Len Kratké Posolstvo

Sorry that I didn't get to write last week. The christmas season makes everything a lot crazier here as missionaries! Plus it didn't help that we had to go all the way to Prague for a training on the 23rd.

Last week we had to say goodbye to our favorite investigator. Lucia went to her families home in a town 80 klm away for the christmas break and won't be back for several weeks. It's really too bad because she was progressing very well and we had almost taught every lesson to her that is required for her to make that next step. She already finished the book of mormon and is reading it again. She decided from the beginning that she wanted to read it quickly, like a regular book, for the first time through and then read it a second time while marking everything and taking her time. She is so great and she's grown a lot since the first time we met with her. Both her and I were talking about books that we like (we actually like a lot of the same books) and I recommended her my favorite book, The Alchemist. In a few days she bought it in Czech and read it. She loved it! She says she wants to read it every summer like I did back at home.

I wrote everything above this sentance two weeks ago in preparation for these past two weeks.

I love Prague! Haha I just had to get that out of my system. It really is a gorgious city but I dont get to see it too often since Im a missionary in an even better city called Nitra. I wont be able to speak too much right now because I dont have any time to email today. Our normal place that we email at is closed for two weeks so Im at this little slovak internet cafe that we took FOREVER to find-- the only other place we could use in Nitra. Ill have a ton more next week to say about Slovak Christmas traditions, how the work is going, and everything.

Love all of you!

Ahoj everyone!

This past week hasn't been the most successful one, unfortunately. The changes with companions kind of makes everything a little slow at first. We've been busy getting a lot of things ready for chirstmas, building up our classes (English and Family History), visiting families that are far away, and a bunch of stuff. It was really weird because on Friday we went out to Zeliezovce, to the Majtanovci, and nobody was there to pick us up from the bus stop. After waiting for awhile and calling a phone that wouldn't answer a few times, we decided to walk to their house. No one was home. So we went and grabbed lunch and caught the next bus back to Nitra. It was really too bad because it took an entire day away from us to be able to do anything productive. We later learned that Brat Majtan was really sick that day and had actually thought that we were going to visit another member instead.

Good news is that I like my new companion! He's kind of weird and has some things that bug me (like not waking up in the morning and using his time wisely!) but he's nice and a fun kid. He's not an extrememly hard worker and it's a little sad to see an elder that isn't as ambitious as others. He has been getting progressivly better at his studies and I'll keep nudging hime in the right direction ;). He's been here for 6 months (8 months including the MTC) and I'm not too afraid to say that he probably speaks the language just a little bit more than I do. A good thing with that is that I can be a much bigger part in our lessons (Saw it a lot this week)! I'm so grateful for how much the Lord blesses us and helps us in this work and our daily lives. We had a couple of fantastic lessons with Lutcia. I think that she is almost finished with Helaman in the Book of Mormon. She loves everything that we are teaching her. She's been raised Catholic and her parents, along with everyone around her, are strong Catholics but she said something very interesting the other day. She said that in her head she thinks that the Catholic church is true but that in her heart she feels that our church is true. She said that she thinks the Book of Mormon is true too! She hasn't prayed about it yet (she wants to wait until she finishes it) so we're excited to about our next lesson today.

Yesterday, we only had three people at church (Be grateful America!). December has been known to have the worst numbers of the year because everybody leaves to visit family and go on vacations, are too busy to during the week to meet, bus schedules aren't as good, it's cold and people are grumpy, and lots more. Several of our members were sick as well (Not just Brat Majtan). This next week should definitely be more successful.

Despite what was said in this email, the work is still hastening :)! We see it so much out here as missionaries and I hope all of you do to. I love you all and hopeyou have a great week :)!

Od Nitry

It has been an exhausting week. Everytime I come here to write all of
you I feel like I can't even remember what happened the past seven
days!
Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! How am I 19 and on a
mission already!? Before I know it all be back home with all of you.

I'll start off with today because I had my first mission transfer! I
got my call two days ago telling me whether I would travel to another
area of Slovakia or stay in Nitra and it was decided that I would stay
here (President told me that forever ago). I love this place and want
to make it better and better, I wouldn't mind staying here another
transfer if I could. I said goodbye to Starsi Clem this morning and it
was a little sad. We had so much fun together and did some fantastic
things in these past two months. I met my new companion at 4:00 this
evening. He's from Finland! That's so cool! His father is spanish and
his mother is finish, he speaks finnish, english, spanish, and slovak!
Starsi Garlick got his new companion as well. Its pretty crazy because
our district (us 4 elders) is the youngest district in the entire
mission. Starsi Garlick and I have only been in country for 2 months,
his companion, Elder Ringer, has only been in for 4 months, and my
companion, Elder cladearan (I doubt I spelt that right), has only been
here for 6 months (Which is pretty long i guess). We have a lot of
growing coming up and I suspect that my Slovak will be incredibly (out
of necessity) better by the end of this transfer.

