Je to mazec

Sister Laws, Rosta, & Ashley



Cauky people!

I'm uploading photos to Snapfish right now. Don't get the wrong idea if you happen to see us with men's arms around us...there's not really much we can do except not reciprocate it. Sometimes they just do it themselves and we just stand there and feel awkward about it. I never thought about situations like that before my mission... on Sister Ganbaatar's first day here, we were contacting and I ended up splitting off from the other two and contacting alone (sometimes people find it intimidating when three foreigners approach them and try to strike up a conversation about the purpose of life, so occasionally we split up). I contacted a man from Slovakia. For some reason, people from Slovakia embrace the whole European kiss on the cheek thing much more openly than a lot of Czechs do. But we had barely exchanged a few sentences, when I introduced myself and this strange man kissed me. Sister Ganbaatar saw it and hasn't stopped talking about it since. Speaking of kissing....there's the one interesting woman in our branch. She's missing several teeth and LOVES the missionaries and always gives us all sorts of random gifts. But every time we see her she makes sure to give us a big smooch...if I'm not careful to turn my head, it lands right on my lips. And it's really, really weird. This is the secret life of missionaries that they don't put in the movies. :)

There is a small youth group here in Ostrava. There are two young women and maybe three young men. Every Sunday we sister missionaries switch off going with the YW class or the Relief Society. It's really neat seeing the Young Women here get into Personal Progress. Every 4th Sunday of the month they report on their Personal Progress and what they've been doing. We're really lucky in our branch, because we have a handful of really strong power house women that are so inspiring and great teachers--I think that really helps the Young Women here have something to look up to. Every so often they'll have district youth activities and youth from all over the country will get together. In our branch there are technically about 100 members, however only 40 or so come each week. We do a lot of work with less-active members here as missionaries. I think that's a side of missionary work that gets overlooked a lot, but it's really important. Helping people keep those covenants they've already made is just as important as finding new people. I've found that a lot of people struggle to live the gospel when they are only halfway immersed in it--they're not exactly sure how to choose between all the various influences tugging on them. But when you just give yourself over to it completely, it becomes natural and easy and wonderful and beautiful. That's why we have so many amazing members here--because they do just that.

I'm already learning so much from Sister Ganbaatar! She is a great, fearless missionary. She had to wait for a while before she got her visa, so she served in the Provo mission for about 8 months before coming to the Czech Republic. She's taught me a lot that she learned from the Provo mission that we tend to overlook as missionaries in Europe here--mainly things about planning effectively. It's interesting--on both Saturday and Sunday our only meetings cancelled (one of which was Michal). A bit of a disappointment, I won't lie. And both times Sis Ganbaatar said, "Let's have a meeting with someone else then." Both times Sister laws and I were doubtful--people here tend to be really busy and we can't usually just call someone up last minute and ask them to meet. But before we even had to do that, people CALLED US! Really! It was amazing! So we had some really great meetings with people who really have the desire to know more. (One of these people was Oliver--the guy with the daughter who has Down Syndrome. He's in 2 Nephi already. A little skeptical--says it all seems 'too American' to him--it was GREAT that we had Sister G with us for that part. :) But he did say that if he found out it was true he'd change his life for it. So we challenged him to read in it every day and pray about Joseph Smith every day for this week. He's doing it! The Book of Mormon has such real power in it--I know that if people read it and pray with the sincere desire to do something with the answer they receive, they will find the truth revealed to them. Isn't that beautiful?! I love that book. I love telling people about it and seeing the world opened up to them as they find themselves in its pages. I wish everyone would just give it a fair chance)

Sister Ganbaatar is also a really good teacher. Her English grammar makes me laugh and her Czech grammar is even harder to understand sometimes, but somehow she always communicates something that really helps our investigators when she speaks during lessons. She has a lot of wonderful personal experiences--her family was baptised 15years ago in Mongolia--they were the first members of the Church in her city. And now her mom's 10 siblings and their parents and all their families are all members too. She's really good at including children in the lessons as well, which is sometimes difficult for us. I can tell already that it will be a really great transfer with her.

