tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17248491371253549252024-02-19T03:20:19.743-08:00Elder Daniel BoyceI have been called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Czech/Slovak Mission, speaking the Czech language. Here is where I'll be posting about my adventures!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12203855990451234757noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-87278844917820438242015-12-28T08:33:00.003-08:002015-12-28T08:33:49.202-08:00December 28, 2015 - The Last Email - In which we're eye candy at the senior center and celebrate the Savior's birth<br />Dear family,<br /><br />A lot has happened during this week! We had a wonderful Christmas week. It was all about giving, serving, and the Savior.<br /><br />Tuesday after I wrote last we had a Christmas zone conference in Brno. A lot like last year, we met at the central square, where we all looked at the Christmas market for some goodies and then we sang a few carols in the middle of the square before heading off to the church building for training. We talked a lot about Czech and Slovak traditions and the Christmas story and why they're important. At the beginning the sister training leaders told us about one tradition that I particularly enjoyed, where Christmas dinner no one is allowed to get up from the table before everyone stands up together or the next year someone won't be there with them. Some families tie the chairs physically together to keep that from happening, and we tied all of the chairs in the chapel together during training. I liked it because it reminded me of how important families are to the Czechs and Slovaks and how the gospel offers eternal family relationships. (At Christmas Eve dinner on Thursday with our members we didn't tie our chairs together, but we make sure to wait before standing up.)<br /><br />Thursday (and also Saturday) we spent the day out doing short visits at each of the members of our branch. We dropped by each of them and gave them a little ornament and card that we had made and showed the Church's Christmas campaign video to each of them off our portable DVD player. We focused on how though we're only missionaries and don't have much to give, the main thing that we have is our testimonies.<br /><br />Between those two days we made it to every active member and few less-active members and investigators, and we even woke up our branch president's family at 9 am on Christmas Eve. He and his wife had been up all night doing the Czech equivalent of Santa's elves (getting Ježíšek's presents ready). We also had a great visit at a part member family. The mother is older and her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend live with her. The daughter's boyfriend is not a member, but he had lots of great questions about our missionary work and there was a great friendly atmosphere during the visit. We saw lots of miracles kind of like that actually, though I don't have time to mention them all! We were able to visit Christmas Eve and Boxing Day many people who seemed a little alone or discouraged. I felt like we were truly doing what Christ would be doing and it was wonderful to be able to truly reach out to our members and investigators. <br /><br />Christmas Eve we had a tradition Christmas experience with a member family. We sat down to each carp and potato salad (yum!) and then at the end of dinner a bell rang announce the coming of Ježíšek, baby Jesus. (In the Czech Republic baby Jesus delivers the gifts after Christmas Eve dinner). We opened presents together (we even got some some socks and a tie!) and spent the evening showing each other photos.<br /><br />Christmas day we were in a senior center singing carols. The center that we were at was pretty large, and they had groups of patients gathered on each of the five floors to sing to. Once again we felt like we were in the right spot singing to the sick and alone on Christmas day. I was so impressed by some of the workers there. I could tell by the way they treated the patients that they saw working there as some sort of a greater calling and they cared for the patients so attentively.<br /><br />Some of the patients were very funny! A few of the older ladies were very taken that such "beautiful" young men would come to sing and were sure to let us know that they would be happy to see us again the next year. One particular older lady expressed the need to find us nice young ladies immediately and said, "I don't know which one to stare at longer!" It was a little strange to be old lady eye candy, but it was overall a great experience. Most of the nurses and other workers were also very grateful that we had come and told us to come back next year.<br /><br />It's very difficult to come home. Last week I gave my departing testimony and both zone conference and yesterday in sacrament meeting. I've been saying goodbyes to many friends. Today the elder that will serve in Zlín with Elder Newman this transfer, Elder Rees, came. I've been blessed with experiences lately that have helped me to not be so terrified of coming home, and I'm excited to see you all there, but there will always be a part of me here and it hurts to leave.<br /><br />I'm so grateful for my mission experience. I've seen on my mission that we are never alone and that the Lord truly walks with us during good times and bad. The most common question that I've ever received during my mission from people I've taught is "Why does God allow evil and suffering to occur?" It can be difficult for people to understand the answer to that question, but I know that good or bad, Jesus Christ is by our side during every moment. If we take a look around we'll notice Him. I know that He lives.<br /><br />I love you a lot, and I'm grateful for your support during my mission. See you soon!<br /><br />Love,<div>
Elder Boyce</div>
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In Brno before training! (We gave this photo to all of our members in the Christmas card! <img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f600" />)<br /><br /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Me with trainees (Elder Smith is missing) at zone conference (Elder Page is training a new missionary and district leader this transfer in Olomouc. This is another proud parent moment!)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Ježíšek came!!!!!!!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Another pretty church we saw doing Christmas visits in Jasenná</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Saw this doing Christmas visits in Kroměříž!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">This morning I made a rash decision and decided to buy McDonald's with a Czech twist; this hamburger had a slab of deep-fried cheese in it.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-16722831649493579362015-12-21T10:35:00.000-08:002015-12-21T10:49:46.134-08:00December 21, 2015 - In which we sing in UH<br />
Dear family,<br />
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Last week was crazy! We were very busy getting ready for Christmas and everything connected with it. It was very hectic. Saturday night we had our concert in Uherské Hradiště, which was very nice. I sent a photo, but we were in a pretty space in the city bordering UH. There were 30 or 40 or so of us singing, the UH primary did a couple of numbers, and it was overall all very nice, especially since Elder Newman and I had only made it to rehearsals a couple of times. We sang some carols more familiar to us plus a few more traditional Czech ones. It was great fun, and it looked like some journalists or some sort of professional photographers were there, so we might be able to find better photos on the Internet of it all :) One of the photographers got a close-up of my name tag, so maybe that's floating around there somewhere!<br />
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We were also really busy looking for a service opportunity for Christmas Day. We had been looking for almost a month, but we still hadn't found a place that wouldn't us to help serve on Christmas Day. Thursday and Friday we spent a ton of time each day stopping by the nursing homes, etc. that we hadn't tried yet. Friday it was crunch time and in the last couple of hours we stopped by all the remaining places on our list before we had to get on a bus for the last concert rehearsal in UH. At the last place on our list they accepted us!! We're set up to go to a nursing home and sing from room to room Christmas morning. After we were set up with the activities director and were waiting for her to introduce us to someone that will be on the Christmas morning shift, we chatted with some of the residents that were sitting in the halls. We asked them how they were doing and immediately began to regale us how their great-grandchildren are our age, their children are also already in retirement, and they're waiting to leave this world. We're super excited to sing Christmas carols for them on Friday!!! :D<br />
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Tuesday night was also culture night in UH (we spent an obscene of time in UH last week; we went there three times total). We saw a very nice classical music concert that used some unique period instruments. It was a lot of fun. We stayed overnight with the other Elders and on Wednesday morning we had my last district meeting. The district leader Elder Suwyn asked me to share the sagely advice I gained during my mission. I was a little bit of an emotional train wreck, but it was still a good meeting. The Spirit was definitely there. <br />
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In other news yesterday was the Primary program! It was really cute. We only have two kids in our Primary, a brother and sister, but they did really well. I accompanied for them, but even though I practiced a lot I suddenly realized that I had play pretty quietly and listen really carefully to them sing because I didn't want to overpower them or get off track. It was still very nice, though :) Last week was a little frustrating because we had exactly one lesson during the whole week and people didn't really listen to us or stop when we were contacting, and on Tuesday I wasn't feeling well again, but last night we went caroling and had a wonderful time. We had a completely different experience a completely different experience then the rest of the week. Everyone was really friendly, and even though every person that we knocked was pretty confused by what we were doing caroling (going door to door hasn't been a tradition except out in the county for many many many years supposedly), they all warmed up and the Spirit was with us as we explained why we were singing about the Savior and why we were in the Czech Republic to teach about Him. We had some great moments talking to people about it. I love how Christmas and all of the Czech traditions seem to relate to their hopes and aspirations for a brighter future, and it was wonderful to talk during the Christmas season about how Christ can offer that.<br />
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I'm out of time (we just had some slight technical difficulties), but we're excited for our Christmas week. Tomorrow is zone conference in Brno, which will be great. It's sad, though, because I'll be giving my departing testimony. Time has really flown. It will be wonderful to spend Christmas with the Czechs, though. Christmas Eve we'll have dinner with a member family here in Zlín, then we'll have our singing Christmas morning. I'm super excited for everything!<br />
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Talk to you on Friday! Love,<br />
Elder Boyce<br />
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P.S. Feel free to correct my grammar errors, also. English is really hard.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tuesday night we had culture night in UH. We saw a trio of people that played Mozart and other classical music on very interesting clarinet-like instruments. I have no idea what the instruments are called in English, but in Czech they were called a <i>basetový roh</i>. It was a nice evening, and we stayed in UH overnight because we had district meeting there the next morning.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was the outside of the place where we were. We also ended up meeting a bunch of UH members there!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">We were intrigued by this fountain.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Selfie yay (I stole this from Elder Hymas). The red-eye is pretty severe in this photo; we look slightly devilish.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Christmas tree on the square in UH. Everything was already closed up after the concert.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGTecUm8Bm8H9QPBUMuVXxxaRXw_dBOT5tr0A9GB3v-4fml46uOOOx39e-DONH3NLH1GBhWK_TOeiXWSdAaAu9bVFahfc_nhpv-gA6Sc3efdd6V48oVa2j3BP4HySRqodgN6S3hy2PJ4/s1600/DSC01340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGTecUm8Bm8H9QPBUMuVXxxaRXw_dBOT5tr0A9GB3v-4fml46uOOOx39e-DONH3NLH1GBhWK_TOeiXWSdAaAu9bVFahfc_nhpv-gA6Sc3efdd6V48oVa2j3BP4HySRqodgN6S3hy2PJ4/s640/DSC01340.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the space where we had the Christmas concert in UH. We were waiting for everyone to arrive so we could warm up.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15jrgFa3gFzxYbz0_feYbOXqPsBeU7QwHDQjOqOgH477FGvPwVHPa4VutT098dstaCfhpufuwLrybquKFg0tDZFfB-DsVwTjOAOy0zdQi9bs80n_2V993hQxUn5NjHWDohfj_6eXNrzo/s1600/DSC01341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15jrgFa3gFzxYbz0_feYbOXqPsBeU7QwHDQjOqOgH477FGvPwVHPa4VutT098dstaCfhpufuwLrybquKFg0tDZFfB-DsVwTjOAOy0zdQi9bs80n_2V993hQxUn5NjHWDohfj_6eXNrzo/s640/DSC01341.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Elder Newman and I while waiting.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpm8Y3J20k_UQ9wdKOSFbW90E8_XDKje6-LF2CBFsgHy0aneO1A9HxmpBWPnipjuN0gNnSJJ-6PzAKAnrZ6zf4Hf_paaFPUEq3P4SnI-LFSnjEuP8NSRdGjQmlI0XZLZ0-HLtt3cwWZ7E/s1600/DSC01343.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpm8Y3J20k_UQ9wdKOSFbW90E8_XDKje6-LF2CBFsgHy0aneO1A9HxmpBWPnipjuN0gNnSJJ-6PzAKAnrZ6zf4Hf_paaFPUEq3P4SnI-LFSnjEuP8NSRdGjQmlI0XZLZ0-HLtt3cwWZ7E/s640/DSC01343.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
