12/29/10

Familyyyyyy!!!!

Can I just say that I love reading your emails? It's so great. The thing that I really love is that I see so much of who writes it in the email. I think you learn a lot about a person from the things they choose to include and the things they choose not to include in only so much space.

It was really great to hear all your voices the other day and hear about your Christmas--good inspiration for me to keep from turning in to the tubby sister missionary, you and all your new workout equipment. :) If only we missionaries could take on the Insanity as well...

I will ask President on Monday in my next letter (I already wrote him for today) about the Mother's Day thing. It might be very doable. I'll let you know. As far as a package goes--the one thing that might be nice would be another white Downeast shirt. The washing machines here kind of wreak havoc on my poor white things. But please, if you spend another hundred dollars on shipping fees for a package I will feel so bad I'll have to split it with all the homeless people in the center of town (believe me--there are a lot of them). But I won't lie, the package was pretty perfect. :)

As far as news...not much to report. I'm not leaving Ostrava...yet. The two incoming sister missionaries from Mongolia have had visa problems, so it's possible that they could come in mid-transfer and ruin all the bliss of staying in one city for a time, but as for now I am still here with Sister Laws, the Great.

Martin Grohol is doing absolutely wonderfully. I'm so excited about this guy--we've taught him tithing, word of wisdom, sabbath day and he just seems to take everything in humble stride. He's talked about how he knows that God exists now and yesterday he referred to the church as "his church". It's just great. He did say that not drinking alcohol is a little harder than he thought it'd be. He's never been much of a drinker, only socially and in moderation. Sometimes I think that's harder for people, because you don't see an immediate change in your life when you stop. We talked about New Years with him--keep him in your prayers, he's going to need some added strength from on High. Olga is making some progress as well, although we moved her date back to the 22nd with Martin--she still has a way to go. I think she's been kind of hitting on Martin lately, who's at least 12 years younger than she is... interesting. :)

On Sunday we ate with Petr Bandik's entire family. It was really neat to see how kind and respectful they were of who we are and what we believe. They talked with us all about Christmas and offered us fruit tea and were ever so kind. We didn't teach a lesson or anything, but we did leave a good impression, I think. I keep thinking that something great must come of it eventually for them--the blessing Petr received when he was confirmed talked about his entire family receiving the gospel someday. I hope I get to see some of that happen!

I'm glad to hear that you all enjoyed yourselves over Christmas. I forgot to tell you--one of the Elders made homemade eggnog a while back. It was amaaaaaazing. Even better than store bought. Perhaps I'll steal the recipe and make it for you next Christmas.

I can't believe that Maria's getting a horse. No fair--I've been asking Santa for one of those for years. Perhaps I'll write my letter to Jezisek next year instead.
Danielle--how was your snowboarding experience? Did you love it? Lots of young people here snowboard. It makes me want to go again.

Everyone, I just love you all so much! I hope you catch the spirit of the missionary work and share the truth with everyone you know! I've never believed the saying that ignorance is bliss--how can we not share with people the happiness that comes from knowing oneself and understanding the lives they live? Isn't it glorious?!

Cau!

Sestra Dean

P.S. There's this awesome talk called "The Fourth Missionary" by someone named Coleridge or something. He was a mission president once. It's directed towards missionaries, but I think it could be good for anyone in life. You should look it up. And send it to Beks if you find it.

Oh My Little Dears . . . (12/22/10)

Okay, missionary work is just the greatest thing in the world. Ever. That's about all I have to say.

Love,

Ash



Haha--gotcha. This week has been amazing--full of miracles. For example, MARTIN IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON JANUARY 22!! He is just so dang prepared, I'm beside myself! We've already taught him about the Sabbath Day and the Word of Wisdom--two of the hardest things for people to live here. And of course, he just takes it all in stride. (Martin is in the picture wearing the black shirt and the red tie). Something pretty funny--we gave him this baptismal date over a week ago--last Tuesday--and he said yes, obviously. On Monday we taught a lesson to him and when it was over I said, "Well, we'll probably see you on Sunday sometime." He got a little confused--"Wait...aren't you going to be there on Wednesday?" After a few minutes we figured out that he thought he was getting baptized on the 22nd of December! And he still said yes! Haha--I feel kind of bad now, but I laughed pretty hard when I realized what he'd been thinking. But he's very good natured and just laughed along with me. He came to church again and came wearing a suit and tie--said the idea "just came to him" that it'd be appropriate and we never said anything about it. (You'd be surprised--a lot of women here wear pants to church and a few men wear jeans...usually the men start dressing up after a while, but a lot of even the really solid women wear pants. Hey, they come--that's what matters.)

Oh yes, and Martin doesn't really know Petr Bandik...he knows a different Petr in Brno who we contacted once, but didn't want to meet with us. I don't even remember who he is. But his last name sounds kind of like Bandik, hence the confusion. But Petr's coming to church in Ostrava this weekend (his dad lives here), so they will know each other soon enough.

So basically all our investigators except 3 have fallen off the face of the planet because of the holidays. Buuuuuuuuuutttt--those three all happen to have baptismal dates! Woo! Linh (the boy from Vietnam) has met with the missionaries in Prague a few times and met with us yesterday in Ostrava and he's back on track to be baptised on the 8th of January. (He's also in one of the pictures attached) Apparently there are a bunch of Vietnamese mafia members in Prague who have been abusing Vietnamese women lately and that's why he's having such crazy visa problems. Hopefully things'll get worked out--but the important thing is that he is learning all about God and wants to have a real relationship with him! Woo!

On Monday we had maybe the coolest day ever. Our noble district leader, Elder Doxey, (the bathroom guy) decided that we should go out with a bang as a district right before the holidays. So Monday we didn't schedule any meetings (except one with Martin...we had no other choice) and we planned to contact 1,000 people as a district. It was maybe the most invigorating thing I've ever done as a missionary--I felt like a small little army, planning where we'd go and when we'd meet up again throughout the day to tally the numbers. I did everything with my whole heart that day and it was so worth it. We always have a 30-minute tram ride to the center from our apartment every day and we try to talk to people on the tram. On most days we just sit next to someone and make conversation and bring up the gospel more naturally. But this day we talked only about the restored gospel and when someone said no I just moved on to the next person. Maybe the 5th person I talked to had real genuine interest in getting a copy of the Book of Mormon...and after we'd exchanged numbers I moved right on to someone else--and he didn't even mind! It was so cool to just give it all everything I've got. We ended the day having contacted 1,292 people and receiving 44 phone numbers as a district of 6 missionaries! It's looks crazy, but 44 numbers in one day is AMAZING! Not quite like Taiwan here, I suppose. :) Several of them seem really promising too! I'm so excited to talk with them after the holidays are over!!

Speaking of which, I've been thinking about this today--what would it be like to only contact women, like Beks?? We'd have maybe one investigator here in Ostrava! I won't lie, girls close to my age are maybe some of the most intimidating people to contact--I have to psych myself up for a half second each time I do, because they tend to be much more closed off here. But men are easy to talk to! I think it's less intimidating for a man to be approached by a young girl than a young girl to be approached by her peer or something, so they're more open to talk. Sometimes they're a little too open though--I never thought I'd be kissed on the street as a missionary by so many strange men, but it happens quite a bit(on the cheek--no worries, it's custom).

Oh MY--THANK YOU SOO SO SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!! I finally received it last week--it was PERFECT. Those toe warmers SAVED us on 1,000 Day. Seriously! (Sister Laws says thanks too!) And I had just been fantasizing about wrinkle releaser the day before I received it. And I've been feasting on granola every morning and enjoying peanut butter and banana toast and my heart it just utterly content. I am saving the wrapped guys for Christmas day, don't worry. :)

Also. You CANNOT tell michelle about Santa. If you do, I might just cry. No!

Transfers are next Wednesday. Sister Laws and I are hoping we'll stay together--I never thought I'd say this, but I don't want to go back to Brno! I love it here in dirty old Ostrava!!

I'm SO excited to talk to you all! It was so good to hear Daddio's voice last night--it was weird how normal it felt! We'll soak up as much in 40 minutes as we can and just revel in that. :)

Also--for any other former missionaries who might be reading this: I asked Dad a few questions about his mission and it was all so interesting that I just wanted to hear from everyone--
How did you contact people in your mission? What sorts of approaches did you use? Were the people already religious--how did they respond to you? What things did you find effective? Any interesting stories, I'd love to hear!

Mam vsichni z vas tak rada! Hezke svatky!!

Love ash

P.S. Captain BALLSY is getting so big! I just sent you a postcard girl--I LOVE you! Happy birthday!

Also: other pictures--us missionaries in the district with member, Renata--she was baptized after 3 lessons with the missionaries about a year ago and is still really strong. Other is our english class. Gotta love these guys--really good way to find people to teach.

Cest! (sounds like "chest", means 'honor'--it's what all the cool young people say here in Ostrava for hello...and I'm included in the cool and young)

Well hello there!

