"Paradise Take 2: Snow Edition"

AHOJ!

Doufám, že všichni měli hezke vánoce!

This week was insane. So much fun, but so freaking exhausting. And so. Much. Carp. Here's a recap of the week:

In the Czech Republic, they celebrate Christmas day on the 24th. That afternoon we went to a member's house and hung out with their girls and just spent time with them and ate some cukroví. It was way nice. Then that night we went to the Bishop's house and spent their Christmas night with them. There were so many cool traditions. The traditional Christmas dinner here is potato salad and you guessed it...carp. We had carp soup and then just fried carp. It actually wasn't too bad. Pro tip: just chew really slowly until you feel something stab you in the cheek, and then yo

u can take the bones out so you don't swallow them. After the carp we had cukroví. After dinner, a bell rings and everyone runs into the next room to open presents. Instead of Santa, they have Ježíšek  (Baby Jesus). The ward ended up putting together a Christmas stocking for us. All the families in the ward put something in it, and it was stuffed. It was so insane. I freaking love the members here.

On the 25th, we spent time with some of the elders in our district and ate pancakes and played some games. It was a pretty chill morning. In the afternoon we went to a member's house and had more carp (this time straight from the fridge because "carp is even good cold!") and potato salad...and cukroví. Seriously have eaten so many cookies this week. They're dang good though. We also did this thing where you melt led and then dump it in water and it's supposed to predict your future for the next year. Mine predicted a lot of vegetables haha. 

I freaking love all the Czech traditions. We got to watch a few Czech fairytales this week,  and now I'm obsessed. They're so dang good. I'm just in love with the Czech Republic in general. We drove to Slovakia this week, and it was so gorgeous. I was freaking out the whole drive. 

On the 26th, some of the people in the ward do an annual hike, so we went with them this year. It was super muddy though, and for some reason the member decided to take a different route that was way steep, so that was fun. It was a pretty sick hike though. At the top there was this church that was built in 1673 that had some tombs under it. We sang some Czech Christmas songs and just enjoyed the view. 

We went to Paradise again to do service for the member in his orchard. This time it was snowing though. He kept making fun of me for being from Arizona haha. He gave me a Russian hat, some huge boots, and another jacket on top of the two I already had. I was still freezing. But it's chill. Paradise is always worth it. 

One of the main highlights of the week was Christmas Zone Training! We got to go to Žilina in Slovakia and spend time with the zone. It was so much fun. We got some way good missionaries in this mission. I love that I get to serve with all of them in these beautiful countries. 

For pday today, we ended up going to a senior living home and the ward choir sang to all the residents. And my favorite MTC comp may or may not have been there. And we may or may not have died because we haven't seen each other in a few months. Also I freaking love old people. It literally made me so happy to be back in a senior living facility again. I. Love. Old. People. 

Spiritual Thought:

"...as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before...and when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future...God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go." -Jeffrey R Holland

One of the great things about faith is that it isn't concerned with what has happened in the past. Faith is always pointed towards the future. And no matter what you're going through now, or what you have gone through before, you can trust that everything will be made right. Put your faith in the Lord, and your future will be exactly what it needs to be.

Dang that was a long and incoherent email. But I'm too tired to fix it. Props to you if you read it all. As always, thanks for all the love and support! I hope everyone has the best week! And watch a Czech fairytale if you can find one. 

Sestra Lewis

Skip-bo games won this week: 3/3

This is one zone of two in her whole mission. Crazy that there are so few missionaries for two whole countries.

"Cookies, Gingerbread and Paradise"

Ahoj!!

So this week was pretty busy, which is insane cause it was the first week of the transfer, but it was way good. I'm low-key obsessed with my new area. UH is so great. 

We went to this little town outside of UH called Kroměříž. It was gorgeous. One of our members teaches high school there, and we teach some of the students English. We also went this week with some of the elders in our district and gave a presentation to the member's class about America. After the presentation we played some basketball and volleyball with them. Then the member took us around these huge gardens. The kids were so cool, and it was such a good day.

I finally got to see Olomouc, which is another city in the Czech Republic. Everyone always talks about how pretty it is, so I've been wanting to see it for awhile. Our district covers UH, Olomouc, and Ostrava, so we went to Olomouc for district counsel. It did not disappoint. Definitely a gorgeous city. 

One of the members bought a plot of land and is building a chestnut orchard. We went to help him cut down trees and clear the area. He calls the plot of land "paradise." He took us out and we had a little picnic in the forest, helped clear some trees, then built a fire and roasted sausages for lunch. I literally felt like I was camping. It was a pretty solid day. 

The Christmas season is in full force. The amount of cukroví and pernik that people feed us is insane. I've eaten so much sugar this past week. Church was way fun too. All the members brought little baskets with gifts and cards to hand out to each other. It was so cool. I freaking love the members here. They're some of the best people out there. 

Overall I'm doing way good. I'm loving where I'm at right now. It's been such a good week, and I'm excited for the rest of the transfer. Time is definitely going by way too fast though. I'm just so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in this gorgeous country with the best people. It's definitely the best mission. 