I'll have to stop responding to everyones individual emails pretty
soon, I think, because I never really have enough time to write a good
enough mass-email anymore (Hah that doesn't mean that I don't want
them!). I already need to go but I hope that you all had a wonderful
Thanksgiving and will have a great week.

Love,

Starsi Lyman

Nitra je uzasne!

A lot of stuff happened this week that I probably won't have time to speak about. First on the list is that I got to travel to Brno twice this week. Brno is a gorgious city in the Czech Republic and is the second biggest branch in the mission. We had two trainings there and they were fantastic. The first training was on thursday and it was a zone conference. We have one every month and this time it ended up in Brno (last time it was as well). This is where we get to see everyone again, speak with the president, learn much more about how to be better, and find new things to apply in our areas for the coming month. The second training was actually a very special one. My companion is actually the Branch President of our branch here in Nitra because of how new and small it is. The training was for all of the Branch President's of the entire mission! I have never seen such an amazing group of leaders, happy, and just  good men in a long time than at that training. I'd say that we had about 60-70 people consisting of Branch Presidents, their wives, and other various leaders at that training. It was such a wonderful experience and definitely a good time to practice my Czech on top of my Slovak-- the whole meeting was in Czech of course. I got to meet almost all of the Presidents and many of the members from across the mission, I hope that they will all remember me the nexttime that we see each other some point down the road. The training was focused on hasting the work and how we can get a stake in 4 years. A stake requires 1900 active members and it is projected that we will be able to getall of the qualifications by 4 years. I personally think that we could actually could be on our way to a second stake by that time judging on how well the work is moving right now.

With traveling two days to Brno along with two days to Zeliezovce for the Majtanovci, this past week

took kind of a hit with our numbers. We still had a really successful week though. This Sunday we had 16 people at church! 

The weather here in Nitra is starting to get very cold. Honestly, it just feels like every morning when I went to school in Cedar. I got my first taste of Nitra's wind today and it reminded so much of Cedar City. I got a big smile on my face while companion, whose from Florida, bunkered down into his coat and whimpered. I love Nitra so much and the people here. I've known the entire time ever since when President McConkie hinted at it a month and a half ago that I would be staying in Nitra for the next transfer as well (I hope that I can stay two more transfers here!). The two senior companions here are going home in a week and someone needs to be able to teach and coordinate the other Elders how to function in such a new area. It's so exciting and I have high hopes for this next transfer. December is sadly the toughest month of the year for our mission though. Christmas and New Years are huge holidays here and it makes it really hard to set up appointments and find new people when everyone is in such a rush or busy with their families. A lot of the training in Brno was focused on using certain techniques and planning to make this a change. President McConkie is a fantastic and amazing man. He's bring a lot of changes to the mission and he has a great vision for the work here.

My first transfer will be over in 6 days and I will then have a new companion who will "follow-up train" me. I'm excited to see who my new companion is and pray tat we can have a wonderful and successful transfer. I want Nitra to grow so much and I will do my best to make it happen. My Slovak is continually getting better. There is a language learning program that the mission follows here and gives to each of the new missionaries called, "The Key To Their Hearts." There are three levels and it looks like I will reach the first level by the end of this transfer. I really worked hard for this and set this as a goal from the beginning. I don't want to sound prideful but it's true that not very many missionaries reach the first level on their first transfer. I'm so grateful that I've been able to learn so much these past few weeks. I still have a very long way to go (I can't put enough emphasis into that phrase) but the Lord has blessed me so much.

I'm out of time so I will leave it at the y'all :). Love you!

život je dobrý!

Hey everyone! Sorry that I didnt have enough time to write a big email.

This week has been a blast and very busy as usaul, I dont even know
where to start. We taught a lot of lesson now and we have two new
amaying investigators. Pavol and Lutcia came to our English class last
wednesday after we contacted them and then afterwards were super
excited to learn more about the gospel and why we-- us missionaries--
are here. Weve been meeting with them ever since and today are hoping
to give them both baptismal dates. They are both amazing and Lutcia,
after about three or four dazs from starting, is half-way through the
Book of Mormon! Its really exciting. Sadly, our baptismal date for the
23rd wont make it. Lydia has been too busy for us to meet with her for
a long time and hasnt been progressing because of her schedule. Were
hoping to have a meeting on wedensday with her to kind of do a
"repair" job and get her back on track but if not then we might just
have to drop her as an investigator for awhile.
As usaul, we met with the Majtanovci twice this week. We taught all
about the priesthood, the temple and family history and why they are
so important. Brat Majtan and his mom love the gospel and are so
great. Brat majtan is now an active member and it looks like he is
here to stay :)! Were going to see if we can assign him as the Home
Teaching Coordinator this next week. Pani Majtanova is still
progressing but doesnt want rush into anzthing by setting a date. We
know that she knows this church is true but we can tell that shes
nervous to ask through prayer if its true. I think she has her answer
and will come around this next week though :)! She loves the members
and has been to church these four times already. All of the
qualifications are met for baptism so she just needs to make the next
step :).
Someone that we have been working on these past few weeks is Sestra
Psnakova. Out of our meager but amazing 7 members she is the only one
that is in-active. She loves missionaries and has a great testimony of
this church but she has a tough situation that makes it hard for her
to come to church. She lives an hour away and takes care of her mom by
herself. The past three weeks weve gone to her house to help out. Shes
completely remodeling her apartment so weve been taking down all of
her wallpaper and moving stuff from room to room. She always makes us
a huge meal as well-- Slovak food is amazing. After her apartment is
all finished, I think shell start coming back again. To have the
friendship of the members would bless her so much right now and I know
that she would be so blessed if she became active again.

