Hope all is well. Things are pretty bright and beautiful in Jihlava. It the best time to be a missionary. We had a wonderful week full of miracles.
It started out strong last Monday. We were contacting, and we ran into a English teacher that the Elders would do presentations for. I am not sure if they have ever talked to him about the Gospel, but it was in English so I was really able to understand what he was saying and reply back to what he was saying. It was wonderful. I asked him what he thought was our purpose in life, and he really was stopped dead thinking about the question. Sister Holland and me bore our testimonies that God has prepared a plan for us. I really hope he keeps thinking about it and desires to know why we are here and how we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. After that I realized I knew all the English words I said Czech and that is what totally changed my contacting because I would loved to get these Czechs thinking about their purpose on earth and to bear testimony that this Gospel brings the blessings of knowing that answer.
On Tuesday we found a lady who can play the piano in our English class. She is so awesome, so we tried to get her to play on Sunday instead of having me and another missionary murder the hymns each week.
Wednesday we met with Veronika.(She has short spunky orange hair. She has rosy red cheeks and was wearing a light blue sweatshrit of way fuzzy blanket material and it had a bear on it. It was pretty legit.) She is an investigator I hadn't ever met until this meeting. We were teaching her with the Ward mission leader Ondra Dite, which was such a great idea. (He is the best missionary. He is like 23 and runs our whole branch along with Preisdent Sobota who is also way young. He served in Canada ). She said she had been reading in the Book of Mormon and talked about Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel. We got into the Restoration message around the time of the Book of Morman and praying to know if it is true. She said, "I might have already gotten my answer. It is true.(We are like all dying of happiness.) She said she had a dream about Nephi telling her that the book was true and to read it. WOW, it was amazing! She said she couldn't come to church, but we set up with her this week.
Thursday we had training in Brno, which is always way good and talked about agency, opposition, and faith. I realized I need to up my faith by ten-fold because the Lord and prepared people, and we need to listen to the spirit to find. I also learned I need to stop being my afraid and put myself out there even more if I can. When we were on our way home on the train, we sat with this guy with long really pretty hair, he was writing songs. We taught him a restro lesson, and he kept saying how interesting our message sounded, so will see.
Friday we did some singing/ contacting with the other Elders. Those are always so good! I got two numbers which may have been the first numbers I have ever gotten so that was really happy for me. We'll just have to see if they are legit or not, haha.
Saturday was weekly planning. So you missionaries know how that goes...Also we tried to do building tours. No one was out; it was so sad! Before my mission I would have been so happy to have a beautiful European town to myself, but now I like need humans around me so I can talk to them about the Gospel.
Sunday was quite the day. I got to partake of the Sacrament which is always a highlight of the week and see a less active (Sister Daskova a mix of my grandmas) receive her temple recommend. A ton of things happened, but I really only have time to tell you all about one of the most interesting vists I've had on my mission so far. This man we stopped on the streets used to go to the Yoga camps the church used to have to call them "yoga camps" because of Communism. We invited the Elders. We kept trying to get into our lesson, but he kept giving us plants. Before anyone knew it, the whole thing broke out into a yoga session and WOW I have never seen a old man so flexible! (When people are lonely here, they will do the weirdest things to get you to stay. Like Sister Daskova was acting like a bird one time and was like laying on the ground it was something else! These people are awesome.)
Sidenote: If anyone is looking for places to rappel, come to Czech as a missionary. I can't try anything like that, but I have had some thoughts of rappelling out our church building and then hopping back and forth contacting. We could probably contact so much faster. Another thought is out of our apartment building. We are like six stories up. The best thought I've had so far is rappelling out of the train window, then you could ride on it like a swing.
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Save the Trees and Pray Always
Sestra Baxter
