This Work Constantly Demands The Best We Can Give

With new companion, Elder Oviatt

The new Brno district

Inside one of the biggest churches in Brno

A nice view of Brno

January 16, 2017

Hi!

Elder Oviatt and I had a really successful week! With all of our street contacting we received over 10 solid contacts (which is one of the high weeks). So we are expecting a week of teaching either this week or the next. Elder Oviatt is a fun guy to be around. We basically have the same hobbies and are pretty similar. He goes home at the end of this transfer so it is very likely that I will be here in Brno for even another transfer after that, which would put it at 8 months here.

This week I really noticed how blurred or twisted the idea of faith is here in this country. It makes me sad to see and hear how people react when the word "faith" or "church is even mentioned. It has bad connotations here, which makes it hard sometimes to approach people on the street because the second they realize that we are from a church they are gone. At the same time, it is also really cool to see when someone at least gives us a minute to talk and explain why we are here. When somebody can see that faith can mean something personally for them, they are a lot more open to talk and to try to understand. We had a cool experience with a lady this week on the street. She was not interested at all, a scientist, and didn't feel like talking. I can't remember exactly why or how, but she kept talking to us and she could see that we "believers" weren't actually that weird haha. By the end of our 10 minute conversation, she was willing to give her number and was excited to meet with us again. The Spirit CAN work on people!

I am also glad that I am serving with Elder Oviatt because he teaches simply. Our prayers are really focused on a person receiving an answer for themselves. I realized that maybe I could strengthen my testimony of prayer and receiving answers from God. I have usually relied on the approach of "it all just makes sense." But I have realized that not only does it make sense, but that the concept of prayer is so essential in the conversion process.

This is a work that constantly demands the best we can give. I love seeing and feeling the growth in myself as a missionary. It is so fulfilling! 

Love you lots!

-Elder Shirley 

Transfer Week - I'm Staying in Brno!

New European shoes

Elder Jensen - the missionary Elder Shirley was training this past transfer

January 9, 2017

Hi!

So, this is transfer week......I will be staying in Brno for my 3rd transfer here! My new comp is named Elder Oviatt. This is his last transfer in the mission and we will be serving here as zone leaders. He is also Canadian; my first non-American comp! We're excited to work this transfer. It will be interesting to both be quite old in the mission and serving together. There will definitely be some benefits to that.

As for the weather, it has snowed off and on pretty good this past week. It is usually at or around freezing temperature so we get pretty cold pretty fast. Good thing we are in a city that has city transportation so we can stay inside the warm trams and buses and just contact people in there!

We have a lot of investigators right now. In fact, probably more than I have had on my mission. We were in the building teaching most of this last week. We have a few that are progressing, but we are mostly just at the start of the teaching process with these investigators. 

One of the people that we taught, yesterday in fact, is really cool. He invited us to come to his house so we can teach. He is a really good, humble guy that said he is searching if God exists. Said he has never prayed but was willing to learn about it and wants to try. He also has a family and 2 kids. So I am excited to see how it goes with him! 

I’m just excited for another new transfer here in Brno! I think that will we have a very successful transfer here with the two of us. This transfer should be one where we see people progress and grow in the gospel. I am excited to see how it will all play out. I know that the gospel brings joy and happiness to those who are searching for it!

Love you lots!

-Elder Shirley

Happy New Year 2017!

 A few pictures of the Brno district (plus an investigator) on P-day at Pernstejn castle

Close-up of Elder Shirley

Reunited with the missionaries from Elder Shirley's original MTC group

The original MTC group that began their missions in June 2015. Elder Shirley says, "We've come a long way since then!" The sisters all go home next week after completing their missions.

January 2, 2017

Hi!

