Olomouc

We had another great week here in Olomouc. Not a ton of exciting things happened but we are finally getting some investigators and more lessons. The beginning of this transfer the work was going super slow but it is picking up now and it has been really good. Yesterday the Musialovi family invited us over for dinner. They live like an hour away from the city so it took forever to get out there and back but it was way fun. The kids all play the accordion really well. They are an amazing family! Their son has gone less active unfortunately but we were able to see him there and talk with him. He seemed really grateful that we came over. And the Sister Musialova made so much food! I don't think I have had such a big meal on my mission yet but it was way good! We had sports night and we played Ultimate Frisbee. I dove for the frisbee and landed on my hip and it was black for about 3 days! Other than that nothing exciting has really happened.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Paxton

Olomouc

Another great week here in Olomouc.
We had training in Brno yesterday and it went well. This is President McConkies last transfer here so that is really sad but it will be a great blessing to have a Czech mission president.
This week while contacting we were talking to this girl and she led us to this park with a bunch of people slacklining and she asked us if we wanted to try so we did, it was way hard but way fun. We ended up teacher her the restoration and talked to her friends. Turns out there is this group of people that get funded by the government to go slacklining. Then a couple of days later we were in the park and saw the group of slackliners again so we went up to talk to them and they made us try slacklining again. I am actually getting pretty good and they have now accepted me as one of them. They even bought me one of their t-shirts and it should get here in about a month so I am pretty pumped about that! But they started asking questions about why we are here and we shared with them the Plan of Salvation and one guy named Petr invited us to come back to teach him more.
We had a lesson on Wednesday that didn't show up but while we were waiting for him we contacted this guy and we said hey we would love to give you a tour of our building when you have time and he was like sure I've got time right now. So we took him to the building and taught him the Plan of Salvation then he invited us to go to lunch with him so we did and at the end he paid for us and when we tried to pay him back he said no it's just money. He is probably one of the coolest guys I have ever met. He has travelled all over the world to places that I have never even heard of just to visit national parks and go rock climbing and explore nature. Turns out he also likes to go slacklining and he invited us to go but we had already used our lunch hour so we couldn't this time... But he loved our message and we are meeting with him again today. I don't know what it is about slackliners here but they are just ready to hear the gospel! It has been pretty tough in this new area because when I got here we literally had no investigators but I have already seen the Lord blessing us and our area is growing.
It is amazing to see the blessings received here in the Czech Republic. Last week they received a stake and now have a Czech stake president and patriarch. The people here will no longer have to get their patriarchal blessings in German or English but in their own language. In a few months there will be a Czech mission president guiding all of the missionaries here. The Czech Republic is now becoming self sufficient, because the members here have been so faithful and gone through so much the blessing are coming. There is always opposition but this is the Lords work and it will continue to grow.

This is the video that the church made of the creation of our stake. I hope you all have a chance to look at it. Have a great week!

Elder Paxton

Most of the people you can see in this picture are members from Plzen they had the great opportunity of becoming a ward. The young guy with glasses that you can see the clearest is Zdeněk, we baptized him last transfer in Plzen. He was able to come and see the blessings of the gospel as a recent convert. That morning he also received the priesthood and ran up to me (standing in the back) and told me how excited he was to get the priesthood.