Musim isť ale milujem všetci aj dufam že tento týžden bude fantastický!

Od Nitry

Im sorry that I couldn't get an email to all of you this week! I'll
write a big one for next time. Have a wonderful week everyone :)!

Ahoj!

Well im on a Slovak keyoard right now so dont judge me for how my
writing is going to look today. All of the szmbols are in different
places and the "z" and "y" are switched... haha so yeah.

This week has been really cool! I finally brought my camera to the
library todaz but I cant figure out how to upload mz photos,
especailly when its in Slovak! Ill keep trzing and will get all of you
some great looks at Slovakia.

So this past week I went to hungary! Holy cow! I was probably onlz
about four hours awaz from the other Elder Lyman! Nitra is pretty
close to the boarder but when we go out to see the Majtans we are onlz
about 30 minutes awaz from it. Hes been wanting to take us to this one
town that he said is just amaying but we couldnt because we needed to
get permission from our president. We asked President McConkie at our
last training-- about a 1.5 weeks ago-- and he said zes! The very next
day we went across the boarder with into Hungarz with Brat Majtan, his
mother, and his son Akoš! The town is called Esztergom and it use to
be the capital of Hungary at one point... if my Slovak is correct,
haha! You should look it up. Itĺs amaying and we went to the gigantic
Cathedral and Castle there at the top of one of the hills. it was so
cool and the Majtans are just so nice and paid for us to tour some of
the areas-- despite how much we tried to decline the offer. It was a
really good chancce for us to start talking and getting to know Akoš
more as well! Hes 17 and very smart, he taught himself how to speak
English over the computer! We didnt talk with him about anz of the
gospel but we could tell that he really liked us. We went back after
about 1.5 hours and ate dinner at there house and taught the more
about commandments-- Akoš listened.

This last fridaz was Slovakias halloween basically. Its called All
Saints Day or "Day of the Dead." What they do is that everzone
decorates all of their ancestors graves with tons of flowers and A LOT
of candles. Then at night everzone goes and tours the gravezards with
their family. We have a big graveyard near our apartment and spent
about 30 minutes taking photos and looking around--it was really cool!
I wish that I could show all of you the photos... i cant even figure
out how to make a frowny face with this keyboard haha.

Oh yeah and heres a funny thing... the ATM stole mz missionarz debit
card! I was trzing to check out some monez and was delazed in pushing
a certain button so it just took it and wouldnt give it back! ATMs
here do that i guess so now i need to call the mission office and
explain that i need to order a new debit card... im a little scared.

Well Im out of time so Ill write to more in a week!

Ahoj!

Do toho Slovensko!

The work still progresses in Nitra :)! Our numbers with new investigators, baptismal dates, lessons taught, and stuff like that actually were really low this week. It was still a wonderful and successful week though.

I did my first service project this past week! We actually did three different service projects for three different people. The first one was for this one family that we have been trying to teach more these past few weeks. The Pyriovi are extremely Catholic-- well... at least the mother is-- but have been coming to our English classes and have allowed us to teach little pieces of the gospel here and there but not too much. This project was for the hopes of becoming better friends and to show even more that we are really here to help them in whatever way we can. We went to there house tuesday evening and finally met the dad for the first time. He loves us! He's so nice and just really fun to talk with. Him, Starsi Clem, and I all went out into the garden and tilled about 1/3 of an acre with just shovels. Rilovat' ("to till the earth" you could say) is a new word I learned that day and I loved it! You basically just go in a line with some friends and uproot the dirt and work your way down the field... I'm not exactly sure how to explain much better, so I won't, haha! It's hard work and I'm so grateful that we had a lot of clouds that day. The weather has been fantastic the past few days which is a little surprising. Usually, at this time, Slovakia would be freezing and terrible-- so I have been told. There was kind of this unsaid competition between me and the father at who could work the hardest as well. I loved that guy! His name is Pavlo by the way. We were basically the same during the whole project but Starsi Clem was way behind. At one point, Pavlo yelled over that Starsi Clem had to catch up. At then end of the day I wound up having 10 blisters on my hands! That's what being in the MTC for 2 months will make of you, hah. We didn't use gloves and worked so quickly that we got the job finished in about 1.45 hours. Afterwards, we asked if we could come back next week and it really impressed Pavlo. He said yes and actually invited to take us up the mountain to the oldest church building in Slovakia! So we have a good week coming up :). The other two projects were for Brat Herczog and Sestra Psnakova. We did the same thing for Brat Herczog as we did for the Pyriovi but Sestra Psnakova hates allowing missionaries to do service for her so she just cooked as a huge meal and made us eat until it was too late-- or that we were too full-- to doing any service.

