This Is Who I've Become . . ." October 22nd, 2011

Street Contacting

Our pday thus far: THREE hours (and then some) cleaning out our apartment. Yes, it's been in missionary hands for quite some time now. But my, oh my--it felt SO GOOD. THEN (best part) we watched the first part of this TV documentary made by BYU about the Bible and how it's come to be the Bible we know and love today. Loads of information about William Tyndale and John Wycliff and Martin Luther and the lot. As silly as this sounds, I think it was the most action-packed movie I've seen in the past year and a half. And I loved every minute of it. Ha. My life is so great.

More on Li Hang (the entire mission is becoming obsessed with him, no joke--President can't stop talking about him and neither can we) :
Weird things keep happening to make him late for our meetings. It's really interesting. He was never very late to meetings before, but in the last few weeks Satan has been working to keep him from meetings, I think. Last week a man who promised to drive him home from the doctor's so he could make it in time to our meeting just changed his mind. Yesterday he was stopped by the police and he didn't have his visa on him, so they made him get it and show it to him. From what I know, that doesn't happen very often. I really believe that this guy is intended to do great important things. He is so determined to become a missionary and share the gospel with others. We gave him "Preach My Gospel" in Chinese this week and he's already begun studying it. Apparently he was reading it on a tram and a man (probably drunk) came and yelled at him and tried to close the book so he couldn't read it. And yet he's always so happy.

Speaking of the musical number at his baptism... we practiced it the morning of at the church building, with a last minute idea of throwing and Elder with his guitar in. President sat there, giving us his opinion. He told us that it was too slow and kind of sad sounding when we sang it without the guitar. Of course, he's the supreme authority as far as baptisms go, so we laughed about it and kept the guitar. But really, who would call "I'm a Child of God" a sad song? Reflective, maybe, but never sad.

However. A few days ago we went to visit a member family and promote our whole concert bring-a-friend campaign. We sang with their children beforehand--I Am a Child of God, every Primary child's favorite, right? However, their 2-year-old daughter burst into tears in the middle of the third verse. They told us that they sing with her a lot, but usually more lively songs--ones that aren't quite so sad. Haha. Needless to say, we quickly abandoned the song and shared our message. :)

We've been teaching a young man named Tonda lately. He's 25, but a financial advisor and initially comes across very business-like. The more we meet with him, the more he surprises me with his sincerity and goodness. We began talking about prophets and the plan of salvation this week after taking him to our Young Single Adult Family Home Evening. Afterwards we gave him the talk "The Three Rs of Choice" from President Monson to read. In the next meeting we asked him if he had any questions about it and he told us no--rather, he'd had questions and found answers in it! Answers to his personal life dilemmas. I love seeing other people come to understand the power and importance of prophets! It's so true! I really know that President Monson has been called of God--that he's been working on developing that relationship with God his entire life and that his heart is in the right place in order to receive guidance for the good of all mankind. As are all the apostles. How cool are our lives, that we are able to teach people about this?
Tonda also agreed to be baptized on December 3rd. :)

Everyone, life is just so perfect. We had specialized training on Friday and talked about setting and reaching worthwhile goals and about how AWESOME Preach My Gospel is. I love this stuff. I love that being a disciple of Christ is something that is forever.

And I love you.

Sestra Dean


Hey Ma. You're the greatest. Isn't sister Stratton just absolutely wonderful? I'm not so sure about housing. It's true, it's stuff I'd rather not think about too much...I trust you.

Sestro Laws--oh my--LOVED your email! Isn't is just so refreshing? Haha, good thing we practiced that out. Although my curiousity is very much piqued...who?? I want to hear about Lumir asayfato (as soon as you find anything out).

Molls--get this: my companion (Sister Emily Anderson) was dance partners with Jared Kelson. How weird. Your letter was like a soap opera and I'm kind of hooked. I can hear the gossip girl narrator now...

