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