Anyone who happens to have any problems in life out there: please, before you do anything else, find the song "Count Your Many Blessings" by Dustin Glendhill and listen to it.
There. Isn't that better?

This week is just another thing of beauty here in Ostrava, where the streets are covered in snow and the namesti (town square) is peppered with little wooden houses selling food and handmade goods. Sometimes we go to a place right on the namesti for hot Thai soup that is on the third level of a building--I sit right next to the window and watch little dwarvish people scurry between little gingerbread buildings and just sigh to myself because life's that picturesque.

The most exciting news of the week: little Martin Grohol. He's 23 years-old. A little skinny. Sometimes his voice sounds like he's still going through puberty. But this is all in a very endearing sort of way--he's so kind and amiable and open, you can't help but love him. He's the one that came to church last week. Sometimes lessons with him kind of stress me out, I won't lie. The guy asks so many questions and it never seems that the knowledge we've given him is enough--it made me doubt our teaching abilities for a little bit, but in reality he's just hungering after the truth. On Tuesday we taught him again. We asked him about praying--he's been doing it, he tells us, but he wonders if maybe he's doing something wrong because he hasn't really gotten an answer yet. "I know there are like the 10 commandments and such," he said, "but maybe there's something more than that--maybe I'm doing something wrong that I don't know is wrong and that's why I'm not getting an answer." I KNOW, right?! So we're going to teach him about the Word of Wisdom this week. We told him answers come through time. Later he watched the Joseph Smith video that we share with a lot of investigators (we hadn't explained anything to him about Joseph Smith yet) and he said that it was really good for him--it talked a lot about receiving answers to prayers and he was able to apply so much of it to himself all on his own.

Friday we taught him about the plan of salvation. We had him read the pamphlet before hand, since he always has more questions. We asked him what he thought of it at the start of the meeting and he said he was a little disappointed to find out that this life is just a test. But as we taught him about it in more depth, I could just see his faith growing and his countenance lifting. Afterwards he prayed, like he usually does--but his prayers get better every time! I love it! I feel so blessed to have met him--this kid is really prepared to hear what we have to say. AAAAAND the best part isssss--HE'S FRIENDS WITH PETR BANDIK!! I just found that out on Friday after our meeting! Which means Petr can talk with him about his own experiences (read the email I forwarded you...he's just awesome!). Tomorrow we are inviting him to be baptized. Pray for us!

Olga came to church! Pray for her too--she needs to realize how real this stuff all is. She kind of takes everything a little casually sometimes, but I think she's starting to get it more.

We were able to get our former baptismal date who's been in Prague with family/visa problems in touch with Elder Uroumevic (I think I spelled that all wrong...), who was able to meet with him and give him a new baptismal date! He's still eager to be baptized and develop his own faith in the things we testify of, so that was really exciting. We are excited to invite him to the baptism in Prague with us.

We have also had some really good experiences lately in teaching with the members. One member here served a mission himself in Washington State. We've been trying to get him to teach with us for a while, but he's been pretty reluctant to offer his services. So I figured out what his work schedule was, and made sure to invite him to a meeting when I knew he'd be available...and he came! Not only did he come, but he explained the Plan of Salvation in a very real, tangible way that we would not have been able to achieve with our missionary Czech skills. The next day, Sunday, he got up in sacrament meeting and shared with the entire branch what a privilege it had been to teach with the missionaries--how he'd been unsure about it beforehand, but that it was well worth the time and helped him to strengthen his own testimony. Then he encouraged everyone in the congregation to make time to teach with the missionaries too! Wahhhh! It was so great!

Haha...I received a letter from Beks on Thursday--I just had to read an excerpt from it aloud to my district. They were all staring at me, slack-jawed in amazement. Maybe you already know this, but they contact people in 30 seconds at a stoplight, tell them about the Church, ask to meet with them again, and ask them if they would be baptized on a specific date once they found these things to be true. On average 12 people a day say they would. THIS IS UNNNNREAL! Beks, I'm SO proud of you and the job you're doing over there! That really is a very special place. Keep it up!

I love you all!!

Love, Ash

Lesson number 7,657: God thinks about these things too...

My dear little binkies,

This week has been really good. Well, actually, looking back on it there were a few hard parts, but for some reason the contented feeling of a week well-used lingers with me. Like a movie that has those bits in it that make you jump, but ends so happily that you barely remember those parts once the movie's over.

Before I forget, Ma--dont worry about the phone call. So far I know that: you will be calling me, I will be emailing you the number when I know it--probably the week before--and you will have the chance to do a test call sometime throughout the week before Christmas for a half-minute or so to make sure that it works. I will tell you more once I know the deets. Yes, Pres Irwin is the bomb.

I've learned a few things this week that I want to share with you--they will probably explain more about the week than anything else:

1. You don't have to understand everything to know that something is right. Olga--I think I mentioned her briefly before--is a 35-year-old woman we've been teaching for about 2 weeks now. She likes to talk a lot--I might say she's a little bit of an airhead, if I understood her Czech better than I do. (She's hard to understand sometimes.) But she has three kids and is divorced and came to Max's baptism--remember? SHE AGREED TO BE BAPTISED ON JANUARY FIRST!!! WOOO! I know that she doesn't quite get everything yet, but when we set goals, God helps us achieve those goals if we're willing to work at it. She needs to make reading a little more of a priority than it is now, I think, but I think she can get there.

2. God reaches out to us and gives us every opportunity to build a relationship with Him, yet it's still in our hands whether or not we do so. Our fears can hold us back when we deny that they exist.

Petr number two, the "golden" one with whom the spirit was always incredibly strong--well, he dumped us. I wish I could have made a big scene about it, like in Legally Blonde or something, but I don't think my Czech is quite there. Being a missionary has a surprising amount of similarities to dating life (i.e. communication is really important, you meet a lot of people that have interest, but only a few really last, sometimes when you're trying to talk to people about the purpose of life they ask you to go out dancing with them instead, etc.). But it's interesting, because I KNOW that he felt the spirit when weve been there. I know, because I've felt it every time and I could read it in him that he felt it. But he's afraid. We had a discussion about Jesus Christ that we'd planned to have, even after he'd already told us he didn't want to keep meeting. We both had the opportunity to testify really strongly that we knew these things were true and that he could find out for himself whether or not they were true if he were willing to try these things we were telling him. He kept saying that he's never had any friends who were believers and that he just doesn't think he needs to read some book--he's content. I'd always kind of thought that the people who wanted to stop meeting with the missionaries were only those who didn't really get the meaning behind the message in the first place. I can tell that he's afraid of something--of change maybe. I've asked him before if he's afraid and he always says no. I think recognizing our fears is the first step to conquering them. It's like that little lie Satan tells people--that he doesn't really exist--I've come to think that's the most powerful tool he possesses.

3. God wants me to have success even more than I want me to have success. On Saturday we met this kid, Martin. Hes in his mid-20's or so and was really interested in our message and hearing more, even though he didn't consider himself a believer. He was really intrigued by the idea that he could find out for sure whether or not God exists. So we took him to KFC after maybe 5 minutes of talking on the street and taught him about prayer and how he could ask God if He's really there. Then we invited him to church with us--AND HE REALLY CAME!! Woo! Great, right?

Except. We'd only talked with him about prayer and about God, and maybe a little about God's plan. So when people stood up and bore their testimonies in church about living prophets and the priesthood and temples and (this one came up a lot) how important it was that this is the ONLY TRUE CHURCH, I started to sink in my chair with worries about the poor kid next to me. We sounded like a cult, I just knew it. He was going to be scared and leave and never want to speak with us again.
But he decided to stay.

Sunday school (the Gospel Principles class doesn't exist in this branch--big bummer) was about the stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah. Way over his head. But he stayed for priesthood. Which was about the talk by President Uchtdorf--pride and the priesthood or something like that. AHHH!

But the crazy thing is that, while he was really curious and it was completely new for him, he didn't cower away. He said he could tell that these people were really good people, and he set up to meet again with us on Tuesday. And I realized that God will do whatever is necessary for people--he'll inspire others to say the right thing when I can't control them. He does what it takes when I do what it takes. Cool, huh?

4. God has a sense of humor. A few days ago Sister Laws and I were looking through a list of gospel terms in Czech. We laughed over a few of them and said things like, "yeah right, like I'm ever going to say something like Born in the Covenant here on my mission, hahahaa". But sure enough, a few days later we had a lesson with an investigator, Marek. The CR's oldest member (he joined during Communism!) came in and asked if he could join us. We invited him to share his experience with baptism, as that's what we were talking about, and somehow he starts talking about temple ordinances and, sure enough, the term Born in the Covenant comes out of his mouth!! What the--?! Sometimes I'm amazed by these members here...in both good and bad ways. Luckily our investigator wasn't the type to get too weirded out. But man oh man, I bet God laughed at us then.

