries point of few its rough becuase as opposed to american holidays where many people are out and doing stuff (be it shopping or sightseeing or what have you), czechs don't really go out on holidays. much like christmas time, every shop was closed. and i mean every shop. well about every shop. (mcdonalds was opened but i'm convinced that is becuase it's an american institution. KFC, however, was not open. so i'm not so sure about that one...) thusly this email is a day late (it was an adventure searching yesterday, but to no avail). but back to traditions. they fashion very large whips here made out of who knows what kinda sticks... tie some ribbons on the end... and the men go around whipping all the women! i don't know how hard they whip (never actually saw it happen) but it is pretty nuts to think about! young women, old women, women in the home, walking down the street, no woman is safe from these whips. (but seriously some of them are like 7 feet long) It's wild cause literally every guy walking down the street has a whip. i'm surprised they haven't started to make holsters for them or something. so the guys whip the girls, and if it is before noon then they get candy, and if it is afternoon then they get water sprayed on them. so with an early morning and listening for the bells from the church towers it could be a very eventful, candy-filled day! luckily we got to avoid all the wild shananigans. it's a big holiday though, even though very few believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. it was a great weekend to testify to people though. we were inviting just about everyone we talked to to conference and the baptism :)

 

oh my goodness was conference amazing. it's like each one is better than the last! i'm not sure how that is possible, but i have yet to prove myself wrong. i wont go through all the talks and what i liked cause ya'll heard them already. but they were all amazing. it was weird not hearing from elder holland during priesthood, but it was an intense session nonetheless

 

(don't worry i hid some eggs in the building for district meeting today, so the district will get an egg hunt... however instead of candy they're filled with the blessings of church attendance! haha, i love being a missionary)

 

speaking of church attendance, we visited a less active this past week, single momma with a 2 year old and 8 month old twins. she was very happy to see us! elder bahr is a twin, and she was like, "ask your momma how she did it!" momma i've got no idea how you did it cause whatever i saw while i was in heaven i have already forgotten. but you did a very good job! :) so if you have any advice i'll relay it to her haha (i already told her to push their cribs together teehee)

 

the pictures are some from the baptism. one with elder gleue, adam, and i. one with members from the branch who came for the baptism, and another of elders clyde, and bahr, adam, and i. something funny just happened (i think someone stepped on adams foot or something of the sort)

 

anywho's time is flying by but i sure do love ya momma!

elder stimpson

 

slash this week my testimony of God keeping promises grew soo much. I getting more worried than i should have before adam's baptism cause he wasn't quite sure. i was pouring through the scriptures trying to make sure that all those blessings we promised weren't just me getting excited, but that they had some backing. and sure enough, every stinking thing that we promised was fulfilled. i feel like underneath "Another testament of Jesus Christ" the Book of Mormon should also have "book of promised blessings, and how to get 'em!", or "if you have any question, read me, pray, be willing to work for an answer, and then you'll receive it!" that would take up way to much of the gold colored printy stuff that goes on those books, but i may write it on the inside of mine. It's amazing how testifying to people why we have the book of mormon brings so many other reasons to mind! good ol missionary mojo :)

 

love ya tons! 

 

p.p.s. i apologize for my lack of capitalization. speed is more important to me than proofreading :/ (is that a decent tradeoff?)

 

April 2 letter

goodness me was this week crazy!!! it all starts last pday! i dunno if i've told ya already, momma, but we've been frequenting this scientology cafe place (it's not really a scientology place but we just call it that cause the scientology place is next door, so it inevitably was thusly dubbed, "the scientology place.") and the owner of the place asked us "what is it exactly that you do here?" needless to say we love being asked that question... so we talked to him about what we do (we help people obtain blessings from God by means of covenants, like baptism, and obeying commandments. some other people came in so i stopped testifying for a little bit (it gets kinda awkard...haha) But before we left we introduced to him the book of mormon and left him our card with all kinds of stuff.

we had a singing display last week (the district, all 7 of us go out on the namesti and sing for everybody and then take turns going out to talk to em!) i love singing, even though i'm sure it's a big joke for czech's to hear foreigners try to sing in their language! haha goodness me.

in food this past week we made some potato bread and OH MAN WAS IT GOOD! (p.s. lindsey thanks a ton for the candy! perfect timing i got it right before our fasting weekend hahaha) and we also tried some super cheap stuff called czech lemonade. looks pretty sketch, but close your eyes and imagine lemony marshmallows and cream soda combined. and then you have czech lemonade. it's amazing.

we'll be doing a presentation at a university in a few weeks..... so keep us in your prayers hahaha :) i don't know what the deal is with my companionships and school presentations....

sure do love ya momma!!!
elder stimpson

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!