Rockin the Novy Rok! (New Year)

Why hello family! Again!

Not much new to report since the last time I saw you...that feels so weird to say! It was an awesome Christmas week and super stoked for this next year and the miracles that will no-doubt come!

I kind of wish I could have spoken more Czech to you, you only heard me say a couple words, but there will be time for that later. (We heard Carley speak in Czech to the home owners when she needed some assistance getting skype to work on the iPad she was borrowing.) I am glad I got to speak to you face to face and I hope you were able to with Dal too,

I loved talking to him even if we could hardly hear each other, it was cool anyways. Technology is such a blessing! You know what else is a huge blessing? Being on a mission!  YAY CALVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly canoli! (Our cousin Calvin Weaver was called to Romania!) cool that he will be semi-close to me, I know a guy who was from Romania and was baptized in CZ and he skyped some elders there, that is my only connection to there and that I knew a girl in school who's family was from Romania. But ya, probably similar feelings of "what?? where is that again?" when opening the call haha.

I love you all and Happy New year! <3

2014 here we come! :D 

 

P.S. Luke 1:37 is an awesome pump-up scripture

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I am so excited to talk to you family!!!! I am loving Mlada Boleslav and loving the people, feeling blessed everyday and I am amazed everyday that I am here, doing things I never would have imagined or dreamed myself doing, I feel like the bar for myself has been raised and my appreciation for my life and upbringing magnified, its a cool feeling to know that you can do ANYTHING with the Lord's help. Sure, there are still hard moments, but I can usually only remember the great ones.

One of the buildings in the Town Hall/ "Namesti"

I love it here and still miss y'all a TON but these times away from each other will only make the ones when we're together that much sweeter, plus, if  there is anything worth losing these holiday times with you, it is the work of the Lord, and when else will I have that privilege? It is crazy that I have been out 7 months jejda. (Czech "wow" btw)

I am not really counting down but still, it amazes me to think that the time has flown like that, I feel like I barely got here (but at the same time when I think of the progress Ive made it feels like a lifetime haha). Playing the flute went well, I wish I had like real music with good accompaniments like we have at home, ie anything by Sally DeFord etc or any of the hymn arrangements...if yall wanted or had time to, maybe compiling some of those of anything with a flute part and we have the Czech lyrics to put to it... that would be kinda sweet. We are just trying to do all we can to get people's attention so that they will open up and we can teach them. I would also like to keep up that talent, if not, better it! They have some really talented missionaries in our mission but they serve all over so out of our small district I am the most musically equipped one...I know, scary. haha but yes, you could send me maybe a few here and again as a document on the computer and I could print it out. Reactivation is going well and we had a less -active, part-member family come to church on Sunday so that was great :) We also have several progressing investigators!

I am so excited to talk to y'all allllll about everything on Wednesday (Christmas Day!)! I hope that everything syncs up well. bahh! The "V" family are awesome, they are an active family in Mlada Boleslav and are just adorable, if you didn't know it you would think they were from like any other ward. And they kind of speak English so maybe they will say hello to you too! I haven't heard them speak English (the members here do not like to talk to us in English which is funny because in Brno they would just automatically speak in English if they knew it) And a lot of the members in Jicin are actually translators for the church. This city is kind of a big deal because if we reactivate people, it will be big enough for a ward...and if we have a ward, then we can have a stake in the CZ! then we are one step closer to a temple!:D and that is the goal, when a temple is here, the whole country and all the Slovak nations will be blessed....so no pressure!

Christmas Time in the Czech Republic

Hello all! So I will try to download quickly some of the events of this week, but quite honestly I don't know how it happens but every week I walk into the emailing place (she told us on the phone that it's like a cyber cafe) it is like the veil all over again and I forget all the things I told myself to remember to include in my email (if you're LDS you get this reference...if not, we as Mormons believe in figurative veil that exists between our world here on earth and our pre-earth life in heaven).

"Meeting some of the locals...not quite what you expected, eh? There is some weird halloween/christmas holiday here and they had some people dressed up like that they go around and scare the kids...it is kinda interesting lol."