Those are probably the highlights. It's been pretty cold this week, but today's not so bad. Sounds like it's pretty bad there too--Chris and Corey, if you die I probably won't be able to come home for the funeral, so please wait until next Christmas, okay? :) Kidding. For Christmas we get three whole days off! I can't even imagine what we'll do with so much time. And one day we'll have a big mission conference/talent show and rumor has it that a General Authority is coming. Weeeee! I'll keep you updated.

I love you all lots! Start looking for something from me in the mail soon!

S laskou

Sestra Dean

November 29th, 2010

Hot dang, I have the best family in the wooooooooooorld.\

This week has been much better. Well, I guess it's only been 4 days since I last emailed you...but it's been good still. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Czech food (mushroom spaghetti?! i suppose that's just a czech twist on italian food... it was actually really good) and Elder Blair's apple pie. I'm not gonna lie, I was missing my dear friends from the sweet potato family, but it was definitely enough. We also had a rousing game of football--it's interesting playing football as a sister missionary with elder missionaries...Sister Laws kept asking me if two-handed touching is in the white handbook. Haha.

Petr dva (2) is an interesting fellow. I think he's golden potential, but we're hitting a little bit of a rocky spot. I forgot to mention that last week he prayed for the first time with us--but not after a lot of encouragement and me saying a prayer first. Looking back, I can't decide how sincere the prayer was. At the time I definitely thought it was, but he hasn't prayed since because he says he's not sure that God really exists. He says he needs to believe in him before he prays about it, rather than praying to see if it really works. We spent a while talking about prayer with him and what it is, etc, but I think we're going to keep teaching him other things and see if his desire to know increases. The funny thing is, he says he really wants to know--that he really has that desire to find out whether or not God's there. He just wants to take things slow. But I feel like taking things slow just makes one's fears bigger and prolongs potential happiness. It's not like we want him to jump in the baptismal font or anything--we just want him to try a prayer or two, ask a simple question--"Boze, jsi tam?"
There was a baptism we invited him to on Saturday, but he'd already planned to come to church on Sunday and didn't want too much too soon. I prayed really hard about him the night before the baptism, after our meeting, seeking guidance. I felt that if we could get him to the baptism he'd feel the spirit there and things would improve for him. I devised a plan to make him cookies and stop by on our way to give him one last chance to come. I really felt good about the idea...but he wasn't even home. No dice. Isn't it interesting, learning to follow the spirit? Liba (I hope you remember her!) is getting baptised on Dec. 5th (happy little birthday present, right?!) in Brno--I'm wondering if we could get him there with us. It's a 2-hour trip each way, but maybe he'd enjoy it.

But we did bring another investigator with us--Olga. She's a new investigator--single, 35 year-old mom w/ 3 kids. She's Catholic, but met the missionaries last summer and planned to meet with them and ended up losing their phone number. We've taught her twice already. Can I just say that the Primary room is a beautiful thing?? She brought her sons to both lessons, so we taught her there and let him play with things during the lesson. I'm not exactly sure how much she got out of the lesson, but she sure got a lot out of seeing how comfortable he felt there.

The baptism was interesting. I can sympathise w/ Bek's email about the baptism, because that's just how it is here too. It's mostly missionaries that come, a few investigators maybe, and a few members who are feeling really benevolent. We all met together and caught a bus to take us 30 minutes to some swimming pool that you can rent out. Then, we waited for another half hour outside because the people who'd booked it before us weren't quite finished yet. Inside there was a little bit of chaos, but hey--the man covenanted and began a new life and that's the beautiful part. She really liked the feeling there, despite how small and informal it probably seemed. Afterwards the man, Max--a refugee from Russia who speaks perfect English and is hilarious--bore his "testimony", which was mostly condemning the Elders who served in Yekaterinsburg Russia 5 years back (holler Briegle!!) because they only contacted young women, even though he had sincere interest in the Church, and condemning the Catholic church because he thinks they do everything incorrectly. Luckily the Elder who translated it into Czech used a gentler interpretation. Afterwards Max came up to me--"Was my testimony okay? Do you think President Monson would have liked it? I thought so--he really likes stories and such, so I thought he'd approve of it." Haha!

Sunday, both Petr and Lumir (the less-active man) came to church. Petr said he enjoyed the meeting, but left after the first hour, saying that there was a lot in his head and that we couldn't come visit him that night because there was a lot for him to think about, but maybe next week. I'm not so sure what that means, but we'll deal with that on Friday, I suppose. Lumir stayed for all 3 hours. When we arrived, he was sitting all alone in the back corner, somewhat disdainful, so I sat next to him. During sacrament, he turned to me and said--"Have you ever thought about how, since this is supposed to be the body of Christ, we've probably eaten him up several times over again already?" He's a really funny guy. I think Sunday School was really good for him--all about having the gospel written on your heart. But NO ONE SAT NEXT TO HIM DURING PRIESTHOOD!!! ASHKDFALJ;LAWKEJF;LKASFD! WHO ARE WE AS CHURCH MEMBERS?! I mean REALLY, people! There were people he knew there--his HOME TEACHER who is also the ward mission leader didn't even sit by him. After church I went up to his home teacher and mentioned that Lumir could really use his help now. I don't think he liked that all too much. But Lumir booked it after that and I barely got to say goodbye to the poor fellow. Yes, he needs to get over himself. But it'd help him if a few people were there to hold his hand as he did. There's a very sick lady in the ward who has a burning testimony but can't make it to church--we're taking him to visit her with us on Friday, hoping that he'll lose himself as he thinks of others. He wasn't super keen on the idea, but we didn't really give him much choice. He's the type that resists but is also secretly flattered that we want him there.

So that's most of that. We meet with Pavel on Wednesday. Who knows what that'll bring. We have plans to talk with 5 or 6 people about baptism this week--pray for us!

Danielle--your letter is still...a work in process, being carefully crafted in my thoughts. Don't be mad. Today we've set aside time to write letters and yours will be first.

Also, an investigator from Jicin (where sister laws served before) is in love with her. He told a member there yesterday. Haha! She is just too beautiful for her own good! She is also an accounting major, with maybe a semester left, and always points out big 5 firms when we see them--I think we've seen 4 of the big 5 here in ostrava. Maybe she'll come back and be an accountant in the CR--who knows? She's really great though.

I think Petr would really like the DVD--he has a laptop, so he'd be able to watch it on there. Go for it, I say. He is moving to Canada officially on March 1st (shout out to Gar Beecher--what a good day, right?), and he will be staying there for a year...which means that we are going to be taking a family trip to see him once I get home and then you can take a good look at him. Weeeee!

But that's basically life. It's REALLY snowing now--REALLY! Don't worry, I have a nice down coat, boots, scarves, gloves, hat--I'm surprised at how I dressed at home when it snowed, looking back. I was an idiot! You can never have too much clothing on when it's snowing out. Beks, sweat a lot of me on that bike, PLEASE.

Thanks for the report on HP. I'm already looking forward to it. Action-packed, magic-packed, sounds like my style.

I love you SO SO much! I will let you know about calls asap!

cau!

s. dean

I'mgratefulforemailsI'mgratefulforlettersI'mgratefulforpackages. (November 25th, 2010)

My Dear Dear Family,

Wooo! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! You have no idea how much longer a week and a half is than a normal week between p-days! It was SO GOOD to hear from you! ALL of you!

Today we are in Olomouc to feast and football and be Americans in the heart of Europe together as a zone. Awesome. For some reason today I keep remembering last Thanksgiving and everyone gathered around watching the BYU game...let me know how it goes, I guess. :)

Last week was a pretty rough week, I'm not going to lie. Probably the toughest of my mission thus far--but I've had it pretty easy as a missionary, so I think it's mild compared to some. S. Laws and I had a lot of high expectations as the week began, but one thing after another fell through. For example, Linh had some family problems and left to go to Prague with his uncle and just barely contacted us yesterday, despite our attempted calls and texts. He doesn't really want to divulge much information, but he should be coming back next week. He was supposed to get baptised in 2 days...if someone could teach him all the commandments and take him to church 2 more times in the next 2 days down there in Prague that'd be a great help. Velka skoda!

Then, on Wednesday the CR celebrated the day they got their independence. We had the entire day lined up with meetings--the ENTIRE day--and EVERY SINGLE PERSON cancelled on us...or didn't show up at all. So we ended up having a long day of contacting and tracting. We tracted one huge building and no one even wanted to get past 'hello' with us. Once we had gone through 50 doors or so we realized why--we met some Jehova's Witnesses who lived there and told us that they go around knocking on doors and talking to people often in that very same building. AHHH! A lot of people here get us confused with JWs--and there are a lot of negative feelings towards them, largely because they don't believe in blood transfusions and this really seems to bother Czechs, among other things.

And to top it off--I locked both the keys and the phone inside our apartment as we were about to go out tracting some more. Leave it to me to do something like that. Our neighbors were really nice and helpful, but it ended up taking the entire rest of the night.

