April 26, 2016 -- "Jihlava, though."

I really love these people, and it is one of the best oppoitunities I have to be amongst of some of the greatest people in the world! I love these people; I love the members here. I am so thankful for everything that has happened in the past so the Church of Jesus Christ might be established among these people in the Czech Republic. Durning our last training we learned how much this country had to go through so they could have the gospel! 

We had so many miracles happen this week! One miracle that hasn''t happened in my whole life of being a missionary!!! Sister Heap and I saw 1 brother and 3 of our sisters come to church and partake of the sacrament and feel of the spirit in the Church of Christ. I am still like WOW! Two of those being our investigators Honza and Jana a young couple who we found the week before . When we met them, Jana was running and Honza was riding on a scooter beside her. We met with them on Saturday. They are both not believers , but already Sister Heap and I have watched a change in their hearts: committing to read the Book of Mormon, coming to church, and praying for their first times! Another investigator is named Stasiova. She is a middle-aged women and said she felt at home there ! Another investigator was Maria, a former investigator that is so sweet and kind, and we love to have her at church with us. The Branch loves her! Church is soooooo much better when you have you friends and family around you!

 A lot of times emails I get from home are so "homey" sounding. But it is also kind of weird because I consider so many places on Earth my home. Like if someone emailed me about Elma, Washington it would sound so homey, or anytime time I talk to my roommates I had in Dixie. I have really felt like this little european town of Jihlava has become my home. And as funny as it sounds, my heart is torn! I am so sad that I will being leaving, and like all of the other wonderful places and homes I have left, I am leaving people I love.  Maybe even a little bit more sad because I have been able to serve these people. That has been my whole purpose since I got here 5 months ago. But I trust the Lord will still work amongst these people and that miracles will still happen! 

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Save the Trees and Pray Always

Sestra Baxter

April 18, 2016 -- " I love these people!"

We had quite a few new investigators show up to their lessons this week, I am guessing thanks to the mission fast. I am so grateful for fasting and the extra

spiritual power it gives to missionary work or to anything in our life. 

We had a lesson with Dasa.  She is a investigator who we met during Family History contacting (which is actually really effective). She said she would be more interested in learning about God and our beliefs than family history. We had a lesson with her in Tuesday and brought a member Sestra Jakobikova. They were perfect for each other! They were around the same age and really could connect. Sestra Jakobikova shared how she was the same as Dasa, but how she found the Church and her life has been better ever since. We hope to meet with her again.

Also we met with Radim and Sestra Krasova. Radim we found during a building tour, and he was interested in the Book of Mormon. Our lesson was just brief with him, but it also went pretty well. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask God if it was true. 

Veronika: we had a lesson with her on Wednesday, and it was on the Atonement. We asked if she still wanted to be baptized, but she didn't want to set a date on it. We shared our testimony of the Atonement and that it works and that God will answer our prayers when we put in the effort. She asked if we could give her a chapter to read because she is stuck in 2 Nephi. We gave her 3 Nephi 11 when Christ comes to the people in America and more or less puts everyone on a baptismal date. 

We visited the Trebic branch this past Sunday and some of the members we

have never visited before. It is always such a spiritual time when we hear member conversion stories, and it gives us hope and a spirit of wanting to be better and to find more solid people! The members in the Czech Republic are some of the best people I know! I love these people! We are still working on bringing people to baptism and we know it is possible through our Savior Jesus Christ.

I found this--Elder Nash Stegner wrote this on Lds.org. It was so great; also here is the address: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/elder-nash-stegner-symposium.

There is a spirit among the trees—are they not living souls?  And, even more so

for me above the timberline, amongst the mountain tops, where I feel a closeness to God.  I love to sit or stand under the sky where heaven and earth meet, the high alpine peaks around me and to gaze at the stars at night, trying—always unsuccessfully—to wrap my mind around the eternity within my gaze, an eternity of both time and space (imagine, for example, the hundreds, or millions of light years it took for some of the light of the stars to reach this earth). Yet, I always marvel at the quiet knowledge that settles upon me in those solitary moments of tranquility that, despite the vastness of the cosmos, the Lord of the universe knows puny me. And He knows you, and each of His children. This creation, every aspect of it, was created for the purpose of giving each of us the opportunity to be blessed now and in eternity.  This creation witnesses of the Creator, and if we preserve these special places in their unspoiled state, they will silently, eloquently witness of our God and inspire us onward and upward. 

This earth is provided to help each of us to return to Him, having grown through testing and experience to become more like Him, and enjoy eternal felicity with Him. Our test on this earth is whether we will choose wisely and follow God, treat His creations with respect, and use them to bless our fellow man and woman.  The better we care for this world and all in it, the better it will sustain, inspire, strengthen, enliven, and gladden our hearts and spirits—and prepare us to dwell with our Heavenly Father with our families in a Celestial sphere, which members of the LDS Church believe will be the very earth upon which we stand today, but in a glorified state.



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Save the Trees and Pray Always

Sestra Baxter

April 11, 2016 -- "He is always showing me that the impossible is clearly possible."

