November 28, 2011:
Czechin’ in
Hi everyone. It's weird to be writing this again since I feel like I JUST wrote, but I shall tell you all of what's going down in good old Brno.
First of all, I think my language is digressing. IT'S THE PITS! A member came up to me on Sunday and said, "Your Czech is worse than when you got here." Sister Brimhall and I just stared, because I think she was so shocked that was actually coming out of his mouth, and I was just sad that he thought that and started wondering what on earth I could do to learn the language better! Oh golly. So I immediately told Sister Brimhall that we are doing a Czech week this week, English ban. Ok not English ban, but close to that. Except, I called up some of the Elders in the District to do it with us so that it could be a competition. The CHRISTMAS MARKETS ARE HERE!!! Which means that we can compete for fabulous treats. So they agreed, and the Czech hours have started. But keep me in your prayers. It's funny how much prayers strengthen you. So many times I get discouraged with this brain of mine, and how slowly the important things tend to stick. I can learn random facts about the world like nothing, I can pick things up really quickly, EXCEPT for languages and memorizing scriptures. It's really frustrating, but if I get on my knees [to pray] before I let the tears come, Heavenly Father strengthens me, and the need to cry leaves. Sister Brimhall is a blessing and a half though, because she is always so willing to do whatever I need to do to help me better learn the language. I was reading “Preach My Gospel” yesterday, and I came up with the idea to use the last 20 minutes of language study every day to teach one another what we learned. That way we both get to solidify our learning of the day by teaching, as well as help the other focus on implementing throughout the day what they studied etc. I told Sister Brimhall about it, and she was happy to start doing that. Supportive companions are such a blessing. It is interesting how I can see already that missionary work is helping me prepare for marriage and a life after this. I have learned to start being more patient with people who I could easily get frustrated with, and I can better tell what things are going to be REALLY important for me to have in a spouse. I am learning a lot about myself out here, and it's great, because by putting myself aside and serving others, I actually can learn to better myself AND serve them, while if I just paid attention to my own issues and habits I'd only get one of those blessings. Serving is definitely the better road!
So I have a really neat experience to tell you all about! This weekend Sister Brimhall and I were out [talking to people] on the “namesti”, the town square. We have started always setting goals on how many people we are going to get phone numbers from, lessons set up with, etc. before we go out. This way, if you keep those in mind, God knows about them (via prayer) and you have a goal to really work towards. It's worked really well for us. Anyway, one day we had just a few minutes before we were going to go meet up with the District for District Lunch. We had met all of our phone number goals, but didn't have a meeting set up yet. Sister Brimhall said, "Ok, let’s find this meeting before we have to go to lunch." And I agreed. She started turning back around to go back down the way we'd come, but I saw a man walking towards us, and I said, "Hey, let's talk to this guy." So we did. And he didn’t speak Czech so we were really able to communicate with him using [English] words. He is adorable and from Syria. We talked for a little bit, and he said he had been living in London for a while studying and had actually gone to church there and read some of the Book of Mormon. We were ecstatic and asked to set up an appointment. He agreed and said that would be nice. We were so happy, and we both loved that Heavenly Father knew exactly what we were working towards, and that He helped us achieve our goal. (Goals are something I've always needed to work on; thank heavens I'm on a mission.)
We went to lunch, had a good time, but the story doesn't end there. A few days later we had our lesson with [our new investigator]. When he came to the church, we had a member youth there to teach [with] us who spoke English, and we started teaching. We focused the first lesson on how much God loves us. He loves us, and because He loves us, He gave us Jesus, the restoration [of the gospel], prophets, families, etc. It turned out really well, and I loved actually being able to teach. Being a greenie and then being follow-up trained, you feel a little put down because you feel like you aren’t as good as the other missionary since you are in "training". Plus your language skills aren’t as good, so you end up not speaking very much during lessons, and the other person takes over. Sisters Smith and Brimhall both had the goal of learning to pay attention to their companion (me) and let her speak. Sister Brimhall can't hear super well, so if I start talking quietly sometimes she can’t hear me, so anyway we have had to practice and make a system so that I can get my testimony in etc. BUT this lesson was great. I decided to buck up and really teach. Since we were both speaking English, everything was understood, and there weren’t the blank stares we sometimes get. It was wonderful, and Sister Brimhall and I worked very well as a companionship. We had really planned this lesson out, so things went smoothly. It was so interesting as well, because [our investigator] told us about how the first time he'd met the missionaries he had just gotten to London, was exhausted, and was carrying his suitcases to his apartment. He was just around the corner when the missionaries came up to him and started talking to him about the church. [He] decided that it would be ok to meet with them even though he laughingly explained how exhausted he had been! He then took a few lessons, but moved to the Czech Republic after that.