We have to travel so much to get to members, investigators, and places that it not only drains our money but also how much we can teach people. Brat Majtan lives about two hours away and it takes about 10 euros round trip in order for us to travel. We've been going out there 1-2 times every week so it takes a lot of our time and money. We went out there this week to start teaching them the commandments. They accepted it well, as usual, and Brat Majtan actually said something that surprised us. Last Sunday was his first time coming back to church and he loved it! We set the record for having 12 people attend church I might add (Nitra is so young right now). He was very impressed with it and fit right in. He asked us if he could give a talk in sacrament meeting sometime in November on why he now knows that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the absolute true church. He's been searching for awhile ever since he hasn't had the church in his life or anywhere near him for twenty years and he has finally realized and found what he's been looking for. Of course, we said yes and he is going to practice it this week-- I won't be able to go this time because I will be on splits :/. Another amazing thing is that we gave both him and his mother the commitments to stop smoking and drinking coffee. He smokes and hates it and she drinks coffee and loves it. He's been trying to quit for awhile and we gave him the churches program that helps people quit smoking. She was hesitant at first but we Starsi Clem explained about this drink, Karo, that is made from wheat, tastes exactly the same, is much healthier, and doesn't have the smae traits as coffee that she could try. They both accepted the commitments and she made a bet with Brat Majtan saying that she would do better than him. We've called them ever since and they've been fantastic :)!

Have a wonderful week all of you wonderful people :)!

Neboj sa!

Another great week in Slovakia my friends :). This week has gone by so quickly but looking back to the last time I was here it feels like so long ago. Strasi Clem and I had a great week and were always busy-- as missionaries should be. This week has been filled with so many hilarious and amazing experiences. One incident happened this morning as I said goodbye to a women that wasn't very interested in our message. I basically said "Have a nice day you pretty thing!" when I tried to say just "Have a nice day!" What even made it worse was that I put it into the masculine form and called her a man a long with it, haha XD! 

This morning Starsi Clem and I decided to go out right at 8:00 am to do contacting for three hours. We went to one of our favorite parks and had some success there and then walked a path next to the river that cuts the city in half (we can't think of the name right now). We took that for a long time and passed Nitra Castle along the way. Eventually, we made it to one of the coolest places in Nitra. Kalvaria (Calvary) is this big hill in the middle of the city that has Catholic seminary at the bottom and all of these stations of worship as you walk up the hill which depict the saviors walk up Calvary with the cross upon his back. There are about 13 stations s along the way and when you get to the top there are three large, stone crosses with the savior in the middle and the theives on the sides and a small, old church building. From there you can see all of Nitra and everywhere beyond that. We had planned to go up after contacting to look around as we made some weekly calls and I'm so grateful we did. The weather was nice and cool, everything was quiet, alight breeze was in the air and I realized how much I already love this country. I love everything about it and I'm so grateful to be here as I serve the Lord.

After this, we walked down to a tea shop that we had found a few days ago. Starsi Clem and I wante to get into herbal and fruit teas more so every week we are going to each buy a new tea and both try them out together. We are both doing so well and becoming great friends. I'm so grateful that I have a great companion like him for my first transfer out here in the mission. We had a lot of success this week, despite the fact that about 6 of our lessons were cancelled. Our companionship has our 1st baptismal date set! Her name is Lidia, she's 22, and she's just wonderful person. We taught her the Restoration and she accepted it really well. We're meeting with her tomorrow and wednesday and will see how she is doing with her Book of Mormon reading. Her baptism date is November 23! We were actually hoping to have three baptismal dates set by the end of this week but we couldn't meet with one of them (Rastio) and the other says she needs to think about it... but we both think that she will say yes :). She is Brat Majtan's mother and she loves us and everything that we are teaching. Turns out that her cousin translated the Book of Mormon into Hungarian... funny how things come together. Brat Majtan had a divorce 6 years ago and has told us that he's been suffering from some extreme depression from that for awhile. He's such a fantastic guy but you can just see that he is so much happier lately. He's making friends with the members, getting closer with his mom, and coming back into the true gospel. He's literally beaming when we are teaching him. We got him and his mother to come to church this week and they really enjoyed it. I want to get Brat Majtan the Aaronic Priesthood (He doesn't have it yet) so that he can baptize his mother when the time comes :).

Great things are happening in Nitra and I'm so excited for this next week :). I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week!

Starsi Lyman

Ahoj!

Well, sorry for my little email delay, everybody! Hah, I hope that my message makes it to all of this time.

