Štastný Nový Rok

Happy happy new year family!

We had an exciting New Year here in Uherske Hradiste! New Years Eve we had district meeting and dinner together with the Elders in Zlin which is about 30 minutes away. After our feast we drove back home and watched The Best Two Years and ate some Hoggendaus ice cream and popcorn. Haha it was a lot of fun. It was fun to watch that movie as missionary. We were laughing at the various white handbook rules that were being broken. For example, teaching investigators at your apartment or using headphones to listen to music that isn't allowed. Ha it was a struggle for us to stay up till midnight but we did it and we got to enjoy some fireworks from our back windows. :) I was surprised by how many fireworks there were. Czech's know how to do it right! 

So we had Pavel's baptism on Saturday and it went great. We had almost the entire branch there for support. It was awesome! We had it at a hotel sauna room. Lights were dimmed and candles were lit when we first got there. ha ha it was something else. We were joking about how that was probably them most colt thing we have ever done. You can imagine what it looked like to people on the outside-- a group of people gathered in a small room giving speeches and singing praises to God. Ha! All is well though. 

Pavel made a comment at his baptism right after he came up out of the water. He said to Elder Vennard (the elder who baptized him) "That's it?" Elder Vennard gave a small chuckle and said, yep that's it. From this comment I was reminded of the simplicity of the Gospel. As missionaries we stress Baptism a lot and make it big deal, not saying that it isn't, but at the end of the day going to a pool and being put under water for nearly a second may seem silly and so simple. But I believe that that's the point. I think that Heavenly Father wants us to have more "that's it" experiences. It's in those moments where we see living the Gospel and doing what he asks of us is that simple. 

I hope that you all had a great New Years! I imagine that you were all prolly in bed early. ;) 

Love you all! Thank you for all the love and support. I pray that you will see God's hand in your life this week. <3

love always,

Sestra Fredrickson

Pavel's Baptism 

Štasny Rok

Hello family! 

It was soo good to see you the other day. I sure am grateful for technology and all the geniuses out there who create things like skype. Christmas day came and went real fast. It was so warm that day too. The sun was shining and it felt like it was the middle of April. It didn't even feel like Christmas. Ha until a couple days ago when it finally snowed and turned to -4.3 degrees C which is like -teens in F I think. 

The day after Christmas they have what is called "Boxing Day" It is a legit holiday where everyone stays inside and they box up all of their christmas decorations or so we assume. On this holiday President advised us to hit the streets and sing some carols and contact the few souls that are roaming the streets. It was freeeezzzingg. We sang mostly to the pigeons and the few czechs that braved the cold weather with us. ha ha It was fun though. We were able to plant a few seeds in those we did talk with. 

On sunday one of our Recent converets named Lukas showed up to church and stayed all three hours. This was a christmas miracle. The sisters met with him about twice a week last transfer and he would always say he would come to church but then would always come up with an excuse for his absence. We called him Saturday night but he didn't answer so we weren't really expecting him to show up, but then there he was! We visited him after church and he told us how he sees a difference when he comes and when he doesn't. His friend Martin is back from America and they live next to each other. So we are hoping that Martin being back will help get Lukas to church each week andd also help him work towards getting the Melchezidek Priesthood. 

Our investigator Pavel Jelenek will be getting baptized this coming Saturday! We had a really good lesson with him last night with a couple of members in the branch. They were able to share experiences of how the Gospel has helped shape their lives and how it's not about being perfect before baptism or even after baptism. It was an awesome lesson and I think it helped Pavel ease his nerves. 

Well that's it for now! Have a great week! 

Love you all so much. Thank you for all that you do for me! 

Sestra Fred

Christmas is Here

Ahoj Ahoj Ahoj!

So we had Christmas training yesterday and that is why I didn't write. Sorry that I didn't inform you of that last week! Training was great. We talked about some of the Traditions here in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Sister Smith is one of the Sister-Training Leaders and she was in charge of presenting one of the traditions. So the one that we did was called lodicek aka boats. So what you do is you crack the walnut, clean it out and then we took little circle candles and carved them down into smaller circles so that they fit nice and snug into the shell of the walnut. Then you light the candle and stick the walnut "lodicek" into the water with the others. Depending on how the different boats react to one another is what your fortune for the next year will be. For example, if you're boat touches another boat you will have the fortune of having good friends. Another one is whichever boat's candle stays on the longest will have a long and useful life. There are some less fortunate fortunes as well that we will save for another day. haha

I came to UH at an exciting time. They had been preparing for their Christmas concert and they take it real serious. They have an AWESOME choir here though! Dad you would love singing with them. :) Elder Earle, our district leader and I were the new missionaries that came into the area this transfer and when we went to our first practice with them last thursday the choir director, Sister Kresnickova, who says it how it is kicked Elder Earle out of the Choir because he can't sing that great. ha ha I'm not sure how I made the cut, but I did and I had to privelage of singing with them on Sunday. Every year they have this Christmas Koncert in a concert hall and the place was filled! Every seat in the house was filled. President McConkie came and played a piece on the violin while one of the sisters from the ward played on the piano. It was beautiful.

