Freedom Writer (A missionary's perspective on July 4th)

Here's the lovely e-mail this week from my favorite missionary.

Guess who got to watch a firework show on 4th of July... spoiler: me! It made me miss Texas crazy bad though!! (And the Oklahoma property!) If you squinted your eyes, turned your head, craned your neck, patted your stomach, and jumped up and down a little, you could faintly hear Kelly Clarkson performing at the BYU stadium from the MTC campus. Too bad the excited chatter drowned it out -_- I would have liked to have heard a little "Stronger" as a pump-up anthem, but oh well. I really missed Dad's 4th of July playlist, with Al Greenwood and Toby Keith, etc... just not the same.

We also got to watch a movie. I know, we watched a REAL movie. Independence Day...JK. We watched 17 Miracles... which was really good. I have never been much of a movie person, I would have rather been given a nap time or something if I could have chosen but whatevs.

I must just say how grateful I am for this country! Freedom is a beautiful thing, and I think we tend to take it for granted. I love that our Heavenly Father is a God of freedom who gives us the free agency to choose for ourselves. But I think something important to remember is that although we are given the opportunity to choose and act for ourselves, that does not mean we are justified in making incorrect choices. So many people misinterpret or choose to believe that because Christ atoned for our sins and through His grace we are made "free," that that rids us of any personal responsibility. Just because our fore fathers fought to free this country, doesn't mean we get off scotch-free without need to continue on the standard of Liberty. I love the goodness of this country, a nation founded on Godly principles and ethics. I know that we can still have a bright future if we will carry the same torch of righteousness that those who fought so valiantly to attain these rights, had. Okay, off my soap-box. This week has been a toughy... I felt like I wasn't making any progress with the language and just wanting to smack my head against walls (I refrained, no worries.)

But I had an Edna Mode moment and just thought, "Pull yourself together!!" and just trudged through. Sometimes that’s all you can do. We have been teaching an investigator "Krystof" for the past few weeks and this past week we taught him about the Savior being our Good Shepherd and how "we are all of one fold and one shepherd." I believe that’s in John 10:16 or something. Then we talked to him about taking on the name of Christ and asked him if he would be willing to prepare himself for baptism and drumroll.....he said yes! Granted, we're in the MTC, would they really say no? (Insert Courtney’s note: these are “mock” investigators, in the Czech Republic, where many people are agnostic or atheist, folks might not be as willing to listen to a missionary, let alone be baptized into a Church bearing the name of Jesus Christ).

I only have 3 weeks left here!! Ahh!! Time is flying right now! This week I hope to be a Host, one of the missionaries who helps the newbies with their luggage and welcomes them in :) You have to be picked though, so fingers and arms crossed! I’m a tad antsy to get to Czech already! Thank you for all the support I have been getting, I love you all!!!

And here are all of her pictures that she e-mailed with the descriptions as captions.

Fireworks!

I thought this looked cool (Courtney's note: it does!)

Guess who I found? Sister Wendy Walton. She is going to the Philippines and it is wonderful seeing a familiar face around here

I love to see the temple! The Polskis left and we had 2 new groups come in. It feels a little strange being the oldies, but I love it.

Meet District C! It may be bad, but I always think of the Hunger Games when they talk about Districts. I can just hear them saying  "May the odds be ever in your favor. "And they are. Cuz  we're on the Lord's side.

Sister P., from San Antonio. She is an awesome opera singer!!!!!

Sister H#1., me and Sister H#2. Sister H#2 is from West Virginia and was in Marching Band. She is also awesome.

And this is the lovely Sister P., a gem. I love her. She is a solo sister going to Bulgaria, has a phenomenal voice, is going into linguistics, and loves to do zumba with her mom.

Sister P. again. Put this on the Blog so her mommy can get it

What's praying in a skirt if you don't have it perfectly puddled in a circle around you? #youngatheart

Celebrating a month in the mission field!!! I know you may think "appearance of evil" right? well... it wasn't intended to look that way. Sister Marks had a bottle of Martinelli and after I figured out how to open it (quite the accomplishment I'd say) we poured a little into everyone's cup/empty water bottle and even had a toast. It was all in good fun and right before bed, ergo my cheetah-print PJ pants. Love these girls!!!