Sunday #3-- July 14, 2013

Highs and lows for week ending Sunday July 14, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello!!!!! Here is another weekly update, just a variety of comments from each of us about our highs and lows.  We love you all so much. 

Evie
Highs:
1. Teaching with the sister missionaries. (evie came home, I mean upstairs from the church on the floor below where the lesson was, and felt so joyful after teaching a gal who speaks english and is here in prague studying. The sisters said that she testified and had a great answer to one of the questions that the girl had about God. Ev has really bonded to these missionaries and is so happy when she gets to see them)

2.  Went to Vysehrad (a castle) with the sister missionaries on their p-day.

3.  Tennis!

Lows:
1.  Missing healthier food and missing dance.  (Now that we are done with our road trip to see all the missionaries, we can eat healthier. And when school starts, hopefully dance will be in her schedule as well)
  

Hyrum

Highs:  

1.  Going to sports night with all the Prague missionaries where we played soccer.  All the missionaries and the people they were teaching were just happy to play and it was so fun and whatever team lost they were just happy about it.  They were really good soccer players.

2.  Emailing Owen, Sam, and Andrew. (thanks cousins!)

3.  On Monday that’s the day we played basketball with Elder Osterloh and Elder Sewell (p-day for them this week).  My team was just me and Elder Osterloh.  Our name was “Team Bacon” and Wilson and Elder Sewell were “Team Even More Bacon”.  Team Bacon won the first game.  And Team Even More Bacon won the second.  So fun.

4.  The missionaries are just so fun to get to know. When we went to Slovakia and to Brno this week all the missionaries were just so happy.  I really liked Brno because we played a lot of games, like hangman, and we had pizza for like the 50^th time in a week.  It still tasted good! (here is hyrum with Elder Sewell, at a restaurant that night, NOT eating pizza)

5.  I liked Slovakia because the Slovak missionaries are so happy and good at what they do.  There was something different about them.  A good different. 

Low:  No Lows

Wilson 

Highs:

1.  Basketball and Futbol with the Elders

2.  The arrival of the basketball hoop 

3.  Meeting the missionaries in Brno and in Slovakia

4.  Walking around Trencin.  I liked seeing the castle and getting ice cream.

5.  Halusky (the elders say it's like Slovakian mac n cheese, only it's lots better than that.  can you see the bacon in this photo?)

Lows:

1.  Car driving. (we really were in the car a ton.  Our drive was beautiful.  We are going to get so good at being happy travelers!!!)

2.  This week I really, really missed my awesome cousins, great friends, family, and ward. (Wilson told me about 3 dreams he recently had. He dreamed that he was at highland park with all his friends having lunch and then going out to recess.  He dreamed he was in the Imperial 2nd ward with everyone around him that he knows and that he could hear English.  He dreamed he was at the airport and greeting Ethan and Dallin.  I have been so proud of Wilson for his upbeat attitude ever since we told him about this mission call.  He has chosen to be faithful and optimistic.  But this week he needed to vent one night, and told me about those dreams.  He and I sat together and had a long good cry.  I was glad he could talk about how he is feeling as he adjusts.  It's impossible to predict how this kind of experience is going to affect each child.  He is an amazing kid.  They all are.  When I think of how different this life is from their normal summer life, it's pretty wild.  But I feel like we are "teaming up", like cute Liane Bell puts it, and trying really hard to love each other more because we are together alllllllllll the time:)  And like I've said 50 times, these missionaries are the best at bringing joy to the kids, and so we are so grateful for them!  Sorry to comment so much on Wilson's "low"!)

George

Highs: 

1.  Having fun with family 

2.  Goofing off with brothers

3.  Playing soccer with missionaries. 

Low:  no lows

PS, George didn't say this was a high, but he really liked this tiny sink we saw on saturday.  We thought, if cousin Anna were here, we would ask her what this sink reminds her of?

The highlights of my week were:

1.  TENNIS on James' p-day!  I haven't played in over two months so it was heaven.  BEST SPORT!!!  My weekly Fetzer tennis girls, Elaine and Shelli and Joan and Laurel O. and Laurel F, I thought of you a ton.  I wish you could all come over for an early morning tennis match with me! Have you played on clay?  Here are some pictures.  James did awesome even though his strokes seem like he is playing squash, and the kids all were fascinated by how you have to smooth out the court when you're done to prepare it for the next players.  

2.  Getting out to Slovakia where we had our fifth and final zone conference.  We have now met every single missionary, including the senior couples, and seeing how they are with our kids, I can tell that they are fantastic grandparents. We have so many couples in this mission and James and I talk often about how outstanding and different they all are.  We are blessed to have them!!!!!! They work hard and lead and watch over the elders and sisters in far off places and build branches and love members and teach the gospel and solve tricky problems.  