As for Christmas, we will be going to the hospital to visit with some of the sick there and then we'll be skyping from the church. My hour starts at 5:00 my time. Soo 9:00 your time. Thanks for sending the skype information. I am so excited to see all of your faces! I hope that you have had the chance to watch "He is the Gift" We have been sharing that with anyone and everyone. I'm so grateful for the Christmas season and for the true meaning behind Christmas which is our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope that all of you find joy in Him! 

Love you so much. and I'll see you soon! 

Sestra Fredrickson

Úherské Hradiště

Ahoj ahoj ahoj!

So we had transfers this week and... I have been sent to a new home! I am now in a town called Úherske Hradiště. I have only been here for a few hours, but by the looks of it and what my new companion Sister Smith has told me it is a quaint little town with only 20,000 people. So smaller then goold old Springville. UH is on the East side of the Czech Republic. It is as close as you can get to Slovakia. Sister Smith is from Logan, Utah and has been in the country for a year now. She is so smiley and fun. She reminds me a lotttt of Sister Marchbanks.This is God's gift to me for his joke that he played on me back in the MTC when he decided to not send me to Washington to serve. ;) It was hard to say goodbye to C-Bud, especially the Mestanovi family. That family has my heart. It is exciting though because Sister Scerra will be follow up training Sister Holland, my companion from the MTC. The work is hastening there so much, and I am looking forward to hearing about all the progress they make together.  But I am looking forward to the new adventures here in UH!

Jana and Lucinka's baptism was perfect. They were confirmed on Sunday and Jana Cried. Our goal for their family is to get Jirka the dad and the son Daniel baptized this coming transfer so they can all go to the temple in the spring with the Branch!

As for the Christmas skype call! We will be calling at 5:00 P.M. our time. So that will be what? Like... 9 in the morning your time. So please send me the skype name next week so I can have that to call you with! YAY! I am looking forward to itttt! 

Okay, so Sister Scerra and I attempted to make the "best white bread in the world" We baked it for our final dinner with the district and I was so proud of it because It look and smelled so good. But when we went to cut into it, it was completely raw and hadn't cooked all the way through. hahahah Soooo that's that. I might need to wait to perfect the bread making skills until I get home. It was a good attempt though! 

Be sure to watch "He is the Gift". Soo amazing! Remember Christ this Christmas season. 

Until next week!

Love you oodles!

Sestra Fredrickson

Blessings Continue to Rain Down

Hello my sweet family!

I sure have a lot to update you all on due to my lack of writing last week! haha so here it goes...

So first off we had our Christmas concert last sunday which was great. We had a really good turn out and it was fun getting into the Christmas spirit. For Thanksgiving we had a usual proselyting day and then celebrated last monday with the Elders and the senior couple in our district. Sister Scerra and I made some real tastey mashed potatoes and homemade pumpkin soup, which is one of Sister Scerra's family traditions. We had a great meal together and talked about some of the family traditions that we have. I bragged about Grandma Inez's rolls for days!

While JAKIE was being baptized this past Saturday so was our sweet Vasyl! I was thinking about Jake the whole day. I am so proud of you!  Our Ukrainian teenager got baptized in Prague on saturday and then was confirmed in our little branch on Sunday. Ivan who did all the translating for us over skype was the one who baptized and confirmed him. They are like brothers now. haha they are really fun to watch interact with eachother. Vasyl has such an incredible conversion story. From the time that he started meeting with us back in the beginning of October to now he hasn't missed a week of church, and he only missed ONE lesson. Keep in mind that this kid can speak little to no Czech. I have gained a stronger testimony of the power of the spirit in this work. It really is the Holy Ghost who does the converting, not us. Yesterday was special in the sense that we had Vasyl's confirmation as well as fast and testimony meeting. We had a lot of miracles in that meeting. Jana the mother of our recent convert Romana and who will be baptized this Wednesday got up and bore her testimony ALL ON HER OWN! She went on up to the pulpit and owned it! She gave the most beautiful testimony of how she knows that God lives and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and how the Gospel has helped her find peace in her life. The best part was when she sat back down Romana embraced her with open arms and gave her big hug. It has been so amazing to watch how their relationship as Mother and daughter has evolved from one that was really rough around the edges to one that has smoothed out. They are the best and we are so excited for Jana and Lucinka to be baptized on Wednesday. Keep them in your prayers! Another miracle was Ivan, who has been a member since April ish bore his testimony for the first time and IN CZECH. and Czech isn't even his first language or second for that matter and he did it perfectly! It was pretty awesome a sucessful sabbath day it was.

