September 15, 2014 - In which we have District Conference

Dear family,

There were a couple of really exciting things that happened last week here! We met a man, P, who would be perfect for this branch. He is a family man with business experience, a car, and would be able to fill a leadership position in the branch. Friday night we were able to visit him at the pizzeria which he owns, where he told us most of his life story. He's very considerate and hard-working, and he would just be great. We weren't able to share much of a message then, but he's really excited for us to return to talk more about what we believe!

We also had a couple of exciting lessons with some less-active members. Sister Ř, one of them, opened up to us really well when we were over for lunch. She talked a lot about her concerns and her and her family's story about how they met the church, their missionaries, and why they're not going right now. She was was very open with us, which is fantastic because that means that we can help! With another less-active member, O, we've been talking for the past several weeks about the Temple and the "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple" pamphlet. Yesterday we made a list of things that are between her and the Temple. She's excited to plan with us on how we can overcome them. It was really positive!

Last month at our training, President McConkie gave a section on perfectionism that was truly just inspired! It feels like almost everything that I've been learning since then has basically been in relation to that. As we all know I am a huge perfectionist, but I think the Lord sent me to České Budějovice to burn that out of me :) I've been working to hard to be more patient and forgiving, and I think each experience has made me more Christlike.

Saturday we had just the funniest day. We had planned to go out to serve one of our member's friends at their cottage. (As a little bit of background, many, many Czechs own apartments in the city and very tiny, old cottages in the country. As a little more background, Czechs HATE being out in the rain.) We were planning to only be out there for three hours maximum, serve a lot out in the yard, and then continue home to work for the remainder of the normal day. Unfortunately, however, it was raining. Our hosts forced us to stop working and then we proceeded to experience Czech cottage eating. Instead of working outside, we were set to work in the kitchen, where we took about an hour and a half to slice up fresh forest mushrooms that the Sisters collected. We then took another hour and half to eat, and another hour and a half for all four missionaries to clean. It wasn't ideal, but it was very Czech! Then we went home and went to District Conference, which was wonderful!

I'm about out of time, but lots of love from over here.

Love,
Elder Boyce

September 8, 2014 - In which we serve at the Wallace Toronto Project

Dear family,

We had quite an interesting week last week! There were a couple of really exciting things that went on, first of all probably the Wallace Toronto Project, which was in Plzeň. It was put on by the Wallace Toronto Foundation, a foundation started by returned Czech/Slovak missionaries which performs service in the Czech or Slovak Republics every year. Wallace Toronto, in whose memory the foundation is named, was the president of the Czechoslovak Mission for more than twenty years starting from after WWI ended to his death during the Communist era. He has a terribly interesting, inspiring story that I'll have to tell you another time. Google it! (Also his wife Martha Toronto Anderson wrote an autobiography The Cherry Tree Behind the Iron Curtain).

For the project we left our area to go to Plzeň Friday afternoon for the fireside Friday night, served all day on Saturday, and then didn't arrive back until 8pm Saturday night. For the project about 100 members from all over the mission spent all day serving at a variety of locations. My group was a home for disabled people and we lacquered a very, very, very, long fence. Everyone smelled like turpentine afterward, because we had to clean up with paint thinner and I'll leave it at that :)

Other exciting things! We met with both P and finally E this week and had good meetings. We're not sure about meeting their dates of the 27th, but both should be ready to be baptized sometime this transfer. Unfortunately H says she's too busy to meet, but hopefully with time she'll be able to again.

Dad had a question about both the fish and the America monument in Plzeň (in the pictures that I sent). There's not too much to tell about those other than what I had said... :) The America monument is just something that we walked by in Plzeň Plzeň and I thought that the Czech on it was really funny because it was really informal! The fish was a pretty funny coincidence :)

As for how I'm doing personally, I've mentioned that this area has very particular challenges. That's still true and I believe I've been sent here at this time in my life and mission for a particular reason to learn from them. I'd love to go into details, but I already have no time to :) Just know that I'm really needing to learn how to pray, receive answers, and recover from mistakes and errors more than ever before! It's very difficult and sometimes frustrating, but I'm learning how to rely on the Lord and that's hard work! I'm still glad to be here, though.

