Go CZECH -- MTC Week 4

The temple this morning

Ahoj! 

This week I've been pretty sick, so that has been a little rough, but I am feeling much better now. 

Thursday: My teacher Bratr Nelson gives tours to people around the MTC and our class got to go talk to his group. We went into a room full of about 50 people and they asked us a bunch of questions. They asked things like what our favorite part of the MTC was, what spiritual experiences we have had, and what we had heard about the Czech Republic. It was fun to answer all of their questions, but also a little bit scary. One of the girls in the audience said that her mom was from the Czech Republic and a convert to the church, so that was super cool! 

My Ministering Companion from my BYU Ward, Mandy Marks 

Friday: We had a lesson with Zdenek... It turned into an hour and a half lesson. Mostly because we had to spend so much time looking up words in the dictionary, but also because we taught the word of wisdom. He struggles with not drinking alcohol because that's what he does with his friends every weekend. We committed him to live the word of wisdom. 

Saturday consisted of a lot of classes and studying. We had 6 hours of class... I guess we do most days... but we went over a lot of grammar principles. We also practiced translating sentences and studied Moroni 10 in the Kniha Mormonova together as a class. I really love that chapter. I also had a goal this last week to memorize Joseph Smith's First vision in Czech, and I finally got it! I was super excited about it. It is such a powerful part of the restoration and being able to say it from memory in Czech makes it that much better. I just need to keep reviewing it so I don't forget it! 

Sunday: Church was good and in District Council we taught a lesson on the Priesthood and Priesthood keys. It went well. That evening we had a devotional by President Martino and his wife. They are the best! Both of them were converts to the church and ever since they have done a ton of family history work. Because of the conversion of 2 people, by two missionaries, thousands of people have been brought the blessings of the gospel on the other side of the veil. 

Monday: We had a workshop about repentance and baptizing converts. They taught us how to prepare a quick lesson which was really nice, because out in the field, I know I won't have as much time as I do here in the MTC to prepare. At the end of class, we did a language assessment on the computer. They gave us a prompt and we had to respond to everything in Czech. It was so hard, they didn't give you much time to think about the prompt. I know so little :)

Ran into Connor Baird

Tuesday: We had two lessons today. The first lesson was with Zdenek. My companion and I are so proud of him! He was so strong this week and didn't go out to drink with his friends. He said that he prayed for strength like we told him, and Heavenly Father gave him the strength he needed. We also taught a new person named Ales. We began teaching him the restoration. He believes in God and that God loves us. He is looking for the church that is right for him... Well, he's found it! That evening we had a devotional from a member of the Quorum of the 70, Elder Brent H. Nielson. We sang the hymn, Have I done any good in the world today? I absolutely love that hymn!!! Elder Nielson told us lots of personal experiences. He talked about the importance of our work and how this gospel is taught one by one, just like the Savior did. We also sang in the choir, even though I was coughing up a lung... I know how much my companion loves to sing, so I didn't want to let her down. We sang I know that my Redeemer Lives. It is so powerful when 950 missionaries all sing together. I had goosebumps! 

Wednesday: We went over our language assessments in class, I definitely have a lot to improve on! We also had TRC! I love TRC even though they are a little scary. We taught 2 lessons. First we taught Petr (Native Czech who is also a professor at BYU). The second lesson, we taught two new people both of which were returned missionaries from the Czech Republic. We taught about the atonement and repentance. Both were great lessons and our teacher told us that all three of them told him that they had felt the spirit, so that was great. My companion, Sestra Hodgson told Petr I was sick. He told me to drink lots of water and when he said the closing prayer, he prayed that I would get healthy. It was really sweet. In 2 weeks we will do Skype TRC's which is super scary. We will be Skyping members in the Czech Republic and teaching them a lesson. 

I love you all so much and appreciate all of your support. I keep you in my prayers. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you SOOOO much! 

Also sweet Julianne Clegg has put together a blog for me, so go CZECH that out. HAHA that was so cheesy. Here is the link. kylieguymon.blogspot.com

Love Always, 

Sestra Guymon

Czech Flag

Hunters & Fishers of Men -- MTC Week 3

Ahoj Rodina a Kamarad! (Hi Family and Friends) 

This week was pretty awesome. 