Well, it is the last week of transfers. I can't believe that I have already been here for 2 months. It sure has gone by super fast. Czech's don't mess around and started setting up for Christmas long before thanksgiving because they don't celebrate it here. The Namesti is decked out with a big tree and lots of little "Elf workshops" They also have ponies and a Carosel which reminded me of Jade and the Crowley boys. I got my Christmas package a couple weeks ago! Thank you thank you thank you! I am excited to see what surprises Santa has for me this year. Next week I will be able to let you know when we will be skyping. We just have to wait for transfers to see whether or not I will be staying in C-Bud or if I will be going somewhere else! 

I want to thank all of you for you love and support and espeically your prayers and letters and emails. I know that I am not the best at responding, but know just know that I am seeing them and appreciate them!

Also, Shout out to Mason Michael! I hope you had the best birthday little buddy. #5 right?? Can't believe you are all grown up! Keep being good for mommy and daddy!

Love you love you love you.

Ta ta for now!

Sestra Fredrickson

December is Here!

Wow can you believe that it is already December? Because I cannot!

We had a bit of a wild week.

So Jana Mestanova, Romana's mother, had a bit of a freak out and decided that she didn't want to be baptized anymore and that we weren't invited to the home anymore as well. 

We were a bit concerned, but due to Jana's track record she tends to flip flop so we weren't totally surprised when by the middle of the week we were back over at their home teaching them and they also participated and performed in our Christmas koncert that we had yesterday. hah 

Jana played the guitar while Romana and her brother Daniel sang. It was awesome! 

So, Jana is back on date with Lucinka the granddaughter. 

Daniel won't be getting baptized yet because he joined a band so he is never home to hear the lessons. ha 

We will get him eventually. 

Romana is doing awesome. Her character has changed from night and day. 

You are going to hate me, but we are having Thanksgiving dinner today and we got cut short on email time. 

All is well! 

Sorry for the horrible email. 

I will try to shoot one off later today! 

Sestra Fred

Zima has arrived in the Czech Republic

Ahoj!

Alright well, this past week the winter cold has officially set in. Elder Boyce informed us as we were walking to the building one day that it was a whole 2 degrees! hahaha luckily we have been very blessed to have lessons upon lessons filling up our schedules so we don't have to spend too much time outside contacting. We do walk everywhere though and have some district contacting blocks 3 times a week so we do spend a fair amount of time where the cold bites our noses. ha MOM--There was a winter coat that was left at the apartment that I am taking advantage of! It is a little worn out, but it will do this winter. :)

This past week was a pretty good one. I gave my first talk in church yesterday! yay! I kept it simple--introduced myself, bore my testimony about my mission and shared the scripture in Psalms that's on my mission plaque. I love those verses. I love thinking of God as our sun and our shield. There is great power in that anaolgy. If we remember that and let God into our lives He can protect us from anything!
...

Which includes all of Sister Scerra's admirers here in C-Bud. We ordered pizza one night last week and had it delivered to our home. We know the pizza delievery guy and he totally tried kissing Sister Scerra. Luckily she has cat like reflexes and he was only able to catch her cheek. hahah Then we met a man named Maroslav in the park contacting. He was there selling health insurance so we talked to him a little about Word of Wisdom. He set up for a meeting with us yesterday and as we started to set expectations on why he chose to meet with us he expressed that he was more interested in Sister Scerra then our message. hah just some funnies from the week. Now on to more serious matters...

OUR UKRAINIAN IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY! 

Vasyl is getting dunked and we are so excited for him. He has been a bit of a tease and a typical 17 year old punk the past couple weeks, but he passed his interview and is ready to make this next step in his life. And! Get this. While we thought that only his dad was a member, it turns out that his mom is too! But he at the last second added his mom as a member to his baptismal interview record, so we have made the hypothesis that Vasyl and his mom started investigating at the same time and she just recently got baptized and that's why he never said anything to us and wrote it on the record last second. That is by no means the real story, just ours. haha we will be asking him about it next time we see him. But if that is the case, then it means that they have been investigating the church together from a far distance and it also means that they get to be an eternal family! It's incredible. Love our Vasyl. More on him and the baptism next week!

Sister Scerra pointed out to me how one way Satan likes to disturb the peace while contacting people and it is through phones. We had a couple instances this past week where the conversation started out bleh, but then the spirit was brought in and they were feeling it when their stinkin' phone goes off. She told me to start keeping count. Ha

Looks like all is well back home! When did Grace decide to play basketball?? Ha I missed that info. I'm glad she did though! I bet she's killin it. The houses are finished too! Yip-ee! Excited for you Crowley's and Freddies that will be moving in to those soon. :)

Shout out to Lauren Pilcher real quick: CONGRATS ON THE MISSION CALL LO. I am so proud of you!!! Love you to pieces!

Welp, that's all for now! Have a happy week, being grateful for all that God gives us!

I am thankful for all of you and the examples and testimonies that you all have a radiate. Keep sharing those with everyone around you.

Loving you from the Czech side of the world:)

Dokud Pristi Tyden!

Sestra Fred

"You can either choose right, choose wrong, or choose to do nothing about it."