"America Needs to Step Up Its Refreshment Game"

AHOJJJ!!

Nazdár, my peeps!

It was a pretty busy week. Every time we have a free day, someone ends up calling and it gets filled up with stuff. It's pretty nice. 

There's an elder in our district who has relatives here, and one of them is the headmaster of a school. We went around to some of the classrooms and taught the kids English. Everyone loves it when they can give their students the opportunity to talk with native speakers. It was a pretty cool opportunity. 

We went to Ostrava for District Council. I love getting together with the district. It's always a good time.

We taught English for a few other students too. One of the members teaches English, so we started helping some of her students. She just roasts our American English the whole time though haha. They think British English is the superior form of English. Don't worry. We're correcting that belief of theirs. 

We did service for this family whose house had a fire because of electrical problems. She's a semi less-active lady, so it was cool to let her know that we care about her. I love doing service. 

This week was ward conference. Ward conference here is a big deal. There was so much preparation that went into it. They told us they were going to have refreshments after (classic), and then they brought out 3 tables full of food. It was insane haha. So much bread.  Everyone gets so stoked to see and talk with their friends in the stake that they barely ever see. Church started at 9:30 and the last person left the building at 3:15. I love the culture of the church here. 

So the past few months I've had very negative feelings towards Kaufland. Kaufland is the local store that we do weekly shopping at. Kaufland and I just don't get along. But I've repented because THEY NOW CARRY KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE!! They get it shipped straight from America. Miracles happen, guys. 

The language is starting to come a little more. I'm understanding a little more and able to speak a little bit better. It's still a way slow process, but it's coming. Everyone says fourth transfer is where the language clicks. The work is going well too. We've got some goals and plans that we're working on, and we're so stoked for them. Plus the members here are way motivated to help us, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. 

Spiritual Thought:

So for the past few weeks I've been obsessed with 3 Nephi 17. I read it all the time, and I find something new in it every time I read it. But there's one verse that I really love. Verse 22 says: 

"And when he had done this he (Jesus) wept again"

This is such a tender moment. Jesus weeps for us. He loves us. He's there for us. When we're sad or hurting He's right there with us weeping. And when we're happy, He's stoked for us. We can turn to Him. It doesn't matter how much or how little faith we have. We can turn to Him, and He'll take us in, no judgement. He'll guide us through. I'm so grateful to believe in a Savior that does that. 

Whelp. That's all I have for this week. I'm grateful for all of you, and I'm so grateful for all of the prayers! Have such a great week! And maybe find time to read the talk "Do Things That Make A Difference" by M. Russel Ballard in the June 1983 Ensign. It's a killer talk. So. Good. 

S Bohem my peeps

Sestra Lewis

"Pokud před vámi stojí Goliáš znamená to že je ve vás David."s

"Transfer 3, Companion...I've Lost Count"

Ahojjjj!!! 

Sooo this week was pretty insane. I've pretty much lost all hope for a normal transfer haha. I got my 7th companion! 

So on Thursday we got a call saying there was a mission wide emergency transfer because of Visa reasons. So all the Slovak speaking missionaries had to return back to Slovakia, and all the Czech speaking missionaries had to return back to the Czech Republic. So that means that my comp had to go back to Slovakia. So Friday was spent driving to Bratislava to drop her off and to pick up my new comp. It's been pretty rough for the whole mission. We're definitely all out of our comfort zones haha  It's been pretty hard and overwhelming, but I'm dealing with it pretty well. It'll be a good learning and growing experience.

My new comp is Sister Hodgson. She's from Washington. It's definitely a different feel than with my last comp, but it's still good. I'm still in UH, so that's great too. 

On Saturday, we went and did work at the orchard for the member again. That's always the highlight of my week. The member is always so excited for me to try new weird Czech food (mostly cause he likes to see me squirm haha), but this week he said he was going to take me to "Arizona in the Czech Republic." We drove up to this huge saloon restaurant. It was a little town/attraction thing that was all based on the wild west. It was pretty sick haha. 

This week the less active member that we visited the other week called us and asked us to come do service for her and then read from the Book of Mormon with her. That was way cool. I love doing service for people. She talked our ears off the whole time though. My brain was fried by the end of it. She also may or may not have taken her pants off in the middle of talking with us so she could show us her scars. Classic Czech grandma haha. 

That's pretty much everything that happened this week. We're both still recovering from everything haha. 

Spiritual Thought:

I read this quote the other day and thought it was pretty cool. 

"It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go."