BEST. DAY. EVER. October 15, 2011

WAAHHHH!

Okay, so I don't have a ton of time because I think I'm supposed to sign up for classes.
Buuuuutttttt--I have a few more miracles to add to the story of Li Hang:

1) Yesterday Elder Foong flew in from England with his mom. Today he baptized Li Hang.
2) Normally when they give people visas for England they only give it to them for 24 months exactly, no more, no less. However, somehow there was a mistake made and people had accidentally given Elder Foong a 25-month visa, which allowed him to extend for 3 weeks, which allowed him to teach/at all even meet Li Hang.
3) In order to travel anywhere else before going home as a missionary, one must get permission from people high up. Apparently the man in charge of this was a mission president in Malaysia (where Elder Foong is from) and was so ecstatic about it all that he approved it as soon as he heard about it.
4) When we first talked about him coming to baptize Li Hang, Elder Foong wasn't so sure. He prayed about coming, but didn't feel great about waiting until the 29th to come out here--a lot of extra money, you know. So he decided to try and ask us if we could move it up the next time we met. Meanwhile, we had already decided to move it up without talking to him. The next time we met, we informed him that we had moved the date to the exact date that he had hoped it would be in order for him to come.

I don't understand it all, but God has worked SO MANY miracles to get Li Hang baptized and to make it a really special experience for him. Someday he will be the first stake president in China.

The baptism was really beautiful--and in three different languages--English, Czech and Chinese. Sister Anderson read a talk that Elder Foong translated into Chinese. We sang "I am a Child of God" in three verses, one in Chinese, one in English, one in Czech. It was really wonderful. I never expected anything like this to happen on my mission in the Czech Republic. How great life is!

Also:
Yes, I have heard from Petr Bandik. He's doing really well--he just wrote me today in fact. I'll forward it to you. It's almost been a year since he was baptized.

One more random thing: I forgot to tell you. At a singing display a few weeks ago (you saw pictures of me contacting at it last week) I happened to meet someone really interesting. I stopped him in Czech and he told me he didn't speak English. Our conversation was a little like this:

'Prosim vas.'
'I don't speak English.'
'Oh, where are you from?'
'The United States.'
'Me too! Where in the United States?'
'Idaho.'
'ME TOO!'
'Really? Where in Idaho?'
'Boise.'
'Me too!'
'Well, actually it's a city right next to Boise--Meridian.'
'ME TOO! I went to Eagle High School.'
'Me too!'
'Are you lying to me?'
'No, no, one of my teachers was Ms. Taylor!'
'Oh my....'......

I know, right? He was teaching English there. He graduated a few years before me but apparently had a younger brother a year younger than me. He's not a member. I can't quite remember his name, but he's teaching English here. I couldn't get his contact because he had to run to catch a tram. How weird. I've been praying that I'll see him again.

Oh: favorite talk: about the Book of Mormon by Tad Callister. Everything I've ever wanted to tell anyone about my favorite book.

Life is gooooooooood. :)

Love you all.

Sestra Dean

Smelly: You're so grown up, it's weird. If I ever get a real p day I'll write you sometime.

Beks: Yes, I learned "I am a Child of God" in your language. I thought about you while I learned it. Ching chang chong.

Amando: Oh MY, that sounds like a party. No kaja...yet.

Holler: Future Missionaries of the ROC - October 8th, 2011

Great news, ladies and gents!

Li Hang's baptism has been moved up--to this Saturday, the 15th of October--because he is just so prepared! One of the elders that have been teaching him, Elder Fong (from Malaysia, amazing teacher, speaks perfect English with a perfect American accent except for the fact that sometimes he calls a lesson a 'teach'--not sure why) will end his mission this Thursday. His mom will fly up to England that day to pick him up and tour around a little and THEN he will fly to Prague to baptize Li Hang and then confirm him in Chinese the next day! It's such a miracle.

