Author: Starší O'Barr

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RIP Turkeys

Howdy! This email will probably be pretty short this week as I don’t have a lot of time. I’ll try and post some things on my Facebook account in both Czech and English about what is going on during the week if you want to see more.

This week was crazy busy with member visits and lessons. For the first time in a while in Jihlava, were actually teaching new people! We’ve been trying very hard lately to find more people to teach and we are slowly starting to find more, and hopefully this week we’ll be able to continue to find more people. In the coming weeks I might have some more stories to share from our lessons, but none right now.

One quick story from this week comes from a turkey farm. Elder Papworth and I missed out on turkey slaughtering day thankfully (I think), but we were just in time to help with turkey slaughter clean up. That means we got to do all sorts of things like empty buckets of bloody water and sweep up feathers for a few hours. It was certainly an experience. I will probably not send the photo from that since it’s a hair gruesome, but it was certainly a learning experience.

Tak, mějte se krásně, a Nashledanou!
Starší O’Barr

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Spiderman and service

Howdy folks! It’s been a pretty busy week for us here in Jihlava. We almost spent more time outside of Jihlava than in it! Last Tuesday we didn’t really do much exciting. We taught English class, which is always a blast. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but our English class is mostly Vietnamese children under the age of 10, and then about 2 adults. Having that many children who don’t always want to learn English is sometimes a challenge, but it’s also fun to see what they can do when they do decide to learn. They certainly keep us on our toes. On Wednesday we had to return to Prague for a meeting with all the missionaries being trained in the Czech Republic. It was good to once again see my friends from the MTC, as well as missionaries who had been waiting in the states because of visa problems, and to see the progress we’re all making. We ended up spending most of the day in Prague. Thursday morning we started exchanges with the other missionaries in our district, Elder Rice and Elder Reed. Elder Rice came here, and he and I got to be companions for a day. We ended up teaching a couple of interesting people and even had a cool experience where we attempted to teach a man who only really spoke Bulgarian. Neither of us really spoke the others language, but by some small miracle we managed to communicate about our message. Now he wants to meet with missionaries again, although hopefully over Skype with Bulgarian speaking missionaries this time. On Friday, Elder Papworth came back to Jihlava, and then we caught another ride to Prague. We spent the night in Prague, and then headed up to a town called Liberec on Saturday morning. Liberec is built essentially all over some hills, which means that the typical crazy European roads were even more confusing. Half the roads there also double as tram tracks, which makes driving there very exciting. Liberec is a gorgeous city though, with some wonderful views. It is also, apparently, where the Spiderman movie was filmed, but I wouldn’t know about that. We went to Liberec to take part in the Wallace Toronto Project, which is a wonderful organization that goes to one city in either the Czech Republic or Slovakia and does service all over the city. Elder Papworth and I had the opportunity to work with members from all over the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and other missionaries. We got to do work on a school and residency for disabled children and adults. It was cold and drizzly, but we got to work and did a lot of service. It felt good to work hard with our hands and do some good service. That’s about it for this week! Things should finally calm down for us for a little bit now, and we should be doing a lot more working and teaching in Jihlava.

Nashledanou,
Starší O’Barr
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Trains Planes and Automobiles

Things are busy, but not really in Jihlava. Also I lied, there will not be any planes involved in this. Elder Papworth and I had a lot of things scheduled last week. We spent all of Monday in Znojmo or in the surrounding area, and had to hurry to get some groceries and other essentials for the week. Nothing really happened Tuesday, but Wednesday we taught some people and then began packing for our early morning trip on Thursday. We got up at 5:30, then caught a ride to Prague with the senior missionaries that live in Jihlava. We spent all day in Prague with the rest of the missionaries on this half of the mission talking about goals and new ideas and things to study. It was an inspiring meeting. Immediately after that, we rode with the leaders of our zone of missionaries up to a city called Hradec Kralové. We spent that night and then the whole next day with them there, working with different companions. It was interesting to spend time with other missionaries, and see different approaches to the same situations. That night we caught a series of trains back to Jihlava. We accidentally got off at the wrong stop, which made it a little longer, but we met some really cool people, and got to see a beautiful sunset on the Czech countryside. We got up the next morning and did service on a farm again, this time moving wood and shoveling potatoes for turkey feed. We also got fed some very authentic Czech gulaš, which was very good. Then it started raining, and then rained some more. Now it’s a little chilly and it feels a little more like fall might actually be on it’s way here. This week we get to do even more traveling than last week. I’m actually writing this from a train right now, and we took a bus this morning. I’ll save the details for next week, but theres a lot going on.

A thought for this week: What does it mean that God loves us perfectly? I know that He loves each one of us more than we can comprehend. His love does not fluctuate nor is it dependent on our skills and talents. Of course, we must in return, be humble and submissive to His will for us to truly receive all the blessings of His love, but it is there nonetheless. I know that God will bless and direct each of our lives as we seek do what is right.
Starší O’Barr 
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Small Miracles and Spicy Food

This email probably won’t be too long, I’m writing it from the car as we drive to a city called Znojmo, which is on the Austrian border, but I’ll try to include the important stuff. There are also a lot of pictures from this week that I’ll send when I have WiFi later today.

