Karelštejn -- 24.7.16

Hello and Good Evening!

SHOUTOUTS:

Welcome home Elder Nilson! Glad to see that you arrived safe and sound. :)

Happy Pioneer day to Utah! It's pretty cool, because Karelstejn shares the same day. 

Last week of July... Soak it all up!

Sydney Comer! I am so proud of you! Congratulations on the engagement!

CBUD CHARMS:

---> CBud is known to be one of the flattest cities. So.. EVERYONE is on bikes here.

      They LOVE their bikes. Even the grannies. haha It's awesome!

---> Čsad is the name of the local public transportation

---> Sestra Hill and I witnessed a dog getting ran over while trakting. hahah Trakting NIGHTMARE. Mostly because the dog belonged to the person we were speaking with. 

B.O.M. INSIGHT:

I was studying in 2 Nefi 2 today and found these verses. 

 17 And I, Lehi, according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was evil before God.

 18 And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind.

 29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down tohell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.

To me it was interesting the part concerning the adversary's kingdom and his goal to reign over us. The Earth is known to be the kingdom of the adversary. And the Natural man in us wants to dwell there with him. But our spirits have a greater desire to dwell with God and Christ.God has given us safe havens here on Earth where our spirits can find peace from the storm. Our homes, and the temple. How important it is for us to strive to create a place within our homes where the spirit can dwell, and be worthy to hold a current temple recommend so that we may remain strong and well to fight off the natural man and temptations of he who is the most sad of all. 

KARELSTEJN:

So this week the email is going to be a little more on the informational side.

The next bit is from the Novy Hlas, the letter Prezident Pohoricky sends to us weekly. The first part was prior to Karelstejn and the second part after. 

Enjoy the history. :)

PART 1:

This week commemorates an important historic event for the Czech/Slovak mission.

On July 24th 1929 Elder John A. Widstoe from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the former President of the European mission, dedicated the land for the proclaiming of the Gospel. The Dedication took place on Priests Hill at Karlštejn . On that same day the church also organized the Czechoslovakia mission. At that time seven members lived in the country. The church had embedded roots in Czechoslovakia but he coming of World War II changed everything. Normal missionary work was interrupted as the country was occupied by the German army and missionaries were evacuated. In the year 1946 missionaries returned to Czechoslovakia, but the communists taking power in the year 1948 again halted official missionary work in this country. Public church activities were banned on April 6th 1950. For more than 40 years members of the church maintained their faith in silence, without being able to publicly profess or even have regular contact with the church beyond the borders of Czechoslovakia. The church was again officially recognized on February 22nd 1990 and in May of 1990 missionaries again returned to Czechoslovakia. In that time there were 345 members in Czechoslovakia.

Today, in the Czech/Slovak mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has almost 2,700 members. We can see that the lord never forgets his children, he sends messengers who proclaim his truth at all times. At this time you are those messengers, and you bring hope to those who still have not had the opportunity to here this message. They are many, and through the Spirit you can recognize them and bring into their lives happiness and meaning. When other people around us decide how they react about what we believe, we cannot forget that moral free agency is an essential part of Gods plan for all of his children. When they reject your message, don’t be sad, let us just do our work and fulfill our calling.

When every one of you decided to go on a mission you said to Heavenly Father the same sentence as Jesus Christ said. “Here I am, send me” and now you are here to be the light for those who need to come out of darkness. We are, with President Pohořelický grateful and we very much

appreciate your decision to work on the lord’s errand.

PART 2:

This past weekend, missionaries and members gathered at the site where Elder John A. Widstoe of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles offered the July 24, 1929 dedicatory prayer of what was then Czechoslovakia. The dedication site is on Priest Hill, near the Karlstejn Castle. It is a small, beautiful, hidden spot where members and missionaries have gathered for many, many years. Elder Widstoe described the spot as a natural temple. For all those who attended this weekend's festivities, being at the monument site very much felt like being in the temple.

