Hello hello my sweet family!! Jak se mate???? Translation: HOW ARE YOU?!? Can you believe a week has already gone by?! Time is moving too quickly here in the MTC. I need it to slow down so I can have a chance to learn the language. Haha. I have been looking forward to writing you all week! :) I have so much I want to say, so hopefully I can get it all down in the short amount of time I have on the keyboard. So here it goes!
As I mentioned last week, my companion is Sestra Holland. She is from Los Gatos, California which is like 20 minutes away from Santa Cruz. I told her that's where we vacationed as a family a lot growing up. We are convinced that we prolly saw each other there on the boardwalk at some point. ha! Her temple is the Oakland, California temple (Mom and Dad's temple)! She received her endownment there. So cool. She has an older sister who just got married, a brother on a mission in Russia, and a little brother at home around MG's age. Sestra Holland has ridden across the Golden Gate bridge on a bike 7 times, can ride a unicycle, describes herself as spontaneous and she is funny without even trying to be funny and I love it.We both love peanut butter and running so basically we were meant for each other. I love her!
Okay now for my daily routine.
7:15 Breakfast
7:40-11:30 Class
11:35-12:20 Lunch
12:30-4:50 Class/Lesson with Investigator
5-5:30 Dinner
5:40-9:30 Class
9:30-10:30 Plan for the next day (which isn't too difficult at this point) and a little bit of ME time which = journal time!
So yeah, pretty self-explanatory. We just hang out in the classroom all day and it's great. My district is so fun! there are 4 of us sisters and 3 elders. Elder Needham, Elder Cook and Elder Keller. E. Needham loves to sing and dance. His signature move is the Jesus Jig. HAHAHAHAHAH. Oh how I wish you could see it. E. Cook is our District leader which is fitting because is the most serious of the three but has his one or two punchlines that are pretty hilarious.E. Keller is our sarcastic and dry sense of humor elder. Hah they make quite the trio. We have had some good talks about whether college or NFL football is better and which university's are the best etc. hah We love them. They are like my little Brothers.
Our teachers are Bratr Thompson and Bratr Napp. They are awesome! We didn't have a teacher for the first few days here so we are just SO thankful to have them!!! They make learning the language fun. :)
Sestra Holland and I taught a Sestra by the name of Andrea for the past week. We taught her five lessons all in Czech. Prolly one of the hardest things I've done, but the easiest at the same time. At first it was really frustrating because we didn't know how to say anything, but by the time we got to our fifth lesson we got better at improvising and not relying quite as much on our script like we did in the beginning. We taught her about family, prayer, the Holy Ghost, and asked her to be baptized yesterday. She responded well to all of our lessons and she did the things we asked her to do like pray, and read the BOM, but her family is catholic and she's afraid they will be really upset with her if she joins our church. We bore testimony to her that we know Heavenly Father loves her and her family and whatever fears she has with them disowning her He will take care of if she just has faith. The spirit was so strong and she even began to cry! It was truly amazing. Although she didn't commit to baptism, I believe that we planted a seed in her heart. The gift of tongues is a real thing. I would have never dreamed I could teach a lesson in Czech just two days after being here. It is amazing!
Sestra Holland and I are starting to find our groove and figuring out ways we best study and teach together. We make a rock solid companionship! I will be sad to say goodbye to her when our time comes to leave this MTC and head out to Czech. Good thing that isn't for awhile:)
The food isn't so bad here after all! haha I have probably eaten the healthiest I ever have in the past week then I have in my entire life! Hard to believe I know, but it is possible to do here. Hah I just stay away from the sweets!
I have been LOVING THE DEAR ELDERS! Shout out to Carkie boy! He has been my number one DearElder :) Keep sending them!! It is so fun to come into class after lunch and have a dear elder or two sitting on my desk. :):) I always freak out a little and get prolly a little too excited to see them. The elders say I have the best reactions. ha!
The Tuft family sent me Banana bread! THANK YOU TO THE TUFTS!!!! Our district and zone enjoyed those last night during our night classroom session. We usually get a little hungry around 8 or so since we have dinner so early so it was perfect. MOM don't worry, I have been eating my spoonful of peanut butter a day. :) Clark mentioned that Mike was on TV for some ice bucket thing??? I don't know what that is, but that is so sweet he hit the big screen! Go MIkey! When you see him, give him a big hug for me! Crazy to think they will all be starting school soon.... suckers. Haha just kidding.
They say Sundays and Tuesdays are for the Spirit and Thursdays are for the soul. And I can testify that that is true. HA the devotionals here are incredible. The spirit is so amazing. We sing in the choir too so that is fun! P-days are the greatest thing ever. The temple session with our zone was awesome this morning. I have missed going and it's only been a week. haha! OH! And I ran into Shauna Frampton in the dressing room. I gave her a big hug and told her to pass it on to you mommy! So go find her. :) We ate at the temple today and it was pretty yummy!
Lessons learned this week:
1.Pride is going to get me nowhere. Earlier this week I was having a lot of pride in being frustrated with the language. I was feeling like I should just know it already and that if I can't speak the language then I can't get my investigator to feel the spirit. It only took me a day to figure out that I need to get over myself and the fact that this work isn't about me and becoming fluent in Czech. It is about inviting others to come unto Christ. It is HIS work, not mine. I am just an instrument in His hands and Czech is just a tool to help me with my purpose of being a missionary.
2. Relying on the Lord. I don't think I have prayed harder then I ever have in my entire life. There is no way I could do what I am doing without the help of my Heavenly Father and Savior. I have really had to learn how to put my whole trust in Him and rely on him to help me to do my best in becoming the missionary and daughter of God He wants me to be.
Okay, I am running out of time, I can't think straight, and my fingers aren't moving fast enough so i'll have to end it here. But I want you to know that I know my Savior lives. He is with us every step of the way, and only wants to see us succeed in our righteous endeavors. Talk with Him and listen to His promptings through the Holy Ghost. I love this gospel with ALL of my heart. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! and I love representing Christ. What an honor it is. He LOVES us!!!
Loved the pictures dad!!! The boys are already growing up and it's only been week. :( Jade is as cute as ever. I bet she loved getting to swim with Grandpa IN THE POOL. haha way to go flanders! Give them big hugs and kisses for me!
I love you my family!! Have a great week!!!!
Laska pokazde,
Sestra Fred
Here are some pics. Enjoy :)
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