May 28

package will be sent this week. i don't have a note in there describing the contents..... there are prolly some tickets and other peices of memorabilia, you are welcome to all of those. there ought to be a czech egg (if it doesnt' get destroyed) and some chocolate wrappers (plan on making something of those sometime) and a few ties (dad has rights to all of them) (till i get back of course) :) i'll try to think of what else... nothing comes to mind. but as soon as it does i will let you know.

otherwise. transfers! wow. exciting as always. this could be the best transfer ever. I'm with Elder Knapp! AHHH He's so great. His czech is wonderful, so I'll be getting rid of all the bad habits I've developed over the course of my mission :) his teaching is also great! I was here on an exchange with him last transfer. so that was kinda a foretaste of this transfer I guess! Our area is so great! We are teaching a ton, and sounds like everything else is just really solid. Great area. no worries. otherwise i know nothing about pardubice. i know we go to church in hradec kralove, which is a short train ride away. and that we have a ton of wild adventures ahead of us!

Wild news from this past week! I got moved out of zlin! what's the deal! I am going to really miss those members. it took us all by shock because both elder jaynes and i are leaving, not typical for missionaries to blind in and blind out, but it happens. the area was great though, and was really getting rolling, so I hope that i'll keep that same fire into the next transfer.

last monday we went to an aircraft museum! it was wild! we didn't have tons of time there, but it was really cool to see all the old... aircraft (i can't spell the right planes anymore.... blast!) and a few migs, too! it was a moment to think of President Uchtdorf :) and all the relationships to plains and the gospel. I'll try to send some pictures of that. and maybe some pictures of members from zlin as well!

love you so much!!! i see you sent me an email so i'll try to keep going in a second with some more!@ :)

May 20

PICUtures, 1. both at the zoo? learned tons about the maya in czech. boy was that wild. reading czech about a middle american peoples being an american myself. my head hurt a little :)

2. south america and the book of mormon. no more need be said :) i couldnt't resist. acutally not sure if this loaded for whatever reason. still not used to the whole new how to write emails on thiss guy.

in any case, questions: how big is MT? and how many people live in bigfork? and then how many people live in the flathead valley? people ask me those kinds fo things and i have next to no idea. it's funny. yet bad. so thanks so much!

nextly!~ wow what a week!!!! we had some pretty wild things happen! people met with- a pro soccer player, he's awesome. just great. can'ty wait to start teaching him! :) other peopel, a guy who knew some of the first missionaries ever in zlin, lived in utah, then chicago, and is now doing pretty stinking well for himself in telecommunications. he's also way cool! goodness me. the list goes on. we went' to ostrava for a trainign and had soemt time to go finding there (mavis beacon would destroy me for how many errors i'm making right now). which was amazing!!!! i lvoe ostrava. it was great to be back. see everything. smell everything (it does have a scent. it's beautiful :). and taeven see the members! they had an institute/scripture study class and so i got to see many of them. it was so wonderful. i loved it :)

the training was great. learned too much to include in an email. 

the taraining also meant i got mail-tessa! thanks for the shirt and the necalces! iWOW :) linds- thanks for the package! i can't stop smiling just thinking about how much candy i have at home! haha it's great!and momma! thanks for the letters :) you're great

so! as far as the rest of the week goes i don't have a ton of time but basically the things i learned:

1. The book of mormon is wonderful. teaches us so much about the plan of salvation that we otherwise wouldn't know.

2. We have to live the gospel to get into heaven. no other way.

3. work work work!

4. work work work.