MY TESTIMONY:

I had the sacred opportunity to share my own personal testimony as we were gathered together, almost 80 on the Czech side of the mission. I was overwhelmed by the spirit with gratitude and love. I am beyond blessed to be a part of the work here. I know that the Czech pioneers, like John A. Widstoe are right along side us moving the work forward. I love the Czech people. Sometimes I believe that they have served me more than I have actually served them.

It is my hope and my prayer that we can all find a way to be pioneers in our own lives. We must all take part in paving the way for those to follow in us! Let us be diligent unto the end!

My love and prayers are with you always.

S laskou,

Sestra Fred 🌻

The Dedication site on Priest Hill

Karlstejn Castle

Wooded trail to the dedication site

40 minute train ride to the dedication site

Look at my place !

A Moment on the Most

Mon, Jul 18, 2016

A Moment on the Most

Hello, hello, helloooo.

We have had blue skies and finally some warm weather today.

It rained almost every day last week. It was awesome! I love the storms here:) The C-Budites have been busily going all day long.

We visited the post office and it was nuts! We made a new friend there. Her name is.. I can't remember right now. ha but she was so bright and cheery even amongst all the madness that was happening! I really appreciated that.

SHOUTOUTS:

Sestra Hale... všechno nejlepší. I love and miss you so much.

Zdenda was baptized and confirmed a member this past weekend.

My heart is so full. 

Happiest birthday to Megan Walker (GOLDEN) and Gma Inez on the 22nd:)

Tomasz Gnewick... I miss you and Ester! 

CBUD CHARMS:

---> In old Czech the last name of Křešnička meant: to be left-handed. 

       And it is said that everyone with that name is left-handed as well... But Bratr Křešnička and in his family they switch from left to right handed every other generation for at least 4 generations. ha ha kinda funny.

---> Czech's knock on their teeth instead of wood for good karma. They say that teeth are more reliable and last longer. ha!

-->  20 years ago there wasn't any COLOR in C-BUD. All the architecture was colorless.

B.O.M. INSIGHT:

Alma 28: 1-2

We had exchanges with the STL's while we were in Prague. While Sestra Manners and I were having comp study I asked her what her favorite verse/chapter is in the Book of Mormon and she shared Alma 38 with me. She told me that this chapter is her "missionary work pump up" chapter. :)

I think that it could be a missionary pump up for all of us as members of Christ's church. As you read, insert your name where appropriate. :)

  1 My son, give ear to my words, for I say unto you, evenas I said unto Helaman, that inasmuch  as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will  not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence.

 2 And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your  faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.

Life is full of ups and downs. I was telling Sestra Hill how funny it is on the mission concerning emotions. I'll tell you what. We experience almost EVERY emotion, EVERY day. It can be quite exhausting. ha ha but all along the way I can testify that I have found comfort in keeping the commandments. I have especially found great joy in keeping the "mission commandments" that are found in the white-hand book. I know that if we are steady and faithful in keeping the commandments God has given us, we will always be at peace in our hearts, souls, and minds. Let us all be faithful to the end my friends!

A MOMENT AFTER CHURCH:

There were 10 people at church on Sunday, including the 4 of us missionaries. Our meetings here in CBud last for 2 hours. We enjoyed a very nice lesson given by Bratr Rybak for Sunday school. During Sacrament we heard from our amazing Branch Prezident along with Elder Dean and Sestra Hill. 

Our sweet recent convert, Ellie, gave the closing prayer.

We sat and talked amongst ourselves for about 30 minutes or so. No one in real rush to leave.

In that moment I felt a different kind of love for the people that I was surrounded by and the atmosphere that had be created by chidren of God doing their best to follow the example of Chirst. It was a real tender moment, when the spirit whispered to me that these are good people and I need to give them my absolute best along with giving my best to my Savior. 

I am so lucky to be here!