Michal is struggling with trusting God more than man, I think. He keeps saying that he will do the things we've talked about (Word of Wisdom, Sabbath Day, etc), but then, in a pinch, desides that he has too much work and it's not that big of a deal this once. A lot of people seem to think that it doesn't matter what they do as long as they're nice people. Of course, your personal character is most important--it's the reason we are here on this earth. An analogy that we use sometimes is that of a person going on vacation. In order to get back home to Ostrava from Prague, I have to take the right train from Prague and switch at the right stop. Then I have to get on a tram, and maybe a bus after that. I can't just start walking without any sense of direction and hope that I make it okay. It doesn't do me a lot of good if I have a really great outfit on or if I always remember to tell my parents that I love them or if I sometimes give homeless people my loose change. All these things are nice, good things, but they won't help me get home. The Church is like THE public transportation system for God's children to come home to Him. A lot of people here have really low opinions of organized religion--it's not hard to see why, there are so many bad things that have come from various churches in history. But we are not made for the Church, just like people don't exist so that busses have something to carry inside them. The church is for us to use as a way to come closer and closer to our Father in Heaven. Isn't that just wonderful?

But Rosta is chugging right along and really excited for his baptism. He's coming to church every week and keeping all the commandments we teach him about. And as we teach him more about his relationship with God, I see him develop more and more self-confidence. He seems a different person than the man we first met in the park a few months ago. I'm so excited for him! The Elders are teaching a woman that I think would be a good match for him--they even kind of look similar. AHH! I just want everyone to be able to have an eternal family! Families are just the greatest blessings and every one of them should be forever! :)

Okay, well I must jet. But I love you all. Keep it real. As in meaningful, real.

Cau!

sestra dean

P.S. Maa, I wish I could see you teach your class! You'll be so great! Thanks for the excerpt from Alisha--I really liked that. Love you to itty bitties!

March 2nd, 2011

OKAY, ready for transfer facts?? Is the suspense killing you yet??
Well, we got a call late Monday night telling us that......


SURPRISE! We are BOTH staying in Ostrava! Can you believe--that will mean SIX MONTHS of Team LawsDean. That's a third of my mission!
BUT. There's a twist...we have a THIRD! She is from Mongolia and her name is Sister Ganbaatar. She is the tiniest, cheeriest little thing I've ever seen. With a lot of attitude and no fear. She came in to the country a few weeks after I did because there happen to be a lot of Mongolians in a few parts of the country. The odd thing is, I have never met a single person in Ostrava from Mongolia. Her Czech is still a work in progress since she's been speaking so much Mongolian...but Ostrava will train her well. The people her talk SO fast sometimes. For the most part it's just a little faster, but occasionally we meet individuals who speak at Guiness record paces, I'm sure of it. She'll get the hang of it. I'm not sure what God has planned for her here, but it'll be an adventure, that's for sure.

Something interesting: so remember a few transfers ago, when I told you our goal was to break the somber, stoic, district president? Well, I think we did a pretty fine job of it. On Sunday, he and his companion called the zone leaders at 10:35 pm saying "Hey, we have an emergency!" Zone leaders: "What? What is it?!" Stoic Elder and comp: "We're up past 10:30!! ahahahaa" Don't worry, he's an amazing missionary. I just like to see that as evidence of a job well done. :) But he's gone now and this tranfer we have a new sort of challenge: a sister-hater. Word has gone round the mission that he doesn't like sisters (he's never actually served with any of them until now...and now he has three, and we tend to see a lot of each other here in Ostrava). Last zone conference I asked him about it and he got all weird and uncomfortable. But our new transfer goal is to turn him into a sister-lover (in a wonderfly, gospel, platonic-love sort of way, no worries). I'm excited. :)

Anyways, down to the important stuff. Michal's still on track. We taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday--he's a big coffee drinker, mainly because he works nonstop. But he's willing to try it. We told him to pray every time he's tempted and then maybe he will become addicted to praying instead of coffee. We'll see. I really like teaching him because he's really intelligent and is able to pull meaning out of the scriptures the way that several of our other investigators cannot. And he's humble enough to try everything. We just have to help him get his priorities straight so that work doesn't take over his life.

The little cartoony man, Rosta, is also progressing towards baptism on the 26th of March (it's like a late birthday present, Dad!). He's pretty solid--not the brightest person we know, but really good and sincere, which is better. And he just eats the Book of Mormon up. We gave him scriptures markers that we found in our apartment last time and he just LOVED them. Now when we teach him we'll see random verses highlighted here and there. It's great.