5. make sure you smile a lot

the list continues. but i'm not the biggest fan of huge lists cause then i run out of fingers to remember things on (it's a miracle i haven't forgotten the 10 commandments yet while teachign them)

anywhos this past sunday also got to give a talk about missionary work. I love talks but i always over plan for them! you'd think i owuld figure this out having the same problems with district meetings for who knows how long, but alas, someday i'll get it right. Otherwise i really enjoyed the talk. And I think the members enjoyed it as well, at least I did get a number of smiles (reminds me of that one talk during stake conference... what'd i tell myself- If i can make everyone laugh, I'll consider it a success. without going into detail about how much i don't remember from that talk, this talk was pretty good as well. I just love mssionary work! (that was the topic :) what a wonderful talk! when the branch president gave me the topic i think he probably heard my grin on the other side fot he phone so much that he almost didn't get to finish his sentence :) It was glorious. I'd send you the notes..... but they are very very very very much in outline form. i think it is becuase i don't like to write so much in czech, or maybe i don't like readint eh talk, it could be a nubmer of reasons. but i very well may make some little copy guys and send you it next week ( i think there will be a box coming:)

love you so much momma!!!!

lvoelvoelveo

can i do anything for you? any questions/

lovelvoelvveo9vlveovlevovelveovlevoevlveoveoLOVE

edler stimpson

May 13

his past week was Victory day in the czech republic. it was a nice holiday, back to back weeks of a wednesday holiday! jealous! haha that would make school the best thing ever! like a little break of a weekend in between two normal weekends! goodness me. too good. There were also some wild fireworks on the namesti the other night that starsi jaynes and i watched from our window. it was pretty intense (they were so close!!!) but luckily they ended right before 10:30 so when we went to bed it wasn't tough at all (it's like they knew that we have to go to bed at that time :)

in other news.

this past week was wonderful!

I know we talked about the weather, it's still really nice. not too hot, but i don't need a jacket (and not only because i'm from montana ;). no complaints.

I'm doing great! (hope your doing better momma!) I just love it out here and am trying to make every second count. The members are great, wild stories:

the meeting we had yesterday was with a member, who on a note we had from a previous missionary said, do not contact, very angry and not happy with us or the church. Elder Jaynes and I (mostly Elder Jaynes) (it's a wonderful cycle of boldness because elder jaynes is just crazy bold. and i have to be a good example as his companion, but at the same time his czech is something that he is working on, so i do the more wild phone calls (and yes a phone call with someone who is not the biggest fan of the church falls under that category) ;) which is good because we call some people that I normally would probably leave) not terribly sure if that all made sense. but in the short, it's great that we are both together! he's fantastic. So we got into touch with this man, seemed very nice, but not terribly interested, then somehow we touched him or something but he came to the building yesterday and we have a return appointment on schedule with him! he's great! it was a miracle! the gospel is true :)

other wild stories, another of our meetings was with a man who we met by a river. i'll just tell you the string of events that got us talking to him, because they are wild- we were talking to a mother with a stroller, she had to go, so we left her a card and kept walking along the river, while a few steps down the road there was a man reading a book on a bench. he looked pretty stinking into the book, and i have a rough time interrupting people (i'm working on it? i mean our message is of great importance! haha) but luckily the lady with the stroller caused a biker to go around her on the path, nearly resulting in a bike crash! and while that is normally very bad (no one was hurt) it got the reader up from his book just as we were approaching, so i didn't have to interrupt his reading, because it was interrupted by the tires/breaks/language-not-understood-by-me :/ it was great! he is just a great guy and seems very curious in our personal conversions. It was funny to me how so many little things turned into one meeting that so easily could not have happened.

Anywho's i was just pulled aside by a czech woman who spoke some spanish to me, then german, then a little english but the went back to czech. (really humors me how people do that. it's great. right now i just prefer czech haha but it's great) and she's coming back to copy some papers  for a trip to spain or something along those lines, she pulled me aside for a second to read something, but then i didn't even know what i was supposed to read? she is funny. SO. the time is up, but i look forward to next week eamiling on monday. 

love you so much momma it was great to hear from you!

lovelovelove

elder stimpson

p.s. i talked yesterday about american candy only as something to give to people. i don't need candy to any extent, but we do give things to people like crazy, so that was the thought behind that. but you don't need to send anything. don't run to the post office today becuase i talked about sending something :) that isn't necessary :) love you so much. i wont stop you from sending things however. it's completely up to yall. i've never been happier so don't really worry about anything :)

May 5

( sorry for the wild picture. we walk by it eery day. there is some wild graffite all over zline by the the same guy (most of them are nt'e this violent) ((on the other side of the stream is a can of spriay paint, not a gun or anything. just so you know :/ a little wild. the bigger focus is the ya, momma! :) love you tons!)

