Author: Starší O'Barr

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Sláva kráva

Howdy everyone! I’m officially halfway through my stay in the MTC! Less than one month until I get to finally go to the Czech Republic. Things in the MTC have been pretty much the same since last week, so this email will be pretty short

To begin with, sorry for not explaining last weeks subject line, it was a very funny story that I totally left out. We have this wonderful little Filipino elder in our zone, and he and his companion were sitting out side studying last week when my companions and I walked by. He tried to say “Ahoj Starší!” which is Czech for “hello elders,” but instead blurred out Ahoj Senpai, which is actually Japanese. It was just hilarious to hear a native of the Philippines, studying Cambodian, speak both Czech and Japanese.

This week, the Provo MTC swelled to almost 2,100 missionaries here at one time, which means that lines at meal times are crazy. All complaints aside, it’s amazing to know that I am working alongside thousands of other missionaries both here and across the world to teach and testify of Jesus Christ. It’ll be very different when I get to the Czech Republic and Slovakia where there will only be 85 of us split between the two countries. I will really miss singing in the choir with 900 other missionaries, as it has been incredible to do that as well.

Also this week, I attempted to say holy cow in Czech a couple days and came to the decision that Sláva Kráva would work, which translates to glory cow. Too bad that doesn’t actually work cause I love the way it rhymes.

The pictures for today are of my district eating donuts provided by Sestra Alvord’s mom, and a picture of the Žižkov Television Tower in the Czech Republic. Our teachers told us about it. It is widely considered one of the ugliest towers in the world, and yes, those are huge black faceless baby statues climbing up the side. Apparently there’s a restaurant at the top.

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Nashledanou,
Starší O’Barr

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Ahoj Senpai!

This week has been crazy busy with lessons and welcoming new missionaries, but I’m finally a month in and things are pretty good. Here’s the quick rundown of my week:

Thursday- The Fourth of July! We got to play volleyball with the whole zone and then take a zone photo afterwards. We had a religious freedom devotional that night, and then got to stay up late and watch the fireworks. We were inside the whole time though, which makes fireworks slightly less fun.
Friday- We got to teach two lessons in one day, but in English this time, so we understood a little more.
Saturday- Learned the fun new phrase of “Dobře dobře, Pane Bobře!”(pronounced dobshe dobshe pane bobshe). It means “Well well, Mr Beaver,” but it’s just a fun little rhyming phrase they use, sort of like how we have “see ya later, alligator”
Sunday- I sang in the choir again, and found out that I would have the opportunity to welcome a group of new missionaries on Wednesday.
Monday- The elevator in our building broke, so now we have to climb 5 flights of stairs to our classroom multiple times a day. It probably won’t be fixed for another month.
Tuesday- The choir got to sing The Battle Hymn of the Republic for the devotional that night.
Wednesday- We welcomed the new missionaries to our zone, and helped walked them through all the important things to know about the MTC. They are all speaking English so they’ll all leave two weeks before we do. It’s crazy to think we only have 5 more weeks left in the MTC!
It’s always super busy at the MTC, but most of it is fairly repetitive, so I leave it out.
Nashledanou,
Starší O’Barr
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Not a fan of Cartwheels

It’s crazy to believe I’ve been in the MTC for 3 weeks already, but it’s even crazier to believe I still have 6 more weeks here. It was a return to the normal schedule this week, so not a lot has happened. The Czech language is still just as hard as ever, but I am so incredibly excited to get to the country and start serving for real. Anyways, here’s a short summary of all that’s been going on:

 

