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!