4 missionary districts are the best. (having been in them for the past 4 transfers) they're loads of fun, and you get to know everyone really well which is also pretty stinking fun. certainly a big difference from the bigger districts though. it's cool :) i just love it.

intresting about popcorn in the freezer. we may have to try that. we usually have popcorn on sundays when we have call-ins, a nice little tradition :)

i think i sent a letter to isaac. he ought to get it in about a week? i sent it last week. so 10-12 days or so. anyways it's got way too much stuff in it. it really is that simple. be obedient. love the people. and if i can add a 3rd it would be have a little fire (or go do stuff to try it out! we're working that into our philosophy a little right now, so we'll see how it works :)

love you tons momma!

wild about the weddings! i don't know the girls? that is a wild last name though. goodness me. is that one you keep as a middle name or just drop so you don't have to write it all the time (bad joke. :/ it may take a different size font on much of the stuff though :) goodness me). everybody is getting married. at least tice is going to wait for me :) he's had a girlfriend for so long though who knows what's going to happen! goodness me. not worth thinking about. ;)

sounds good about the call! i look forward to it :) it's going to get here so quickly and as usual, fly by, but it'll be good to have another phone conversation (i may have bought a pair of shoes by that time... if it happens i'll tell you all about them. if it hasn't happened, i prolly wont say much. i figure i'm in zlin (bata's home) (pronounce bah-tya) and what better time to buy bata shoes then when i've got tons of shoes that i'm wearing through and such. (also starsi jaynes is way into shoes and we don't have a comp item yet. if you are against me getting another pair of shoes (pls tell me :) firstly. and secondly telepathically tell me. or whatever. i'll make sure they're up to dad's standards. and i'm really not 100 percent sold on the purchase yet myself. but it's quite likely. in any case. i may sit on it another week. enough about that though.

quick news flash of the week- the next training we have is in ostrava! that isn't normal (usually they are in brno (when combined with other zones) or in olomouc (where the zone leaders are) but i get to go home! i'm looking forward to it/just really excited) but i'll writ emroe about that after it happens :)

love you tons momma! i'll write mroe in a bit. thanks so much for the emaiL! i' love hearing from you!!!!

elder stimpson

 

 

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

March 11 letter

[Dean's reply to my letter: We had a cool discussion in RS about 'becoming God' or 'becoming like God' and how some people misconstrue our religion in that regard.  XXXXXXX said her granddaughter has a problem with Mormonism because "you think you can be God."  And that offends her.  Fortunately, there are a lot of scriptures in the Bible (which you can point out to believing Christians)  that explain that we can inherit all that God hath, etc.  And Dad said, "I have an easy answer for that: if you believe we are God's children, why would you not believe that he wants us to have all that he has?" And what loving parents wouldn't want to give everything they have to their children, and have their children live with them forever?  Easy! Makes perfect sense!]  

There is a reason that the first point in chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel talks about God being our heavenly father. everything makes sense after we get that relationship down. and if we don’t understand it, then we get problems with the other doctrines and teachings. it is pretty wild to think about however! that's for sure! haha

anywho's on to the week!!!! this week was nuts! it started and ended with wonderful mongolian experiences, which i will dive into describing very quickly. Agii, who's getting baptized on saturday (it snuck up on us! haha), two weeks ago didn't really have a testimony super strong of joseph smith. so we commited her to pray... and the next week without a translator (it was a wild week! hahaha more about that later or some other time though) all we could really get through the language was "i prayed. and felt happy and peace." amen, agii. the gospel is true. game set match. she's super prepared and ready for baptism. teaching her is so great cause she has a wonderful sense of humor and she and her husband sometimes talk things out (sabbath day and such) so ryan, the translator, will give us a rundown sometimes which is a treat. i wish i could speak mongolian!!! but i'm getting there haha i learned a few more words this week! :D she has a really strong testimony though and is so humble and willing to be taught! IT’S GREAT.

