Who would have thought Easter would be such a sexist holiday? (April 18th, 2011)

I can't believe I've forgotten to tell you about Easter traditions here! (Dad, you'll get a real kick out of this...) Apparently, as a part of Catholic tradition, Easter here lasts three days (Sat-Mon), however the average Czech only pays any attention to Monday because they feel very little religious connection to the holiday, but they do happen to get the day off work. I'm not exactly sure how this, the biggest, craziest of the Czech Easter traditions, came to be, but in this little country, instead of pondering the resurrection or even reflecting on the upcoming spring,THEY BEAT WOMEN. No joke. They fashion these little whips by braiding a few sticks together (some whips are really thick, some are smaller--I think it depends on the decency of the man making it) and dangling some ribbons from one end. Then they go around and beat women while chanting something in particular (I've only heard it once or twice and they say it really fast, so I'm not sure what it means yet). Apparently it keeps the women healthy for the rest of the year. And then, in exchange for the beating, the women give men eggs or candy or alcohol. In some villages I hear that the men are completely drunk by the end of the day because they go from house to house doing it until they've each beaten everyone. And they don't really even have to know a woman to beat her. And the funniest part is that the Czech women LOVE it--they're almost more offended when people don't do it.
So yes, I will be spending next Monday battling my pride. :) Gotta love Czechs!

A few Czechs in particular that I love:

DUSAN DUSAN DUSAN DUSAN!!! AHH! He's sooo cool! He's begun referring to the church as "our church" and he's still reading from the BOM 15-20 minutes every day. He's even begun watching General Conference at home--says he's going through it slowly because he wants to understand everything. President Irwin was in town on Friday, so we actually brought him along to our lesson with him. Poor Dusan was so nervous when we told him that he was coming--"Really? He sounds like a really important man!" "Should I call him Mr. President?" We talked about Jesus Christ and baptism with him. Helped him understand that baptism was the gateway to further learning and growing, not a final destination (a common misconception here in the CR--one guy's been coming to church for almost 12 years and still isn't a member because he can't get over this). When we taught him about Jesus' baptism he got really surprised and said, "I didn't know that Jesus Christ was baptised. Wow--I think everyone should be baptised!" So he's praying about it and talking it over with his girlfriend. Also: we haven't taught him any commandments yet, but he's read about the Word of Wisdom and stopped drinking alcohol on his own. He also told us he's going to stop drinking coffee and tea too. He's just so wonderful and humble. It's amazing how much he trusts and believes us. He's a real miracle. Yesterday he was in Germany buying a new Lexus. Not at church because of that, but man is he loaded.

Petra Galickova: we've taught her once before. She's the wife of one of my favorite members, who served a mission in Washington state a while back, and speaks English perfectly. His first marriage to a member ended unpleasantly, so Petra's not a member, but a gem still. After our first lesson, I found myself wondering what sort of difficulties we could expect, because she told us that she has a lot of concerns, and I know she's already been taught by other sisters before. But yesterday we decided to start from square one: the restoration. Surprisingly, she knew very little about it, except that Joseph smith translated the BOM. She didn't even really have a great understanding of Jesus Christ. To shorten things, the lesson went really well--the spirit was really strong, and she committed to reading from the BOM and praying about it to find out for herself. I just really really want them to be an eternal family!!

Zuzana Tomsikova: mother of a cool young member who's leaving on his mission to Canada in a week or so, Ondrej. SO much potential here too! She has a lot of interesting questions--she's investigated religions her whole life, but it's never felt real or personal to her--things like, what do you picture in your head when you're praying? Or harder ones, that I can't answer regarding how it's possible to live with all of one's family at once. She's one of those people that has a strange ability to disagree with you while praising you and making you feel like the cat's pajamas, she is that nice. Occasionally it's difficult to read her because of this. People like this make me so grateful that Heavenly Father's helped me so much in my ability to speak and understand Czech.

Those are two of the three investigators we're teaching who are related to members (the other is a ten-year-old boy who's the son of an AMAZING member and her alcoholic husband...kind of a tricky situation). We joke a lot about how our calling is not only to find, teach, and baptise individuals, but devise ways to create eternal families! My mission has made me realize over and over again how important families are. Of course I've always wanted my own family, but I think that I'm really beginning to look forward to having my own family, for the first time in my life. And I'm learning over and over again how much I have to be grateful for when it comes to my own wonderful family. :)

Everyone, I just think you're all swell. Keep up the greatness, I love you!

Sestra Dean

Ma: you pick the day (or a few possible days) and I'll work around that, as far as calling goes. Break a leg!

Breanne Black: you just write the best letters ever! I was laughing and crying all over the place--thank you! I will be sending you a response asap. But it sounds like there are SO many Romania girls that have a little writing to do (i.e. Keilani = Korea?! and Trisha = BRENT?!)

Rosie: oh my goodness, those pictures made me the happiest little girl in the world. Serious face. Our kids are so wonderful. And I'm so SO excited about your friend coming to the mission--I hope I get to train her, I hope I hope!
and...Wayne Sandholtz?!

Also: Sisters Renata Blombergova and Eva Ivanova (members from Ostrava) met Christine Frye (friend that went to Jerusalem with me) on Temple Square of all people--I just received a picture of them together yesterday. What a great surprise!