Spiritual Thought:

As we were planning a spiritual thought to share with families at Christmas, we decided to look at the Plan of Salvation and take out all of the parts that wouldn't exist had Christ not been born. It was so humbling to see how the Plan of Salvation really wouldn't be possible without the Savior. We kept taking away pieces. Starting with the

 Spirit World (as we know it), moving on to resurrection, judgement, the Telestial Kindgom, then the Terrestrial, and finally the Celestial Kingdom, all gone. Without the Savior, they would all be taken away, and with it, eternal families, becoming like God, eternal peace, happiness, joy, repentance, change, hope. Everything would be gone. But the good news is that we have a Savior. Christ was born. Because of Christ, we can be happy. We can find peace. We have hope. We will one day be resurrected. Because of Christ, families are Forever. We have purpose. We can one day be exalted. I'm grateful for the Savior, I'm grateful for His birth, and I'm grateful for the opportunity we have to celebrate His birth during this Christmas season. 

I hope everyone has an úžasné Vánoce. Eat lots of food, spend time with family, serve others, and be grateful that the Savior was born. Oh. And pray for me as I eat Christmas carp this week...

Love you all! Veselé Vánoce!

Sestra Lewis

 

"New week - New City"

Ahoj! 

Honestly I don't really remember a ton that happened this week, but I'll try to hit the highlights. 

We did some Christmas heart attacking for members of the ward. We cut out a ton of snowflakes and Christmas trees to put on people's mailboxes and houses. One of the houses may or may not have involved me sitting on top of Sister Scott's shoulders to reach the window...

We did service for a lady that responded to our Facebook ad a few weeks ago. We went and just helped her organize her house a little bit. I love random service opportunities for people we don't know. It's such a cool opportunity to get to know new people and introduce them to what we do. Service opportunities are my favorite part of the week. 

Currently writing this email on a bus because...I'm getting transferred! Transfers are today, and I'm leaving Brno. I'm going to Uherské Hradiště to be comps with Sister Twitchell. Yeah...I'm still figuring out how to pronounce it too. You can just call it UH like the rest of us haha. I'm sad to leave Brno and all the people. They've got some good ones there. But I'm stoked for the transfer ahead of me. It's gonna be so good. Still can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm going into my 3rd transfer. I hit my 6 month mark as a missionary, and I don't know how it happened. Sometimes it feels like missionary life is all I've ever known, and then I try to speak Czech and it feels like I just entered the field yesterday. Time's going too fast, and I'm not a fan. 

Remember the elder's investigator that we played bowling with last week? He's getting baptized! He told us Sunday that he picked a date, and we're so freaking stoked for him to make that first step and continue making covenants with Heavenly Father. This gospel is so true. 

Update: I'm still obsessed with the Czech landscape. It's gorgeous here. And when you have the trees and the little Czech houses with the sunset hitting just right behind them? Man. It's incredible. Fun fact though: cobblestone is way slippery when it's covered in ice. I haven't managed to fall yet, but just you wait. That email is coming soon. 

Spiritual Thought:

I just want to share a quick quote from Gordon B Hinckley.

 “Of all things of heaven and earth of which we bear testimony, none is so important as our witness that Jesus, the Christmas child, condescended to come to earth from the realms of His Eternal Father, here to work among men as healer and teacher, our Great Exemplar.

“At this time of Christmas, this season when gifts are given, let us not forget that God gave His Son, and His Son gave His life, that each of us might have the gift of eternal life.”

As missionaries and members of the church, we testify of a lot of things, but the most important thing we testify of is Jesus Christ. Thanks to him, we have everything. We have peace, healing, hope, and every good thing. And thanks to Him, we can be with our families together forever someday, which I'm especially grateful for this week. 

Thanks for all the love and support! Hopefully I'll have some more exciting stuff to talk about next

week. Have the best week!

Sestra Lewis

"I'm A Trash Hero. No Big Deal"

Ahojjjjj!!

We had exchanges this week, so on Wednesday we took a quick 8 hour train ride to Košice all the way on the other side of Slovakia. We met some cool people on the train, and the view was gorgeous, so it's all good. We passed by the Tatry, which are a mountain range in Slovakia, and they were so pretty. I probably just stared out the window for a solid 2 hours on the train ride back haha (don't worry, I studied for the rest of it). We also got weekly planning done on the train, which was way nice. The exchange was chill. Košice is gorgeous. Even though I hate the snow, it was so so pretty. Exchanges are a little whack with a trio, and it took a lot of switching around the whole day, but we got everything done that we needed to, and the timing worked out for everything. I was pretty impressed. 

When we got back from Košice, we went bowling with the elders and their investigator. Newsflash: I suck at bowling. Shocker. It was fun though. We went to dinner after and got to know the elder's investigator. He's golden. We're so stoked to see how he progresses. After dinner he gave us candy for St. Mikuláš Day. On December 6, everyone gathers for St. Mikuláš Day. There's someone that dresses up as St. Mikuláš, and he has some angels and some devils with him. The kids get up and perform a song or recite a poem in front of everyone. If they do good, they get candy. If they do bad, the devils shove them in a sack and take them away. So great hahaha. 

