Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! -- June 18th, 2011

Greetings! (I was talking to one of our investigators on the phone the other day--the pirate-ish one--and he ended the conversation by saying this--"greetings!" haha)

I won't lie, sometimes I read emails from Beks and I just picture a sort of fantasy land of prepared people where missionaries knock on car windows and give people baptismal dates at a thirty second stoplight. It sounds so amazing, all the success you're having! Sometimes I wish I could experience missionary work in your mission for just a day...and then I'd come back here with all these wonderful ideas and revamp the way we do missionary work. I already told President about your bumper stickers "No success can compensate for failure in the home"--we might try and make some here in Czech and use them. I think it's a wonderful idea.

I feel as though the missionary traditions here, with regards to the way we do work, aren't as effective as they could be. When Elder Pearson came here he talked a lot about referrals and formers and working with members--about how we tend to make the work much harder than it needs to be because we've become stuck in this rut. Because that's just the way missionaries do things here in the Czech Prague Mission.

These thoughts were running through my mind ablaze on Thursday, when nearly all the workers involved in transportation went on strike. That meant that we could only work at places within walking distance because no trams, no buses, no metro. We weren't the only people walking around. But very few things went our way that day. We seemed to run into a lot of people who weren't interested in listening to us because they thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses. A few people saw our nametags and spat the name Jesus Christ at us, as though He were a criminal. When we were tracting, an old man came down and yeld at us in such a rage I thought he'd either start crying or steaming. We talked to a boy who had recently found God and studied the Bible like a priest, and told us he'd been warned about us as people who follow false prophets.

People here have so many mixed up ideas about who God is and what religion means, a lot of their fears keep them from feeling the spirit that we carry. We've also had a lot of people ditch our meetings this week. I'm not saying this to complain at all--in fact, I've found myself really led by the Spirit so many times this week, it's been really amazing. It's wonderful to see the way the Lord manifests Himself in our work as we show that we are willing to follow the promptings we do get. But I'm feeling as though things need to change this week. For a while I found myself feeling guilty when I didn't spend some time out on the streets contacting people--like maybe I wasn't working hard enough. But now I'm thinking the Lord wants me to start working like a missionary who's not been subjected to Czech Prague Mission traditions. It's pretty difficult to break out of this mold we have made for ourselves here--I've grown to fit it. But I think the Lord wants me to grow in other ways now. Just some thoughts I've been having. If anyone has any ideas--maybe things they've tried on their own missions--I'd love to hear them.

But I just have to brag about my two favorite investigators for a minute. Lucie and Zuzka Novakovi. Lucie's been an investigator for a while, Zuzka's her younger sister who just began coming. They both came to FHE on Monday. We have an awesome senior couple here who run FHE. The past two weeks we've been talking about the ways Satan tries to destroy the family. The girls have begun participating and sharing their own ideas and really feeling the truth of what they teach. On Monday, after FHE, we had a quick meeting with them and talked about the Book of Mormon. Lucie had just begun reading it a week before and has been reading it every night. Zuzka read a little bit in it, but didn't know much about it. We read a little of the intro and then I asked her why she thought the Book of Mormon would be important for us in our day and age. I figured she'd pull something from the 3rd paragraph of the intro, but instead she said, "So we can resist the influence of Satan." I was just shocked--this girl, who's never had any religious influence before the past two weeks, really gets this stuff! She connected the things that we'd been saying about the family with what we taught her next about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit revealed the true importance of this wonderful wonderful Book to her. And it's just that--so, so wonderful! It's a huge testimony to me that this gospel is nothing new. Every person we meet already knows this stuff--they just need to allow the Spirit to touch them and help them remember it.

Lately I've been thinking a lot of how we tell people that the Book of Mormon is evidence of God's love for us. So I've begun reading it again, from the beginning. But this time I'm keeping a tally of certain things that strike me as evidence of God's love: i.e. words like "love" "joy" "hope", incidents when He saves people from pain or suffering and gives people strength to do hard things, making notes on the attributes of these prophets that are filled with His love, etc. Can I just tell you something wonderful? I'm not so far. I just barely finished 1 Nephi. Already there have been SIXTEEN indications that God hears and answers prayers. I really, really know that He loves us and He wants us in His Church. He wants it so badly because that means that someday we can be in His arms again. Never forget it. I love the truth so much. I will never stop being a missionary.

Here's a thought: you know that old jumpingintheelevatorallatthesametime trick? Perhaps if we all kick Satan in the face at the same time we could do some serious damage. I'm with you, Beks. :)

S laskou,
Sestra Dean

Oh yes--Sunday would probably be better for me. Maybe around 4 or 5 my time? You can do the test call anytime the week before, just make sure it's after 9pm my time.
And I got a letter from Petr Bandik maybe 1.5 months ago. He's a stud. Seriously, so great. He's loving it over there in Canada.

Super big shout out to TRISHA MARKLE, who's GETTING MARRIED!! I'm sure several people are having to re-write their marriage lists due to this minor slip up. :) Sister, I'm so so happy for you! I wish I could come check him out and make sure he's good enough for you, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't settle. (I think I've begun calling all women Sister...I kind of like it. We should revel in our sisterhood.)

Also shout out to Jane, my dear, if you ever read this. We're missing you like crazy here. I want to hear what you think of BYU! Gimme the deets! (Also: where was that Spanish place where you bought those awesome brown pants? I forgot already).

Smelly and Shelly: I LOVE the picture. You two are the cutest sisters in the world. Even my companion agrees. She also said that Danielle looks older than me. Another point for you. Michelle, please write me. I love you 55.