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| Starsi Shirley on a bus in Ceske Budejovice |
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| The street Starsi Shirley lives on |
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| Hluboka castle near Ceske Budejovice
July 10, 2017
Hi!
This week we went over
to Petr's house. He is our investigator that is planning to be baptized on the
29th. He has a really nice apartment and is doing well with lessons and such.
There just seems to be a gap between actually understanding and spiritual
understanding. We need to work on receiving spiritual answers rather than just
normal understanding.
The 2 kids that we
have been teaching for the last 4 months finally have a baptismal date! Their
grandpa is a member. Their mom actually started coming to church and she is allowing
the older boy who is 12 to be baptized. His date is on the 29th as well.
Yesterday at church,
the branch president was gone so I was presiding and conducting. We had 2
members there when we started church. Eventually people trickled in and we ended
up having about 5 more show up. The talks at church went a lot shorter than
expected as well, and our third and final speaker started his talk with 35
minutes left in the meeting. So during his talk, I hurriedly threw together
some thoughts and scriptures and ended having the closing remarks/talk for the
last 10 minutes. Missions definitely give you opportunities to work under
pressure haha :)
I'm not sure how much/
if I will have email time next week. We'll see. But this last week I have
definitely been thinking about all that has happened these last two years. I
even got to read through my journal that I've kept. One thing that I realized
through all my journal writing was how the love for my mission has grown. I
truly do love all the experiences that I have had here. I love the hard work
that I have put into it. I love these people that I have had the opportunity to
serve. I love the missionaries and the mission presidents that I have served
with. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ, which gives hope and understanding to
all who will hear it. And I love my Savior, who made it all possible. Who lived
to give us the opportunity to learn, change, and grow. Who rose from the dead
so we all will as well. I love it all. My mission is and will be the foundation
of my life. In the words of my amazing mission president, "By serving a
mission you have laid a firm and wonderful foundation for the rest of your
life." What a blessing to have served here!
The wedding looked
great! (we sent pictures of
Tristan and Aleisha’s wedding from this past weekend). It's too bad that Lyndi and Aleisha had to
go get married just a few weeks before I got back! But I'm glad to hear it went
well. I'm happy for both of them.
I'm excited for
whatever you guys have planned to do when I get back. The schedule that you
sent sounds great! We can travel wherever. You can pick! It'll be a surprise
for me. I am excited to go to the Bostrons though!
Dreaming in Czech I
guess happens ever once in a while, but it was never a regular thing. (we asked Josh if he dreams in Czech now)
I'm not sure what to
buy for souvenirs still. I think I'll wait until next week. The schedule, as
far as I know it, will be that I will be staying in Prague for 2 days or so
next week with a lot of people from my MTC group. I assume that we will have
time to souvenir shop there, so I'll get something then.
I've started thinking
about my homecoming talk already. No pressure, I just have to fit 2 years of stuff
and experiences into a 15-20 minute talk haha. We'll see if I can even get
across the message I'd like to.
This last week at
district meeting, I got a little choked up. It kind of just came unexpectedly,
and it surprised me because I'm not the type that really cries. I hope I can
keep myself together during my homecoming talk. I'm not one that cries too
often, but if I do, I feel like I am not one to keep myself together very well.
I'd rather just deliver a good powerful talk haha :)
Can't wait to see you!
No crying too hard Mom! J
-Elder Shirley
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