I’ve finally arrived in the Czech Republic! I’ll try to include a good amount of detail in this email, so it may be a little long.
My last few days away the MTC were pretty unremarkable. We said goodbye to our teachers and began packing for real. Monday morning at 9am, we packed up and left the MTC for the first time in 9 weeks. We took an overnight flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam. A couple hours later and we were on the flight to Prague. We landed in Praha around 2 in the afternoon local time. We immediately go back to the mission home and drop off our luggage and our suit coats and headed out into Prague. A short walk got us to this beautiful overlook point a hill, where you could see almost the whole city. We talked about the history of missionary work in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for a little bit, then went on a short tour of Prague. We saw some amazing sites, like the beautiful Prague Castle and some other impressive buildings. We walked down the hill to the famous Charles Bridge, and then crossed into the old town to see the astronomical clock. We ate some quick dinner at a little restaurant, and then got to work. On the metro ride back we all attempted to talk to people about Christ and His message. It was interesting to really try to speak Czech with Czechs for the first time. We spent the night in Prague, anxiously waiting to find out where we’d all be going. After a quick breakfast and a short presentation, I met my trainer, Starší Papworth, and my area, Jihlava.
Jihlava (pronounced ye-H-lava) is a small city in the countryside on the border between Bohemia and Moravia. It’s an old town, that at one point was known for its silver mining. It was also considered important enough that they put a large wall around it. The picture I’ve attached is the large Kostel right of the main square. We took a couple hour bus ride to Jihlava from Prague. Right after we arrived here, Starší Papworth and I had to run and visit a nearby member, who we’re helping prepare to go to the temple. The next morning we got up and had to go and meet the nearest missionaries to us in Třebíč, which is about 50 minutes by train. Even traveling here is gorgeous, as the train runs through miles of forested hills and rolling farms. We came back and spent a lot of time studying and preparing lessons for the next day. At the end of that we had Inspiration Night, which is a weekly activity where the members here get together and play some sort of game and eat some food with a spiritual thought. It’s a wonderful way for people here to learn about the church and meet members and us, the missionaries. On Saturday we had service all morning long at a farm just outside of Jihlava. On Sunday we got to go to Church, and then spend some time visiting members around Jihlava.There were lots of other little stories, but my time here is short, and I’ve got too go.
Things are good in Jihlava. I’m incredibly excited to actually be out serving the people of the Czech Republic.
Starší O’Barr