Category: Liberec

Zdravím!

It’s hard to believe a whole 2 years have come and gone! Missionary work (and I guess the whole world) was turned on its head. I’ve lived in places I had never even heard of, and met amazing people in the most obscure corners of this kind of obscure country! It’s certainly been a wonderful ride!

This week was relatively normal, lots of time spent on a phone, a little time spent outside. Unfortunately for me, I managed to break my wrist in our limited outdoor time. So keep an eye out for my sick cast tan lines upon my return. My only pictures are a lake and me, sporting my cast while holding a garbage bag.

S láskou,
Starší O’Barr

Zdar dámy a pánové a vítejte zpátky!

I don’t really have a lot to share, this week went by really quick, but most of it was spent indoors. We got together as a zone for a small training and some Christmas celebrations, which was a lot of fun! We spent the rest of our time in Liberec, and in part thanks to Christmas, taught only a handful of lessons. Luckily Petra, who was recently baptized, is staying in town, so we got to meet up with her a few times to read in the scriptures and prepare her to help out in the branch!

This week is Christmas, as you all already know. Allow me to give you some very missionary-like advice, because, even though we hear it all the time, we can all use it. Christmas is more than a day off work. If you are a Christian, it is the time of year we set aside to remember the birth of Christ, in a town very far away. We focus on what truly matters, and we give gifts in remembrance of the greatest gift given to mankind. We also exchange presents because sometimes it’s just plain fun to give and get gifts. For atheists, agnostics, or those of another religion, Christmas can still be more than just a day off work. Make it a day for family, a day of rejoicing, a day for celebrating one year gone, and a fresh one coming in. So whether you are a Christian or not, make Christmas a holy time, give of yourself without thought of what you might receive. Put a little out there in this world so concentrated on taking. In other words, light the world, just a little bit at a time.

Merry Christmas a Veselé Vánoce folks!

Starší O’Barr

Nazdar dámy a pánové,

It certainly has been another week here in the Czech Republic! Our friend Petra got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday, and she was so excited. It was an all around great experience even if it was a hair restricted due to Coronavirus and travel.

This week we also got put to do some service!! Woot woot! We helped out at local Goodwill-esque charity store here in Liberec with the rest of our district. That’s where the photo of me wearing that fun hat came from, in case you were wondering. I do not, in fact, wear it everywhere, as much as I may wish to.

Well, we are approaching the bleak midwinter, but with the LighttheWorld program, it doesn’t need to be so dreary. If you are looking for a way to let in a little more sunshine, you should check it out. I promise nothing helps more when you’re feeling blue, than to help someone else out.

Mějte se krásně,
Starší O’Barr

Nazdar dámy a pánové,

Welcome back to another week in the Czech Republic! Things continue to be eerie and lovely at the same time here in the Czech Republic. This week, we had the opportunity to travel to Brno for an exchange. Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic and boy is she a looker. It snowed while we were there, which was exciting, and we got to help shovel snow, which I love. I’ve included pictures for reference. We are also going to be ramping up our Facebook presence, so get ready is all I’m saying.

Things have opened up quite a bit here, which means our baptism on Saturday should proceed as planned. We are way excited. It has been a long time since someone has been baptized in Liberec, but thanks to ads we have been finding prepared people like our friend Petra. It isn’t just here either, more baptisms are happening across the mission than ever before in my time here. The Lord truly is hastening his work.

Mějte hezký týden, a veselé Vánoce všem!

Starší O’Barr 

Hooray! It is Christmas time again everyone, and I couldn’t be more excited. Christmas is such a wonderful time to relax and focus a bit more on what’s truly important. We love talking about Christmas as missionaries. Here, so many people know so little about what Christmas actually is about  so we get to do lots of explaining. And of course, everything is just prettier around Christmas time. You’ll have to take a look at the pictures I included to see some of the Christmas markets and decorations they are starting here.

In other news, we are having in-person meetings again! As much as I love a good video call, nothing beats a little human interaction. We already had a number of good meetings, and are busy preparing our friend for baptism in 2 weeks. Things are good in Liberec!

Mějte se krásně, a veselé Vánoce!

-Starší O’Barr

Howdy folks!

It’ll be a short one, cause I really don’t feel like writing too much. My companion and I started talking in southern accents, and we been talking like that for too long to stop now. I guess that’s what we get when we spend too much time together. It’s ok, because quarantine finally loosened and we are once again set free to speak and hug and gather in groups up to 6. It’s a party. Lots of calls and planning sessions this week, but we survived and we did a good bit of teaching while we were at it.

As always, if you have any questions, go ahead and ask! I’m more than happy to answer. This week, President Nelson gave a short and powerful thought this week on gratitude, and challenged us all to post about what we are grateful for. If you want to watch it, its readily available on the Church’s Facebook page. It was important council. Gratitude really does cure a lot of the spiritual ills of the modern day.

Enjoy some assorted photos of our first human interaction in a month, and also me celebrating my 20th birthday with some koláč.

Love,
Elder O’Barr

Ahoj všem!

This week will be a quick one, as things have started to get repetitive in quarantine. We had another virtual exchange and then a zone conference, which meant lots of time staring at a screen. Our zone conference went better than expected though, so everyone was happy with that.

We weren’t able to have as many lessons this week as we would’ve liked, but still got to teach some. We finally got permission to visit with members for short periods of time to bless the sacrament for them. We immediately took off to visit an elderly lady who lives on the other side of the mountain, which is always a wonderful trip, and she was so grateful for the opportunity to partake of the sacrament again. We should always be thankful for that folks. It is a blessing.

That’s it for this week. We took a trip to a nearby valley today for some recreation. Pics included.

Have a wonderful week folks!
Starší O’Barr

Welcome everyone!

Things have continued to move here in Liberec. We are still very much involved helping our friend Petra prepare for her baptism in December, as well as continuing to produce ads and teaching everyone else we are working with. This week, we also spent a lot of time preparing for a missionary conference next week.

Outside of that, I also went to Prague to renew my visa, which was a fun excursion. Today we took a 30 minute drive to the Czech/German/Polish border, and then tried to hike a mountain in the vicinity. We made it to the top, but because of clouds we literally couldn’t see more than a couple of feet. That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve gotten lost in a foggy forest. We’re on a roll!

Have a good week everyone, and get excited for Thanksgiving! It’ll be here before you know it. So thank some people, tell your family you love them, and enjoy the beautiful fall colors.

Čus kaktus,
Starší O’Barr

Čau čau folks,

This week flew by, lots of long calls and meetings, but lots of good stuff happening. We were able to have multiple lessons with the people we are teaching, and we were able to have calls with members of the church here as well. We are fully prepped for lockdown round 2, this time in the winter. It’s reached the point of the year where the sun sets at 4ish again, which makes our leg-stretching walks just a hair more depressing.

Today we tried to get out into the mountains, but the everpresent rain clouds made our trip a little wet. By the time we had actually gotten up to a spot where we could hike from, the fog had become impressively thickkk. We were trying to find a lake, but instead ended up muddy, completely surrounded by trees, slightly lost, but very happy. Included are some pics.

Have a good one folks. If you’ve got any questions, be sure to let me know.

Starší O’Barr 

Ahoj ahoj!

This week I’m quite short on time, but it was a really good week! Two of our new friends are now on date for baptism, and we are really excited! We had a lot of lessons this week, probably more lessons than any other point in my mission. Facebook is a really good tool!

I also don’t have any real photos from this week, as everything is closed due to Coronavirus😕 But we are still living and happy.😁

Have a wonderful week everyone,
Starší O’Barr