Hope

Drahy Krasny Lidi!

Hey! I hope everyone had a fabulous week! Lots to tell so lets get to it!

Shoutouts: 

My birthday is in 8 days. You could say that I am a little excited. :)

Boo boo keep on tearing it up little sis!

Vera! I Hope you had the best 1st Birthday ever. I can't believe that you have teeth!

Mladá Mysteries:

---> We watched Meet the Mormons on Friday with the Branch. The story of the Candy Bomber really got to me. I cried like a baby.

---> A typical Czech Grab n Go lunch consists of roliks (bread). Sister Boza and I had a couple of those this past week.

---> When Sister Boza goes to the bathroom I hide and then scare her when she comes out. ha! I get her almosttt every time. 

---> It snowed ALL DAY Saturday. At least 6 inches!

---> Bondy is the name of the Mall that is right by our home. It is theee place to be if you are a cool kid.

Book of Mormon Insight:

 12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices tothe Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him;and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be f good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me here after, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

I absolutely love these verses. (They will be used later on too! Stay tuned. :)) We all have many burdens that we cary in life. School, family, marriages and the list goes on and on. As missionaries we not only carry our own burdens, but we carry the burdens of a lot of others as well. It can be very taxing and overwhelming at times, but I have felt the truth of the promise given to us in these verses. That our burdens will truly be made light even in the midst of the difficulties we face in life. 

Christ-like Attributes:

Sister Boza and I study a Christ-like Attribute each week. This past week we studied hope. 

I love how it defines Hope in Preach My Gospel. Hope is enthusiasm, optimism, EXPECTING good things to happen, atd. 

It has been interesting to see how the events of our week seem to correlate with the Chirst-like Attribute we are studying.

Hope and Tracting:

We went tracting a couple of times this past week. The first time we went in the morning around 10ish on a Thursday. It isn't the most practical time to go, but we thought hey, lets try it anyway.We were coming to the close of our 2 hour block and we said alright, lets try these 3 houses and then we will start heading back home. We rang the bell of the first home and a mother came to the door, with kiddos crawling all around her legs. We introduced ourselves and she goes on to tell us that she had met missionaries a couple years back. We asked if we could set up on a different day and she said, sure! of course! We exchanged numbers, and set up for this Wednesday! We are going on a walk with her and her kids and are going to teach her the gospel while we do so. ha! As began our tracting block that day, I was trying to implement what I have been learning about hope into my thoughts and my actions. It was a little difficult and took a lot of effort, but I believe that Heavenly Father rewarded us for our efforts that day by placing us in the path of Pavlina. Looking forward to seeing what comes of our walk with her on Wednesday. :)

Our second tracting experience was Saturday morning the midst of a pretty good, steady snowfall. IT was awesome. We had a good lesson on the Restoration with this man and were able to speak with a few other people, but nothing too concrete. On our way back home, we hear the phone buzz and you will never guess who it was. 

TOMASZ!!!!

Tomasz texted us!!! He texted saying that he was in town and wanted to meet. We met with him at the kancelař and had a really good lesson with him. He explained to us more of what happened last week when we got evicted. This past week was a really hard one for him. He got pretty emotional with us. We read Mosiah 24 with him emphaszing verses 12-16:

12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

 16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

We testified of the power of prayer and how Heavenly Father really does hear every single one our prayers and that we are truly never alone even in the midst of troublesome times. That through the atonement of Christ, our burdens can always be made light. He really loved that and found great comfort in those verses. 

We told him how proud of him we are for contacting us. We pointed out to him that that is a huge step in his own conversion. He could have easily done what he did last time and try to figure life out on his own, but he chose Christ, he chose Heavenly Father this time by sending one small simple text asking us to meet. 

He came to church yesterday and particpated in Sunday school. He was able to speak with Prezident Zbranek about his living situation. The ward memebers have been informed and are going to keep their eyes open for any apartments. He is living with a friend in Boleslav this week, but after this week he has no place to go. Keep him in your prayers!!!

NELLI: 

Nelli is our Bulgarian investigator who was found by Sister Angerhofer and Clark. She has the 2 cutest little boys named Kubi and Viki. Nelli has been progressing soooo well recently and we have seen a change in her as we have tried to keep lessons shorter and more spiritual so she can experience that conversion unto Christ more. After her blessing we felt that she was ready to hear the "b" word again. Baptism. We felt prompted to have the Elders join us again for the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson for support on the authority aspect of baptism. 