This week Elder Papworth and I had a lot of open days, so we spent a lot of time tracting and contacting people on the streets. Our mission is having a big push to find new ways of talking to people, so we tried a couple this week. The most bizarre one was Ping-Pong on the Náměstí(town square). We just hauled our Ping-Pong table out onto the street and asked people to play with us. We were surprised at how good some people were! Elder Hamon, who is a senior missionary from New Zealand was there helping us and he is also a Ping-Pong master.
We also attended the local Kostel this week with a friend who is currently taking lessons from us. Kostel is what they call their Catholic Cathedrals. It was an interesting experience, and the building was gorgeous. It was also a good opportunity to interact with our religious people in a mostly non-religious country.
Due to poor planning this week and some moldy bread, Elder Papworth and I ended up not having any food left for the week on Saturday. We somehow made it through, but that’s also where the subject of this email comes in. We decided to get kebabs for lunch on Saturday because we didn’t have any food at home. It just so happened that both kebab shops in town were closed. We decided to just go to this little Indian restaurant down an alley, and just so happened to run into a really cool man who was quite interested in learning more about what we teach. That’s a rare occurrence here in Jihlava, so we were very excited that we actually found someone with interest. The spicy food part came right after that. I was told I would not be able to find any spicy food in the Czech Republic,  because Czechs just don’t like spicy food. I had assumed it was true because up to that point the “spiciest” food I’d eaten was some poppy seeds. We decided to ask and then order the spiciest dish in the restaurant, and we were not disappointed.
Well, that’s about it for this week. We spent a lot of time talking to people this week, trying to find ways to help them in whatever way we can. For most people that means they just talk to us for a couple of minutes about their life, but some actually want to hear about the blessings that the Gospel can bring to their lives. It’s a great opportunity to really share how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed my life and why I’m thousands of miles from home trying to teach people about it.
Nashledanou,
Starší O’Barr
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Ahoj from Jihlava!

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

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Goodbye for now!

It’s been another relatively uneventful week here at the MTC, so this’ll be another relatively short email. I understand there have been some problems with people getting my emails, but hopefully they’re fixed by the time this goes out.

This past Thursday, my companions and I got to sit in at the end of a tour and answer questions about what life is like at the MTC and other related questions. It was fun to talk to other prospective missionaries and families about what I have been able to do so far on my mission all while still in the MTC. On Sunday, I also got to be part of a small panel of missionaries that got to help the MTC presidency do a presentation for all the new missionaries that got here last week. It was all about obedience as a missionary. 

I’ve entered my final week here at the MTC and so things are getting kinda crazy. We’ve been busy getting our suits cleaned and getting haircuts and other related things to make sure we’re ready to go. This will probably be my last email for a week and a half or so as I travel to the Czech Republic and get settled into the city where I’ll be living for the next few months. I might have my family send out a quick email when I get to the Czech Republic, or I might just save it all for when I get a chance to email. This week has also been all about making sure that we’re as ready as we can be with the language, and it feels like we’ve been working nonstop to get ready for it. Our teachers have also been telling us little stories about the country and people to get us extra excited to get there and start serving. We fly out Monday morning, but we don’t get there until Tuesday afternoon, and we will start working the very next day as soon as we get to our assigned area. Usually a mission area is a city and surrounding towns that I’ll be living and teaching in.
Pictures this week are of my district with a kind of Czech food that Starší William’s family sent us, and another picture of my zone right after exercise time. I’m kinda hidden in that last one, but hopefully y’all can find me.image1.jpegimage2.jpeg
Sent from my iPad
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Photos

I’ll try and include these in the same email next time!
First one is just my district and I being bad at taking photos like usual
Second photo is a cool ruined castle called the Maiden Stone in the Czech Republic, I included it cause I don’t have any other pictures to share.
image1.jpegimage2.jpeg

Sent from my iPad
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Another Week Down!

I have just one P-Day left here in the MTC, and things are starting to get busy around here. This week I got to help host the new missionaries coming in, which was an awesome opportunity. Over 700 missionaries got here yesterday. That night, we got a bunch of new missionaries headed to Thailand, and so my companions and I got the opportunity of showing them around the MTC. It was amazing to see how quick the other Thai missionaries took them in, and welcomed them to the MTC. They’ve only been here for a couple of days, but their testimonies are already an inspiration for me. Some of these missionaries are coming from the Philippines, coming thousands of miles across the world to be taught Thai in English, when English isn’t even their first language, in order to go teach the people of Thailand about the wondrous Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of our Czech teachers is leaving this week, so on her last day teaching us, she got to spend time talking about the mission, showing us pictures and telling stories about the wonderful people she got to teach and meet in the mission field. It was so much fun to hear, and it helped to get us all very excited to get out and begin teaching.

That’s probably it for this week. Emails will probably get a little longer in a couple of months when I’m out of the MTC. I’ll be sending another email with some photos in a little bit.

Nahledanou,
Starší O’Barr

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Photos

Here’s some photos of my district. The first one is us in our shirts, the second one is us unintentionally showing of the fact that none of us can smile for photos.image1.jpegimage2.jpeg

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District unity is off the charts

Howdy everyone! Life is still crazy in the MTC, despite how repetitive it can get. Time also flys by in the MTC. I leave in just under 3 weeks now, and it’s insane. I’m super excited to get there and start with the real work, I just hope I’m prepared!

I’ve been spending a lot of time this week studying the language, because tomorrow morning my companions and I get to Skype in and talk to members of the Church in the Czech Republic. It’ll be our first real time getting to know and speak to native Czech speakers, and we are all very excited for the opportunity.
Sestra Lewis’s family made our entire district matching shirts. That means that our entire district (all 9 of us) now has 2 matching shirts, which isn’t an obscene amount, but it’s still enough to be notable. I’ll send a photo of all us wearing our shirts later today, along with some other pictures.
I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, and read Ether 12:4, which says “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God” I love this verse, and I can testify that the knowledge I have about the gospel truly does bring a hope into my life that I couldn’t have otherwise. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to share this message of hope with so many other people.