Friday: We had an incredible lesson with Zdenek. We planned to teach him about the Kniha Mormonova but his questions led the discussion elsewhere... like to repentance. We followed up on the commitment we gave him last time to pray and he said that he felt good when he prayed. He asked what the next step was, so we talked about repentance and baptism. We had a hard time explaining it with our limited Czech, but I think he got the jist of it. We related those topics back to the Kniha Mormonova so that we could teach the lesson we had planned. Half way through our lesson, our teacher stopped us, THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!! Our teacher (who was acting as our investigator) paused, got super choked up and tears came to his eyes, then he said, "I am feeling the spirit so strong right now. I want this to build your testimony that the Holy Ghost is the teacher and you help direct the conversation. With your very basic Czech, the Holy Ghost can fill in the gaps and teach people what they need to know." I honestly can't really tell you what we said in that lesson, because it wasn't us saying it. The spirit was so strong and at the end of the lesson, we invited him to pray, his sweet, simple prayer was incredible. We also gave left him with a Kniha Mormonova to read. I learned in that lesson that it is important to just listen, don't worry about trying to figure out what you are going to say next. The Holy Ghost will tell you the things you need to say. 

Saturday: We had service early in the morning and cleaned bathrooms. Then at exercise time there was an intense soccer game against the Russians. There were people cheering on the sidelines and people running around with their countries flag. It was so fun! In class we practiced teaching the entire restoration in Czech which was really good for us. We also learned more cases and spent a lot of time studying TALL which is an online program that helps us learn Czech. You can pick words and phrases you want to learn and they are all pronounced by a Czech and then you can record yourself and repeat them back to make sure you are saying it right. It helps a lot.

Sunday: We taught the relief society lesson about recognizing and understanding the spirit. It went really well. My companion and I really work well together. I just love her to death! We also had an opportunity to go on a walk to the temple. I think we get to do this every Sunday now which I am super excited about. At the temple, we had a little devotional and took a zone picture. I learned that the Provo temple is designed after the story of Moses and how he led people through the wilderness with a pillar of fire and a cloud. The top of the temple with the angel Moroni represents the pillar of fire and the round shape of the building below represents the cloud. We also had a devotional that evening by Gary Crittenden. He shared a scripture... Jeremiah 16:16 that reminded me of my dad and brothers. It talks about being Hunters and Fishers of men. Hunters go out looking for something. Fishers put something tasty on the line to lure the fish in. He related it to how we find people to teach the gospel. I thought it was pretty cool. We also watched a video from Elder Bednar about recognizing the Spirit. He said, don't worry about whether it is you or the spirit. He told an inspiring story about how he left a stake presidency meeting and took an Elders Quorum president to go watch their boys play in the championship basketball game. He didn't know why they left the game, and felt a little bit bad about leaving. 6 months later, the Elders Quorum President's son passed away and the man thanked Elder Bednar for taking him to go watch his son because it was the last time he was able to see his son play in a game like that. It really touched my heart. 

Monday: We met our new teacher Sister Heap. She is so nice!!! I love her so much! She speaks mostly in Czech to us, which has really helped me be able to understand a lot more. 

Tuesday: We taught Zdenek the Word of Wisdom. He has a problem with Alcohol so this will be fun to work with him and watch him change. He is progressing and praying, but he doesn't like reading, so reading the Kniha Mormonova is going to be a slow process. We will probably just start reading more of it with him during lessons and explaining difficult concepts. We also practiced contacting for the first time. IT WAS SO AWKWARD. It was all in Czech and luckily it was only to our teacher, but there were long periods of dead silence. We just didn't know what to say, or even how to say it. haha. We are working on it though and are getting better every time we practice. Tuesday Evening was one to remember. We had a devotional from a member of the Quorem of the 12 Apostles. Elder Christofferson came and spoke to us. He spoke about calling the Church by its full name. We are no longer supposed to use the terms Mormon or LDS. I am sure President Nelson will talk about that in the upcoming General Conference, so watch for that! 

Wednesday: We taught TRC. We taught Petr (native Czech) and Justin (return missionary from Czech Republic). We taught them about prayer and asked a lot of deep questions that forced them to think. It was really enjoyable. Justin complimented our Czech and said we had come a long ways since last week. It really is hard to see your own progress in the language. Also, Summer Chappell is here! She is in the room right next to mine! As soon as I walked in the residence and before I had even seen her, she came running and gave me a huge hug. It was so cute. She is going to Croatia. I'm super excited to have her here. 

 Sorry this email was so long! So much as happened this week! I hope all is going well for you, you are in my prayers.

Love,

Sestra Guymon 

Super Basic Czech -- MTC Week 2

Ahoj!

This week was pretty busy, but what week isn't? 