Then he explained about how he had been looking for this museum in Brno (the day we met) and had been thinking about deep spiritual things, when we popped around the corner and explained to him in Czech who we were. He said he recognized us and laughed because he knew that sometimes God puts people in situations. [He] said that many times we are in charge of what we do etc., but at times we are directed. I was so glad that [he] recognized God's hand in our meeting. Sister Brimhall and I then shockingly explained that we had really felt led to him as well, and we had felt like God was watching over us during that time. This was a huge testimony to me that the Holy Ghost is sometimes SO quiet that we really cannot tell when He is guiding us, but we can tell when He is gone from our lives. I didn't necessarily feel the same strong feeling I felt when I contacted [another investigator] to TALK TO THAT MAN, but I just had an idea to try one more person before turning around. And that one person was the one that Heavenly Father knew needed us, and whom Heavenly Father wanted us to find. [Our investigator] listened intently to our lesson. He asked about the Golden Plates, and then asked the dreaded question, "Where are the plates now, can I go see them?" We explained how the plates are sacred and have been taken by an angel, but how we can read what they said in the Book of Mormon and gain a testimony of their reality that way. We then showed how there are testimonies of witnesses who saw the plates in the front of the Book of Mormon. I was shocked when [he] said, "Wow. EIGHT people saw them?" I LOVED THAT. He was so prepared. Instead of only thinking ONLY eight people? He recognized what a blessing it was for us to know that that many people had seen and held the plates. We explained the restoration [of the gospel], and how we need permission to act in God's name. [He] then said, “So other churches are doing what humans want, but your church is doing what God wants." Isn't that just a beautiful testimony? MAN, I felt so privileged to be the one watching the Holy Ghost teach him. The member we had bore her sweet testimony about the Book of Mormon, and [our investigator] listened intently.
At the end of the lesson I decided to ask [him] about his family, and I feel now looking back as though the Holy Ghost was in that question as well, even though we'd ended the lesson. [His] family is in Syria. And I haven’t been able to read the news for 5 months now, but from what he was saying the situation doesn’t sound good. [He] has a very large family, and he is the only one who has gotten out of the country on scholarship. He explained how blessed everyone is in the world who can have opportunities and experiences, because for his family, instead of looking to a bright future, it is about staying alive every hour. Last week his 70-year-old uncle was arrested because he was a doctor, and no one has heard from him or knows his whereabouts. [This kind young man] is so burdened by the situation that he had to cut the internet from his room because he would constantly check the news to see what the updates were, to see if his city had been hurt, to make sure his family was alright. He said he is always worried about them, always, and that he cannot go back to Syria, because he would be arrested and made to go into the army. So he has to wait, while working his hardest to keep his scholarship, while balancing this constant fear he has for those he loves the most. The whole time I listened to this young man's story my heart just ached. We are so blessed. How do I always forget how blessed I am? Why do we do that? I praised [him] for turning to God during his hard times rather than turning away from Him. He explained that the times he has faith in Christ are when he is the happiest, and he needs that support. How true is that? I love those moments, those moments that make you step into your soul and really take a look at what you have. Really make you appreciate things around you and look at things in new ways. I felt like that when I went to the concentration camp in Germany with Daddy exactly two years ago. I tried to put myself in the shoes of those people whose freedoms had been brutally taken away, those people who couldn’t think about what major would be best, what boy to date, what restaurant to go to, where to live, what to do that day with their families. I told [this young man] I would pray for his loved ones. He has five sisters and two brothers. He is an amazing example to me. I felt so humbled by that experience.
I am grateful for freedom. I am grateful that by following Jesus Christ we have MORE freedom. More freedom to be happy, more freedom to live with our families forever, more freedom to understand why things happen, more freedom to know who we are and where we are going, freedom to feel the burden of sin lifted, freedom to forgive and not have to carry grudges around. Through Jesus Christ even [this man] can find peace in his heart, while his mind and world are racing. It's important for me to remember how blessed I am. I have a strong desire to make this world a better place, and I know that I am exactly in the best place I could be to do so at this time in my life.
I love you all, I hope you have a wonderful week. I am off to the Christmas Markets. I can't wait to start explaining to people the real meaning of Christmas. Christ LIVED. He really did. He lives now, and He will come again. And I get to blab my little Czech head off about it all day long. I couldn't be more blessed.
