Category: Liberec

This one will be short folks, so don’t lose focus yet!

Unfortunately (but also fortunately) most of this week was spent inside. We had at least 2 hours of calls and/or videos to watch Tue-Fri. I got awfully tired of walking from the apartment to the church building. We did get to have a meeting with Elder Sabin, who is a leader of the church for all of Europe, and let me tell you it was amazing! If you’ve ever wondered about how to get motivated to improve yourself, you should start with understanding who you really are. It’s powerful stuff to understand where you came from.

We had a good number of lessons this week, with a variety of different people in a variety of situations. Hooray for variety!

That’s all the time I have, but have a wonderful week everyone!

S láskou,
Starší O’Barr

Ahoj všem!

This truly was an amazing week! Long with plenty of ups and downs, and I am still tired, but it was incredible!

The start of the week was a little slow, but we had a lot of people who had responded to our ad that we needed to respond to, including a bunch of spam messages and a lady who asked if she could join our ‘club’ but we’ll come back to that. Wednesday evening was when things started to get exciting. We finished up a lesson, and then ran into this guy that my companion had been messaging on Facebook, and he recognized us and struck up a conversation. He had his friend with him, and we started to have a really good discussion. In the middle of it, 2 other elders we were about to go on exchange with rolled up. We had a really good exchange on Thursday, and got handed a bunch of free, high-quality potatoes by politicians (Czech elections were this week).

On Friday, we went down to Jičín for district council, where we met one of the new elders who just got here after 8 months or so in another mission. A really funny waitress let us know that Donald Trump has Coronavirus. Afterwards we ran to visit a member of our church who is sick and facing some other problems.

On Saturday, we were able to watch the general conference of our church, which is a wonderful opportunity for us to hear counsel and testimony from the leaders of our church. It’s always an inspiring event. I’d highly recommend looking into it if you haven’t gotten a chance before.

Ok, so if you flash back to the lady who asked to join our club earlier this week, we actually set up with her for Sunday morning, and managed to get a member there for the lesson. Even with a race cutting through the middle of town (literally running right outside the door or our building, no barricade) she managed to find us. We had an incredible lesson with her, and she shared with us that she had been looking for a new church, but she had been to afraid to look into ours. She had been praying one day, then almost right after saw our ad, and thought that she would at least give it a shot. It was amazing, she was so willing to hear the voice of the Lord calling to her.

Sorry this one is so long, I promise to keep them to their normal length going forward, I was just too excited this week to make it short.

Mějte se krásně, milí přátelé
Starší O’Barr

Ahoj všem!

It’s me, back again! This email will be another short one. I never seem to have enough time, but who’s gonna read a long one anyways?

This week sure was exciting! I got to go back to Prague for an exchange with my favorite Latvian missionary, Elder Janševskis! It was good to visit, and we got to see some of my favorite members there.

We were going to have a baptism here on a farm, but it was delayed because of rain, and the rain hasn’t stopped for 5ish days now. Woohoo! Welcome to winter! It’s starting to look and feel like fall here too, and let me tell you I am excited. Fall here is unbelievably pretty, and I cannot wait!

This week we visited a couple of nearby castles, one of which was built in the 13th century, abandoned by the 16th century, and left to rot in the forest since then. It’s amazing what time does to a place. The massive structure that once lorded over the countryside, was now completely hidden by trees. It was a good reminder of how short our time on earth really is, and how grateful I am for the security that comes from knowing what happens when I die.

I appreciate your support y’all, and if you have any questions, as always, feel free to ask them.

Čau,
Starší O’Barr

Ahoj všem!

I realize I forgot to write last week, but for the sake of time, I will not go into detail about that week. Also for the sake of time, I will not really go into detail about this past week either.

Things are going really well here! Coronavirus has begun its long foretold rebound here, which means masks, cancelled meetings, shortened church, and all that jazz are back. We’re real disappointed about not getting to teach our English class anymore, but we are still finding ways to be in contact with those people. We are still teaching fairly often, which is quite good.

This past week we had zone conference! I got to help train the other missionaries here, and conduct the meeting. It was a real blast! It was our last time seeing a lot of the missionaries before they go home, which was sad, but we were happy for the opportunity we had to see them one last time.

The pictures attached are from a couple hikes I’ve done in the past 2 weeks, me catching a lizard, and zone conference. Have a wonderful week everyone, and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

This week was certainly full of some excitement. We traveled to Brno on Wednesday, which is a 3-4 hour drive each way for MLC. It was the furthest East I have ever been in my life, which was exciting. We also had a really good discussion, and I got to see our president, which is always a plus. We also had an exchange with two other elders. They came here and we had some real good experiences.

Folks, I have never been more grateful for the gospel that Christ taught, and the blessings it brings to my life. We will always face hardship in life. Some things just won’t go our way. God is still our Heavenly Father. He has blessed each of us with what we need to make it through the path we’re walking in this life. He does not criticize us for our imperfections, but He will never stop pushing us in the right direction.

D&C 6:36
“Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

NaS 6:36
“Hleďte ke mně v každé myšlence; nepochybujte, nebojte se.”

-Starší O’Barr

Howdy!

We had a wonderful week up here in Liberec. There was an interesting mix of both incredible failures and miracles, and if I had the time, I’d tell you all about it. Unfortunately, I do not, so you’ll all have to ask me about it next week😁

Highlights:

-The apartment is in a great location!

-I have never been somewhere as beautiful as Liberec

-The church tower rings from the 50 all the way to the hour, non-stop

-Spider-man was filmed here!

-The branch is very small, but very dedicated, unfortunately many of them live in the surrounding area, not in Liberec

-We are working with a lot of amazing young people who attend the local university, which is a lot of fun

-I got a nasty cold, but I got better!

Aaaaaaand, I’m out of time, there’s more, but you’ll have to wait.

S láskou,
Starší O’Barr

Ahoj ahoj, I finally got transferred! I am now in the glorious city of Liberec (Lee-bur-ets). It’s a sizable little town in the north of the Czech Republic, tucked in some low mountains by the Polish and German border. It’s known for its ski resorts and beautiful town square, which is actually where they filmed the last Spiderman movie (fun-fact, not that I’ve seen it, just heard).

The missionaries before me were teaching a lot of people, so I’m excited to come in and continue the good work with my new companion, Elder Lewis. We will also be serving as zone leaders for most of the Czech Republic, which means we will be visiting and encouraging other missionaries around the Czech Republic. I am really excited for the next couple months folks. Things are looking up, and hopefully my emails will be full of a little more teaching and preaching. I wish you all a wonderful rest of your day, and you can catch my email next week!

S láskou,
Starší O’Barr