This past week has definitely been wonderful. It's been hard and a little stressful at times but it wasn't hard to get over it when you lose yourself in the work.
This week wasn't even close to as succesfull (number-wise) as last week. We were working hard and doing the same things as the week before but this week we had a LOT of traveling and other things that took up our time. I went and saw Bratislava (the capital) for the first time on wednesday! Me and the other three new missionaries spent almost the entire day traveling (we also traveled the night before and slept in Bratislava so we wouldn't have to wke up as early) and then getting visa and health clearance work all sorted out with the Foreign Police. It was really cool. The food here in Slovakia is reallly good, as well. I've been able to have a lot of signature meals from the Czech/Slovak Republics these past two weeks. Haha I ate fried cheese! I felt terible about myself afterwards but it was dang good. Another day was spent traveling back to the Czech Republic to a training in Brno for all of the missions new missionaries and their companions. It was so great to see everyone again and to talk about everything that had happened. I love my mission president and it's great getting to know him better. Two and a half other days were also taken up by both preparing for General Conference and then watching it. Starsi Clem and I had to go buy a new TV for the building and that took forever. I loved General Conference! It was great to hear the words of the prophet and apostles and also to give that experience to our members once again. With all of this, we also had another day full of traveling to a members home about 1.5 hours away (Taking the bus takes forever). He is the coolest guy ever and is the one I told you about that crossed the border into Germany. We are teaching all of the lessons to him over again and we taught about the Restoration this week. It was such a great lesson and I tried to participate as much as I could. Nitra is really close to the border of Hungary so a lot of Hungarian is spoken around here. Lajos Majtan (the member) is Hungarian and has a tough accent when he speaks in Slovak so it's pretty hard for me to understand him. I'm grateful that Starsi Clem can speak.
So yeah, we've been doing a lot of different things that took up a lot of our proselyting and teaching time. A few of our lessons actually fell through and had to be pushed back for next week... so that didn't completely help either. This past week was a great testimoney builder and spiritual uplifter. We might not have been "on the surface" succesful but we definitely got a lot of things finished and ready which has primed our next week to be perhaps even better than our first week. Starsi Clem and I have big goals/hopes for this coming week. We are really excited.
Starsi Clem and I are working really well together. There are some people out there that don't realize how important actual relationships with people are... but we aren't like that. We're becoming really good friends and I'm very excited and hopeful for this transfer.

I, personally, am doing very well. The personal goals I have set and keep on setting are really pushing me and keeping me driven. If you haven't noticed it yet then there is one thing you should know about me: I love working and being driven. Striving for goals and hiting them are just things that I have really found joy in these past few years. I love being organized and staying on task and it's just a great tool out here. I also love service-- especially yard work-- and can't wait to do more of it! I pray someone will ask us to do some wood choping for them for the winter, haha. We are doing some service for a family this thursday and will then teach them about the Plan of Salvation.

Anyways, I got to run! I love you all and are hoping you are all doing well!

P.S. The mailing address is just the mission home address on my missionary card :). Let me know if you need it emailed.

Ahoj od Slovenska!

Hey everyone! It has really happened... I'm in Slovakia! Wow... did all of you know they speak different languages out here? I don't even know where to begin so I'm sorry if this sounds a little sporadic and, especially, if it is rushed (To everyone that reads this, never take time for granted).

So as you all know, I left the MTC at about 3:45 am last Monday morning. We took a bus over to the FrontRunner which took us all the way to downtown Salt Lake City. We (The 10 Czech/Slovak missionaries) then hopped on a shuttle towards the airport. I had such a big smile on my face during all of this. It was so nice to be out and doing something new. I loved talking with everybody as I went. It was wonderful to speak to people in English! While we were in the shuttle (Haha, I just realized how stupid I must've looked: 6:00 am, huge, dorky grin, and three very heavy bags anchoring me to the ground) I made most of my conversation with a man sitting down a few feet from me. I just got to know him and about where he was going, why he was here in Utah, what he does, and things like that. I really liked this guy! What was once a little small-talk erupted into a really interesting conversation. We were talking a lot about business and universities when he was the one who introduced religion. I asked him about his faith and he explained that he was a in-active member of a branch off of the Methodist church (I can't remember the name). He was a great guy-- I need to skip a lot of things now because I have twenty minutes to get only a portion of the crazy and amazing things that have happened this past week-- and within the first five minutes of me entering the Salt Lake City airport I had placed my first Book of Mormon. He accepted it and was actually really grateful for it. I definitely saw something in his eyes as we talked and when I gave him that copy. I'm so grateful for how much the Lord has blessed me.The interesting thing was how closely he watched me, both when we were and when we weren't talking. It's true that not only are we as missionaries being constantly watched but every Latter Day Saint is, as well. For those that read this that are members I urge you to constantly remember to be a good example and to hold onto your morals.

Later that day, I talked with a lot of wonderful and prepared people. I prayed for the Lord to send someone that needed to hear the message that I had to give... and he did. I gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon and two Mormon.org pass-along cards... and I loved every minute of it.