We participated in Trash Hero this week. There's this organization in the Czech Republic that sets up service projects where they go and pick up trash around the cities. We went and picked up a ton of trash by an abandoned tram track next to a river. We found some sketchyy stuff. There's definitely a lot of homeless people and a lot of drug addicts that hang out there. But hey...worth it cause now I'm a trash hero. 

Last night we went to dinner at a member's house, and it was the best. Their house is gorgeous, and they had it all decorated with Christmas lights inside. We had Guláš, which is a Czech meal (so freaking good), made cukroví together, and then watched the new "The Christ Child" short film. Such a great night. I'm obsessed with the members in this mission. 

Spiritual Thought:

If you haven't gone and watched "The Christ Child" yet, go do it! It's so dang good! Every time I watch it, it always amazes me how humble the circumstances were surrounding Christ's birth. He was a king, yet he decided to come to earth as a baby. What also stands out to me is the fact that both shepherds and wisemen were called on to visit him. Two different groups who grew up in completely different circumstances. It just shows that Christ really is an individual Savior. He is there for everyone. He doesn't care about where you are in life. He just wants you to reach out to Him. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that we have to reflect on the Savior and His birth this Christmas season. 

I miss you all! I hope you have the best week! Maybe after you watch "The Christ Child" you can watch "Sky High" for me, because I've been quoting that movie all week haha. Thanks for all the love and support!

Sestra Lewis

"Guys . . . I Want a Castle"

 Ahoj, everyone in weather above freezing! Let's see. Co se stalo tento týden? On Tuesday we had zone conference in Slovakia. The elders were noce to us and took a train so the APs could drive us, so we didn't have to wake up way early this time. The conference was way good. We touched on a lot of different aspects of missionary work, and I learned a lot. I definitely have a lot of things I need to improve on when it comes to being an effective missionary. After the conference, we were gonna take a bus home, but we didnt realize until we got to the bus that it was a private bus. With private buses, you need your passport if you're crossing the border. Some of us didn't have our passports, so we weren't allowed on the bus. Luckily there was a train leaving soon after that, so we booked it and sped walked 2km to the train station so we could make it on time. We got there just in time to find out that the train was delayed 30 minutes. All that exercise for nothing. Škoda.

Even though it was an exhausting night, we made it home to Brno, and we even made it in time to have dinner with one of our favorite members. That definitely made the night worth it. One of our favorite families from the ward moved back to New Zealand this week. The husband left later in the week, so we got together with him and a few other people from the ward and had dinner together. The members here are such incredible people. They're just so good. It was so much fun to just sit and have dinner and talk with them. Good people and good food are the best combination. This week they kicked off all the Christmas celebrations. We went to one of the main náměstí with a few members and an investigator and watched them light the huge Christmas tree to kick off Christmas. After that we walked around and looked at the trhy (Christmas Markets that line the naměstí). They had a huge life sized nativity carved out of wood. It was pretty impressive. Apparently there was an elephant there when Christ was born. Who knew? Christmas here is so cool. So many cool traditions. I'm excited to get to experience it more in the next few weeks. We played floor ball with the elders and one of our English students. I suck at it, but it's such a fun game. Halfway through playing, Sister Scott got tripped and wrecked her knee and face. The Czech paused the game long enough to clean up the blood and then he goes "Okay. You're fine. Let's keep playing." Probably the most Czech thing I've heard all week next to "I'm grateful God created ice hockey" hahaha. I freaking love Czechs. 

We went to a Czech performance this week that the kids of a less active family were performing in. It was so cool. They had traditional Czech costumes, and they were doing traditional Czech dancing and singing. It was way good. We were mesmerized the whole time. I fall in love with Czech culture more and more every day. (Sorry, Mom. I might never come home.) For pday we went to Lednice Castle. The castles and churches here are incredible. So gorgeous. Fun fact: in Czech "Lednice" means "Fridge." It definitely lived up to its name, cause there was white stuff falling from the sky the whole time. We may or may not have had a snowball fight. I may or may not have creamed Sestra Scott. Good times.

Spiritual Thought: I've been feeling so blessed lately to be a missionary. It's such a privilege. I just keep thinking about how one day I'm gonna put the nametag on for the last time. And one day I'm gonna take the nametag off and not put it back on again. Time is going by so fast, and it freaks me out haha. I'm so grateful for this time I have to be set apart as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every day I get to wake up and just spend the day loving others and serving them. I have the opportunity to be in a foreign country trying to learn a new language so that I can share the good news of the gospel with others. It's the best. I love being a missionary so much. Sorry my emails are kinda all over the place haha. I'm too lazy to make them sound good. I hope everyone has the best week and that everyone is doing the Light the World challenge every day. If you aren't doing it, start doing it and I can promise you you'll have the best week. If you don't know what it is, check out www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world to find out. Love you all! Thanks for all the prayers and support! Life is good. 

Sestra Lewis