Week 33 County your many blessings name them 1000 x 1000

Our water heater broke. Not only did it stop working, it sounded like a plane about to crash into the Earth. On top of that our heaters don't work and it is frigid in the nighttime/mornings. All we want as hard working missionaries is a hot shower. So we made the calls, a woman came to look at it, then a man later came, and it was fixed! We had consistently hot running water for 1.5 days. Now we are back to square one. In these times I think "At least we have running water. I bet the pioneers never had it this good"

We had a chalk Display this last week and DANG. I have never seen more success in 2 hours in my entire mission! We drew the dispensations on the ground and set up a table with pamphlets, Book of Mormons, and pass along cards. I have never witnessed people coming TO US before! There was a guy that came to look at the table so I swooped him up in conversation and started teaching him, then one of his friends quietly stood with us, then I turn around again later and another one of his friends was in our circle. It was an exciting time to rely on the spirit. One of them talked about a theory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ being a hallucination...He looked at me with curious eyes so I quickly referred to the pamphlet and said "I have never heard of that before, and I can't answer your question, BUT I will teach you how to pray so you can find out for yourself what is the truth" It was insane!

There is this man that works at a Kebab place. Our first time there we were talking to him and invited him to English class. Since then we have seen him on the streets and he told me randomly I have nice eyes then he said we should have dinner with him. This is when the expectations lesson is great-when in doubt, stick to Preach My Gospel! We need to talk about our purpose here early. yikes.

We wanted to heart attack this member's house and it was dark and we couldn't find it and we saw a creepy man in this panalok jungle. (Czech apartment buildings) so Sestra Bailey suggested we pray to find someone that could help us. Prayed-Boom. Then we turn the corner and 4 old guys are walking around. "Ï trust them" so we ask them, we weren't too far. Then one of them was actually an old man who is a member and has been on bed rest for a long time! He said he would see us at church on Sunday and lo and behold he came! Miracles-prayers work!

We did more service at M's house in Křížany. This time we brought P (13 yrs old and hilarious) and we took down the Jumanji in Martin's backyard! After a while I ditched the tools he handed us. I was sitting on these huge roots backwards to snap the root at the bottom then with my sestra strength I tore the bushes out of the earth. We got it all out and it looks great. Then M made us homemade tea. All that was in it was apples (from his tree) some plums (from a nearby tree) and water.  I have never had better tea in my life.

It's been a good week. I haven't seen Conference yet-it's next week for us. But I hope you all enjoyed it and you start applying it this week!

MÁM VÁS RÁDA!!!

-Sestra Hale

 Ice cold water from our water heater

                                                                       We killed these bushes.

 This is our chalk display

 Waiting for the train

Week 32 Jejda

Monday:P-Day. All activities as normal. We went to the B's house for FHE and ended up being fed. They have 3 young boys who put us all in tears from laughter. They are hilarious. Also- the father looks like Jimmy Fallon. They are the coolest people!

Tuesday: We met with a man named Steve from the USA. He used to break dance-real life-and he kept trying to ask all these questions and I stopped and said "Steve, are you trying to stump us? ahah you can't stump the truth!" He is a cool man and has a good opinion about life. and then we told him we tried to make cookies but didn't have brown sugar. We told him it turned out AWFUL. Then Steve goes "brown sugar? I got brown sugar. I got loads of brown sugar!" Then I say "The man's got brown sugar!" Then Sestra Bailey goes "Steve, give us some of your brown sugar!" It was so funny. He's the man. It was so funny. I hope I told that well enough to know it really was funny if you read this too.

Wednesday: We went contacting on English at the university campus. We ran into that Ghanda man again and also we saw that lady I sat by on transfer day! Lucie! She told us to go visit her office sometime. She's so cute and looks like my mother. Shout out to Mamma Hale!

Thursday: Training in Prague (SO GREAT!) I love seeing old companions and newbies and getting spiritual questions answered. Then we went on an exchange from there. I jumped in the car with the zone leaders in H.K. and Sestra Hamblin. We were off to Pardubice! It was so fun. We mostly contacted and had one lesson with Č.  He is the man. Waz funnz too.

Friday: Morning workout with Sean T (a DVD). He is nuts and we MAxxed out! I was so dead afterward. I had to take a breather after my shower cause I thought I was going to hurl. Worth it! Then we had great lessons, we contacted, I met a muslim man and we ended up teaching him. But he might not be taught anymore. He's not very open.  Then we took a train to Prague! We switched companions then Sestra Bailey and I headed to the Prague building to watch Meet The Mormons and be with the Prague people. I saw Prez Ambrož from C-Bud! It was so fun getting to know the Prague members. Then Sestra Bailey and I crashed with the sestry serving there.