New Year’s Eve here was great! Just a normal missionary day with street contacting. It was actually pretty successful with people on the street, but we could definitely tell that it was New Year’s Eve. Everyone was preparing and walking home with beer haha. We were told to be home early and we just did our weekly planning and language study in the evening. And then ate dinner, planned, and went to bed at 10:30 like normal; nothing too special. We didn't really feel like it was worth it to stay up until midnight. But Happy New Year’s to all of you! There were a ton of fireworks though. From 5 o'clock on we heard them constantly. I slept great though! And then on the 1st, nobody was outside. On our way to church we only had 1 guy on our tram and he was drunk and sleeping haha. 

Something cool that happened this week was that the entire mission got to together. We had a 2 day conference at a hotel/resort kind of a thing that is owned by a member here. We got together, had a training, talked about goals for this next year, had a big talent show, and things like that. It was definitely something that I bet doesn't happen almost in any other mission. It was fun to come together as a mission and get to know everyone. I definitely think that we will be benefited by working in unity and have a love for the work. Oh, and right before our Sisters go home, our whole MTC group made it back together. We've come a long way since then!

It has been a tough few weeks with investigators because a lot of them are students or are young single adults. So a lot of people traveled home for Christmas and the New Year, so we haven't had too many lessons.

This next week is transfers here and I have no idea if I will go or stay. It will be exciting to see! The Sisters in my MTC group are going home this week....pretty crazy.

Thank you so much for the money for the suit and shoes that you sent! You are too great! :) You know how I am though; I can never make decisions when I go shopping. My comp basically had to pick out the suit for me and tell me to buy it. But I do like it and it was quite cheap! It is a dark blue. I'll probably buy brown shoes from a company called Baťa. They are a Czech company.

My favorite Christmas gift was probably either the pictures or the socks! I have been in need of some socks haha. Thanks for everything you sent! You spoil me even when I am halfway around the world. The best candy was either the Butterfingers or the Sweettart chewy ball things.

As for goals, I still have to get them finalized and written down. This year will be a pretty big and exciting year for me! 

For P-day today, we went to a castle called Pernštejn. It is massive and was really cool. Too bad castles aren’t opened in the winter!

Love you!

-Elder Shirley

Christmas in Brno

Elder Shirley and Elder Carlson with their new Christmas hats

Christmas presents under the little Christmas tree

Making clay nativity pieces on Christmas Eve at a member's house

Brno district

December 27, 2016

Hi Everyone!

It was good to hear and see you guys on the Skype call!

I'll just share with you a few Czech traditions that I experienced this last week. On Monday, we went to a member’s house and he had bought 2 carp and they were alive in the bathtub. Czechs eat carp on Christmas and the carp are sold on street corners all over the city. They are in big tubs and you can go up and buy one alive, or they can kill it for you on the spot. The member had it alive so that we could see him kill one. Then the other one was killed by my comp, Elder Carlson. We decorated their Christmas tree with them as well.

We made a ton of visits from the 23-26th. We went with the Sisters and stopped by as many members’ houses as we could. We sang a Czech Christmas carol for them (Narodil se Kristus Pan) and shared a verse from the Book of Mormon. We ended up finding a few less active members that we are planning to work with in the future. It was a lot of traveling and a lot of short visits, but it was great! Oh and with every visit that we made, people gave us these Czech Christmas cookies. They are called cukrovi and they are super good. But after eating some at every house you visit, it gets pretty hard to keeping eating at the 5th or 6th visit. 

Here in the Czech Republic, the main holiday is the 24th. We got invited to a member's house for dinner that night and ate the traditional Christmas meal with them, fried carp with potato salad. It was pretty good! Czech potato salad is hard to beat. We also did the apple cutting tradition where you cut an apple in half and if you see a star in the center it is a sign of good luck, but if you see a cross in the center it is a sign of sickness or death. We read from the Bible, the Christmas story with their family as well and acted out the story. It made for an awesome Czech Christmas experience.

Hope you all had a great Christmas experience as well! I know that Jesus Christ was born of Mary and that he is our Savior.

Love you all!

