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."

Power of Example

Ahoj my sweet family! 

Guess what another week has come and gone. An exciting one it has been!

Okay soooo Romana Měštanova, our recent convert's entire family have all decided that they want to be baptized! Her Mother (Jana), Father (Jirka), brother (Daniel), niece (Lucinka) and then she has her two kids Romanka and Daniček. The past couple of weeks they have all been coming to the activities that we have weekly like english, family home evening, and game night. We had a senior couple come this past Saturday and give us a little presentation on temples and the Měštanovi all came and then told us afterward that they all want to be baptized the last saturday of the transfer! We were STOKED!!!! Jirka (dad) hasn't quite decided that he wants to, but we have decided Jana wears the pants in the relationship and once she gets baptized, Jirka will follow suit. hahah but seriously, this is a christmas miracle! I am completely convinced of the power of example. Romana set the stage for her family and really paved the way for them to follow her example of following the example of Jesus Christ. All it takes is one and Romana was that one for her family. Ahhh it's great! We weill be teaching them lots in the upcoming weeks to get them ready for baptism by the 13th of December! The Měštanovi are fabulous and it has been amazing for me to watch how the Gospel has really impacted and changed their lives. They call me Sestra "Fran" hahah it's pretty funny. Czechs here have a pretty hard time pronouncing Fredrickson. 

Our Ukrainian Investigator Vasyl is also on date for baptism. His date is for next Friday! 

The Elders also have about 2-3 on date for baptism so if all goes well we will have 10 baptisms between the two companionships here in our little town of Ceske Budejovice! It is miraculous. The Lord is hastening the work! 

So today we got to go on a vylet (a trip) with the Elders to a castle called "Hluboka" It was soooooo COOOLLLLL. So unreal! It was a replica of Bowzers castle in Mario Kart combined with the Beauty and the Beast. ha We toured the grounds and then for about 4 dollars we got to go on a tour of some of the castle rooms. The family that lived in the Hluboka Zamek were obsessed with hunting, so there were deer heads EVERYWHERE. Everywhere inside and everywhere outside!!! The ones outside though are made out of cement or whatever and just have the real antlers. ha Its something else. I took some pics, but we don't have enough time again today. I'm so sorry, be patient with me. pictures will come sooner or later! haha Also, today was a very important holiday for the Czech Republic. It marks the anniversary of the "Velvet Revolution" I don't want to butcher the history so I am going to suggest that you go look that one up on google. ha but the city was a ghost town today. Everyone was inside enjoying their day off to remember those who sacraficed so much to gain freedom from communism.

We have been very busy teaching and planning for our upcoming concert. We sing a loottttt. Sestra Scerra has been so gracious to help train my vocals. Ha our concert will be more christmas based but we are doing it the last Sunday of November so we can catch more people and families to come. Once December hits everyone and their dog are busy busy preparing for Christmas. It should be good! :)

Alright that's all I got time for today! Looks like all of you are doing so good! Glad to hear the mail arrived. :) Thank you for all of your love and support. Keep being great and know that you are in my prayers! 

Dokud pristi tydenn. 

S Laskou

Sestra Fredrickson 

Beauty All Around

Ahoj ahoj ahoj!

Wow, can I just say that I am theeee absolute most LUCKIEST missionary in the entire world! I have not even hit my month mark yet and I have gotten to be a part of so many amazing things, including a baptism. We had Romana Mestanova's baptism this pastSaturday. There was quite a bit of holding our breath until Saturday though. Romana had the addiction of smoking and in order for her to make her baptismal date she had no "whoops days" to work with. So we were over there every day checking up on her and we had to lay down the law for her family and ask them to not smoke in the house and around Romana. We even took away all of their cigarettes and ashtrays. ha ha. Sister Scerra and I don't mess around. We had a scare Thursday night with Romana... She had gone to take her little girl to the doctor and when we went for our appointment she wasn't there. Jana Romana's mother, was highly concerned and was convinced that Romana hadn't come home because she had gone to smoke or drink. So, Sister Scerra and I treked alllll over C-Bud to find Romana. We checked the Doctor, places that she use to go drink at and we couldn't find her ANYHWERE. After searching and praying, we finally got a phone call from her. She had gone to visit some family in a place called the Mijes so all was well. But while she was there, she was offered coffee, alcohol anddd cigarettes but she didn't accept any of it! She is solid! 

To say the least, it was quite the week. There was a lot of opposition in preparing Romana for her baptism, but she made it and the smile on her face after she came up out of the water was priceless. Afterward she said her heart was beating so fast, and had me feel it. Ha she is just incredible. She is an example to me of courage, diligence, and just pure faith. We are hoping that her family will follow her example and choose to accept the gospel as well.

Our Ukrainian gator is on date to be baptized in two weeks so if things go well we will be having another baptism! Keep him and our other investigators in your prayers for us!

Here are some fun little facts about our life here in C-Bud. 

We have about a 20 minute walk to the church building. Mom we walk along cobble stones the entire way. :)

We jog in a park almost every morning along the river and it is beautiful. Big tall trees with orange leaves. It's great. Everyday I am in awe of the beauty here. It has even warmed up a bit too which has been so nice! 

I have clipped my toe nails all by myself TWO TIMES now. Dad you should be so proud of me. hahahah

Grocery shopping is a trip. First you have to buy your own grocery sacks and then you have to bag all your groceries yourself. It is a race to the finish line every time. It can be quite stressful sometimes! haha usually I just put everything back into the basket and go over to the side table they have to pack up all the goods. They don't have any chocolate chips or marshmallows here. 

Mommy tell LuAnn that I wear her coat EVERY DAY! I love that thing. It has been such a blessing to have. The pockets are perfect. They are big so I can carry my slovnik and other items around that I need easy access to. It's great. ha 

Okay, so one night this past week we were walking out to the Namesti to find the Zmolkovi who were going to give us a ride home and there was a car that looked very similar to theirs so we went to hop in and when we opened the doors it was definitely not the Zmolkovi. hahahahaa Sister Scerra was just like uhhh.... Pardon and then left. haha It was hysterical.  Don't worry though, we did eventually find the Zmolkovi at the other end of the road. ha! 

We have an English conversation class that we teach that I really enjoy! Clarkie I know you taught some English on your mission and we need some topic ideas!

Something that I am really trying to work on is following the promptings of the spirit. While contacting this past week, I had a feeling to talk to this woman but kind of ignored it and passed her. I had the feeling again and said to S. Scerra I think we should talk to that lady. So we turned around and tracked her down and although she didn't have any interest in what we had to say I still followed the prompting. Something that I am learning is that sometimes the promptings we get to do things aren't going to produce extravagant results every time. It is a test that Heavenly Father is giving us to act on our faith to follow the promptings even when they don't result in anything. As we practice doing so, we will be ready to act when Heavenly Father really needs us to. I think that when we are practicing and learning how to follow the spirit we are also builiding our trust with Heavenly Father.

I love you my family. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. I feel them throughout the week and they help me to keep pushing forward! I hope that you all have a great week. Jake's Baptism is happening soon I would imagine! Ahhhh I am sooo excited for him!! Love you Jake!

That is all for now! Dokud pristi tyden. :)

Láska Vždy,

Sestra Fred 

Quote of the week:

"God loves you because of who God IS. Not because of anything you did or didn't do. 

Dinner at the Elders'

October Zone Training