3.  We found my favorite soup for about 50 crowns (that's like 2.50$) at a vietnamese restaurant near our house.  And the noodles that we used to get all the time at la cai with friends are there too.  I know it seems like a shallow "high" but seriously!!!  This soup is comfort!   And I thought I wouldn't have it for 3 years.  I can't even spell it, but it's pronouced tom ka gai:):):)

4.  At church, James went to another city a ways away and I went with the kids downstairs to our branch.  As Wilson passed the sacrament and then went straight to the pulpit and gave a youth speaker talk, I wondered if some of the older members who were there 20+ years ago felt like they were having flashbacks of James as a missionary.  He served for many months with this branch, and he loved the people here so much.  Wilson was confident and reverent and adapted quickly to how they pass the sacrament here (Spencer Denison would be so proud!), and spoke about standing in holy places.
  

5.  I love that our apartment is in the top floor of the church.  Sometimes I come home after being on the subway or tram and in the busy world outside, and it feels like such a sanctuary.  I love that the missionaries teach all day here, in the floors below, so that I get to see them a lot as we come and go.   It reminds me of how I felt many years ago when I entered the LDS church in New York City across from I think the Lincoln Center.  It felt like a burden of business was lifted the second I walked in.  Here's a picture of the stairway that leads from the sunday school rooms and youth center up to our door:  

6.  Here we are at our Penzion in Trencin, with a great view of the Trencin Castle.  This little town of 56,000 was first mentioned in 150 A.D.  An inscription on a rock below the castle dates back to 179 AD.  Slovakia is a beautiful country and I loved feeling back in time in this town.  Our dear friend, who now lives in SLC, Milada, is from Trencin.

7.  I met these great women who did the translating of the Book of Mormon into Slovak, which just came out this year!  That is a great big story that I should have James write down sometime, it was a miracle.  

 8.  Because some wonderful Elders in Brno invited me to teach with them this week, I got to feel like a real missionary again.  I mean, I feel like a real missionary, but I hadn't had the chance to really teach someone in a small setting until that day.  I loved it! During the lesson, they asked me to bear my testimony of the Holy Ghost, so I talked about what Shelli taught at Hyrum's baptism last year--that unlike a dear friend who comes to visit and then has to leave, the Holy Ghost has the potential to be constant, if we live worthily to have it.  It is a gift in our lives.  When the missionary translated what I said into Czech, then asked the man if he would like to have that gift in his life, the man basically said, absolutely and why couldn't they hurry the process along and let him get baptized soon.  These elders have taught him so well, and he loves coming to church and the book of Mormon and he comes to lessons with great questions about it (we spent the first part of the lesson talking about the Isaiah section in 2 Nephi, which he seemed to be loving).  Anyway, I feel indebted to those missionaries for inviting me to teach with them.

I'm finishing off this way-too-long blog on Tuesday night, even though it was started on Sunday.  James is out of town and has been meeting with a District presidency today, and did planning and a lesson with some elders with one of their investigators, and had lunch with the Young Single Adult senior couple coordinators about a conference they are planning for all of eastern europe and tomorrow he will meet with more missionaries and study/teach with them.  This is what James loves most, I think.  Even though he is an inspiring speaker and leader, I think he mostly loves to be with the missionaries and go visit people.  I remember him coming home from studying with David Doane or Xander Moffatt back in Salt Lake, and how happy he was.  And I remember how at peace he felt after doing bishopric visits, being with people in their homes and seeing how they were doing.  I know James loves these missionaries and the people of this land.  So if he were here, that is what he would probably say is his "high", that he gets to be with people and help them know of Heavenly Father's love for them and to teach of the blessings of coming to Christ!

I love you family and friends!  May you be safe and inspired and happy!!

Love,
Laurel/Sestra McConkie and all the mcconkie missionaries

P.S.  I know these blogs are brutally long, and pretty uncreatively written.  But if you have ever received a text from me, you'll know that I canNOT keep it short and I'm not sure that will change.  But the great news is that every week, I will put pictures up with my letter so if you are not in the mood to read, no worries!  Just check out the photos:)

Sunday #2--July 7, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,
How is everyone doing?  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and words/letters/notes of support for our family.  We feel your love and it helps us so much to think that you are all on our side.  WE LOVE YOU.  We are cheering for you and praying for you in your lives as well.  Here are the highs and lows for the week ending July 7, 2013.  

