Sister Hegnerova with pictures of her parents and her childhood. I asked her to tell her life story.
March 5, 2012:
Hey why are you so happy?
Oh my lovely dumplings,
Hello again! It is full blown MARCH! Loooove it! And guess what? Transfers are this next week! I wonder if I'll stay since I've been here for 6 months now. I don’t want to leave, because we've just pruned and toiled and built our little area into something wonderful. Brno is growing, and although we haven't seen baptisms yet, they are on the horizon. I love these people! You ALL need to come to Brno and I guess just the Czech Republic in general, haha, I love everyone so much! This week was amazing. You know in my setting apart blessing [as a missionary] when it said that I would be the missionary members would finally trust to bring their friends to? It's happening. I'm so blessed. We visited so many people this week, and Sister Brimhall said, “I have never seen this many member referrals ever or even heard of this many”. I just feel so humbled to know that God really is in charge of this work. He is watching over us. He knows what will happen and what we need to do and where we need to be. We just need to align ourselves and our wills with His. I love that concept. I love that someone is always there for us.
Hey why are you so happy?
Oh my lovely dumplings,
Hello again! It is full blown MARCH! Loooove it! And guess what? Transfers are this next week! I wonder if I'll stay since I've been here for 6 months now. I don’t want to leave, because we've just pruned and toiled and built our little area into something wonderful. Brno is growing, and although we haven't seen baptisms yet, they are on the horizon. I love these people! You ALL need to come to Brno and I guess just the Czech Republic in general, haha, I love everyone so much! This week was amazing. You know in my setting apart blessing [as a missionary] when it said that I would be the missionary members would finally trust to bring their friends to? It's happening. I'm so blessed. We visited so many people this week, and Sister Brimhall said, “I have never seen this many member referrals ever or even heard of this many”. I just feel so humbled to know that God really is in charge of this work. He is watching over us. He knows what will happen and what we need to do and where we need to be. We just need to align ourselves and our wills with His. I love that concept. I love that someone is always there for us.
Picture on the left: Me getting antsy during planning in the morning and tying my scarf around my head to think better. Haha, I just remembered how Mommy wore a sock on her head. Like mother like daughter. :)
This morning I got into Jacob (I'm trying to read through everything again on my mission), and in the first chapter, I believe, it talks about how Jacob works so hard "for Christ's sake" and so that people can have the knowledge of their Redeemer. In Enos I love how Enos prays his heart out just so that God will covenant with him to keep the records safe so that his future generations will have the chance of knowing who Christ is, the gospel, and to be saved. Jacob also toils so much so that people can have the chance to know. Jacob also says that he has to work hard so that the blood of the people and the sins of them won’t be upon his garments. That made me think of the mission I am on and how I really do have to work my hardest. I don’t ever want to see my Heavenly Father and Him say to me, “Why didn’t you work hard? I had all of these people lined up and you didn’t find them, because you didn’t sacrifice enough or care enough to find them?” It's something that really hit me. There is always more to do. More people to meet, more phone calls to make, more records to keep. But it's all worth it. Worth every second. I still have so much to learn. I struggle with using all of my personal study time on my investigators' questions and lessons. Sometimes my mind gets sidetracked, and I start reading some random scripture, and it just leads me to something else and... haha yep. So that's a goal I'm going to work on starting tomorrow but also this upcoming transfer. I love that life goes in cycles. We have days and weeks and months and years, so that we can keep trying to be better and be making new goals. Love that. And Christ makes it all possible. Love that even more.
This morning I got into Jacob (I'm trying to read through everything again on my mission), and in the first chapter, I believe, it talks about how Jacob works so hard "for Christ's sake" and so that people can have the knowledge of their Redeemer. In Enos I love how Enos prays his heart out just so that God will covenant with him to keep the records safe so that his future generations will have the chance of knowing who Christ is, the gospel, and to be saved. Jacob also toils so much so that people can have the chance to know. Jacob also says that he has to work hard so that the blood of the people and the sins of them won’t be upon his garments. That made me think of the mission I am on and how I really do have to work my hardest. I don’t ever want to see my Heavenly Father and Him say to me, “Why didn’t you work hard? I had all of these people lined up and you didn’t find them, because you didn’t sacrifice enough or care enough to find them?” It's something that really hit me. There is always more to do. More people to meet, more phone calls to make, more records to keep. But it's all worth it. Worth every second. I still have so much to learn. I struggle with using all of my personal study time on my investigators' questions and lessons. Sometimes my mind gets sidetracked, and I start reading some random scripture, and it just leads me to something else and... haha yep. So that's a goal I'm going to work on starting tomorrow but also this upcoming transfer. I love that life goes in cycles. We have days and weeks and months and years, so that we can keep trying to be better and be making new goals. Love that. And Christ makes it all possible. Love that even more.
