"Back to Staying Home All Day"

 Čauko!

Another week, another transfer. 

So we're back in quarantine. They keep calling it a "soft quarantine," but it's the same thing we did in the spring. This time I feel a lot better about it though. It's kinda weird thinking that we're experienced with quarantine. Never thought that would happen in my life. But this time we are A LOT better with Facebook, so we'll spend our time more effectively and hopefully we won't get as burnt out. We're about to get super good at ping pong haha

We had one last in person district council before everything went online. We aren't allowed to meet people in person anymore which kinda sucks. It makes me sad. It's hard only having online lessons. But I'm super grateful for the technology we have. It's a huge blessing. 

We filmed our first ad for Facebook this week. We won't start running it until next week, but it was cool to actually get it filmed. 

We had transfer calls! I'm staying in Plzeň with Sister Huhane. I'm pretty excited. It's gonna be a pretty great transfer (*cough cough* my last one *cough cough*). I'm not STL anymore, but I'm not off the hook. Huhane and I got assigned to be SMS missionaries (Social Media Specialists). Basically we're one of three companionships that helps everyone with using social media. We'll answer question, help make content, run ads for them, keep track of the success that we're having with social media, etc. It should be interesting. I'm excited to get experience. Plus it'll give us something to do during quarantine. 

Today we went to Prague and dropped off Sister Graham. She and a few other missionaries fly home tomorrow. It was really fun seeing all the missionaries, but it was super sad saying goodbye to the rest of them. The goodbyes keep getting harder and harder. We've got THE best people in this mission. 

Spiritual Thought:

I just want to testify that God knows us personally. He knows what are desires are. Even the little things that we enjoy. He knows the little things about us, and He puts us in situations so that we can best find the joy from those little things. It's kinds cool to worship a God who supports even the little things in our lives. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sestra Lewis

"Official Resident of the Czech Republic"

 Nazdar! 

The weeks go by so fast. 

We got a referral from the Communist party this week. Literally there was no name attached to it. It just said "Komunistická strana" (Communist Page). So apparently their hearts are opening? Haha we think it either was just someone trying to waste our time or it was from one of the members here who is possibly Communist. 

We went and did service again for this member. We just spent the time cutting up apples while she turned them into applesauce. 

We had dinner with our friend and celebrated his baptism anniversary! He was baptized a year ago this week. He has an impressive story. He kinda went inactive after his baptism after encountering anti, but then during quarantine he read through the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants multiple times and regained his testimony. He's a cool guy. He brings us Kofola everytime we meet with him.

We went to Prague this week for visa work. I'm finally done renewing my visa! I got a residency card and everything. I feel super fancy haha. It's kinda cool knowing I own a Czech Republic residency card.

We carved pumpkins with a recent convert. She lives pretty close to Germany, and the drive out there was so pretty. I will never get over how pretty it is here. 

We finally published our Facebook page! Next step is to invite everyone to the page and then make and run an ad. I'm excited to see what comes from it. I think we'll find a lot of people from it. It's a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it. 

Spiritual Thought:

We started doing Come, Follow Me this week with this district, and I'm so pumped. I love studying the Book of Mormon with them. As we were studying I read 3 Nephi 20:6-7:

"6 Now, there had been no bread, neither wine, brought by the disciples, neither by the multitude;

7 But he truly gave unto them bread to eat, and also wine to drink."

The people went to hear Jesus, but they weren't expecting to participate in the Sacrament with Jesus. They were probably expecting to be fed spiritually, but they weren't expecting that special of a spiritual experience, and they weren't prepared for it. But Jesus knew that, and He provided the means for them to have the Sacrament. 

Sometimes we aren't prepared to have certain spiritual experiences, or we aren't expecting them. But God is good, and He knows that we're imperfect, and He provides what we need to have those experiences anyways. Even though we aren't perfect, God still provides us with miracles and spiritual experiences. He's just too good. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week. It's gonna be a good one. Love you all!

Sestra Lewis

"We're So Spoiled"

 AHOJ!

First of all, whoever says that sisters apartments are better than elders apartments...you're 100% correct. The floor heaters in our apartment came on this week, and it's heaven. We're so spoiled.

It was a really long week. But we did a lot of good things!

We had a mission tour this week with Elder and Sister Sabin. It had to be over zoom this time, but it was still really good. It took 3 days, and we had MLC over zoom with them on another day, so 4 of the days this week were spent on that. I learned a ton though. There was a lot of really good things talked about. The biggest takeaway for me was probably just the fact that we're way too hard on ourselves. Sometimes we hold ourselves to a super high standard, when in reality all we have to do is try our best and we're fine. 

We set up everything for our area Facebook page this week. It isnt published yet, but we have our first week of content scheduled, so we got a really good start on it. Next transfer is probably when we'll see the most success with it. 

Just a quick explanation on how we're using Facebook. Each area has a Facebook page for the cities that they cover. A ton of videos and quotes and stuff gets posted on there. And then the missionaries run ads on Facebook through the page. Then people respond to the ads and the missionaries set up with them to teach. It's been way successful. It's definitely not the kind of missionary work I ever thought I would be doing haha. I'm super excited for it though. 

We had a really good lesson with one of our English students. He left for 1 month to visit his home, and when he came back he reminded us that we were going to give him a Persian Book of Mormon to read. Yesterday we had the lesson with him and gave the Book of Mormon to him. He said he's gonna do his best to read it with an open mind. I'm excited to see where it goes. He's so cool. 

We had dinner with this Brazilian couple that we're friends with. It was so so so good. They made us Brazilian food, and we just talked. They are such good people, and it just felt so good to be in their home.

Church is cancelled again for a few weeks cause the COVID situation is getting worse here again, so on Sunday we just met up with two of the women in the ward, and one of our favorite members came and blessed the sacrament for us. It was a super simple meeting, but the Spirit was so strong. 

We also went to church with one of our investigators. I'm not sure what religion it was, but it was a super cool experience. I actually learned a ton from going there. It was cool to just experience a different church culture and learn more about another religion. I'm super grateful he took us. 

Today we went to Český Krumlov. It's this super pretty town that everyone talks about. It definitely didn't disappoint. It was gorgeous. We walked around for a bit, had lunch, and then played spikeball. The long drive was definitely worth it. 

Spiritual Thought:

One thing that I thought of when we were visiting the other church is just how cool it is when a group of people who all love Jesus get together. This was a tiny group of believers in a country of atheists, but in that little church they found a community, and they were happy. Even though everything around them told them not to believe, they still showed up and showed their love for Jesus. I just have a lot of respect for it. The Spirit is just so strong when people get together to share their love of Jesus with each other. 

Love you guys! Do something fun this week!

Sestra Lewis