Ceské Budějovice

AHOY AHOY AHOY

Hello my sweet family! How is everyone doing? Before I forget I want to give a birthday shoutout to JADE ALEXA FRED! Happy birthday my cute niece. I can not believe she is 2 years old already. Seems just like yesterday she was born. Jakie's birthday is coming up too and it's the big EIGHT! Woot woot. Angela did you get the little package I sent to him??

Alright so let me fill you in on a little bit of what my new life in Czech is like.

It is basically freezing here and somehow the season of fall was completely skipped over. haha. The sun did come out yesterday though and that was a happy moment for me. I have had quite a few ''firsts'' in the 10 days or so that i have been here. I have eaten lots of yummy foods like fried cheese, svičková, Indian curry, and halušky. Sestra Scerra is teaching me how to cook lots of good stuff! She is amazing. I am so lucky and grateful to have her as my trainer. We have started to settle in somewhat and are getting to know each other better which makes for a good time. We bond over cooking, running, and just trying to get everything done that we need to throughout the day!

Czech's looovvveeee their dogs. haha it's a little ridiculous. The czech's also do the double wink instead of a one eyed wink. So the first week I was here I kept noticing that Sestra Scerra would do that and I thought it was just some weird twitch thing. hahahahahah I finally was told about the Czech wink at training last week. She laughed. ha too good.

We have AMAZING investigators right now. Seriously we are so lucky. We are working with a boy named Vasyl. He is Ukrainian, doesn't speak any english or czech so we do skype lessons with him with a member in Prague that speaks Ukrainian. It is amazing to me that depsite the language barrier Vasyl keeps on coming back. Talk about a miracle.

Romana is another one of our investiagotors whose baptism will be in 2 weeks if all goes well! She came to church yesterday with her little boy Daniceck, who is adorable. Romana is awesome. She has overcome a lot and has a very sweet spirit about her.

We are teaching two others, Pavel and Radek. They are studs. Radek is kind of being a pansy and won't get baptized because he still lives at home (he is 26) and his parents don't approve. But he is trying to find a place to live, so hopefully he will so he can do what he needs to do! And Pavel has some family issuses with his wife and her not wanting any church influence on their daughter. Awesome guy though. During lessons he will stop to make sure that I know what is going on and then will tell S. Scerra to translate for me. All of our gators are so patient with me. I love them!

We had the primary program yesterday in church! I got to relive the glory days and be a part of the program since there are only 3 kids in our little branch. It was so fun. I even memorized my part. :) hahah We had a full house yesterday at church too. It was sweet. The members here are incredible. They are so strong and have been serving faithfully for a long time. Tonight we have our branch Halloween party! We have a lot of our gators coming with family and friends so it should be hoppin!

We had a singing display on one of the busiest streets here and I went out contacting by myself. It was one of the scariest, hardest things I have ever done. But knowing that I have Christ by myside as I try my best to serve scary things like contacting by myself with no idea what the people are saying back to me isn't all that bad. I know that God is aware of each of our needs and I know he knows our hearts and hears our prayers. Everyday I am learning to rely on Him more.

It's time for me to scadadle. I hope that you all have a happy, awesome week! Give everyone my love!

Láska Vždy,

Sestra Fredrickson

P.s. I will send Some pictures next week! Don't have enough time today!

P.s.s. I LOVE YOU FAMILY 

P.S.S.S. keep being stellar 

Week ONE From Czech

AHOY RODINU

Alright, Here is the deal, I took all my time (which wasn't a whole lot) to read all of your emails, so now I only have 5 minutes to write you back. haha so here this will be a quick summary of my first week in the beautiful country of Czech. 

We finally arrived safely Tuesday evening and our first Czech meal was McCee Dee's. Chicken nuggets from there have never tasted so good. haha.

My new companion is the one and only Sestra Scerra. She is from LA, Californina, has graduated from college in journalism and creative writing. She is a convert to the church and the only member in her family. She is a POWER HOUSE. From the minute that I got here we have been teaching NON-STOP. One thing that I have already learned and will continue to learn from her is how to work HARD. 

We are in the city of České Budéjovice. It is beautiful here. The Namesti (town square) is unreal. They say that during Christmas it is something else so naturally I am looking forward to that!

The work here is moving right along. I have fallen into a little tiny branch that is seeing a lot a miracles happening. Sestra Scerra and I are teaching about 4 or 5 people right now and 3 of them have a baptismal date. I love the people. They are so kind and so patient with me. The first day here we taught a couple lessons and in their prayers they prayed for me and that I will learn and understand the language. It was so sweet. 

I am exhausted. I fall asleep in lessons sometimes, but they say that's normal for the first bit so no worries. I can't understand a whole lot, and I feel overwhelmed at times. But luckily for me I have a great trainer and with time the language will come. They talk so fast here!

Sorry it is so short... I have to go.  We had training today and so we didn't get the full hour and half to email. Next week I will be able to give you a more thorough update. :)

I love you all so much! Have a great week and know that I miss you and think about you often! 

Keep on smiling! 