Today we watched General Conference. We set up a private little room with Chinese for Li Hang. He came in a SUIT (he's never owned/wore one before in his life--finding the perfect suit has been a work in progress for a few weeks now), and he came with questions, to which he hoped to receive answers during conference. I have never been more amazed by an investigator. He looked like a little missionary today. And he's been inviting all sorts of people to activities and to church and giving away copies of the Book of Mormon. We discovered during one of our Skype sessions, that there is a place here in Prague where Christian Chinese gather together and worship (or something to that effect). Apparently it is huge--like, really huge. He claimed that hundreds of people were there. And there he began explaining to his friend about the Book of Mormon he wanted to give him. Someone official noticed and asked him to come up in front of everyone and explain to them all what the difference between that book and the book they use (the Bible) was. So he got up and shared his feelings about the Book of Mormon in front of hundreds of people, no big deal. How cool is that??

Sis Bean, Sis Anderson and I may be learning "I am a Child of God" in Chinese for the baptism. We'll see how that goes.

(By the way, Sis Anderson plays the piano, not the violin.)

We're staying really busy and really blessed. If I didn't wake up tireder each morning than I did the day before, I really think I could stay a missionary forever. :) Wasn't conference just wonderful? I've set a personal goal to get more into geneology next year. Thanks Elder Bednar (who has Czech ancestors--I see his last name on doors when I'm contacting all the time here).

One other quick miracle I almost forgot. We randomly met this American couple from DC in a small grocery store by the church. We found out that they know some American members in the branch because they all work at the American embassy together. Well, the American family invited us and them over for dinner when they learned about it (this is a family we challenged to pray from missionary experiences and who has really been praying hard--look how it works!) and now they are coming to conference tomorrow! Woo!

I love you all.

S laskou,

Sestra Dean

Dean. Close. Mouth. October 1st, 2011

Pix:
1. The district.
2. Us and Li Hang after a fab Skype sesh.
3. Our church building, which used to be a favorite pub in these parts. Sometimes I meet people who are still upset about that.


Hello my little lovelies,

This week has been UNreal. Let me just tell you how un the real has been:

So. As we've been preparing for this concert on Nov 5th, it's taken at least an hour each day for practice time. Not so terrible, because it gives us time to be in touch and call everyone we need to call. However, I could maybe see myself or someone else saying that it's not the best use of time.

HOWEVER...The Lord has been sending us a very clear message that this is what He wants. We have been SO busy and SO blessed ever since we've begun preparing for this concert. On Tuesday we went contacting for 2 hours as part of a district thing--the only time we've had to go contacting has been during district finding opportunities. In the space of 2 hours we set up FOUR meetings and ended the day with a total of TWELVE phone numbers. Can you believe this?? I don't know if that means anything to you. A very average decent day would probably yield a number every 20 to 30 minutes or so. But God is with us. Yesterday we were so busy that we had to organize three splits so we could make it to all our meetings.

Li Hang is progressing very well--he's told the missionaries in England about 15 or so friends he's been talking to about the church. He keeps telling me how he must study for one year and then he will be a missionary too. He's just amazing. I can really see the light the gospel has brought into his life, even though he can't explain it to me in Czech very well.

The subject line comes from a meeting we had with one girl--a referral from a less active member (his girlfriend--there will be a bit of teaching to do before she really understands how that relationship should be). Her name is Misa and she's really funny and speaks a bit of English, however it's not completely fluent. Her boyfriend, William, is from Nigeria. While we were teaching, his uncle and friend came over, also from Nigeria. They began speaking some crazy foreign language--I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was. Then Misa told me that it was English, however they shorten all their words so it becomes some incomprehensible version of English (i.e. 'believe me' becomes 'bei me'--amazing). After she told me that, I was at once fascinated, and without thinking began trying to pick out words...until she said, 'Dean. close. mouth.' and then I realized that I was staring at people I didn't know with my mouth ridiculously agape.