TARGET ACQUIRED:

After church yesterday we decided to go out and contact on what we actually learned AT CHURCH. I felt that it has been one my brightest ideas yet. haha I LOVED kontakting people on what we had learned. We have been on the hunt for mostly men who can fill leadership positions so we can get this branch rollin' here in CBud. We ran into a JW family and had a pleasant exchange. Shared favorite Bible scrips atd. We were headed home to grab some lunch when we saw a man in large stature pushing a stroller. TARGET ACQUIRED. TARGET ACQUIRED. We made eye contact and waved from across the street. I turned to Sestra Hill and I said, "We're going after him!!!" hahah We run after him and catch him hafway across the bridge. We begin to talk to this man who has tatoos running down his arms. As we bavit the Spirit started to lead the conversation and he shares with us that his belief in God stopped when parents and another loved one passed away. We testified of the Plan of Salvation and that he and his family can be together forever. Then comes the question....

"What should I do so that this can happen for me?"

The spirit was SO strong. We told him that he can have these blessings by applying the teachings of Jesus Christ in his life, being baptized, and enduring to the end, atd.  We also testified that the experiences that he has had in his life, like losing his parents is preparing him to receive the Restored Gospel. 

He asked that he could take the Plan pamphlet  and then exhanged numbers with us. 

About 30 minutes later, he texted thanking us for the uplifting conversation and that we had great Czech. ha ha two in one. ;) 

We have on plan to set up an appointment due to his crazy work schedule. 

From this experience, I gained a stronger testimony of the Spirit and its' role in leading and guiding us to those who are being prepared to accept the Gospel. 

FUNNY:

Theeeee funnieessttttt thing happened on Friday after game night. 

Each time we leave the building we are to check the 3 closet rooms downstairs for homeless people. Sestra Hill was the one to check them on Friday and she hit the jackpot! hahahahahah she found someone in the 3rd and final door she checked and came screaming out of the building like a baboon. bahahahah I laughed for about an hour after. Okay lets be honest. I am still laughing about it. hahahah I love missions.

KATE:

An investigator! She is golden!

I will share more next week!

Have the best week! I love you all!

Thank you for your prayers and emails!

Srdecne,

Sestra Fred 🌻

The Sabbath Day 

Exchanges-Sestra Fred- Manners-Boza-Hill

Soakin' Wet-Sestra Hill and Sestra Fredrickson

​Lunch break with Prezident and Sestra Pohořiliči. :)

The Interview!

Sestra Boza spent almost the entire day with Prezident and Sestra Poho along with the Public Relations Advisor Sestra Gordon-Smith.

It was an absolute BLAST. Such a neat experience. A little nerve racking, but I had my rock of a companion by my side. It was just like old times. :)

First Week Back in the Bud

Happy 11th of July!

It is very warm here today. They call it "Vedro/Vedra"

I am starting to get tan again! ha ha yay.

SHOUTOUTS:

Sister Christina Seader H A P P Y BE-LATED! I totally spaced your day on the 1st. 

BUT I want you to know that my comps and I sang to you in spirit. :)

That goes for you too Alice Fred! Happiest Birthday to you as well on the 8th! I hope that you had a fantastic day. Hopefully Clarkie spoiled you. ;) 

HALE FAMILY: thank you thank you thank you for the peanut butter and your visit to C-bud. I am SO grateful that I got to meet you all in the country where I came to love your daughter and you.

Johnny.. you might be right. I'm not sure if the PB will last more than a month. ha ha 

DEB BARD: Thank you for the darling necklace you made for me! I LOVE it! (p.s. when I get home

I want to come try the Tire workout again. :)

CBUD CHARMS:

---> Czechs have a brown garbage can and a silver one.

---> I traveled about 200 kilometers to get to CBud last week.

---> They call a cross walk "Zebra."

---> Czechs LOVE their ice cream during the summer.

B.O.M. INSIGHT:

1 Nefi 21:14-16

 14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.

 15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

I love these verses because they paint a beautiful picture of the Savior having us and holding us in the palm of His hand.