at the end of the week we went and taugh a mongolian family that we had tracted into ages ago. they are SO COOL! AND they know some members so it'll be easy to get them into everything. it's so great! that was quite the lesson, though, because we had no translator, and it was just wild to try to convey different things like prayer and the nature of God and what is in the book of mormon. lukily the church has materials in mongolian :) haha it was great though...

otherwise we ran into a few really cool people!!! a volleyball player from canada (stud) but just super busy. great talk with him though and he'll get converted sometime in the future (another connection of having a sister in canada! hahaha) that was great. and one of the other people we met is awesome! he's a student here and studies history. we had a killer talk with him on the street and when we invited him to learn more he said, i've been saying yes to peolpe a lot more lately, so of course! lets meet! it was really cool and he liked the book of mormon a lot! haha

it was great!

anywho's time is up.

sure do love ya'll tons and tons!!!

elder stimpson

March 4th letter

GOODNESS THIS WEEK WAS NUTS. I MAY WRITE IN ALL CAPS, BECUASE TO BE HONEST. THAT WAS THE WEEK. IF THIS HURTS YOUR EYES, AS IT KINDA DOES MINE, I APOLOGIZE AND MAY TURN BACK TO NORMAL CASE. I FEEL LIKE I WILL HAVE MADE MY POINT THAT THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING AFTER ABOUT A PARAGRAPH OF ALL CAPS STUFF....

SO! ITEM NUMBER 1:

WOW! WORDING QUESTIONS IS IMPORTANT! A YOUNGER KID IN THE BRANCH (NOT YET BAPTIZED) HAS BEEN MEETING WITH MISSIONARIES FOR AGES. AND BY AGES I MEAN SINCE BEFORE I KNEW I WOULD BE IN THE CZECH REP. AND HASN'T REALLY WANTED TO GET BAPTIZED FOR ALL THIS TIME. OR HAS BUT THEN HAS DECIDED AGAINST IT. AND OF COURSE TEACHING CHILDREN (TEACHING ANYONE, LETS BE HONEST) TAKES PATIENCE. okay enough with the all caps. it's just silly now. BUT! he has now accepted a date! before Easter! it was great! AND IT HAPPENED IN PASSING IN THE CHURCH BUILDING! it was amazing! the coolest conversation ever, and I'll tell you about in on the tape because it's too intense and time does not allow. basically. when you pray for stuff, God answers. and every once in a while we get lucky and what we think may be just our own selfish desire (so that something we want to happen, happens) turns out not to be selfish at all, and is also shared by the most supreme being in the universe, God. So with that said. It was a good week!

ALSO! MONGOLIAN FOOD IS AMAZING! as is check food. that goes without saying. but we went over to some Mongolian families last night to take the sacrament and teach some lessons (my Mongolian vocab is creeping along. i can now ask how ppl are doing, and say i'm doing well. but if they say anything other than that then i dont' understand. and WOW are their sounds tough! i though the r hacheck was tough. but yeah. goodness me.

by the way how high are the mountains in glacier park? i get asked that very often and can never answer (i should just tell ppl to google it. or start making up an answer... :) rather the first one. :)haha

you talked about small town stuff! and i totally had a small town experience in jicin! where we went for district meeting! i went to get some stuff... some wafer candy stuff that is ridiculously cheap. ridiculously so! haha and i had a great conversation with the guy behind the counter. turns out having a sister in canada is a great in because many czechs flew..... flee... but past tense.... fleed to canada a while ago! so everyone knows someone in canada! including me! haha it's great! it was just really cool and made me think of how you asked me about the small town big town stuff. :)

anywho's i'd write more, but time. and i'll get it on the tape today

love love love love

elder stimpson