Saturday: THIS IS WHEN I STARTED TO FEEL SORE.  Sestra Bailey and I walked across the Charles Bridge/contacted to the church building. We may or may not have gotten lost, but all is well. There was a Relief Society thing and we stayed for that until the Baptism of S! It was so good and all the Liberec members were there basically and it was so great. S flew out of those waters and his mom was SO proud! Then we all took a bus back to Liberec. THIS IS WHEN I STARTED TO FEEL SICK.

Sunday: HUMP DAY!!!!! Church was so good. I was so sick and sore and weak. We taught a couple people then I had to call it quits. I had a fever and took a 2 hour nap and my face has been running ever since. Sestra Bailey is taking good care of me and the elders gave me a blessing.

Monday: Today it is great. We are able to continue on and the work shall go forward!

Its been a craaazy week and I feel like I wasn't in my area at all. It's been a real treat serving this week.

-Sestra Hale

 I saw J in Prague!

 His first Root Beer.

 I even caught a falling tear...

no worries.

I'm a warrior Sestra! 

but really please pray for me. I'm dying. haha

 With Sestra Hamblin. Shes the coolest missionary.

This is Č. He is the coolest

Week 31 Rules

Get this- We taught a man randomly and set up to go to his house and then ended up teaching him on his tiny porch because he didn't have a woman in his house. Yay rules!

We taught another man at his house and upon arrival we told him about our rule (not going in a house alone with a man) and he insisted that he was not a dangerous man and he wasn't going to kill us. So he kept telling us to come inside then we taught him about obedience and then he said it's not nice for guests to not come into his house when they are invited over, then we were nervous that he would hate the church then he FINALLY brought out 2 chairs to put on his porch and he sat inside. It was way cold outside and barely sprinkled for a few minutes off and on. He gave us coats to wear and delicious drinks and crackers. We taught him and then he talked about his family and communism. We were speechless at some of the stories he had and the pictures he showed us of communism here in Liberec.

Sometimes I forget we walk amongst old people who lived through communism. It seems like only something we learn about in textbooks in school but NO. These people have real experiences and are usually shut off to us. I totally respect the people who deny us and say they have their own faith. Those Czechs who kept any ounce of faith during communism are examples to me.

We went to the University campus to try contacting there. This particular day we decided to contact about chastity. So we contacted young single adults about chastity! It was terrible at first cause we didn't know how to approach someone about this in Czech then once we did the lady quickly replied that she broke that law when she was 20. Well...that was definitely an experience.

English class this week was great. A very smart man that translates for a law firm came and when we shared our spiritual thought, he translated for us. I don't know if it was because someone was translating for me, but I had to speak simply and slowly. Somehow that brought a great spirit to the room. Testifying about our Saviors Atonement in simple terms is the best. I encourage everyone to do that whenever they have the opportunity to. 

After English class I asked one of our students what kind of dancing she does. She whips out her phone, turns on Indian music, then begins to belly dance. She shimmy-ed, she walked back and forth in the room, she dropped it low once or twice, and moved her hair back and forth. It was very graceful and well done. We died afterward that we actually witnessed such a thing. You just never know what will happen in a relief society room hahaha

GUESS WHO GOT HER VISA THIS WEEK!?!! Me. Finally half way through the mission I am finally allowed to stay here legally. It was cool because the same time I went for my last appointment, the rest of our MTC group was there for their 2nd appointment. We took a selfie in the elevator. The Holts were there too but didn't pop into the Picture.

Mám vás ráda!!

I hope my emails aren't all fun and games. Everyday we have cool experiences but when we sit at the computers, all I can think of are the funnies. Enjoy this next week!

-Sestra Hale

Week 30 - Long Live Liberec

We have been seeing H around a ton. Every time we see her we are surprised and she always responds in her quiet scratchy voice that it's never a surprise to her because Liberec is so small....little does she know that Sestra Missionarki are always pumped to see people they love! Can I get an amen from any RM? haha

I don't know what this is, but sometimes districts are awkward. Ours definitely was at first but we had a minute to talk one day and share stories of our past. It was fun. It will only get better. Our greenie is doing a great job so far. He makes us all proud. It's so cool to see greenies and think "I remember when I was scared/not confident to contact or speak the language...that's so cute!" Go greenie go!