George's highs and lows
Highs: 

1.  Meeting more missionaries.
2.  Playing football where Elder Osterloh ripped his pants on the cobblestone and cut his knee (the missionaries were helping to entertain the kids after a zone conference while James did some interviews, in a town called Hradec Kralove) .

 

 3.  The tiger at the Lego museum.

4.  Seeing the cathedral inside the castle.

 
Low:   Grandmother great passed away

Hyrum
Highs:

1.  Lego store (And museum.  He kept talking about how much Owen and Sam and Andrew Anderson and Andrew Gray and Evan would love it).

2.  Showing George and Wilson the castle for their first time.

3.  Meeting all the missionaries. That's my number one high.  Being around the missionaries because they are all so nice. They're just ready to serve The Lord and be friends and be helpful. (On Wednesday we had lunch with the mission leadership council--outstanding leaders!!!)

4.  I loved having Big Macs on the Fourth of July with the prague zone (the assistants pre-ordered all these meals for us to celebrate the 4th, and the missionaries from countries like Italy and Australia were happy to celebrate with us.  I kept thinking of what my niece Carly said when she wrote home from her mission in Paraguay, that when you go foreign, McDonalds is all of the sudden so classy!  True!)

5.  Getting our stuff from salt lake that we shipped in the beginning of May.

 Hyrum's Low:  grandmother great died, but I hope she is happy with James the first. 

Wilson 
Highs:

1.    Sleeping for 13 hours one of the nights.
2.  Meeting the missionaries and hanging out with them.
3.  Walking around Olomouc (a city where we had another zone conference) and seeing a big tower about the Black Plague. 

4.  The prague castle
5.  Drinking kofola. (it's like their diet coke, only without the fountain and pebble ice like at holiday oil)
6.  Pizza for three meals straight
7.  When our stuff came from our salt lake shipment.
8.  Lego store (here they are after spending every speck of money they brought with them.  A little retail therapy helped banish homesickness and culture shock on this day!)

9.  Watching lord of the rings  

Lows:

1.  Waiting at the foreign police for the people to figure out our passports.  

2.  Driving lots of hours in the car to get to different zone conferences 

3.  I need more veggies.
4.  I'm missing my cousins a ton. Nothing is like cousins.
5.  I'm sad that grandmother great died but I'm glad that she gets to see 6.  James Wilson McConkie the first again.
7.  Forgot belt on our road trip, which is essential to holding up church pants. So at the Brno branch, wore moms ribbon around waist as a belt. Embarrassing.

Evie's highs:
1.  Getting shipment
2.  Going on walk to castle

3.  Seeing Kate Sampson (thanks for meeting us for dinner, Sampson family!)

4.  Getting fruit and ice creams and bread.

5.  Meeting sister Munro (an angel senior missionary who is in the office with her husband helping James all day.  They work so hard and run this mission beautifully.  She had to spontaneously help at our house while some cabinet builders were here and I was at a meeting with James and the leadership council.  When I rushed home to see the kids, sister Munro and Evie were having a heart to heart at the kitchen table, both of them teary-eyed and sharing special experiences.  She is just what Evie needs right now.  We love her!)

Lows:
1.  Constant ache that's still in a pit in my stomach all of the time.
2.  Hearing about grandmother great.

My highs:
1.  Hearing James teach each zone conference. I can hear the same general lesson/talk three times in three days and not get tired of it at all. His heart is 100 percent in this.  He is my favorite teacher.
2.  Seeing the kids with the missionaries.  Actually, just seeing missionaries in general!  I loved the parts at the zone conferences where companionships were asked to stand and teach us how God had blessed them lately.  The stories were amazing, and their faith was too.  Here is a picture of some of the sisters.  I love our missionaries.

3.  Awesome hymns at church and with the missionaries at zone conferences. They really don't hold back when they sing! I love it! Mom, you would be so proud of their tempo and volume and enthusiasm:)

4.  Watching my kids as they opened a Fourth of July package from the townsends. Thank you!!

5.  Our BOWTIE quilt made it safely in the shipment this week and is now on our bed.  I love reading names of sisters from the ward on the back who surprised us with it in May.  We love it! Thank you dear friends!!! 