I've talked about this before, but I just want to mention it again. A lot of times we can convince ourselves that if only our circumstances would change then we could be happy or have peace or [fill in the blank with whatever]. It's really easy to think that. But really the circumstance we are in isn't the main factor in determining whether or not we get those things. As we change our perspective and control our thoughts, we can adjust the sails and head in the direction we want to go, no matter what direction the wind is blowing. It might not always be easy, but the hard times are when you learn the most. 

That's all I've got for today. Sorry for the super short email. We have a pretty busy week this week, so hopefully next week's email will be a little better. Thanks for all the love and support! 

Sestra Lewis

"Exact Obedience Has Never Been So Hard"

Ahoj!

How's everyone doing??

It's hit that point when all the weeks start blurring together and by the time I go to write in my journal at night I can't even remember what I did that day. So let's see what I can remember. 

We started going out and contacting in the mornings just to wake us up and get us pumped for the day. But we kinda ran into a problem because the only people on the streets in the mornings are Czech Babičky haha. They're really willing to talk to you and their so cute, but by the end the conversation  just turns into them telling you how you really should put on extra layers and not be outside when it's cold. Don't ask me why their fragile self is allowed to be outside and we aren't, cause I still haven't figured that out yet haha. Talking to Czech grandmas is my favorite. 

One of the elders in our district has some relatives in a little town outside of UH, so we went with him and his comp and had dinner and met his relatives. They were so cool. And she actually gave us a service opportunity, so we're gonna stay in contact with them! We're way stoked. 

We went to a member's house and made a massive pot of Halušky (a Slovak dish). Literally my favorite ever. But they pulled out the bryndza (sheep cheese), and it was definitely not the kind you buy from a regular store. This stuff was the real deal. We were so stoked to try it. BUT we found out it was  unpasteurized. The new handbook says we cant eat unpasteurized stuff, and let me tell you that was one of the biggest tests I've had on my mission so far haha. It took everything we had to bring it up and tell him we couldn't eat the bryndza. But we opted for 100% obedience and it all worked out. We got some pasteurized bryndza and tried not to cry too hard as they ate the other stuff. 

Sestra Twitchell and I went on a výlet today to these castle ruins in Lukov near Zlín. We hiked up to it, and it was so sick. So gorgeous. And there were no people there so it was even cooler. I bet you can guess what we did at the top. That's right...we played Skipbo! Such a perfect výlet. I love the Czech Republic. I love this mission. 

We wrote a ton of notes for the members in the ward and we've been delivering them. We thought it would only take us 2 hours to deliver them, but 2 hours later and we literally only got 3 done. We didnt even make it off of our street haha. We forgot that Czech grandmas like to invite you in and show you their tree and pictures of their grandkids and tell you about their life haha. And you always end up leaving with some sort of food. As we kept delivering the notes, members kept inviting us in to talk, so it's been way cool. Such a cool opportunity to get close to the members. 

One cool experience with that actually started a few weeks ago. This family from America (the dad is Czech) came to visit. He brought his mom to church and turns out shes not only a less active member, but she lives right across the street from us! We decided to bring her a note, and she ended up inviting us in and talking to us for about 45 minutes. It was so cool! We told her to call if she ever needed any help, and she ended up calling us that night with something we could help her with. It was such a cool experience. I love missionary work. 

We taught this other lady that has been coming to English for years. She also comes to church every week and activities that we have. And she participates in a Come Follow Me Book of Mormon study group that some of the member do. She's not a member though. And she's not an investigator. She says that she doesn't believe God is there. In her words "in my life I have bread and butter. You all have bread, butter, and honey. You have happier lives, but I don't want your honey." We're pretty sure that she's just so tired of fighting to try to feel like God is there and not getting a result. She's tired of fighting and it's just easier for her to tell herself she doesn't want it. It broke my heart talking with her. I just want so badly for her to feel Heavenly Father's love for her. She'll come around eventually. 

You know, sometimes you have rough days. It's hard to keep going. But then Heavenly Father sends you on a perfect výlet and on the way home He sends you a view of the cutest Czech village with a gorgeous sunset even though it was supposed to be pitch black by then. And it's moments like those that you know everything is gonna be okay. 

Spiritual Thought:

I was doing Come, Follow Me this week, and a phrase stuck out to me:

 "I desire the room that I may write the things of God." -1 Nephi 6:3

Sometimes life gets busy. There's an endless list of things to do, people to talk to, assignments to complete, Netflix shows to watch...