Then, on Friday we had a meeting with Petr! Woo! We love all Petrs!! We brought Bro. Huska with us from the branch. The lesson started out really great and spiritual. Bro H kind of talked his brains out, but he said some really great things that Petr needed to hear, I think. We ended the meeting by inviting him to come to church with us. Petr paused for a second, considering it, and Bro H. jumped in with "Well we really don't want to rush you or anything you could wait and come next week if you want and you don't have to stay for all three hours you can just come to the first one and really whatever it's up to you we don't want you to feel like it's too fast..." and on and on and I think it kind of scared Petr because he decided that, yes, it probably was too fast--even though he'd been about to agree the second before. So that was a big bummer too--after a week that seemed like a long series of rejections, it seemed like the final straw and Sister Laws and I ended up in a big heap of tears and humility on the floor in our apartment.
But good news: he is coming with us this Sunday.

And this week has been much much better.

One reason: Meet Pavel.
-20 years old
-studies geography and crisis management at the university--wants to spend his life doing humanitarian aid
-comes from a Catholic family
-likes scouts and camping, etc.
-not bad looking at all and can grow a fair bit of facial hair in 2 weeks
-a little quiet at first, but opens up as the conversation goes
I may have mentioned him before--we had a lesson with him 2 weeks ago, but he was one of the Wednesday cancellations last week. We gave him a BOM last time we met with him. This time we showed the Joseph Smith movie to him and brought along a member, Tomas, who was baptized 1.5 years ago and taught by the beloved Sister Austin (my MTC teacher). He's 19. When we asked him if he'd read in the Book of Mormon he told us that he'd started at the beginning, but it was kind of hard to understand, so he skipped to 3 Nephi and read about Christ coming. !! This is a big deal! Normally when people don't understand they just stop reading. He said he really liked the idea of Christ visiting the people in America too--it made a lot of sense to him.

Then we watched the video. We talked about living prophets. We asked him what he would want to know if he were given the opportunity to have a 20 minute meeting with God. He said he'd ask which church was true, why he was here on earth, what he should do in life. I KNOW! This kid is GOLDEN! So he said he'd pray about Joseph Smith and about everything and keep reading in the Book of Mormon and we have another meeting with him next week. The feeling was so great and overpowering as we talked with him--he's really sincere and looking for this! AAHHHH! This is what I love about being a missionary! So please pray for him. Okay, thanks.

Another reason: we met a less active man on Monday named Lumir. He's 36 and hasn't been to church in over 2 years but has been coming less often for far longer than that. He was really funny--he could have talked forever!--but also really lonely. I think he stopped coming because he didn't feel he belonged--at least that's the feeling I got because he kept talking about how everyone was so serious and boring at church and he felt like everyone just sat there and listened and believed whatever they heard. That is definitely not our branch. We invited him to come to church with us and he's still considering it--I was surprised at how interested he seemed in coming back with us, but he made it clear that, IF he did come it would be because he wanted to come, not because he felt bad for not coming in so long. He also told us that he doesn't drink coffee because he doesn't like the taste, not because it's forbidden--but I could tell there were still embers of a testimony inside him that had once been aflame. As we left he told me to tell the former branch president that he stopped coming because he didn't want to listen to those people talk anymore, not because he didn't want to be a member.

I couldn't help but thinking how different things could be for him if he'd had a dedicated home teacher. People just need to feel loved. I see a lot of good in him. Here in Ostrava there are officially about 150 members, but only about 30 come to church. In one quarter last year only 6% of the people did their home teaching. A correlation? I think so... People need to just take care of each other! We NEED each other!!

And other people that I will report on in future accounts. (I.e. an investigator that the elders were teaching but asked us to teach instead--she's 23 and lives really close to us. She already has said she wants to be baptised, but she works every Sunday...serving beer in a bar with her mom. Misha. It'll be interesting, that's for sure.)

Other thoughts:

Grandpa/Grandma can email me if they choose, but I will have to write them back. But sometimes I don't have a ton of time to read everything, so probably a normal letter would be better.

Big box will be fine. We'll probably be on a train or something, so I won't have to carry it much. Hearing about the size and weight makes me think about what could be in it far more than I should. :) I love you mom.

Also: the knighting pictures. So, even though everyone in the CR speaks Czech, it's easy to tell differences between the ways people speak in different areas of the country. In Brno, people are notorious for using a lot of slang that they don't use in other areas of the country (although I've heard some of it here in Ostrava too). There's a woman in the Branch who takes the missionaries up to Spilberk fortress once every transfer and quizzes them on their Brno slang--if you pass you are then knighted a Brnak/Brniacka. So I passed, and therefore was knighted--my first step towards taking the city by storm.

BEKAH!!!! AHHH! I can't believe you're actually in the country! I LOVED seeing your picture--YOU as a real missionary! Sometimes when I explain missionary work to people we contact on the street I tell people about you going to Taiwan and learning Chinese and people are all astounded. Don't worry, after the first few weeks things go by faster...before you know it the transfer will be basically over. Hold on to each moment--don't worry so much about what will happen next, but make each moment count as you live it. For reals. I just LOVE you! I am greatly anticipating your letter with more deets.

Gayann--OH MY! Can I just say, you are AWESOME?! I already got the package and you have no idea how much I needed to feel some love at the time--it was right on cue. Thank you thank you thank you--be expecting a letter from me in the mail around Christmas. :)

I keep seeing signs for the new HP movie--any good? Not that my mind's in babylon or anything....

Family, I just LOVE you! You're just so good to me and just plain good in general! I want to hear some news soon about a new baby in the family or something exciting like that...what are Chris and Corey even doing over there?? Sometimes it seems so foreign hearing about other lives--why don't you spend more time talking to strangers? Isn't that what everyone does?

I'm so so so grateful for you! I'm grateful for the truths that I've grown up learning my entire life--that I know without at doubt that God exists, that He knows me personally and cares for me, that He is involved in my life, and that I can choose who I want to be. Isn't that beautiful?

Let's tell everyone about it, okay? Okay.

Lurve,

Sestra Dean

November 15th, 2010

Familyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!

Just so you know, this email may be a tad shorter than my previous emails...I'm trying to type on a Czech keyboard instead of an English one, which basically just means that the z and the y are switched around, as well as all of the symbols. Usually you can click a button on the computer to switch them around, but I can't seem to find it. I'm getting the hang of it, but I still can't manage to find the at symbol....

Waaaah! We're already half way through November!! It's so crazy--my missions basically over!

Okay, that was a joke. But really, it goes by so quickly! So I have some things to say to you, family (/friends/strangers who've happened to stumble across this on the internet)

-Mam vas tolik rada. (See if you can google translate it)

-"Binkyheads" is a term of endearment that my dear trainer Sestra Beely used and commanded me to use it as much as possible so that it could multiply and grow and fill the whole earth. So pass it on.

-I got a text from president concerning the whereabouts of the mysterious package. It said something along the lines of, "Your parcel came and it's huge!" (yes, parcel--hes British, remember? My entire mission is like one long BBC movie)

-I would send Petr a hand written something and a picture or something... if you send the typical family letter probably just explain in the handwritten part that its something you send out every year to family and friends...I don't think that's really a tradition here in the CR. You could send him a gift too, if you like, but nothing big (he wouldn't like it), and nothing sweet (also wouldn't like that). Make sure you include some sort of testimony in the letter or something--he really likes hearing stories from people that help build his faith.

-We stumbled upon a miracle tracting this week! Really! I've been tracting 3 times so far on my mission and two of the three have been miraculous. Earlier in the week we put some tracting on the back-up plan but didnt have enough time to actually do it...when we planned on it, however, we pulled out a map of Ostrava and looked at it. I couldn't stop looking at this one area close to our house--it just seemed to stand out to me. So we put that street--Gen. Sochova--on the plan. Never happened. But naturally, when we wanted to go tracting again (p.s. it gets dark here around 4 or so...bummer, huh? hence, tracting will be a big deal) we thought to go there first. So there we went. ¨

Tracting here involves giant apartment buildings with tiny living quarters, which means there are often a lot of people. These ones weren;t enormous, (I've seen some with 9 floors and maybe 12 across...yeah, that's communism for you). Another part of it involves buzzing various apartments and asking them to open the doors for you. In this case, however, instead of conveniently pushing a small button by the intercom in their room, the people had to come all the way down and unlock the door to let you in. So, chances of getting in aren't looking so good, right?

First apartment--an older man let us in right away. Great. Began to talk to us about God. Awesome. Continued talking at us about God for about 45 minutes. Talked about the war for another 10 and then about how Americans don't really have their own culture for 5 more. The whole while (or at least the second half of it) we were trying to slip away so we could go talk to people. Finally we got out of there and just moved on to the next building so he couldn't have another reason to keep talking at us.

Next apartment building: no luck. No one wanted to let us in. People at the top yelled at us to ask someone closer to the bottom and people at the botton yelled at us to mind our own business.

