Elder Beazer and I made cookies for a YW activity. They were awesome.
We tried to make brownies for English class...Didn't work too well.
Hello everyone, it has been a crazy start to the
transfer, and it is weird for me to think that we are already starting week 3.
I am going to give a big report with a lot of highlights. Lots of things have
happened, hopefully I don't forget anything and leave it out.
- HK
is a similar sized city as C-Bud. Smaller than Pilsen for sure. There are
no trams here, but there are buses, cars, and a billion or so bikes.
Cyclists are everywhere, and there is quite literally a giant tower for
bike parking near the train station. I'll have to get a picture at some
point. There is a nice university, a beautiful center, and a river.
Basically, I am still in the Czech Republic. HK has a kind of modernish
feel to it, hard to describe exactly. It almost reminds me of San Francisco.
We have a really strong ward here, with several families. And there is a
lot of musical talent in the ward. We live outside of the center a little
ways, and the other Elder live on the main square, right across from the
church building. The sisters live in Pardubice, a city about 20 minutes
away, and travel in for church, sports day, and some finding or lessons
during the week.
- From
Elder Beazer I have learned: 1) Fun new English slang 2) Some good new
Bible bashing scriptures 3) How to do a better job of talking to everyone.
He is really great, and we have a lot of fun. He has a funny vocabulary from
the sporty kind of cool kid high school group. He played rugby, football, and wrestled.
Apparently people can be described as having "no chill."
- We
don't have a lot of people we are working with right now, so we are doing
a lot of finding. We have been tracting and contacting a lot, and we are
slowly seeing results. We really need families in the church here in the
Czech Republic. It's our biggest challenge right now. It has been good,
and we are hoping to find time to work with everyone this week. Our
schedule is filling up pretty fast, which is usually a nice thing for missionaries.
We had 2 killer chalk displays. First one by Elder Beazer and me.
Second by Elder Beazer and Elder Paxton
- Our
area is not doing so hot right now, but we are going to change that. The
other Elders here are doing awesome though, which is always good. Things
in our zone are going pretty well. The city Olomouc is struggling, which is unfortunate, but we are going to see how things work out.
Olomouc just changed into our zone at the beginning of this transfer, so
we are still trying to really get a feel for what's happening there. Elder
Beazer served there for 2 transfers before coming here, so he knows the
members and a lot of the investigators, which is nice.
- The
heat has rolled into the country. We are all melting, and eating plenty of
ice cream to stay cool. Should be hot all week I assume.
- We got to visit the Bishop and his family this last week. They are great, and they have a son on a mission in England, so they are very curious about how the whole mission thing works. They asked lots of good questions about what was hard at the beginning of our missions, what is still hard, what we like, what has been fun, lots of good things. There are 9 Czech missionaries from the Stake here serving full time missions. We also played spoons, and I didn't come in last, so that was nice.
Bishop's family. He took the picture.
- We
also went on an exchange in Liberec, which is a beautiful city up in the
hills on the country. I also thought it was small, but I was quite
mistaken with that. It is plenty big and really nice. We had a great
exchange there, and I got to meet the recent convert that Sister Player (a friend from our ward in Roseville, CA) taught in Denmark, so fun small-world connections happened.
Liberec
- While
in Liberec I got bitten by a bug. And my leg swelled up pretty bad. I got
some medicine though, so I am normal now. No visit to the hospital this
time, because the Bishop's wife is a nurse, and when I called asking for a
recommendation on where to go, she showed up and helped me out. Insects
and I don't get along super well.
My legs after the bite. Brad-0, Bugs- 2
- Thanks
for the thought Dad from Elder Ronald A. Rasband, I really
loved that talk during conference. "First promptings are pure inspiration from heaven.
When they confirm or testify to us, we need to recognize them for what
they are and never let them slip past. So often, it is the Spirit
inspiring us to reach out to someone in need, family and friends in
particular. Thus … the still small voice, which whispereth through and
pierceth all things, points us to opportunities to teach the gospel, to
bear testimony of the Restoration and Jesus Christ, to offer support and
concern, and to rescue one of God’s precious children." I am working on that, the idea of not hesitating
so much. I have realized I am naturally a pretty cautious person, but
sometimes in missionary work you have to throw caution out the window a
bit and just go for it. I have been working on that principle.
My spiritual thought for the week is about pressing
forward. Elder Beazer and I have been talking about how the amount of rejection
that we regularly face as missionaries would have been really hard for us
before a mission, but it is manageable now. I have realized that I have learned
a lot about persistence as a missionary. Things that we want in life rarely
just come to us, and sometimes we may face a lot of rejection before we get to
what we want. I know that these rejections help to teach us important things,
and prepare us for the time when we will have success. So don't be disappointed
when something doesn't work out the way you hoped your first try. Keep going,
and keep learning. Thanks for the support and prayers!
-Elder Pickett
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