We also have another investigator on date for the 26th named Kaja. He's really, really tall and used to play professional soccer. He's from some small village and kind of acts a little like a shy country boy in a lot of ways. His family's devout Catholic, so it won't be a cake walk...but he's prayed about Joseph Smith and he knows that it's true, which is enough.

Martin II has been sick, so we haven't met with him again...I hope we will soon.
We had several first meetings yesterday with people from the 72 phone numbers day--some of them went pretty well, so we'll see how they pan out. It's so amazing watching people's lives change here. Watching the spirit play on them and seeing them realize that some of their deepest desires are really possible through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We've talked to a few people with deceased relatives lately--I love being able to tell people that they can be with those they care about again! It's just the most beautiful message we have! Family is just so important to people here. As cold and estranged and untrusting as they are sometimes, Czechs really take care of each other.

We gave Martin the missionary white handbook the other day because he was interested in the kind of rules we have to follow as missionaries. It was really neat--he said at first he didn't like it--it seemed so restricting, like we were letting people control our lives. But instead of rejecting it, he went and re-read the whole thing, hoping to understand it better. When we talked to him about it, he seemed pretty comfortable with it all. Sometimes he just amazes me with the things that he says--things I know that we never taught him. That's what this work is really about, helping them develop a relationship with Heavenly Father so they can continue learning and growing their entire lives. I just LOVE it!

You asked about my Czech. I won't lie, it's not half bad. I'm learning more and more every day and I really can see the Lord blessing my efforts. I don't know if I'd be able to remember things half so well without this calling as a disciple of Christ. Of course I don't speak perfectly yet--Czech is a pretty hard language. But I love learning it and being able to communicate with people better and better every day.

The weather IS getting nicer--it almost feels like spring today! Or at least looks like it. And we have gone running the past 2 mornings in a row! I would go every day if my companions would let me, even in the snow. It just makes my day! It's kind of been a joke/battle between Sister Laws and I, because she never wants to go outside in the mornings and I always do. The day before transfers, she told me that she would probably go running with her companion every day next transfer. Hah! I thought she was just saying it to tease me, but we have gone every day since then...I hope we keep it up!

Everyone, I just love you all! The Church is true, you know.

s laskou,

sestra dean

Shout outs:

Happy yesterday birthday Garrett Beecher, if you're out there! You and Elisha were in my dream about a week ago--I hope you're both doing splendidly!

Sister Wheeler: do you have an address??

Bekah: holy moly--how many different companions have you had?! How long are transfers there? I feel as though nearly every other email you mention a new compy-doo. Sister Laws really appreciated the shout out. Aaaaand with my new little Asian companion, some part of me is always subconsciously thinking of you and wondering if this is what missionary work is like where Beks is.

Grandpa B, I got your letter! Thank you so much!

Gayann: I am wearing that pin thing this very minute and smelling very Anthro...I seriously LOVE it!

February 21st, 2011

Cest, fam!

So I'm emailing you from the fairytale city of Prague. Sister Laws had to renew her visa today, so we woke up early, took a fancy fast pendolino train, took some pictures on the charles bridge and may or may not have done the tiniest bit of shopping. :) This is our LAST week together! AHH! Or so we anticipate...I don't think President would leave us together--even though our investigator Klara sent him a request that we stay in Ostrava via email. She came to church yesterday with her daughter Tereza. Tereza told me, "I really don't want you to go!"and her mom got this knowing look on her face, smiled, and said, "Who knows? Maybe you won't." She doesn't know that we know. Haha. But president told me today that he had transfers figured out 2 weeks ago so that people's input wouldn't influence his decision. That means next week I will be emailing on Wednesday. Maybe I'll be in Ostrava, maybe I'll be somewhere else....who knows?