I am now a person who can say that he has seen the great city of Prague. It was beautiful! Shoot, I wish that I could tell all of you about it more but I just don't have enough time. I met my mission president, President McConkie, and he is so cool! After traveling an entire 24 hours we all got situated at the mission office, did a lot of stuff, and went off on the tour. Time for bullet points...

-Sadly, after the first photo I took on the tour, my camera battery died. The photo wasn't even of me! Just four gorgeous bridges over a river that I could have been standing in front of. Sorry mom!

-Ate dinner and desert in one of the restaurants: delicious!

-Tried to contact a lady on the metro but not only did she speak extremely fast... she also was speaking Czech. I said my piece and just tried to ignore that any of that had just happened.

-Met my companion, Starsi Clem. He is great! This will be his last transfer so I am definitely getting the best training I can with a missionary who has been here for almost two years.

-Starsi Garlick and I were assigned to the same area! Nitra! This is the oldest city in Slovakia but is also the newest area in the entire mission. My district is only 4 Elders. The church is very new here but we are progressing very quickly as well. It has been open for 6 months and the branch has a total of six members. The missionaries reactivated 5 and baptized 1. We also found another member in a small town outside of Nitra. He is Hungarian but speaks fairly strong Slovak. He ran across the border into Germany during communism to get baptized! We are meeting with him again next week to start reteaching him everything since he has been without the church for probably about 20 years.

-In just one week we got 7 new investigators and a lot of potential investigators as well. The Lord wants Nitra to grow.

I'm sorry this is short but I now have to go. I love all of you and look forward to writing to you again in a week!

Do videnia!

P.S. To Brat Zabriskie,
Why didn't you tell us that you and your companion recorded some songs here!? Everytime I hear, "Evenjelium," I have to hold back a giggle!

Group Pictures

Dear Families and Missionaries

 

Isn’t this a beautiful group of the Lord’s best!

 

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

Off to their area! Everyone is sooooooooooooo happy!

Dear Brother and Sister Lyman

This morning Elder Lyman met his companion – Elder Clem. Attached is a picture for you to enjoy.

Elder Lyman and Elder Clem are serving in the small town of Nitra. It is approximately 6 hours south-east of Prague by train, in Slovakia.

There are 2 other Elders in their district.

P-Day is next Monday.  Elder Lyman will contact you then to share his adventures. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

We are so delighted to have your son with us. :)

With warm regards from

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

He has arrived safely!

Dear Brother and Sister Lyman

 

Your son, Elder Lyman, has arrived safely in Prague. We are delighted to meet him!

 

Attached is a photograph for you to enjoy. It was taken with President and Sister McConkie when Elder Lyman first arrived.

 

At the moment Elder Lyman and his group are enjoying a ‘Prague Walk’ with the Assistants – Elder Knapp and Elder Sewell. This will help to keep them all awake until an early bed time. They will also have their first Czech dining experience. J

 

 

 

 

Tonight the Elders will stay together at this Pension just around the corner from the Mission Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow Elder Lyman will meet his companion and they will travel to their area. I will email you again tomorrow with a picture of the two happy missionaries! I will also be able to tell you which area they will be serving in and a little bit about it.

 

P-Day is next Monday.  Elder Lyman will contact you then to share his adventures. 

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

 

With warm regards from

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

Dobry Den and Do videnia!

It's my very last p-day here in the MTC! Wow, it's gone by so fast. This week has been a lot busier (and that's saying something) with having to prepare for departure on top of my regular study and teaching packed days. It's been so much fun, our zone is doing a lot of little closing activities and saying many goodbyes. We would do zone volleyball every week (which kind of changed to "zone volleyball whenever we felt like it"-- we loved it so much!) and we all had our last game together on Wednesday. The MTC doesn't allow us to have a gym time during that last few days here due to the liability and risks it creates. We had three volleyball nets up in the sand and were just having a blast like we usually do. We did Slovaks against Czechs and it was so much fun! I didn't learn until later but I guess I sprained one of the Czechs index fingers on one of my serves; I felt so bad.

We had In-Filed Orientation almost the whole day yesterday. What it is is that it's like a really big seminar where you bring all of the skills that you have learned here at the MTC and put them together in basically an 8 hour review. They do this for everyone on the Thursday before you leave. I learned a lot and it was such a great practice. It was a ton of fun (I feel like I'm using the word "fun" way too much in this email. Well, I'm a missionary so I cannot hide the truth; it's been a lot of fun here... but also still hard at times.) too! It started at 8:30 am and ended at around 5:30 pm. Afterwards, we all went back to class and prepared for TRC. Starsi Garlick and I taught our last lesson at TRC. We taught a girl named Natalia who is a native to Slovakia! Her mother is the one who primarily translated and finished the Book of Mormon in Slovak. It was a great lesson about "How Can We Receive Inspiration Through the Book of Mormon." She is so cool to talk to and we felt the spirit a lot during that meeting (40 minutes). It was awesome to see the contrast of how well I could communicate and understand this time compared to my first time. I've grown a lot here.

