Week 58 The Big Week

We were invited over to 3 members' houses this week for lunch/dinner. In other words, we are loved and oh so fat. We had the legendary svičkova at Sestra Blombergova's, the Czech bread pudding at Sestra Kronerova's and a ton of poppy seed/fig buchty at the Moravcovi. Speaking of, keep Sestra Moravcova in your prayers. Her recovery from her hip replacement is very painful :( 

This last week we also had another on-the-go lesson with our investigator and a member. I swear, we have had a variety of crazy lessons this transfer alone. We walked through the wilderness for one lesson, we ran with a pregnant woman again to catch her train after our lesson, and I am positive there is more in store for us. 

Last week I was thinking about the women in the branch that we visit and how some of them we love and help but only see at church on Sundays. So we bought flowers and decided to surprise them with flowers to tell them they are appreciated and do an amazing job. That was the best idea yet! Sestra Galičkova was so happy and we had a very good visit with her about Christ, charity, her conversion story, and her family. ---quick story---Sestra Galickova helped us find the right bus to get us to our next destination. We had no idea where we were so we trusted her directions. We got on the bus, there weren't any signs or announcements of which stop we were at, so one time the bus stopped and I heard the bus driver yell the name of our stop and look at us, then a woman by us said"hulky!" (girls!) and we were like OH! RUN! and shouted a big "děkujeme!" as we ran off the bus. Strangers are watching out for us :)---anyway we found the Řehovi and met their grandma there who I have never met and she is a member! It was a treasure. Then we ended us walking all the way back to Frydek Mistek alongside a road until we made our way home.

Basically, its been an eventful week and will be another eventful week starting today. Rudolf is a funny/crazy member here. He asked where we were going to be today (cause he wants to do the whole Easter whipping tradition with us) so I told him we would be in a forest somewhere in the wilderness. So he responded "hahha okay...bring your phone"  Rudolf will not find us! hahah  

Tomorrow is training in Prague. We are so pumped. We loooove training! 

Veselé Velikonoce! 

-Sestra Hale

So much food!

Service project at Kubalovi's new store.

This is Frydek.

Week 57 You will not believe this but . . .

ONLY on the 24 hour day of Tuesday we had a ton of snow. Every other day has been either a little or full blown sunny. Everyone we talk to is so ready for spring.

I guess the highlights of this week were:

Yesterday this went down: There is a less active, Sestra K. She hasn't been to church for X years because her dog is ill and she can't leave it home alone all day...literally missionaries in the past have been prayed for that dog to be released from this life for a long time. (At least that is what Sestra Senkane said when she served here) Anyway, Sestra K is literally a solid member besides the fact that she does not attend church. Two weeks ago she fell down her stairs and severely bruised her ankle. We asked the Elders if they could arrange a priesthood blessing. Sestra K said of this "the blessing was beautiful and eased my pain. Then the bretheren stayed for THREE HOURS and just talked to me. We laughed so hard about whatnots and it was very pleasant"---miracle number one. Miracle number two: Sestra Galickova (AMAZING empathetic member) is visiting Sestra K today, probably as I am writing this. After our visit last night, Sestra Witzel and I had a happy party in the elevator because there are miracles happening and events taking place that will continue to bring the spirit back into Sestra K's life in full.

On Saturday our lesson cancelled with a member which was sad because after our lesson we were all going to spend an hour on the naměstí to enjoy the Easter festival they had in Mistek! Sestra Witzel and I contacted around then made our way to the festival! We bought some Holland cheese, French sausage, various Czech Easter decorations, TRDELNIK (I seriously have a problem with those. They're soooo yummy), and we talked to every person we bought from. People here are always so complimentary of our language skills and are so patient when we try to explain words we don't know in Czech. One of the mini highlights from the festival was the time we were eating our trdelniky and as we sat to listen/watch the folk band/singing child performance, there was an enthusiastic fan club of one. She looked like the mother of one of the 40 year old Cello players and she was SO happy to sit there and support. She was dancing, clapping, and leading the music from her seat. You can also bet that I took a video of her hahaha

It feels like we found a 'ton' of people this week but really, they are few in number but SO awesome! We met and will teach a mom of twins, we contacted a guy who 1)believes in alligators that breathed fire and created the world and 2) kissed us, We taught a woman from Africa who says it how it is, in an intelligent way, and super prepared. We met a kid who looked 14 but said he is done with school. We met and taught a man that was almost prepared for the Gospel but not quite yet, etc. Its been an exciting week. We Loooove finding in this area. We are hoping to eventually have our own English class here and even sports nights here to really build up Frydek Mistek.

Sestra Hale

Asi to je všechno ode mne..Mám vás ráda a vím, že je smysl v Velikonocích. Pamatujte tomu, že Kristus žije, a díky Němu, my taky budeme žit zas!
"Hallelujah"

https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah

 Easter selling stands.

 The festival in Mistek.

 THESE ARE ALL MADE FROM THE BASE IMNGREDIENT OF HONEY. Czechs love their honey. 

and these candles smell divine. 