Elder Newman, Elder Hymas, and I. I don't know why Elder Hymas was feeling so sassy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1er5koDPyKrtwNGJgGigF7Gz_L9trwGLOflNc6HyaxgkhgBI160WcqCPDLdh1rYHL1jBobabgs5r_3xQ5Hx8NM6uk9XAq32iIH7IP7QaT3cHrU5HW8lIpml2GpoqjoVMKhDycAOiMA0/s1600/DSC01345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1er5koDPyKrtwNGJgGigF7Gz_L9trwGLOflNc6HyaxgkhgBI160WcqCPDLdh1rYHL1jBobabgs5r_3xQ5Hx8NM6uk9XAq32iIH7IP7QaT3cHrU5HW8lIpml2GpoqjoVMKhDycAOiMA0/s640/DSC01345.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Instead of making cookies at Christmas, Czech people typically make these smaller treats called <i>cukroví</i>. They're sooooooo good. This morning we visited Sister Dwho gave us all these. We only made it through a few of them, so she threw the rest into two big tupperwares.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-5097927893521884242015-12-14T10:07:00.004-08:002015-12-14T10:07:39.811-08:00December 14, 2015 - In which we have a proper run-in with the policeDear family,<br /><br />Last week was at once really good and also really difficult. I was feeling pretty sick for a lot of the week. Wednesday afternoon we were out working but I felt really strongly I was about to throw up, so we had to head back in for the night. I was out for a lot of Thursday, as well, unfortunately. I think a lot of it was mostly due to stress. Friday I got a blessing from Elder Newman, though, and I've been feeling so much less stressed, though my body still feels disgusting. The blessing helped because Elder Newman mentioned things that address specific concerns that I've only talked about with President. I've been feeling a lot more calm during the last couple of days, and I haven't been actively stressing. As I said my body still feels like it's falling apart, but I've been doing better at pushing through the physical discomfort.<br /><br />Last week was a slower week for our area, but we still saw some miracles. We didn't have the greatest contact with the people in our teaching pool with everything that went on with me, but we still some some miracles, though. Friday night we found a great family in Otrokovice, a city at the edge of our proselyting area. They're really great, and it seems like the Lord has been preparing them. About a month ago the dad's brother suddenly died, but he was a big spiritual influence on the family that we're teaching and they seem to be looking for a stronger connection to God. They have LOTS of questions that are answered by the plan of salvation. Last night we had a return appointment, but they were sick so we went tracting instead.<br /><br />While we were tracting I had my first (and hopefully only) proper encounter with the police! While we were out someone apparently filed a complaint after we knocked on their door and the officers went looking for us. It was slightly terrifying at the beginning, then got boring really fast. They basically told us that in Otrokovice it's against some sort of city code to go from door to door offering things, and then we had to wait for their partners to come from the national police for like 45 minutes (I'm not certain why the national people had to come; they didn't ask us almost anything at all). So we made small talk. They were really interested in us being Americans, but significantly less interested in religion :)<br /><br />This week will be exciting. Yesterday we got rounded into the Uherské Hradiště branch's Christmas concert, which will be this Saturday. We had talked about taking part several weeks ago about taking part, but hadn't heard anything until the beginning of Sacrament Meeting yesterday in Zlín, when we found out that if we wanted to still take part there was a carload of Zlín members going to practice in UH right after sacrament meeting ends. So we practiced yesterday, and have another practice in about 25 minutes with other Zlín members, and the last rehearsal this Friday in UH. Even though we got roped in at the last second, it will be lots of the fun and the music is pretty familiar :)<br /><br />That's about it for this week! Till next week!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4aqlcjf_41-uvojewbtcjVhYk5_WH12WqJu-7LH2dTKOLvKP59yIMp-i08r2-frABC40FCE6SiEBqBWBqQyrfzDYY9j87k6G8XSltwuRjIACYHwnhr04e1xBUSVUinNDYMkEWC6TPqdk/s1600/DSC01316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4aqlcjf_41-uvojewbtcjVhYk5_WH12WqJu-7LH2dTKOLvKP59yIMp-i08r2-frABC40FCE6SiEBqBWBqQyrfzDYY9j87k6G8XSltwuRjIACYHwnhr04e1xBUSVUinNDYMkEWC6TPqdk/s640/DSC01316.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the nativity that I bought last year.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7d5wsSwfIutwWHHKGamVC96_-x92z8qtkJ24TsWjLaPNWfRMgUZIXwYw0U_CzmIH3P6TUzf1VkXITgafVFmXZWoGA_MgUf9EoScnANoY_j-HrM6LeKtu7ugpgcJRpDXi3EUJ6yrfxS5U/s1600/DSC01317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7d5wsSwfIutwWHHKGamVC96_-x92z8qtkJ24TsWjLaPNWfRMgUZIXwYw0U_CzmIH3P6TUzf1VkXITgafVFmXZWoGA_MgUf9EoScnANoY_j-HrM6LeKtu7ugpgcJRpDXi3EUJ6yrfxS5U/s640/DSC01317.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The market keeps growing; there are twice as many stands as before!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_KPMkzMG9Wxguj0K9G1JWK8XUn9SCJ2LYb68jLvmJOrskiwMylx8ayUFWbPgnpP25lJbBy_SdYAXV89_PcZfKsVy8TOusF5CbsHBrpYy8Dpu6LEuwSuHvwiZPGDTtIp3TuBrxCPA5nE/s1600/DSC01320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_KPMkzMG9Wxguj0K9G1JWK8XUn9SCJ2LYb68jLvmJOrskiwMylx8ayUFWbPgnpP25lJbBy_SdYAXV89_PcZfKsVy8TOusF5CbsHBrpYy8Dpu6LEuwSuHvwiZPGDTtIp3TuBrxCPA5nE/s640/DSC01320.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">They have a band every weekend and a projection of a children's cartoon every night.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioek_a1aUQ9xugRWhGXpp_wDVt9YMWgKiJbslkLZrFgHNvlz4ecwFVDdURxUnxprU8UubH8E9emwsqqMzvrWxwoArAllt5Po2nxgb17dYb2BW3pm2ySM3nAqf3u-3Nl85JPjOsehFO0TQ/s1600/DSC01321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioek_a1aUQ9xugRWhGXpp_wDVt9YMWgKiJbslkLZrFgHNvlz4ecwFVDdURxUnxprU8UubH8E9emwsqqMzvrWxwoArAllt5Po2nxgb17dYb2BW3pm2ySM3nAqf3u-3Nl85JPjOsehFO0TQ/s640/DSC01321.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another view of the food vendors.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-41902895394630208562015-12-07T20:28:00.002-08:002015-12-07T21:05:18.518-08:00December 7, 2015 - In which I eat volleyballs and turkeyDear family,<br />
<br />
Let me tell you what happened each day :)<br />
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Monday: Nothing much happened. I slept according to orders from President :)<br />
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Tuesday was a pretty normal day! We had English classes in the evening, and we met a few nice people while we were out working.<br />
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Wednesday: We had district meeting in Uherské Hradiště. It was a good district meeting, we talked about talking to everyone. It was just what we needed. Afterwards I had stayed in UH with Elder Chapple. We had a pretty good exchange. In the evening we had an appointment at someone's house that fell through and we decided to try tracting the neighboring houses. We met a REALLY nice mother of some cute little boys that we gave a Book of Mormon to and wants the UH elders to return sometime this week.<br />
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Thursday: We finished the exchange with Elder Chapple. We headed back to Zlín, where I was going to stay with Elder Suwyn while we sent Elder Chapple and Elder Newman (our companions) off to Prague together for visa work. Elder Chapple and I were already in the bus back to Zlín, and then I asked the fatal question: "Do you have everything that you need for visa work?" and then get the fatal response: "Wait, what do I need for visa work?" He hadn't been told that he needed his insurance card, so we had to get off the bus and walked back into UH. Fortunately we were still only at the outskirts. We had a good laugh about it (or at least I did!) and decided that that was one of the funny moments that I'll cherish looking back at my mission because we were quite the sight, each of us carrying all of the things we needed for two days in grocery bags. Everything worked out, though, and they eventually made it to Prague.<br />
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Once we got them on their way Elder Suwyn and I had a good exchange. It was one of the sort of evenings where everyone was willing to talk to us! :)<br />
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Friday: In the morning Elder Suwyn and I had a lesson with I. She had been met by missionaries a long time ago but hasn't been making much progress. She's so nice, but she's not looking for a change and so we probably won't see much of each other in the future. In the afternoon we went looking for a service project to do Christmas Morning and talked to a really nice lady at the hospital! We might be able to sing in the long-term care ward Christmas Morning. After that we went back to Elder Suwyn's area in UH and worked until our companions came back from Prague. We stayed in UH for the night.<br />
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Saturday: We had a huge volleyball tournament in UH! Members came from all over Moravia, and there were also quite a few missionaries there. There's always a missionary team, and we did pretty well! We got second place in our track, tied for third overall. My glasses broke, though. On the way back we had a huge delay, (we got stranded in a town where we were supposed to have made a connection), and by the time we got back we only had an hour to work in Zlín. We went out, though, and met someone that we're going to meet with tomorrow (M) and a nice mother that will meet with the sisters in Pardubice.<br />
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Sunday: Pretty normal. We went to church and had a nice time with the members. I'm going to be the accompanist for the Primary program on the 28th (we have two kids in our Primary but they're going all out still) and we got a couple of invitations from members to come over for Christmas.<br />
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Today: We finally had Thanksgiving! You can see the pictures on the blog, but everything was tasty!<br />
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I'm about out of time (I actually really have to run), but we had a good week. There were a few moments that could have been frustrating, but we hugged it and we focused on working hard. <br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Boyce <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXitWU9VMkX-9OTSYRNaEP39xbi5uASJ7VAR6vTDx0X5dukNPCFTRh75RIOeONdyT4ADCCRdGKnwgdWBMZpi6fBTJl77VE7D1Hefg9EFP3oRRrKxZumfRxroHjORl359yMHULvs0n2ycM/s1600/DSC01296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXitWU9VMkX-9OTSYRNaEP39xbi5uASJ7VAR6vTDx0X5dukNPCFTRh75RIOeONdyT4ADCCRdGKnwgdWBMZpi6fBTJl77VE7D1Hefg9EFP3oRRrKxZumfRxroHjORl359yMHULvs0n2ycM/s640/DSC01296.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Sticking herb butter under the turkey skin was fun :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxSyT1UDY_zUQidlufe7doZ5MPfVisKId_sAAnT3O9hk5a1W2iztynubU-qEfwF4048pHuS2Q0voK5m5RA7ahqAoXvOwLwgZdI0Tpqj0_4X0jB8th9MmWngCII7ssXqmUG4k6XHHB3WQ/s1600/DSC01297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxSyT1UDY_zUQidlufe7doZ5MPfVisKId_sAAnT3O9hk5a1W2iztynubU-qEfwF4048pHuS2Q0voK5m5RA7ahqAoXvOwLwgZdI0Tpqj0_4X0jB8th9MmWngCII7ssXqmUG4k6XHHB3WQ/s640/DSC01297.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">This is serious business.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Delicious???</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi406gYeVqSwbPpYMUyQ0v2A9eIyEPWzxeGig2BgiIA1-1PSI55_ZXop7wucgiM3DDIxEuwcr8k6CUJnais4AfNaVDBrBrF-RliHqP3v97cYd4LZdUryPSuROoNdYzQ9h2eiCljDAuivmY/s1600/DSC01302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi406gYeVqSwbPpYMUyQ0v2A9eIyEPWzxeGig2BgiIA1-1PSI55_ZXop7wucgiM3DDIxEuwcr8k6CUJnais4AfNaVDBrBrF-RliHqP3v97cYd4LZdUryPSuROoNdYzQ9h2eiCljDAuivmY/s640/DSC01302.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">DELICIOUS! My first turkey went really well. It also cooked extremely fast; the turkey weighed only eight pounds and it cooked up in about about an hour and forty-five minutes.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDIEM-zi0qGDUyudL_Gn0Nk9aMYsY9D874xNiHEHv9VJuWwKcgvLzgN7B0tj-VwW_tWu0x1rMgOednGOyDwcEtS65tzRlYkHXKdWpiPnJ5tdISSlaHciS8WVo5ybChTJdo82j3lKQ0cA/s1600/DSC01303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDIEM-zi0qGDUyudL_Gn0Nk9aMYsY9D874xNiHEHv9VJuWwKcgvLzgN7B0tj-VwW_tWu0x1rMgOednGOyDwcEtS65tzRlYkHXKdWpiPnJ5tdISSlaHciS8WVo5ybChTJdo82j3lKQ0cA/s640/DSC01303.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">We didn't have much seating, so Elder Newman and I sat at our study desks. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, salad, and crystal light. Simple Thanksgiving, but it was tasty! :) After we had chocolate pie (it turned out really runny again!), pumpkin pie, and ice cream.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwS73sPOxJmMnii01fvszliBzvoLazeDcFNedGxLMJhACfeT_DsF7z0k9ZVJbP50WYStARO8mLUDiOe2lOkviryBnAFFvi7_SH03PmU8tia6_TiI1sktEsaw7thV3EPg6UJ0PfidZHFt0/s1600/DSC01304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwS73sPOxJmMnii01fvszliBzvoLazeDcFNedGxLMJhACfeT_DsF7z0k9ZVJbP50WYStARO8mLUDiOe2lOkviryBnAFFvi7_SH03PmU8tia6_TiI1sktEsaw7thV3EPg6UJ0PfidZHFt0/s640/DSC01304.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A nice view of our study desks and our district.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_PenIDAt14EfBbfFf_mPgOVqmVQKvi07RhkeSeNS9Ntr3qNYr3uDHH0LsS_Hc7BM2KTJuGjP9STnnYMZJa5Y8eV3aR4oxQAT9C3CQBs1BODHHp6a4XRwaQh3KDvRjg877OGZBFYrAog/s1600/DSC01293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_PenIDAt14EfBbfFf_mPgOVqmVQKvi07RhkeSeNS9Ntr3qNYr3uDHH0LsS_Hc7BM2KTJuGjP9STnnYMZJa5Y8eV3aR4oxQAT9C3CQBs1BODHHp6a4XRwaQh3KDvRjg877OGZBFYrAog/s640/DSC01293.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">You may have noticed that I'm not wearing my general authority glasses, wellllll that's because they're no more. Last Saturday we had a big volleyball tournament and at one point I was standing of to the side talking to another missionary and a member and a ball came flying from nowhere and hit my face. The glasses lost.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRe85LnNNb46cF5mop2jMqTpt5yU679tWb9Q2vc0EgdUq96N8_9W3bGv-0Wk_KubeTPf06fuKsmEUHCC7gjB-LqmSXWCocqXt7-vsRwubIjBJS87aoNwED2voepAk_7sT9bLhgL9dhjpY/s1600/DSC01288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRe85LnNNb46cF5mop2jMqTpt5yU679tWb9Q2vc0EgdUq96N8_9W3bGv-0Wk_KubeTPf06fuKsmEUHCC7gjB-LqmSXWCocqXt7-vsRwubIjBJS87aoNwED2voepAk_7sT9bLhgL9dhjpY/s640/DSC01288.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the way back from the tournament we were supposed to transfer on to a different bus in this city, Uherský Brod. Our first bus, though, was late coming in and we missed our connection. We were stuck here for a little bit in still our sports clothes. Eventually we got a train back, but in the end it took about 3 hours for us to get back to Zlín from Uherské Hradiště instead of 45 minutes like it was supposed to! It was a funny time, because I couldn't see a thing :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1uMhlylLkdelCGzr_OWAIo_BUGK5Ki3okXi75K47FXGSqM24YLUuGQRZOOlZS5ftIxxaX7zEOJLYErzogVd4RqPpzwbdwExglr1pK-oQj-zDO9NcuL5M7Uv_pNuaQFlivhd6JeihYEU/s1600/DSC01290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1uMhlylLkdelCGzr_OWAIo_BUGK5Ki3okXi75K47FXGSqM24YLUuGQRZOOlZS5ftIxxaX7zEOJLYErzogVd4RqPpzwbdwExglr1pK-oQj-zDO9NcuL5M7Uv_pNuaQFlivhd6JeihYEU/s640/DSC01290.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />I was very sad about my glasses :[</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZtX-Us0IuRz_N39v54l09R-Nmz_fJ2XthUaAPp-UbnO10QARNCunszMjLzwiM0sr0x-jJNldGzGpMmsehSlEHX92K9llYLRppHuhmqO6MksWeZMCkuMC-u9D4hW2Ib-bUVleawx156U/s1600/DSC01292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZtX-Us0IuRz_N39v54l09R-Nmz_fJ2XthUaAPp-UbnO10QARNCunszMjLzwiM0sr0x-jJNldGzGpMmsehSlEHX92K9llYLRppHuhmqO6MksWeZMCkuMC-u9D4hW2Ib-bUVleawx156U/s640/DSC01292.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh, my.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-42800540259573902972015-11-30T17:07:00.003-08:002015-11-30T19:21:59.390-08:00November 30, 2015 - In which Christmas comes!<br />
Dear family,<br />
<br />
Last week was interesting. Looking back I'm kind of struggling to pull too much together because I feel like I was in a fog for a lot of the week. We still did our best, though, and had some good experiences.<br />
<br />
We weren't able to meet with our investigators or D (because of sickness and various scheduling issues) so we spent a lot of time finding :) One night during nightly planning we decided that the next day we were going to place a particular focus on finding YSA males and while we still talked to everyone those were the only people that stopped for us! Though we had some great lessons on the street together, they weren't interested in finding out more at that time, but it was still a good experience<br />
<br />
We weren't able to meet to teach J and M, but we dropped by to give them a thank-you gift and note one night last week and it was we had a nice conversation. Neither D nor the J and M came to church because they were gone somewhere for the weekend, but we're hoping to see them this week.<br />
<br />
Last week we had a nice visit with Sister D and helped her pick up firewood with her son-in-law who's not a member so that was also nice contact.<br />
<br />
Christmas is in full swing in Zlín! In preparation for Christmas we brainstormed a lot of different finding ideas. We're trying to find new investigators to build up our teaching pool, and for Christmas we're going to try to set up caroling with our members, some building tours, and so on. We also tried tracting out in Otrokovice (a neighboring city that's in our area) last week, which led to some pretty good conversations. One very nice man tried really hard to get us some traditional Czech plum brandy, but we eventually convinced him that we wouldn't have any and he sent us on our way with a new carton of apple juice :)<br />
