"We Lost One and Gained Two"

Zdar všem!

It's been a pretty hezký week. A lot of changes but also a lot of fun. 

So last Monday we took Sis Ray to Prague to send her home. It was pretty bitter sweet. It was really sad to see her and some other missionaries leave, but it was also way fun to get to hang out in Prague. Prague was EMPTY. Charles Bridge is completely deserted. I've never seen that place with so few people. It was insane. We stayed there until Tuesday. I got to see some of my west zone peeps again and chill with them. I miss them so dang much! I also got to see some of my MTC elders again. One of them I haven't seen since first transfer, and the other one I haven't seen since the MTC. It was a good reunion. I freaking love the people I get to serve with. I've got some good friends here. 

On Tuesday President consolidated the missionaries, so the missionaries combined apartments so no one is living on their own. The Brno sisters came to us, and they get to live here for a little bit. It's been pretty fun. Definitely a weird experience having another companionship here, but it's been cool. One if them is actually from way East Mesa haha. Now we have more people for our Skipbo and Phase 10 games. 

I've been learning how to juggle this week. Pro tip:if you don't have any juggling balls, then just use potatoes. They work pretty well haha. 

There are these two birds that won't stop mating outside our window. It's been a fun adventure trying to get them to leave.

We caught a wasp inside our apartment and made him so dang mad. I fear for my life a little now haha. 

We got to go to the Raj again!! Freaking love that place. It actually feels like spring, so the weather was perfect. Perfect weather, perfect place, perfect people. Life can't get much better. I love the people here so much. I honestly never want to leave. I could stay in this are for the rest of my mission and be totally okay with it. I would be in my comfort zone and wouldn't learn anything, but I'd get to be with the people I love. 

We've had a few good lessons this week. The kids we're teaching got bombarded with a ton of school work this week (teachers are still trying to figure out how to do school at home), so we've had to take things really slow with them. Hopefully we can get a little better at Facebook Finding and find more people to teach. I love teaching the lessons. 

Life is good. Quarantine isn't that bad when you focus on the good and enjoy the little moments. We'll all get through this. There's a lot of good coming from this. 

Spiritual Thought:

"You have Godliness in your blood and in your bones, and because of that you can overcome anything."

We're mortal, but guess what? We also have a Spirit in us that is not mortal. It comes straight from Deity. We are eternal, divine beings. We've got Godliness in our blood and bones. There's nothing we can't do as we realize that fact. God's got our back. We can call on Him and call on the divinity within us. We can overcome anything. 

I hope everyone had a great week! Make this next week a great one! It's up to us whether it's good or not. Mám vás ráda!

Sestra Lewis

                                        

"Reliving Communist Times"

Zdar!

Jak se máme? Another week in quarantine let's go! As much as I don't like being stuck inside, it's been cool to see all the miracles and still get to teach lessons. God is working in this place. 

So our member who has the orchard also has 2 other huge gardens. We asked him if we could help him throughout the week, so we could get outside, and he was so down. He took us to one of his other gardens and the fresh air and hard work was so good. We also went to his orchard on Saturday and worked there all day. That place has changed so much since I got here a few months ago. We've made so much progress. It's so satisfying. I could work in that place every day if it was allowed. I love that place so dang much.

 

We had a way cool opportunity to make history this week. A little background:during Communist times, a man named Otikar and a woman named Olga started these yoga camps. They would teach yoga, and then they would do a little uplifting thought, teaching gospel principles without actually talking about the gospel. Those camps are how a lot of the members here joined the church. It's such a cool history. Anyways, this week we were able to reach out to Olga and we did a mission wide Zoom call with her, and she did a yoga session with us. She mentioned how during Communist times having missionaries was only a dream, and now she was teaching a yoga session to a group of missionaries in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was was sick. Definitely one of the coolest experiences on my mission. 