Misa, along with two other miracles, Vlastik (I've written about him before) and Sergey (a former that we called--is REALLy looking for answers in life and really feels the spirit) are all preparing for baptism along with Li Hang. We'll see how it goes. It's so humbling to see how God just does what He wants with our days when we are willing to follow His direction.

Companions are still amazing. This is how cool Sister Bean is: she grew up listening to classical music. So much so, that when she was little she thought that rock music was short for Rachmananov. Did I tell you this already? I can't get over it. And Sister Anderson just serves her guts out. So we all make a fun little group.

And that's probably all I have time for. Love ya!

Sestra Dean

P.S. Enjoy GC for me!


Collins Huish--Please teach me how to fly fish. Thank you.

Beks--No dice. Pres has fallen in love with these English missionaries. But if you could send someone down here who might be able to baptize and confirm in Chinese, we would all be much obliged.

Only 3 more times!! September 24th, 2011

Hello lovelies,

This week has been splendid, as always. I am learning a lot, as always. It seems that the closer I get to the end, the more I have to learn. This seems quite contrary to logic, but it's happening to me. Because of this concert, Sister Bean and Sister Anderson are practicing for at least an hour each day. Because my musical talents pale in comparison, I have become the designated caller (I almost wrote call girl, but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea...). This means that I sit and make calls, setting up meetings, following up on commitments, arranging things for the concert and asking members to help us with investigators. I am learning from this that real love and charity not only serves, but supports and appreciates. When you really love a person you can do everything possible to make someone else look good without needing to draw attention to yourself. I suppose the very most prideful part of me needed to learn this about charity. About the joy that comes of making others shine without needing to shine myself. As Christ did, when He, in every instance, indicated that He was merely doing the will of the Father. How rad is He?
Learning is good.

Li Hang is still the light of our lives over here. It is incredible to me how we are able to communicate and laugh together with the language barriers. In lessons lately he's been asking things like, "What happens to people when they die without learning about the gospel?' and 'What are the mysteries of God contained in the brass plates?" and "I will have to go back to China in three years or so where there is no Church--what will I do?" and "Do you have to know everything to go on a mission? Can I be a missionary too?" He told me yesterday that he loved reading about the commandments in the Gosple Principles book because he didn't know about them before. And he likes reading about eternal families because his "heart wants one", as he translated for me on his iphone.

He also wrote on his iphone yesterday that Sister Anderson was like a "Harry Potter speech teacher action" because she was talking so fast. Yes, there are some instances in which we still can't understand each other, no matter how well google translator seems to work. Haha.

I like what you wrote about joy, Dad. I see Satan trying so hard to diminish the joy that we have because he knows how it has such a great effect on the people around us--he encourages us to see our flaws, to become discouraged from rejection, to think that it's our fault things don't go the way we want them to and tries to make us forget that other people have their agency to do as they please, regardless of how good and sincere we are. But when we can learn to recognize those tactics he has, we can learn that true joy comes from something within. It comes from knowing God, and thus knowing oneself and striving to become like God. So many people here think they are happy because they live without a major crisis in their lives or because they are healthy. Oh that I were an angel!

The more missionary work I do, the more I am convinced of each person's divine potential and God's great role in creating something beautiful from each of us. So many people I have met lately say that as long as we are good, kind people with a lot of love then it doesn't matter what else we do or what else we believe. The longer I live, the more I am convinced that God does not merely want good and nice people. He won't stop at that because He loves us far too much. He wants us to be good and nice, as well as honest and sincere, and just and brave and charitable and gracious and generous--the list could go on and on. He won't stop giving us opportunities to change and grow until we have become as He is. And that is what the gospel does for us. It gives us a pattern to live after, and He gives us the opportunities to apply them into our lives and change ourselves.

Also:
Dad--there's a new senior couple here and the man lived in Palmer, Alaska. He was actually converted and baptized there in his twenties. Alan Curtis...would you know any people from there?