We are super low on time today BUT if I were to tell you about the work here, I could sum it up with one word: FINDING. We are calling people from the past, we are tracting for 5 hours straight, we are talking to everyone about everything, we are randomly surprising members homes with zucchini bread, etc. Its been such a fun week. I am pretty sure my laugh has changed. In the past it was just a loud laugh because something was slap happy funny, or a pity laugh when you don't want your friend to feel bad, but MAN we laugh all the time. The people here are so great and we laugh with them about anything! We get on their level and build great relationships. It's so great. Sestra Bailey also has great one liners that come out of nowhere. For example she said earlier today, "it was awful, I felt like I ate blenders" what?  And last night we contacted a guy that looked like he was considering entering a bar (in hopes to convert him away from drinking we contacted him) No interest but he did ask us to be his girlfriends....what? I had tears coming out of my eyeballs from laughter after that contact because we both thought he was referring his girlfriend to us and we gladly accepted and said that would be great! Once his eyes got big out of surprise, we stopped and clarified what we just accepted. We DIED after that.

Also 3 people this week told us we have a great positive energy and that we are doing a great thing here. They are right!

I wore my pedometer on a slow week it was 45.512 miles and that was 133,833 steps. that is a SLOW week. but mind you that was also ALL hills. That's all there is here in Liberec :)

Week 29 This is why sisters came to Liberec

Before I share Melanie's regular e-mail, I wanted to add a couple of funny sentences from her note to me this morning:

"Yes, I will have a hard time pronouncing English when I am surrounded by it again. Its hard for me to even tell stories. I'd rather say 'vubec'; rather than 'at all' haha"

"OH! Mom I had my first ENTIRE dream in Czech last week! It involved me running around in  a swimsuit trying to stop a wedding. haha-- but all in Czech nonetheless!"

Earlier this week, we planned to call people who used to be taught in years past. We break out the binder and WOAH. I cant believe how the elders lived. Those papers were all over the place and it took me 50 minutes to chronologically organize 1,000,000 papers from 1999-now. The whole time I thought "This is why sisters moved into this area. It's about to get REAL organized in here!" I was appalled.

There was an old lady we were talking to while trakting and her neighbor from across the street was taking out his trash. She definitely had the hots for him. It was so cute to watch her get all giggly.

We found a perfect potential to teach, she was someone we have been envisioning in our minds for the branch, we exchanged numbers, we even fasted for her, then we get a text that she isn't interested to meet with us. Fasting doesn't always bring miracles, but it does bring answers. We know that we don't have to waste any time with her. She's simply not ready yet.

ZJ is an Returned Missionary and just recently moved to Olomouc to go to school. The other day we called her to see how she was doing. She loved that. Then she called us the next day to share a missionary experience with us and lift our spirits with a thought. What a woman. I want to be like Z when I grow up!

We went to Prezident H's house for dinner. They ordered in a TON of pizza and he kept making all this homemade root beer with his own soda machine. It's called Soda Stream. Buy it now. It's amazing. It was fun to get to know them and to build a relationship with him so we can work better as leaders to help the branch here. They are a great family. I also want to be like them when I am older.

CULTURE DAY! V is a member here. I mentioned her in the past. She is basically the head of a horse ranch/hotel/restaurant. She organizes all sorts of weddings there and festivals. We went to their biggest festival of the year. (We also went the day before to help clean/set up for the festival) It was so much fun! Due to our missionary schedule we couldn't go when V sang with her old band or watch the other performers, BUT we went right when it opened, had classic Czech food. (look up laksoba...laskoba, laboso) something like that. It's a huge Czech bratwurst, bread, and mustard. Classic. Then we watched a horse running competition. They ran around 3 barrels, and in and out a line of rods. It was so fun to watch. I got more into it than I thought I would. Maybe the Cowgirl life is the life for me? Still trying to figure that one out. It was a ton of fun.

We also made Zucchini bread and surprised visited some of the members with it with an uplifting thought. Just because we love them so much. They are so great and cute and happy here! I love the branch members :) Get ready for stories in the future involving the M family. They are a hoot.

Sestra Bailey and I are having the time of our lives. We are truly enjoying the work. Tonight we are making our own zucchini bread and watching Legacy during dinner hour while sitting on our futon. So excited. It's like sleepovers all over again. But missionary style.

Mám vás ráda MOC!!!

s laskou,

Sestra Hale

 LET'S ALL COUNT THE AWESOMENESS HAPPENING IN THIS PICTURE! 

American shirt, horse, cotton candy which is the size of my torso! HAPPINESS!!

Culture Night. I love horsies now.

 "Dad - 'Czech' out this fire hydrant!" 

 Dinner at our Branch President's house.

 "It's freezing here - how's the temperatures in Phoenix?" (OH Melanie, that's just MEAN! You know good and well we are still suffering our summer temperatures until Halloween!)

 Kofola. horses, kalbosa, Czech people, etc

This is my companion everyone - Meet Sestra Bailey!

