Česká republika - Week 8 Třebíč

My Nineteen Months Are Up

Mám Česku a Slovensku moc ráda, ale také vás mám moc ráda!

(I like the Czech Republic and Sloakia, but I love you too!)

Literally, this mission has just flown! I've loved being here and being able to help others come to Christ and strengthen their testimonies as well as increasing mine.

Time, like I said last week is really weird and I can't believe I've only got this week left.  

Tomorrow, we have the celebration of when the Czech Republic was opened up for missionary work and we're going to a place called Karlštejn. Last year when we did this, we had some nice spiritual thoughts, a lunch, and a hike up to where there is a plaque dedicating the land for missionary work. All of the missionaries serving in the Czech Republic will be there including the missionaries serving in Slovakia who were sent to this mission Czech-speaking. It's a wonderful way to end a mission in my opinion.

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week. I'll see you when I see you!

Česká republika - Week 7 Třebíč (some names changed for privacy)

So, this week, there wasn’t a ton that happened. But we did go to Plzeň!!!!! My first area! My mission birthplace! We did some zone finding there and it was pretty fun! We did some singing displays, there were some chalk displays done (this time not by me), and some spiritual thoughts from a couple of different missionaries. That was all on Thursday :)

We’ve also had a lesson with our recent convert, Nítram, about standing in holy places, we read about Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman and shared the verse in Doctrine and Covenants that was a youth theme a couple of years ago. We were also “dropped” by our investigator Atsalv but that was his choice. It’s sad for us because we try so hard to help people come closer to God but in the end it’s still ther choice. We’ve also had a lesson with a newish investigator, Arobrab, she’s interested in learning about religions and has already learned quite a bit about quite a few religions, she’s interested in reading the Book of Mormon so that’s pretty cool!

Well I wish you all the best this week!

Today we might go bowling in Jihlava! Maybe we’ll do a little shopping too, uvidíme! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

It’s kind of weird to be ending, feelings are bitter-sweet, but life continues as some of our church members told me yesterday when they asked me how much time I had left and I said two weeks. Time literally flies so fast and slow at the same time. Nothing feels normal anymore when it comes to the idea of time hahaha

Česká republika - Week 6 Třebíč (some names changed for privacy)

This week we had a little improvised 4th of July party at one of the elders' investigators' house along with on of the recent converts that we work with! We had some burgers, corn on the cob, and I made a peach cobbler. It was so good! We talked about American history using the Book of Mormon - 1 Nephi 13 - And we watched a fireworks show online - not quite the same but that's okay!

On Thursday we went to Jihlava and did some group finding again! We did a cool Gospel of Jesus Christ chalk display attached with the idea from Alma 32 that faith is like a seed! We found a couple of people who were willing to learn more and set up meetings with the Jihlava elders, so that was pretty cool! 

Then we had dinner at the Hammon's house (a senior missionary couple that lives in Jihlava) and then we sisters stayed the night and they brought us to our mission conference in Prague the next day where Elder DeFeo from the quorum of the 70 came to give some training's. It was so spiritual and we all learned a lot. He testified about our mission president and his wife's love for all of us and he taught us so much about missionary work. It was such a good day!

On Sunday one of our investigators, Eva, came to church! And she already knew one of our members - with whom we might teach a lesson this week :) Can't wait! On top of that, Sister Longhurst's aunt, uncle, and three cousins surprise visited church here. Her aunt served in the same mission as my dad! How cool is that! The world truly is so small!

Today we went on a hike to find a lookout tower and it was pretty fun. We started with one of the elders' investigators but then he had to go back to town for something. The view was so pretty though! It's in the middle of nowhere but you can see a few little towns from it and lots of fields!

 

I love you all so much! Mám vás Ráda! Přeju vám hezký týden!

Česká republika - Week 5 Třebíč (some names changed for privacy)

On Tuesday, we went to a farm and led donkeys for little kids as other adults made sure that they didn't fall :) We were expecting to do some kind of service on the farm but I guess the farm owner had different ideas in mind hahaha. His farm was very interesting, he had all kinds of animals, huge pigs, llamas, a horse, donkeys, turkeys, some weird looking bird/duck things, a goat and some sheep! Anyway, it was pretty fun to be around animals!

