I helped this sister, Bara, make a wreath at Relief Society night, because Jaana taught me 2 years ago how to do it.
January 16, 2012:
It’s like cotton was taken out of my ears
Well, hi again everyone. This week has been crazy. Crazy full of miracles and crazy learning how to work with two companions and not just one. (We all get along great, so actually that hasn’t been too crazy.)
First off, I just love this work. I want everyone in the world to know that this gospel is true. The closer I get to the Spirit, the more I lose myself in the work, and the more I love these people. The more I realize that one day I will definitely have this body again, and I'll be staring into the eyes of Heavenly Father and Jesus and have to buck up to all the stupid things I've done or thought about… The more I realize that Christ is actually coming again, the quicker and harder I want to work to be better. And it's just incredible how many people there are on the Earth who don't have the gospel! What happened? Oh wait. Agency happened. But that's why we have to serve missions. Everyone deserves this message. ANYWAY, back to the Czech Republic...
It’s like cotton was taken out of my ears
Well, hi again everyone. This week has been crazy. Crazy full of miracles and crazy learning how to work with two companions and not just one. (We all get along great, so actually that hasn’t been too crazy.)
First off, I just love this work. I want everyone in the world to know that this gospel is true. The closer I get to the Spirit, the more I lose myself in the work, and the more I love these people. The more I realize that one day I will definitely have this body again, and I'll be staring into the eyes of Heavenly Father and Jesus and have to buck up to all the stupid things I've done or thought about… The more I realize that Christ is actually coming again, the quicker and harder I want to work to be better. And it's just incredible how many people there are on the Earth who don't have the gospel! What happened? Oh wait. Agency happened. But that's why we have to serve missions. Everyone deserves this message. ANYWAY, back to the Czech Republic...
Sisters in our Mission.
Something crazy happened this week. I understood full conversations in Czech. Maybe I mentioned it last week because I think last week is when it started, but all of a sudden it's like cotton was taken out of my ears, and words started forming out of these people's mouths! It was beautiful. Now I’ve just got to work on my grammar. I'm really bad at grammar... and I'm lazy at it because learning new words is way more fun for me, but listen, I will work on it! Don't ya'll fret now. So that was miracle One. OH, and it was great one day when we were on the tram going home, Sister B was texting someone, and so Sister Smith and I were sitting talking about our last lesson when I saw this guy checking out my nametag at the very back of the tram. So I said, "Sister Smith, you ready to go [talk to him] with me?” We sat down and aaaahahaaa, I loved being the older companion who kind of knew what was going on without someone who speaks better than I do, and it was just weird and great, and Sister Smith is so beautiful and fun and just bears her testimony, and anyway we ended up getting this guy's [phone]number, and I understood the whole [time], and it was beautiful!! I loved it. It was a great experience.
Me with Karel and Jarka.
Oh good golly is this [one investigator] wonderful. He just radiates something wonderful. He just smiles all the time and has so much faith, and even when things are going crazy, he knows that God is important. I love that! So we had this amazing lesson with [him] this week where we watched [a film about] the restoration [of the gospel]. And afterwards we all bore testimony about why we know that this is true. The whole thing is true. The Spirit was SO strong. And earlier that day I'd called [this investigator] and harassed him a little about forgetting to read the Book of Mormon, and he hadn’t started yet, but in between me calling and our lesson he'd read 14 chapters. [He] told us that, "After the eighth chapter of Nephi I started feeling something. I started loving it." I asked him what he was feeling exactly, and he said, "I don’t know, but it's not like anything around me is changing, but my view on the world is starting to change a little, and it's like my heart is changing." It was one of those moments where you just realize what a miracle the gospel is, and you're just SO happy that someone you love SO much is feeling what you are feeling, and man, there is just nothing, nothing that compares to that. I couldn’t stop smiling, and I'm so glad I have companions that are there with me, because I would have just smiled and never stopped, but testimonies have to be shared, and commitments have to be extended, so while my cheekbones were breaking they took care of that. That lesson was BEAUTIFUL. You seriously should have been there. I just want everyone I love to know what I'm going through! Missions are the best thing in the world, and it is SUCH a sad thing when people who could go or should go don’t! You can’t understand what this is like until you do mission work. It's beautiful. [This investigator] was SO HAPPY he squeezed all of our hands (don't worry, we pulled away quickly, hahah), and I haven’t ever seen [him] so happy; it was wonderful. He came to Church and stayed all three hours, because there was a party after Church for one of the youth here who is GOING ON A MISSION. YES CZECH REPUBLIC, THANK YOU, and it was just beautiful.