Love you,
Sestra Satu
Czechin’ in
Hi everyone. It's weird to be writing this again since I feel like I JUST wrote, but I shall tell you all of what's going down in good old Brno.
First of all, I think my language is digressing. IT'S THE PITS! A member came up to me on Sunday and said, "Your Czech is worse than when you got here." Sister Brimhall and I just stared, because I think she was so shocked that was actually coming out of his mouth, and I was just sad that he thought that and started wondering what on earth I could do to learn the language better! Oh golly. So I immediately told Sister Brimhall that we are doing a Czech week this week, English ban. Ok not English ban, but close to that. Except, I called up some of the Elders in the District to do it with us so that it could be a competition. The CHRISTMAS MARKETS ARE HERE!!! Which means that we can compete for fabulous treats. So they agreed, and the Czech hours have started. But keep me in your prayers. It's funny how much prayers strengthen you. So many times I get discouraged with this brain of mine, and how slowly the important things tend to stick. I can learn random facts about the world like nothing, I can pick things up really quickly, EXCEPT for languages and memorizing scriptures. It's really frustrating, but if I get on my knees [to pray] before I let the tears come, Heavenly Father strengthens me, and the need to cry leaves. Sister Brimhall is a blessing and a half though, because she is always so willing to do whatever I need to do to help me better learn the language. I was reading “Preach My Gospel” yesterday, and I came up with the idea to use the last 20 minutes of language study every day to teach one another what we learned. That way we both get to solidify our learning of the day by teaching, as well as help the other focus on implementing throughout the day what they studied etc. I told Sister Brimhall about it, and she was happy to start doing that. Supportive companions are such a blessing. It is interesting how I can see already that missionary work is helping me prepare for marriage and a life after this. I have learned to start being more patient with people who I could easily get frustrated with, and I can better tell what things are going to be REALLY important for me to have in a spouse. I am learning a lot about myself out here, and it's great, because by putting myself aside and serving others, I actually can learn to better myself AND serve them, while if I just paid attention to my own issues and habits I'd only get one of those blessings. Serving is definitely the better road!
So I have a really neat experience to tell you all about! This weekend Sister Brimhall and I were out [talking to people] on the “namesti”, the town square. We have started always setting goals on how many people we are going to get phone numbers from, lessons set up with, etc. before we go out. This way, if you keep those in mind, God knows about them (via prayer) and you have a goal to really work towards. It's worked really well for us. Anyway, one day we had just a few minutes before we were going to go meet up with the District for District Lunch. We had met all of our phone number goals, but didn't have a meeting set up yet. Sister Brimhall said, "Ok, let’s find this meeting before we have to go to lunch." And I agreed. She started turning back around to go back down the way we'd come, but I saw a man walking towards us, and I said, "Hey, let's talk to this guy." So we did. And he didn’t speak Czech so we were really able to communicate with him using [English] words. He is adorable and from Syria. We talked for a little bit, and he said he had been living in London for a while studying and had actually gone to church there and read some of the Book of Mormon. We were ecstatic and asked to set up an appointment. He agreed and said that would be nice. We were so happy, and we both loved that Heavenly Father knew exactly what we were working towards, and that He helped us achieve our goal. (Goals are something I've always needed to work on; thank heavens I'm on a mission.)
We went to lunch, had a good time, but the story doesn't end there. A few days later we had our lesson with [our new investigator]. When he came to the church, we had a member youth there to teach [with] us who spoke English, and we started teaching. We focused the first lesson on how much God loves us. He loves us, and because He loves us, He gave us Jesus, the restoration [of the gospel], prophets, families, etc. It turned out really well, and I loved actually being able to teach. Being a greenie and then being follow-up trained, you feel a little put down because you feel like you aren’t as good as the other missionary since you are in "training". Plus your language skills aren’t as good, so you end up not speaking very much during lessons, and the other person takes over. Sisters Smith and Brimhall both had the goal of learning to pay attention to their companion (me) and let her speak. Sister Brimhall can't hear super well, so if I start talking quietly sometimes she can’t hear me, so anyway we have had to practice and make a system so that I can get my testimony in etc. BUT this lesson was great. I decided to buck up and really teach. Since we were both speaking English, everything was understood, and there weren’t the blank stares we sometimes get. It was wonderful, and Sister Brimhall and I worked very well as a companionship. We had really planned this lesson out, so things went smoothly. It was so interesting as well, because [our investigator] told us about how the first time he'd met the missionaries he had just gotten to London, was exhausted, and was carrying his suitcases to his apartment. He was just around the corner when the missionaries came up to him and started talking to him about the church. [He] decided that it would be ok to meet with them even though he laughingly explained how exhausted he had been! He then took a few lessons, but moved to the Czech Republic after that.
