Frydek-Mistek

So this week we had transfers and I am with another Elder from California, Elder Trythall. He is way smart with the gospel stuff so I am learning a lot. Elder Cardon and I both stayed in our areas, we have been in the same district for the last 8 months so we will be together for at least 10 total at the end of this transfer. I guess you could say we are pretty good friends by now. It has been way freezing and we are outside all day but we set up with a couple of moms this week so it's been cool to see them progress. We have also been meeting with this older lady that didn't believe in God at all but we invited her to pray and now she said that she knows God exists and she is willing to work towards baptism. Its still pretty crazy for us cause we are always going back and forth between Ostrava and Frydek-Mistek to make our appointments but its been fun!:) Our new convert Filip is doing great. He gave the opening prayer in church yesterday and already gave a Book of Mormon to his grandma! Things are going great! God is in the work!

Sbohem,

Starsi Paxton

Frydek-Mistek

This week was a pretty good week for us. We visited a castle last week in the mountains and that was way fun. We got to hike up the mountain to a giant tower. We also visited a less active that lived by the castle. Our investigator Filip got baptized on Saturday and it was so cool because when he got out of the water he said that he felt lighter and he knew that he didn't have to worry about his past anymore. On Sunday he got up and gave a good testimony about the Holy Ghost and all of the members were great to him. The crazy guy came to church again and I had to escort him out because he was creepin on the sisters again. Today is transfer day so I am now serving with Elder Trythall. The sisters got taken out of Ostrava for one transfer so now it is just the Elders in Ostrava and us in Frydek. It will be interesting here without the sisters. Other than that its just been super cold here so everything is freezing and it sucks! Its way fun though.

Today I was reading the Articles of Faith and it reminded me of how simple the gospel is but also how great of a blessing it is to have these principles and ordinances in our lives. As we live by these, we can see the blessing in our lives and we can see a change for the better.
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Have a great week!

Sbohem,
Starsi Paxton

Frydek-Mistek

Happy New Years!! This week was great but I don't have a lot of time.
We met with our investigator that should be baptized this week and he told us he lost his phone. We said wow thats a bummer, but he was like yeah but at least I didn't lose my Book of Mormon. That would be way worse! haha He is a pretty cool kid. I also found out that the less active I was meeting with in Olomouc has gone to church every week and is getting ready to accept a calling so I am super excited about that!:) God is in the work!! Have a great week!

Sbohem,
Starsi Paxton

ps this is where we stayed for our mission wide conference. It was pretty sick.

This week was so much fun here because we had a training in Prague and it was all about Christmas and the Czech traditions so it got me pumped for Christmas. The whole zone got together and sang on the main square in Prague. So many people crowded around, it was a blast! We had to wake up at 2am to catch a train to Prague though so we went the whole day on a solid 3 hours of sleep. Way fun!! haha Christmas is 3 days long here but the main day is on Saturday so we got invited over to the bishops house for dinner where we got to do all of the fun Czech traditions and spend time with their family. Sunday we went to the Moravcovi for dinner and he heard that I had a guitar so he made me bring it and play the guitar while he sang old Czech Christmas songs that I had no idea how to play! Christmas is the best when we are able to be together with family and friends and remember that it is thanks to Jesus Christ that we can be together with our families forever!:) It was awesome that I could be here and share that with families in the Czech Republic and help them find that light in their own lives. Christmas is the best!! Yesterday everything was closed because it was still the holidays here so that is why we have pday today. Today we went to a castle which was way fun! It was giant and we were the only people there so it was pretty sick.
God loves you, have a great week!

sbohem,
Starsi Paxton

So I'm finally starting to get use to the new area. It's fun getting to see new areas because each city is different but moving sucks! It's my least favorite thing. This week was pretty cool cause in Fydek-Mistek there is this tunnel with tons of graffiti and a piano in it so I took my guitar and my companion and I played Christmas songs for people in the tunnel. It was freezing cold so my fingers got wrecked while playing but people loved it! We also had our Christmas party as a ward and that was a lot of fun because we got to do all the Czech Christmas traditions. One thing they do is take a walnut shell and put a candle in it so that it kind of looks like a boat. Then they light the candle and put the shell in a bowl of water and depending on what happens with the little boat it tells you how your year is going to be next year. I don't really know how to explain it but it was fun. The little kids from that family we are working with came and they got the box of presents and walked around giving one to everyone and they would take one until everyone had one first. They are so awesome. Basically the whole Christmas party they came up to me and said please play hide 'n' seek with us! So I did and it was the funnest thing every! haha I love those little kids so much!:) Oh also pretty crazy, we invited someone to our Christmas party and we told them it was with our church but for some reason they thought it was a legit party so they brought a cake with alcohol in it and we didn't know until everyone was already eating it! haha even one of the sister missionaries ate some of it!
It's pretty great cause in my new area a way cute old couple feeds us every Sunday. They cook so much food and I have to eat most of it because the sisters barely eat any and Elder Vickers gets distracted talking the whole time. Its way good food but yesterday I ate so much that I thought I wasn't gonna make it. I gained 3 kilos in one night! Today we got out hair cut from a member and that was pretty fun then we played squash as a district! I'm pretty excited this week for Christmas! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and don't forget the real meaning behind it!

