2 Weeks!

Sports night with HK District  before transfers

Hello everyone, sorry for the mix-up with last week's non-existent email. I somehow totally forgot to send it. Not sure how that one happened. But this will include some basic highlights of both weeks.

• So the last Friday in HK we went up to Karlštejn to celebrate the anniversary of the Czech Republic being dedicated for the preaching of the gospel. It was awesome, and like a giant reunion party. I got to see all of my still living (mission lingo for those still on the mission) companions and other friends from all over. It was great. We had a training in a restaurant and then ate lunch before going up the hill. It was cool and almost rainy, which was a welcome difference from last year, when it was about 300 degrees Celsius. We heard some great testimonies and had some great experiences all together. Always a nice experience.

 Karlštejn and a picture with Elder Belshe there

• Saturday we got the call, and I was told that I will be serving here in Zlin. The rest of the day consisted of some packing, some sports night (for the last time in HK) and getting things ready, because they are closing down the apartment in HK a week after transfers, so we had to start getting things out.

• Sunday was saying goodbye to the wonderful HK ward. I have only been here a few short months, but this ward was fantastic, and I will miss them. Other than that we packed and got a little bit of time in for tracting, before our last dinner together as the Elders, where we made Halusky.

Pictures with Elder Pickett & Elder Gubler & Jitunka (Bishop's daughter) 

Elder Pickett & Vojta (ward mission leader) 

• Monday was the great move. 3 trains later I made it to Zlin. Luckily I had help at all of the train stations except for one in moving my luggage, because 3 suitcases are difficult to get around. It wasn't too terrible, and it is a lot easier to travel now that I understand Czech. I can ask for directions and actually understand what I am being told. Total it took about 4 hours to travel to Zlin, so I got a few good naps in and some reading of talks.
• This past week in Zlin has been quite a change. Zlin is the smallest city I have served in, and it is interesting to have so many people already know us. It is one of the oldest missionary cities, missionaries have been here for 20 years, so a lot of people have talked with missionaries before. The city has about 80,000 people.

• I am serving with Elder Robinson, who was born (missionary lingo for his first area in the mission) in Cbud at the same time of year that I was, only a year later. We say he is my "shadow group." He served in Cbud for two, and then came here, so he is now in his 4th transfer. We get along great and have fun finding and eating ice cream. Elder Robinson is hilarious, and we have a good time. The work is good, and different.
• Sister Ludlow and Sister Hayden are in my district, along with Elder Gauldin and Elder Raines. And I am district leader out here. It is way the heck away from stuff. We are pretty close to the border of Slovakia actually.
• We also got all new furniture the day after I moved in, which was quite the adventure. The landlord and his wife came over and we threw the old stuff out, as well as clearing out a few years’ worth of missionary leftovers from the closet. It was a little crazy, and quite an untraditional way to start the transfer.

Our new furniture and what it looked like eating dinner before the new table was in. (Elder Robinson- new companion)

• We also went to UH for our district meeting, which is about 45 min away by bus. It was a good meeting, and we had a good singing display afterwards on the main square.
• Other than that we also went there for church yesterday. The city Uherské Hradiště (UH) and Zlin branches combined to form a ward, and it is a good one. Lots of new faces and new people to get to know, but I am looking forward to it. .
• That is a really good spiritual thought Dad about having Christlike love for everyone you meet. I am working on that one, but this past week has been hard for that. Since people already know the missionaries, they often just shut us down without bothering to hear anything from us, which makes it hard to love them. But I am working on it. And we are still finding people, so that is nice. I will work on your commitment as well to recognize the love that He has for us, then go out and show that love to others as we share the gospel.  
• I am glad you got to meet some of my mission peeps. Weird to realize they are part of real life again. Also weird to see them all referred to by their first name. That kind of scares me. (Our family met Elder Connor Dean, Sestra Melanie Hale, Sestra McKenna Heap, and Sestra Ashley DeMann when we were in Utah.)
• Sounds like you guys all had a great time in Utah with the family and friends. It is so crazy to me that Makayla Allison is at the MTC already. Time sure does fly. And sounds like a fun reunion with some Roseville students at BYU (Tyler Holland, Abby Boden, Alexis Crews). Those are always great!

That is a quick highlight. I wanted to share a spiritual thought quickly about change. Change is great. I had a pretty big change in coming all the way across the country to Zlin, to a new area and a new district. It has been fun this week to recognize all of the opportunities that I have had with this new change, opportunities to learn, to be optimistic, and to work hard getting to know a new area. I know that change brings us great opportunities to grow, and I challenge you all this week to look at change in a way to optimize your personal growth. I know that as you look for ways to do so, and ask God to help, that you will see new opportunities. Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Love, Elder Pickett

We were in a cathedral in HK and went up the tower there. Here are some good pictures.