Click on the first picture below to see pictures enlarged as a slide show and with captions./Klikkaa ensimmäisestä kuvasta nähdäksesi kuvat isompana kuvasarjana selityksineen. Klikkaamalla kuvan oikeasta yläkulmasta pääset seuraavaan kuvaan.
Week 2 in the Czech (September 12, 2011):
Hedgehogs and (basketball) Jimmer
Hi Family and Friends!
HI! So this week we taught a lady who had rats in her apartment. Pet ones. She wouldn’t get baptized until one of the Elders with a rat phobia held them. Anyway, so now she is baptized, and we visit her since she is a new member. She is in a wheelchair because her husband was abusive, and for some reason wants to go back to him. So stupid. Anyway, so we go and talk about God and such and tried to get her to come back to Church. She fell this week, however, so she is on bed rest, but we are hoping for next week. Here I am holding her rat. She was shocked and really happy that I wanted to hold it and was so good with it. Blessings of having animals your whole life I guess!
Hedgehogs and (basketball) Jimmer
Hi Family and Friends!
HI! So this week we taught a lady who had rats in her apartment. Pet ones. She wouldn’t get baptized until one of the Elders with a rat phobia held them. Anyway, so now she is baptized, and we visit her since she is a new member. She is in a wheelchair because her husband was abusive, and for some reason wants to go back to him. So stupid. Anyway, so we go and talk about God and such and tried to get her to come back to Church. She fell this week, however, so she is on bed rest, but we are hoping for next week. Here I am holding her rat. She was shocked and really happy that I wanted to hold it and was so good with it. Blessings of having animals your whole life I guess!
Another adventure I had this week was when we were contacting in a park and started talking to these two young men. They were interested in what we had to say and invited us to come listen to one of them play his digoridoo [= didgeridoo] or whatever that weird pole shaped instrument is. Anyway, as we were waiting he started cutting up some herbs and rolling them into paper... I told Sister Smith he was smoking weed and that we needed to go. They asked what God thought about weed. So we told them. And then quickly left. Oh the joys of serving here! Love it.
We have hedgehogs everywhere here! So funny. This hedgehog is one that we saw while walking home one night so we stopped to take a picture. [Mother's comment: Picture didn't come through.] They lick themselves like cats. I had no idea. This one was really tame so I got really close to it. They are called “jezek” here. Also this week we held a Sports Day where people from the branch come play volleyball. We had a lot of fun, but because Sister Smith and I were fasting, we had more time to play sports before the missionary meeting since everyone else was taking an hour for dinner. So I got one of the new members we are teaching named Mihal to come play basketball, and out of nowhere a young man showed up to come play. He was really tall, and we talked about basketball, and he said, “Isn’t one of the NBA [=National Basketball Association] players Mormon?” I assumed he was talking about Jimmer [= Jimmer Fredette], and I was right! He thought it was really cool that I was from the same school as Jimmer so hey! And he is coming again next week. Also outside our apartment are many hazelnut trees, so yesterday Sister Smith and I collected some. Yum! We ate them all.
We have hedgehogs everywhere here! So funny. This hedgehog is one that we saw while walking home one night so we stopped to take a picture. [Mother's comment: Picture didn't come through.] They lick themselves like cats. I had no idea. This one was really tame so I got really close to it. They are called “jezek” here. Also this week we held a Sports Day where people from the branch come play volleyball. We had a lot of fun, but because Sister Smith and I were fasting, we had more time to play sports before the missionary meeting since everyone else was taking an hour for dinner. So I got one of the new members we are teaching named Mihal to come play basketball, and out of nowhere a young man showed up to come play. He was really tall, and we talked about basketball, and he said, “Isn’t one of the NBA [=National Basketball Association] players Mormon?” I assumed he was talking about Jimmer [= Jimmer Fredette], and I was right! He thought it was really cool that I was from the same school as Jimmer so hey! And he is coming again next week. Also outside our apartment are many hazelnut trees, so yesterday Sister Smith and I collected some. Yum! We ate them all.
Ok so miracle story of the week. On Wednesday we were contacting, and we talked to this guy in the park who spoke English. We could tell he had a lot on his mind, and he told us about how he had just had surgery because of a car accident and was having a hard time figuring out what to do with his life since he is out of money etc. We talked to him about the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it. He didn’t want to but accepted a pamphlet. While he was walking away I felt like I needed to say, " Hey, what PERCENT are you not interested?" and he said, “Ninety-five.” So then I said, “Well hey, if that five percent starts acting up do you promise you'll call us?” He said he would, but I've done that before, and no one ever calls. Well, on Saturday night at midnight we got a TEXT! He said that the five percent and his curiosity had won and was wondering when we could meet! HOLLAH! Unfortunately our meeting was for tonight, and the APs [= Assistants to the President] forgot to tell us that we need to go to Prague tonight sooooo... Yeah we had to cancel. He says we can meet next week. I sure hope he doesn’t cancel! This guy was our miracle! (I call all the people we teach my spiritual babies) because they are! I am teaching them through the Spirit and watching them grow! Oh the joys of mission work!