Thursday: We taught Pavel our last lesson with him. We taught him about the Saviors atonement and resurrection. Trying to get creative, my companion and I pulled out a glove... using my super basic Czech, I explained the resurrection. When I pulled out the glove, Pavel started laughing and it took all he had to hold back, same with my companion and I. I held up the glove and said telo which means body, (that's not completely correct spelling though because I don't know how to do symbols on this computer). Then I pointed to my hand and said duch which means spirit, then I said smrt which means death and then took the glove off my hand and said separated, then I put the glove back on and said resurrected. Afterwards, we discussed with Pavel how our lesson went and he said he had never seen the glove thing done before and said he was trying so hard to laugh. He thought it was great because it taught a really complicated principle in a simple way. I'm surprised he hadn't ever seen that. I also learned how important it is to follow up on commitments because when people act, they become converted to Christ. 

Friday: We went to a workshop about finding people. It is so important to talk to everyone we can on the street and share a short message with them. We did a lot of roll plays trying to get to know people and then leading that discussion into the gospel. One key take away from today was that I am on the Lord's time, therefore, I need to make the best use of it every single day. We also learned how to conjugate verbs. Czech is getting more complicated everyday. I'm not excited to learn the 7 different ways they case things. 

Saturday: In personal study, I read all of Joseph Smith History again. If you haven't read that for a while, read it again. I could not ignore the warm feeling that I got when I read that. The Holy Ghost testified to me that it was true. Joseph Smith suffered so much persecution for what he believed, yet he stuck it out. I truly admire his example and commitment to the Lord. I'm grateful he was able to restore the church to this earth and translate the Kniha Mormonova. In class we memorized all of the doctrinal points in preach my gospel from the first three lessons. That was fun. I was really tired and when I am tired, I am quiet, so because I wasn't saying to much they made me recite all the points from all three lessons by myself. HAHA. 

Sunday: Every week from here on out we have to prepare a talk in Czech just in case we get called on to speak in Sacrament meeting. We also were able to watch a talk by Elder Holland called Missionaries are forever. I learned that if we push ourselves to the edge, God will help us fly, and that is when the miracles happen. This statement in his talk stuck out to me, "Missions are hard because salvation is not an easy experience." That is so true. 

Monday: 

We went to a workshop about technology and how we can use it to share the gospel. We can always refer people to lds.org for answers to their questions. We learned more irregular conjugations in class and we also did roll plays. I answered the question how I knew God existed by telling the story of Korihor and Alma. In Alma 30:44 it says how all things denote their is a God. I really loved that. It is cool how we can turn to the scriptures for answers to any question. 

Tuesday: We got a new investigator today, who is really our teacher... but our investigators name is Zdenek. He is someone my teacher taught on his mission. He is a lot harder to teach than Pavel. We taught him that God loves him and then we taught him how to pray. The Devotional was by far the best part of the day. We had Elder Patrick Kearon from the Seventy come speak to us. My companion and I sung in the choir again, and the Spirit was incredible. Elder Kearon and his wife shared a beautiful message. They told us not to compare ourselves to others or to compete with them. They told us to become the message you are sharing. Lastly the told us that the best motivation in life is LOVE! Elder Kearon was a convert to the church and he told us that he would not be where he is today, in the Seventy, if it weren't for persistent missionaries. It was just a really cool devotional. 

Wednesday: We had our second lesson with Zdenek. He asks really hard questions and we really don't have the Czech vocabulary to be able to answer him in a productive manner so that is really frustrating. Understanding his questions is often difficult too. We also had our first TRC. We taught memebers lessons completely in Czech. We discussed the importance of the Book of Mormon. One person we taught was a guy that had just got home from his mission in the Czech Republic. The other guy was a native Czech!!!! He is actually a professor at BYU, he is in the nursing department and teaches some kind of surgical procedure or something. I didn't get all of it... He just showed himself cutting up his arm and then sewing it back together :) haha. Each lesson was twenty minutes. 

I'm so grateful to be here. I love you all and miss you so much! 

Love Always, 

Sestra Guymon

Ahoj!!! -- MTC Week 1

Ahoj!!!

It has been a busy week at the MTC. You are going constantly! 

Wednesday: Day 1: As soon as I was dropped me off and said good by, we went and dropped off our suit cases, then we went straight to work. We got our name tags, keys, and MTC card to pay for stuff. I met my companion, Sestra Hodgson. She is from Washington. I LOVE HER SO MUCH!! We get along so well, our personalities are very similar so that is really nice. She loves running so we go running during exercise time!!! :) Anyways, we went to class and they only spoke to us in Czech. Then we went to 3 different class rooms with a bunch of missionaries and taught investigators. That was pretty cool and the spirit was strong.

