Probably one of the best weeks of my mission!

Halusky with Horakovi

Tuesday we had a lesson with the Horakovi! Elder Jones called us about an hour before and told us that he had an impression to invite her daughter she is 9 to be baptized tonight! SO we went with it! But first we made Halusky with their family! We brought all the stuff and made it for them! It was so much fun! We had a blast and we really built up a better relationship with sister Horakova! We were cracking jokes and what not just having a good time! Then we taught about baptism it was really spiritual! That night was probably the clearest I  have ever heard the Holy ghost before! While elder Jacobson was talking I had some words just pop into my head on how to extend the date then a  perfectly mild voice told me "Ok Elder Heywood these are the words address the mother first then Kaja" and bang it worked! It was such a tender moment that I will never forget! We just need to get them to church and she will hit her date no problem! Oh in the morning we did some service for Pavlina too that was fun!

Wednesday we woke up nice and early to head over to Prague to hear Elder Cook! It was cool that the whole mission was there and I got to see some people that I have not seen in forever! It was also good to catch up with elder Wutzke for a bit! Then it came time to take our seats and what not and then Elder Cook walked in and the whole room just lit up! We got to shake his hand and also his wife's! It was so awesome! When I shook his wife's hand she said "wow you have an amazing smile!" SO that was pretty cool haha! Then the program started and it was pretty funny to see Prez Poho conduct it all in English! I always think its so weird when he speaks English haha!  Elder Cooks talk was so amazing! He talked about how we need to have more faith and that our mission was a big driving force to the development of Preach My Gospel! And told us a story about that! It was really cool! I don't have my notes with me or else I would tell you more about that but the best part was his testimony! He starts with "As an apostle I have always struggled really how to give my testimony about the Savior because we do not want to talk about these sacred experiences we have as special witnesses of the Lord but..... And now I quote "But I will say this the Savior lives. I know his voice. and I know his face." The spirit was so strong it was insane! Like I can't describe it! He is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and that is a fact!! After he left we had permission to stay in Prague and go to the devotional for the stake later that night so we got to help put all the winter tires on all the mission cars so that was fun! Then we headed to this beautiful place were the devotional was! I got to see a lot of members and I got to see Fillip from Ostrava! I was hoping Marcela was going to be there but some members from Jihlava told me she couldn't go so i was a lil bummed! But it was a great meeting! Elder Cook just restated what he talked about in General Conference so that was cool and talked about the responsibility of the Parents! Then he gave the same testimony it was awesome! Then we headed home with the Jones and got home at like 10:25 so we went strait to bed!

Where we had meetings with Elder Cook

Filip!!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were just normal not much happened!

Then Sunday we had 5 investigators at church and had 2 less active families there it was awesome!  I had to translate at the pulpit for elder Jones so that was rough haha! Then I taught Sunday school and taught about faith in Jesus Christ it went really well! Then I had to do some interviews for elder Jones and some temple recommend interviews then we had ward council and after all the translating my brain was fried! haha! Also winter is pretty much here it has  been cold and rainy everyday the mountains have a lil snow too! Then that night all of our appointments fell through so we went contacting and tracting for the rest of the day in the pouring rain and cold! I had to break out the thermals!! 

From Sister Jones email:  "Pavlina made them a treat and brought it to the church.  Elder Jacobson would not try it.  BUT Elder Heywood is made of sterner stuff!   

The "treat" consisted of bits of turkey meat mixed with a jelly that she makes out of turkey fat.   

The Maskovi Family

Over all an amazing  

week! I love the gospel and the joy that it brings!!

S laskou Starsi Heywood

On je svetlo svetu!

Had a good week! Had a lot happen so it was nice! 

Early morning in Liberec!

Tuesday we had District meeting with Prez then we had interviews with him! I love Prez Pohorelicy so much he is literally the best haha! IN my interview after we prayed the first question he asked me was "Are you tired" haha! How did he know? It was a good interview I asked questions about what defines a consecrated missionary and talked about finding that balance between members and investigators and who needs more attention! It was awesome and he gave me some great counsel on my calling and stuff! He pretty much told me that I would most likely have another transfer in Liberec after this one! But that doesn't bother me! I love it here! Then we started an exchange! I was with Elder Fagg! SO we went out contacting the rest of the day we got a couple numbers and then met up with the other elders later to teach a less active woman! It was a good lesson we taught the restoration using jenga blocks! I love her little kids! One is 6 years old his name is Mira and we are besties!!