I left my departure schedule back at my room (or I lost it and will have to get another copy... not sure, haha) so I'll try to give a mildly accurate idea of what my day will be on Monday.

-I report to the travel office with my Slovak district (minus two because they are going to Leeds England to speak Slovak: crazy!) and the Czech district at 3:35 am Monday morning. I love everyone that will be traveling with us (I love my entire zone!) and it's going to be such a blast! There are six Czech's and four Slovaks that will be in our travel party. It's really sad because our whole zone will be splitting up into smaller and smaller pieces. Our zone is amazing (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, Poland, and Croatia) and we have all grown so close these past nine weeks. I was completely wrong with my last email on how I thought Josh and I would be able to travel together (He's going with the Croatians).

Anyways, so from the travel office we will take a bus over to the UTA Tracks in Salt Lake City and ride them into the Salt Lake City airport from there.

-I believe my plane is leaving at about 8:30 (Haha I'm so sorry! I really should have went over my travel plans a lot more!) and I fly into Dallas. I am flying on British Airways the entire trip. In Dallas, we have a really big layover. I have some English Books of Mormon ready and some other things to hopefully give away, I'm so excited!

-From Dallas, I fly all the way over to London! 

-From London, I will fly to Prague and most likely stay there that night. We are all (Us new missionaries) going to take a big tour of Prague for a few hours and then will finish by contacting for our first times in a famous square somewhere in the city. Holy cow! I'll be contacting in Prague in three days! Haha, Slovak is really close to Czech but... that doesn't mean anything at this stage of my language capabilities. I'm really so excited to contact and to begin helping the world and it doesn't matter if I can't necessarily speak the language. The people I will see will realize the joy and faith I have in this gospel through the spirit that is about me, my smile and happy face, and the genuine love I have for them and the deep wish that I have to share the gospel. I'll let you all know how it goes in a week.

-From Prague, I will take a train to Slovakia and to the city that I will be assigned.

The scriptures I have memorized this week are...

-1 Samuel 16:7

-Isaiah 40:10

-Alma 32:27 (I've always loved this scripture)

-Alma 26:8

-Mosiah 27:28-29

-Mark 5:36

-Alma 26:14-17

I don't have any homework for all you this time but I hope and pray that these emails I send to you brighten up your day. Many of you I will be calling on Monday from the airports so watch out for that :)! Well, I need to go once more y'all. I love each of you so much and am so grateful to have you in my life. The next time you will hear from me via email I will be in Slovakia!

Sincerely,

Starsi Lyman

Dobry Den!

I have loved this week so much and it has, as usual, gone by in a blink of an eye. I have 10 days left here at the MTC! I'm going to be in Slovakia in no time and I am SO excited! I can't wait! It's basically five days because two of those will be Sundays, two will be p-days (including today), and one will be a full day of traveling... so only five full study and class days! I know that the first month is going to be so much harder than anything I've probably been experiencing here at the MTC. I just can't wait to start blessing the lives of real people and showing them the love that really do have for them. I can't wait to preach the gospel in the airports and planes that I will be in in 10 days! Haha I'm already preparing the Books of Mormon that I hope to place out there. It'll be the last time I can preach in English so I'm going to hopefully make the best of those 18 hours. I think we get our travel plans this evening as well! One of the people Josh is traveling, an Elder from Germany, got his travel plans early (so basically Josh and 6 other missionaries that will be traveling with him did as well) this week! They fly from Salt Lake to Chicago, from Chicago to Paris (!!!), Paris to Croatia, and then go by train to wherever they need to be. That's so awesome! Most of our zone have basically followed the same routes so this means that I will probably do the same thing except from Paris to Prague, sleep a night in Prague, and then take a train to Slovakia! 

I've been keeping the goal of memorizing a scripture and it's reference every day this week. I missed a few days and actually decided to change my goal. Right now I'm pushing my hardest to learn the language so I don't have all day to memorize a scripture. I never will recite it in English (and I don't want to memorize them in Slovak yet) when I'm in Slovakia so I memorize the reference and one or two really powerful sentences out of it if I don't have time for the whole verse that day. The scriptures that I memorized this week are...

-Mosiah 2:21-22

-Deuteronomy 31:6

-1 Corinthians 10:13

-2 Nephi 31:20

-Alma 26:12

Last night I held my first District meeting. Our District is so close and we hold a district meeting every Thursday night. It's not asked of us but it's just something that we have always done for the past 8 weeks. We share spiritual insights, discuss how we can do better as individuals and a district, go over goals, and anything that is necessary at the time. They are always fantastic and very spiritual to us. This district is a great group of young men and I'm so grateful to be called as their District leader and to be able to serve them 

We talked about a lot of things last night but one of the topics I really stressed was the question, "What do YOU really want to do with these next 10 days?" We have 10 days left here, it is crucial to have goals and to push yourself at this time. This was a hard question to answer but I think I really got them thinking and will be able to follow up tonight during Senior companion interviews. Another thing that I stressed on is "What is YOUR 100%?" This obviously involves diligence and hard work and I wanted us all to know exactly what it is we have to do this week, be better at, and how hard we have to push. Everyone progresses, learns, and works in different manners and paces so this one is really personal. The Lord only requires our best effort and doesn't ask any more from us so it is also crucial to know "What is YOUR 100%?" I've thought a lot about this and I know that this district is going to do some miracles and fantastic things this next week and especially out in the field.