Next apartment building: the first lady let us in, but told us she didn't want to hear any of it. It's amazing to me that people want to let us in when they aren't interested in our message. What a good woman. Gave one man a Book of Mormon who was interested in reading it, but then gave us the, "don't call me, I'll call you" line.

Finally we knock on the door of a man named Petr. (Oh how I love that name!!) He is about 30 or so, single, loves to travel, and is kind of quiet. He told us he was an atheist. We said we brought a message of happiness--of how God exists and that He has a plan for us and that plan is one of happiness. We showed him this film on our phone called Finding Happiness--it's something really great, this video, let me tell you. AFter that he asked us in and we taught him the entire plan of Salvation. The spirit was SO strong--I don't think I've felt it so strong during a lesson as I did with him.

We came back yesterday and taught him again and have another lesson with him this week. He says he's not completely convinced, but he's willing to try praying and to read in the BOM. I tell you people, this guy is golden! I can just tell by the way he just listens as we teach, he doesn't try to fight it. He's not a push over at all, just humble enough to hear us out. I'll keep you posted on this guy.

-Last story: found a guy named Marek who's even more of a hippie than Petr. More of a reallyintouchwithhisfeelings sort of guy. Anyways, to make a long story short, we taught him how to pray at the end of our lesson and Sister Laws prayed for us...but when the prayer was supposed to be over he just kept his eyes closed for at least 10 more minutes. At first I thought he'd fallen asleep! But no, just praying. Haha...I had to try so hard not to laugh while he was having this really spiritual experience. So we just watched him sit there for 10 whole minutes, wondering when he was going to come back to us...haha, missionary life is the greatest!

I must jet, but I love you all so, so much! Don't forget how important all this stuff is! Thanks for your prayers!

Sestra Dean

P.S. Bekahhhhh--what the?! You're leaving!! Ahhh.....go get em girl!

Petr Bandik's Baptism Pics - October 16th, 2010 (See October 18th Post, "Chubby Mush")

Daddy Long Legs Part I

Cauky, family!

I´ve made it to Ostrava--the cold, daunting North...actually it´s not so bad. I think I could really love this place--if only there were more people out! We arrived on Friday and have jumped right into the work, calling all the old investigators and setting up appointments. Itś already been an interesting experience, trying to get in touch with the investigators/potential investigators of the old Elders. One potential investigator that I called (they´d only talked to her once before) told me that her phone number was never intended for us and that she´d never meet with us. It was pretty funny. But for the most part people are pretty willing to set up something. We´ve already met with a guy whoś planning to be baptized on Nov 27th. Heś from Vietnam but speaks both broken Czech and broken English, so we make do with what we can. Heś 22, studying engineering here in Ostrava and his name is Linh. Weŕe not exactly sure if he'll be ready for a baptism that soon, but I hope so. He has a good heart and is eager to be baptized...but he also asked us during our meeting if the Bible and Book of the Mormon were the same thing. So he still has a little bit to learn.

Last time you mentioned that you didnt know what I did on a daily basis. So here is an average day in the life of Sestra Dean:

0615 wake up. run our little brains out. feel awesome because the beds we sleep on here are so so so comfortable. and there are fans.
0700 be girly and primp and stuff so that when we bat our eyes on the streets people will want to stop and talk to us...that's a lie, actually. and we eat.
0800 personal study. I've been re-reading the BOM this transfer, paying special attention to the promises that the Lord gives us. Its pretty neat--He really loves us, in case you didn't know.
0900 companionship study. we plan for meetings we have and practice things in Czech that we might have to use that day.
1000 language study. You keep asking about how the language is coming...I won't lie, I think I've been blessed with more of a knack for it than others in the mission. I really love learning it! It's so much fun. On Sunday, President Irwin and his wife came to our branch in Ostrava and I had to translate for her during Relief Society! Jejda--little ol me, just barely in her second transfer! It was pretty intimidating, but I managed well enough and just kind of made up the rest of the stuff that I didn't get into something that sounded spiritually uplifting and relevant. My lesson for Sister Irwin was probably better than the real thing anyway. (Just kidding). I only did that like once...or maybe twice. But I got more out of that lesson than I have in any other lesson since Ive been in the Czech Republic. Watch out Beks, this could be you in a few months.
1100 eat something delicious, probably
1130ish leave...it takes about 30 or 45 minutes to get to the center of town from where we live, which means we have 30 or 45 minutes to talk to people on the tram as we ride. I'm starting to get a bit better at this (I have to!). Usually I just start off by asking someone if I can practice my Czech with them and they inevitably ask me what in the world I'm doing in Ostrava and that's when I bring in the gospel. It's still a work in progress--sometimes it's hard to be bold in tram contacts, so I'm working on that a little more.
1200 from here on out we have various meetings and--dun dun dunnn!--CONTACTING! Im really getting to love contacting, although its been a little disappointing here in Ostrava thus far. It's interesting--while in America everyone is home for the weekends, here in the CR everyone leaves and goes to some mysterious cottage for the weekend. In Brno, which was twice the size of Ostrava, we always managed to find someone to talk to...here it's a little bit harder. I've already seen a lot more people out and about today, and it's afternoon and rainy, so I think that's a good sign. And we do that sort of missionary stuff until about 8:30, when we head back home and plan for the next day and loaf around in our underwear and stuff.

Also--PETR BLESSED THE SACRAMENT ON SUNDAY!!!! WEEEE!!! Apparently it was "quite nice", as he put it afterwards. I told him that you want to send him a Christmas card in the mail and he was really flattered by the idea and wants to send you something too. I gave him your address, but now the pressure is on--if you don't send him one he'll be really disappointed...
Petr Bandik
Šmejkalova 130
BRNO Žabovřesky, 616 00
Czech Republic

Also...you may wonder about the subject line. So our district leader here, Elder Doxy, is a little bit of a stiff. A really really good missionary, but rarely cracks a smile. So mine and Sister Laws (I LOOOOVE her!) is to help him loosen up a little bit this transfer...here him tell a joke or something. Unfortunately, I may have jumped the gun a little bit....
The building we attend church in has a men's and women's bathroom, like everywhere else. However, the men's only contains urinals, so if a man needs a little more relief, he must go in the women's. I'd heard about this, but kind of forgot about it once I arrived here....and sure enough, after our weekly district language study, I charged mindlessly into the women's restroom and opened the second stall door (I don't know why, but I ALWAYS go to the second stall...I'd never noticed it before my mission.. I don't think I do it on purpose) and there was Elder Doxey, sitting on the pot. I SAW HIS BARE LEGS. Gross. But don't worry, that was all. Boys are so weird...why don't they think to lock the door when they take their pants off?? This happened after the ward Halloween party in Brno too, when the Elders were changing out of their costumes too...but I only saw their garments. Elders are gross.

ahhhh I have to go, I love love love you and don't worry I bought a warmer coat and I'll let you know if I hear about the package and bye!!

s. dean (your fav daughter...and I'm writing danielle today)

I Don't Play X-Box

Hi binkyheads! How are you? I hope that means good.

This week has been full of surprises--really. I have a feeling that the mission is about to completely change for Sister Laws and I. There's so much to tell you that I made myself a list! Here we go:

1. Sister Laws and I are moving to Ostrava. Remember that man that I told you about a while ago--I contacted him on the namesti (town square) with E. Bailey and he came to conference and afterwards said he wanted to quit smoking? Well, he's turned out to be a bit of a weirdie. He is at least 50 and always wears this women's coat with fur around the hood. He speaks a little English, but acts really different--like he's always a little bit drunk or he's had some brain damage or something. Apparently he's taken a fancy to me. The weird part is, there's never much of a problem when I'm around--he merely wants to talk to me and maybe shake my hand a little longer than necessary. Once he gave me a book in Czech with funny sayings about what women think of men. I didn't understand much of the little bit that I've read. His ambition to quit smoking has also been a dismal failure--he says that the devil puts cigarettes in his mouth and makes him smoke them. In the past few weeks his obsession has seemed to increase. He comes to the building unexpectedly and asks for me. Of course no one ever tells him where I am. I'm lucky to have some Elders here with me who are a little on the protective side. On Friday, President Irwin came to interview a few of the missionaries he hadn't spoken with in a while. When he came Vladislav was here. He asked him where I was and told President that he hasn't been able to sleep or eat since he met me. He's not really dangerous, just crazy, it seems.

So we're moving to Ostrava--maybe one of the ugliest cities in the CR. It's way up north and among the coldest in the country. Apparently some binkyhead decided to put a big stinky smokey factory right in the middle of the town. They also talk a lot faster there. We are switching areas with a set of Elders that are currently there (one of them is E. Betts, who was in the MTC with me), which means S. Laws and I will be "blinding in"--i.e. neither of us will know our investigators or the area or really anything at all. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit intimidated by the whole thing. Especially the fact that people speak so much faster up there--I feel like I'm just getting comfortable understanding people here. I don't really want to be a greenie all over again! The more I hear about where we're going, the more I feel like I could be in that BBC movie North & South (shout out to all DeMordaunt women). We're leaving the nice, friendly, beautiful, peaceful college city of Brno and going to a city all about industry, where people talk differently and are always hurrying and everything is ugly. Perhaps I will make friends with some factory workers, one of which who will start a revolution against the overseers while his daughter is slowly dying because of poor labor conditions!