-Elder Shirley

Working In a Threesome and Getting Ready For Christmas

Brno district after the Christmas concert. Elder Jensen arrived to make a threesome of elders. Elder Shirley was happy for the opportunity to wear a bow tie!

At a ballet performance

Scene from the ballet

Christmas decorations in Brno

Czech Christmas cookies

Contacting on the tram - one of the most common activities Elder Shirley engages in

With some members after doing service at their house

Brno district picture taken a couple of weeks ago

Some candid shots of Elder Shirley taken by his companion

December 19, 2016

Hi!

Thanks again for that really awesome present that you sent! (referring to the photos of family and friends that were assembled into a Christmas tree shape). I also put your wrapped presents under our small fake Christmas tree and you sent so many that they don't even fit! You didn't have to send that many presents. But I do appreciate it.

As for me this week, a few pretty big things happened. We were having a pretty normal work week as of Wednesday. We taught a few lessons and met with a few people. Actually we had an interesting experience. We met with one girl in a restaurant and we were going to eat lunch and teach her. We ordered, talked a little bit and were just starting to get into the lesson when we finished our food. Our plates were taken and we paid for the food. The waiter then comes back and he isn't the happiest guy I have ever met. We had the Book of Mormon out on the table and he said to us, "If you aren't ordering a drink then you have to leave. This isn't an office, you can't just sit and talk." Keep in mind that there are about 5 other people in the whole restaurant. But he basically made us end our appointment and leave. The girl that we met with left and we didn't even really teach anything. That was a little frustrating. But we taught some good lessons and we have a few investigators that are progressing.

On Wednesday night we were on our way home when we got a call from President. He told us that Elder Carlson and I will be training. Elder Jensen had been visa waiting in California and had just gotten his visa. He flew in this week and came straight to Brno and now we are in a threesome and training. That was quite the surprise! Life has changed a little bit. But Elder Jensen is great and we are enjoying it.

We also had the annual Brno Christmas concert this week. The ward gathers and everyone invites their friends. There ended up being about 90-100 people at this concert in the church building. All of us missionaries were in the ward choir and we also sang Silent Night, the five of us, as part of the program. I can't say I wasn't nervous, but I think we sounded alright. I think the more and more I have to perform musically in front of people, the less and less I like it.

Yesterday, I had a cool experience. The Sisters in our district have a baptism this next week! And because I am the district leader as well here in Brno, I had the opportunity to give an interview for baptism. It was a good, spiritual experience and she is totally prepared. People here are waiting and ready to be baptized! We are excited for the ordinance on Wednesday this week. 

Today we will be at a less-active member’s house and we will be doing a Czech Christmas tradition with him. People buy carp (if you remember from last year) from these big tubs that are on the streets. He bought one and has it at his house. He invited us over to kill it with him haha. It should be fun!

Merry Christmas to all of you! I'm excited for our Skype call this Sunday! I'll probably be on around 17:30 my time which is around 9:30 your time. Hope that is alright! The bishop is having us over to let us Skype.

-Elder Shirley

How Members Can Be Better Missionaries

The photo Christmas tree that we sent to him with pictures of many family members and friends.  Elder Shirley said "This is probably one of the best things I have gotten on my mission!"

Working hard......

A couple pics of the Czech countryside - things still seem pretty green for December

December 12, 2016

Hi!

We had another exchange this week. I was with Elder Stacey, who is from Idaho Falls, ID. We were in the MTC together so we are pretty close. It was fun to be with him and to serve with him for a day. We taught our guy that we have on baptismal date. We taught the Word of Wisdom and it went really well. He said that he has tried to quit smoking in the past but couldn't. Maybe faith can help this time! He said from our lesson on, that he wouldn't smoke. We'll see how it went! 

