"I Found Heaven, and It's 20 Minutes From the German Border"

 Zdravím vás!

I've kinda given up hope on having a normal week this transfer haha. 

We had exchanges with Brno. They came here to Plzeň. It was really good! We had a lot set up which was way nice. We got to do twice the stuff we would have done that day if it was just us. 

We went to Prague again this week. Graham had her last visa appointment, so we figured it would be our last time to Prague for awhile,  but I have a visa appointment next week, so we'll be back. It's always nice though cause it gives us a chance to hang out with the other missionaries. After visa work we were supposed to stay and film a video for Facebook, but Graham's violin was in Prez's car...in Slovakia. So those plans turned into us playing a card game with Sister Gehring and then having a nice long talk about life with her. I love long talks with Sister Gehring. 

Thursday we had district council. Because our district is a 2 hour drive away and we had already travelled a ton this week, we decided to meet somewhat partway in between the two cities. We met a hluboka, a super pretty castle, and had a picnic and district council on the hill right next to the castle. I get to serve in such a cool mission with the best people. 

On the way back, we decided to go to this referral's house to meet with her. It took us forever to figure out where she lived because she was just trying to give us verbal directions instead of sending her address. We finally got her address and were able to find her house. We pull up, and honestly the house looked like an abandoned house. We walk in, and there were cats everywhere. And they just kept getting smaller and smaller. Just when I thought they couldn't get smaller, a TINY kitten walks in. It had to have been less than 2 weeks old. The lady had a whole box of them. It was an interesting meeting, but the lady said she wants to come to church, so we're happy. 

Friday was one of the best days of my mission haha. Bishop Gordon-Smith invited us over to help him in his garden. They live 20 minutes from the border of Germany in this tiny little village. It was a rainy day, so as we were driving through the windy roads the countryside was foggy. It was gorgeous. When we got there, they were at the store, so they left us a key. We went inside and just chilled with their cat until they showed up. They're house was beautiful. It felt like a cabin. When they showed up, we helped in their garden for awhile and then had lunch while Sister Gordon-Smith told us stories. Then they sent us home with a ton of vegetables from their garden. It was such a dang good day. 

We went to Kaufland the other day because stores are closed today and we ended up getting stuck in line for freaking forever because the power went out so the system was down. It was super entertaining people watching though. I felt bad for the workers who had to put all the full carts that people just left away. They gave us free chocolate for waiting though so worth it. 

We had a ton of people at church today. Most of them were just visiting, but it was still cool to have more than 15 people at church for a change. One of the people who came is actually the son of a member here. He's not a member and has never been to church, but recently he's been having questions, and decided to come. So now we're meeting with him and are hoping to help answer his questions. 

Spiritual Thought:

I was taught again that a lot of times God blesses us based on our efforts, but most of the time those blessings come in ways not related to the efforts we show. So like we've been working a lot on helping the people we're meeting with become progressing friends, but then this week our efforts were rewarded through that man coming to church. We had nothing to do with that man coming to church, but because we were putting in a lot of effort, God blessed us, even if it wasn't in the way we were expecting. This applies in so many aspects of our lives. When you don't know where to start or what to do, just start somewhere. Put in the effort. God will bless you somehow. 

Have a fantastic week. Turn off the news. And spend some time in nature. I'm convinced it's a cure all. 

Sestra Lewis

"Kittens, Cow Stomach and Busses to Heaven"

 Nazdar

The weeks are going by too fast, but they've been busy, so I can't complain. 

To start the week we went to a less active's garden in a little village a ways from Plzeň. We picked apples, cut them up, and I got to play with their little daughter and kitten. It couldn't have been better. Huge gardens are one of my favorite parts about Czech culture. 

We had one of our English students tell us about his favorite soup which consists of the stomach of a cow. Then the next day he invited us to lunch at his work, and his work was randomly serving that soup that day. So yeah...we tried cow stomach soup this week. The meat was smooth on one side and bumpy/wavy on the other. Definitely wouldn't recommend it. I did not enjoy it at all. But I'm glad I got to try it. 

We went and had a lesson with this former investigator and a member. The investigator basically told us that he wants to live with his wife forever, but that he doesn't want to accept the gospel. The member just told it to him straight and was like "If you get on a bus headed towards Opavska, but you're trying to get to Bory in the exact opposite direction, you can't get on and tell the bus driver that you're going to Bory." And then he told the guy that he couldn't say he was going to live with his wife forever if he wasn't going to live his life in a way that will make that happen. It was pretty straight up. I appreciated it. It makes me really sad that he doesn't want to accept the gospel though. I just want him to receive the blessings from it. 