<br />
Last week was kind of hard physically from getting back from getting sick last week. Also in President McConkie's words my body is falling apart at the end of my mission. Yesterday after church I kind of collapsed. Elder Newman was concerned so he called Sister McConkie, who ordered me to take a nap, and then President called me later and we chatted for a bit before he ordered me to stay inside and sleep literally all day except for emailing and grocery shopping so I can reboot for the upcoming week :) It's kind of frustrating because I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AT CHRISTMASTIME and it's been a struggle to function normally, but this week I'm certain will be better. We're also really busy this week; we have two exchanges and Saturday is a huge regional volleyball tournament/Christmas shindig in UH. <br />
<br />
We're going to work hard this week, but I'll make sure to not kill myself :) Thanks for everything and have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Boyce<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bE7-PlbfNP95H8Mb-rkR9iQYSIAe_Qeu3KzLRQdAdnd4uccUDZQGhpRq_wHvHob9jojB-UGpFclRsiPN52yN3doBuHuR8Wjcg5PxqtaeVFnpdsEl9oB_iy3P6VkTFmjeQnSzAy1UGTE/s1600/DSC01275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bE7-PlbfNP95H8Mb-rkR9iQYSIAe_Qeu3KzLRQdAdnd4uccUDZQGhpRq_wHvHob9jojB-UGpFclRsiPN52yN3doBuHuR8Wjcg5PxqtaeVFnpdsEl9oB_iy3P6VkTFmjeQnSzAy1UGTE/s640/DSC01275.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Christmas market on the square.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0GXZviyVt2eLGEIjX-Vm-nbkdWo0cYGHFnC6C3vBpxM0WJYdglaghX8QittcvjKZm7rtfRzsMvKXpPnnjGz1nrRWXKr5tAtRXANBgLo9siE8Hu5n_MhdZKwOOJwqvT77AR9Xx4AzUmUc/s1600/DSC01276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0GXZviyVt2eLGEIjX-Vm-nbkdWo0cYGHFnC6C3vBpxM0WJYdglaghX8QittcvjKZm7rtfRzsMvKXpPnnjGz1nrRWXKr5tAtRXANBgLo9siE8Hu5n_MhdZKwOOJwqvT77AR9Xx4AzUmUc/s640/DSC01276.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Last night night was the Christmas tree lighting and the Christmas market opened.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWtvD-abdBTm_gLkeUsvW6gzNplkLR3UoXythCAuObVPxFS3T10d2jYwfeqkZ5jN5Gh76AB2fVkaakpAYuAnUZi7bn8BqF69nU3miTl9QPJfG-AzbbNwHYzWIIYj3FpIGfT_hdVoJcE0/s1600/DSC01277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWtvD-abdBTm_gLkeUsvW6gzNplkLR3UoXythCAuObVPxFS3T10d2jYwfeqkZ5jN5Gh76AB2fVkaakpAYuAnUZi7bn8BqF69nU3miTl9QPJfG-AzbbNwHYzWIIYj3FpIGfT_hdVoJcE0/s640/DSC01277.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A closer look at the market on the square.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-4592450380144992462015-11-23T14:04:00.005-08:002015-11-23T14:04:46.091-08:00November 23, 2015 - In which I get sick, the first snow arrives, and we find an oven-ready turkeyDear family,<br /><br />Last week was peculiar! :D It really flew by, partly because I came down with a fever and spent two days of it sleeping. We also had zone conference in Brno, and a few other exciting adventures. I'm not quite certain how to organize my thoughts, but we'll give it a go.<br /><br />Wednesday we had zone conference in Brno! It was great. It was all about hard work, and during the practice of the Sister Trainer Leader's section we surprised some of the younger missionaries by suddenly handing out envelopes with tram tickets about where to go to contacting for 30 minutes. Some of the older missionaries were in on it (for example President me with the district leaders and the during a reporting meeting before the conference started) but it was a fun training. We raced out, each with someone other than their normal companion, and had a really productive 30 minute session. I talked to some really great people in the tram.<br /><br />Thursday after we came home I started to not feel too well. I made it through the day and did English at the autism center and had a good lesson with D, but then Friday and Saturday I kind of crashed and we didn't really leave the apartment. I was really touched because when the word got out to the branch Saturday night that I was sick I got a phone call from J and M who were very concerned for me because I don't have a mom in the Czech Republic :) They made sure I had enough medicine, that I was drinking enough tea with honey, and so on. They brought soup the next day at church, also. I was in contact with Sister McConkie a lot (she actually is our mom in the Czech Republic) and the McConkies were in Zlín Saturday night and Sunday for branch conference. When they got to Zlín they dropped by with some NyQuil, more tea, and candy and pizza :)<br /><br />Sunday we had a huge turnout out church for branch conference! There were a ton of auxiliary leaders from other branches, a few less-active members, and even a former investigator from my English class that seems to be thinking more about faith came. It was a great meeting, all the speakers talked about things that I would want my members and investigators to hear about, the Spirit was there strongly, and I even had fun translating the meeting into English for Sister McConkie (I haven't needed to translate anything for months).<br /><br />Even though I was sick and time is racing by (I feel like I'm racing against the clock) I've been having a great time and have just been doing my best to work hard. We have a saying in our mission: "Hug it." It means to embrace everything that happens, good or bad, as a part of the experience. It also ties back to cheerfully doing all things that lie in our power and letting God take care of the rest (see <a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/123.17?lang=eng#16">D&C 123:17</a>), or to the saying "Come what may, and love it," (which is what <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/come-what-may-and-love-it?lang=eng">Joseph B. Wirthlin's mother would say to him</a>), but that idea has helped me a lot throughout my mission and especially during the last week while I was sick and couldn't go outside to talk to people. Sometimes the decisions that others make are also challenging to accept, but I'm so blessed to still be here in Zlín and that I have a whole month left to serve during Christmas!!!! Basically during the last week I've been hugging it.<br /><br />There's lots more to say about this week. This week the first snow of the season came (nothing stuck, though), Christmas lights and the traditional Christmas market are going up on the square (they're lighting the city Christmas tree Sunday night!), and a tipsy lady got a little handsy with my companion and I (we ran away). Next p-day we'll have Thanksgiving dinner. I'm in charge of the turkey and the chocolate pie (we were really surprised today and found a proper American freezer turkey!!). I have no time to tell you about it, though :) For now, have a great week! Happy Thanksgiving! Be greatful! Hug it!!!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_CCej1WGsX-g5a1_PcxaYSSYbdH41IETrtuqAM9rOZ3QNLnCUAqN1AoKJh0wnLPVNeJoARlALRbsxM2wxniJd5k-OBlxeLJJZhDSGPMicveQF2L-VHc5nXHMs5mKVQpmURNWhseXw2E/s1600/DSC01209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_CCej1WGsX-g5a1_PcxaYSSYbdH41IETrtuqAM9rOZ3QNLnCUAqN1AoKJh0wnLPVNeJoARlALRbsxM2wxniJd5k-OBlxeLJJZhDSGPMicveQF2L-VHc5nXHMs5mKVQpmURNWhseXw2E/s640/DSC01209.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last Tuesday was a state holiday celebrating the Velvet Revolution (the bloodless revolution which marked the change from socialism/communism to democracy in then-Czechoslovakia) and we while we were contacting about our English classes we found this very communist-looking statue. I, naturally, had to photograph myself mirroring its pose :)))</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2oaxjj3l3A7_CNnJzhmF0RnkixwhEW4Hi_Pd-ybKJVej-kDGZ5cE_sLYklIA2WIIjOY0w17jAiAHdFSu88lAWVSTnjbNOgeCy8zjS_LSA_KUCHVVexBSAjfLxG4Vlyj-sCdCL-gDyVA/s1600/DSC01215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2oaxjj3l3A7_CNnJzhmF0RnkixwhEW4Hi_Pd-ybKJVej-kDGZ5cE_sLYklIA2WIIjOY0w17jAiAHdFSu88lAWVSTnjbNOgeCy8zjS_LSA_KUCHVVexBSAjfLxG4Vlyj-sCdCL-gDyVA/s640/DSC01215.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">We walk over this bridge every day and last week we saw these crutches lying in the middle of the river. We pictured some man or woman, frustrated by the day-to-day struggles of life in crutches, throwing them over the bridge and striding away confidently in a new-crutches free life.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhrCVTxR7SDl1M3UFUrTPowUAvZssk6ctBOqyJiFfJYoUwZOOljJeeTRb-o1G1jr_yRcpkWIHFW5U3FnoVOXhdxCOW3mvv3iXW54Tz9fz5UMEw54RidMC3AUA_JCmCUOjHSr3F8RfThs/s1600/DSC01219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhrCVTxR7SDl1M3UFUrTPowUAvZssk6ctBOqyJiFfJYoUwZOOljJeeTRb-o1G1jr_yRcpkWIHFW5U3FnoVOXhdxCOW3mvv3iXW54Tz9fz5UMEw54RidMC3AUA_JCmCUOjHSr3F8RfThs/s640/DSC01219.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I tried to get a good photo of the clouds out my my window in the bus ride to zone conference but things kept on blurring up the photo. It's a pretty good likeness of the colors, though. We took an early bus so the sun wasn't up all the way yet.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWaACiBg0RyxcHaPahVdy2IkqegkmKLfdlOFjYgMfSAxaTzJNU8vgoSumuJqU8l5NbPj6RV3sOjPzOgA98LDGVJD6t4KljWrMpcoRNAedhqapHUV-nDR-1WB53rXbP2ZTks6uEXaBiGE/s1600/DSC01222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWaACiBg0RyxcHaPahVdy2IkqegkmKLfdlOFjYgMfSAxaTzJNU8vgoSumuJqU8l5NbPj6RV3sOjPzOgA98LDGVJD6t4KljWrMpcoRNAedhqapHUV-nDR-1WB53rXbP2ZTks6uEXaBiGE/s640/DSC01222.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">This was later, when the sun had come up a little more.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuPFWZfDy1t51ksLl_YspC5EjQIsUj7q1qSyWzzQA8k5Rt3v5LMOSXDiKVVZT7I21r7M-ca-hPUR7Fvb58nwxT2Nna1v9MpyQLCf1TeWQaSfPhMQ6B3ymV7-sJt18y_r0DOLW-9sv-Sd4/s1600/DSC01227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuPFWZfDy1t51ksLl_YspC5EjQIsUj7q1qSyWzzQA8k5Rt3v5LMOSXDiKVVZT7I21r7M-ca-hPUR7Fvb58nwxT2Nna1v9MpyQLCf1TeWQaSfPhMQ6B3ymV7-sJt18y_r0DOLW-9sv-Sd4/s640/DSC01227.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A member surprised me with this</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHKRsRSiX0cVsRG6MeCFfDzAy3EW2W8M3RCcRMBf1lkTHzwq1tRbxOMeCHZxlm7-AlreDfTPaJe52sRaCz6Tg_5ZiTU0xty9XEX2A2pezMdSFbbvnExv3QQnxNCWez4To3_30-98Qn2M/s1600/DSC01230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHKRsRSiX0cVsRG6MeCFfDzAy3EW2W8M3RCcRMBf1lkTHzwq1tRbxOMeCHZxlm7-AlreDfTPaJe52sRaCz6Tg_5ZiTU0xty9XEX2A2pezMdSFbbvnExv3QQnxNCWez4To3_30-98Qn2M/s640/DSC01230.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">As you can see, we're going to starve this week. Actually definitely not. We cook a lot.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">You can <i>kind </i>of see it in this photo, but it starting snowing today at lunchtime. I was shocked.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-8269011138840315362015-11-16T11:41:00.003-08:002015-11-16T11:41:25.285-08:00November 16, 2015 - In which I send a quick updateDear family,<br /><br />We had a pretty interesting week! I already don't have much time somehow but I'll make it quick.<br /><br />We had a good lesson with a Sister K on Tuesday. She's about 30 years old and her mother was also at the lesson. She can't see very well but she as a machine that can read things aloud for her. We talked about the Restoration, and she told us that she wants to find out if the Book of Mormon is true or not. We should see her later this week :)<br /><br />During the weekend we had district conference (like stake conference), which we watched through the Internet from the chapel in Zlín. It was held in Brno, where a lot of our members traveled to. It was nice to be able to see so many members that I've met during my mission speaking at the conference. This Wednesday we also have missionary zone conference with the missionaries from the eastern half of the Czech Republic and Sunday will be branch conference.<br /><br />Don't have too much to update you with D or Sister D. We had a meeting with D last week but his work let him out really late and by the time he made it into Zlín he had to continue on again. Not his fault. We'll see him on Thursday when we'll have a lesson. Sister D seems to be doing well, though she didn't make it to district conference. We should her this upcoming Sunday at branch conference, though! We didn't really see the J this week either.<br /><br />The last week the weather has been really wet and rainy; much more like the fall I was expecting but haven't really seen yet. The weather should be snapping to get pretty cold at the end of this week.<br /><br />About out of time, but have a great week!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder BoyceUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-24959089398017710452015-11-09T11:19:00.000-08:002015-11-09T11:19:00.929-08:00November 9, 2015 - In which we do some teaching and know the Word of Wisdom is trueDear family,<br /><br />We had quite the week! We were working hard, and had some really funny experiences, and some really spiritual teaching moments. Lately it's been feeling like a lot of our current investigators haven't been able to meet, so we've been looking for others. Last week we had some particular showing a brand-new Mormon Message that's only in Czech, and all the footage is with members in the Czech Republic. It introduces the Church and our beliefs and we show it on our portable DVD player we have to watch the District. We left some letters explaining who we are and that we want to show this video at x time in this a part of town that, while still on the city bus lines and in city limits, feels strongly like a village. We taught quite a few people on their doorsteps and one older lady let us in. Her husband is suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, and she takes care of him. He's very weak and doesn't seem to take much in or remember much anymore. It places a great burden on her and she feels trapped taking care of her husband who doesn't know her anymore day and night. When we first visited in the middle of last week we showed her the video, and we talked about the plan of salvation. It was a curious meeting, because when we turned on the video the Spirit entered the room powerfully, probably more than I had ever felt while teaching before. We weren't there long (we say on the letter that we leave that we only want to be there for 10 minutes), but she agreed to pray about our teachings (she didn't pray much before) and we set up to come back.<br /><br />We went back last night. The lesson started pretty well. We were going through the plan of salvation, and she seemed to understand, and the Spirit was there. All of a sudden, a huge amount of bitterness came out of her, and she was sad and upset and angry about the situation that she has with her husband. The strange thing was that I never felt the Spirit leave. In fact, it was at least as strong as the first time we were there. We listened to her, and bore testimony about how God actually does care, how He does know her and her husband, and how His teachings could give her a new beginning that she so desperately seemed to want. She chose to terminate the lessons, but deep down I know that she knows that God loves her. It was one of the most interesting experiences I've had teaching so far on my mission, because even though she choose to terminate the lessons, it was one of the most spiritually strong experiences I've had while teaching.<br /><br />In other news, D came to church yesterday for both hours! We weren't able to meet with him last week, but he surprised us by coming. He was the first one at church after us, and came in a nice suit. It was the first time that he had come in a long time. Sister D was also at church still, but we won't be able to visit her for the next couple of weeks. Her daughter is going through a delicate health situation, and so she's helping her daughter. She says we'll see each other at church, though :)<br /><br />Last Saturday we had a great correlation meeting! A couple of weeks ago a regional leader was here and he encouraged our branch mission leader to involve some of the other branch leaders at correlation. Saturday we had at correlation our branch mission leader, the elders' quorum president, and a member of the Relief Society presidency. It was great! It felt like we really strengthened our unity with the branch.