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| Outside of Zofin Palace w/ Elder Hudson after the stake conference |
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| Prague |
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| Prague |
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| Driving from Uherske Hradiste to Prague for stake conference |
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| Inside Zofin Palace for stake conference
May 16, 2016
Ahoj!
What an awesome
weekend! The last 2 days have been great and have been a once in a life time
experience. President Uchtdorf came and presided over the conference. Our 2
districts of 13 branches turned into a stake of 6 wards and 7 branches.
We traveled to Prague
on Saturday morning. We got to take the car and I drove across the most of the
country to get there. All of the members across the entire country and all of
the missionaries serving in the Czech Republic gathered for this conference. On
Saturday evening there was a session. President McConkie and the 2 district
presidents spoke, and then 2 area authorities spoke, and then we got to hear
from President Uchtdorf and his wife. The session on Sunday was pretty similar
with almost the same speakers. On Sunday, the new president and his counselors
were called as well as a new stake patriarch, which will be a huge blessing for
these people. I have personally talked to the new stake president and the new
patriarch and they are great men and will do amazing things for the church
here.
Uherské Hradiště is still a branch, but it
almost qualifies for ward status. I got pretty close to President Uchtdorf, but
I didn't shake his hand. There were a ton of people around him! In both
meetings, all the missionaries had to stand in the back because there weren't
enough chairs for everybody. Pres. Uchtdorf was the only apostle, but it was a
good feeling in the room and the strength of the members is awesome. It was a
really exciting weekend! I'm glad I got to be a part of it!
President Uchtdorf's
main message was just centered on faith. The church has come a long way and
will continue to grow with our faith. He used the example of an oak tree and
related it to the church here. Oak trees may grow slow, but they grow strong.
He talked about how even if you don't believe that that is okay. Believe until
you know. He also talked about how we should always make sure that we hold a
temple recommend. I don't have my notes, so I don't remember a whole lot haha
but it was a great meeting and a great conference. I am blessed to be serving
here and to help these great people grow in the gospel!
Love you all!
-Starší Shirley
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Sheesh! It sounds like the church I left 15 years ago is a completely different church! This is pretty exciting!
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to play travel guide, but it looks like Josh missed an opportunity and he didn't even realize it. In third picture, the one with the restaurant built over the river; if you look just above that building you can see that top of a pretty famous building called the Dancing House. It's designed to look like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. I can't blame him, I didn't know about that building while I was there--I had to go back to see it.
While I'm playing tourist guide, tell Josh that he needs to take a bunch of missionaries to see Mucha's "Epic Slav" display the next time he's in Prague. He won't regret it. It's in the Veletrzni Palace in Holesovice and will be there till the end of this year. I never had a chance to see it, but I've put it on my bucket list.
I'm still pretty jealous that he's there and I'm not. Maybe I'll run into him the next time I have a dream I'm back in the mission field. HA!