The Elders LUSTING after my cool hand warmer. Thank you!
The Spirit is such a Comforter, and I am so blessed to be a part of this process! Sometimes turning our whole hearts to the work and to God is hard, but I know that it can be done. I am learning, and man, I just want to be the best missionary you know? Keep praying for me and my investigators. We all need your faith!!
This week we met with the lady who waited for us while we were [talking to other people]. Anyway, she is great, and we had a lesson with her where she just came with questions and questions, and it was beautiful, and she is just CRAVING this truth. So pray for her. She is wonderful.
Being on a mission is so FUN. I love just walking around talking to people about the gospel, and in between, we sisters sure do laugh a lot. Sister Smith is great. She snores like a lion at night, so I have to sleep with ear plugs in and a pillow over my face, but it works, and we just laugh, since Sister Brimhall is half deaf so she rolls over, so she can’t hear it, and then Sister Smith is left just talking to herself at night. Anyway, we have a good time. The branch is getting stronger. I'll have been here for 6 months the end of this transfer, and I have seen so much progress! It is HARD work to try and change attitudes, but good thing Heavenly Father has blessed us with this time to dedicate all our time and energy to this work. It's beautiful. I've also started doing push-ups, my friends. Satu is doing push-ups. Yes, these twiggy arms will definitely... maybe have some muscle on them next year. It's a goal. I'm really bad at the whole "exercise" in a tiny apartment with two other girls for twenty minutes in the morning thing. But I made some transfer goals, and I am happy to report my arms are sore. Just wanted the whole world to know that.
This week we met with the lady who waited for us while we were [talking to other people]. Anyway, she is great, and we had a lesson with her where she just came with questions and questions, and it was beautiful, and she is just CRAVING this truth. So pray for her. She is wonderful.
Being on a mission is so FUN. I love just walking around talking to people about the gospel, and in between, we sisters sure do laugh a lot. Sister Smith is great. She snores like a lion at night, so I have to sleep with ear plugs in and a pillow over my face, but it works, and we just laugh, since Sister Brimhall is half deaf so she rolls over, so she can’t hear it, and then Sister Smith is left just talking to herself at night. Anyway, we have a good time. The branch is getting stronger. I'll have been here for 6 months the end of this transfer, and I have seen so much progress! It is HARD work to try and change attitudes, but good thing Heavenly Father has blessed us with this time to dedicate all our time and energy to this work. It's beautiful. I've also started doing push-ups, my friends. Satu is doing push-ups. Yes, these twiggy arms will definitely... maybe have some muscle on them next year. It's a goal. I'm really bad at the whole "exercise" in a tiny apartment with two other girls for twenty minutes in the morning thing. But I made some transfer goals, and I am happy to report my arms are sore. Just wanted the whole world to know that.
This morning we bought the store out of milk. And the lady at the cash register made some comment, and I always tell them that, “Hey listen, my ‘kosti’ (bones) need to be strong, you know?!” Hahah, I love it here. I really do. Today we are going to that cathedral AGAIN, since it's the only thing open on Preparation Day here. President really needs to change our Preparation Day. And then we are going to go get Sister Smith’s shoes fixed. Don’t know where, and I don’t know how to say that. But hey, it's all part of the experience, and we are going to love it. These weeks go by so fast. Today the office sent the Sisters who've been out more than six months an email about getting international drivers licenses, and I was there, and I was like uhhh.... what?! Aaaaah stop it!
Alright, enough moping. I just can’t get over how fast life goes! Six months?! That's a long time! Daddy is right... the time in your twenties goes by like a TORPEDO. And soon I'm going to be 22. Sick.
I love you all!
Love,
Satu
Alright, enough moping. I just can’t get over how fast life goes! Six months?! That's a long time! Daddy is right... the time in your twenties goes by like a TORPEDO. And soon I'm going to be 22. Sick.
I love you all!
Love,
Satu