We need not worry ONE BIT that the Lord isn't aware of us. He is. I know He is. Just as I know that my own earthly Mom is aware of me and very in tune with my needs spiritually and temporally. Be brave and rely on Him! 

RUNNIN' THE STREETS:

Sestra Hill and I have been pounding the streets. 

Upon my arrival to C-Bud they were working with a few investigators that have the potential, they just aren't quite there yet and are having a hard time accepting a baptismal date. 

They did just have a baptism the Saturday before I got here. Her name is Ellie. She just turned 22 and has 3 kids! She has a crazy amount of strength and faith. Looking forward to getting to know her better.

The Sisters and Elders tag team taught her like we did with Kristian in Jicin and MB a couple of transfers back.

As for our teaching pool... it is a little shallow, BUT don't worry we are on it. We met a lot of cool people this past week that set up!

And then their lessons fell through due to various circumstances. 

Yesterday, on our way to a Less-Actives home we met a young woman by the name of Clariss. She is a guide at one of the musuems in town. We set up with her tomorrow just after english. She said she will prolly come early and sit in on the english class. Great! She isn't a believer, 

but she believes that something is there. (We hear that a lot on the streets) We are excited to see where things go with her!

ZDENDA:

My last Sunday in Mlada Boleslav Zdenda and I planned a vylet to Cesky Krumlov for today. I was so excited last night that I could hardly sleep. ha! We met him at the main train station and as we were walking to the platform we needed to be at he starts singing I am a Child of God IN ENGLISH. Perfectly!!!! Hahahaha I was dyinnnggggg. He learned it all by himself too.

I asked him what was going on, what was new, atd. He waited until we got to the platform to tell me that HE WILL BE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS COMING SATURDAY. The best part is.. IT WILL BE ON THE BIRTHDAY OF SESTRA HALE.

Ahhhh it's perfect! He was absolutely beaming when he told Sestra Hill and I. I asked him what the final confirmation from the spirit was

in guiding him to choose to be baptized. He told me that he realized he could go on and on saying that he isn't ready and that there is something

that he doesn't completely understand for the rest of is life. He has received a witness that it is true, so why wait and put it off. 

He is so so good. I am sooo very proud of him. Saturday will be a great day for him! 

We had an awesome vylet togehter with the Elders in Krumlov, which is about 40 minutes outside of C-bud.

As we were getting to our bus to go back to C-Bud there was a man that had fallen off a bench. Where I was more concerned about missing our bus, Elders Dean, Marcucci and Zdenda were more worried about

the well-being of this man. I watched and the Elders and Zdenda were caring for this man who wasn't really communicating back to what they were asking. Elder Dean asked that Zdenda would make sure that he would be taken care of. As we pulled away I watched as Zdenda walked this man to the shade and leaned over to continue trying to diagnose

what the problem was. It was a very humbling moment for me. I am grateful for the examples of the Elders and Zdenda. They taught me today what it means to be Christlike. 

We have a good week ahead of us!

We will actually be in Prague for a few days.

Prezident Pohorilicky asked Sestra Boza and I to participate in a radio talk show for the church.

I am super excited to do that with her! That will take place on Wednesday and then we will also take care of our transfer exchange while we are there. And Friday we have visa work.

Busy busy busy!

Keep on keepin'on!

Love you all! Thank you for all that you do for me!

S laskou,

Sestra Fred 🌻

​Where Zdenda told me the good news.

The Garden Area 

Another Vyhled 

ELEKTRO

Starší and Zdenda

H a p p y Fourth !

H a p p y Fourth !

Sent: Mon, Jul 4, 2016 8:52 am
Subject: H a p p y Fourth !

Hello hello hello!!

Soo many changes all at once. Are you ready??

SHOUTOUTS:

Happy Birthday America! We are so blessed to live in the country that we do.

Alexis I meant to say the 27th of June not the 26th. ha ha so sorry!

McConkies arrived home sometime last weekend. yay! Job well done.

Mom, Dad, family! Their homecoming is this Sunday. Please go for me!

