"Celebrating My Year Mark Right"

Ahoj!!!

It was a really long week. I feel like last pday was 2 weeks ago. It was a great week though.

We went to a cafe with a lady we met on Facebook who we had a meeting with a few weeks ago. She took us to this cafe that prints a picture of you on your drink. It was kinda weird but also super impressive. It was cool to get to catch up with her too. She's going through a lot in her life right now, and she just wants peace. I just want to help her. 

So fun fact: Czechs love their beer. It's their national drink. It's cheaper than buying water. It's a 

massive part of the culture. Anyway. We were meeting up with this dude that we're friends with, and he buys us these drinks just from the grocery store. I'm always skeptical when it comes to accepting a drink that a Czech gives me, but I checked and didn't see anything wrong with this drink. I took one sip before I realized it definitely had alcohol in it. Just an average day in the life of a missionary. I had to celebrate my year mark somehow. 

Speaking of my year mark: I've been a missionary for a whole freaking year. How the heck did that happen?! It's been a wild ride. I've grown so much and learned so much about myself, life, the gospel, and my Savior. It's been a heck of a hard year, but it's all been 100% worth it. There's no greater work than reconnecting souls with God. It's kinda the best. 

Zone conference happened to fall on my year mark, so most of my mtc district was together exactly one year to the day from when we all met for the very first time. It was super cool. We've all come such a long way, and we're all so tight. They're all some of my greatest friends. That's one of the things I'm most grateful for about the mission. I've made so many incredible friends. 

We made větrník with one of our friends. It's a Czech dessert that's super similar to a cream puff. I love learning how to make Czech food. We're gonna teach her how to make American desserts next time we meet up with her. 

It's finally starting to feel like summer here. Borders have opened, so a crap ton of tourists are back in Prague. It's also starting to warm up a little, and we're having a lot of summer storms. Bring on the heat. I miss it. We got soaked walking in the pouring rain the other day. Definitely one of the highlights of the week. 

We also made a sick birthday card for President Gehring's son's 16th birthday. We were pretty proud of it. It had lights and pop up stickers. 

Duchovní Myšlenka:

"More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suff’ring,

More sorrow for sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer."

This is the first verse of "More Holiness Give Me" from the hymn book. Ever since the MTC, I have loved this song so much (Go and give the other verses a quick read). There's always more that we can do to be more like the Savior. Sometimes it's easy to get content and think we're doing good, but there's always more that we can do. Sometimes this can get so overwhelming. But I know that Christ is there with us through the whole process, because as we are asking for more of His attributes, He's giving us more energy and more capability to receive those attributes. He's right there with us. He's got our backs. 

I love you all! I love being a missionary. I love the Czech Republic and everything that goes along with it. So much love. Do me a favor and have the best week. You deserve it. 

Sestra Lewis