I don't know about you... BUT I'm feeling 22

Čauky!

Well, this week was awesome up until 2 hours ago! ha! Stay tuned.

The weather has been all over the place this past week. Lots of rain and winds storms!

Mom, you would hate it. ha.

Shoutouts:

⏺Mason Michael!!!! I can't believe you lost your first tooth! I hope that tooth fairy found your pillow. :)

⏺T-fred and C-fred. I want you to take me to the slopes next winter and teach me how to shred ice.

⏺Angela Marie. You are soooo sooo close!!! Eeek. I can not WAIT to find out what you are having. I pray

every night that it will be a girl. Sestra Boza does too. ha!

⏺It's my Birthday on Wednesday! I have never been this excited for a birthday. ha

Mlada Mysteries:

---> DM and Rossman are the Rite-Aid and Walgreen's of Czech

--->We received a referral from HQ a couple weeks ago. The young man heard about us by watching South Park. HA.

---> Our branch is full of translators for the church!

---> We have two prego Sisters in the branch. I see them and I picture Angie. :)

Book of Mormon Insight:

I was reading in Alma 9 this morning about when Alma the Younger and Amulek go into the land of Ammonihah to preach the word of God.

In verse 23 it reads,

"And now behold I say unto you, that if this people, who have received so many blessings from the hand of the Lord, shouldtransgress contrary‍ to the light and knowledge which they do have, I say unto you that if this be the case, that if they should fallinto transgression, it would be far more tolerable‍ for the Lamanites than for them."

There are a couple of things I love about this verse.

1. I really like they way Alma and Amulek are bold.

2. I love how they point out how they have already seen the blessings come and that they have received that light and knowledge from God.

3. I think that my favorite title of Chirst is The Light and the Life. This life is all about preparing to meet God and Jesus Christ and one thing we need

to do to prepare for that great even is to gain knowledge. And when we gain knowledge we are gaining light. I know that Christ is the source of ALL light and

knowledge. It is simply up to us to seek and obtain.

Alright, I've got some sad news.

NELLI:

She was progressing soooo sooo well last week. She was experiencing beautiful conversion and was even having moments of receiving her own personal revelation as she read the Book of Mormon.

When we met with her last Tuesday she says to us, "Sisters! I have a verse I want to share with you! She shared 2 Ne 2:8 with us, which reads, "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save‍ it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth‍ down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection‍ of the dead, being the first that should rise." She then went on to bear her testimony that it is only through Christ that we can be saved.

2nd spiritual experience. We re-taught her the Restoration last Monday and invited her to pray about Joseph Smith and a modern day prophet. We followed up for the next couple of days and I believe that it was on Thursday she told us that she got her answer. She had knelt down to pray about Joseph Smith and ask Heavenly Father, again, for a confirmation of the truth of his life and ministry. As she finished her prayer and opened her eyes, a stream of sunlight came through her window, and she compared it to Joseph's experience when he saw God and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. She said that at that point she knew that the experience that Joseph had was true. That he really did see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

On Saturday we taught Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We used the object lesson ice cream "sundaes" She LOVED it. She understood the importance of needing to be there each week to renew her covenants with God by partaking the Sacrament. Her only concern was that she doesn't have her Driver's License and she really doesn't like riding the bus with the kids, which is understandable. We discussed coordinating a ride with one of the members and she felt a little more comfortable with that. We weren't able to get her to church yesterday, but she said she would be able to come the next week.

Then today happened.

We usually go see her Monday mornings around 10:30. We called to confirm this morning. She told us it would be fine for us to come and that she actually had something to tell us.. the tone of her voice was not super vibrant. Sestra Boza and I knew that it wasn't going to be news we wanted to hear. Upon arriving we asked her how her weekend was, if she was able to read in 3 Ne 18 like we had invited her to do, atd. Then she dropped the bomb. She told us that she does not want to become a member of our church because she can go to any other church whenever she wants. She has already been baptized, and that's enough. She really doesn't understand why she needs to be baptized again. She told us that when she accepted the baptismal date a couple weeks ago she only said yes FOR US.

This is my response to that.

NO WAY. NO HOW.

Ahhgg she came up with all these LAME excuses. It was so frustrating and so sad to hear her go on and on about how she just doesn't feel like this is right for her and that she needs to get back on the right path and this and that. We tried to help her reflect back upon that absolutely incredible spiritual experiences she has had in the last month. I was bold with her and said there is no way that you can deny those feelings that you felt when having those experiences. 
We tried so hard to reset a date with her, but we could see that she wasn't willing to change. She even told us herself that it is a huge life commitment, which it is, that she just isn't willing to make right now. We told her how much we love her, and bore testimony of Christ and Heavenly Father. Then we had to tell her that we couldn't keep meeting anymore if she isn't willing to make the changes necessary to progress towards baptism.

That was hands down one of the most difficult conversations I have ever had to have on my mission. It isn't easy having to let someone go like that after seeing them make SO MUCH progress and have them almost disregard all that they have truly learned for themselves through the spirit.

Anyway, so we lost our only Baptismal Date. It wasn't the best of mornings, but! I called Elder Holt this morning shortly after all of that happened to ask him a question about my money situation and this is what he said to us. He said, "Man, that happens sometimes, but you know what, don't get discouraged because that is what Satan would want you to do. It's when hard times like this happen, that something EVEN greater is about to happen." Elder Holt is my angel today! I loved his words and I believe them with all my heart.

ON A MORE POSITIVE NOTE:

It's my NAROZENINY on Wednesday!! :) It's been almost a year since I made the decision to go home. Can you believe that? It was on my birthday last year that I made the choice to go home. That was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make in my life, but you know what? I really believe that it was one of the best I could have made for myself at that point. I often catch myself pondering the last year of my life, and as I am studying or out contacting I stop and I think to myself, wow. I did it. I'm here again. I am sharing the good news of this amazing Gospel in another language. Some days it feels like I never even left to begin with. ha!

I want to bear my testimony to you of trials. I am so grateful for them. I am grateful for MY trails. I truly believe that along with everything else in our lives, trials are perfectly designed for us and perfectly timed as well. I love my Savior. I have come closer to Him and my Heavenly Father then I ever have before in my life because I choose to follow a prompting to serve a mission. How blessed I am! I love this gospel more than anything and I love being able to share it with these Czech people.

We had training this last week in Prague. We participated in a world wide broadcast with missionaries throughout the world and church leaders. It was awesome.

The theme was "Teach Repentance. Baptize Converts." I learned A LOT and realized some things that needed to change in my work as a missionary and in myself in general.

Training is always a good time. I love being in Prague with other missionaries!

We have exchanges this week and guess where we get to go... CESKE BUDEJOVICE!!! My birth placce!!!! Ahhhh I am SO excited.

We will be with Sister Birkeland and her trainee, Sister DeMann. This is going to be the BEST BIRTHDAY WEEK EVER. I can hardly stand the excitement.

We have on plan to surprise the Meanstanovi with my presence. That will be a priceless moment. :)

Thank you SO much for all the birthday wishes!!! Family, I promise I will respond to them next week!

I got mom and dad's package and carly's. I can't wait to open them! :)

Mom thank you for giving birth to me. I am eternally grateful for you and that sacrifice you made to bring me into the world!

Here's to a good 22 years of life!

S pozdravim,

Sestra Fred

 

Lesson by the River-This is Jozef. He is a former whom we recently picked back up. We had a restoration lesson with him by the river on Saturday, ha! I ate the nastiest thing yet on my mission. It's called Lacenka. Oh man, never again, ha!