We've taught a few lessons this week, and it's so cool to see people start to strengthen their relationship with Heavenly Father. One of the girls we're teaching prayed for the first time. She has a rough life, so I'm stoked to be able to help her find just a little peace. The gospel is so cool. 

General Conference!!! This conference was such a powerful experience. It's crazy how the whole world is in lockdown, yet we were all unified this weekend as we listened to our prophet. We had the opportunity to stay up and watch it live. I love general conference. So much power. So many answers. Guys. We have a living prophet. We have a living church. God is so good. 

We found out that Sister Ray has to go home 2 weeks early because of the travel restrictions. So that really sucks. Our trio is getting split apart. I get to go to Prague again though. I haven't been there in almost 6 months. I'm excited to get to see it again and possibly see Sister Jarvis again. I'm sad about Sister Ray leaving though. Goodbyes and changes are always way hard. I'm just grateful that goodbyes aren't forever. 

Spiritual Thought:

So I actually have two little thoughts today...

1. One thing that Olga said as we were talking with her is "God knows what tools he has. He knows the people He is working with." Whether it be yoga camps during communist times or video calls during a worldwide pandemic and quarantine. God knows the tools He has. He works miracles despite the limited tools He has. 

2. The theme of conference this April was "Hear Him," but over and over the message kept coming to me "He hears us." We need to hear Him. It's how we find peace and answers and hope. But why do those things come when we hear Him? Because He hears us. He hears us, He knows us, He is rooting for us, He wants us to be reunited with Him. And because of that character that He has, He answers us. He speaks to us. We just need to be listening for it and hear Him. 

I hope everyone has a great week! Look for the ways God is working in your place, because I promise He is, and I promise that of you look for it then you'll have more peace and be more happy. Eat a few bowls of some good American cereal for me. Love you all!

Sestra Lewis

"God is Working Miracles"

Zdarec!

We're still in quarantine, but we're still in the Czech Republic, so life is good!!

We did a mission wide zoom call with peeps from Germany and got training on using Facebook more effectively. It was way helpful, and we're already seeing miracles from it. 

We got to go help these members in their garden. The members have been way awesome through this whole thing. Multiple members call us every week to check if we need anything, and we have multiple members asking us to help them in their garden so we can get outside. They're definitely a blessing. 

The Czech Republic came out with a rule that banned all groups of more than 2 people from being in public spaces. So basically our trio is illegal. Haha it's actually not too bad. We can go outside, we just have to stay distanced from eachother. 

Guys. Miracles are still happening. Missionary work is still happening. At the beginning of the transfer, we created a goal to have 3 progressing investigators by the end of the transfer. We started with zero. We started a member missionary plan and started getting them involved. We had a ward activity planned that members could invite people to. We started trying new ideas of finding. We were getting really stoked to find people. But then the Coronavirus stuff hit and all that stuff got cancelled. But guess what? God didnt forget about that goal. This week we got 2 new investigators. Within 1 week we met our goal of 3 progressing investigators. And it all happened during a nationwide quarantine. God is so good. He can work miracles in any situation. It's been cool to learn that lesson again and again and again these past few weeks. 

Spiritual Thought:

I don't know why I'm doing so good. It doesn't make sense. There's a freaking worldwide pandemic, and we're quarantined. Yet every time we get the chance to talk to other missionaries, we're always happy and positive. It's cool to see. You wanna know the secret to getting through this all? Look for the miracles that God is performing, cause He's performing a lot of them. When you focus on God and the good that He's doing among all of this, the situation gets a lot better. It's still way hard, and some days are harder than others, but life is still good. We have so much to be grateful for. God is there for us. He's getting us through. 

Have a great week, my peeps! Keep praying. Keep looking up. Things are getting better. 

Sestra Lewis 

                                                  

"If You See a Baby Doll in a Cage Then RUN"

Ahoj!!

So it's been a week. We're still in quarantine, but we're still in the Czech Republic, so that's a huge huge plus. Definitely a blessing. 

