March 30, 2009

Ahoj rodino!

This week was another fantastic week. I have to start with talking about Wednesday. I think it may have been a mission altering day for me. So we had a zone flood in Zlin. So basically all the missionaries from our zone (about 16 of us) gathered in Zlin. We first talked about what the restoration of the gospel means to us. It just reminded me that everything I have comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we were sent out contacting for an hour an a half. I was assigned to be companions with Sister Andersen, a sister who is only a transfer ahead of me. So she has only been in the country 3.5 months. At first, I have to admit, I was really nervous. Neither of us understand a lot of Czech and neither of us speak a lot of Czech. But we decided we were going to teach a lesson on the spot and get a couple of phone numbers. So we prayed hard and went for it. Sister Andersen was amazing. She is really upbeat and so excited. We just started to talk to people. I actually talked quite a bit too. It was so fun! We ended up teaching I think 4 lessons on the spot, with prayer and everything. We got three of their phone numbers so that the Elders there could set up return appointments. It was amazing! I gained so much confidence during that.

Then we went and did a street display. Some of us sang in the namesti (city center thing) and then we took turns contacting people who were listening. Well this was my first experience with single contacting and I did it! I talked to several people by myself. Then on the bus back from Zlin we ran into a member. So sister Waite sat next to her and I sat right in front of them. Well when somebody sat next to me, without thinking, I said "kam jdete?" which is where are you going? I found out she was headed to Uherske Hradiste and we started to talk. I didn't understand a lot but I still tried. I actually ended up teaching her a lot of the first lesson and about living prophets. Then when we arrived in Uherske I tried to set up a time to meet again, but didn't really know what I was saying so I asked Sister Waite for help. She said she had time right then and wanted to learn more. So we took her to the building, with our member friend and taught a quick lesson. We are going to meet with her again. It was amazing. That is the blessing when I really try and speak as much as I can.

We had another cool experience. On Monday night we were contacting and met a guy from Poland on the street. He was interested in religion but didn't really want to meet with us, and he told us he was only going to be here for a couple days. Well on Thursday we were heading to a meeting and ran into him again. We talked to him and he asked us where our building was. We told him we were going there and asked if he wanted us to show him. We took him to the building and then our investigator didn't show up, we had a member there for the lesson, so we ended up just teaching our Polish friend. It was really fun. The Lord gives us miracles when we work for them.

Oh, this week was just incredible. We spent a bit of time with members this week. Yesterday we went to Kacka's families house to teach them. We got there and they were making dinner for us. We helped a little bit with that, and then we taught them while dinner was cooking. We reviewed the plan of Salvation with them. It is so neat to see how much the family has changed since I got here. When I got here, the mom was just starting to come to church. Now Kacka has been baptized and the whole family is active again. It was so neat to see the family interaction when we were reviewing the plan of salvation. Everyone was discussing the plan. Then at the end we turned to D&C 76 and read a lot of it. They just wanted to keep discussing. It is so neat to see the happiness in their family's life.

This week we taught Tomas's family again, the Habartovi. They are so neat. But the most exciting thing is that Tomas has started working on mission papers. He is so excited. His year mark is in October and his family had been trying to convince him that he should wait until after Christmas to leave. Well I think he has decided to go as soon as he can. If anyone needs a good idea for FHE tonight, you could write them a letter about how having a missionary out from the family blesses your life. We are trying to help Hana Habartova realize that there will be blessings that come from having a missionary son. So if you want, you could write a letter and Tomas can translate it for them (he speaks perfect English). We are also teaching Hana and Tomas's sister Petra. If you want to pray for them, you can do that too.

Well this letter has gone on long enough. But I love missionary work!!!!! It is fantastic. I love you all!

Love,
Sestra Hill