The lesson went SO WELL. Sister Boza and I were soooo incredibly nervous. Every other time we have brought up Baptism her walls go up immediately and she become defensive about how she was already baptized. We taught the Gospel lesson using the 5 steps. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. As the lesson progressed to the 3rd step we were a little apprehensive, but we started in and she had no problem with it. We explained baptism a little bit more in depth for her then we have in the past and it made sense to her this time around. 

I was the one who was "on the line" when the next step in the conversation was to invite her to be baptized.

I said a silent prayer in my heart that her heart would be softened and that she would accept a date. She paused for a moment after I invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority, and then she said in her soft voice, " okay, yes." 

I have never felt so much joy. It's more then just asking someone to be baptized, it's inviting them to come unto Christ. To be born again in Him who suffered for each one of us. To become a new son or daughter in Christ. 

It is truly a beautiful thing to have the privilege to invite people to baptism.

Nelli accepted a date for the 27th of February and we are so certain that she will be able to make it!

She said to us as we were leaving, "Well, do you think that I could be baptized on the 24th of Janurary to make it more symbolic? That will be the day I met the missionaries 9 months ago."

The 24th was 3 days from then. ha!

She asked so sweetly and so sincerely, but we had to tell her no. Even though we wish we could have told her yes! ;)

We met with her 2 more times this past week and she is doing great. She is reading, she is praying, she is keeping comittments. There are still some things that need to be taught, but really truly we feel so strongly that she is one of the elect.

Welp, That is all I have for today folks! 

Thank you for all of your love and support! My wish for all of you this week is to have the hope to find Christ in your life and the lives of others this week. Have the hope that Heavenly Father will bless you with a missionary opportunity. He needs ALL of us fighting the good fight. 

Much love from the Eastern Europe side:)

S laskou,

Sestra Fred

The day it snowed A TON!

 

Sister Bursova - A sister we work with and the first eer Kniha Mormonova. So cool. Sweet lady!

 

We had a hallway lesson with Nelli and the boys. Little Kubi was asleep when we first got there.

So we gathered in the hallway so we wouldn't wake him. Ha, ha that hallway is full of spiritual moments

for the 5 of us!

 

Aojhte Vsichni!

Aojhte Vsichni!

I love my email time. I want all of you to know how thankful I am for all of you who take the time to write me. You have no idea how much it means to me. I just wish I had more time to respond. So forgive me if I don't always get back right away!!! 

Also, Mom and Dad. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to take piano lessons when I was young. I had the opportunity to play in church yesterday for sacrament meeting and I loved every second of it. I had a few hiccups, but they are going to let me play for as long as I am here and I am thrilled! The first counsler in the Branch Presidency, Brother Podlipny, came up to me afterward and thanked me so much for playing because it gives his wife a break. He said that she is thrilled knowing that she doesn't have to play each week. ha! I love the piano so much. So thank you mom and dad!!!

This past week was a cold one. We saw a pattern in the weather. It'd snow during the night, so we'd wake up to snow and then the sun would come out and we would have blue skies. We would then watch all the snow melt away. haha that cycle on repeat for a couple of days. I have enjoyed the beautiful snow and such, but if I am going to be honest with you, I am ready for some warm weather. Sister Boza and I talk all the time about how we can't wait to eliminate putting on tights from our morning routine. ha!

Shoutouts:

Happy 9th Birthday to our sweet Simba on the 16th! RIP buddy. 😘

Congrats to THE MIND for having that cute baby boy! Eek! So exciting!

Mom, you are my hero for inviting the JW's in for Bible study. HAHA! When I read that I was so proud. 

Happy happy Birthday to VERA GOOSE this Thursday! Wow. Can't believe that she will be ONE. 

Mlada Mysteries:

---> We pay 52-57 crowns for a bus ticket, which is about 2-3 US dollars

---> A typical 4-Wheel Drive car is Czech is a Hatchback of some sort. 

---> The garbage cans around the city are orange! haha

---> We went on a sick vylet (trip) today to the place where they filmed part of Narnia! 

Book of Mormon Challenge:

Since I challenged you all (mostly my family I think) to start the Book of Mormon over and while reading highlighting everything that testifies, talks or prophesies of Christ, etc. I thought to myself, well it would prolly be a good idea to share with them some of the things that I am learning while I do so. Tak, from here on out I will have a this section with a Christ insight if you will. :)

This weeks comes from Enos 1:27. I love the story of Enos. Sister Boza and I were talking about how it is unfortunate that Enos was only allotted 1 chapter. ha but anyway, here is my verse I loved!

