November 24, 2011:
By choosing we grow
Hi everyone!
I know that this is coming on a random day! We had Preparation Day changed this week due to a specialized training that we had on Monday, and so Preparation Day got switched to Thanksgiving! We are all in the internet cafe emailing now, and then we will head over to our apartment building at the Francis apartment and have a Thanksgiving dinner! Sister Brimhall and I made a ton of mashed potatoes this morning, and lemme tell you. I didn’t skimp on the butter or the milk. Sister Brimhall kept telling me it was enough, but listen, on Thanksgiving, we gotta party. So we now have AMAZING mashed potatoes. They are so creamy and yummy. And we even left the skins in. Yummmm. Sister Brimhall agrees. I kept seeing her steal some out of the pot. Can’t wait. Sister Francis has been hunting for a turkey all week. She finally found these tiny little things the size of a duck, and so we will eat those Czech turkeys. Hahaha! So anyway, hi everyone!
This week has been crazy...
Oh! I got my coat! It got here to the Czech AND to Brno via Prague in TEN DAYS! ROCKIN’. I am so happy. I have never been so cold in my life! Daddy do you remember Germany? Yeah. I am DYING!!! Everyone yells at me because I'm supposed to be some superstar since we are from Finland etc., but I have no fat! Time to start eating more chocolate? Hmmm.... :)
So back to this week! The Christmas lights are coming out! I didn't think I'd ever say this on my mission, because I am loving it so much, but goodness when there is American Christmas music being blasted I start missing everyone and home! I'm so lucky to be here, but sometimes I miss how the house smells and all the funny stuffed animals on the stairs and Daddy getting so excited about finding a Christmas tree and having it balance itself in the living room. And I miss Mommy’s gingerbread in the kitchen and how excited she gets about making 20 kinds of casseroles for Christmas. It's the best! But hey, Christmas here is going to be fine. Missionaries get to open their packages together, so I guess in that way they’re going to try to make us feel more like a family, hahahah, but nothing beats being home for Christmas!
I know that this is coming on a random day! We had Preparation Day changed this week due to a specialized training that we had on Monday, and so Preparation Day got switched to Thanksgiving! We are all in the internet cafe emailing now, and then we will head over to our apartment building at the Francis apartment and have a Thanksgiving dinner! Sister Brimhall and I made a ton of mashed potatoes this morning, and lemme tell you. I didn’t skimp on the butter or the milk. Sister Brimhall kept telling me it was enough, but listen, on Thanksgiving, we gotta party. So we now have AMAZING mashed potatoes. They are so creamy and yummy. And we even left the skins in. Yummmm. Sister Brimhall agrees. I kept seeing her steal some out of the pot. Can’t wait. Sister Francis has been hunting for a turkey all week. She finally found these tiny little things the size of a duck, and so we will eat those Czech turkeys. Hahaha! So anyway, hi everyone!
This week has been crazy...
Oh! I got my coat! It got here to the Czech AND to Brno via Prague in TEN DAYS! ROCKIN’. I am so happy. I have never been so cold in my life! Daddy do you remember Germany? Yeah. I am DYING!!! Everyone yells at me because I'm supposed to be some superstar since we are from Finland etc., but I have no fat! Time to start eating more chocolate? Hmmm.... :)
So back to this week! The Christmas lights are coming out! I didn't think I'd ever say this on my mission, because I am loving it so much, but goodness when there is American Christmas music being blasted I start missing everyone and home! I'm so lucky to be here, but sometimes I miss how the house smells and all the funny stuffed animals on the stairs and Daddy getting so excited about finding a Christmas tree and having it balance itself in the living room. And I miss Mommy’s gingerbread in the kitchen and how excited she gets about making 20 kinds of casseroles for Christmas. It's the best! But hey, Christmas here is going to be fine. Missionaries get to open their packages together, so I guess in that way they’re going to try to make us feel more like a family, hahahah, but nothing beats being home for Christmas!
Ok, so that wasn't even what I wanted to talk about, aaaah sorry. OK, so this week was CRAZY. Elder Francis started feeling REALLY sick last week. I knew something was up with his heart when I went over there. His arms felt heavy, and his chest hurt. I was so worried for him, but they kept saying he could maybe sleep it off. Finally someone called an ambulance, and they took him away. The EKGs came back normal, which was odd to me, but made me happy to hear, but it was odd since all the signs of a heart attack were there. Then he had some ultrasounds for his liver or something weird and had to wait for stuff for hours, and anyway FINALLY they realized that it was in fact his heart, and he needed two stents. Because they had waited so long he has heart damage, but they put him in for surgery, and he is back home now. He feels so much better and looks so much better, but he is resting. We are so lucky things went well, prayers are answered! Elder Francis adds so much to this mission. And it was especially hard for Sister Francis, because he found out about his heart and that he needed immediate surgery on the anniversary of her first husband’s death. We tried to comfort her at her house that night, man. Brutal. Everything was fine though, and now she is happily cooking duck-sized turkeys, and Elder Francis is probably sitting on the couch cracking jokes as usual. So, today I am grateful for the senior couples. They add SO MUCH to missions. Mommy and Daddy you better start planning on going when Daddy retires! You heard conference. YOU’D BE SO GOOD AND ARE SO NEEDED. Just a thought ;).
