When in Czech : Happy Happy New Year

My dear family and friends,

Happiest new year to all of you! I hope that your celebrations were wonderful and you got to see some fun fireworks. And bang some pots and pans. ;)

Shoutouts:

Happy birthday to Jake Smith and Kaisa Rogers!

Boo boo, I can't believe that I had to hear from another source that you committed to SLCC. I am mad at you.

But, very proud nonetheless!! Congrats my beautiful baby sister!!

Mlada Mysteries:

---> We take a 45 minute bus ride to get to church

---> There are about 60-70 active members in the branch

---> We email from a internet cafe

---> It was 21 degrees Fahrenheit today. Yikes!

Mlada Boleslav:

I love this little town! There is a population of about 60,000 ish maybe. I don't know, you can google that if you reallyy wnat to know. ha ha. There aren't a lot of members that live in Mlada. Most of the members live in Jicin, which is where we have church. :) Our pool of investigators is on the lower side at the moment, so we are having to do a lot of finding. This past week has been really really cold. Before going out to contact I have a pit in my stomach for various reasons. The cold weather, not understanding everything that people are saying, the faith to find people that are interested, etc. It's been really hard for me this past week to have the courage to go out and open my mouth, but the minute we get out there and start testifying of Christ and His Gospel all of those nervous feelings go away. By the end of the week I felt more settled in the apartment, the area, etc, which has helped settled some of those anxiety feelings. I have had to pray a lot for strength to do the hard things! I am so grateful for the comfort and strength that I have felt this past week. I truly feel my Savior with me from moment to moment.

Contacting Miracles:

Heavenly Father has been softening the hearts of the people here in Mlada! It has been truly amazing to see. People have really been listening to what we have to say and have been receptive. It's been awesome! Today we were out contacting and as we were waiting to cross the street there was this darling girl waiting next to us. I thought that we had spoken with her before, but wasn't sure so I said hello and conversation started. As we continued walking with her and got to know here a little bit better she says to us, "you are so open and kind. It's refreshing to talk to people like you. Most people around here are very closed off." So cool!!!!! At that moment we told her more about who we are and what we are doing here. We asked if we could meet on another day and she said yes. Yeee! When we were setting up she was even the one to be like, okay when are we doing this. ha it was awesome. Her name is Zusana, 21 years old, studies at the local college and works at Tesco. Her mom is Czech and her dad is Vietnamese. She is just darling. We are super excited to see what happens with her!:)

Sestra Boza:

I LOVE. Sestra Boza. She is simply amazing. She is from Guatemala. 24 years old. Graduated in Food Science. She looooovvessss dogs. Favorite color is orange. She is in her 3rd transfer. Comes from a family of 6, 4 girls, 2 boys and is the 5th child just like me! ha. Sister Boza is the most kind, gentle, childlike, hardworking person. She has such an amazing gift to love and is determined to find those who are prepared in Mlada. I feel that it is going to be a really, really good transfer.

New Years:

We had our actual P-day on the 1st. We hiked a little mountain that overlooked all of Jicin with the Elders. It was super fun. The view was beautiful. It had snowed the night before so the town was dusted in white. That took most of the day, then we went to the church played piano, ping pong, and then went to the senior couples apartment to mingle for while. We love our Gunnell's! :)

New years eve we stayed up to watch fireworks. Our apartment had a lot of junk in it. My OCD got the best of me and I ended up dejunking the entire apartment that night. hahah I was stressing Sister Boza out. It was so funny. We saw some pretty good fireworks and then called it a night. The next day we were pretty tired. I am so grateful for our 10:30 bedtime. :)

I love you all so much. I am so grateful for the year 2015 and all of the amazing experiences and growth I was able to have. It is my hope that 2016 will bring all of us more joy, more happiness, and more thankfulness.

Have a most amazing week!

S laskou,

Sestra Fred

Czech food. Mmmmmm :)