Ma--do you know when I'll have to sign up for classes?? I love you. Thanks for the Ensign quotes. I'm sorry I put you through all that prom dress stuff. Ugh. I'll be praying for you, but you might get a few gray hairs anyway--I can only do so much. For some reason the attach button isn't working, so no pictures today.

This work is really the most wonderful thing on the planet! I'm so grateful and humbled to be a part of it. I love you all so much!

S laskou,
Sestra Dean


Staisha Stratton-- I don't know how often you look at this guy, but I have been thinking about you nonstop this week. I could squish you to death I love you so much. Please be healthy and be my friend. Okay thanks. Bdofml (best day of my life). :)

Tiffany--congratulations again on the baby--it sounds close! When is it coming? Oh please oh please oh PLEASE let it have red hair. By the way, I saw a woman with PERFECT Anne of Green Gables hair the other day...if I hadn't been singing I would have whipped out my camera for sure.

Courty--How's the reading list coming lady? Serial killers/missionaries?

Any Beechers that exist--I had a horrible dream about you two nights ago. I hope you all live.

Beks--DP dance party, don't forget to dance it out. :) Lurve.

Smelly Danielley,

I thought I wrote you back...Didn't I? Now I can't remember. Life is all jumblesdfaplkmafa. sometimes. I want to hear about the following things:

1. Alaska
2. Homecoming
a, dress
b, Nate Clark
c, day date

3. Soccer


I would write you more, but I think it'd help if you gave me a few questions. Sometimes I can't figure out what's interesting to normal people and what's only interesting to missionaries.

Love,

Harry Sestra

The Fruit Fly Wars, laughing our heads off, a little Dvorak, and everything Skypenese - September 17th, 2011

Just Your Average, Everyday Skype Session


Moon Cakes from Li Hang

Oh my, what a delicious week it's been!

Li Hang's experience at church was basically him reading from a Chinese Gospel Principles book wherever we told him to read. The amazing part is that he liked it and wants to come again.

So let me tell you what happens when your mission president catches wind of miracles on the verge of happening. They EXPLODE. President Irwin heard about Li Hang. And of course he decided to fish with whatever it was that he heard... He called up his buddy, the mission president of the London South mission, who informed him that they just so happened to have an incredible Chinese speaking missionary who was scheduled to fly home on Wednesday, but had extended for 3 more weeks because his mom wanted to come pick him up. Because they didn't know what to do with him for a few weeks, they stuck him in the office. Where there happens to be a lot of handy Skype equipment. I KNOW!

So this week we've had three SKYPE meetings with two Elders in the London South mission and Li Hang, all in Chinese. It's been absolutely incredible. In the first meeting we were finally able to give him a baptismal date, which he accepted right away. October 29th will be a party, for sure. He's already asking about how he can go on a mission and what he might do if he has to go back to China in a few years, where there is no church. He amazes me every time. It is really interesting here in the Czech Republic--I feel as though most people we teach really need specific missionaries to help them find interest in the Church. However, Li Hang could have learned and loved the gospel with any missionary, I'm convinced of it. And I feel so blessed to be able to help him get there. The gospel is SO cool!!

This transfer already has so much going for it. When I say this, I mean: a) Sister Bean is an amazing violinist. So we've decided to host a free violin concert as a finding tool--an opportunity for members and investigators to invite their friends to the church and to learn more about us without being nervous about it. What better place to do it than right in the heart of Europe? Sister Bean (as in green, string, and lima) is a little worried--in the past she's had trouble performing because she gets nervous. But I really know that the Lord will work with us to make it turn out. Pray for it to go well, this could be HUGE.

b) I nearly wet my pants laughing every day (not literally--no worries there). We just have so much fun together. c) the Lord is blessing us with SO MANY meetings and investigators, we've had to go on splits a few times to make it all work. d) Already had a great Zone conference. As a mission we're reading the Book of Mormon together before the end of the transfer with a focus on the atonement. Apparently Boyd K. Packer does this thing where he reads the Book of Mormon as many times as possible in 6 months focusing on one topic and then afterwards writes a one page summary of all that he learned. Cool huh? So we're taking a page from his book.