I guess I could just write them down... but that is much too sensical and it takes too much time. So please bare with my scatterbrainedness. I am still loving the MB (Mlada Boleslav). It is proving to be a city of miracles and adventures for sure. I just adore Sister Hicken, we get along great and keep each other pumped for the work. This week we were trying to get in contact with all the less-active members here, spending a lot of our days traipsing all over town trying to find where they live so we could give them cookies (made by Sister H. who really is a master with all things in the kitchen, thank goodness seeing as I am the antithesis haa) and an invite to our Christmas Party and Concert. Which btdubs, is an awful idea because I will be singing a good majority...bleh. Pray for me! But cool thing, they hooked me up with a flute here again so I will be doing some accompaniments..accompianaments...accompmenamenaments....gah. I can't spell anymore! I am just a TAD nervous, but all's well, that's why we have prayer and paper bags to breath into right? 

In Prague for a baptism

Back to my original point. Finding where people live here is crazy impossible. The numbers on the houses and panelaks (apt buildings) have absolutely no rhyme nor reason to their order. It is usually the order the buildings were built -_- And walking everywhere proved quite the good workout, but given the disparity between amount of cookies made and those delivered...walking was great. We also contacted some awesome people in the meantime. I thought they were like Harry Potter houses, they would only pop up if the address was written down by someone else. But great news, we found them! So all is well in Zion...or Mlada Boleslav.

Also, we have been trying to get some service opportunities rollin' here and went to the Magistrat Mesta or Town Hall offices basically, and they were closed. darn. So we felt we should just contact on service opportunities with people. So we walk towards the large tree in the Old Town Square and I approach this elderly woman with her grandson, she is busy with him looking at the large Christmas tree but I felt like I needed to talk to her so I come up and ask her if she knows anywhere we can do service work. She looks at my name tag and squints then runs over to her grandson who has walked a little bit away, so I follow her over, now I am kind of appalled by my nuisancy (prolly not a word) but finally she begins talking to me and says, "funny you should ask me, I used to work organizing all those things." She was so excited to help us, she put her grandson in the stroller and walked with us all the way over to this information place we had no idea existed, we walk in the building and she walks into the back offices tells them she has some foreign missionaries here who need help and gets all of them out of their seats and they come out to organize some things for us. We spoke with the main boss guy there and he actually spoke English so that was cool. So we are fully inundated with opportunities for charity work here in MB and are working-out the specifics of what hours we want to work at the old-folks home and on Christmas day all the service we want to do. Super stoked! The Lord really will provide a way for us to accomplish what he wants of us.

We have been so blessed here and I am so excited to see this place grow in the knowledge of the Savior. This is such a special time, and I am so grateful I have the opportunity to give the gift of my efforts to my Savior for His birthday. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and for my wonderful family and upbringing with these truths, those things I have realized are my greatest prize and treasure. Serving others truly helps us understand the Savior's love. The best gift we can give others is our witness and example through our actions that we know that can taste the sweetness of everlasting redemption and life. The Savior, Jesus Christ is our grandest and most valuable gift, the effects of His life and His death are everlasting and infinite because although we are imperfect, we have the door opened to us to receive all that our Heavenly Father wants for us. It is only our choice to follow and accept His ways. I love you all and keep y'all in my prayers :)

Veselé Vanoce!!!! Merry Christmas!

Mladadadadaa I'm BolesLavin' it

This has been quite the interesting week! We have already seen so many miracles, it's ridiculous! We have 5 new investigators! That would be a miracle in Brno, and it is DEFINITELY a miracle here! I already just adore the people here. It is a bit chilly but that's okay, walking keeps you warm and awake!!! It is a much smaller town than Brno which is cool, but very different. The Jicin branch is AWESOME! I already love all the members, while they may be small in numbers, the spirit is so strong and I feel right at home, I know I am meant to be here. So specifics on the area: Mlada Boleslav once was fairly booming when communism ended, this city and Jicin were growing a lot, then they tried to combine the congregations into one branch and because of some drama and other factors, they lost a lot of the members. There are some who decided they would rather go to Praha than to Jicin. So we are the first sisters to ever live here and our job is to reactivate everyone, and also build the branch...no pressure. We are inviting them all to the Christmas Party and serving them in any way we can. It is very much about relationships and trust here, I am coming to find out. We walk everywhere here! I love it, if I can't run then it's the next best thing. We have to travel a lot though to Jicin for district meetings and church so we have an hour on the bus with very windy roads, and I try to be productive with my time by reading or writing but I still get carsick, so that's no bueno. 