<br /><br />I've been feeling overall pretty good during the last week. I've been thinking a lot about the difference between weakness and sin, and it's helped me to have a more honest look about my own struggles, and it's helped me to rely more on the Savior. At the moment I'm truly trying to just stay focused on Zlín's needs and help my new missionary! :)<br /><br />Thanks for all you do!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<br /><br />P.S. I completely forgot to tell you about this funny experience we had! We were waiting for a bus one night last week at the end of the night and across the street we saw a few drunk people come out of a pub. They were throwing up and a little rowdy so we kept our distance. We kept waiting for the bus to come, and then we saw the most curious thing. A group of three people wearing matching blue T-shirts were jogging towards the same pub, and when they came close the drunk people that were already there started to cheer them on. That's when we realized that the first group was also made of three people who were wearing matching black T-shirts. When the blue group ran in the black group high-fived them and (rather loudly) said, "YEAH GOOD JOB HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU THROWN UP ALREADY?" "SIX TIMES!" "YEAH WE HAVE FIVE TIMES!!" then the blue group jogged into the bar, and a few moments later walked out with beers. They were literally taking part of a sponsored event to run from pub to pub. Don't run and drink at the same time! The word of wisdom is true :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-18155437782079304012015-11-04T20:43:00.000-08:002015-11-04T20:43:07.537-08:00November 2, 2015 - In which the first freeze comes<br />Dear family,<br /><br />This week has been really interesting. I'm not certain what I really have to update on from our area because we weren't able to meet with many of our investigators :) J and M ended up not being able meet, and our other newer people were also unable to meet with us. We were able to have a good visit with Sister D, though. A member came with us. She continues to do well. <br /><br />We've done a lot of finding during the last week! Working with Elder Newman has been good. He's more soft-spoken than Elder Dean, but he has a powerful testimony and when he gets it out you know that he means it. It's not complicated and he doesn't a lot of words or anything, but you can feel the Spirit behind his words. I'm hoping that I can be a good example for him.<br /><br /><br />We've met some really interesting people. Most of them have been really nice! We've taught a lot of first lessons during the last week, but the people we've taught haven't shared much interest in having a second lesson. Such is missionary life sometimes. It's been a little disheartening, but I can still feel it in my heart that something is going to change in the Czech Republic. I didn't mention it last week, but we started last Sunday (a week ago) as a mission to read the whole Book of Mormon before Christmas. Not only are the current missionaries reading, but President managed to challenge all of the missionaries that have served here since the fall of communism, as well. We're really close to a Stake, and we're working hard to get as much done during the last two months of the year as possible. I'm not certain what will happen during the next couple of months, but I feel like something is coming :)<br /><br />During the last week, but I've been finding a lot of strength in the things that I've learned throughout my mission. Even though I've had the feeling this week like I'm perhaps performing below my personal average, I've seen how much strength I've gained already from the Savior and it helps me to see that I'll do better in the long run. Using my agency to exercise faith when faced with opposition has pushed me through everything else so far in my mission, and the past experiences have been giving me a lot of strength now.. I've written probably more than 700 pages in my study journals where I've been studying and seeking answers to other questions and fears and concerns that I and my investigators have had throughout my mission, and as I've been looking through them throughout the last week it's been helping. It's been great!<br /><br />I don't have too much more to say for now (and I'm about out of time), but till next week we're going to keep working hard and doing our best here in Zlín.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<br /><br />PS It's getting cold now. This morning when we went running the ground was still covered with frost!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-3263487218354394902015-10-26T18:02:00.002-07:002015-10-26T18:02:48.622-07:00October 26, 2016 - In which we have another transfer dayDear family,<br /><br />Last week was eventful as ever! I learned a lot last week and we were working hard. We found a couple of great people and are excited for the upcoming week. We had a few more lessons with members present than we've been having in the recent past, which was great. Our branch president's wife visited an investigator with us and E visited Sister D with us. Both were good visits. Sister D is doing quite well. It was great to have E there, also; Sister D LOVES her and invited her to come back whenever she wanted. E was also a great asset in teaching Sister D. She teaches really well.<br /><br />We don't have too big of an update on J. We met with M and him last Monday night to read the scriptures together, which they enjoyed. We're meeting with J and hopefully also M tomorrow after English.<br /><br />We're still working with D. He was very sick last week, so we weren't able to meet, but he tried to come to church yesterday. He made it there before sacrament meeting started, but he was feeling so unwell that he headed home. It was a bummer that he couldn't stay, but we felt like there was definitely some effort there from him to come back.<br /><br />I saw this week how God won't leave us even when we're weak. There were a couple of instances that showed that. On Friday night Elder Dean and I were heading back from seeding in a neighborhood at the outskirts of Zlín. We were coming back to the center about an hour and a half later than we expected because we got REALLY turned around in the area where we were seeding and I was feeling a little defeated because we were coming back so late. We had had on plan at that time language study, so we were starting to head back in, but I felt like we needed to still talk to more people that day. I battled a little bit with the prompting, but then we decided to family history contact like we had wanted to earlier when seeding had gone over time. We set off to do so and the second person we tried to stop was probably the only YSA male in Zlín that's interested in his ancestors (I do know that there are more actually) and was really interested in meeting with us. Just a few steps later a very kind lady contacted US. She had met the missionaries a few years before and wanted to say hello. She ended up not being interested, but she was trying to be kind and I knew that God wasn't looking to punish us even though we hadn't been feeling very good about ourselves. On Saturday a similar thing happened when somehow we got wildly off our planned schedule (this time because of unforseen teaching opportunities) and we were again feeling a little down because we felt like we were running out of time to get things set up and find new people. I felt like we needed to go out and find instead of going in, and battled a little with the prompting again before heading out. The first people that we talked to became new investigators! I know that God wants us to be successful, and is willing to keep working with us.<br /><br />Today was transfer day! Elder Dean went to Jihlava to be follow-up trained by Elder Page, and I stayed in Zlín to follow-up train Elder Newman. He seems great, and we'll have a great transfer :)<br /><br />Lots went on this week, but I'm about out of time. Thank you so much for your support!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last Tuesday was Zone Conference in Brno. Elder Cottle (a senior missionary serving in Bratislava) took photos of pretty much everything and so I'm sending along a few photos that I was in :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNKo0AxyIRUg07q9vfxJUxsLIaMVsbUBNs7iazF4kZ2-3JQD1foI9PGV16pB6huA-uzwh4t8vW-EcUJSw1K9yfTbZUusfLyV9V2SGJ9hAtWZDbtPmG1iEGVLUxFGVSHxii6Miq_8rkekE/s1600/DSC01164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNKo0AxyIRUg07q9vfxJUxsLIaMVsbUBNs7iazF4kZ2-3JQD1foI9PGV16pB6huA-uzwh4t8vW-EcUJSw1K9yfTbZUusfLyV9V2SGJ9hAtWZDbtPmG1iEGVLUxFGVSHxii6Miq_8rkekE/s640/DSC01164.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Last night while tracting Elder Dean and I taught this really nice couple. They weren't interested in the end, but they cut us huge slabs freshly-baked, traditional blueberry and raspberry cake for the road. IT WAS SO GOOD</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">It's transfer day but I'm still in Zlín! Elder Newman came from Olomouc this morning. I'm follow-up training again :) He was trained by Elder Nelson last transfer, one of my MTC companions.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-8946187394363020502015-10-19T09:39:00.001-07:002015-10-19T10:03:32.225-07:00October 19, 2015 - In which we start the last week of this transferDear family,<br /><br />Last week went pretty well! I'll need to give you a pretty fast rundown.<br /><br />We weren't able to meet with J last week but he was at church and we are planning on going to read the Book of Mormon with him later tonight. We've been thinking a lot about how we can lighten his family's load and we had the idea to go and read the scriptures with them when they'd normally be reading a couple of days a week. I'm not certain how that will go, but it should at least help that we'll be in more contact with them!<br /><br />Sister D continues to do pretty well. We had a fine meeting last week where we talked about temples. She wants to go there again and seemed intrigued by the idea of renewing her temple recommend even if she doesn't have a way to get to the temple any time soon. She didn't come to church last week but is still averaging every other week pretty solidly.<br /><br />We're starting to work more with another less-active member, D, with whom we've worked in the past. He's gone out of his way to meet with us lately and committed to come to church next Sunday! That'll be the first time in quite a while.<br /><br />We had a little hiccup where we weren't able to find any new investigators this week. We're hoping that things will pick up soon.<br /><br />Fall is continuing to pick up; more and more trees are starting to turn colors and on some of them it looks like the color is frosting on only the very tips of their branches. It's beautiful. It's been very misty and rainy during the last week, so different from California.<br /><br />I'm doing well, excited that I still get to go out in a couple of minutes to talk about the gospel! :)<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder BoyceUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-71174429516846216482015-10-12T13:44:00.003-07:002015-10-12T13:44:37.714-07:00October 12, 2015 - In which it gets really cold really fast<br /><br />Dear family,<br /><br />Last week went well. We've still been finding some new people and we feel like our area is starting to gain some more traction. Each of the last couple of weeks we've found a couple of new investigators and some of them are starting to progress. We're excited to see some things shifting in our work. I don't have much time to write today, but I'll give you a rundown of how some of the key things are doing.<br /><br />We weren't able to meet with J last week, which was unfortunate, but he did watch a bit of conference so we're excited to hopefully talk to him tomorrow about the sessions that he watched. His main focus for conference was listening about a time to be baptized, and there were some great talks about trusting in the Lord so we're hoping that that will have helped him. He's so close! Elder Dean and I realized while planning the other day that all he needs is to want the blessings of the gospel in his life.<br /><br />Sister D is also doing well and was at conference on Sunday. She had made a list of good questions and seemed to enjoy the conference. Elder Dean and my district leader had a good lesson with her while on exchanges, and it sounds like she's continuing to progress.<br /><br />General Conference was wonderful! We watched last weekend. I had been overthinking our work a lot and was feeling stressed, but while watching conference I felt that I had been trying to do the Lord's part of the work and I needed to trust Him to keep His promises more as I go about the work. In the last couple of days it's helped because even though we haven't seen necessary a huge increase in investigators or anything like that, I've been feeling a lot happier even when people reject me because I trust that I did my part and that the people around me, even when I can't continue to teach them, are still important to the Lord and they're in his hands.<br /><br />We're doing pretty well overall and are excited for the upcoming week. I can't believe that it's already another week 8! Time is racing by, but conference also helped me feel more at peace with the future.<br /><br />That's about all for this week, but thanks for the love and support!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<br /><br /><br /><br />PS We've also started volunteering at a foundation for people with autism and Asperger's syndrome every week. I thought you'd be interested, maybe I can say more next week.<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Your traditional Czech quick meal called lečo. There's some cooked-up sausage with tomatoes and peppers and eggs. Pretty tasty! Made that last week.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The first leaves are starting to turn. While you've been having a heat wave, it's gotten EXTREMELY COLD all at once. There'll probably be the first frost tonight.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnWwrmYwb4WI2AehNv7oNpHHCVATDqvkQMqHfYxo8CQ6QziEjdtkFa8bxvnflmyKfEAwcgIszMTIgE1_8LejDGpngI0SGra09FTHuRKm0FYBig4IfR3oASvYoCpRy8kXy_NaHXWosotg/s1600/DSC01066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnWwrmYwb4WI2AehNv7oNpHHCVATDqvkQMqHfYxo8CQ6QziEjdtkFa8bxvnflmyKfEAwcgIszMTIgE1_8LejDGpngI0SGra09FTHuRKm0FYBig4IfR3oASvYoCpRy8kXy_NaHXWosotg/s640/DSC01066.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Pretty sunset ahhh</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjod28inW0RqEzYHO_HOZyF4NlqnYXPAhmAzKW8W1QQ9GZ1GAh2xeHRIzyZ4beIfvibHbWof1b9Uuj1sSu7Rf2boUzcvTRds7KRlUnN1T1CohcIMw2JpTfwegO0MB8bpZHSZ1-0xMzbbso/s1600/DSC01087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjod28inW0RqEzYHO_HOZyF4NlqnYXPAhmAzKW8W1QQ9GZ1GAh2xeHRIzyZ4beIfvibHbWof1b9Uuj1sSu7Rf2boUzcvTRds7KRlUnN1T1CohcIMw2JpTfwegO0MB8bpZHSZ1-0xMzbbso/s640/DSC01087.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We went to the zoo again today! Elder Dean's first time. It was really cold and the penguins were really active. This one was a bit of a show-off.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkPb40raPbuWOFT98Re7Ku0gOlGKqgE-x3iS2Z-6RnIiqz7iir-lBYo4ANI8zrhPGtZJiI0jfhLrq-S4aGeSS7tppJ5kk1Ae7eNjO_0TiVhTr3aJifZwyqUPeUdxGNBV3qGDs3QPllL0/s1600/DSC01090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkPb40raPbuWOFT98Re7Ku0gOlGKqgE-x3iS2Z-6RnIiqz7iir-lBYo4ANI8zrhPGtZJiI0jfhLrq-S4aGeSS7tppJ5kk1Ae7eNjO_0TiVhTr3aJifZwyqUPeUdxGNBV3qGDs3QPllL0/s640/DSC01090.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">In the tropical hall this bird was just hanging around. It walked all around our feet.