That's about all the time I have.

Lots of love,
Elder Boyce

These are the young missionaries of our district at the Toronto Project fireside (plus the Elder on the right)
Sister Scerra, Sister DuBois, Elder Jaynes, me, and Elder Pearce


A few pictures of the Toronto Project

A street scene in Plzeň

This monument is just endlessly amusing. It commemorates how the American Army liberated Plzeň and the Czech Republic at the end of WWII, and is dual-lingual, but the Czech just sounds sooooooo informal. It's hilarious.

A fish with a story: One day last week we were walking along the river and we suddenly ran into a potential investigator as he was catching this fish. This was also really funny :)

September 1, 2014 - In which we walk all over Prague and we have training

Dear family,

We had a great week last week!

Last Monday, as I mentioned, we were in Prague for my visa work, but I didn't mention much of what we were going to do. Immediately after emailing we tried to go to another Alfons Mucha exhibit at the National Gallery that President McConkie recommended to us, but unfortunately it's closed on Mondays so we basically just wandered around Prague the rest of the day! From the National Gallery we got on a random tram and asked one of the locals how far it would be to "something nice". She told us to get of at the second stop, and we get off there right at the old part of Prague. We walked around from there across Charles's Bridge and just everywhere we could. Then we went to the Prague Single Adult Family Home Evening and went home with the Elders that we stayed with.

Tuesday's training was great! President McConkie invited one of the members that helped keep the Church alive (and growing) during communism to come and speak to us, Sister Olga Kampora. She told us about her baptism, which they had to perform secretly in the dead of night. She said that this was probably one of the first miracles that she saw in her life, because when she and the small group of Czech members arrived at the pond where she was to be baptized, there were a ton of fishermen late-night fishing there. They waited and waited, but none of the fishermen even moved. Eventually she and the members prayed so that the baptism could happen, and within about ten minutes all of the fishermen were gone and she was able to get baptized.

After her baptism, Sister Kampora felt strongly that she needed to share the gospel, even though she could be taken away if she made it known to that she was a member. During most of the time of communism, the gospel was mainly spread through, believe it or not, yoga classes. Some of the key members of the Church became yoga teachers during communism, because they were able to teach gospel and spiritual principles to large groups of people without talking about God or Jesus Christ or getting caught by the secret police (an agent of which was in every class, apparently). Immediately after her baptism, Sister Kampora became a yoga teacher and starting to discreetly teach people gospel principles.

Sister Kampora told us also about the yoga camps that they held each summer. All of these member-yoga teachers gathered their students each summer and each day for a week they taught these people a spiritual "vitamin". (For example, admiration for life, respect, interest, love, enthusiasm, etc.) This was one of the biggest opportunities for them to teach, because they would also take some people aside and tell them about Christ.

She had such an inspiring story! Training was great just overall.

Other things that happened last week: T has decided to no longer meet with us or prepare for baptism. E, P P, and H were unable to meet with us.

On Sunday we had a great Sacrament Meeting! President McConkie, the Bells, and the church public relations specialist came and spoke. It was really spiritual and a great meeting about seeing others for their strengths and how the Savior would see them. The missionaries also sang (I had a solo).

I'm learning a lot! The work is doing well! I'm out of time :)

Love,
Elder Boyce

The National Gallery with the Alfons Mucha exhibit --- closed on Mondays...we were so disappointed!

So we went on a walking tour of old town Prague.  I don't know what most of these places are called, Prague is just full of cool buildings and churches.

Prague Castle in the distance.

One of the towers at the end of  Charles Bridge.

A statue in the middle of Charles Bridge.

A cool island park in the middle of the Vltava River which flows through Prague.  Picture taken from the middle of Charles Bridge.

Panoramic view of the Vltava River.

I haven't told you too much about Czech food, but this is smažený sýr (fried cheese) with boiled potatoes and tartar sauce. Disgusting and tasty at the same time! Extremely Czech. I had this for lunch today.

