"No čau, Praho! (Twice this week)"

 Čau!

So I got a new comp this week. That makes 4 times that our district has changed this transfer. 

The week started with the mission getting 3 new missionaries, 2 elders and 1 sister. I still have no idea how they made it to the country, but all I know is that God is in charge. But we're way stoked to have them here. We haven't had new missionaries since the beginning of the year, so we're excited. The mission needs them. 

We had exchanges, and I got to see Stilson and Johnson again. It's always a good day when I get to hang out with them. 

We had visa work...again. So we took another trip to Prague. Visa work is honestly one of my favorite things. I'll take any excuse I can get to see my friends in Prague. I got to see three of the people from my MTC group. This time I was getting my biometrics done. One more appointment till I'm officially legal! 

Partway through the week, Prez got word that one more sister would be able to come to the mission. On our way out of the parking lot to go back to Plzeň from Visa work, Prez stopped us and told us that she would be coming to us. So we went back to Prague on Saturday, and now we have a new companion! Her name is Sestra Huhane, and she's so cool. I'm excited to get to serve with her. She's been visa waiting since April, so we're pretty stoked she's finally here in country. Also, our district is now made up of two trios, and it's the best. 

Conference was super good. We didn't really do anything special for it, but we did watch one session in Czech with some members. 

For pday we went to a castle halfway between here and ČBud (the elders area). It was rainy, and we took a walk around the castle, played some spikeball, and just chilled. It was our first district pday all transfer. Such a good day. 

We fasted with one of our investigators this week. It was a super cool experience. We called him every day, read some scriptures with him, and prayed with him. He has a few questions that he wants answered, and he wanted to gain a testimony of prayer. We're making slow progress with him, but it's progress!

Spiritual Thought:

Alright I heard this quote during conference, and I'm still pumped about it. I wish every single member would internalize this quote and live by it. 

"Maybe their hairstyle is a little extreme or their language is a little different. But they are there. And they are trying." -Carlos A Godoy

He was talking about people who come to church who don't "fit the mold" that members have created. I'm not a huge fan of the part of church culture where everyone judges those who don't live the gospel like you do. It really gets on my nerves. All that matters is that we're all showing up. We're all trying our best. Our job is to just love other people and cheer them on. No one is perfect. We're all just trying. 

Alright I'll stop before I go into a big old a rant. Have a great week! Maybe take some time to review conference and figure out what the Lord wants you to know. Love you guys!

Sestra Lewis

                                         

"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