Battling Sickness and Bats

Spending a day working in Zlin

One of the two bats captured in the apartment

A bit hard to see, but Elder Shirley's pants have been faded by the sun after a year of hard work

A baptism at a lake near UH

August 8, 2016

A few interesting things happened this week:

On Wednesday, I wasn't feeling 100%. Contacting around the city is a little tougher when you aren't feeling well haha. But in the evening we had English class. Right afterwards, we went and got ice cream with an English student. I still wasn't feeling good so I didn't get any. On the walk back home, my stomach was acting up pretty bad. I had to stop walking and lean against a building. I then realized that I wasn't going to make it back home. So I walked down an alley, found a garbage can, and threw up. It was a lot of throw up. I felt a little better after that, but we went home and I just layed on my bed. That's the first time getting sick on the mission! I layed on my bed and fell asleep for the night but I woke up at around 2 o clock in the morning to a weird sound. I looked around the room and I saw something flying around. It ended up being 2 bats! They had flown in the window and were stuck in the house. We weren't sure what to do so after flipping the lights on, we decided that we just needed to get them out somehow. The bats were sitting on the cupboard in the kitchen. We armed ourselves with couch cushions and scared the bat out of its hiding spot. My comp, Elder Hudson, swung and connected with the first bat with his couch cushion. He then proceeded to smash it on the ground a few times. We took his lacrosse stick, picked up the stunned bat, and threw it out the window. We took care of the second bat the same way haha. It was pretty funny. We've been bat free since then, thank goodness. 

As for the rest of the week, I went to the city of Zlín and spent the day there on an exchange. Zlín is a city that does not look very European. But it’s a good city and it was a good exchange. I got to do some bus contacting there because they have city buses.

We had 2 baptisms on Saturday. Two 8 year olds in the branch were baptized in a lake near UH by Elder Shepherd, a missionary who served here previously and was back visiting with his family. It was a good experience and our branch just grew by 2 members! I got to give one of the talks before the baptism. My comp gave the one about baptism and I spoke about the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is one of the greatest gifts that our Father in Heaven has for us. We can be warned, comforted, and have guidance thanks to the Holy Ghost. What a great gift! It guides us in this work here in the Czech Republic because Heavenly Father wants us to find his elect children. The Holy Ghost is real. God is real. Jesus Christ is his Son and our Savior. What wonderful knowledge and a wonderful message to share to the world.

At church on Sunday, I translated for Elder Shepherd’s family at church. Translating is quite a bit harder than just giving a talk. I sat in the back of the chapel and translated into a microphone and they have personal headsets on so they can understand the meeting. Testimony meeting is always the hardest to translate for because you never know what people are going to talk about. 

Love you lots!

-Elder Shirley

We received an email from Elder Shepherd’s family this week, telling us a little bit about their visit to UH (see below):

Brother and Sister Shirley,

I just wanted to let you know that our family met and talked with your son today in UH. My son, Matt Shepherd, recently returned home from his mission to the Czech Republic in March. We as a family decided to go on a vacation to the Czech Republic and England where are other son served.

While in UH at a baptism we met Starsi Shirley. He gave one of the talks today and did an outstanding job! You should be proud of him. His Czech is amazing! He is so kind and thoughtful! He is happy and looks great! The members here are wonderful and we are anxious to meet more of them at church tomorrow. The three other missionaries are all exceptional young men!

It was fun to meet another Idahoan since we live in Idaho Falls. I just wanted to let you know he is doing well.