There was a double rainbow on the train ride home from Prague. :)

August 25, 2014 - In which I send greetings from Prague

Dear family,

Today I am in Prague! This morning I had some visa work, another step in the (apparently) complicated process to get a long-term residence permit with biometric identity card.... Terribly fun and each time I have something to do it's necessary to sit in a room a lot like a DMV here in Prague. Normally we would have returned to our area immediately after visa work, but we get to spend P-day here and then spend the night with some other Elders because we have training early tomorrow morning. It should be a nice P-day, though, right after we finish emailing we're running off to a museum that President recommended.

This past week was pretty interesting! I think that I've already mentioned this, but České Budějovice has a different feel than the other areas that I've served in. Our responsibilities feel quite a bit more complicated here and I'm less sure how to address them. There aren't as many priesthood brethren here as in many of the other branches, so our responsibilities include much more leadership in the branch. A Czech member presides over the branch, but Elder Žmolek (one of the senior missionaries here) is the first counselor in the branch presidency and Elder Jaynes (my companion, as you remember) is the second counselor.

Our load here is a bit more technically difficult or awkward to carry, but we're still seeing a lot of miracles! Last week we the Lord blessed us with specific answers to specific challenges and questions concerning the work, and we committed another investigator to baptism (H, whom we met last week). We've also made some pretty specific plans on how to carry out the work of strengthening the members, and we're really excited.

As for updates with people we're teaching, Paní (which means Mrs.) P was at church and is doing quite well. T still has a lot of questions, and she seems to be very frustrated by them. I still haven't met E, our other baptismal date, but hopefully she'll be back from Slovakia soon. We had a good lesson with H and her family (still haven't met the husband), and as I mentioned H accepted a baptismal date :) She was sick so she couldn't come to church.

I'm doing well. This area is definitely stretching me a lot, but I'm glad to be here because it's teaching me how to rely on the Lord already.

Love,
Elder Boyce

August 18, 2014 - In which we are very busy in České Budějovice

Dear family,

We are so busy! Everything last week just flew by!

Impressions of České Budějovice after a week:

• It is already extremely chilly and rainy here (I have a feeling that's all over the area now, though).
• The official beer of every restaurant here is Budweiser, because Budweiser is actually a Czech beer called Budvar and is brewed here in České Budějovice. That doesn't interest me much but it means that I see Budweiser signs many times each day.
• There is a lot of work to do here. At one time, the České Budějovice branch was one of the largest branches of the Church in the Czech Republic. (There were 30 children in the primary!) Now on a good day there are 20 members at church each week, including 6 missionaries. We have no idea where all of this membership went, which is part of what we're trying to figure out. We really don't know what happened to this branch.

There is a lot to do. Last week we were able to meet with T a couple of times, which was really great. She's funny. She knows a lot about the church and has a lot of questions that we really don't know the answers to (probably her favourite at the moment is if the Book of Mormon contains "the fullness of the everlasting gospel" then why does it say nothing about temple ordinances, the doctrine of eternal progression, etc.) Last week we went on a výlet with her out to Hluboká nad Vltavou to see an exhibit of Alfons Mucha, a famous Czech painter. That was a great exhibit and the castle nearby was great.

Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with our other two baptismal dates last week, but we found a family last week through one of the less-active members that we meet with that came to church on Sunday! We are excited about them! The mom's name is H, and we haven't met her husband yet. We're not sure if he's interested in the gospel or not.

I'm out of time already, unfortunately. I'm doing well still and the work here is doing well overall. It is just somehow much more complicated here than in HK or Třebíč! Which will make me a better missionary :)

The Church is true!

Love,
Elder Boyce

The main square of České Budějovice.

The fountain and the blue building is where the city offices are.

We had a výlet last Saturday to Hluboké nad Vltavou, to see an Alfons Mucha exhibit (which was really cool). It was right next to this castle! We want to plan another výlet so we can tour it.

Exterior staircase at the castle.

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Closeup of the castle exterior.

Blue teeth from a yummy slushy!