But this week has been great! We just have so many great investigators! I love teaching them so much--often I can see their faith growing in the 40 minutes that we teach them, the spirit works that well. Rosta, cute little old cartoony looking man, has a baptismal date for March 26th. He's not as scared as he was, said he's getting used to things and he's still buzzing his way through the Book of Mormon.
On Thursday we had another major contacting spree--remember the 1000 contact day last transfer? This time we went for 50 phone numbers (focusing on getting phone numbers vs. just talking to people makes a big difference in how we contact...). At least, we had planned on 50 numbers initially. Then the night before, district leader Elder Doxey (the bathroom one) called and said that he wanted to up it to 60. 60 we easily accomplished by 7:00 pm, so we had to up it even more--70 phone numbers! We came away with SEVENTY-TWO PHONE NUMBERS at the end of the day. Niiiiiiiiiiiice. I love that we make such goals and work towards them as a district. It's amazing the spirit it brings--I hardly even notice the time slipping away! I've learned that when we set goals with the spirit, the Lord really honors our hard work and helps us achieve--even exceed!--our expectations. I.e. Sister Laws and I made a goal to each get a phone number on the tram as we traveled to meet the other missionaries. Sometimes this is difficult--it all just seems to depend on the tram and people in it. Sometimes you can run into people who just want to talk as they travel but have no intention of setting up with you at all. Other times no one wants to talk to you at all. So we got on the tram and began immediately talking. The first two women I talked to were the long-talking, non-committing types. I was worried I wouldn't have enough time. Finally, with just a few stops left, I broke away from the second long-talker and headed for a cool, trendy-looking girl. We talked for a few minutes and I was able to get her number just before I got off the tram! It was great! The Lord really does bless us so much! So today we have a great deal of calls to make. One guy actually contacted us afterwards and asked if we could meet earlier, on Saturday. We talked with him a bit. He's Martin (part II!), 19-years-old, but really mature. Already a believer, but not really satisfied with any of the churches he's been involved with. We had a really great meeting with him about prayer, shared the Joseph Smith story with him and gave him the Book of Mormon. He was so excited about it, he asked us where he could go buy it before we had the chance to tell him it was free! We have another meeting with him tomorrow.

Also: we're meeting Martin's (#1) mother on Wednesday. Eeek! She doesn't want us to talk about the gospel, but....we'll see. Pray for her!

Another miracle: we had FIVE investigators at church yesterday! That's a big deal in Ostrava! AND MICHAL WAS ONE OF THEM! We met with him again and the difference in him was miraculous--he was happy, joking, seemed well-rested.. We taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy, which he agreed to try. Thus, he came to church! He really liked it, but couldn't stay the entire time. One of the really solid members in the church talked about faith, which was great for all our investigators. He actually served a mission in Washington State and speaks fluent english. The talks were all really powerful--I felt so good sitting with them, knowing it was what they needed to hear. But we do have another meeting with Michal on Tuesday. Thank you all for your prayers--I think they really helped! Keep it up!

Another person that came is Kaja--a friend of another investigator who hasn't had much desire to meet with us since we taught about the law of chastity. He comes from a long line of devout Catholics and our last meeting revolved a lot around baptism--we had to see if he knew what the Joseph Smith story meant for him. He sat next to me and was shaking and looking pale most of the time. He got up and left before the talk from that former missionary in our branch. I later found him in another room--he said that he normally went to church with his family and he just really wanted to know what the right thing to do was because he didn't want to hurt anyone. We talked about Joseph Smith's example. I see a lot of potential in him...however, he has a bit of a crush on me and sometimes I get really uncomfortable during lessons because he looks at me a little too much. But his desires really are pure and good--just before he met us he'd been praying for God to show him the right path. Cool huh? Miracles miracles miracles!

On Saturday we took a train down to Brno with Martin (#1) for a conference about missionary work! It was really neat--they had Czech members share their experiences serving missions. It was all really touching and I think it made the idea of serving a mission more real to Martin. He's a little worried about what his family would think, but he still has a bit of time to worry about that.

ahh i must go bye!

KRRRRRRRRRRRREST! (February 14th, 2011)

Oh. My.

News that has floored me in the past 20 minutes or so:
1. AARON BARNEY AND CAITLIN DAVIS!?!?!? Oh MY--I had NO idea! Caitlin Davis--I don't know if you ever even read this, but I can't help thinking back to the time when you were all busy recording notes for him while he was out in the mission field...you two! Congrats--I'm just so happy for you! (Beks, thanks for the info...life is just moving right along in the good ol land of the free)
2. Ben Miles is ENGAGED! Okay, well not a huge surprise, but still big news.
3. Tiffany Shaw is expecting!! AHH!
4. Lance is getting married too! Oh my, hasn't he only been home for like 8 months?! What the...
5. Danielle getting her license! Suddenly I feel so safe all the way over here in the CR. Kidding--I'm sure you'll be great. Can't wait for the letter. :)
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!!!!!
6. We just got a text from someone serving in the office...apparently one of our investigators (Klara) called the office and requested to have us both stay in ostrava next transfer. Haha! These Czechs are just crazy, yet I can't help but love them.