In spite of all the seemingly gloomy things about the change, I'm staying optimistic. I can't help but get a little excited when there are bends in the road like this--it makes me feel like the Lord really is in charge of where I go and what I do and that He has a specific plan for me, not only in life, but also as a missionary. It's going to be hard--Ostrava hasn't seen a baptism since February--but I know that the Big Guy upstairs knows what He's doing. And I know that if there was anyone I could do this with, it's Sister Laws. She is fantastic. But more on her next time, time is running short.

2) Petr gave a talk in church on Sunday AND received the priestood of A! I KNOW! Seriously, you should send him a Christmas card. I will tell him about all your prayers--keep 'em coming, he needs them. I'm not sure how he'll feel about us leaving--he really likes the Sister missionaries. And we really like him. He's going to become a legend someday, seriously! BUTTT his dad lives in Ostrava--hopefully we can teach him there!

3. Viktor is a little MIA at the moment. His brother is a Jehovah's Witness--I hope that's not influencing his desire to meet with us. But it's not over--I'll keep you posted.

4. Liba's doing really well (another sad thing about leaving). She's finally reading on her own and we just taught her about tithing, which she said she'd keep.

5. Met two amazing people contacting yesterday. One is from Ghana and the other is Czech. We were able to set up appointments with both of them. The Czech one, Vojta, was a little reluctant at first. But there just came a point where I had to whip out the big guns--I just told him flat out, "YOU NEED THIS BOOK. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE." And now he's meeting w/ us on Thursday.

6. The food here is pretty good. Basically everything fried. More on this next time, I have 30 seconds.

I looooooooooove you! Pray for us!

s.d.

Mine Is a World of Houby and Binkyfriends October 27th, 2010

Cauky Family!

Today I lost my mother. In the mission, I mean. A small part of me feels like I could be the little bird in that children's book {"Are You My Mother?"}, constantly searching for a new one. But it will be good. Sister Wheeler was amazing (or Beely, as I typically call her, in enthusiastic Liba fashion) and it was really neat to begin my mission while watching the end of a very successful one. It makes me think a lot about how I want my mission to end. That girl is a rock star. It was neat to see the lives that she touched in Brno (which is only one of four places she served in!)--we met with many of the most significant ones on Monday and Tuesday. Three of them were all young men who are also recent converts, including Petr. I couldn't help but laugh at the gifts they gave her--they were so characteristic of each of them! Tonda, ever the friendly pleaser, gave her chocolates. And boy were they good! (Tonda is also seriously considering serving a mission! Way to go Sister Austin, if you're reading this! We talked to him about that yesterday and he said he was 90% sure and has a meeting with the branch pres soon! Woo!) Pavel, the dramatic and somewhat emotional yet very eloquent 24-year-old who was baptized the weekend before I came to the Czech Republic, wrote a poem for her in English that ended with "you will always be in my brain" (because everyone knows that "brain" rhymes with "again"). And Petr, the incorrigible nature-boy that he is, gave her a fossil that he found on the beach, of a seashell. Hah! Isn't that all just so great? She was a good missionary because all these people knew that she really cared about them. I want to be a missionary like her.

My new compy-doo is Sister Laws, a soccer-playing chocolate addict who's been in the country for three transfers already, all of which have taken place in the little town of Jicin. We are staying in Brno this transfer, which is great because lots of great things are about to happen there, I can just feel it! I think Sister Laws and I will have a grand time together--and chances are, because Mr. Pres is really big on this now, we will be together in Brno for the next two transfers. But no one really knows.

Want to see a real miracle? Pray. Seriously. It really works. I've learned a lot about that this past week. Usually we pray just before we begin contacting people in the city. Twice this past week I've prayed specifically that we will find someone who will give us his phone number and want to meet with us again and IT WORKED BOTH TIMES! Seriously! And it's not like that happens with every person we contact--or even every 5th person we contact. The second man, a 24-year-old named Viktor from Ukraine, seemed really sincere in his interest. Afterwards, Beely said, "I think he's going to get baptized--really! He just seems so humble and interested in what we have to say..." Then we said a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for the opportunity to meet him. In it, Beely asked Heavenly Father to bless him that he will continue to have interest and eventually get baptized and as soon as she said that I just felt it--that he really would! It's so amazing--we can be led by the Spirit even in our prayers to know what sorts of blessings God is waiting to give us, if only we pay attention enough to know what to ask for. (You should go read about prayer in the Bible Dictionary. No NOW--really, it's THAT good.) We've met with Viktor and two Ukrainian members since then--they say he's pretty solid. It was a little difficult because we didn't understand much if any of what they said. But we trust these men. And he left with a commitment to read in the Book of Mormon. Hot dang, I love this work!

ALSO ALSO ALSO! We had a MISSION CONFERENCE on Saturday! Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Quorum of the Seventy came! That man is a spiritual beast, and he basically ripped out our souls, showed us the holes in them and shoved them back down our throats. (Wow, that was maybe a little too dramatic). He is a powerful speaker, for sure. In a good way--we all left knowing how we needed to improve and also feeling that it was in our power to improve. You should read his talk in the May 2009 conference Ensign again on faith--a lot of his talk to us was in there. He talked a lot about aligning ourselves with God's will. I realized that I came here with a specific idea of who I am...and it's been a little bit of a struggle maintaining that identity. But really, none of what I was matters now--I'm a disciple of Christ now, and that's all that matters for the time being. I took almost 10 pages of notes from his talk (it was 4 hours long!). Go read his talk. Now.

Petr's doing really well--he gave a talk at another baptism on Sunday and it was so good that they asked him to speak in church on Sunday! He's having a real hard time with Beely leaving though...I'm pretty sure he's in love with her. Rough.

Ahh, I must hurry and end thissss. But I LOVE you! Beks, I'm so glad you're catching the spirit of real missionary work--that's really what it's all about. It doesn't matter how well you speak the language as long as you work to improve and trust in the Lord. That's all.

Smelly- I LOVED your letter! I will write you back asaicgmhospoapd (as soon as i can get my hands on some paper on a p day). Courty and Beks, letters are coming for the both of you right now.

Gayann--Thanks so much for your email! I will keep the deets coming and write more about food on Monday, promise!

Maaa, I think that's all for a package. Of course, if you wanted to include a small thing of Adam's I wouldn't cry about it. I love you all SO SO much! Seriously, I have the best family ever!

--Sestra Dean

Sending Letters/Packages to Czech

To those of you who may want to send packages/letters to Ashley in Czech, please use the following address (if the church's name is not on the first line(s) as shown, she will not receive what you're sending):

Církev Ježíše Krista Svatých
Posledních Dnů
Sister Ashley Dean
Czech Prague Mission
Milady Horákové 85/95
170 00 Prague 7-Holešovice
Czech Republic – Europe

Packages/letters sent for Christmas should be mailed by late October.

Thanks for following her adventures . . .

--Gordon & Alice

Chubby Mush

Helaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (That means 'hey' in czech...it's really funny when little kids here say it.)

Sestnacteho Rijna Sestnacteho Rijna Sestnacteho Rijna Sestnacteho Rijna Sestnacteho Rijna Sestnacteho Rijna Sestnacteho Rijna--that phrase has been playing over and over in my head since my second day in Brno, when Beely (aka Sister Wheeler) first told me about Petr and I immediately knew... It means the 16th of October! AND IT REALLY HAPPENED! THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS HAS TWO BOMB NEW MEMBERS! WOOOOOOO!

In commemoration of this sacred day, here are 16 facts about Petr Bandik, the man who once shouted to the sky with clenched fists "it will be hard to change me!" This was back before I ever set foot in Brno.

1. He speaks Czech like a surfer would speak English or something. I can never understand him because he uses so much slang.

2. He plays a great goalie in football.

3. The day of his baptism he was a nervous wreck! Really, I've never seen him like that before.

4. He is one of the most even-keeled people I've ever met. Which makes #3 weird.

5. He came anyway. Because he is a man of his word. And a man of faith.

6. He looks a lot like his dad, who came to the baptism and seemed very pleased.

7. I still don't know whether or not he looks like his mom--she came but sat crying in the car the whole time.

8. His favorite food is beef and he hates sweet things. So he gives it all to us.

9. He also hates ties, but Elder Jones asked him if he wanted to wear one at the baptism and he decided to. Then he showed up wearing a tie for his confirmation the next day! The only tie he owns he got when he was 15. I don't know if we'll ever see him in one again.