So that man that contacted me at the train station came to church and sat there and kept leaning over to Sister Brimhall and saying how good this church feels. He's been researching other churches and has attended their services, but in his words, “They just didn't feel good." But he said, “This feels so good." And then during Sacrament Meeting he leaned over to Sister Brimhall and said, "Can I join this church." Bahahahah, she died. Of course he can join! She explained how he needs to learn some things first, but that she would be HAPPY to help him join the church :). ‘Tis God's church after all! Everyone is welcome. We are just here to help them make the necessary changes and to help them gain a testimony of the truthfulness of it all. So we taught him after church with a member because he is Hungarian, [and] he understands Czech and speaks Slovak, so the member understood him fine. I am of no use at his lessons, but I just bear testimony when I feel like it's appropriate. God is in charge. Hopefully we can get him to understand how wonderful of a thing he's come across and how worth it it's going to be for him to dedicate his life to Christ. That's what we do after all when we are baptized; we bear His name forever. I LOVE THAT. Love it. It guides everything I do.
So that man that contacted me at the train station came to church and sat there and kept leaning over to Sister Brimhall and saying how good this church feels. He's been researching other churches and has attended their services, but in his words, “They just didn't feel good." But he said, “This feels so good." And then during Sacrament Meeting he leaned over to Sister Brimhall and said, "Can I join this church." Bahahahah, she died. Of course he can join! She explained how he needs to learn some things first, but that she would be HAPPY to help him join the church :). ‘Tis God's church after all! Everyone is welcome. We are just here to help them make the necessary changes and to help them gain a testimony of the truthfulness of it all. So we taught him after church with a member because he is Hungarian, [and] he understands Czech and speaks Slovak, so the member understood him fine. I am of no use at his lessons, but I just bear testimony when I feel like it's appropriate. God is in charge. Hopefully we can get him to understand how wonderful of a thing he's come across and how worth it it's going to be for him to dedicate his life to Christ. That's what we do after all when we are baptized; we bear His name forever. I LOVE THAT. Love it. It guides everything I do.
This past week was HARD for me language wise. I feel so stupid all the time, and I hate it! Sister Brimhall is a sweetheart and tries to get me to speak more, but I was getting frustrated, because a conversation would be going on, and I would be trying to follow it, and randomly she'd turn to me and… I wouldn’t have a clue what was going on anymore, because the conversation had been going on so long. Part of working with a companion is getting to know how they work and how you can best work together. I explained that I didn’t like being told what to do, since that somehow took the Spirit away, and I didn’t like not being a part of the conversation. She understood, because she is a sweetheart. But we still didn’t know what to do about it. Finally I realized that the best way I can feel like I can speak etc. is when she leaves small pauses before just going into something, so that I can say things and bear testimony. Sister B said that silence is something she has a really hard time with, but is something she's actually working on, since we all know that silence is a good thing. I mean it means the Spirit is there, and it is a time where the person can think about what's been said. I always try to imagine my mission as always being a three-some. It's us and then the Holy Ghost. He needs to always be with us. And if He is with us, He needs time to testify as well. Those silences are the perfect time for Him to testify I think. Just let the Spirit guide the lesson. I’m God's tool right now. I'm working for Him, I am not telling the Spirit when to testify, I wait for Him to tell me what to say and do. And when the Spirit is there, things go so much smoother and easier, it's wonderful. I am speaking more now because I can, and Heavenly Father helps me. Learning languages has NEVER been my forte, and we only get an hour of study a day. An hour is NOTHING. But I try to study throughout the day, if the person I'm sitting next to on a tram etc. isn't interested. I hope it pays off!
I bear testimony that when you open your mouth, if you've prepared yourself and God needs you to say something, it'll come out. He is our best friend, and He wants more than anything to have His children return to Him. So, miracle of the week :).
The Francises have really worked hard to set up a good program for the youth here, so our new focus is to help the youth. There are SO MANY [less] active youth that we are wanting to contact etc. and bring back. Also yesterday we contacted mostly youth and had SO MUCH success with that. So we will see how that goes!
Questions for you all:
When was an experience you had when you really felt like God answered your prayer? Or when you were praying and you felt that He was real?