Then, on Wednesday, we had district meeting in Jihlava and then did a little bit of group finding! I finally got to do a Czech Love Plan of Salvation chalk display which turned out pretty cool! It says Láska instead of Love.

On Thursday we met with our newest investigator named Eva who is such a cute lady! She's been taught one or two lessons before, but that was a long time ago and then, last transfer, she started coming to the English classes that we do here. And then, last week we tracted into her and she told us we could come back and talk with her more about what we teach, and we've been invited back next week! We're so excited for her!

On Saturday, we met with our other investigator, Vlasta, who we finally taught with a member! Our new branch president! And it went so well! It's so wonderful to be able to teach with members since they know exactly what to say and how to say it, plus, since our branch president is a return-missionary himself, he knew what terms needed explaining :) All in all it was a good lesson and our invetigator prayed at the end thanking our Heavenly Father for clearing up some things for him :D and he prayed for each of us by name which was so sweet!

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Česká republika - Week 4 Třebíč (some names changed for privacy)

Hello, hello!

We made halušky again! We try to make it every Sunday 🙂

On Wednesday we went to Jihlava as an entire zone! We had zone finding there and it was so much fun! We did some chalk displays - my favorite thing - , some singing displays, and a Book of Mormon tower display! Then when we came home that day we had an English class with our landlord's two sons Tomáš and Aleš. They're so cute and we get to share a spiritual thought at the end with them; usually we let them pick a picture from a gospel art book we have but we recently got a Children's Book of Mormon stories book for our apartment here and got to read a story with them.

On Thursday we had interviews with President Pohořelický and those were wonderful as always! He is truly inspired for us missionaries, literally, he knows how to answer our questions :) And, on top of that for some reason just being around him and talking to him brings a certain type of energy and spirit to the work. We only had an hour to contact after our interviews and both we and the elders each found three cool people to talk to!

On Thursday I finished reading the Czech Book of Mormon entirely! I had started it a teensy bit in my third transfer but then I stopped and started it back up again at the end of my fifth transfer and I did it! It's been so cool to have been able to read the Book of Mormon in my mission language, it's so amazing to see how God's work has moved so far in getting the scriptures translated into so many languages! 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Mějte se! Majte sa! Mám vás ráda!

Also, we found some raspberries! If plants grow over a fence then you're allowed to pick them and eat them! We eat cherries all the time haha, they aren't always completely ripe though haha so they're sour. But those raspberries were very sweet :)

Česká republika - Week 3 Třebíč (some names changed for privacy)

This week we met with an older couple who live quite close to us actually. They were former investigators but it doesn't seem like they're very interested anymore unfortunately. They said that the basilika is closer than our church so it's easier to walk to for them, and they weren't super open to our ideas even though the lady liked talking about the differences between our church and the Catholic church and how these are interesting. They're daughter-in-law walked in and said that she had a Book of Mormon at home but that she had never read it... we think her husband might have been taught by missionaries in the past. They definately felt the spirit but we don't think it's the right time for them as they aren't very open to change due to tradition.

🇨🇿️Třebíč & Jihlava missionaries; Elders Wilson, Jensen, Jacobson, and Hamilton, Sisters Longhurst & Sadler 

On Thursday and Friday we had exchanges! I was with Sister Ludlow! My old MTC companion! 

We almost had a lesson with an African guy the night we went into Prague but then he canceled! Oh well. Then on Friday we had Zone Training and watched two broadcasts that were so good! One was for missionaries and the other was for the youth of the church which was absolutely amazing. I would reccomend it :) 

https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/nelson?lang=eng 

Then we finished our exchange in Prague and headed out back to Třebíč!

On Saturday we did some service for the Pohořelický, our mission president's brother's family I'm pretty sure and we hauled wood from one side of a barn to the other. Then we were fed some pretty amazing svíčková which is a very traditional Czech meal and very tasty!

Found some Czech Porcelain at a bazaar  

On Sunday we had branch conference and our entire branch presidency changed so that was interesting, it's going to be great though!

I love this work, it's hard but it's worth it! 

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week as always!

Mám vás ráda!