26And I saw that I must soon go down to my grave, having been wrought upon by the power of God that I must preach and prophesy unto this people, and declare the word according to the truth which is in Christ. And I have declared it in all my days, and have rejoiced in it above that of the world.

 27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.

I remember in the MTC when Brother Knapp pointed this out to us as a class and told us that this is his goal. Taylor, sorry but I am adapting this goal to myself as well. ;) There is nothing more that I want more then to be able to finish my mission and my life with a sense of peace and accomplishment knowing that I "declared the word according to the truth which is in Christ." I also have a goal to "go to that place of rest, whcih is with my Redeemer" on a daily basis. I don't want to wait for life to slow down, or for this or that to be over until I do. I feel so strongly that we are able to go to that place of rest every day if we but make the time to do so through scripture study, prayer, and service to those around us. 

Opposition in All Things:

Sister Boza and I had a good, but frustrating week. One of our Less-Active focuses, Tomasz, came to RDV last week and we had a lesson with him on Thursday, but then he got evicited from the apartment he was living in. His ex-wife owns the apartment and decided to kick him out on Saturday morning, which was when we were supposed to have our next lesson with him. He is staying in Hradec Kralove, jenom jeden tyden at a friends place. We told him that is was so important that he come to church the next day because there are people there who can help him and it isn't church that is the cause of the opposition and trial that comes into his life just as he is starting to get back on track again, but Satan. He never responded, he didn't show up to church either and we haven't heard anything from him since. 

He was progressing SO well. It was heart wrenching for Sister Boza and I. We really truly believe that he would have been at church had he not been evicted. We are just hoping and praying that he doesn't run in the opposite direction again like he did last time. Each time he comes to church, the week following neco spatny happens and then he stops communicating with the sisters. We fasted for him yesterday and continue to pray for him. Something that Sister Boza and I learning that svoboda jednani is both a gift and a curse. ha ha sometimes we wish we could just take it away from people in instances like this. No, just kidding, but man. It's tough seeing people you love run from God and Jesus Christ rather then to them. 

We talked with President Zbranek. He is working with the Vitovi to see if they can't help Tomasz find a place to live. We gave President Tomasz number. So, fingers are crossed!

We are working with some other potential gators, but don't have any solid ones at the moment. We are praying that the more obedient we are and happy/positive things will start falling into place.

I did have a cool contact on the bus ride home from Jicin Saturday night. Her name is Bara and lives in prague. I taught her the Restoration and got her info to give to the Prague sisters. The sisters there told us that she is going to RDV (FHE) tonight and they are having a lesson with her afterwards! Woot woot! I love being a missionary. :)

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your support! 

Have an awesome week and know that I am praying for you always!

Slaskou,

Sestra Fred

 

The Famous Stairs from the movie when the queen makes her entrance. Way cool!

"Tired in the Lord"

Nazdar!

This past week was EXHAUSTING. Every night Sister Boza and I would come home and say to each other, "I am soooooo tired in the Lord Sister." Hahah A quote adopted from our awesome district leader, Starší Petty:)

10 days in between P-days is NOT okay. ha ha too long for us little missionaries to go without a day to catch up and breathe. All is well though and we made it out alive with so many miracles! 

Shoutouts:

I went a WHOLE DAY without eating a treat/sweet! Go me! haha!

Congrats to the Boo Boo for racking in 3 more W's on the bball court. Takin' state baby! ;)

Mladá Mysteries:

---> We grocery shop at Kaufland. Kauf comes from a German word Kaufen, which means to shop/to buy. So, we shop at shopland! haha!

---> We have NO carpet in our apartment. It is alllll wood floor and gets dirty really fast. 

---> Czech mommy's tend to leave their babies out front in their strollers while they hurry on in for some chleb (bread).

---> Mladá has a soccer arena! 

Pounding Pavement:

Sestra Boza and I were alllll over this tiny town of Mladá this past week. We have been praying A LOT. More than usual. ha mostly so that Heavenly Father will soften the hearts of these people and so that we will have the spiritual eyes to recognize those who are the prepared and elect. We were so blessed this week. We found so many people who were open and willing to hear our message! We picked up a handful of new investigators and are really looking forward to working with them and helping them progress towards baptism!