So this week. Man, this week was tiring :) But we set high goals, and we achieved them. I mean anything is possible when you keep the Lord in mind. I love how hard Sister Brimhall works. You would love her. She gets the job done. I have loved having her as a companion the last four months, and I'll be sad when we get transferred in just a week here! And Sister Smith is great too. Heavenly Father loves us all equally. And I love that. Makes you love everyone else around you so much!
I love these people!
This week we had a really cool experience with our investigator. Oh, and last week she stayed for choir after church, and when she went to her [relatives’ house, people] said, “Hey why are you so happy?” and she said, "Because I was singing with the Mormons!" and aaah I love that she recognizes that that made her happy. [She] was at Church again yesterday, and she is just darling. Her progress in the gospel is such a miracle, and it is so humbling to be a part of something so grandiose. I love her, and I love being a missionary! We are meeting with her again tonight, and she is going to be learning the Word of Wisdom! [= health law] She's already heard a little about it luckily, because she has come to Church :), blessings.
We taught [our other investigator the law of] chastity. He unfortunately has no good examples to go off of. It was awful for my heart to realize what this world sometimes gives people. He said that no one here really gets married, and those that do it never works out. And he's right, according to the world's numbers marriage seems scary and somewhat pointless. But when you put marriage in the lines of the gospel, it is something to not only want but something that you realize can be the biggest blessing in the world! It's so great how teaching people these principles increases your own personal testimony SO MUCH. So we gave [him] the Family Proclamation, and he read it before Church. And we had a wonderful lesson. I remember wanting to say something, but when I opened my mouth something totally different came out. It was so cool. The Spirit told me what to say without me even realizing it. I explained that we are all a part of God's family. We are all brothers and sisters and that is why being a part of the Church is such a blessing. I told him that I've seen him become happier as he comes to Church, and that he's even said that being alone is not good for a person, that being with the Church is better for him. I then said that families are just like that. They make us EVEN happier. They give us a place, a purpose, a goal, a meaning. And it was so incredible to watch the defiance fade from his eyes as the Spirit spoke to his heart. I immediately realized that I had been guided to say what he needed to hear. I hadn't made that connection on my own. But God knew what [he] needed to hear. It is something I can’t describe. This work is so real. God is so aware of everyone and everything they are going through. We are teaching [him] at a member family's home this week. They are beautiful happy people with three beautiful children. They have the Family Proclamation on their wall, and they have been sealed in the temple through their parents’ sealing. It's wonderful. [Our investigator’s] heart is already changing. I can see that. Ah! I wish you could all be here and experience it. I'm going to have so many stories for you all! And a lifetime to lean on the things I have learned and will yet learn. Thank you all for supporting this dream of mine. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Surprised by the pizzas!
Funny thing this week: we go and sing on the town square twice a week as a District (unless you have lessons then you don’t go). It's great. Anyway, before we do that we go out to eat sometimes, and I recommended this Italian place I went to with my first Sister Smith. We get there, and they have this lunch menu that says ‘soup and pizza for eighty crowns’ or something, so it's like 4 bucks (food here is cheap), and so we all ordered that. The pizza said it came with fries. Little did we know.... out came TWELVE full sized pizzas with fries cooked ONTO them. Aaaahaaaa, I was DYING. And I was laughing so hard, because I had just talked this place UP! Oh goodness. Gotta love it. We all felt gross afterwards, but that's like a 12-year-old's DREAM. Haha, good times.
Brother and Sister Martin with me.
Today we are going to get knighted again by that lady in the ward up at the castle.
The gospel really does help us get through things. And it's true, that the knowledge of God helps us take from situations rather than just going through them. It's hard on me when the people I love the most don't know what a treasure this is.
Keep praying for my Czech skills. They go through phases. I miss all of you so much. I'm SO glad you got to go to Arizona [Mother and Father]. Andy took me there too (that ice cream place) and you're right, it's really good! So I'm glad you got to experience that. I am glad that there are so many happy things in this world. Like a really good ice cream sandwich in Arizona sunshine.
I love you all!!!
Sestra Satu
The gospel really does help us get through things. And it's true, that the knowledge of God helps us take from situations rather than just going through them. It's hard on me when the people I love the most don't know what a treasure this is.
Keep praying for my Czech skills. They go through phases. I miss all of you so much. I'm SO glad you got to go to Arizona [Mother and Father]. Andy took me there too (that ice cream place) and you're right, it's really good! So I'm glad you got to experience that. I am glad that there are so many happy things in this world. Like a really good ice cream sandwich in Arizona sunshine.
I love you all!!!
Sestra Satu