I really want to ask each one of you, that receive this email, these two questions: "What do YOU really want to do with these next 10 days?" and "What is YOUR 100%?". You don't have a deadline like the six of us might have but I ask you to take this challenge with us, make some goals, and be your very best these 10 days in what ever way you choose.

I have one more homework assignment for all of you again (haha). I watched a mormon message this week on lds.org that really touched and hit me. Seriouslly, I had to fight back my tears the whole time while watching it (I'm happy that I can say that I didn't cry and that I prevailed!). If any of you are struggling in life or just need some hope or a helping hand, please watch the video made from Henry B. Eyring's talk, titled, "Mountains To Climb." It will bless your life.

Well, it is time for me to go again. I'll be sending a few letters to many of you this week, so watch out! You have only ten more days to write your lovable Elder before you have to send one internationally so you better act fast! I wanted to let all of you know that I love all of you very much and that I pray for you each day. Sometimes I get busy here at the MTC and lose track of things so if I haven't written back to you after you wrote me a letter, please let me know! I will always write a letter back to someone if they take the time to do so for me. Let me know if it's been awhile since you have personally heard from me and I will quickly fix that. Usually, I don't forget about responding so either the letter didn't make it to you... or I actually did forget, haha!

Sincerely,

Starsi Lyman

Vsetci! (Slovak translation of "Everyone" without the accents)

Ahoj everyone! I hope that you all are safe and sound back home and throughout the world :)!

This week has been fantastic and I really have grown so much. I know I say this almost every time but I can't deny the truth. When you are being blessed and uplifted in so many ways by the Lord it's impossible not to grow exponentially. I'm so grateful for this and I'm so indebted to my Heavenly father and my Savior.

I'm working really hard here, just like every other missionary around me. Starsi Garlick and I have set the goal to SYL (Speak Your Language) for an entire week, except for certain meetings and times where English is necessary. I've also been studying my language, for the past two weeks, during gym time. After weight lifting for about 15 minutes on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays,  I'll hop on a stationary bicycle machine (oh my goodness, I'm so embarrassed that I don't know the specific name) and study one of the Slovak textbooks I have for about 35 minutes as I go. It's helping a lot! I wish that all everybody was doing this but I hope that it will start to catch on. I got a few people from my zone to start doing it as well. 

For the past week I've set the goal to memorize a scripture everyday here at the MTC (17 days left!) and it's been such a cool experience. The scriptures that I have memorized this week...

• 2 Nephi 4:28 
• John 14:15
• 1 Nephi 4:6 
• John 7:17
• 2 Nephi 25:26 (I love this one)
• Alma 37:6-7
• Alma 32:21

Some of them are really short but all of them hold great power in their words. As I was thinking about this, I thought, "Why don't I memorize a scripture a day my entire mission?" It seems crazy, I know, but I'm totally going to go for it! I need/want to be much better with using the scriptures as a tool and inexpensible resource wherever I am at all times. There is great power in memorizing the words of the Lord and even just a simple phrase with the corresponding reference. My companion described it as having "little pockets of light" for when you are in need. So that's a commitment from me to you today, memorize a scripture... maybe not as extensive as to one each day but maybe one every week? 

A crazy thing has happened this week with my companion and I. Probably, on this past Wednesday, we learned that our grandfathers (Jay Garlick and Jay Lyman) served together on the missions in Holland! I can't believe this! Our District really is one of the coolest and hard working here and we've been noticing a LOT of these "little coincidences" throughout these past weeks. Grandparents know each other, parents have been friends, 2nd cousins, grandparents baptizing other grandparents, and I won't really going into it much further... but there's a lot. It's really interesting and I'm so grateful to have been called to this mission and to serve at this time. I KNOW without a doubt that this is where I am suppose to be. Speaking about my district, I've been called to be the District Leader for the remaining days here in the MTC! I was in an interview with President Jones and I had no idea he was going to ask if I would be the District Leader. I'll be called this Sunday and I'm so excited. I'm grateful that I've been given this privilege (though it is just the MTC) and I just hope that I will be able to help progress my fellow missionaries in any way I can.

Another cool thing with my companion and is our first names. His name is Joseph and my name is Jacob (Of course you know that). If you ever have some spare time, look at the chapter heading of Jacob 1.

I had a lot more to tell you about this week but am now out of time again. I'll leave you off with some homework I guess ;). If you have the time, look through and read/sing the hymns 140, 142, 144, and 145... I'll leave the names for you to find out later.

I love you all so much,

Starsi Lyman