Thursday: My companions and I got assigned to be zone leaders, which means that the three of us are semi-responsible for planning Sunday meetings and some other relatively mundane tasks, but we also get to welcome and help new missionaries to our zone, and we should be getting 40 new missionaries in a couple weeks. 
Friday: Nothing but class and mock lessons with the teachers
Saturday: The exact same thing
Sunday: We got to listen to the man who helps run all the MTCs across the world, and it was a super neat experience, his talk was super engaging. I also played in a musical number during our church meeting.
Monday: We taught for way too long on Monday, but it was amazing to see how much we could do in Czech.
Tuesday: I attempted my first cartwheel, and it did not go so well. It turns out that cartwheels are a lot harder than expected, especially in the sand. We also got to listen to another devotional on Tuesday, and I sang in the choir again. It’s such a special experience to sing in a choir as large as this one. There’s usually about 900 of us singing our hearts out, and it is such a spiritual experience. 
Wednesday: I tried more cartwheels on Wednesday, and I think they might have gone worse, if possible. I am currently walking with a mild limp, so I think I will pass on doing cartwheels for the foreseeable future. 
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Pictures!

Whoops, guess I only have one photo this week, sorry for the misleading subject line folks.image1.jpeg

Sent from my iPad
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Vítejte v MTC

It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been here two whole weeks! They keep us so busy here in the MTC that it’s hard to find time to think. This past week was the Mission President Seminar, so all the missionaries that are here got the opportunity to hear from members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency of the Church, and it was amazing! My district, which is every other missionary going to the Czech/Slovak Mission, got to meet our new Mission President and his wife. It’s so exciting to meet the two people that will be guiding and directing the mission for the next three years. Anyways, here’s a quick rundown of my week:

Friday: The gym closed for the seminar, which meant we had to go out to the field every day for exercise, which meant lots of volleyball for me and my district. 
Saturday: My class got to go for a little walk around the campus asking our teacher what different words were in Czech, which was surprisingly fun. We also met our Mission President for the first time that night.
Sunday: We got to listen to Elder Holland speak to us, and it was an incredible experience. Afterwards, we got to spend more time with the Mission President and his wife.
Monday: My companionship got to teach a fake lesson to our teacher entirely in Czech for the third time, but this time it actually felt like we were really able to communicate a lot.Our Mission President also stopped by to tell us that all our visas were in!
Tuesday: My district spent a lot of time with the Thai speakers that are in my zone, and we’re starting to pick up maybe a little too much Thai
Wednesday: We had our first TRC tonight, so we got to talk to a bunch of returned missionaries and conducted a couple lessons entirely in Czech
I’ll send the photos in a bit, they’re all on my iPad right now.
Starší O’Barr
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Ahoj Everyone!

Ahoj!

My first week in the MTC has been incredible, but also incredibly busy. My companions, Starší Carter and Starší Williams have been great, but I think everyone is still adjusting to the fact that we now have someone with us all the time! Things have been getting a little crazy with how busy we are, but our companionship is pretty good at using our studying time, and our Czech is getting a lot better already.

Wednesday- Arrived at the MTC and met my companions! My district of Czechs somehow got put with the Thai and Vietnamese speakers, but our zone gets along really well, and they were super welcoming.

Thursday- Thursday is supposed to be our preparation day, but because it was only our second day here, we instead had a bunch of workshops and language lessons.

Friday- Mostly just classes on Friday, but we still had a workshop

Saturday- My companions and I got to teach one of our teachers entirely in Czech, and it went as well as could be expected considering our combined 9 days of experience speaking Czech.

Sunday- Finally got a break from the classes! I got to sing in the choir, which was amazing! The choir director out here can make a bunch of inexperienced missionaries sound amazing, and he tells the best stories and lessons. Church was also good, but it’s a little frightening because we all have to be prepared to speak in our mission language, and you don’t know if you’re going to speak until the right before church starts

Monday- Just lots of classes

Tuesday- We got to sing in the choir again, and then listen to S. Gifford Nielsen, who was a former NFL quarterback and an amazing speaker.

Wednesday- I got to help the new missionaries entering the MTC, guiding them around and showing them their rooms. That evening, we got another chance to teach in Czech, and it was amazing how much more we were able to do after just a few more days of practice.

Nashledanou!

Starší O’Barr