We did a lot of teaching and street contacting at the start of the week. We tried to fit a bunch of lessons in Wednesday and Thursday. A lot just ended up not coming or cancelling. So we were mostly just on the streets. But it was good to have a few good hours to contact both days. We had MLC (missionary leadership conference) this past weekend. It was in a little hotel kind of a thing outside of Prague. It is owned by a member here and we had the whole place to ourselves. We planned for a good solid 8 hours about what we can do in the upcoming year and in the upcoming trainings. It was pretty long but needed to be done.

We stayed the night there on Friday and then on Saturday, we had a great training on how we can better work with members and how members can be better missionaries. The ward mission leaders from wards and branches were invited and it was really cool. There were some really good insights as well. Specifically we talked about 3 things that members can do better: 1) Members can more often use religious words and phrases in everyday life. That can spark interest when we talk to our friends. 2) When our friends ask "You believe in God?” we can respond, "Yes I do! It is great. Why do you ask?" 3) When we invite people to learn more about our church, let them know before you ask them that you still want to be friends no matter if they say no or yes. That way if your friend feels uncomfortable about religion, they know that even if they say no, you can still be friends. I know that member missionary work is the most effective way! Everyone has friends that are prepared to receive the gospel! 

Yesterday we also had a cool experience. Bishop invited us over for dinner and we went caroling with their family for an hour or two. It was really fun and reminded me of my family! Overall, a great week!

I got all of the packages and the one from Thanksgiving! Thank you! That Christmas tree of all the pictures was probably one of the best things I have gotten on my mission :) 

Love you! 

Elder Shirley

Přineste Světlo Světu (Light The World)

Several pictures of the Brno town square with the Christmas market set up

Instead of Santa Claus, they have Ježíšek, which means baby Jesus. We were talking to somebody about that today on the tram and decided that baby Jesus makes a lot more sense than Santa.

December 5, 2016

Hi!

This week we were in Prague with the assistants for exchanges. It went well and we had a good time. We tried to stop people on the street and have them look up the Light the World video on their phones. Nobody wanted to though...it would be quite a bit easier with iPads here!

The #Light the World campaign was actually translated into Czech. Our mission uses the church material well, so we have been using that pretty actively. In fact one day this week, Elder Carlson and I, for morning workout, went running around the city for an hour and a half and took chalk with us. In Czech "Light the World" is "Přineste Světlo Světu”, which literally translates to "Bring the Light to the World." We wrote "Přineste Světlo Světu" 38 times around the city and in the city center. The Sisters in our district did it as well. We are hoping that with the thousands of people here through the holidays, people will see it on the ground and look it up on their phones. 

We traveled to Zlin, a city that is in the Uherske Hradiste district, for a district meeting with the missionaries there this week. It was cool to be back in a city that I had visited so often in my 8 months while serving in UH.

We also had an exchange with Elders from Olomouc. I was with Elder Collins and we had one of the best exchanges I've had. I'm not even sure why. Everyone seemed to listen to us and we found quite a few investigators. We even gave somebody a baptismal date on the street! Haha unfortunately it was declined. We taught our investigator that has a baptismal date and he seems to be progressing well. He prayed at the end of the lesson for the first time which was awesome!

We had a great sacrament meeting on Sunday, and it was very well attended. I think there were 80 people there, one of the biggest since I have been here in Brno. We found a lady from Zimbabwae (not sure how that is spelled) and she invited us to her church that evening. So we went with her yesterday night to the Pentecostal church. It was interesting...pretty different from ours but it is good insight to see how other churches work.

The cold is here! Every day we have to wear long sleeves, sweaters, coats, scarfs, gloves, and 2 pairs of socks. I don't remember it being this cold last year. All the more fun and memories with the contacting blocks in the freezing cold weather not being able to feel your toes haha. But there is nothing better than the Christmas season as a missionary! Jesus Christ was born of Mary and really lived. He taught us the way and is our example. We can follow him thanks to a living prophet. He is our Savior and is the light of the world.

Love you!

-Elder Shirley