We met with a lady who isn't from here, but her dad and ex boyfriend are members. It was weird to have a conversation with someone who knew about the church. It was cool though.

We also had a call with this girl from Prague that I've been messaging the past few months. It was for English, but we also talked about the gospel, and she's down to learn more. She's way cool, and I'm excited to get to talk with her and get to know her more. 

We had zone conference! As always it was way good to get to see the other missionaries. As the mission gets smaller, we've all gotten a lot closer with each other. 

We did a Trash Hero event. Basically we went to a park and cleaned up all the trash. I found a few needles and a lot of beer cans. Fun times

There was a pretty big fire in Plzeň this week. I think some warehouse burned down. We could see it from our tram ride home. The smoke kinda just covered the city. It was pretty cool. 

We played SpikeBall with some peeps today in the park. It was way fun. It was a super close game, but Graham's team won. I'll keep you updated on who wins the next games. 

Spiritual Thought:

We talked a lot about the Spirit at zone conference. It's cool because as member we have the gift of the Holy Ghost. That means that whenever we want, we can feel the Spirit. We just have to focus on trying to feel it, and we can. It's been kinda cool to learn that, cause before I always just thought that you had no control over whether or not you feel the Spirit, but it's a privilege that we have. 

Have a fantastic week! Thanks for all of the support. 

Sestra Lewis

                                                     

"When In Doubt, Steal Their Camels:

 Čus kaktus!

Alright so not a lot went down this week. We were in our area all week though which is always good. 

We went to lunch at a babička's house. I love those types of lunches. As usual, she fed us SO much food. A bowl of soup followed by SIX knedlíky (covered in sugar).  

We've been experimenting with our English class, and we had a really good spiritual thought for that this week. They were all pretty engaged and curious. I'm excited to see where we take it. 

One of our English students took us on a tour of Plzeň. There's so much history here. Apparently there was a river that ran through the city, but they just decided to...move the river? I don't know how, but now it's in a different spot. Also the city mascot is a camel, because a long time ago there was a fort built around Plzeň and someone was trying to break in, so they stole their camels. Now there's a camel in the city crest. 

Our bishop bought spikeball for us to use. We posted about it on a sport page on Facebook and some dude told us that they were having a slacklining event and we could bring the spikeball and play with them. We were a little nervous about it, but it ended up being way fun, and we met some super chill people. Normal and natural is the way to go when it comes to missionary work. 

We had our last district council with Starší Bennett in our district. Because of visa stuff, he can only be in the country for 90 days, so he had to move back to Slovakia. So once again my district changed halfway through the transfer haha. I'm way sad about it, but I'm also excited for my new district. 

We had a super good lesson with one of our investigators about the Book of Mormon. We had a member teach with us, and that was super helpful. He was able to answer a lot of our investigator's questions. He (our investigator) told us we inspired him to read the Book of Mormon. Let's go! I can't wait for him to start studying it. 

Our landlady was babysitting her grandson, and they had a 8 week puppy with them as well. So we got to play with the puppy, and it seriously made my whole day. Such a tender mercy. 

We met up with some members to do Come Follow, Me, but it ended up being a super long walk in a random part of the city that ended in us just walking around a random cemetery. I have zero clue how we ended up there, but it was cool. 

We gave talks in church on Sunday. This time around was way better than last time. It's kinda cool to see my Czech improve, even if it's just a little bit. 

Today we went to Karlovy Vary, a spa town about an hour away. It's super pretty, but it's also 100% a tourist city, so it was really weird. I just felt like I was walking around an amusement park. The architecture was super cool though. 

Spiritual Thought:

So there's a lot that I've been thinking about this week that I could mention, but I'm just gonna go with one of them. I was watching a devotional by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and he said something that has become my new motto:

"Focus on what you can do, not on what you can't."

It was so good that he repeated it twice. But seriously so good. It applies to everything. If you feel like you don't have the right skills for something, just focus on what you do have. If you feel like you're missing out on something, just focus on what you can do/do have. If you feel like you aren't doing enough, just focus on what you are doing, not on what you aren't. It's just such a good phrase to do anything by. 

Mám vás ráda! Do a lot of fun things this week!

Sestra Lewis