The quarantine hasn't been as bad as I thought it was gonna be. We've made brownies three times, banana bread twice, and homemade bread. Ockey and Ray have gotten more and more out of it as the week has gone on, so that's been my form of entertainment. It's been getting warmer, but yesterday it snowed. Not a fan of that. 

Technology is a huge blessing during all of this. We've been able to meet with people individually over video call that we've been wanting to have the chance to talk to for awhile. We've also been able to do video call Czech lessons for the virus waiters in the US who are supposed to come to this mission. Our mission has also been doing a mission wide video call every morning. That's been a huge blessing. It's been great to get updates about the situation and just talk with the other missionaries for awhile. We've also been doing a nightly Come Follow Me study with our district over video chat, and it's been so cool. It keeps us sane haha

We had the opportunity to get out of the house a few times and go to my favorite place in the Czech Republic. We went to the Raj (the member's orchard), and we started planting all the chestnut trees! Literally never thought that day would come. But now I know how to plant a chestnut tree, so that's pretty sick. Definitely an essential life skill to have haha.

Kind of random but I thought it was funny. We're required to wear masks every time we go outside. A member was talking about the benefits he sees from it. He says that because of the masks he can now sympathize with how dogs feel wearing muzzles, he can eat as much garlic as he wants and no one will care, and he doesn't have to worry about being polite and greeting his neighbors cause he never sees them. Haha you gotta just look on the bright side. 

Highlight of the week: We have a new investigator!!! Dang I'm so freaking stoked. So this kid is 18, and he's the Physics student of one of our members. He comes to our English class, and we've been having little Bible discussions with him over Facebook. We've been wanting to have an actual lesson with him for awhile, but he's way busy with school and stuff. But thanks to Corona he's got time now! This kid's got an incredible story. So his family aren't believers at all. A few years ago he started thinking about the possibility of there being a God. He believed something existed, but he didn't know what. He had a friend who was religious who decided to pray with him. Our friend said that when that prayer was said he felt a intense warm feeling in his chest, and from that point on he's known that God exists. He's down to keep having meetings with us, because he wants to strengthen his faith and get closer to God. We're so stoked to help him do that. He's such a cool kid. 

So during the quarantine we're allowed to go out into nature. For pday today we went to Czech out some castle ruins in the forest. One of the first things we say when we got there was a baby doll in a cage hanging from a building. Then a German Shepherd comes running out followed by a man in a trench coat telling at us to leave. So even in quarantine you can have sick výlets haha. 

Spiritual Thought:

In 2007 President Oaks gave a talk, and in it he said 

"Suppose Church leaders reduce the time required by Church meetings and activities in order to increase the time available for families to be together. This will not achieve its intended purpose unless individual family members—especially parents—vigorously act to increase family togetherness and one-on-one time."

He said that in 2007. And now we're in 2020, 13 years later, and we're seeing that fulfilled. It started with the Come Follow Me program, and now with this virus, church is all at home. You guys. God knows exactly where we are right now. He knows exactly what situation we are in. He's been preparing for this longer than we think. He loves us. He's there for us. He's prepared. He's got this. We don't have to worry. 

Alright, guys. Thanks for the love and support. Pray for the missionaries that are all coming home, and pray that we get to stay. Also, pray for the church travel department, because they're probably stressed out of their minds right now. We got this! God is good. He loves us. He's aware of us. 

Sestra Lewis

                                                  

                                                 

"Czech Babis Can Cure Corona"

Ahoj!!! 

Shoutout to Corona for giving me some solid content for my email haha. This week has been pretty wild. Every morning we woke up with some new news/restrictions. It's been a pretty fun game of "guess when we're gonna get quarantined."

We've actually seem some pretty cool blessings from everything. 

The schools here were closed, so all the students had a lot more time to meet up. On Tuesday and Friday we went to Kroměříž to hang out with some of the high school students we teach English to. Tuesday they took us around the city and showed us some of the cool stuff there. Then Friday we had some intense rounds of card games. It was so much fun. It's always good spending time in good places with even better people. 