The picture is of us at the ‘namesty’ (town square) right after we got stood up by a girl we really thought was interested. Bummer. She talked to us for a long time in the street, and I watched the Spirit change her eyes. But alas, missionaries, I have come to find out, get more disappointments than happy investigators who crave the gospel. The happy ones that crave it totally make up for the losses however! Such is life! We must only focus on the positive and let the negative fall behind us.
The picture is of us at the ‘namesty’ (town square) right after we got stood up by a girl we really thought was interested. Bummer. She talked to us for a long time in the street, and I watched the Spirit change her eyes. But alas, missionaries, I have come to find out, get more disappointments than happy investigators who crave the gospel. The happy ones that crave it totally make up for the losses however! Such is life! We must only focus on the positive and let the negative fall behind us.
The pictures are of the HIDEOUS "art" that is up in our apartment complex. So funny. We get a kick out of it.
One guy named Norbert this week came up to us and started talking to us at the tram stop. He asked if he could hold Sister Smith’s badge, and she said no! But then let him hold it. He realized we wanted to talk about God and then grabbed us both by the hand and led us across the street. It would have been a scary situation since he was obviously a little drunk, but the Spirit kept me calm, so I knew it was ok, and that he was ok to talk to. We got to the other side, and he spilled his whole heart out. We talked about God for a long time, but then realized that we needed to get home ASAP because it was almost nine. We got on the tram and kept talking. He teared up, and I asked him what was on his mind. He told us it was better not to ask. I asked him if we could meet with him again and bore testimony of how our message would really help him in his situations. He readily agreed, and we exchanged numbers. Unfortunately the time he had for us was a week away, and in that time he forgot what he felt that night. We called and texted him on Sunday asking if we could meet. He replied that he was "intoxicated with our beauty." And would like to take us on a date. We then explained that we were here to talk about God and bring people to Christ. He then wrote back and said that he was more interested in us than in God and that he wasn’t going to let us teach him. What a pity. I know he felt it. But what can you do. I have learned from this to try and schedule appointments SOON after the initial meeting. Otherwise people forget. The Spirit is fragile.
One guy named Norbert this week came up to us and started talking to us at the tram stop. He asked if he could hold Sister Smith’s badge, and she said no! But then let him hold it. He realized we wanted to talk about God and then grabbed us both by the hand and led us across the street. It would have been a scary situation since he was obviously a little drunk, but the Spirit kept me calm, so I knew it was ok, and that he was ok to talk to. We got to the other side, and he spilled his whole heart out. We talked about God for a long time, but then realized that we needed to get home ASAP because it was almost nine. We got on the tram and kept talking. He teared up, and I asked him what was on his mind. He told us it was better not to ask. I asked him if we could meet with him again and bore testimony of how our message would really help him in his situations. He readily agreed, and we exchanged numbers. Unfortunately the time he had for us was a week away, and in that time he forgot what he felt that night. We called and texted him on Sunday asking if we could meet. He replied that he was "intoxicated with our beauty." And would like to take us on a date. We then explained that we were here to talk about God and bring people to Christ. He then wrote back and said that he was more interested in us than in God and that he wasn’t going to let us teach him. What a pity. I know he felt it. But what can you do. I have learned from this to try and schedule appointments SOON after the initial meeting. Otherwise people forget. The Spirit is fragile.
Another cool thing that happened is that one night we hopped on a bus and started talking to a man who seemed bitter, but then ended up laughing with us, and we talked for over an hour. He loved what we had to say, but was afraid of us teaching him, so we invited him to English [class]. Because the APs didn’t tell us about the meeting in Prague though, we had to call this guy and tell him that we won’t be there to teach him tomorrow. He said he will come next week though and asked if he could ‘ty-cot’ us which here means using a kind of ending on words that means that we are friends. We laughed and said, "Of course." He said he is interested in what we had to say, and would let us teach him spiritual things as long as it is in English. DONE! We will do anything! I love being here. P-day [=preparation day] is over!
Thank you SOOOO MUCH for writing me this week! I have missed hearing from people! So thank you very very much. I am blessed to have such a support system. Favorite scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 29 where it talks about how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together as two witnesses to prove God's love for the world. It's in God’s words as well so that makes it even better. I used it in a lesson yesterday. Well, gotta run!
I love you soooo much! Thank you for all you do.
Love,
Satu
Thank you SOOOO MUCH for writing me this week! I have missed hearing from people! So thank you very very much. I am blessed to have such a support system. Favorite scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 29 where it talks about how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together as two witnesses to prove God's love for the world. It's in God’s words as well so that makes it even better. I used it in a lesson yesterday. Well, gotta run!
I love you soooo much! Thank you for all you do.
Love,
Satu