Her new apartment in Mlada Boleslav

I am so glad to hear about Devin's wedding, please send me some pics, please! I can't believe Cassidy is 15...that's weirdy. So glad she had a great birthday! And it'll be good to watch all those movies when I get back together! Glad they are good though :) I am actually really enjoying the snow...weirdly enough. I have always hated the cold but I think that is one of the blessings for me is that it doesn't really phase me here, no need to send those boots, Cass should enjoy them or just save them so I have good ones for when I return. 

Cassidy said she hadn't gotten her card in the mail yet, that is weird.... I sent y'all a card like a couple days after the first one :( I hope it didn't get lost. I am super excited for Christmas! It is going to be a very different Christmas for me, but amazing nonetheless. We are trying to find places we can do service here, soup-kitchens, the hospital, etc. where they will let us do service. 

I think I will be much more spiritually prepared this year, my relationship with my Savior has grown exponentially here. I see the difference it makes not only in my life, but in others' and that is the most precious gift. I love the holiday season, you are right mom, people's hearts do soften everywhere this time of year. We are going to Prague this week for a baptism of one of Sister Hicken's investigators, so I can check if I got mail then. Court, I did get your cd's (we don't have a cd player anymore :( ) but we are loving the hotpads! We definitely needed them! We have been baking cookies for the less-active members and when I say "we", I definitely mean Sister Hicken. I would just screw them up haa. But I do the presentation part of it,yay! my favorite part. Our talents combined will reactivate the world!!! mwahaha! :)  Its been awesome with Sister Hicken, she went to Utah State, fun-fact. I will have pictures next week!

Scripture of the week: Ether 12:4

 

 4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which ^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in ^fgood works, being led to ^gglorify God.

Where????? (Transfers Dec. 1, 2013)

Kay so President finally calls us on Saturday night, we are waiting on pins and needles, and had just left from our weekly district language study time (we hoped the calls would be during it) but no, we are on the tram back, our phone is verging on death and I am FREAKING OUT. I felt like I was going to leave but where to? So the phone rings, Sister Cooper answers it and looks completely stunned she says a buncha "uhhuhs" then as she is handing the phone to Sister Steglich says that both of us were leaving and she was training...oh boy. I thought that they would stay, Sister Steglich's face was priceless as she puts the phone to her ear. 

 

Beautiful Christmas lights in Brno. 'I'm going to miss it here!"

 

 

She is going to Ostrava. I take it next...President tells me that he is sending me to Mlada Boleslav......as I am wracking my noggin for who is serving there or where that is, he says, you will be opening it with Sister Hicken. woah baby. thats crazy. I erupt into hysterical laughter. Basically since then I have been having a fit of nervous giggling. So after a crazy morning going from Brno to Prague, taking a bus here, having a meeting with our landlady to work out specifics for our new apartment... we are now in Mlada Boleslav. Really rolls off the tongue right? Haha. 

 

Meet Sister Hicken! This is my new companion in my new area.

 

 

So there used to be a really great branch here, but awhile ago they tried to combine with the Jičin branch and the members didn't like it so basically we are reactivating everyone and finding all new investigators. wooooo!!!!! I already know we will see miracles, I already love it here. We are over this city as sisters, then Elder Cezik is in Jicin with Elder Weyland (from my mtc group! :) and then in Liberec Elder Romrell and Scherf (AGAIN!) its crazy. I am so excited about the work here. Sister Hicken is phenomenal and we are going to work so well together. I feel honored that President would trust us with this and I won't let him down! I love you all I don't have much time to email today as much as I would like to but I read all of your emails and thank you all for your encouragement, I promise to respond asap. I love this work and I know the gospel is true! <3