Thursday Day 2: I woke up and honestly was pretty homesick, so I just went to work. We have an hour of personal study, companion study, and language study everyday. We picked up a bunch of Czech books and it felt like Christmas, but it was also super overwhelming because I have so much to learn!! That evening we met our branch president. It is President Edwards, who lives in Heber; Garret Ritchie is their grandson. That was super cool! They are so nice! Also in the branch presidency is the Svendson's. They say the drive by Charleston honking and waving... so if you see them, wave back!!! HAHA!! They are so funny. 

Friday Day 3: We have class everyday for 6 hours. In 3 hour blocks. During the first block, we prepared to teach our first investigator. We got a lesson ready and then translated it into Czech. Even though we had only been there since Wednesday, they expected us to teach the lesson entirely in Czech. We did it! It went really well! We had to use dictionaries to figure out his responses to our questions though. We taught him about families and that God is our loving Heavenly Father. We committed him to praying.  

Saturday Day 4: We did a service project early in the morning, we went and cleaned all the bathrooms. Then we ate breakfast and had exercise time. There are a lot of things we can do for exercise time. There is a weight room, we can go out to the field next to the temple, and we can go to a basketball court with an indoor track up above. So we have options and it is great. You need exercise time to move a little after being stuck in classrooms all day. At class today, we also memorized Moroni 7:33 in Czech. Go look up that verse, it is awesome. We taught Pavel again. We committed him to read the book of Mormon. 

Sunday Day 5: Everyone says to make it through the MTC until Sunday. Sunday was great. We went to relief society, district council, then sacrament. Then we went to match his message, it was all about dressing modestly. Then my companion wanted to go to choir. I'm not big on singing, but I'm so glad we went, it was so cool. I love the choir director, he tells lots of stories and makes it super spiritual. It was a blessing to go through that fast Sunday without even feeling hungry. We also had a music devotional that was really cool. Finally, we watched a movie, it was really a talk by Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ and about how Christ always turns outward.  That changed my life. After applying that, the MTC experience got so much better. When you feel like turning inward and focusing on your own problems, that is when you need to turn out and serve others. He bore a powerful testimony. It really touched my heart. 

Monday Day 6: We had a planning session, then we exercised. We prepared another lesson for Pavel. We always write our lessons out in English then we translate them, using what we know how to say in Czech, so our lessons are really simple. We also invited him to come to church, so far he has kept all of our commitments. Pavel, is not a real investigator though, he is a guy that served in the Czech Republic. He is impersonating someone he taught the last 2 weeks of his mission, so that is cool. We also do this program called TALL to help us learn the language, it helps pronounciation a lot. 

Tuesday Day 7: The highlight of Tuesday was the devotional. The General Relief Society President Jean B. Bingham came and spoke to us. That was super cool. My companion and I sung in the choir for the musical number and the spirit was so strong. There is something powerful about a bunch of missionaries coming together to sing. She talked about personal revelation, to ask, seek, and knock for it, and if you don't get an answer right away, to keep asking! She got choked up during her testimony when she said that we are the chosen generation responsible for the gathering of Israel. I know there are people in the pre-existence that I promised I would find on Earth and teach. There are people being prepared for me to come and they don't even know it yet. I think that is powerful. 

Wednesday Day 8: We taught Pavel his fourth lesson. At the end, we invited him to be baptized and he said yes, but he wanted to meet with us more to get ready. Sestra Hodgson and I were so excited! The spirit was so strong when we invited him. It was a neat experience. I've learned that it is so important to follow the spirit when you teach to meet the needs of people. There have been times where we have jumped around in our lesson plan to answer his questions, which made it very challenging, because of the language barrier, but it was also super cool! 

This morning we got to go to the temple. It was so nice! It was a good break from everything. I love my district! We have all grown really close. Most of them are going to Norway (4 of them) they leave in 6 weeks. There is one sister, Sestra Lebarge, who is rooming with us, she is going to Slovakia and learning Slovak. Elder Beckstrom, Sestra Hodgson and I are in the Czech class going to the Czech Republic. Elder Beckstrom's mom is actually Czech, so he already understands the language really well. It is frustrating sometimes. 

I love this work and I know that the gift of tongues is real. There is no way that I could have learned as much as the language as I have in just one week. It is pretty cool to be able to pray in Czech. 

Love you all,

Sestra Guymon 

I made it -- Day 1

I made it! Everything here is super fast paced! I got all checked in and found my room now I'm going to my class where they speak all Czech. It is crazy, but I will be ok. I love you guys so much! I'm praying for you. Good luck at the fair! You guys are going to do great!

Love,

Sestra Guymon