We are so blessed

Dear Family!!!!!!
How's life going? Life here is good, like always. The Czech Republic
is awesome. So this last week was Pohadky festival and it was awesome!
Jicin is mesto pohadky which is city of fairytales in English. So this
week they had a festival for the fairytales. All the school children
in cities around here came almost everyday during the week. And people
came from all over the country with their children. This town is
pretty small, but this week there was a ton going on. On Saturday
night they had a concert and fireworks. And yes, our apartment is
almost right on the main namesti so we heard basically the whole
concert and the fireworks were right outside our window. It was great!

This week I have really learned a lot. We taught a lot about the power
of prayer, even though it wasn't necessarily part of the plan. We
taught a lot about how God answers prayers and that we have to learn
to recognize the answers. We taught about how we have to pray with the
intention of acting on the answers, and having faith that we will
receive those answers. As we were teaching one particular lesson with
David, to help him use the power of prayer to stop smoking, I had the
spirit was over me and confirm that everything we are teaching is
true. Prayer is an essential part of the gospel. It is through prayer
that we, as children of God, can receive His guidance, and He really
does give it. He answers every prayer, even if the timing isn't
exactly what we think it should be. I have learned that a lot this
week. But also, we have to have faith that he will answer. Because
when we ask in faith, even if God doesn't answer immediately, we will
have the peace in our hearts that God answers our prayers. We will
have peace. It is so amazing. We are children of God and God answers
OUR prayers. The gospel is wonderful!!!!

So I can't believe that Seth has the priesthood. Where did my little
baby brother go? As I was thinking about how Seth has the Priesthood
and has that power from God, I was thinking about what a wonderful
gift that is too. This week we were coming back from district
conference in Prague. We were driving back with our investigator
Honza. At one point he asked, "who has that authority from God to
baptize people? That must be an impressive gift." We told him that his
member friend Brother Prachar has it and that every worthy male over
the age of 16  can have that power. God doesn't just give a select few
this power. He gives it to those who are willing to live worthy to
have it. Honza is so close to getting to baptism. He is the most
studious investigator I have ever had and he has a strong testimony,
he just has one concern. The problem is we don't know what the concern
is. Hopefully we will find out this week.

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we live these
teachings, we find greater peace and happiness. We know that when we
are doing what God wants, we will be all right, even if it looks like
things around us are falling apart. I am so grateful for the example
of the people here. I have learned so much. This week we went over to
the house of some members, the Podlipny. They joined the church in the
middle of communism. They said the only way to get Book of Mormon's
into the country during that time was that general authorities would
bring one Book of Mormon in their front pockets when they came. The
Book of Mormon was a small little red book that could fit in the front
pocket of the shirt and has KM written on the front. KM actually
stands for Kniha Mormonova but the communists would think that it
stood for Karl Marx. They were also telling us how they had church in
their apartment for a while. They would put mattresses up against the
walls so that people wouldn't hear the sacrament meetings going on.
And this was happening while I was alive. I was young, but I was still
alive. These people have amazing testimonies. It's incredible.

Well I better run. I love you all. Remember just as dad says, the
gospel is true and life is wonderful.
Love,
Sestra Hill