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQ-UiVzx7QexIdFONdUUPeDcPZ27xF2kdA-ezThrjoKKSRgH6Fd8w_SJFlc_OJKe5Y1z3niVxGm2_7IKrPG9MSI_XbdRIglWRsHqoKiFNBxszBHjeNwg9xwN603bhgWAssGT5dfNr_Ec/s1600/DSC01104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQ-UiVzx7QexIdFONdUUPeDcPZ27xF2kdA-ezThrjoKKSRgH6Fd8w_SJFlc_OJKe5Y1z3niVxGm2_7IKrPG9MSI_XbdRIglWRsHqoKiFNBxszBHjeNwg9xwN603bhgWAssGT5dfNr_Ec/s640/DSC01104.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Albino kangaroo!! We also can just walk through the kangaroo enclosure. It's not a big deal apparently.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXn-5YF6Tdwth-L4X4O_L1rulfzRz0aBGO_SPzS1dznkmznY7IewXFTxPNhvL4oVD9jhWUw0hyiF6NWiqXjKwFIizDdqpb_g8SSHHOBPUKOJ4v44MqJLbhMghAT1rs7XSjTYs_OFMd_0/s1600/DSC01120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXn-5YF6Tdwth-L4X4O_L1rulfzRz0aBGO_SPzS1dznkmznY7IewXFTxPNhvL4oVD9jhWUw0hyiF6NWiqXjKwFIizDdqpb_g8SSHHOBPUKOJ4v44MqJLbhMghAT1rs7XSjTYs_OFMd_0/s640/DSC01120.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The red panda would not stop staring at us!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyfsoEwSG0BXQl1CZ7vcqWwzV7Fa7RSxPUWEYh2q20sriagC2FJQwHTxkv5OdWBCkGZYRaaDjZoRzPtQR9QTMT46nn4Zdp7cfX1wXMTpqnOn7MkiK9R2QhZQ_CLtS-3C1IfXWlOw4-Hsc/s1600/DSC01140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyfsoEwSG0BXQl1CZ7vcqWwzV7Fa7RSxPUWEYh2q20sriagC2FJQwHTxkv5OdWBCkGZYRaaDjZoRzPtQR9QTMT46nn4Zdp7cfX1wXMTpqnOn7MkiK9R2QhZQ_CLtS-3C1IfXWlOw4-Hsc/s640/DSC01140.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">Three baby meerkats!!!</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-6501163136536562812015-10-05T12:25:00.003-07:002015-10-05T12:25:38.785-07:00October 5, 2015 - In which we go the philharmonic and eagerly await General ConferenceDear family,<br /><br />Last week went pretty well! It seems like a lot more than a week has gone by since we last wrote. Tuesday we had Zone Conference, which we really enjoyed. I think learned a lot. We talked a lot about planning, and with what we learned and what we've been studying since then Elder Dean and I have been putting focus on the individuals that we're working with and doing less calendaring and more focused on what we can do to help people progress in the gospel. It's been helping me to love the people more to be consciously thinking about planning in that with a focus on each individual and what we can do each day to help them.<br /><br />After training the zone leaders came back with us to Zlín for exchanges. All four of us were here in Zlín. I was with Elder Brittner, who is a group ahead of me and Elder Dean was with Elder Kleiner. We had a good exchange and taught a lot during the time we were all together. We were really blessed to meet with J last Tuesday after English, and especially to have the branch president there. It seems like he had been stressed lately and worried about the future, but we testified about how the Lord supports us. We talked a bit about baptism and we invited him to try and get his own answer about when will be right by counseling with God about it through prayer. It seems like he's continuing to think a lot about it, though.<br /><br />Otherwise we've been focusing on trying to find, find, find. We managed to find two new investigators last week. We're still working with Sister D, and we're also making a very conscious effort to work more with the branch. We weren't able to meet with D again.<br /><br />Before I forget we also had culture night last week. Thursday night we went to the philharmonic. It was a great concert! We listened to Dvořák, Bruch, and Beethoven; Dvořák and Bruch were my favorite, but especially Bruch was excellent because of the soloist Vadim Gluzman. We saw the opening concert of their 70th concert season so it was a big to-do. Before the beginning of the concert they baptized their new CD by sprinkling some champagne on it. There was a Catholic priest and everything :)<br /><br />We're really excited for general conference! We haven't heard much about it yet, but President sent a text to everyone telling us to watch the beginning of the Saturday morning session to see who the new apostles would be. We were busy when it was being broadcasted live, so a couple hours later we tried watching it only long enough to see that the new apostles hadn't been announced and to copy the first four talks to our phone. President Uchtdorf's talk was GREAT, especially because the past couple of days I've been overthinking a lot. I've been worrying about what I say to people, what Elder Dean says to people, and a million other things. I'm thinking about who I want to become but mostly instead of seeing where I want to go I've been seeing my character flaws that would be keeping me from getting wherever spiritual place I want to be going. His talk was perfect, though, and I'm excited to hear the rest of the talks.<br /><br />I'm about out of time again, but thank you so much for the letters and the support! I hope that you all have a great week and wish all the best.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wgQ4PzJrdgeONPaC3c4_TShJSvUOhfwe6_hDNDtdU8rIp9An971XIG8Q7t2_jMa7Um6Mz-ZLRj2lcFipIda1uaPcsj-_mLCsmdBpYukvZS3dDsbiRcpDI4ARuW2yEHlH0FDySXAICM4/s1600/DSC01049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wgQ4PzJrdgeONPaC3c4_TShJSvUOhfwe6_hDNDtdU8rIp9An971XIG8Q7t2_jMa7Um6Mz-ZLRj2lcFipIda1uaPcsj-_mLCsmdBpYukvZS3dDsbiRcpDI4ARuW2yEHlH0FDySXAICM4/s640/DSC01049.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was the concert hall right when everyone was filing out. It was a great concert! We listened to Dvořák, Bruch, and Beethoven; Dvořák and Bruch were my favorite, but especially Bruch was excellent because of the soloist Vadim Gluzman. We saw the opening concert of the 70th concert season of our local philharmonic so it was a big to-do. Before the beginning of the concert they baptized their new CD by sprinkling some champagne on it. There was a Catholic priest and everything :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNUnWBvqoECrqyImMRLl-5LnoXHMULBQ3uuy_eWxVdExfm2Oo1h7a3Zvf9oDiEkmzXZCCI3NwxCVumhEGASBco4CDweMUOGCaksvV6tx38Rtw5Ge8M8nPzwrOtY-JCPnDHOkkobr_C2w/s1600/DSC01050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNUnWBvqoECrqyImMRLl-5LnoXHMULBQ3uuy_eWxVdExfm2Oo1h7a3Zvf9oDiEkmzXZCCI3NwxCVumhEGASBco4CDweMUOGCaksvV6tx38Rtw5Ge8M8nPzwrOtY-JCPnDHOkkobr_C2w/s640/DSC01050.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our district, Elder Croney, Elder Geier, Elder Suwyn, Elder Dean, and I. It was a little difficult to try and get this photo because the first person we asked to take our photo thought we were trying to contact them! Oh, well :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6pNRkI99JtXXdowoffYndiy_xdhdzyHPWFROvtUO8X2dyf-KJInReEG1Y72MOSCtKFQDN6e-MSWVkdCqLo5KYLwgUtE6DhSNzdz2r9jsEXVk0KxrsWvX4Ic845B06uxDc9y4IjUrXEo/s1600/DSC01052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6pNRkI99JtXXdowoffYndiy_xdhdzyHPWFROvtUO8X2dyf-KJInReEG1Y72MOSCtKFQDN6e-MSWVkdCqLo5KYLwgUtE6DhSNzdz2r9jsEXVk0KxrsWvX4Ic845B06uxDc9y4IjUrXEo/s640/DSC01052.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Ooh ahh the pretty fountain</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-CwxchOgiUlutgnfedo2vVUqNaigdmIMymrKG54GkJALMQ9rNR80wfdNlNojaYHquL962l-nEfdhocq6wjGqkWKEM7GCgkzBtCjND19DgtEoZ2loNXxKtRuyaBXC_wuRXlC8UAOqEhE/s1600/DSC01055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-CwxchOgiUlutgnfedo2vVUqNaigdmIMymrKG54GkJALMQ9rNR80wfdNlNojaYHquL962l-nEfdhocq6wjGqkWKEM7GCgkzBtCjND19DgtEoZ2loNXxKtRuyaBXC_wuRXlC8UAOqEhE/s640/DSC01055.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The outside of the philharmonic. From an aerial view it's meant to look like a single-celled aquatic organism!</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-36137009233028861032015-09-28T08:53:00.000-07:002015-09-28T08:53:25.459-07:00September 28, 2015 - In which we plan betterDear family,<br /><br />This last week had some interesting ups and downs, and we the upcoming week will be crazy. We have training tomorrow in Brno, exchanges with the zone leaders Wednesday, culture night on Thursday (we're going to the philharmonic!), and then a busy weekend all over again. We weren't able to meet with our normal investigators last week or find any new ones, though we had a few good lessons with less-active members and a couple of good lessons on the street.<br /><br />Last week had a great lesson with D, who is a less-active member that's on our branch vision to be reactivated but we haven't been able to meet with him in about two months. We got a much better handle about why he's not very active and what we might do to help him. He shared with us that he knows that he could be doing more and could be more but at the same time he had a content life with the habits and priorities that he had before baptism (like putting in an effort to get time off at work to come to church) and he's gone back to living the those sort of things when following the standards of the Church is inconvenient. He told us that he feels that it's right for him to come back to activity, though, but at the end of the lesson we weren't sure how to get him back on that track. We asked him what he was going to do to work on it and thought about it for a while and said, "We'll definitely meet again next week." We're taking that as a sign of trust for now and we'll keep on working with him to help him come back.<br /><br />Sister D is doing well. We visited her and talked about obedience. We feel like she's doing better at coming to church (she's still coming about once every other week) and is really excited for her new calling, and in the next few weeks we want to talk about some more of the commandments. We're planning on talking about the word of wisdom this week and we'll see how that goes :) Our main focus is still to keep her attending church regularly and we'll see how it goes from there.<br /><br />We weren't able to meet with J during the last week but we're set up to meet after English tomorrow.<br /><br />At the moment it feels a little bit like our area is stagnating and we've been trying to think of what we can do to improve. We're working on trying to improve our skills in talking about baptism and being more clear when finding, but we also realized our planning could use some tweaking. Instead of focusing on calendaring we're going to be a lot more focused on people and their progress and what we can do the next day to help them progress in their faith and repentance and then it will be easy for us to see how we'll need to use our time. That might not make very much sense to you all, but it helps me to feel like I can help more people :)<br /><br />We've been doing well, overall, and I'm running out of time! Thank you for the support and love. Have a great week!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Kitchen mishap (I melted the strainer)</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-81734569155993230432015-09-21T08:46:00.005-07:002015-09-21T08:46:52.877-07:00September 21,2015 - In which it gets briskDear family,<br /><br />This week also went pretty well. We've been working really hard and have been putting in a lot of effort!<br /><br />The Lord has been sending us lots of little things to help us know that we're on the right path. For example, yesterday a member took us on a visit to a very ill less-active member in Hulín to give him a blessing. On the way home we transferred in Otrokovice (the city that shares borders with Zlín and shares the trolleybus system) and we were about to get on a trolleybus back to the center of Zlín but we remembered a less-active member that our branch president had wanted us to try to find that we had never been able to look for because we're almost never in Otrokovice. We tried to go looking for him but we got dreadfully lost on the way. We finally found the (extremely long) street that we wanted but we had no luck finding the correct address. We met this nice, old Seventh-day Adventist lady that was out riding her bike. She stopped and asked us if we were Mormons and got to talking for a little bit. After she found out what we were doing she decided to help and rode ahead to see if she couldn't find the house number that we were looking for on her bike. She left and we soon saw her again. She hadn't found the number but she talked with us for awhile again as we headed back the way we had come. She invited us to come to her church (and we of course invited her to ours). She gave us some candies and we headed back the way we came.<br /><br />We eventually miraculously found the right address (we had missed it the first time), and the name of our less-active member was on the bell. We tried ringing him a couple of times, and then with time everyone else in that apartment building. No answer. We were starting to write a note for him before we left but then the son of the landlord came and told us that our less-active member didn't live there nor had he for a few years. He didn't know where he had gone and we started to leave. We went around the corner of the house and saw an older, bearded man with long, gray hair and no shirt leaning out the window. We asked him if he knew our member and he seemed to know where he had moved to! He gave us directions to a new address near the bus stop where we could catch a bus back to the center of Zlín (by now it was about 4pm and we still hadn't eaten any lunch). He didn't live there or in any of the surrounding buildings, and we had a whale of time trying to get around, but we were grateful for all of the people that had been placed by the Lord in our path.<br /><br />We weren't able to teach J again this week. He didn't come to church, either, yesterday. We're concerned for him but we're not certain what to do to help him. M was at church and said that he wasn't able to come because he needed to help K before she left for school in Prague later that day, but we hope to be able to see him again soon. He's so close to being baptized, but we just want to be able to talk to him again properly about what's going on.<br /><br />There were some exciting developments in our branch last week. A member, E, came home from her mission last week. She spoke on Sunday and our branch was SO EXCITED to see her. There was a buzz in the air all of Sunday from her presence. After church we had our first correlation meeting with Brother Š in his new calling as branch mission leader. E asked if she could sit in and she was a huge help. During the last week in 12-Week Elder Dean and I have been watching training videos from the District about working with the branch specifically and during correlation we tried to bring up some ideas about how we could work together (for example that we could send him miracles once every couple of days through text) and when Br. Š didn't seem to quite get what we were going for. E leaped right in and talked about how much working with the members helped her during in her mission. We had talked about a promise that President Hinckley said that if we would work more closely with members our mission work could double in rate, and E talked about how in her last area that promise was literally fulfilled during the course of two or three months. E being there in correlation and otherwise made a big difference to the members, because instead of these ideas coming from just the missionaries or President V it came from one of their own. We've been struggling to work with some of our members lately but I think that E will make a difference in our branch through her example.<br /><br />Sister D is still doing pretty well. She was at church yesterday and E told us that during Relief Society she mentioned that we had given her the idea to get visiting teaching going again in Zlín and she was apparently really excited to work to get that going again. I think that as we continue to visit her we'll be able to help her move toward activity, but I think her new calling is perfect for her to move along.<br /><br />Love you!<br />Elder Boyce<br /><br />PS Dad mentioned that you're trying to get a family mission plan going... Good work! :) Don't forget the most basic thing in missionary work is loving the person that you're talking to. Don't stress about what you're going to say to someone, just try to love your neighbors and friends and you'll know what to say.<br /><br />PSS I realize I haven't sent any good photos in a while... I'll try and send some good ones during the next week :) I got some cool new sweaters today (it suddenly became fall!) and maybe I'll send some photos of me modelling them (because I know that's what you all really want to see <img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f609" />).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-70859050062707133312015-09-14T14:57:00.005-07:002015-09-14T14:58:14.987-07:00September 14, 2015 - In which we're given talks and get looking for peopleDear family,<br />