We put 2 on date this past week. 1. Miloš. He is an older gentleman that we found Tuesday night, while street contacting. We had a lesson with him on Thursday. We explained more of who we are, what we do, set expections (CPR = Church, Prayer, Read), and put him on date! We invited him to be baptized on the 27th of February and he said, "No, I can't do that day. I have work. But I can do the 20th." haha it was quite cute. We had a lesson with him on plan for Friday, but he didn't show anddd we haven't been able to get ahold of him since. :( So, keep him in your prayers! 2. Jakub. Jakub is a stud. He is 24 and is finishing his University studies the end of February. He has been an English student of ours for the past little while and on Thursday as we finished with our english lesson the conversations naturally turned towards religion and with not even planning it ahead of time, Ses Boza and I were bold with him and had a really good lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ focusing on Baptism. It was awesome! He was eating it up and repeating everything we were saying to him. ha ha but we have a few roadblocks. He's super busy with writing his Thesis and such and then once he finishes with his exams he is moving to New Zealand. :( We told him though that we totally believe that he can be ready for baptism by the 13th of February. Our plan is to get him in the water before he goes to the New Zealanders so he can go and be amazing with the saints over there! ha So! about that we shall see. Keep him in your prayers as well. :)

Our third miracle investigator this week is Nelli. Nelli is soooo sweet. She is from Bulgaria, has two little boys, and lovessss lovess lovesss her family and husband. She has the most romantic proposal story. ha ha I will have to share that later with her consent. ;)

Nelli met the missionaries almost a year ago and has been off and on with them ever since. On Friday we had a lesson set up with a gator, who is now a former, ha but the point is, that person dropped us and then we had Nelli on our back up plan. It was definitely divinely inspired. We got to Nelli's home and rang her Zvonek and she let us right in. She told us that she KNEW we were going to come. The whole day she kept reaching for her phone to respond back to all the messages we had sent her, but she knew that we would show up. She had just put her little boys down for a nap so the 3 of us gathered in her little hallway. We shared 1 Ne 25:26 with her which reads, "And we talk of Christ, we rojoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

After we shared that she got super emotional and the spirit was flooding that hallway. Sestra Boza and I testified of Christ and how he truly is our ULTIMATE SOURCE, whom we can look to for strength, for peace, for understanding, and the list goes on and on. It was one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had on my mission. She thanked us so much for coming and set up to meet with us this week. Best part is....

The following day, Sister Boza and I are just getting home to have dinner and Nelli calls. She says hey, do you have a second, I'd really like to meet. We dropped what we were doing and met her at our office where we have lessons. When we got there she said to us, "I had to get out to get some fresh air and to talk with some people. Only problem is, I don't know anyone here. So I thought to myself, I'll call the missionaries!" hahah it was so cute. She also told us that ever since we had come the before, "everything just shines." That was a tender mercy for us to hear. Nelli is awesome and we expect great things from her!

Church:

Church was amazing. Tomasz Gnewick, a Less Active we have been working with, came to church on Sunday! It was such a huge miracle! We had met with him on Saturday and had a really good lesson with him. Invited him to church and told him that even if he doesn't come he can't cancel on us the following week. (He's been known for that in the past.) He promised that he wouldn't and that he was ready to come to church for reals. After our lesson we walked with him to Bondy (the mall) and we asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to grab some lunch. The thought came to my head that we should join him. So we went to KFC and had a really good time with him. He opened up a lot. When we said goodbye he kept thanking us and thanking us for spending our lunch hour with him. It was a blast and something that I think was really needed for us to really earn his trust. We surprised him and were there waiting for him at his doorstep Sunday morning. hehe. He was happy to see us. On the bus ride over I sat next to him, while Sister Boza sat next to Enka (recent convert, which was also a sweet miracle!) and we had a really good conversation about the types of friends he has at work and how he knows that he needs to come back to church and start creating relationships there so he can have good friends and a good support system. It was pretty neat. The members were so good with him. There was someone there to greet him the minute we got there. That was one of Tomasz fears of coming back, because in the past he felt as if he was just another person there, but after watching him with the members yesterday, I don't think that it was a problem at all for him. :) It was so amazing and such a tender sight to see him interact with the members. He had a smile painted on his face the entire day. God is so good. We really truly believe that Tomasz will be ready to receive the priesthood by the end of this transfer. That is our goal for him! 

Sestra Boza and I have been frustrated with not having any real solid investigators or this or that, but we truly are seeing small miracles everyday in the work. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord is right behind us in all of it. I know for a fact that I couldn't get up each morning and do what we do without his help or strength. I love this work. I love the Czech people. I love learning this language. I love it all! I know that Christ is our one and only source of never-ending happiness. I love him!

S laskou,

Sestra Fred

Me and my companion Sestra Boza

 

Platform 18, our bus to church!

 

SNOW - It snowed for almost 48 hours this past week. It rained today, so most is gone now, ha!

Our investigator Nelli :)

 

Local grocery store