10. As soon as the service began he felt much better.

11. After he was baptized he told the elder who baptized him, "I feel quite perfect."

12. #11 is funny because he always uses the word 'quite' when he speaks English. Nothing is 'good' or 'bad', it is only ever 'quite okay' or 'quite a funny' (yes, he always says 'quite A funny'--I never have the heart to correct him--it's like when Michelle used to say sunscreen and bikini for sour cream and zucchini, I don't really want him to fix it, it's too endearing)

13. When he was confirmed yesterday, by a British man in our branch who married a Czech woman, he was told that he had a work to do in the church and that trials would come soon, but if he read his scriptures and prayed every day his faith would always grow. And it counseled him to share the gospel with his family.

14. He loves reggae music and Bob Marley.

15. His dad picked up a younger girlfriend which tore his family apart a while ago and just recently his parents finally separated. For this reason, he LOVED his first time at church (this was also before I came to Brno), because they talked about the law of chastity in Sunday School. They basically had to drag him there, but afterwards he said he loved it and wanted to come every week.

16. He texted us last night asking about good scriptures on the Holy Ghost--how it feels and such, because he's awesome and studies his scriptures.

Anyways. I cannot describe how amazing it felt to see him baptized and confirmed--to know that real happiness in life is now available to him. AHH! I've realized that it's such a blessing to have an investigator that speaks English so well as a greenie--I would not have much of a relationship with him if he didn't, because I wouldn't be able to understand anything. I never realized before that missionaries really develop deep friendships with those they teach. It's so great!

Ghazi, the miracle man, got a job a little while ago and we've had a really hard time catching him because of it. We're still working on it, but he won't know enough to be baptized by Nov. 6th. We'll see and pray and work our hardest. That's all.

That's basically all. Another pretty typical week. We've found a few people who are really cool. One girl, Alena, is an artist, but also works at a chocolate bar, so we are going to visit her there today. Gotta love the Lord's work right? "Chubby mush" is Beely's nickname for her little brother. Haha. The girl's obsessed with mushrooms for some reason, and started calling him chubby mushroom, which was shortened to chubby mush later. What a funny girl!

More Christmas things: I know I keep adding to the list. Buuuuut I'm thinking that none of these things will be very expensive. 2 things here: any sort of smallish pictures of Jesus that I could give to investigators would be great. It's amazing how much that touches people here. Also: a new journal. Actually, you could just send two right now so you don't have to send one later. And if those two journals happened to be from Anthropologie that would bring some serious warmth to my heart.

One interesting thing: here it is really common to ask someone if they're a "believer". Isn't that funny? My first time I was a little weirded out by the idea of asking someone that, but here it's totally normal. I dare you to try asking someone in America if he/she is a believer. And then return and report, please.

I just received letters from both Courty and Bekahhhh--letters will be coming your way SOON, no worries!

As for the ------- family, just keep praying for them, being there for them, looking for opportunities to tell them what you know. That's all anybody can do.

Family, I seriously love you to itty bitty pieces. And now I must go because my stomach is eating itself.

S laskou,

Sestra Dean

P.S. I will post more pics next week, slibuju!

P.P.S. Next week is transfer week, which means that I won't be writing till Wednesday. So don't freak out.

October 11th, 2010

No nazdar!

Waaah, I can't even believe that about the person getting baptised after watching conference! That's fantastic! We just watched conference this past weekend--we get it a week later here to allow it to be translated in to czech. But we still watched it in English. There was a man there from Russia I'd never seen before...he's not a member, but apparently he's known the missionaries since 1997 and has come to the past four general conferences. I blows my mind how someone can love conference enough to see it FOUR CONSECUTIVE TIMES (all four sessions!) and still not understand that they need this! THEY NEED THIS! ASDLFKJ!! I told him that we could change his religious status very easily, but he quickly changed the subject after that.
But conference was fantastic! I sat right next to Petr for both of the Sunday sessions...it changed how I took in every word of it. (That could be because I could smell him the entire time...which is normal. People here just don't shower much...or ever. I hope I never smelled like that!) I loved how much they talked about baptism! It was perfect for him because he is getting baptised THIS SATURDAY! I am always amazed at the way all my questions are answered through conference. Lately I've been struggling with consecrating everything to the work--even my thoughts. It's an interesting experience, having a companion who's about to leave and who's worrying about 'otherworldly' things. I have barely begun my mission, yet the mentality is somewhat contageous. Don't get me wrong, Sister Wheeler is not trunky in the slightest--she's still a hard worker and focused. But there are things she has to think about. And her presence sometimes gets me thinking about the end instead of the now. But conference did a lot to help me with that--talking about gratitude (gotta love President Monson!) and consecrating life. We joked and told Petr that it was as exciting as Christmas, so he told us that meant yesterday was Boxing Day. Ha. And HIS PARENTS ARE COMING TO HIS BAPTISM! BOTH OF THEM! WEEEEEE! AND HIS GRANDMA CAN'T COME BECAUSE SHE HAS CANCER BUT SHE'S GOING TO MAKE CAKES FOR IT! AHHH! Now we just need him to invite his friends. :) Thanks for the advice Ma, but changing friends here is not really much of a possibility... There are a handful of people who are members, but none of them are his age. And besides, it's not that they're bad people, they just don't understand religion really. What he needs to do is share the gospel with them so they can be happy the way he isssssssssssss. Which I think he will. Because he's a borec (stud).
Man, life is gooooooooooood.
Also: Elder Bailey and I met a man on the namesti a few days ago who's sanity was somewhat questionable. We told him about the Book of Mormon and about conference. But he came to three different sessions! Right before the first session, he told me that he was CRAZY about cigarettes...but after the last session he told us that he wanted to quit smoking. Cool! Way to go Elder Ballard!
Furthermore: A man who's getting baptised this Saturday (we're actually down to 2 people...funny how that works. But most of them are just postponed for the time being), when asked who he wanted to baptise him, requested ME! Hahahahahaha...this response was quickly followed by another lesson on authority.
And: last week I accidentally told someone that I was writing in my umbrella (destnik) instead of my journal (denik) and I also addressed a man as a woman. I love learning Czech!
Additionally: this week is supposed to be the COLDEST winter the CR's seen in A THOUSAND YEARS! AGAHS! We do have warm socks here. I will buy a warm coat soon. But hand/feet warmers would be awesome. Also, don't bother with the ring then--I can't abide silver jewelry.
I heard that David Archuleta's singing with Motab for Christmas. I know you're all over that already.
Family, I just love you so dang much! Danielle and Michelle, you can WRITE ME, if you want. No pressure. Corey/Chris, I'll write you soon!

Tak jo, tak cau.

LOVE YOU! Really, I feel your prayers. Keep up with the great missionary work!

Sestra Dean

[Blog Readers: to watch General Conference (October 2010), go to lds.org and follow the conference links.]

October 4th, 2010

Ahojjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj!!

You will never guess what we did this morning... Sli jsme na houby!! --We went MUSHROOM HUNTING!! I KNOW! Czechs are just like little hobbits, it's great. And they all know their species of mushrooms... Especially Petr (he's the one who took us--he's the ultimate hippie, basically. Which is why we love him so much). I thought about Courtny a bit as we went, and how we bought those weird mushrooms at the farmers market in Boise, along with that plant viel--the baby ferns. Unfortunately, because it's getting cold, we only found poisonous mushrooms, so we couldn't eat any of them. But some of them looked EXACTLY like the mushrooms in Super Mario Bros. I mean really. It was weird. I guess it makes sense that they modeled the video games after things that were somewhat real...but I'd never really envisioned it before. Petr told us that all mushrooms are edible--but the ones that we saw were the kind of mushrooms you can only eat once.

Speak of Petr, he's doing GREAT. We talked with him last week about missionary work and asked him about telling his family and friends about his baptism. Initially, he was completely against it--"No way!" he told us. He even said it in English. But he's slowly been breaking down...Saturday night, apparently he couldn't sleep at all because he had a dream that he told his family and friends and that they all came to his baptism. So early Sunday morning he called his mom and told her. She wasn't too happy about it--he doesn't really understand because she's also the one who didn't like it when he was younger and got into a lot of trouble. I think she may warm up to the idea though. He talked to his dad too, who said he'd come. Weeeeeeeee! Seriously, this man is stellar. I'm kind of obsessing over him and how great he is.