Busy is good. It means you're productive. But sometimes if we aren't careful, the busy productivity can start pushing out the things that matter most. Effective scripture study, meaningful prayers, precious time with family. They all take second place on your list of priorities. We start filling the room in our lives with things that don't really make a difference in the long run. There's always points in my life where I find myself doing this. And then I begin longing for a better relationship with my Heavenly Father. I long for that closeness and the power that comes from feeling like I'm on God's side and He's on mine. Like Nephi said, "I desire the room that I may write the things of God." I think we should all make more room to write the things of God in our lives. Maybe then we could find a little more peace and happiness, because I know that when we have the spiritual part of our lives figured out, the rest of it falls into place. It's such a cool thing. 

I hope you all have such a good week! Thanks for all the prayers and support! Love you all!

Sestra Lewis

++

"This Is Paradise"

No, AHOJ!

Šťastný nový rok! 

This week was a nice one, way less busy then last week which gave us some time to recover haha. 

We had district meeting in Ostrava this week. Got to add another city to my list of cities I've seen. That's always way cool. It's always way good to get with the district and get spiritually rejuvenated with them. I get to serve with the best missionaries. 

We went to the Raj again (the member's orchard). This time some of the elders came with us. The Raj is probably one of my favorite parts of the week. It's so much fun and such a good time. 

A member invited us over to watch a fairytale that she's been really wanting to show us. This one was called Anděl Páně 2. It was so freaking hilarious. I'm obsessed with Czech fairytales. It was such a good language study too. I'm finding out that immersing yourself in the culture is one of the best ways to learn the language. 

Alright enough of the boring stuff. Let's move on to New Years (It's probably still gonna be boring for you to be honest, but you're the one who signed up to get this haha). So our apartment literally has the best view, it's on the top floor of a house that's at the top of a hill overlooking the city. It's pretty sick. So on New Year's Eve, we ate some tacos, then we sat there playing Skip-Bo, listening to gospel tunes, and had the lights turned out as we watched all the fireworks across the city. It was the definition of bliss. It's moments like those that you wish you could capture with a camera and live in forever. That night we got permission to wake up before 12 to watch the fireworks, but we chose sleep haha. But then at about 11:45, we got woken up by all the fireworks. The firework laws are not as strict here, so normal people can buy the massive fireworks. We sat and watched the fireworks, and it was probably one of the coolest things I've seen in my life. There were massive fireworks covering every inch of the city for miles. And there were peeps setting some off right outside our window, so we watched them light the fireworks and set them off. It was so insane. I can't even describe how cool it was. And they didn't stop until probably 20 minutes after 12. It was a pretty cool night. Definitely one I'll remember. 

This week we had some cool missionary moments too. We had a referral from a member, and another member is trying to set up an English teaching opportunity for us. And then we got two other potential investigators just because people sent us random texts to everyone in their contact lists wishing everyone a happy new year and so we decided to respond. We're pretty stoked. Being a missionary is the best.  

Duchovní myšlenka!!:

First I just want to rant real quick about the Book of Mormon. I started studying the Book of Mormon this week in depth with the new Come Follow Me for 2020, and man that book just has so much freaking power. Just studying that book every day has an insane effect on your life. Try it. I promise it's true. 

Anyway now to get on to my actual thought. It comes from the Book of Mormon (naturally). In Alma 24:14, there's a phrase that stuck out to me: "because he loveth our souls." There are things in life that are really good. It's those moments I was talking about earlier that you wish you could live in forever. And because God loveth our souls, He creates those moments for us. Because He loveth our souls, He created Sunday night game nights with our siblings. Because He loveth our souls, He created Nesquik chocolate milk and Kraft Mac and Cheese. Because He loveth our souls, He created sunsets and rainy days. On the other hand, there our times in our lives that aren't as great. Sometimes in life (more often than we would like probably), we have trials that cause us to question. We question why. It's confusing and hard, and we can't understand why God would allow these trials to happen. But in those moments of questioning, we can remember that phrase: "because he loveth our souls." Because God loveth our souls, He gives us trials that will test us and change us and help us reach our full potential. Because He loveth our souls, He puts us in situations so that we can strengthen our testimonies. And because He loveth our souls, He won't leave us alone in our trials. And even though there are times when we can't feel Him there, I promise He is there. As we trust in Him and give our will to Him, everything will work out as it should...because He loveth our souls. 

Whelp that's all I got for this week. Hopefully I'll have something more excited for you next week, but asi ne. I hope you all have a great week! Good luck going back to work, school, and real life. Thanks for all the love and support! Love you all!

Sestra Lewis

Skipbo games won: 10/16 (Sorry, Sestra Twitchell).