<br />
Last week went well! We put a big focus on trying to work with members and helping our branch get excited about missionary work. Last week I mentioned that we had some interesting conversations and we felt like there was something we needed to do to spark excitement in missionary work. Elder Dean and I had a strong feeling that we needed to talk to the branch to share something about enthusiasm, and so last Tuesday we called our branch president and talked to him about it and told him that we wanted to talk to the branch about it. He was excited for us to speak, and gave each of us talks yesterday. He told us that we could take the whole sacrament meeting if we wanted to, and that he would fill time afterwards. Elder Dean shared a thought for about five minutes and then I took almost the rest of the time. I talked about how love for the people around us gives us the ability to see what can happen in the lives of our friends and families and gives us the enthusiasm to try to keep serving even when things are difficult. I'm not certain what kind of effect the talk itself will have, but President V was grateful that we did that. We're trying hard to try to get things set up where we can teach with our members, but we were blessed with opportunities to serve with a member couple and teach Sister D with them afterward. We feel like we're at least making progress on trying to get working with our branch more often. Elder Dean and I at the beginning of the transfer both felt that we need to put work with the members up at about the same level of priority as helping J get baptized and Sister D reactivated.<br />
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Speaking of them, we STILL weren't able to meet with J but he was at church and we had a chance to at least chat with him and M after English. We're itching to talk with him because we haven't been able to have a proper sit-down lesson with him in quite a while, but we're praying that an opportunity will finally go through. We know that he knows that he needs to be baptized and he says that he knows, also, so we're just trying to help.<br />
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We had a good lesson with Sister D on Friday. We felt that we needed to talk about service and callings, since we figured that's something else that she needs to be reactivated. It was a good lesson, and we taught with M and V, members who moved recently into the branch from Olomouc. We were going to invite her to ask to be a visiting teacher on Sunday, but during the lesson that ended up not working out to invite her, (because we found out that visiting teaching isn't functioning right now in Zlín <img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f600" /> ) and so we changed the commitment to something else related to service. We were REALLY surprised, though, because Sunday she was sustained to be a counselor in the Relief Society presidency. We had no idea she had a calling coming already. There's still a road ahead of us to help her be reactivated (she wasn't at church to sustain herself in her new calling), but we're excited for the progress there by her accepting a calling. <br />
<br />
Overall we feel that things are going well here in Zlín. Elder Dean is still doing well. His Czech is improving, but I'm trying to find more ways to help him get integrated into the conversations that are going on around him because he feels like he gets lost. I'm kind of struggling how to involve him more in that way, but overall he's doing well and growing and he loves our members a lot. We're looking high and low for people on our branch, and we found a couple of people last week that are according to it. We're just trying to keep adding to that!!<br />
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That's pretty much everything that's been going on, but we're doing well and are happy :) <br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Boyce<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Out favorite missionary!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just a bit lost...Daniel is the one with the map!</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-26712579585742228092015-09-07T08:42:00.003-07:002015-09-07T08:42:59.272-07:00September 7, 2015 - In which we want to spread some vision aroundDear family,<br /><br />Last week went well, like always we've been working hard and are seeing good from it. We taught more last week than we did the week before and though a lot of things fell through, we were still almost always able to find someone to teach by searching in the area where we were going to teach in the first place. We're trying to get some gears in place and some people preparing for baptism!<br /><br />Unfortunately last week J wasn't able to meet with us, he came to English, though and it was nice to see him there. He didn't come to church Sunday because he wasn't feeling well, but we hope to be able to see him again this week. We fasted about how to help him and to a certain degree we feel like he needs to come to baptism himself, but we want to encourage him this week to perhaps get a calendar out and start praying about dates so he'll have a goal that's his. <br /><br />We also met with Sister D last week. She's doing well. We had a good discussion about the Atonement and how justice and mercy work, and she came to church on Sunday. We think that she needs to just be encouraged along. We're thinking that the next step with her is to teach towards receiving a calling of some sort; to be active she needs to accept a responsibility and we're thinking that perhaps talking to her about her potential in that way will motivate her to attend sacrament meeting more regularly.<br /><br />We're looking and working hard for a young couple that is according to the branch vision, but unfortunately we didn't find any new investigators. We're hoping to have more going on this next week on that end.<br /><br />We had a couple of interesting conversations yesterday and we feel like there's something that we should do to spark some more excitement for missionary work in our branch. We got the impression from a couple of members that they feel that there's something missing and we feel like we as a branch need to set our eyes back on the ideal of of what's possible in Zlín and to especially help each of the members see that they are capable of doing something that will make a difference. We feel that the members can have a huge impact on what we do to help people come to Christ, but we feel like that idea could maybe use some reemphasizing now. We're hoping to talk with our branch president tomorrow about this vision and ask for him to give us talks or 20 minutes after sacrament meeting or something like that (whatever he wants, really) so that we can talk to the members about it. We will see how it goes, but we feel that this will help the branch.<br /><br />Elder Dean is doing well. He's finding out that missionary work (and learning Czech) takes a lot of constant persistence, but he's learning a lot. We're learning a lot together while preparing for our teaching appointments and the other things that we have going each day. His Czech is improving, though he seems to want it to go a little faster. On Saturday we were coming back from an appointment and he felt a little down because he couldn't understand an old man that we were talking to and I told him that at day 10 or 11 in the country he shouldn't be worrying about it (at least not until he gets to day 600 or so...). He's a hard worker and he's already really dedicated to our branch. We've been learning a lot together about the Savior during our studies and it's been great to use that as we teach people during the day. He's also really excited to help the branch get more excited for missionary work.<br /><br />We're both doing well and are trying to just stay yoked with the Savior here. We're out of time, but have a great week!!<br /><br />Lots of love,<br />Elder BoyceUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-45807345122946078652015-08-31T07:42:00.002-07:002015-08-31T07:42:29.935-07:00August 31, 2015 - In which I pick up Elder DeanDear family,<br /><br />Last week was pretty crazy! I don't have a lot of time, unfortunately, but it was really crazy. <br /><br />I mentioned that after Elder Page left on Monday morning I had to find some way to have a companion for Monday and Tuesday until I got to Prague so I had to bounce between Uherské Hradiště and Zlín before I connected with Elder Nelson in Olomouc. We traveled to Prague together Tuesday afternoon, where we had trainers' training, a nice dinner with the McConkies, and stayed in the one of the elders' apartments in Prague (there were nine missionaries in that apartment... crazy). The next morning President McConkie paired us with our companions (mine is Elder Dean from Eagle Mountain, Utah) and then we were on our way. It was an ordeal Wednesday morning because we kept on getting shuffled from place to place to keep us out of sight of the new missionaries. Then there was a big reveal where President paired us together as if it was a game show. We sat in the McConkie's living room with the new missionaries on the front row on the couches with us on some chairs behind them. President called each of the new missionaries up one at a time and started telling them about the city where they're going. The trainers knew instantly who they were going to be with so we were all whispering intently in the back row. Since we got to Zlin we've had a great week, we've been working hard. I met the secret goal from President McConkie and worked hard enough to get Elder Dean to fall asleep in church yesterday from sheer exhaustion :D<br /><br />Elder Dean is a great missionary, he already knows how to be courageous. He contacts whole bus stops of people and the other day leaped up onto a planter to try and talk to about ten people at once. If we lived in the days of preaching on top of soap boxes, he'd get along just fine! He is doing really well in his Czech and yesterday bore a pretty solid testimony at church. He told about when he first came into our chapel he felt really strongly that this is where he's supposed to be.<br /><br />We made some pretty specific goals for the transfer for trying to help people prepare to be baptized and reactivated, and we also want to find a younger couple that can be a strength to the branch, and we set goals for trying to work with members. We put a focus on obedience and hard work, and I think it set a good tone for the transfer, especially since it's Elder Dean's first. We were also able to coordinate with President V about a few less-active members, which was a great blessing.<br /><br />We weren't able to meet with J or Sister D last week, which was too bad, but we still found some great people that we hope to be able to meet with this week.<br /><br />I'm doing pretty well, and am excited for the new transfer! I'm just about out of time, but have a great week.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwwDFf9ocNPJNmENUpTsY9KOcOPOOpZx-k361x6LmrGFrAd0ggIhq4qLg0Z3TNinVaKykIOFFXLfsSeSbYyMUjcEzSresSBS6RMLCzAlvHABjexdFQYE6OxstlUkYA99SbSAZAHolWTY/s1600/DSC00976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwwDFf9ocNPJNmENUpTsY9KOcOPOOpZx-k361x6LmrGFrAd0ggIhq4qLg0Z3TNinVaKykIOFFXLfsSeSbYyMUjcEzSresSBS6RMLCzAlvHABjexdFQYE6OxstlUkYA99SbSAZAHolWTY/s640/DSC00976.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">After dinner and trainers' training last Tuesday we went up to this lookout point in a park near the church building in Prague. This is where President McConkie took me and my group our first day in the country and told us all about the history of the city and the Velvet Revolution. It was cool to come back again.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Karlův most -- Charles's Bridge</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhdpXdF2DopfpKdE61two9ZIY_F_PbgjB9wcHVPJtIU4bbYIKa5dWXCeNWGxawCOD1LHudeZFZ4MfwD44fsrE0BEObl2I2GOwkEgrTMvfewqnu2AkiD6FXFD1Na1TsgY_Cs__zd9HT0A/s1600/DSC00989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhdpXdF2DopfpKdE61two9ZIY_F_PbgjB9wcHVPJtIU4bbYIKa5dWXCeNWGxawCOD1LHudeZFZ4MfwD44fsrE0BEObl2I2GOwkEgrTMvfewqnu2AkiD6FXFD1Na1TsgY_Cs__zd9HT0A/s640/DSC00989.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is my new companion! And it was first time drinking Kofola!!!!!!!!! (I was so proud it's our national treasure)</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-24726653139453846622015-08-24T09:27:00.000-07:002015-08-24T09:30:04.052-07:00August 24, 2015 - In which the Lord hath granted me a son, as the saying goesDear family,<br />
<br />
Last week, while not a banner week for finding or teaching results, was still a great week. I loved training and got a lot out of it. Not very many people stopped to talk with us last week, but it was still a good week.<br />
<br />
J is doing pretty well. I mentioned last week, that though he didn't have a set baptismal date, he agreed to have a baptismal interview on Thursday. His interview was successful, and at the moment were mostly praying about how to help him accept a baptismal date. He's shared with us personally that he knows that baptism is the correct step eventually, and we don't want to just drill "You need to be baptized" every lesson, so we're trying to think of different ways to help him strengthen his faith and see how the gospel will bless him. We're going to try to get some other members involved with him to help him strengthen relationships with members that he might not talk to as often.<br />
<br />
Sister D is doing really well. She's definitely at the critical stage where she's either going to be reactivated really soon or not for a long time. Lately she's realizing that she needs to change, which leads to interesting lessons because she's not quite certain how to deal with this knowledge at the moment. She's doing well, though, because she's continuing to study the gospel and the messages at church seemed this week to be tailored right at her. She wants us to talk about the atonement when we come next week, which we'll, of course, be happy to do :) As for other less-actives D isn't making a lot of progress right now. Last week the misisonary that baptized him came to visit and talked with D for a while about the Melchizedek Priesthood. We hope that it'll help him. President V also gave us a list of about 20 less-active members in Zlín to look for, which we spent a fair amount of time with last week. Not too much came out of it, but I think that it's a signal that he's trusting us a bit more... or testing us :)<br />
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We had Zone Conference last week and it was SO GOOD! President and Sister McConkie's trainings helped me a lot, especially as I've been applying them together. President McConkie talked about having a higher vision even when things are difficult and Sister McConkie taught us about prayer. I learned a lot that helped me personally We talked about the characteristics that we want to have when we become parents and then talked about how God perfectly fulfills each of those characteristics, and how since each of us as children of God are more than just His creations (like how the child of an architect is more than just the skyscraper that he designed), He wants to just to be involved in our lives. Sister McConkie's training helped me realize that God is already present in our lives, but I can talk to Him just as much as I could talk to my best friend. I've been trying to remember that as I pray since then it's been in a word wonderful. I feel like when I pray now that God is there, like a second companion! It's helped me to be better (you're more motivated to be better when God is walking with you side by side). It's helped me to do what President said, to have always have my eyes high, because when God is with me it's easy to remember that. I haven't felt like that 100% of the time since training, but it's helped me so much. I've been praying a lot more to involve God in the details of our work, and I know He's listening. <br />
