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!