6.  I felt the Spirit today in the Brno branch. It was testimony meeting and I was in the congregation with the saints and the kids. I felt the Spirit so strong.  I also remembered James' message to 3 of the zones this week, that the power of our testimony has NOTHING to do with the volume of our voice or the eloquence of our phrases or even our ability to SPEAK A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.  So I walked up to the pulpit and I think James was worried and asked the branch president, who was on the stand with him, if there was a translator handy, and before he got a reply I just stood and bore my testimony.  I meant every word. It was about 10 sentences:).  I said, in super slow motion Czech, "Brothers and sisters, good morning.  I am sister McConkie.  I speak English.  I speak Spanish.  I don't understand Czech.  But I am happy to be here.  I am grateful for the blessings of the temple.  I am grateful for the blessings of the gospel.  I am grateful for missionaries.  I know that God lives.  I know that God knows us.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I looked at James as I walked away from the pulpit and saw tears in his eyes as he said good job.  I was grateful for what he had taught at the zone conferences, from Preach My Gospel, which reads, "For your testimony to have convincing power, you must be sincere."  So that's what I hope to do, for the rest of my life.  Only say exactly what I believe or know, nothing more or less, when I speak of God and His loving plan. I want to be sincere. 

 My only low this week is that I am sad that we aren't with family to help plan for grandmother's funeral. Sad she is gone. But so grateful for her exceptional life. Grandpa Fetzer used to recite a quote, "when you were born, you cried and your loved ones rejoiced.  Live your life so that when you die,  you will rejoice and your loved ones will cry."  Many descendants of Grandmother Great have cried this week.  But I love picturing her rejoicing with her James and her brothers and parents and sister.  

Friends and family, may you be blessed this week!  All our love, Laurel/Sister McConkie

PS.  James didn't have time to tell me highs and lows:)
PPS.  Kelly, thank you for teaching me how to do this blog!  It may never be attractive/artistic/fancy, but at least we can share our weekly letter with photos this way.  Thanks for helping me!

 

Sunday #1 in Prague--June 30, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello and we love you all so much!  I hope you are all well and that you know how much we love you.  

Here are the highs and lows from each of us on this first Sunday night in the mission field! (thanks shelli for always asking the kids their highs and lows when you tended them--they totally know the drill and have no problem answering me when I say, "quick-tell me what were your highs and lows of the week?")

George said, for his highs:

Going on an 8 hour plane ride

Seeing a soccer stadium

Sharing a room with Hyrum

You writing my "highs"

George's Lows:

Going to class (at church) and not understanding much

Couldn't see the baptismal font because it was locked (the basement of the church/mission home has a font where he will get baptized next year)

Messing up on art

Our church has no drinking fountain

Hyrum's Highs:

Meals on the airplane and the pizza in the chicago airport
Seeing the castle because it is epic!  The guards just stand there and aren't allowed to move

Seeing ISP.  (It's the international school of prague where the kids will start in august.  "Prague-warts" is what Hyrum calls it)

Hyrum's Lows:

Saying goodbye to family

Freaking out because of jet lag (he couldn't stop crying on the first night here because his body was so out of whack)

Not understanding that much of sacrament meeting

Wilson's Highs:

Playing on the playground at ISP

Meeting the assistants and office elders (this was at the airport when we arrived in prague)

Walking around outside, to the park etc.

Seeing Prague from a lookout spot with dad

Wilson's Lows:

Jet lag

Airplane

Goodbyes really stunk

Having to unpack

Evie's Highs:

Facetime with Grandad

McDonalds with mom, George and Wilson

Big window in bedroom

Corresponding with Heidi Moore (her young women's president back in slc)

Evie's Lows:

Hard time understanding at church

Separation anxiety-really missing home (here's a sweet picture of Ev with Uncle Bry on our last night in salt lake, and also a shot of the mcconkies singing a song they wrote just for us--we have it on video and I bawl when I watch it!)

James' Highs:

Successfully delivered first talk

Meeting missionaries

Seeing kids in a city I love

James' Lows:

Exhausted

Saying goodbye to family and friends

My Highs:

Branch members were so kind to us today

I like our missionaries so much!!

Our kids have been so brave and patient and overall pleasant travelers

salt lake international:

chicago airport:

heathrow:

Beautiful window light in our apartment and lovely flowers that President Irwin left on the balconies.

Sister Irwin left the mission home clean and organized, and being in this apartment feels so good.  The cleaning she must have done to make it this perfect makes me think of all the ward sisters and relatives who came and deep cleaned our house in salt lake before we rented it.  I am overwhelmed by that memory of service to me back home, and now I'm pretty overwhelmed by how much Sister Irwin has served our family.  She must have worked for weeks and weeks to have this place so lovely.  I am grateful for her kindness! 

My Lows:

It was tough saying goodbye to loved ones in Salt Lake

Seeing kids get so sad at random times as they adjust

I love you family and friends!  I hope you are blessed and that you feel that The Lord is aware of you every day.  Hugs and kisses from the Czech-Slovak mission,
Laurel/Sestra McConkie:)