How did you gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon was true? (Mother, Father, Andrew... anyone else who reads this) How did you know? Did you get a feeling? Or did you watch what it did for your life or what?
How do you feel the Holy Ghost?
Oh guess what, so I finished the Book of Mormon cover to cover last week! It was fantastic, and the Ensign [magazine] all about the Book of Mormon is amazing. I might steal the apartment's copy...
I bear testimony that when you open your mouth, if you've prepared yourself and God needs you to say something, it'll come out. He is our best friend, and He wants more than anything to have His children return to Him. So, miracle of the week :).
The Francises have really worked hard to set up a good program for the youth here, so our new focus is to help the youth. There are SO MANY [less] active youth that we are wanting to contact etc. and bring back. Also yesterday we contacted mostly youth and had SO MUCH success with that. So we will see how that goes!
Questions for you all:
When was an experience you had when you really felt like God answered your prayer? Or when you were praying and you felt that He was real?
How did you gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon was true? (Mother, Father, Andrew... anyone else who reads this) How did you know? Did you get a feeling? Or did you watch what it did for your life or what?
How do you feel the Holy Ghost?
Oh guess what, so I finished the Book of Mormon cover to cover last week! It was fantastic, and the Ensign [magazine] all about the Book of Mormon is amazing. I might steal the apartment's copy...
Oh, funny stories about this week. I came home from church, and there was a tree growing out of our sink drain. I DIED. Time for some Draino I think! There was soil in there, and a seed had sprouted. Oh goodness.
Also, my bed broke this week. Snapped right in half. I laughed so hard. And then I slept on the floor. Elder Francis is a fantastic man though and came and fixed it right up the next morning. The furniture in our apartments is CHOICE lemme tell you...
I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving. Two Thanksgivings [ago] I was in Finland, writing a blog post. Last Thanksgiving I was at home taking care of the house with Becca and had dinner at Jess and Jon's, and this and next Thanksgiving I will be here. Let's have an awesome Thanksgiving in two years, haha, I miss those big ol’ family ones. Soon enough. Soon enough. Life goes WAY too fast.
Yesterday I was thinking about life. I realized that sometimes, when we are being really good, God raises the bar, and it feels like His spirit isn't with you. Which makes you feel really crummy, but makes you work even harder to be happy. And in the process you grow and get up to the bar He's raised spiritually. Then, it happens again. Because we are here to grow. God never meant for us to just chill and somehow be completely happy and perfected. Being perfected takes a TON of effort, and growing hurts sometimes. Really pains even. But you know what? Life is always going to be hard. We signed up for that! Because we understood the plan before this life. We probably understood our potential there [better] when we were in God's presence than we do now. WE knew who God was, and we wanted to be with Him forever. Here though, there are two paths we can take. We can either have hard times, and then lean on Satan who will always let us down, and still suffer, or suffer a little bit, focus on Christ, feel the hope He gives, use the Atonement, and grow from the pain. It's our choice! And I am so grateful I have that choice. Because by choosing, we grow. Like Daddy used to always tell me: by not choosing something you've already chosen. It's true. So everyone, buck up and follow Christ! He is SO worth it. And God loves you more than you know.
Alright, till Monday loves!
-Sister Izatt
I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving. Two Thanksgivings [ago] I was in Finland, writing a blog post. Last Thanksgiving I was at home taking care of the house with Becca and had dinner at Jess and Jon's, and this and next Thanksgiving I will be here. Let's have an awesome Thanksgiving in two years, haha, I miss those big ol’ family ones. Soon enough. Soon enough. Life goes WAY too fast.
Yesterday I was thinking about life. I realized that sometimes, when we are being really good, God raises the bar, and it feels like His spirit isn't with you. Which makes you feel really crummy, but makes you work even harder to be happy. And in the process you grow and get up to the bar He's raised spiritually. Then, it happens again. Because we are here to grow. God never meant for us to just chill and somehow be completely happy and perfected. Being perfected takes a TON of effort, and growing hurts sometimes. Really pains even. But you know what? Life is always going to be hard. We signed up for that! Because we understood the plan before this life. We probably understood our potential there [better] when we were in God's presence than we do now. WE knew who God was, and we wanted to be with Him forever. Here though, there are two paths we can take. We can either have hard times, and then lean on Satan who will always let us down, and still suffer, or suffer a little bit, focus on Christ, feel the hope He gives, use the Atonement, and grow from the pain. It's our choice! And I am so grateful I have that choice. Because by choosing, we grow. Like Daddy used to always tell me: by not choosing something you've already chosen. It's true. So everyone, buck up and follow Christ! He is SO worth it. And God loves you more than you know.
Alright, till Monday loves!
-Sister Izatt