Sestra Fredrickson

"You matter." 

A Safe Arrival

Dear Missionary Family

This morning Sister Fredrickson  met her companion – Sister Scerra. Attached are some pictures for you to enjoy.

They are serving in the town of České Budějovice.  It is approximately 2 hours directly south of Prague by train.

There are 2 Elders and a Senior Couple serving with them in their District.

P-Day is next Monday.  Sister Fredrickson will contact you then to share her adventures. 

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

PS: Don’t you love their matching sweaters. J

Jokes on Us.

Ahoy familia, sooooo I have some news for all of you. Turns out that Heavenly Father has a little change of plans for us. Our Visa's didn't come through so we have all been reassigned to different areas. And you will NEVER believe where I have been assigned to..... Wait for it, wait for it....

The WASHINGTON VANCOUVER mission!!! MEGAN MARCHBANKS I AM COMING FOR YOU BEST FRIEND!!!!! We came in from dinner tonight to read our "new calls" When I read it I screamed for joy because I am going to the same mission as Meggie, and then shortly after I cried knowing that I won't be going to Czech on Monday. 

Sestra Clark and I both got assigned together, which is a blessing because I could not navigate an airport on my own. Here are the NEW travel plans: 

We report to the travel office at 3:35 a.m. Tuesday morning. Our flight departs at 8:35 a.m. I think that we will prolly call home between 6-7 a.m. So be awake for me! :) 

I'm not really sure how to feel right now. To be honest I feel weird, but I know that God doesn't do coincidence and that Washington, Vancouver is where He needs me to be right now. Those Cesky's aren't quite ready for us yet. ;) hahah Who knew that I would get such an incredible opportunity to receive TWO mission calls! How lucky am I! 

All is well. I am happy and healthy! I love you all and will talk to you soon! 

Laska Vzdy,

    Sestra Fred

Week of "Lasts"

AHOY RODINÝ A KAMARADÝ!!!

I better begin by giving the BEST little sister in the whole wide world a big SWEET SIXTEEN birthday shoutout!!! NAROZENINY Boo boo!! I hope the day is as sweet as they come! :) Now stop growing up okay? LOVE YOU.

Okay, wow. My week of lasts here at the MTC has been full of so much excitement! Let's begin with General Conference. Not too many people get to have the experience of watching 10 hours of conference goodness in hard plastic chairs at the MTC, but guess what? I did!!! And it was pure bliss. haha Sooooo much spiritual nourishment in two days! I went into conference with a few different questions, and all of them were answered by the words that were spoken the speakers as well as by the spirit to me personally. I could go on for days with all my notes and thoughts, but for time sake I will just give you one thought I loved most. D. Todd Christofferson ( which I came to the conclusion that he reminds me of good ol' Rusty Shaw. ha! )  talked a lot about moral agency. He said, "Take responsibility and go to work, so God has something to help us with." I loved that because if we are not doing our part to be anxiously engaged in the gospel, school, anything then there really isn't anything that Heavenly Father can do to help us progress and reach the divine potential that he sees in us and wants SO badly for us to reach. Loved that. I have always loved General Conference, but Sister Marchbanks is right, as a missionary it is like Christmas weekend X 10000000. It was the perfect way to end my MTC journey and the spiritual boost I needed going into the field... 

That is right, I am flying away from the land Deseret to my new home on Monday! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA. We got our flight plans a week ago and we have been all giddy since. We leave at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning from the MTC. We fly from SLC to Dallas/Fortworth, Texas, from Texas to LONDON, ENGLAND and from England to our beloved PRAGUE. Our flight leaves SLC at 12:15 on Monday. I am not exactlyy sure what time we will be calling home.. We will get checked in and everything taken care of before we do so I am going to say between 8:30-10:00. Mom, Dad, Mary Grace make sure you are home! And I will try to call the rest of you too. :) Send me your numbers in a quick email and I will check itSunday and write them down. Can't wait to hear all of your beautiful voices! It has been too long! 

After 9 weeks of being here, we finally were given the chance to host. It was so fun! I got to host 3 Sisters. One going to Argentina, Jamaica, and North Carolina (hollllaaaa.) They were great, and will be great missionaries. The sister going to Argentina and her family were having a cry fest at the curbside dropping her off. I almost joined in with them. Hahaha such a bittersweet day. 

Sestra Holland and I had the opportunity to demonstrate "How to Begin Teaching" aka HTBT to groups of new missionaries that came in last night. It is a section in Preach My Gospel about, get ready, How to Begin Teaching. hahahah It was a lot of fun, and we actually got a lot out of it and were able to recognize as a companionship things that we can improve on to better utilize HTBT into our lessons. I will definitely miss having my Sestra "Holls" by my side every hour of the day. I have loved the past two months getting to know and work with her!

Well, I am out of time for this week. I love you my family and friends! Thank you for all of the love and support. I know my savior lives! I know he hears our prayers and answers them inHis time.