I could go on and on.

Quote of the week:
Perhaps the greatest discovery of my life, without question the greatest commitment, came when finally I had the confidence in God that I would loan or yield my agency to him--without compulsion or pressure, without any duress, as a single individual alone, by myself, no counterfeiting, nothing expected other than the privilege. In a sense, speaking figuratively, to take one's agency, that precious gift which the scriptures make plain as essential to life itself, and say, 'I will do as you direct,' is afterward to learn that in so doing you possess it all the more. --Boyd K. Packer

This life is just so wonderful.

S laskou,

Sestra Dean

Molls: Letter posted today. Dun dun dunnn. There's a little surprise in there that I hope will make you laugh.

Ni hao, Beks, Ni hao. (You may get a kick out of my life for a moment) September 10th, 2011

Okay, seriously, where am I? I was sent to the Czech Prague Mission, Czech speaking, right? How did I end up here?

Let me explain. One of the miracle things about Sister Anderson getting transferred here is that she studied Chinese for 5 years before coming on a mission. Most of it she's forgotten, but some of it comes back to her when she really focuses on it/hears it.

Our investigator from China, Li Hang, is just a miracle. He's read the Book of Mormon twice and he says he believes it's true. He reads everything we give him. He finally has more time to meet than just once a week, so we've been showing him any church films we can find in Chinese. We ordered a Gospel Principles book in Chinese, so it looks like we will be teaching him about the commandments by having him read a chapter with us. Is this my life? Yes, please. :) Sister Anderson's brother served in the Taiwan Taichung mission, so we gave him Li Hang's email address and hopefully he can answer some of his questions. He says that he has a lot of questions. President also found some Mandarin-speaking missionaries in England that could skype with us sometime next week and help with some of the teaching. If that doesn't go through, I definitely won't hesitate to recommend my dear ol' bff on the little island itself who's baptizing the entire nation. :) But we won't get our hopes up about that just yet.

He's coming to church tomorrow. He taught us the word for nervous-- 'hai pa'-- saying that he was nervous to come to church because he won't know anyone/speak Czech. I don't know how it will go, he barely speaks basic Czech. But we'll be praying our brains out for him (as will all of you?!).

Sometimes I just stop myself in the midst of all this and laugh and think of Bekah and how we were basically side by side for a vast majority of 5 years and how it would be just so bangarang if for a brief second she could slip over here and tell this boy to be baptized for me.

Apparently there is also a friend of his who is reading the Book of Mormon. However this friend works all day and only has time for anything at night. So he reads the Book of Mormon at night while Li Hang reads it during the day. Apparently he goes to a Chinese school around here and there's a Chinese church. If I could say a little more than 'wo ie ni' we could start our own little Chinese branch. And other times I remember all the impersonations of Chinese accents we used to attempt. Now sometimes I'm tempted to speak Czech with a Chinese accent to see if Li Hang understands me a little better.

God works in mysterious ways.

Also. Remember the miracle Vlastik I wrote about maybe a month ago? How Sister Christensen and I contacted him and then he contacted us later and said he'd thought a lot about what we said? Well. I was a little worried because he'd cancelled 3 or 4times since then. Finally we met with him on Wednesday, and the month-long gap made the suspense build within me--even more so when he asked us to come meet with him in the office of the business that he owned. So we went. We got inside and he led us past his personal secretary into a room for business meetings with a large intimidating conference table. I'm not exactly a business woman myself, so I initially felt a little out of place. And then he sat down and told us he had 20 minutes. Eek, people, eek.