We had district council in Trenčín, and it was one of the best ones I've had. We did it all centred on the First Vision, and everyone got to share their testimonies about different aspects of it. It's been so cool to study the Restoration of Christ's gospel these past few months. 

We had exchanges this week!! I got to be with Sis Alvord again. It's so much fun to get to hang out with my mtc buds. I miss them. It was nice to just talk with her and get caught up with her. They were gonna go home Friday morning, but then Thursday night at 9:30 we got a call that the borders between Czech Republic and Slovakia were closing, so they had to book it across the border haha. Sometimes I love getting to serve in two countries. You get the best stories from it haha. 

We worked in in a member's garden this weekend. I freaking love Czech culture. Everyone has gardens out in the middle of nowhere (fun fact: to say "in the middle of nowhere" in Czech you say "where the foxes say goodnight"). It's the best to just go out and work in the gardens. So relaxing and so good to just spend time in nature. Man I love Czech culture. 

Here's a day by day play of how Coronavirus has affected us:

Saturday: We got two week food storage in case we get quarantined.

Sunday: There was a no touch policy at church, we weren't allowed to shake anyone's hands or hug anyone. 

Monday: We got stopped at the border and was given a little talk about the virus.

Tuesday: Schools were closed, government banned activities over 100 people, we had to cancel all group missionary activities

Wednesday: Stake Conference was postponed

Thursday: Czech Republic declared a state of emergency, CZ banned all activities over 30 people, Church was cancelled, borders were restricted

Friday: senior couples in our mission have to go home, street contacting/public transport contacting banned

Saturday: Stores selling nonessential items closed, the Rollins (the senior couple in our district) are allowed to stay!! (Literally so dang happy)

Sunday: We had Sacrament meeting at a member's house. They had a meeting broadcasted from Prague that we watched from home.

Monday: The Czech Republic declared a nationwide quarantine. 

Side note: I'm convinced that if you just put a ton of Czech babis (grannies) to work on the Coronavirus then they'll get it eradicated. They're pretty good when it comes to sickness haha. They'll get you cured so quick. Also, the Czechs (at least the Moravians) have been so chill about this whole thing. They're not too worried about it haha. 

So yeah it's been a pretty insane week. We've had to get creative with finding ideas. We found a list of all the old missionaries who served in this area, and so we texted all of them asking them if there's anyone they want us to get in contact with. We got a ton of names back, and we're so stoked to start reaching out to them. It's also been really cool to see all the tender mercies that have happened through all of this. You guys. God is so prepared for this. He knows what is going on. He knows where we are. He knew this was coming. He's been preparing us for this for months. I've seen too much evidence of that to believe otherwise. We're all in the best hands. 

Spiritual Thought:

I've been studying grace a ton the past few weeks. It's been on my mind a lot, and I'm just doing my best to try to understand it. It's been a slow process. But when this past Sunday came around, I learned more about grace than I have in all my studying of it. As we met at a member's home to have our sacrament meeting, a ton of thoughts were going through my head. Normally we take the Sacrament in a chapel, a place dedicated for that special purpose. It's a sacred place. But now here I was, sitting in a home in the Czech Republic, taking the Sacrament. The siblings were fighting 10 minutes earlier, the tray of sacrament cups was dropped resulting in a shattered glass (the second glass thing to shatter in the 30 minutes we had been there), the sacrament hymn was sung quietly and hesitantly with everyone trying not to let the person next to them hear their voice. It was a pretty imperfect situation, yet despite all the imperfections, God viewed it as worthy enough place to let the Sacrament be passed. And that's what grace is all about. God wasn't looking at the imperfections. All He could see was a group of people in their Sunday best dedicated to coming closer to Him. All He could hear was a group of people bearing their testimony of God's love and the Savior's atoning sacrifice. All He cared about was that we were gathered together to worship Him. We aren't worthy of God because of anything we do or don't do on our own. We're worthy of God because Christ's grace makes us worthy. His grace has the power to transform our imperfect lives and our imperfect offerings into sacred things. We bow before Him with the shards of a shattered glass, and He accepts it wholeheartedly. So even though we're imperfect, as long as we're trying and moving in the right direction, He takes our humble sacrifices and transforms them into something we would never be able to create on our own. And it's all because of the Savior's grace. I'm just really grateful for Him. 