 Sestra Witzel and I

 Young single adults take over Ostrava!

Week 56 Staying in the Frydek Mistek

This week was a finding week. Sestra Witzel and I have a vision and goals and Heavenly help to find the prepared people in our assigned area. We were able to stay in Frydek Mistek this entire week basically and find find find! We have been walking around EVERYWHERE through Mistek and Frydek and we even already finished trakting an entire cute neighborhood. We have had great success, we have 2 new investigators. One just so happens to be our next door neighbor and the other lives about 5 minutes away from us and is reading the Book of Mormon! Needless to say we are harvesting these streets.

On Friday, the Řehovi were able to take us to the rehab center where Sestra Moravcova is staying.; She had a hip replacement surgery. It was a pleasant visit and she is doing well. She has bandages on her legs to keep them in an un-swollen state and she asked if Sestra Řehova could undo them, put lotion on, then re-bandage her legs. Sestra Witzel sitting nearby offers to give Sestra Moravcova a hand massage. Sestra Moravcova asked if she knew how and Sestra Witzel said "girls camp!" haha so I witnessed sweet Sestra Witzel sitting next to Sestra Moravcova in pain and she was calmly giving her a lotion hand massage while Sestra Řehova was on the floor re-bandaging her legs. Moral of the story: Go to girls camp and learn a skill because it will bless others throughout your life.

It's so fun training. I am always answering random questions of the language or past experiences on the mission. Yesterday while tracting I taught her how to play "would you rather" in Czech. It's a ton of fun

Lastly, today we played Squash with Ondřej and the other 4 elders. Squash is the European Raquetball with different rules and a different ball that isn't bouncy. Its a super fun workout and I feel like my skill level is at a 6 with the game as of now. Then we all went to lunch, played a cool random boxing game at the restaurant, then split from there. This is P-Day done right! Tonight we are going to tract even more in another gold mine of a neighborhood we found near us. So pumped! 

p.s. weather update:the sun is shining today for the first time is forever, it woke me up before the alarm did! 

Opravdu, mám vás všichni ráda, i když se moc neznáme. mějte se pěkně a se uslyšíme brzy! 

Sestra Hale

Squash Action  

  

 Squash Squad

A typical dinner, plus some fruit tea.

Week 55 Brno Baby!

As you all know I was in Brno at the beginning of this week because Sestra Bailey and I were waiting to pick up our children (new missionaries). So we worked in Brno regularly until we departed for Prague, had a great meeting with all 16 of us trainers, then headed to dinner with the McConkies. That was a treat-We all love the McConkies. Then we came home to Frydek Mistek, had a great lesson with recent returned missionary Zuzka and our investigator, who dropped us. It was a good lesson, but also sad. We have since been running around like usual, talking to everyone, teaching when we find and finding when we teach. We also made another trip to Brno for district conference. That Saturday night session was AMAZING. Elder Boom and his wife from Holland came and we had a beautiful meeting. ---ask me about these meetings sometime. I took good notes but don't have enough time to write them down---- Then we slept over at the sisters' apartment and went to a big rented conference center to have the official district conference. I saw so many random members that I've seen here and there throughout the mission. I saw the elder that served in the MTC and ended his mission while we were there, I saw Zuzka Jedlickova, and so many others. That was also an amazing meeting, of which I also took good notes during. I really liked what Elder Boom said about changes. He said they are good and he hopes (for example) the new mission president does things differently because that's how it works. We hold on to the good and build of on that. We need changes in life in order to become better disciples of Jesus Christ. 

On the way home from the conference, we sat in a train cabin with Sestra Galičkova and Adita (one of the elders' investigators) Sestra G is one of my favorites. We talked about this and that, we got to know each other, give advice to each other, and laugh a whole lot together. She is a hoot and Adita is also a sassy hoot. It was so much fun to be stuck on a train with them and get to know them! I want to teach with Sestra G so bad-she has a great background and is very strong in the church.

Surprise surprise, we will be going to Brno again this week for Sestra Witzel's progression training. But this will only be a one day affair (thank goodness) SPEAKING OF -  Sestra Witzel is a hoot and SO READY FOR THIS MISSION. Her second full day in the field with me she asked if I could only speak Czech to her...later in the week we were weekly planning and she easily led a lot of it without being asked to or asked what she thought. She is like a gazelle in this work. We are running! And this week we have on plan to fast and find ALL DAY  LONG in Frydek Mistek to build our area here. Its going to be so good and we will harvest the people here to find the ones who we know are ready.

Thats all, regular craziness, and I love you all.

-Sestra Hale

 Coolest wood statue ever.

 My companion is a little jet-lagged.

 Me and the new Sestry.

 Party in Brno with Halušky and the Sestry!

 Polish/Czech Republic border in Český Těšin!

The coolest YW activity/new beginnings event I have ever seen. The Young Women here are SOOOO great.

Mission language - Sestra Clark with her 2 daughters (my mother and my sister)

Sestra Clark's grand daughter and my daughter. Sestra Clark just going home, Sestra Witzel just arriving.