Liba is doing okaaay, but not quite as well...we taught her the Word of Wisdom this week. I was nervous about this because nearly every time we've come she's told us how much she LOVES coffee. Initially she protested, but finally she said, "Okay, if you say so, Beely (remember, that's what she calls Sister Wheeler...apparently she called Sister Reese, who was here before me, Sally. Go figure), I believe that it's from God." And she agreed not to drink coffee any more. We brought her Caro to drink instead. The next day she drank coffee once, but we've talked to her about it and she's done better since. We're a little worried about her testimony...she's very childlike, so we're teaching her simply, but we really want her to have a testimony when she's baptized, instead of just baptizing her because we can. We've talked about pushing her date back some...we'll see. I tried to take a picture with her, but she said we needed to wait until we could get her cats in the picture, so maybe next week. :) Yesterday we visited her husband in the hospital with her. It all makes sense now. He's also very simple-minded, but less talkative. She just brings him tons of food and talks to him while he silently chews. It's a beautiful marriage. :)

So I need to tell you about a miracle, quickly, because we're running out of time. About a month ago, an Elder and I contacted a man from Tunesia. He's Muslim and his name is Ghazi. We talked with him about the BOM. I kind of figured he wouldn't be interested because Muslims tend to be wary of other books and the idea of other prophets since Muhammed, but he actually said if we could bring him the book in French he'd read it! Okay. So we did, maybe 2 days later. Unfortunately, though, he was going home to Tunesia for a while, so we wouldn't be able to meet with him until October. And he didn't have a Czech phone number, so we just planned to meet with him on Oct 1st. That day came about on Friday. With no way to contact him and remind him, we weren't so sure it'd happen. But he called US! So we met with him--he read the Book of Mormon TWICE since we gave it to him! He was worried about the things that God's forbidden us to do--especially because he's done a lot of them (he has a 4 month old daughter...and the woman has fled the country). He said he didn't want to do those things any more, that he knew it was a very good book, and that he wished there were a way for him to start over fresh. What do you know, THERE IS! So we told him about baptism and showed him a picture and he said, "Where can I go to get that done?" Here, in Brno! "When?" How about November 6th? "Okay." SO HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!! WOOOO! And he seemed so sincere and humble...it's interesting how the most humble people are the ones with the roughest lives. Anyway, it's cool.

Also: any appropriate music will do. And HAND WARMERS! AND FEET WARMERS! AND ANYTHING FOR WARMTH--IT IS GETTING COOOOOLD HERE! They don't sell hand warmers. The easiest way to send money would be just to put it into my account. And you can also get me a CTR ring in czech for Christmas if you'd really like to... ZS is it in Czech. A gold one maybe. With white on the inside of the shield. If that's even possible.

And yes, E. Meiling's been in the CR for 2 weeks now. I just saw him last week--he's hanging in there. He said he FINALLY got a letter from Danielle. His health has been miraculous.

And now I must go write the Pres.

LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOOOVE!

Sestra Dean

September 27th, 2010

HELLOOOOOOOOOOO RODINOO!

Here I am in the "cyber cafe" again, which means yet another week has come and gone. It's crazy how quickly the time flies already. I've been telling people all along that I still have about a year and a half in Czech Republic, but I just realized yesterday that I really have only have a year and 3 months! How does that happen?! In a mere few minutes 3 months of my life has already passed me by. Two days ago marked the halfway point in the transfer. My comp just got her flight plans today--EEK! Every week I write Prez and tell him that if he really wants to keep her here, I'd be okay with that. Maybe it'll work--you know how persuasive I can be. :)

This past week I've spent my days in Praha--the land of fairy tales and loud tourists. It's interesting--you never realize how quiet Czechs are on a tram/bus until there's someone from America/England on the bus too. Then the contrast is made quite clear. AAAAAND I had the GREATEST surprise only 15 minutes or so upon entering the church building in Praha. BROOKE LARSON was there. The Wookie! I KNOW! (She's the one I lived with in Jerusalem...she writes really well, wrote that book list you read once, Ma). She's been a Sister in Albania for the past year and a half and just returned while I was in the MTC, so I thought perhaps I'd never see her again. But here I am, hauling my buns around the obscurity of the CR, and lo and behold she appears from the dust like a...a...something. It was SO GOOD to see her! She's studying in Praha for a month so she can teach English in Barcelona. Woo! She's still the same old Brooke for sure (she had streaks of purple and blue in her hair), but the mission changed her some. Only in good ways. She just seemed very grounded and centered. Like she'd found her chi, if that were even a real thing. The Albania mission sounds like a trip, that's for sure. People from opposite sides of the country can't even understand one another--she didn't get a real grasp of the language until the very end. Yikes. I love the Czech Prague mission. She told me to give a special SHOUT OUT to Bekah boo in the MTC. She loves you. And I love you. I pray for you to have the gift of tongues every day, just FYI. I'll be writing you soon, whether or not I see a letter from you. :) Keep rocking it, Poop.

Sister Wheeler was training all week in Praha, so I was a makeshift companion with Sister Lier--Sister Wheeler's companion in the MTC. We did ourselves a bit of finding and challenged a total of 5 people to baptism. It was pretty neat. We found another man from Romania (they're everywhere here! If only I could remember!) and taught him the next day. At the end of our lesson, I prayed in some twisted hybrid of Romanian and Czech...he and God were probably the only ones that understood. It was fun being in Prague and seeing the other missionaries, but it's different talking to people that you know you'll never see again and setting up appointments for other missionaries to teach. And I got sick of eating out--seriously, EVERY MEAL. Ugh. Who wants KFC when you're in Europe? I need my veggies. So, in spite of the fact that I attended my first SINGING DISPLAY (= awesome! all the missionaries band together and sing hallelujahs in an overwhelming spectical of heavenly awe...really, people stop and listen), I was ready to come back.

And there were our investigators, waiting for us! We watched the long Joseph Smith movie that they show at temple square with Petr on Saturday. He's so cute--he had a hard time with how sad it was at the end. But he said he supposed it was good that he died because it showed how much it meant to him. He was supposed to spend the weekend in Nova Jicin (his hometown), but he came back early on Saturday to see us and to come to church. He seems to be growing more and more sure of the church all the time--or maybe just more used to it. On Sunday he went outside the building in between classes on what we like to call a 'ponder wander'--like how it always shows people thoughtfully ambling along as their testimonies grow in those old seminary videos...we may or may not watch old seminary videos during lunch here...I may or may not love that--afterwards he told me that's it's difficult for him...he doesn't fit in with all his old friends in Nova Jicin anymore (doesn't want to), but also doesn't quite fit in with the ward because he doesn't know as much and hasn't been baptized yet and there aren't any members in his same situation in life. He's moving to Canada in January, so I think things will improve for him when he can attend a strong singles ward, but it's definitely an adjustment for him. Keep him in your prayers.
Liba's also still Liba. We are going to teach her the Word of Wisdom on Wednesday. Last time we told talked about prophets and obedience and why it's important--she told us she's willing to do whatever they say...but I'm a little nervous because she's told us how much she loves coffee basically every time we visit...we're going to bring some Caro for her as a substitute. I hope it suffices. Aaaaaaaand we're going with her to visit her husband in the hospital! I wonder if he's as crazy as she is! (I hope he doesn't smell quite as bad...I love the woman, really I do, but sometimes I have difficulty breathing while I sit next to her in church. Old person + coffee + poor Czech hygiene is not exactly the most pleasant thing I've ever snorted.
But life here is very grand. I just LOVE being a missionary. The Lord really blesses us--when we want the blessings and show we're willing to act on them. Aren't promptings funny sometimes? Last night was freezing and we were walking home in the rain...we passed this woman and the thought came to me that we should talk to her. But it was raining and Sis Wheeler was booking it ahead of me. Finally, I asked her if we could just turn around and give her a card or something. So we did. But once it was in the lady's hands, she asked if we were a cult. No, I said, we're just a church. She grew all flustered and tried to give it back to me, but of course I didn't take it and it ended up on the ground, where we left it. Go figure.
But I know God leads us, that He labors with us in the vineyard. Isn't it grand?

I'm creating a Snapfish account to upload my pictures because I need more space on my card. That way you can look up all my pictures at once, instead of trying to email them back and forth.
go to snapfish.com
email: ashley.dean@myldsmail.net
password: deaner
You can upload pictures to it too if you want me to see them.

As far as Christmas goes, I would LOVE some music! I bought that Nearer CD for Chris and Corey last Christmas, but I think they left it at our house...if no one's listening to it, you could just send that on over. EFY music is allowed here, says Mr. Prez, but you know that I'm not huge on all of it. I would love the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. Or Christmas music or something else great. As long as it's instrumental and peaceful or about the Savior or something. Alsoooo....if you want to send a few sheets of scrapbooking paper so I can cover my little BOM, that would be great. They don't have much here. I'll probably need like 3 sheets of the same kind. I'm thinking maybe like an antique map sort of look? I don't know. Get me something classy, Ma. Granola/Adam's would be great. Other than that....they have H&M and Zara and Reserved here, so if you want to just send money, I could definitely find some satisfying things here. :)
There are some really cute manger scenes made of corn husks here Ma...let me know if you'd be interested in one--I'm uploading pictures on to Snapfish.

Aaaaand I think that's all. Tell President H that I haven't forgotten my promise, I'll send him pictures for sure. I love you all--keep up the great missionary work! Danielle, did you get my letter yet?? Also, when are Chris and Corey going to make me an aunt?!?! Everyone else here has nieces and nephews and I just really want to fit in with all the other missionaries. :)

Love love LOOOOOOOVE,

Sestra Dean