So we'll see how this week goes with the quarantine. It's gonna be cool to see what kind of ideas we come up with. We're definitely gonna have to get creative. I'm excited to see the miracles that come from it. 

Have a great week!!! Thanks for all the prayers and support. Remember that God loves you so much!!

Sestra Lewis

                                             

"Vylet or Family Bonding Time?"

Ahoj, Fešaci!

This week was kinda of a blur. I feel like the stuff we did at the beginning of the week happened 2 weeks ago. It was a good one though!

All of the members went on a temple trip for a few days this week, so we got to spend a lot of time figuring out how to find new people to teach, and we got to focus our time on finding new peeps. It was really needed. Also, it's always so cool to see how excited the members get to go to the temple. The closest temple is in Germany, and it's about a 5 hour drive from UH. They were there for 3 days, and it was all they could talk about for the past few weeks. Then when they got back they were all so happy and filled with so much love for the temple. I loved it. Also we got German candy from them, so that's another plus haha. 

We went to the Raj again (my favorite place in the Czech Republic)! We started digging the holes for the member's orchard. Man, I love that place. We were super wrecked and sore afterwards, but that didn't stop us from teaching an impromptu lesson that night. We don't get solid lessons very often, so we decided to go for it. It ended up being a really cool lesson. "Some of the most rewarding times of our lives are those “extra mile” hours given in service when the body says it wants to relax, but our better self emerges and says, “Here am I; send me.”

So we've been really focusing on finding new friends to teach. We've been working with the members more and just trying to talk to more people every day. I feel like we haven't had much success, and it's been hard. You start thinking if maybe the problem is that there's something that you're doing or not doing that is getting in the way. Or maybe you aren't working hard enough. It's frustrating doing your best and not seeing results. It's been a little rough, but this week I definitely saw God's hand. He just let us know that our efforts aren't wasted. There were a few times this week when opportunities to find new people kept popping up. At English we had 2 new people show up, and now we're meeting with them this next week. We went to a cafe this week, and a dude stopped us and was talking to us and asked if we could do a presentation on America at the cafe in the future. There were 2 other people that we were able to set up with as well. I don't know if any of these people will turn into actual progressing investigators, but it definitely shows me that our hard work is paying off. There are people prepared here to hear this message, and as long as we're trying our hardest, Heavenly Father will lead us to them. 

It's just been really cool this week to see how much God's hand is in this work. He's leading us. It's His work. He's willing to show us miracles, we just have to want them and ask for them and look for them. He keeps His promises, and He's got our backs. And when we put in our best efforts, and it still doesn't seem like enough, He's there to make it enough. 

For pday we went to Trenčín Castle in Slovakia with the district. I love my district. They're all just so down to do anything. Výlets with them feel like family trips haha. I kept having moments where it hit me that I get to live in these countries. It's insane. Still feels surreal to me sometimes. I'm so grateful for the experiences I'm having. 

Spiritual thought:

I just want to testify of the power of the Book of Mormon. I know that as we read it with real intent (the real intent is the key part), then there's a power that flows into our lives. I don't know how it works, but it does. Parts of our lives that don't seem in any way connected to the gospel or the Book of Mormon start falling into place. It's incredible. I love that book. 

Alright thanks for hanging in there and reading the whole email. If you actually read this far then I'm proud if you, and I'll make you brownies some day as a reward haha. Thanks for all the support! Have a killer week! 

Sestra Lewis