Category: MTC

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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.
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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.
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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.