 Vesele Vanoce!
 Starsi Paxton

Frydek-Mistek

Hey everybody!! So this week was pretty insane! Last Monday we were just shopping and a nice second hand store hittin up all the good deals, which by the way I got a brand new suit coat made in Turkey for $4! Anyways right in the middle of shopping all happily and what not we get a call from the mission president and turns out that the crazy guy that got up in sacrament meeting last week has been creepin on the sisters so we had to be emergency transferred to Frydek-Mistek and Elder Vickers and I have to blind in there. I was pretty bummed cause I really liked my area in Ostrava but God has a plan and we have already seen so many blessings. So we got the call on Monday and Pres said that we had until Thursday to be moved into the apartment in Frydek. We already had lessons and what not planned for the week so we it was way hard to find time to pack. We eventually got everything packed and moved but on Friday we had an appointment with a charity set up for 8 in the morning but we had just moved to Frydek so Pres gave us permission to sleep at the other Elders apartment cause it was closer. So Thursday we moved to Frydek at 7 at night, didn't have time to unpack cause we had to catch a train back to Ostrava then we get off the train and its already 9:15 and we still had to walk through this sketchy path in the woods to get to the other Elders apartment. It was a way fun sleepover though! lol When we woke up, the water heater broke so we all had to take cold showers and hurry out the door to get to our appointment. We finally got there then the lady text us and said sorry my boss isn't here today we are gonna have to reschedule. So that was a bummer. Finally we get back to Frydek-Mistek Friday late at night and got a few minutes to unpack. Turns out we left the box with all of our frozen food on the couch and it melted all over but we just threw it back in the freezer and its all tasted fine so far. Sunday the crazy guy got on the same train as us to go to church in Ostrava and he was going crazy looking all over the train for the sisters then he finally comes up to us and was like where are they?! We had a pretty good discussion with him so that was fun. Then Sunday night we got home for dinner at 8 (we have dinner at 8 here) and realized that the only thing we were missing for standards was 2 people that set up with us. We were already in sweats and what not but we didn't have time to change so we just threw on our coats and dress shoes, said a prayer that we would find 2 people, and went out the door. Right when we turned the corner, we met two people and they said "we have been searching for this. We are so lucky to have met you tonight." It was a huge blessing from God and for sure our prayer was answered! We also had an appointment with an old couple that have been members for soooo long!! They are way old but awesome. He was telling us how he use to hold church meeting is that very apartment before they organized the branch in Ostrava. He has some crazy stories so that was awesome to hear some of them. Anyways its been crazy but a lot of fun. I've definitely been able to see God's hand in our work this week. I hope you all have a great week!

 Přineste Světlo Světu 

 Sbohem,
 Starsi Paxton

Ostrava

Another awesome week here in Ostrava!
Last week at our Thanksgiving party we met a young kid that is 16 years old. We set up with him and have already had 4 lessons with him since then. It's pretty cool to see the change in his life! He also came to church yesterday and it was a very interesting testimony meeting. The sisters had an investigator come and right after the sacrament he was the first one to go up to speak. He sat up there for 35 minutes just going on about how he fell in love with one of the sister missionaries and how all of us are wrong because we believe in a book. Finally the bishop asked him to sit down then all of the members went up and bore strong testimonies basically just against everything the guy said. Then we had Gospel Principles class and he came in a started arguing with the teacher but the teacher just shut him down hard core. The investigator just kept going on and on about how all of this stuff was wrong then all of the sudden this YSA member gets up in his face and went off on him. It was way sick. He was like you can tell us we are wrong all day, reject what we say, reject God, and reject the Book of Mormon but you can never reject what we have found. You don't know what I have in my heart! Basically he was just spittin fire so the guy finally stopped arguing. It was probably the sickest church meeting I have ever been to.
On Thursday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. They both came here so we had 4 of us packed in our tiny apartment but it was way fun. We also stopped at this donut shop that sells giant American donuts but it just closed! We were way upset when all of the sudden I look down and see a box slightly wet from the rain with 2 fresh donuts in it. The donuts were perfectly fine though. It was a blessing from God for sure!:) The church is true.

Sbohem,
Elder Paxton