Wednesday we were still on exchanges so we did studies got some lunch then did some group contacting! Sister Jones told us that around 2 there are a lot of college students that walk by their apartment so we decided to do a chalk display there! Elder Jacobson chose a scripture to write! Mosiah 16:9! He is the light of the world... So we wrote out then my approach was "hello I am from america and I can't read Czech. Can you read this for me?" (got em every time) Then I would proceed to ask them "Who is it?" "Who is the light?" Which led the discussion into Jesus Christ it was awesome!  Me and elder Fagg gave out three books of Mormon and then we got some more numbers! Pretty successful then we had English class and then had a lesson with Sousek who became a progressing investigator; it was awesome!

Exchange with Starsi Fagg

Thursday we had service with Jindra it was good we helped him with his parking lot again! Its almost done!  After we had a lesson with Karolina we had to be pretty bold with her about who God was, she doesn't really get that he is all loving and powerful and that he had to sacrifice his son he couldn't do it himself. Later that day we went dorm trakting, i hate it! But elder Jacobson likes it so we did it! We did meet this way cool guy from Turkey on the way home! His  name is Mustafa we have a meeting with him tomorrow so that will be way cool!

Friday we had studies, weekly planning then another lesson with Sousek! it went super well! we finished the restoration with him he's really humble and really accepting so hes looking pretty good but wasn't able to come to church on Sunday! We have a lesson with him tomorrow so it will be good!

Pavlinas stream

Saturday we went to Pavlinas! It was Elder Jacobsons 1st time there so it was fun! Her pipe that were we usually fill up her water was dry so she told us to go behind the lake and fill it up in a stream so that's what we did.... hahaha yeah shes crazy! Always an adventure!

This was taken in the Liberec main square this morning.

Sunday was good! We had a less active family there and 3 investigators!! I had a talk and I used the talk Behold the Man by Elder Uchtdorf! Its a good one! The best part was Turru passed the Sacrament! Then he brought a friend to church and during 2nd hour he taught him the whole restoration! I was probably the happiest missionary in the World! Then we had Branch Presidency meeting after church that was good! I'm  now in charge of looking after the Primary so I'm excited to work with all the little kids!!! Pretty good week!

This week will be good we will be in Prague on Wednesday because Elder Cook will be here! I'm way excited!!

Love you all!

S laskou Starsi Heywood

Hey

Man cant believe it is already Monday again! Weeks are literally flying by! We kept busy in Liberec this week! Met with  some less actives with the Jones (a lot of headaches from translating), but also really awesome to get to know the members more!

Monday night we had an amazing visit with a single LA mom and her kids! We played Uno with the kids then had a spiritual thought! The spirit was so strong! She shed some tears and accepted our invite back to church! Not for this week but for the next one! They will be out of town this week! But still awesome! Also her daughter is 9 so we will be working with her to get her baptized here in the near future! If you have any ideas for a hands on kid friendly restoration lesson let me know so we can do that tomorrow!

Tuesday we did studies had a lil time to find so we took down the whiteboard and asked people why they got up in the morning and stuff it was cool! I for some reason had a lot of drunk people come up to me in those short two hours! I helped a drunk man fix his medal that he was wearing around his neck so that was pretty funny! #doingagoodturndaily! Then we had a first lesson with this insane dude that we met last week! We were pretty surprised that he came but we went up stairs and had quite the lesson not really sure what was going on the whole time he kept talking about his belt and almost took off his pants hahaha!! It was hard not to laugh!! It was pretty crazy haha! Then we went to go visit a member with the Jones but they weren't home so we got back and had dinner and did language study!

Wednesday we had district meeting in Jicin then had Helena come to English and Radovan and a kid named Lucus so that took up our day!

Thursday we went to a less actives home in Zelezny Brod, it was a pleasant visit! We haven't seen them in a while! We also had service for Jindra it was good! We stacked wood and filled in a trench for him!