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On Friday we were tracting the apartment building next to a less-active members home when they weren't able to talk to us, and we weren't get a lot of answers through the downstairs bell. I prayed that someone would talk to us, and before I could even start to say amen in my heart the bell crackled to life! I jumped about a foot in the air (Elder Page can testify of that) and then started to talk to them. I know that God is with us, and I'm so grateful.<br />
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Today were transfers! Elder Page is gone to Jihlava! I'm training a new missionary!! (I'm a dad, so to say.) I'm way out of time.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder BoyceUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-29568230009094825102015-08-17T10:50:00.003-07:002015-08-17T10:53:19.472-07:00August 17, 2015 - In which we find some peopleDear family,<br />
<br />
We had a great week! There were some pretty unusual challenges, a lot of praying, and a lot of talking about how to help J. We really baked here in Zlín, but we were still blessed with some miracles.<br />
<br />
J has been the biggest topic of conversation and thought this week in our companionship. He's SO CLOSE to getting baptized. We weren't able to meet with him at all during the week, but we talked to him last night and he said that he feels like Saturday is still too early. There are still a few obstacles for him to overcome. Though he's not planning on being baptized this Saturday, he did agree to have an interview on Thursday so he can talk with Elder Shepherd (our district leader) about whether he's actually spiritually prepared, even though he doesn't have a firm date set. We're really hoping that he'll soon resolve concerns and are sort sitting on pins and needles for the moment. We still feel like he's doing well, and know that the decision to be baptized is his alone. He came to sacrament meeting yesterday and when he found out that we were going to Prague today for visa work he offered to drive us there. He picked up one of his daughters from the airport a little after we had to be there, but we had a good time during the three-hour ride to Prague :) One of his tires went flat on the way and we helped him get the spare on, and you can't come out of that experience without a stronger relationship!<br />
<br />
We found a couple of really great people during the week. On Tuesday we met P and M. P is about 25 years old and is here from Zlín. We met him in an interesting way. It was boiling hot on Tuesday afternoon and we were out contacting on family history. There was NO ONE out and we weren't quite certain where to go. We felt inspired to hike up the hill that we were to try and follow up with an investigator that we hadn't heard from in a while. On the way up the hill we P. He was really interested in finding out more about family history, and we found out that during some English contacting a couple of weeks ago he met Elder Shepherd and gave him his phone number for the reminder text that we send. He had received the text that we sent out earlier, and was planning on not going, but because he met us he said he that he changed his mind and he came and had a good time at English. We met last Friday and taught him how to start with family history and we told him that we could tell him how his family can be together forever. He set up with us to talk about before English tomorrow!<br />
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We also met a woman named M on Tuesday morning. She is originally from Guatemala but met her Czech husband in Chicago and has been living in the Czech Republic for about seven years. She said something to us that I've never heard before: "My family are all Mormons back in Guatemala. It seems like being Mormons makes a really big, positive difference in their life. How do I go about joining your church?" We told her that we could take care of that :) She committed to come to sacrament meeting on the 23rd, but unfortunately we wouldn't set up to meet or able to exchange any contact information. Though we weren't able to set up with M, we felt really blessed by the Lord to meet her and P and the others that we were able to meet during the last week.<br />
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We were also really blessed to spend some time with our branch president over the weekend. He was the only one that came to game night with his kids, but we spent some time being able to chat with him about the branch and some needs that we have. After church we also went through the entire branch list and he gave us assignments of people to look for.<br />
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That's pretty much everything that's new for now. Sister D wasn't able to come to church, but she should be coming next week. We're trying to push forward through the last week of the transfer (somehow it's week 9 again)! We want some new people to teach! Thanks for the love and prayers, and sorry for no photos again this week :)<br />
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Love,<br />
Elder BoyceUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-28616682786103461932015-08-10T09:46:00.002-07:002015-08-10T09:46:43.333-07:00August 10, 2015 - In which we bakeDear family,<br /><br />This week was pretty interesting. Zlín was extremely hot and we baked here! Despite the heat we tried our best to maintain a positive attitude. Lots of people have been hiding inside during the day so we made an adjustment and went knocking on their doors even more than normal. Lots of our plans fell through and didn't turn out quite the way that we expected. Though we taught a lot, we only managed to get one member lesson set up, and we weren't able to get too much set up in general, actually!<br /><br />The main great news is that J agreed to work together to be baptized on the 22nd of August. We weren't able to meet with him at the normal times last week, but we stopped by last night. We talked about how Peter first met Christ. We used Luke 5 as a base. It was a good lesson. At the beginning of the lesson J told us that he feels like baptism is the correct decision, but is mostly praying about the timing for when he should be baptized. We talked about faith and how it seems to us that his situation is very similar to Peter's there in Luke 5. I'll let you read it yourselves, but it shows how Peter left EVERYTHING to follow the Savior, because he felt something and knew that Jesus was something more than a normal man. The Spirit was there very strongly. We feel like J needs to make a similar decision, like Peter did. We invited him to be baptized on the 22nd and he immediately answered by saying that he would pray about it and also said that he would need to speak with his parents and his older daughter, K, about the decision. I don't think that his parents know much of anything about how he and his family are religious now, and we know that K isn't very supportive. I think that he'll go for it in the end. Even if he doesn't make the 22nd, Elder Page and I agree that if it won't be that day it'll be soon.<br /><br />We had a few other great successes. Sister D came to church again, we met some really interesting people on the street, and so on :) We met a man from Rome who was here with his wife on vacation. He had heard a lot about us, but a lot of it was wildly inaccurate so we had a fun time answering all of questions about how we actually do believe in Jesus Christ. We had a meeting with a new investigator, M, who also had a lot of great questions. M is from the United Arab Emirates, and talks pretty fast in pretty garbled English. He doesn't speak any Czech. He doesn't have much of a Christian background, so it's exciting to see him hear and put together in his head for the first time a message about Christ.<br /><br />The heat has been adding some excitement to our work here. And when I say excitement I mean extreme awkwardness. Czechs typically loose all of their clothing when it's hot, and so when we tract we often meet people in their underwear. I've seen more old men in only their underpants than I've ever wanted to see. Sometimes you have to look <i>really closely</i> into people's eyes! :)<br /><br />Today we went to the Zoo for P-day. I didn't have time to photos, but it was a lot of fun :)<br /><br />I'm out of time, but we had an exciting week and we're excited for the next one.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Boyce<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Today we are at the zoo! We just fed stingrays.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-33628634031370865812015-08-03T11:16:00.001-07:002015-08-03T11:18:48.223-07:00August 3, 2015 - In which I have a Samuel the Lamanite momentDear family,<br />
<br />
Last week went pretty well. We had some interesting ups and downs! We met some great people that were really nice, and at those times it was really easy to be a missionary. On Friday we had a funny experience where a lady was really apologetic as she was hurrying away from us for an appointment. We gave her a pass-along card, and she was so grateful and promised us to take a look as she hurried away. It was the most validating pass-along card handoff ever :) We met some other great people that we're set up with and we have a good-looking week ahead of us. We had some more difficult moments, though. For example where we were stuck in circles not being able to help someone understand that prayer actually does work or more than half of our current investigators going on vacation for two weeks and so on. Friday was a really difficult day, and it was difficult to keep going. We decided, to though, and as soon as we went back out someone threw beer at me from across the street. I felt like Samuel the Lamanite, though, because it didn't hit me and even though it landed <i>right</i> in front of me all that splashed on me was one drop! Even though this week has been difficult, it made me think that the Lord is definitely aware of me and not letting me go through something that I can't handle without His help. While there may be crazy or upsetting things flying around me, I still know who I've trusted.<br />
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I don't have time to go into too many details, but we did teach Sister D this week. We talked about having help from the Savior while changing, because she sometimes shares feelings of being overwhelmed. I think it was good, and it's great to hear her testimony. We hope that she'll make it to church next week.<br />
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We taught J on Tuesday. We had a great discussion about the Sacrament, why we would want to remember the Savior in the first place, and how we can remember Him during the Sacrament. He and M had some great insights about the Savior. He just needs to make his own decision to be baptized, but we're doing our best to help him.<br />
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We're working hard here in Zlín. We're praying a lot and always trying to fine-tune our finding and the other aspects of our work. Thanks for all of your love and prayers! I'm out of time, but have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Boyce<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The sunset on Thursday over downtown. We were coming back from tracting</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sunday after church we had a BBQ to send off our missionary. We made a lot of apple muffins, which were a hit! :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The spread. We had an opekání like during my first week in Zlín. Behind me was the fire for us to roast špekačky (sausages).</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The most gourmet fruit cake that the world has ever seen. M made it for our missionary.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today we went to see this cathedral/former monastery, Velehrad. Every year thousands of pilgrims gather here because it has a connection to the patron saints of Europe, Cyril and Metoděj (I don't what there English names are), who introduced Christianity (and literacy if I remember correctly) to this end of Europe. I only got some exterior photos because photography inside wasn't allowed, but it was a pretty cathedral. There was an interesting exhibit about how many thousands of pilgrims even managed to gather here in 1984 during Communism despite lots of government opposition.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I liked this statue because you don't often see statues of the resurrected Savior here. The inscription is "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" Matt. 11:28</span></td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-61944801393513221082015-07-29T18:00:00.003-07:002015-07-29T18:14:34.042-07:00July 27, 2015 - In which we go to Karlštejn!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dear family,<br />
<br />
We had a great week last week! The beginning was really good and the highlight was definitely going to Karlštejn. I don't have too much time, unfortunately, to go into the nice details, but here's the rundown :) <br />
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Monday: P-day! Normal. We went to the gym for P-day. It was exciting.<br />
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Tuesday: We met some good people during the day while we were out contacting. We had a good lesson with D, though he didn't get to come to church this week :( Only one person came to each English class, but Elder Page and I both had really good experiences during English. I taught at beginners' an older man named M who came for the first time that week. After English we had a great spiritual thought where we talked about strengthening our faith in scripture. I talked about how I first came to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and how ever since then I have feelings from the Spirit whenever I read the Book of Mormon and the Bible. M is a believer that's always taken the Bible for granted, and had never really had a feeling from God where he said that he could know that the Bible is from Him. He didn't accept a Book of Mormon, but he said he wanted to try praying about the Bible and then is going to tell me how that goes :)<br />
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Wednesday: It was HOT. We wanted to meet with J and K again today, but they cancelled later in the day. We met some great people though when he had a table on the square. We also man met J, who was walking behind us on a bridge and was making fun of us on the phone to his friend. After he ended the call, he greeted us and found out that he's really interested to talk about faith. It was a great contact.<br />
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Thursday: Taught I, had service at Š, went to Olomouc in the evening to go to Prague on Friday, and a bird pooped on our phone!<br />
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Friday: Karlštejn! Karlštejn was great. I sent a lot of photos for the blog, but we had a great time commemorating the dedication of our mission. It was a special day because it was the 25th anniversary of the return of missionaries to the Czechoslovakia after the fall of communism. We in a sense reenacted the the original dedicatory service by having a picnic together, going up, hearing some testimonies, having a prayer, and coming down. We heard about how when Christ first called his apostles, that he would make them to become fishers of men, and by simply doing our best and participating fulling in missionary work, Christ would do the same for us. Fifty missionaries had to run to catch the train back to Prague :) We had endless delays getting back to Zlín and didn't arrive until almost ten.<br />
