"Silly Romania Girls . . . " (January 31st, 2011)

Oh my little dears!

Can I just say that I love getting emails from you? (I also got one from Grandma and Grandpa Bellows today--I LOVE you! Thank you so much!) Even when you don't have so much to say. I'm so glad that you enjoyed North and South--that's the sort of stuff healing is made of. :) Thank you for the address. We actually just got the conference Ensign on Tuesday, so I don't need one any more. It's kind of neat to have it spread out so much, because I forgot a bit of what happened at conference. Now I can read it all over again and by the time I've soaked it all up, we'll be having another General Conference! I'm already excited for it! I forgot to answer your questions a few weeks ago: yes, that is Elder Meiling playing a song on the piano that he composed himself. Are you impressed, Danielle? :)

This week has been a little slow for us as well. Which was a bit surprising for me, since we had such a good week before. I can really see Satan trying to work his magic on the potential superstar, Michal Filip. He cancelled on us three times this week: one because of work, another because there was a miscommunication when we set up, and another because someone robbed him on the tram and he had to go to the police. So we didn't see him at all, although we talked to him a few times. Keep him in your prayers.

Martin, on the other hand, is absolutely fabulous. Most new members seem a little shy or uncertain at first--sometimes they have a hard time transitioning from an investigator to a full-fledged member because there's still so much to learn. For this reason, missionaries still meet with new members for a year or so after baptism. However, Martin seemed surprised when we still wanted to meet with him--"What for?" he asked, when we called him up last week. :) It's wonderful that he's transitioning so well--he's supporting some of the investigators way better than many of the old, solid members do. He's already thinking up how he can introduce us to his friend, Lukas. He received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. And third hour yesterday we were combined and had a "How to Work with the Missionaries" workshop in order to encourage people to get excited about teaching with us. One of the missionaries asked for ideas from the members as to how they could be involved in missionary work....Martin was the only one who brought up the idea of finding friends and family members who'd be interested. Ha! He's going to be a great missionary some day. Also: he's never tried peanut butter before. EVER. He was asking me the other day if it really is anything like butter. Ma, can you even imagine that?!

You would not believe how many people cancelled meetings on us this week. It was a little frustrating, I'm not going to lie. After Michal cancelled for the second time last week on Saturday, I found myself in our apartment trying to yell some sense into him from halfway across Ostrava. Luckily he didn't hear me. But the Lord has a way of lifting our spirits the way only the best of friends could. Afterwards we boarded the tram and began talking with people. Lately I've been trying to speak to more girls and young mothers (because they tend to be the most intimidating for me), so I began looking for these people. However, I sat down in a seat, prepared to talk to the woman sitting behind me, when I noticed an older man trying to get a peek at my nametag, which was turned just enough to make it difficult for him. Finally, I held it out to him. He read it at last and nodded, knowingly. So I got up and talked to him. His name was Oliver, a nice grandpa-ish Catholic man. He asked me a lot of questions about the differences between our beliefs and we also established that we had a lot in common. But it was wonderful--he wasn't disapproving at all, but really interested. And I found that I was given the words that I needed to say to him in a way that helped everything make sense to him. I told him about the Book of Mormon and he said that he'd be interested in reading it, so we exchanged phone numbers. And, as if that wasn't enough to warm my heart, his granddaughter was sitting next to him--31-year-old Katka, who had Down syndrome. She was so cute and pleased that she was older than me. He was taking her to the movie theater just then, just the two of the them on a little date. It was so touching. And we both agreed that she was of the stuff that heaven is made out of.

Every time I find myself even slightly discouraged the Lord has a way of cheering me up. And He knows exactly how to do it--He doesn't offer me a cookie or chocolate that lasts a few minutes (if I'm disciplined) and will just be worse for me in the long run, but He reminds me of the real reasons we have to rejoice in life.
I know that there are many moments when people find themselves overwhelmed by all the problems that exist in life. I meet people that seem to be stuck on that every day. There's never enough money, no one is healthy enough, people are mean and hurtful. But here's the thing: if you spend all your time trying to look at your own nose it'll start to seem a lot bigger than it ever was to begin with. And you'll live your life looking ridiculously cross-eyed. We can choose to focus on these hard parts of life, or we can remember how blessed life is! And I guarantee you that if you are looking for the good things in life, God will give you something to shout about. Something delightful and beautiful that can make all the difference. We live, after all, so that we might have joy. :)

Another great little joy in life: I got a letter from Captain Ballsy (Molly Huish, ladies and gentlemen), as well as from my wonderful Romania girls! However, I had to laugh....they accidentally sent me all the letters for Sarah Leonhardt and probably sent her all the letters for me. :) I didn't intend to read them, but I was checking to make sure that they were all for her when I noticed that SOMEONE is going on a mission!!!!!! KEILANI!!! (Seriously, I better hear some more about this sometime soon...) And then I just realized that too many things were happening and I needed some source of information so I read them all. Don't be mad. :) But if someone would be so kind as to send me Sarah's address I will forward them all to her. Hopefully one of you reads this every once in a while. Love you girls!

Another thought: what's keeping Danielle from sending all those letters I just KNOW she's been writing to me in all this spare time she seems to be having?

Everyone, I just LOVE you to itty bitty pieces! This is really the greatest life. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Cest!

Sestra Dean


P.S. Here are some great scriptures that I read in personal study yesterday about hope--maybe you'll come to the same great conclusions I did: Moroni 7:40-41, Ether 12:33, Alma 46:39.