So yes, it's true--Olga was finally baptized on Saturday. A few facts about her:
1. She is 36.
2. she wears really thick glasses that really alter her appearance--she got contacts a while ago and looks totally different when she wears them
3. she was born with some sort of limp
4. she has 3 kids, but custody over the youngest, David, who is 6
5. david basically takes care of his mom. he's probably smarter than she is. I say this with love in my heart for the both of them. She's just a little air-heady
6. she weighs about 84 pounds
7. she develops a crush on all the wrong men--Martin, Joseph Smith, and Moroni, to name a few.
8. it has taken her forever to remember "in the name of Jesus Christ" at the end of her prayers...we always had to prompt her at the end, until once David reminded her not to forget before she prayed and then she remembered it each time since then.
9. she has some sort of operation today because of her kidney stones
10. she met the missionaries last summer and was supposed to meet with them but her son dropped her phone and she got a new number and they all lost touch...until we met her again!!
11. sometimes when we teach her i feel like i'm teaching a high school girl--she gets really side tracted.
12. So I was a bit worried about her this whole time, like I mentioned last email...until they were laying their hands on her head and giving her the gift of the holy ghost in church yesterday. I felt the spirit so strong and I just knew that God didn't want me to have any doubts about what we were doing--that He really wanted her there and wanted her to have that blessing and relationship with Him, even though she's not quite as bright as some of the others we teach.

It was really great. Martin baptised her (and the other woman, Alena). And Petr Bandik showed up to church in Ostrava yesterday--it was so great to see him! He's off to canadia soon. Weeeeeee!

So a funny story about how blunt and honest czechs are: yesterday we were having FHE with a woman and her kids at the church because her husband doesn't want anything to do with the church. Afterwards, she began telling us a story about a member in Liberec. This is basically how the story began: "There's a member in Liberec who's not very pretty. In fact, in Czech we say 'skaredy'--ugly. Yes, she's ugly. Really ugly. I think she was born with some disfigurement or something--like, really, Ive never seen an uglier women in my life..." HAHA! And she's a really really strong dedicated member! Sister Laws laughed a little while she was talking--but the woman was just so honest and sincere and didn't mean a bad thing by it. In fact she went on to say that she was married and that she envied her her husband--that he really knew what was most important in life and that's how we all should be. But every time I replay the situation in my head I just can't help but fall into peals of laughter all over again. Ha!

We did finally meet with Michal. He showed up a half hour late and looked utterly wretched--like he hadn't slept in days and works 24-7. He really enjoyed our lesson together, said he felt the spirit really strong. But it's still so difficult to meet with him--we were supposed to have a meeting on Sunday, but once again he cancelled. :( Looks like we'll be meeting with him on Wednesday morning at 8:30. I really hope he comes this time....ugh, keep praying for him--he has SO SO much potential!
Also we had zone conference.

And I'm running out of time, but one spiritual thing I've learned: it really is possible to serve a mission without letting the spirit of things get inside you, without coming out of it a better person. I had a glimpse of that and realized why that scripture in Matthew about losing yourself in order to find it is so true. I found myself in a really "off" mood on Friday. I couldn't figure out why. Nothing seemed to be going well--none of my contacts seemed to pan out. And it was the day after zone conference, when I was supposed to be so fired up! As I reflected later that night I remembered something that CS Lewis wrote once--you'll never make a good impression until you stop worrying about the kind of impression you're going to make. I realized that, even thinking all the time about being a better missionary is still constantly thinking about oneself--the only way to really be a good missionary is to forget about yourself. The only way to be a good person in general is to forget about yourself and live for those around you. The next day I had an amazing day. Nothing bothered me because I forgot to be bothered by things, I was so focused on the needs of those we met. Sister Laws and I had a half hour to contact before the baptism and somehow 3 out of the 3 people we talked to gave us their numbers. It's amazing to me how much more enjoyable life is when you don't spend your time thinking about what one needs for life to be enjoyable. Just live every day for those around you--even those that take advantage of you or never seem to appreciate how much you do for them. That's when real character is developed.
People, this gospel is true. Just eat it up!

S laskou,

sestra dean