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Saturday: I had a twenty-four bug and we were stuck inside.<br />
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Sunday: Elder Page had a twenty-four bug and we were stuck inside, though we made it to Sacrament Meeting.<br />
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Monday: We went to the castle Buchlov! I sent a lot of photos, and unfortunately I'm really out of time. The pictures say it all :)<br />
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I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Boyce<br />
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The next few pictures were sent by Elder Page's mother!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fourth of July preparations</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Selfie! Daniel and his companion Elder Page</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elder Boyce is ready for the day!</span></td></tr>
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Now for the pictures Daniel sent today...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;"> This is some guláš I made a couple of weeks ago :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO2jl52yVfojSzu_JTtoFm5-ggygGljNRrWMzhututPWykFZiRz5EQykjK_sdlA_-80jgdjx6oa5_OmEOde6KzwYLb1k9WgJg8PrzTYtwyoQhZifbNIkdQG1RuE3kUYNrlYZeXQf3VYoU/s1600/DSC00592.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO2jl52yVfojSzu_JTtoFm5-ggygGljNRrWMzhututPWykFZiRz5EQykjK_sdlA_-80jgdjx6oa5_OmEOde6KzwYLb1k9WgJg8PrzTYtwyoQhZifbNIkdQG1RuE3kUYNrlYZeXQf3VYoU/s640/DSC00592.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A really interesting thunderhead that we saw when we were coming home from tracting.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUGSZpNo8jXBMlrHXDFOqmwYo8uPEA8SWUJhueISAcZGpcKCIlajqbuFxfy_AXd1dwI8B_i7v6I6jgpRt948Utd5bbCzDb07gfBcYYPydB753hjIcUwMh4_r52P0bpP_u-6mnR5uHZUg/s1600/DSC00621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUGSZpNo8jXBMlrHXDFOqmwYo8uPEA8SWUJhueISAcZGpcKCIlajqbuFxfy_AXd1dwI8B_i7v6I6jgpRt948Utd5bbCzDb07gfBcYYPydB753hjIcUwMh4_r52P0bpP_u-6mnR5uHZUg/s640/DSC00621.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The night before Karlštejn (so this last Thursday night) we stayed in Olomouc for the night. The sunset was great :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAlMc9lwhluAqwBYQMVzcza6yBiHuT3rhCfXMd0Kkpy71k1pkvat_wdyCOYgtPkKW1EZo5BzkyDZWtMWE9PpT46Po3L00kJXzLeub0viEejUeq9r3Z5ndvw_CjukE_wxEm9aEg5p0uD9M/s1600/DSC00623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAlMc9lwhluAqwBYQMVzcza6yBiHuT3rhCfXMd0Kkpy71k1pkvat_wdyCOYgtPkKW1EZo5BzkyDZWtMWE9PpT46Po3L00kJXzLeub0viEejUeq9r3Z5ndvw_CjukE_wxEm9aEg5p0uD9M/s640/DSC00623.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Olomouc is so pretty</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUpC_5mp-P-Fjw1zs6-gqtoeioUvVV-stfo_BSP0_P1ar5I6OGVQp_oFS2HCrgOojmyi89ZSk4-So-9Kcr2CLtMwkGXaOQOYX6U-0LPYTDpVUJlr8D0GYdUKMMLUG87jpyL2hNdnq75I/s1600/DSC00624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUpC_5mp-P-Fjw1zs6-gqtoeioUvVV-stfo_BSP0_P1ar5I6OGVQp_oFS2HCrgOojmyi89ZSk4-So-9Kcr2CLtMwkGXaOQOYX6U-0LPYTDpVUJlr8D0GYdUKMMLUG87jpyL2hNdnq75I/s640/DSC00624.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhRRI-j5f-31ZTUvV-z3DNgylRSV6CrPn3yKzApzZ9NCjq-x5t5HP7gnb2frZBzNKeSwLBBW1LrffT24VXlER2p2EKDCxsyt85pFw8VtPsxTC0_-lnZdV6cga8XztOVczWwAbe_7FhmQ/s1600/DSC00642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhRRI-j5f-31ZTUvV-z3DNgylRSV6CrPn3yKzApzZ9NCjq-x5t5HP7gnb2frZBzNKeSwLBBW1LrffT24VXlER2p2EKDCxsyt85pFw8VtPsxTC0_-lnZdV6cga8XztOVczWwAbe_7FhmQ/s640/DSC00642.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">This is in the train from Prague to Karlštejn. The train was full of missionaries! It was a good time. On the way up I sat with my MTC group.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi-z2q124o6TSt9GbZ2QylN7fGSX4nRli2KL71zoMeC5oR6WSqn-CVPy0Q0SyINoyP_0P9DRlSVEsI_M-32lirNIenL-0LJOCa74TYiVCfuRoSynGgIWbIjrMru9e89nqRMFfMpXdfn_s/s1600/DSC00647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi-z2q124o6TSt9GbZ2QylN7fGSX4nRli2KL71zoMeC5oR6WSqn-CVPy0Q0SyINoyP_0P9DRlSVEsI_M-32lirNIenL-0LJOCa74TYiVCfuRoSynGgIWbIjrMru9e89nqRMFfMpXdfn_s/s640/DSC00647.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">All of the missionaries hiking up the hill!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnepLMiJiFpAUA7uAS-yzsuo34mjhNGimC2G7jn2G5WX5wwvNY_MhvsJIrDiEsr5uxRsPpPh3GClfB3jK4Y7TVAiHQqBGEoPiz5XyV9i5hoZEwun6AYIZ4O9tgX-uMReqiVTjdv5LEqds/s1600/DSC00650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnepLMiJiFpAUA7uAS-yzsuo34mjhNGimC2G7jn2G5WX5wwvNY_MhvsJIrDiEsr5uxRsPpPh3GClfB3jK4Y7TVAiHQqBGEoPiz5XyV9i5hoZEwun6AYIZ4O9tgX-uMReqiVTjdv5LEqds/s640/DSC00650.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Then coming back down the hill we stopped at the city limits sign; Elder Page and Daniel.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbqoAAkkqIkhr_aiNgZjlmEHXPgfz1Byz42tdD82u68wkGBB0Fyp7Dulw5v_zd9_iSmOJx7ydSXzqkAiCo24cYXTQrlDrSRqUyhGwZ-65kpKmfID-r6Kn-OLKJh5WTKum7p7spg-MBQk/s1600/DSC00651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbqoAAkkqIkhr_aiNgZjlmEHXPgfz1Byz42tdD82u68wkGBB0Fyp7Dulw5v_zd9_iSmOJx7ydSXzqkAiCo24cYXTQrlDrSRqUyhGwZ-65kpKmfID-r6Kn-OLKJh5WTKum7p7spg-MBQk/s640/DSC00651.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The castle </span><span style="font-size: small;">Karlštejn</span><span style="font-size: small;">! This is the main tourist attraction in that town, but this is actually the closest I've ever been to it. The site where the dedication originally took place is more to the side.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGIRTgmu5brTzcMvBXtVN1thHrHBI2UXGuHKsI4IhQOu8ZCxDq7Yw0cdOHXgq1xs0YFerlaY5GIF4qJxv_mj-98KxKrTajVGGBLiGC-8vj0FnM-fvSHM95HWvtfshVRkB5dKQ8_mgpyk/s1600/DSC00660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGIRTgmu5brTzcMvBXtVN1thHrHBI2UXGuHKsI4IhQOu8ZCxDq7Yw0cdOHXgq1xs0YFerlaY5GIF4qJxv_mj-98KxKrTajVGGBLiGC-8vj0FnM-fvSHM95HWvtfshVRkB5dKQ8_mgpyk/s640/DSC00660.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Today for P-day we went up to this castle - Buchlov!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDVd6c-mDkG8vvrB_OwU2FcuX8cPHC8y5sdtIS_Ib4_MIZU90cpmyuTLqlJFbo88srALHqqUCQGi74kwENFdqC6aJgMSiKo_sb7tGn-E9w0xRCyfZ6qlFHSqoQSk-9Dcnem7Ah-73tmOI/s1600/DSC00670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDVd6c-mDkG8vvrB_OwU2FcuX8cPHC8y5sdtIS_Ib4_MIZU90cpmyuTLqlJFbo88srALHqqUCQGi74kwENFdqC6aJgMSiKo_sb7tGn-E9w0xRCyfZ6qlFHSqoQSk-9Dcnem7Ah-73tmOI/s640/DSC00670.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The castle. We didn't go inside because it was really expensive and we didn't have time for a tour.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvZqgBrXTcS2hyphenhyphentI294QOvTAyuE2a9efByR5sjx8AnOHPPKKtu9HoSZu8iZu6KNs-SR_wTEy83YqgssQtiO7hVj_sNsFRLiDynQiedzEtyQHy-KPKW8QUSYHb9-jkhQHgDZ5EuUjbl0-8/s1600/DSC00671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvZqgBrXTcS2hyphenhyphentI294QOvTAyuE2a9efByR5sjx8AnOHPPKKtu9HoSZu8iZu6KNs-SR_wTEy83YqgssQtiO7hVj_sNsFRLiDynQiedzEtyQHy-KPKW8QUSYHb9-jkhQHgDZ5EuUjbl0-8/s640/DSC00671.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">We were entertained by the unlikely spot in which this tree is growing!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OkSFW-JTQo2LetLy6Jm_-3ZsEO1O15ssSER19b_CvFlSTMwSVlFW2yKVriSsQ43nIt7g6baYLCkMmiwazc1m24edwX0BYyUfr9iDE_7s83M12AR22hbB4xSA4cfLoWuY6bUgyA5u9T0/s1600/DSC00663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OkSFW-JTQo2LetLy6Jm_-3ZsEO1O15ssSER19b_CvFlSTMwSVlFW2yKVriSsQ43nIt7g6baYLCkMmiwazc1m24edwX0BYyUfr9iDE_7s83M12AR22hbB4xSA4cfLoWuY6bUgyA5u9T0/s640/DSC00663.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pretty!</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLoOy2_HAsFNIC6eQgzlS4KeJ2OrJILgCVOblQpZnFDWppQ-D5WMkKMfEeHlz3XFKmK-_FjAhh8Xd85ijpW6zllsRIf4hRcgItd3ob-6irDEpyz4qB08WY1sKhFjiXSFoWM0NSUg6EKjM/s1600/DSC00674+-+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLoOy2_HAsFNIC6eQgzlS4KeJ2OrJILgCVOblQpZnFDWppQ-D5WMkKMfEeHlz3XFKmK-_FjAhh8Xd85ijpW6zllsRIf4hRcgItd3ob-6irDEpyz4qB08WY1sKhFjiXSFoWM0NSUg6EKjM/s640/DSC00674+-+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">That's real happiness :)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjriyrE-wYL-K3vBUQ5S78xdhoZgS0hDDF4qjsFkyJ3G0JuGjdVYLd4ueWA13X5IJwK_lZHBoNNSjCVJMjn5cxIY3vVLhDs9O-1EJ6C11tWDUvaRZAItXpNHr6-hiUKOjs3giFYNkgkJtQ/s1600/DSC00674.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjriyrE-wYL-K3vBUQ5S78xdhoZgS0hDDF4qjsFkyJ3G0JuGjdVYLd4ueWA13X5IJwK_lZHBoNNSjCVJMjn5cxIY3vVLhDs9O-1EJ6C11tWDUvaRZAItXpNHr6-hiUKOjs3giFYNkgkJtQ/s640/DSC00674.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Whenever I see this kind of field I just have to do the <i>Sound of Music</i> pose!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8674MWq2sUC-Z-CiPnzhJ39fRrZ7c3FWSdwpb8GVkWCz-T5aKys3wxb9SZbtavdRotFbzFew3K_vzGueKC4WHEaXOrgYA1ERyjDZzff95yRdO6fuNNWxDZsN77W4rPZ3CsDSvVqG7BX8/s1600/DSC00675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8674MWq2sUC-Z-CiPnzhJ39fRrZ7c3FWSdwpb8GVkWCz-T5aKys3wxb9SZbtavdRotFbzFew3K_vzGueKC4WHEaXOrgYA1ERyjDZzff95yRdO6fuNNWxDZsN77W4rPZ3CsDSvVqG7BX8/s640/DSC00675.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Pretty flowers in the field!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd478Uzix7sfw4iNPbIR47gJIIxhj9lfDerSXAwalvAflIUOHcS9rDYiqOLRnpBQMu26k-RP0NLREMw4PexTBgjSOacedt5cpDDsAUCLdqKH9UOzeqCnmcZKeLjUyQox8an5LrEYKn3uc/s1600/DSC00676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd478Uzix7sfw4iNPbIR47gJIIxhj9lfDerSXAwalvAflIUOHcS9rDYiqOLRnpBQMu26k-RP0NLREMw4PexTBgjSOacedt5cpDDsAUCLdqKH9UOzeqCnmcZKeLjUyQox8an5LrEYKn3uc/s640/DSC00676.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">We all had to conquer the hay bale, naturally.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjyLWaBQwC71i2oLMPUAHzJkituYgN_WywGGxWZf4miqqKAWy6hyphenhyphen0jd3P2b177EqKQjFDvm9R4aLauZZMUOsv497pA38KpzKNIorD6fole8JZVLxPHDsktKezZvDoPoJ2MbdALzOYkN_0/s1600/DSC00666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjyLWaBQwC71i2oLMPUAHzJkituYgN_WywGGxWZf4miqqKAWy6hyphenhyphen0jd3P2b177EqKQjFDvm9R4aLauZZMUOsv497pA38KpzKNIorD6fole8JZVLxPHDsktKezZvDoPoJ2MbdALzOYkN_0/s640/DSC00666.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The story behind the picture: On the way up to the castle we found these wooden animals and felt the need to take a stupid photo with them, so we did. Just outside the castle we stopped to eat at a picnic table before we went in, and I left my camera on the table (first time ever losing my camera). This was the most recent photo on the camera with people on it, and so by recognizing me from this photo I was able to get my camera back from the restaurant that the people who found the camera took it to. It's super embarrassing.</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-40407780130782890802015-07-20T07:09:00.001-07:002015-07-22T08:07:19.182-07:00July 20, 2015 - In which I eat coffee (oops)<br />Dear family,<br /><br />Last week went pretty well. Some funny things happened! When we were a visiting a less-active member with another member during the week, we got fed a cake full of coffee. We had no idea that there was coffee in it until we, of course, took huge bites, when we definitely knew. We weren't quite certain what to do with the remainder of the cake, and after a series of irrational thoughts the first idea that seemed good was to hide it down my sock. Which was also irrational. The second idea that I had was to eat the rest all in one bite as fast as possible, which is what I did. (I think that was also a rash decision because I spent the rest of the lesson freaking out that I ate coffee!) President McConkie assured us that we didn't sin, but it was a pretty funny experience :))<br /><br />We had a pretty good meeting with J again after church yesterday. J and M invited us over for lunch and we talked about how despite the fact that the individual members of the Church aren't perfect, we can still know that we're led by a prophet with priesthood keys. It ended being pretty difficult for me, at least, to teach well but it was good because the Spirit was definitely present when we bore testimony and J said that the discussion helped him a lot. We also decided with him and M that we could pray every day together so that their daughter will be more tolerant of their decision to be a part of a church. We looked at each other's family photos and it was a nice visit.<br /><br />We met with both Sister D and D V during the week, also. Those meetings went pretty well, though I won't go into detail at the moment.<br /><br />We had some good experiences finding people that our branch needs. We've been dedicating days to finding particular people (for example on Wednesday we focused on finding a young man our age or so the whole day) and had some success. We tried some early-morning contacting and found a Catholic dad that is pretty eager for us to come over to his home and talk about the Book of Mormon and on the Wednesday when we were looking for a student-age man at the very end of the day we taught a group of five of them that are all friends a first lesson (three are interested in learning more, though we didn't get to set up a specific return appointment).<br /><br />Things are going pretty well, overall. On the 24th of July we're all going up to Karlštejn like last year to commemorate the dedication of the Czech land for the preaching of the gospel. We're pretty excited, because it was really fun and uplifting last year! We'll get some good pictures :)<br /><br />Thanks for all the support, help, and prayers!<br /><br /><div>
Love,<br /><br />Elder Boyce</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724849137125354925.post-77169847117115714332015-07-13T11:24:00.003-07:002015-07-13T11:24:55.410-07:00July 13, 2015 - In which the assistants come for exchangesDear family,<br /><br />Last week was pretty exciting! On Wednesday the assistants came for an exchange. On Thursday when we worked together each of our companionships taught eight lessons. We've been teaching a lot in general during the last week, more than thirty. Our exchange was a real testament of how much we can do in a day; we each had only two lessons set up beforehand but talk six from teaching people that we met. It was a great exchange and we saw how much the Lord placed people at every hand that we needed to talk to. I can't say all that happened because of time, but we met all kinds of people, and they definitely needed something from. We weren't able to set up with almost anyone that we met, unfortunately; many of the people that we talked to ended up not being interested to find out more, but we felt that at the end of the day we definitely were supposed to meet all of the people that we met.<br /><br />I feel like we're really at the breaking point for something wonderful to happen here in Zlín. I think the day that we had with the assistants showed it, but also how hard it's been since the exchange. Since then it's been, I feel, harder than before to talk to people and teach but at the same time we've been finally able to set up with some more people to teach them. I feel like I've been talking to so many people that my head is spinning a little bit, but I think we're in a good place.<br /><br />During the past two weeks the investigators that we have as a goal to get baptized this transfer have all been on vacation, but this week J J and J and K should be back in Zlin. We are really excited to meet with them! :) We're praying for miracles there.<br /><br />We've also seen during the last week some good progress with S D. We had a lesson with her last week where we went through a spiritual self-evaluation. We adapted the questions that Elder Ballard asked during priesthood session of general conference we're he talked about raising the bar. We left that list of questions and later in the week she told us that she had looked at them and realized that there was a lot that she actually can do to improve herself. We walked her to church on Sunday, and she's doing well. <br /><br />I'm just about out of time, but we're still pushing forward in the work here, because we have great things going on!!<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder BoyceUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0