July 10 at 12:30. Address is 1500 East 2700 South (next to the Cardon School). It is the Imperial II Ward, Salt Lake Highland Stake. 

Charms of C-BUD:

---> Sea doos and Jet skis are called Water Scooters. ha! I love it.

---> Czech fire hydrants are green and black. 

---> Cesky pet names are ladybug and beetle. (That might have been a repeat. sorry.)

POHOŘLIČTI:

Our new mission prezident and wife arrived safe and sound this week. They are ABSOLUTELY DARLING. Our meet the prezident training went so well and get this.. it was ALL IN CZECH. Sooooooo coooooolllllll. This spirit was SO strong! I felt an increased amount of the gift of tongues that is for sure. I am so excited to have more czech incorporated our zone conferences and other various aspects of the work. I have strong faith and belief that ALL of us will have an increased amount of gift with the language, because Heavenly Father needs us to. The gates have been opened and the horses are a runnin' everyone! The Lord is hastening His work in the Czech and Slovak mission. I am SO HAPPY TO BE HERE.

Sestra Poho (she gave us permission to use that as a nickname.) sat Sestry Hill, Manners, Cade, Hale and I down at the training and gave us all diamond earrings. With them, her message was this: The diamond is one of the hardest stone to harvest as it is found deep within the Earth. But as it is revealed and the sun hits it, a marvelous light is reflected off of it. She compared the diamond earrings to us as her sister missionaries. She told us that we are her light and are so precious to her. How SWEET IS SHE?? Love her already.  

ZDENDA:

ohhh our sweet Zdenda. He is stone solid. He did not get baptized on Saturday as we had hoped. He texted us Friday night with some concerns. We called him and talked to him for awhile about it. We asked that he would pray about it and get back to us in the morning. We still hadn't heard from him when 9 a.m. rolled around so we gave him a call. He red buttoned and then texted saying, give me 15 more minutes. I still need to pray some more. 

He called a short time later and shared with us how he feels that God wants him to get baptized, but he needs him to wait a little longer and be sure of a few other things before he commits to baptism. He said that it isn't a matter of faith or belief in the Gospel. He knows that it is true and that through Joseph Smith the Gospel was restored. He simply wants to be sure of himself so he can be a strong member in the Church and not fall away in the future. 

WE ARE SO PROUD OF HIM. 

He came to church yesterday. We taught with a member couple. It was simply beautiful. I am not worried one bit about Zdenda. He is on the right track. We anticipate that he will be baptized in the upcoming month. So good!

TRANSFERS:

You better fasten your seat belts for this announcement. hahah 

Ready.....

Get set....

ČESKÉ BUDEJOVICE 

The first shall be last and the last shall be first everyone.

I will be completing this mission journey of mine in the place where it all

began. When Elder Needham (MTC Elder of mine) called me to share the news with 

me I was honestly stunned. I had to ask him to repeat it a couple of times to make sure that I heard correctly. ha ha 

At first I was way sad to have to leave Mlada Boleslav, but after the intial shock of it wore off I felt an enormous amount of love and peace from my Father in Heaven. He knows me. I know He knows me. I know that because of the way I have seen him work miracles in my life and in the lives of others the past 2 years of my life. I feel so fortunate to finish where I started. It juts makes sense ya know?

I will be follow up training Sister Hill! She reins from Houston, Texas.

She desires to have a hedgehog one day. 2 sisters 3 brothers she has.

She loves music! Especially.... Classical. :)

I am SO stoked to start running these streets again. God doesn't do random... and he also has a funny sense of humor. ha ha Here's to a great transfer ahead of us. 

Sestra Cade will stay in Mlada Boleslav and will be follow up trained by Sestra Heap

WHO was with us the DAY WE MET ZDENDA. God knows what he is doing. :)

Love you all! 

Be safe shooting off fireworks and such. 

S laskou,

Sestra Fred

I love this man. Bratr Martinec.

Grilovani Fun :)