Friday we did a study had a lesson with Sousek who is new so we set expectations and had a good lesson! He had a lot of questions about the second coming of Christ, but we told him that he needs a solid foundation before we can answer those! Then we got on a us to go back to Jicin to do some finding there! The bus sucked it was packed full so we had to stand for a hour and a half! Then we did finding there then went back home and finished studies

Saturday we went on a vylet with some of the branch members! Lets just say that it wasn't very well planned and that we walked a lot farther than everyone wanted and people got tired haha!! But it was fun! It was nice to be outside in the amazing weather we are having before it gets super cold again! Then went and gave this less active woman a blessing before she has surgery beginning of next week! It was a  good visit and the spirit was there for sure! Then we had a lesson that night with another Lukas! It was good, he'll get there he just talks way too much about the stuff that doesn't matter so kinda frustrating but all good!

Sunday was tiring! A lot of translating haha! But it was awesome a less active that hasn't been in a year and a half came!!! It was awesome! Then my comp taught second hour and I taught 3rd hour! It was good then had a couple meetings after church! Church was spiritual though with testimony meeting! We have some amazing faithful members here! Then we taught Jindras kids English and he gave Elder Jacobson some European cowboy boots which was funny but they didn't fit him so he gave them to me!! They are some slick boots! hahaha!

Also forgot to add that Turru was ordained a Priest yesterday and received the Priesthood! We are so happy for him! and his friend echkbayar ordained him in Mongolian it was awesome!

Good week! Today we went to castle with another companionship from the district the others didn't come they missed their bus so I'll send some pics!! 

Love you all! 

Starsi Heywood!

Mid Week Photos

It's so nice having a direct source to my son!  Here are some pictures I got this morning.

Teaching the Horacova Family.

District Meeting

Heywood/Jacobson

Wow GC

Man what a week of revelation! General Conference was amazing!! I don't think I have ever been so excited to watch General Conference in my life! It literally felt like the Super Bowl! Me and my comp were getting so lit when the countdown clock hit 1 minute!!! We knew something was big was coming fast because someone told us that the Czech translators couldn't have access to a couple talks for translating!!! Pretty crazy!!! So 2 hour church!! That's going to be awesome! I don't know about the other part of the world but that is exactly what the Czech Republic needs! Members here just get so burnt out so fast because and its hard having something prepared every hour of church! So that was awesome but that puts a lot of pressure on parents to really teach their children in these later days! It will be cool when all the Handbooks and stuff come out! And not to mention that its going to be so much nicer telling people that church is only 2 hours rather than 3! So many inspiring talks this weekend! The theme was pretty clear this weekend Ministering, teaching in the home, and trials! I think my favorite talk was by M Joseph Brough about trials! Also I loved Prez Nelsons about the name of the church and also Prez Oaks! He put down the law on the plan of salvation! It truly was an inspiring weekend and we had a couple LAs and members show up to watch a couple sessions with us so that was awesome! 

Starsi Heywood & Andrejka

Monday was good we had a great visit with the Jarosovi! A LA family and we brought the Jones with us! The mom speaks perfect English so she really  opened up with the Jones so that was awesome they can't meet this week because they are busy and I believe them! They own a farm\Hotel and have over 55 horses they took us on a tour it was super nice! I also fell in love with their daughter (I'll send a pic she literally is the cutest thing that has ever walked the earth) It was a good visit and we had a great spiritual thought about prayer at the end!

With Tonic and Andrejka

Tuesday we had district meeting in  Jicin then a lesson later that night! 

Wednesday the district came up to Liberec and we did group finding! We brought out a big white board with the Question; What is the best attribute a person can have? So many people wrote their answers it was awesome then we would relate it that Jesus Christ has all of these attributes! We got 8 numbers of people to call back and on Saturday during calls two people set up so that is a success! Then we had a lesson with LA Helena then English then a lesson with Radovan! 

Thursday we studied went trachting then had a lesson with Karolina which was good we went over the restoration again and found her concerns are really to do with the character of God.  So this week we will be covering that! Then we went to the Jonesovi and discussed the branch and who needs visits and I called a couple people for them and set some up for this week so that should be cool! 

Friday we helped the Jones move in their washer then did service for brother Branda! He pretty much had a huge semi truck come full of wood and then he dumped it and we stacked it all! It was long but  good! We got to know him a bit better and his wife who is very less active! We had dinner then played Bang with their family! It was a really good visit hopefully we can get invited back over soon!

