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