Have a fantastic week and I will be talking to you for reals soon! :)

Láska Vždy,

Sestra Fred

Jumping for joy and the gift of flight plans. hehe 

​This is Sestra Donaldson. She started teaching us when Bratr Thompson left 2 weeks ago. She is the cutest thing ever. It was so nice having a Sister to relate to and ask advice! 

Time is Winding Down

Dobry Den Rodiny!

What a week! Honestly, I can't even really remember what happened this past week, so you're going to have to bear with me as I try to rack my memory!

We had our last lesson with Bratr Thompson last Thursday night. He would always come with his 44 oz Mountain Dew to class (he had hard time staying awake just as much as we do sometimes haha) so we decided to have a Caffeine free Mountain Dew toast at the end of class with him. It was hands down the best moment here at the MTC. Bratr Mullen captured the moment perfectly. I'll be sure to send it with this email. I cried the hardest I have in awhile when I shook Bratr T's hand for the last time.Literally, BIG crocodile tears. Sestra Clark, Starsi Needham and I were the only ones to bawl like babies. haha He is like our MTC Dad. He was with us from the beginning! He bore beautiful testimony to us that night and gave us an analogy of "Stepping out of the River." He talked about how missionaries tend to have one foot in the river (the world) and one foot out (in the mission field) when they are serving. He reminded us that this short time of our lives is time that we can have to focus on the Gospel and Christ and His work without the world and its demands pressing down on us. He promised us that the sooner we take both feet out of the river and truly be in the now of today and our missions that that is when Heavenly Father can begin making us into what He wants us to be. It was so powerful and something that really helped me to remember why I am here as a missionary and that the only way I am going to come unto Christ and help others do the same is if I allow Heavenly Father to mold me into the Sestra Fredrickson He needs and wants me to be. Love Bratr T. He has had a huge impact on my life. Until we meet again!

So some exciting news for the week is I was made Sister Training Leader of the Zone this past week. I think it was Friday that President Melville spoke with me and asked me to serve in this calling. I get to make sure all of my sister's in the zone are doing good and being obedient and following the rules and such. Mostly, I just get to love them! I love it. It gives me the opportunity to think about someone else instead of myself. My co-Sister Training Leader is Sestra Birkeland who is one of my Czech sister's so it's fun being about to work with her! With the calling I have been learning the lesson of how important it is to be an example and the power the comes from being an example. As missionaries we have a huge target on us. We are unique, and different, and some people would say that we are weird too. Ha. People are CONSTANTLY watching us! One thing that President Melville said in one of our leadership meetings was that we have such a great zone because of the past examples that have been set by missionaries that preceded us. Examples can effect "generations!" Wow! When I heard that, it made me realize how important it is to think before you speak or act.

We got to skype with a member in Czech on Tuesday! All four of us sisters tagged teamed the skype date with a Sestra by the name of Alexandria. She is 20 years old and is actually from Russia but is going to school in Praha. She is adorable. It was so fun being able to speak with her, even though I didn't know what she was saying half of the time. hahah we made her giggle at our Czech speaking abilities. Skyping with her made me realize that there are actually real people in Czech who are just going about living their lives. It's not some fantasy place with fictional characters. We are racing time to the finish line of our MTC adventure and I feel like time is winning! 

We should get our travel plans this Saturday! So Mom and Dad I will email you details about that next week. :) Can you believe I am going to Czech in a week fromMONDAY?! How insane! I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

Also! Sestra Holland and I set a baptismal date with our investigator Martin yesterday! I was the one who got to ask him if he would follow the Saviors example and be baptized. The spirit was so strong in our lesson and as I asked him to be baptized. It is definitely something special to watch a person grow and come closer to Christ and accept to follow Him. We will teach Martin the commandments tonight so say a little prayer for him and us to have the spirit! 

We also taught a new gator yesterday named Ales. We went from having a spiritual high with Martin, to a very spiritual low with Ales. Ah how does that happen? We were not as prepared as we could have been, which I think was the biggest problem. I am learning that to be able to teach by the Spirit, which is the key to conversion, you have to be prepared. 

I had the opportunity to fast again on Sunday because of General Conference this weekend. I just want to bear you my testimony of the spirit of Fasting. There is power that comes from fasting. I know that fasting can help us receive answers and strength from the Lord, if we fast with sincerity and meekness. Love, love, love fasting. 

Thank you for sending all the pictures Mom and Dad! Mary goose you looked absolutely STUNNING at Homecoming! Stop growing up! Jade seems to still be her funny little self. I love it. And I am so glad that Bubby is finally being fun for Angie! hahaha ahhh I miss being around kids! Epecially my synovecy and neteř!

Family. You are amazing. I love you all so much. Thanks for being so great, and thanks for being mine!

Love you oodles and oodles. Until next week!

Láska Vždy,

Sestra Fredrickson 

P.s. I decided I want to start doing a quote of the week. So here it is!

Quote of the Week: "Let go, and let God" 

District Last Picture 

 Mullen - Thompson - Knapp - This photo describes them all perfectly.

 Our Mt. Dewer toast - Long live our ginger ucitel

Sestra Clark and I sulking together

Sestra Holland hair party - Rapunzel