Olomouc

This week was an amazing week!
After teaching English on Tuesday it was pouring rain and these little twin boys ran up to us and said "Elders can you make some time for us? Just 10 minutes so we can have some tea." (Just fruit tea don't worry) So we used our dinner time and went to their house to have some tea and they were so happy for us to come over and they shared what they have been doing in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet. It was a lot of fun.
Then this weekend we had a special conference in Prague so on Saturday we left our apartment to go to the train station but all of the trams were under construction so we had to sprint in our suits over 2 miles to get to the train station on time. And of course it was one of the hottest days we have had here so by the time we got to the train station we were soaked in sweat and turns out the train had a 15 minute delay! But its alright we made it to Prague eventually.
Saturday night we got to listen to President Uchtdorf and his wife give talks. One thing that was really funny is that one guy went up to President Uchtdorf and said German may be the celestial language but the one at the gate speaks Czech!
After the conference our recent convert from Plzen, Zdenek, ran up to me and said Elder Paxton! I got the priesthood today!! He was so happy to see me and tell me that he got the priesthood. Sunday we had our official conference where they called a stake president and patriarch. It was such and amazing experience to see all of our hard work here getting rewarded. President Uchtdorf and his wife spoke again and it was amazing. After the Sunday conference a member from Plzen came up to me and said Hey we need to get a selfie with President Uchtdorf!! But I had to be a good example as a missionary and didn't but I did go up there with him and he got his selfie with President Uchtdorf and I got to say hi. After they had a small picnic and I was able to see all of the members and investigators from Plzen. My favorite grandma from Plzen was there and was so excited to see me! The best thing happened, I was talking to some other people and she came up to me and said "I have been looking for you everywhere! I need help down these stairs, will you help me?" So I got to help her down the stairs and it made both our days! Then 3 girls (investigators) that Elder Carlson and I found were there and came up to me and it was so good to see how much they have progressed in the gospel. They are all preparing to be baptized and I am really excited for them.
The greatest thing was being able to see all the people from Plzen and having them come up to me and tell me how much progress they are making! That is what makes a mission worth it, being able to see peoples lives change and see how happy the gospel makes them. I was so lucky to see a little bit of that this weekend and witness the growth of the Czech Republic as they became a stake. The Lord really does bless us as we are faithful and work hard. President Uchtdorf talked a lot about having faith. As we make room for faith and give up some of the worldy things the Lord blesses us and our lives become better.
I hope you all have a great week and remember to make room for faith.

S Laskou,

Starší Paxton

Well it has been another great week! I am finally getting a little more use to my new area. The people her are great. There are a ton of YSA and they love doing stuff with the missionaries which helps us find people to teach because they always bring their friends.
Not too much happened this week as far as teaching and exciting events but we found out that this weekend our conference in Prague is because we are getting a stake here in the Czech Republic and President Uchtdorf is coming!! We are supper excited and so blessed to be receiving this stake. As a mission we have been fasting and praying to find those few more people we needed to qualify for a stake and we finally made it! It definitely wasn't easy and we still have so much work to do but it is a blessing to see that even areas where people have gone through the worst can still receiving the love from God.
Sorry it's short but I hope you all had a great Mothers Day and I hope you all have a great week!

S laskou,

Starší Paxton

Olomouc

Hey everyone! This was a crazy week! On Monday half of our district went to the Great Jewish Synagog and it was way cool to see. They also made us wear Yamakas? I don't know if that is the right word.
Training was on Wednesday and we got a big announcement that we will be having a country wide conference the 14th-15th. They aren't allowed to say what it is but we all know what it is and we are so excited!!
This week we had a movie night at our church building where we showed Meet the Mormons and had members translate it into Czech so that people could come and see what we are all about. We had a lot of people come and got 3 new investigators from it.
Saturday our investigator, Zdenek, got baptized!!! It was a great day! The craziest thing was that at the pool that he wanted to get baptized at, one of our other investigators was working there so he got to come to the baptism. The crazy thing is that he usually works at a different pool and Saturday was the only day he has ever worked at that pool. I guess God just wanted him to be there. After the baptism we got our calls for transfers and I am now in Olomouc. It is a city on the opposite side of the country and even bigger than Plzen. So I had a pretty long train ride this morning.
Yesterday after I gave my departing testimony my favorite grandma in the branch invited us over for one last dinner. It was pretty sad saying bye to her but she is convinced that I will come back and serve there again. haha It has been a great week and I am excited to serve in Olomouc now! I love you all, have a great week!

S laskou,
Elder Paxton

Sorry my camera isn't working with this computer so I will send pictures next week.