Sister Brimhall, Vladimir, me.
January 2, 2012:
God is very much a part of this work
First off, Happy “novy rok” everyone! I can’t believe that it's 2012! That's INSANE. This week was a good one. An investigator named Vladimir was baptized this Saturday, and it was fantastic! I love Vladimir. He calls me the girl with the goat, because when I started talking to him a while ago, I showed him my pictures, and he just LOVED Peanut, hahah. Everyone here just loves Peanut. In fact, as a side note, that investigator whose house we went to for Christmas asked me on Sunday if I could bring her a picture of Peanut, hahahaha, oh my word. Sister Brimhall just loses it when people ask, because she doesn’t get why EVERYONE always asks about my “kozel.” Hahah, oh my gosh, anyway, so Peanut is quite the missionary.
God is very much a part of this work
First off, Happy “novy rok” everyone! I can’t believe that it's 2012! That's INSANE. This week was a good one. An investigator named Vladimir was baptized this Saturday, and it was fantastic! I love Vladimir. He calls me the girl with the goat, because when I started talking to him a while ago, I showed him my pictures, and he just LOVED Peanut, hahah. Everyone here just loves Peanut. In fact, as a side note, that investigator whose house we went to for Christmas asked me on Sunday if I could bring her a picture of Peanut, hahahaha, oh my word. Sister Brimhall just loses it when people ask, because she doesn’t get why EVERYONE always asks about my “kozel.” Hahah, oh my gosh, anyway, so Peanut is quite the missionary.
Anyway, so Vladimir is an older man who started investigating [the gospel] last transfer. He is walking proof that this gospel is true, and that it changes lives, starting on the inside and ending up on the outside. I love Vladimir so much! As he started reading the Book of Mormon, something happened. He cut his hair, he wore slacks to church, and he just looked SO MUCH happier! It was such a drastic change. It was such a pleasure and a blessing to be able to watch this man's life change. It is insane how much this gospel affects people. Anyway, so Vladimir had a baptismal date, so the missionaries got the interview thing going, and Friday night they told us that he was indeed getting baptized… the next morning! So I started calling everyone and their DOG to get them to come to the baptism.
Me, and the last two Brno baptisms :) Vladimir and Vladimir!
I also asked what was on the program for the baptism, and no offense, but 19-year-old boys tend to forget to plan certain things... So I ended up promising to sing at the baptism and be in charge of the refreshments. It made me so happy to be able to use my talents and help out though. Because people only get baptized once. So I think it's really important to make every baptismal service really special for that person. Anyway, so we went home, and I started baking like crazy, and Sister Brimhall found a song in the hymnbook she could play. I asked Elder Odell if he'd sing with me, and he's a sweetheart so he agreed. We got the font fixed somehow so we didn’t have to boil water this time, thank goodness, and everything turned out beautifully. We got two of our investigators to come, and we had a really cool experience with one of them. So anyway, as we were getting everything ready, Vladimir showed up in a SUIT. He looked fantastic and SO excited. He is really strong, because he's been smoking for 40 years, so it was really hard for him to quit.
Ginger cookies I made for the baptism.
Anyway, we snapped some pictures and got things ready. His baptism was beautiful. People gave their talks, and then we got up to sing. Elder Odell started, and then I came in singing by myself. It was the neatest thing, too, because Heavenly Father totally opened up my vocal chords, and even though I haven’t practiced in a long time, my voice just came out clear and beautiful and strong. We had decided to sing "Nearer, My God, to Thee". The members that came all mingled and ate my ginger cookies and congratulated Vladimir afterwards, and the whole thing was just so beautiful! The happiest thing is to see people using the church building and mingling and there just being things that are happening. I love that. SO. Vladimir is a member now, and man, am I happy about it. He is wonderful.
Singing at the baptism this week.
I do know that God answers prayers. He answered ours when we prayed that [an investigator] would find her answer. He answered mine when I prayed that while I sang He could strengthen me to do my personal best with the little I could put in and to use me to bring in the Spirit. And everything was answered. He answered the missionaries’ prayers who prayed that Vladimir would have strength to stop smoking so that he could be baptized. Heavenly Father is very much a part of this work. He loves His children, and He knows their concerns. I love that. I love it! We really do need God. And the sooner we realize that the happier we can become.
Planning by candlelight.
Funny things that happened this week... our washer had MAJOR issues. Aaahaha, ok so one morning Sister B started a load of laundry and then went into the shower. I was journaling, and then all of a sudden all the lights went out. So I went to the main breaker and plopped them back on. It happened again a few minutes after I reset the washer... and anyway we couldn’t figure out what was going on until the next day when I realized that the washer probably had a short in it, and that when we started it the power would go out. I was right. But that night we planned by candle light, because we were sick of playing with the breaker. Way funny. And then one day we had cleaning checks this week, and a Senior Couple from Prague came to do them. They looked at everything and then went to our freezer... I said, "NO, DON"T OPEN IT. IT SMELLS LIKE A FOOT!!" Ahahah, so of course they did. And trust me, that thing REEKS. He opened it and realized that the insides of the rubber things in there were probably molding. He was right. It was SICK. SO MUCH black mold was just piled up in the cracks. Oh my gosh, I was going to die. Ahahah, so this morning Sister B and I went at it with sticks and bleach and toothbrushes, and we were frozen solid because all the windows had to be open. Oh man. And then the washer started molding, too, since we left it shut after it had an attitude problem, so that stunk like sulfur, and the whole things was just nasty. But hilarious. Makes for a good story.
Our cabinet full of Books of Mormon in various languages.
Sister Brimhall and I have so much fun together. I love her. She wants to open up Slovakia for the Sisters, since there aren’t any in there right now, and I said that I'll come with her with my EU passport, and we will take over the world. Maybe we should tell the Mission President our plans... haha, or maybe I should just stick to learning Czech first! :)
Well, family and friends, Happy New Year. I read page 152 of “Preach My Gospel” this week and made some goals for myself this year. This WHOLE year I get to dedicate to the Lord. Man, I am lucky! Thank you for all the support. Thank you for all the prayers and everything. I love knowing I am so supported. God loves you all! He hears your prayers. And I love you all! Happy 2012!
S laskou,
Sestra Izatt
P.S. Explanation for the picture on the left:
My finished "Muumi" advent calendar from Mummi and Morfar :). I loved it, and then after Christmas I cut out all of the Moomin pictures and made a cover out of them for my little Book of Mormon I carry around. There were exactly enough pictures to cover the box I made for it. Fantastic!
S laskou,
Sestra Izatt
P.S. Explanation for the picture on the left:
My finished "Muumi" advent calendar from Mummi and Morfar :). I loved it, and then after Christmas I cut out all of the Moomin pictures and made a cover out of them for my little Book of Mormon I carry around. There were exactly enough pictures to cover the box I made for it. Fantastic!