Then he explained about how he had been looking for this museum in Brno (the day we met) and had been thinking about deep spiritual things, when we popped around the corner and explained to him in Czech who we were. He said he recognized us and laughed because he knew that sometimes God puts people in situations. [He] said that many times we are in charge of what we do etc., but at times we are directed. I was so glad that [he] recognized God's hand in our meeting. Sister Brimhall and I then shockingly explained that we had really felt led to him as well, and we had felt like God was watching over us during that time. This was a huge testimony to me that the Holy Ghost is sometimes SO quiet that we really cannot tell when He is guiding us, but we can tell when He is gone from our lives. I didn't necessarily feel the same strong feeling I felt when I contacted [another investigator] to TALK TO THAT MAN, but I just had an idea to try one more person before turning around. And that one person was the one that Heavenly Father knew needed us, and whom Heavenly Father wanted us to find. [Our investigator] listened intently to our lesson. He asked about the Golden Plates, and then asked the dreaded question, "Where are the plates now, can I go see them?" We explained how the plates are sacred and have been taken by an angel, but how we can read what they said in the Book of Mormon and gain a testimony of their reality that way. We then showed how there are testimonies of witnesses who saw the plates in the front of the Book of Mormon. I was shocked when [he] said, "Wow. EIGHT people saw them?" I LOVED THAT. He was so prepared. Instead of only thinking ONLY eight people? He recognized what a blessing it was for us to know that that many people had seen and held the plates. We explained the restoration [of the gospel], and how we need permission to act in God's name. [He] then said, “So other churches are doing what humans want, but your church is doing what God wants." Isn't that just a beautiful testimony? MAN, I felt so privileged to be the one watching the Holy Ghost teach him. The member we had bore her sweet testimony about the Book of Mormon, and [our investigator] listened intently.
At the end of the lesson I decided to ask [him] about his family, and I feel now looking back as though the Holy Ghost was in that question as well, even though we'd ended the lesson. [His] family is in Syria. And I haven’t been able to read the news for 5 months now, but from what he was saying the situation doesn’t sound good. [He] has a very large family, and he is the only one who has gotten out of the country on scholarship. He explained how blessed everyone is in the world who can have opportunities and experiences, because for his family, instead of looking to a bright future, it is about staying alive every hour. Last week his 70-year-old uncle was arrested because he was a doctor, and no one has heard from him or knows his whereabouts. [This kind young man] is so burdened by the situation that he had to cut the internet from his room because he would constantly check the news to see what the updates were, to see if his city had been hurt, to make sure his family was alright. He said he is always worried about them, always, and that he cannot go back to Syria, because he would be arrested and made to go into the army. So he has to wait, while working his hardest to keep his scholarship, while balancing this constant fear he has for those he loves the most. The whole time I listened to this young man's story my heart just ached. We are so blessed. How do I always forget how blessed I am? Why do we do that? I praised [him] for turning to God during his hard times rather than turning away from Him. He explained that the times he has faith in Christ are when he is the happiest, and he needs that support. How true is that? I love those moments, those moments that make you step into your soul and really take a look at what you have. Really make you appreciate things around you and look at things in new ways. I felt like that when I went to the concentration camp in Germany with Daddy exactly two years ago. I tried to put myself in the shoes of those people whose freedoms had been brutally taken away, those people who couldn’t think about what major would be best, what boy to date, what restaurant to go to, where to live, what to do that day with their families. I told [this young man] I would pray for his loved ones. He has five sisters and two brothers. He is an amazing example to me. I felt so humbled by that experience.
I am grateful for freedom. I am grateful that by following Jesus Christ we have MORE freedom. More freedom to be happy, more freedom to live with our families forever, more freedom to understand why things happen, more freedom to know who we are and where we are going, freedom to feel the burden of sin lifted, freedom to forgive and not have to carry grudges around. Through Jesus Christ even [this man] can find peace in his heart, while his mind and world are racing. It's important for me to remember how blessed I am. I have a strong desire to make this world a better place, and I know that I am exactly in the best place I could be to do so at this time in my life.
I love you all, I hope you have a wonderful week. I am off to the Christmas Markets. I can't wait to start explaining to people the real meaning of Christmas. Christ LIVED. He really did. He lives now, and He will come again. And I get to blab my little Czech head off about it all day long. I couldn't be more blessed.
Love you,
Sestra Satu