Week 28 -- Week 1 in Liberec

There was a random festival in the namesti this week. We were told about it and invited by one of the people who was in charge. We went and there were shacks of all the different minorities living in the Czech Republic with FOOD from their native lands! Dinner hour was spent well. We had Egyptian food, Jordan food, Ukrainian food, and more but we honestly have no idea because the countries were written in Czech so we just trusted the food was safe and continued onward. A funny experience there was at the last shack we wanted to know what country they were representing and then they spoke to us in English. Sestra Bailey goes 'what country is this?' the girl replies 'The Czech Republic' We are just SO grateful that we finally know where we are. This European business can get so confusing sometimes! hahah

We went to Prague to do my 2nd visa work. It took forever and it was once again nice to see Starsi Smith and the Holts from the MTC. While there, we set up with a lady named H who just recently moved to Prague from Liberec. Apparently she is homeless in Prague. She moved there to be homeless. In my opinion that is taking the homeless life to the limit! I'd love to wander those streets. Anyway she was cute and we had a good time.

Yesterday we had a 'maybe' lesson and then contacting for many hours on end. We found the house of a man who doesn't go to church anymore and met him and his wife but they were too busy so we are going back next week. Then we walked to -not even kidding- the opposite side of the world over by the zoo and contacted all the way there. Liberec got way prettier and fancier. It was a nice Sunday stroll :) It reminded me of Central Ave except prettier and there were tram tracks in the street. Once we made it to the top of the hill by the zoo we looked at our watches and said 'woof' its only 5:30. Lets keep going! So we continued on, talking to everyone, then a man was walking by this open window inside his house so fearless Sestra Bailey yells up to him and guess what......he tells us to give him company while he painted the eave on his home. Sure? Why not. Turns out he is way cool, from Slovakia, is a surgeon, wants 2 children of his own and wants to adpot one, and has seen miracles in his life. Probably the coolest man ever. Sure he didn't have a shirt on but we didn't mind, he was a better looking man. ANYWAY it was way cool and he thinks my future job is way cool. Once he understood what exactly I want to do he laughed and said woah, thats cool! So we will see him again and he wants us to throw a garden party at his house.  Sure!

Liberec is so fun. We have random friends all around this town. Alena at the ice cream shop, Mariola (Polish woman) from the mattress store, Filip (Vietnamese man) from the nail shop, and Marek from the wine shop. We love visiting them all at work-when its not busy of course.

Okay lastly, today for P-Day we went up to Ještěd. It's a hotel and observation tower at the top of the highest mountain around. We walked up some of it, took a ski lift (that thing flew 15 miles per hour I swear) then walked a mile to the top! It was a cool, nice view. THEN we rented those Dr. Seuss type Scooter-Bikes and rode down the mountain! I had a Styx song stuck in my head the whole way down. "Flash! duh duhhh" It was so cool and random. 

Mám vás rada! Pamatujte že jste dětí Boží a on vas miluje. Pokračujte ve víře během tohoto tydnu.

s laskou,

Sestra Hale

This is Ještěd ! Why the shape? We don't know.

And we rode these crazy scooters all the way down the mountain. 

Week 27 TRANSFERS!!

I love my mission so far. It's so simple. I started in Mlada Boleslav BAM, directly down the map I was in České Budejovice BAM, now I am back straight up north in Liberec!!!  It's really exciting because this place was only opened up by sisters 4 months ago. Time for some Sister Power! Out of the time I have been here I have noticed there are hills everywhere and I have a feeling I will have some nice legs by the end of this transfer. I am also serving with Sestra Bailey who is THE COOLEST. Every training we would talk and hang out and hope to serve together. She is only one transfer behind me so we are both freshish and ready to make a difference. I also hear she thinks she is black so my ghetto side might be released once again. This transfer will be so much fun, we are going to laugh a ton!

As of the last week of my time in České Budejovice was phenomenal. We had a crazy crazy busy week but those are the best right? Monday we filled up to the brim with lessons and work because we weren't taking our P Day then. Tuesday we had training in Prague and it was so delicious. The APs talked about the language barrier in the work and how to get on that deeper level with people who you can't understand, Sister McConkie spoke about prayer and put us in the shoes of parents/children as she taught, President McConkie spoke about our visions and how visions worked. It was cool because instead of teaching a principle from his mind he taught us about the Czech culture and how one man had a vision and carried it out through the hard times and finally ended up making a huge difference for the Czechs. I can't explain it now nor do I have the time to do so but I cried as he was showing these pictures and telling these stories. I loooove Czechs. All Czechs are good.

We had a successful BBQ again. Listen to my voice recording for more details.

Tha'ts all, I guess. I am in love with this mission. Bring it on Liberec with Sestra Bailey! I'm super excited to go to work here and to tell you all about it.

Enjoy your week! Mam vas rada!

-Sestra Hale