The following pictures are from the výlet Daniel took to Kutna Hora before he was transferred.  They are from the Sedlec Ossuary or "Bone Chapel."  The history behind the bone chapel is that in 1278 the abbot of the monastery near the chapel was sent to the Holy Land and came back with a small amount of earth he removed from Golgotha.  He sprinkled the earth over the abbey cemetery and soon the abbey cemetery became the most desired burial site in Eastern Europe.  The the Black Death and other wars added many more graves to the cemetery; an estimated 40,000 - 70,000 graves.  In 1400 the Gothic style church was built and many of theses graves were exhumed to make room for the chapel.  The exhumed skeletons were stacked in the lower chapel.  As the cemetery became full the monks exhumed more skeletons to make room for the new burials.  In 1879 the ruling family over the abbey hired a woodcarver to put the bone heaps in  some kind of order.  The photos below are the macabre results:

This place didn't even feel real but every bone is 100% human!

Daniel and the other elders in the Bone Chapel

 

This chandelier is reported to have every bone in the human body in it.

August 11, 2014 - In which we have a baptism and a výlet and I get transferred to České Budějovice!

Dear family,

We just had a great week last week! P's baptism went through, and it was awesome. We had a let of prep work to do to get everything set up, but against all odds, almost everything went perfectly. We had it at the same place as P's baptism at the beginning of May, and it wasn't too fancy, but it was still very nice. One of our recent converts brought a friend to the baptism, and he told us afterwards that he also wants to get baptized! We taught him after church on Sunday, and we set a date for him on the sixth of September!

On Saturday we planned a výlet (day trip) to Kutná Hora, which is a really big tourist town about halfway in between Prague and Hradec Králové. The three biggest sights there are the kostnice (the bone church), which is a church with giant stacks of bones in it, at St. Mary's and St. Barbora's cathedrals, which are both UNESCO sites and amazingly beautiful.

We had planned this výlet as a branch-building activity, but unfortunately the only people that came were P and one of the other Elder's investigators. We still had a great time, though! I won't be able to send all of the photos I want to home at once, but you've got a couple headed your way.

Probably the biggest bit of news, though, is that I got transferred! I'm now in České Budějovice, and my companion is Elder Jaynes, who was in my district my first transfer in HK. The branch here is quite small, but we're excited to get it pumped about missionary work! :)

I still don't know too much about the area or anything, but we have three investigators, all of whom have a baptismal date for the 27th of September. We just taught one, T, and she's very nice. It sounds as though we're trying to do a lot of work with less-active members. České Budějovice itself seems like a great city. When I told the everyone in Hradec yesterday and Saturday that I was coming here, they all said that it's a wonderful place. It's rained most of today, so I don't have any good pictures of it to send home, but it's very picturesque.

I am SO EXCITED to be in C-Bud! At first I was a little sad to be leaving HK, but this will be a great transfer and I'm excited for the new opportunities that I have to share the opportunities that the gospel brings with others.

Until next week, love,
Elder Boyce

Kutna Hora

The front entrance to the Cathedral of St. Mary's.  

Exterior of the Cathedral of St. Mary

Interior of the Cathedral of St. Mary's.  It is a world UNESCO site and is just beautiful!

Inside the chapel of the Cathedral of St. Mary's

Interior of the Cathedral of St. Mary's.  

This is St. Barbora's Cathedral. It was closed on the inside for weddings, unfortunately (and we didn't get a refund!) but we hear it's even prettier than St. Mary's

St. Barbora's

August 4, 2014

Dear family,

We had another good week! We had a couple of unusual experiences that allowed us to have good conversations with people that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to talk to. We had a couple of cool displays last week about the plan of salvation that got quite a few people talking to us. (One day we even met a Czech lady that lived in Thousand Oaks for 50 years and wants to retire in Leisure Village in Camarillo!)

P is doing really well! All of sudden the quite commitments that he was struggling with are going quite well for him. It's a miracle! His baptismal date for this Friday is looking quite solid! We're so excited! :)

We had a great lesson with J last week. We taught about the plan of salvation (and drew it all out on the board) and it went really well. We're not positive how excited he is to keep learning about the gospel, but he's really great!

I'm not quite sure what else to tell you about from this past week! We've been having a lot of thunderstorms here in Hradec, which has cooled things down so nicely. We're hoping that the rain and thunder stay awhile.

I'm doing really well! I'm sure you all know by now that missionary work is extremely difficult, but if I ever feel negative for a moment I try to find someone else to help. I know that God is working right along with us, and that's what makes me happiest!

Thank you for your support.

Love,
Elder Boyce