But! He had read the information we had given him about the Restoration. And it had intrigued him so much that he went out and bought a little book about Jesus (this is the guy who said that he felt that the idea of the Greek gods seemed more plausible to him when we first met)--something along the lines of a Czech version of "Jesus Christ for Dummies", not one exactly recommended by the Quorum of the Twelve. So we shared more about Joseph Smith with him. As we described Joseph's plight of confusion, he said, "That's like me!" So I asked him how he feels about that. He said that he usually just hears people out and then moves on. He said that we were the first people he's sought to learn more of.

I know, right?!

So we gave him a better book about Christ, maybe you've heard of it. We showed him how it is evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet. And we have another meeting with him tomorrow. Who else is excited?

And my companions are just so cool. Sister Bean is a violin whiz. We're tossing around the idea of holding a concert at the end of the transfer and using it as a finding opportunity. People here love music.

Big shout out to Criddapher--TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD! And about to rule the financial world. I love you. And Corey. Thanks for the emails--I am always amazed at how good you are to me. :) Great pictures as well

And MAAAA! Happy birthday my dear wonderful woman, you. :) I hope to hear that Dad and Michelle and Daniel made you feel like a queen and that you bought lots of new ''knick knacks'' for the housey-doo.

I love you all soooooo much. Keep being aMAZING with the Satan face-kicking and all.

S laskou,

Sestra Dean


Molls: All animal print things still remind me of you. Which reminds me of late-night dance parties and lisps and Gossip Girl and Rosie and a thousand other things. How are you?

Danielle: Fair? How was it? Poetry man still there?

It's really happened... BEAN and DEAN!! and ANDERSON :)September 3, 2011

Our District


So we had transfers. Surprise surprise, here I am in another threesome. Most likely next transfer will be another threesome as well, which will be a total of half my time in the field in a threesome. I remember my greenie transfer, a dying Sister missionary telling me that one thing she learned about marriage from the mission field is to have a baby as soon as possible because threesomes are a party--is God trying to tell me something? :)

Apparently President had in the plans for me to train a sister coming in from Russia who couldn't get her visa to the States, so she would miss out on her MTC experience and just head straight to the field. However, they couldn't get her visa to come here either, so they reassigned her to Ukraine and he just learned of it a few days ago. I can't even imagine training someone who never went to the MTC...

So my companions are Sister Bean, in her second transfer, and Sister Anderson, who came into the mission field a transfer after me. She actually met Beks in the MTC once and her brother served in Taichung as well. I'm so excited for this transfer! I think it will be really wonderful. Sister Anderson reminds me of Beks in a few ways, so I think we'll have a great time together. She also went to BYU Jerusalem (btw, MER/MERE/How do you even spell that half of your name! You go girl, go snarf some real, authentic, familyrecipepasseddownforgenerations shwarmas for me, puh-LEASE!) And she speaks some Chinese--she studied it for a few years in college, which means that Li Hang will finally have a friend to understand him! Weeeee!

We had a lesson with Vaclav on the law of chastity this week, in which he finally understood the 'why' behind it and agreed to live it...I really think that God wants him in His church, so He'll do what is necessary and help us do what it takes to get him there.

We've been so incredibly wonderful busy this week, it's been miraculous. I just love this work.

There are just too many other miraculous things to number here in Prague. Keep praying for us and for our investigators. Have a wonderful time in the temple--what a grand place.

Also: the song Ghostbusters is playing in this internet cafe. Ha.

I love you all so so much!

S laskou,

Sestra Dean

P.S.
Sister Wheeler--YOU'RE ENGAGED!! AHH! I can't even believe it. I want to see pictures of this Pavel character. When is the big day? Wahhh!

Beks: Oh my, give Sister Ith a big missionary kiss from me. I think you're just swell, Sista. Keep it up with the converts.

Chinba, if you're reading this: stop. Go read the Book of Mormon. Bajetla.

Daddio: way to act. I've found that every time I act on that spiritual high it prolongs it and helps it grow even bigger. But when I don't act on it, it slowly dies out. You're such a good missionary!