Super Bowl Sunday for the missionaries!!

Shout out to Peta from Jihlava! Shes in the MTC right now and got to sing at General Conference.  I was so happy to see her on the big screen! CR represent!

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference so we spent most of our day at the building so it would play and all that stuff! It was a good first week of the Transfer!

Love you all!

S laskou Starsi Heywood

I'm Staying!

Welcome Elder Jacobson!

What is up everyone! It was a pretty crazy week but I'll start with transfer calls because that is probably all you care about! Hahaha! SO we got the call Saturday morning about 8:50 which was nice we didn't have to wait that long! So prez told me the news that I will be staying here in Liberec and my new comp will be Elder Jacobson.  I don't know if you all remember him but he was in my district when I was in Jihlava, he's that cowboy! I love him and I'm way excited to be with him! Its going to be  fun! Elder Wutzke will be heading over to Prague to be the new AP!!! I'm happy for him he sure deserved it! I love Elder Wutzke and I will sure missing serving with him! Later that day after our lesson with Dana and stuff, I got a call from Prez Hanzal in the stake presidency saying that we would be having an interview later that day! I knew that Elder Jones had been called as the new Branch President but little did I know that my interview was because I was going to be called as his 2nd Counselor in the Branch presidency! So that was pretty crazy! It was a good interview but it will be pretty crazy because the other counselor is one of our Mongolian friends so I'm the only one that really speaks Czech haha! I think my language skills will drastically improve this transfer! I was set apart yesterday after Branch Conference, I asked him if they would do it in Czech so that was cool! So I don't really know what exactly all my responsibilities are but I know that I will be helping with interviews and will be leading church meetings and the basic stuff and really try to focus on LA members also to help strengthen the Aaronic Priesthood! I got permission to read handbook 1 so that will be really cool! I'll be learning a lot this transfer for sure! So that was pretty much my weekend haha! 

Sunday was sad though with everyone saying goodbye to Elder Wutzke! It was hard to translate his testimony for the Jones and Mongolians because I was a little sick (still am it sucks) But he made me cry like a lil baby! It didn't help that I already had a stuffy nose. Yeah Sunday was a sad day for sure but a great Sunday! It was nice to have the stake presidency there because of Ward Conference amazing messages were shared!

Now from the beginning! Last Monday we finally got to meet that La Family where the mom wants us to baptize her son! It was awesome they own a farm and Hotel so they are pretty wealthy! They showed us their horses and rabbits so that was cool! We had a good spiritual thought about Josef Smith! Turns out that her husband is baptized but never received the priesthood so our goal this transfer is to have the Dad baptize the son!! (we have a lesson tonight I'm excited hopefully I'll feel a lil better though!) 

Tuesday we did service for Jindra and then had a lesson with Lukas he seems to be coming around more and actually listening! Still doesn't want to try it!

Wednesday a guy in the branch called and asked if we could go to the library and sit at a table for school kids and have them come around and try to speak English! It was fun they had a lot of cool languages it was kinda like a cultural day which was fun and good thing of service! We probably had the best table! Then we had English classes that night!

Thursday we had a lesson with a guy that is in prison that is a member! He had a couple days at home and him and Prez Poho are good friends so he asked if we would go over! We had a good chat and I gave my first blessing in Czech so that was pretty cool! Then we headed over to Jicin after that for our last district meeting! It was good! then went and visited this potential that we met a couple weeks ago she didn't have any interest haha but way nice and she gave us fruit tea!

Friday we helped the people move out of the Jones new apartment so that they can move in tomorrow! It was good then we had cultural night! We went to the divadlo and saw Popelka(cinderella) Turns out it was modern and a Opera and in Italian! So YES it was way fun haha!! They had czech subtitles up top so I was trying to use my  language to understand haha I was lost the whole time! We had to leave early though so we could get home before 9! It was a fun day!

It was a good week for sure but I'm excited for general conference this week! I hear its going to be even crazier than last! Word on the street is that Elder Christofferson was at the mtc and told everyone that they better hold on to their seats for this one! soo it will be pretty crazy!!!

Love you all have a good week!

s laskou 

Elder Heywood