Twenty years ago I was born. (But really I don't even know, because one time my parents said I was born on April 10th? And the time is different here, in American and in Taiwan.) But I left my Heavenly Father presence around twenty years ago. What a wonderful twenty years it has been living among some of the greatest people in the world! I am so thankful for the people that have been in my life--whether I have lived with you, worked with you, went to school with you, traveled with you, served in the mission with you. 

I am one of the most imperfect human beings, but you have been so patient and kind with me. I am working on becoming more like my Savior Jesus Christ everyday, and though I can study and read about him, it is through your kindness and brightness that I am able to see what he would do if he were living on the earth today!  If I could have a birthday wish it would be that you all come to know the Savior. That you seek for Him, and that you never stop seeking for Him! Through Him we can do anything, overcome anything, be anything. The Lord knows you better than you know yourself, and He knows what you need to do right now. All we need is to ask. 

Okay there is my thing/birthday wish...  Also you can read this...  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/tomorrow-the-lord-will-do-wonders-among-you?lang=eng

We had so many lesson set up last week with wonderful people, with a lot of potential, but almost everyone of them fell through. 

With that being said we had so many wonderful experiences this past week. For example we unknowingly found one of our investigator's apartment. He has not been answering our calls. We never got the chance to give him a Book of Morman, so we ended up being able to give him one, and also to invite him to general conference.  I remember the week before saying "I just wish we knew where all our investigators lived."  And that wish didn't end there because last week we made some tracting letters and had plans to put the letters in multiple places, but it worked out that we could only put them in these poniloks to work best with our schedule. When we went back yesterday, we tracted almost everyone, but the last few people. After getting "nes" for a long time, two of our investigators, Ondra (Andrew) and Petra (Ondra's girlfriend) came running down. Ondra said that his mom said missionaries called on the zvonech and they said "that they might be our friends." It was so good to see them after they kept having to cancel because of end-of-school tests and other things. But now we know where two of our investigator live.

We got a new investigator named Petra. She is married and has a sweet baby boy. We also know where she lives because we tracted into her. She is so kind and loving. We shared the first message with her about the Restoration. We tried
to really do HTBT points so we can set good expectations. She thought it was possible that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and committed to reading in the Book of Mormon. She said that she and her family might be moving in a while. That made us really sad, but then she said she would give us her other address. We looked on the map and its closer to our apartment! All the better!

We also contacted this father who had a stroller. Then his wife walked out, and we realized we have talked to her many times. They had just missed their bus, so they said we could walk around and talk. It was wonderful. We got to know about their family, if their parents were believers. We talked about our family. They said that they were probably just going to end up walking home, so we walked with them for a bit, and then asked if they could meet on another day so we could share a message that has blessed our families! They said they would be interested and we exchanged telephone numbers.

I have to admit, I didn't really think finding families who were interested was possible from past experiences ,and because they already have a part of heaven on earth. But thanks to the Lord, He is always showing me that the impossible is clearly possible.

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Every tree, every mountain, every bird in the air, testifies of our Heavenly Fathers power. By appreciating nature and treating the earth with respect, we show the Lord our gratitude for everything he has given us. - Ensign

Sestra Baxter

April 4, 2016 -- "I know that this Earth is truly divine."

"The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea,and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

This week we have just experienced the most wonderful of weather and also have been running into a lot of people who say they believe in nature! We believe in nature too! I have always been drawn to the great outdoors--the trees, ocean, mountains--but every time I experience nature, it is only a reminder of someone more divine, more holy, and more wise. I know that this Earth is truly divine. This earth abides to laws of nature and science, which are also laws of God. So this is one of my favorite scriptures of the week.

We had a good week here in Jihlava. We had a lesson with Michal, one of our less actives, on keeping the Sabbath day holy and the sacrament (which we have had many lessons on). We have been going through the baptismal questions to help him get to the temple because he has shown interest in that. Also the temple is one of the things that the Catholic church does not have. He is so great and has a beautiful testimony of Jesus Christ but feels like we can take the Sacrament at any church. So to change things up, we will have President Sobota come teach with us for this week because they were good friends in the past when Michal was active.

Also, we had a lesson with this man named Bohdan. We invited Ondra Dite, but for some reason our really "interesting" member came (who kind of takes over the lesson and starts talking about the veil randomly). But for the oddest reason, Bohdan set up another time we could meet like on his own asi the spirit. His expectations for meeting were really on point when we asked him why he was meeting with us. 

Our solid investigators like, Andrew, Petra, Tomas, and Veronika went missing this week which was really sad for us. Tomas--we have not been able to get ahold of after we called sooo many times. He was so close to baptism we were so confused what happen. I think we almost thought he was gone. But I know both of our prayers still went out to him. He sent us a text saying that he had a surgery and that when he was able to get up, he would for sure meet with us. Also, on Saturday, I prayed on this river walk that we were going on that they would perhaps be walking on this path or if that was not God's will, that at least they would think of us that night. When we did weekly planning, we tried calling again after they didn't pick up during the week. The phone rang and rang and finally they picked up. They said we were just thinking about you two.  We just walked past your building! :) 

We have been contacting a lot, so we tried contacting on family history! Wow, I felt so effective. People would stop and talk to us, and it such a non-threatening way we can share the Gospel! So

maybe we will have a family history class this Wednesday. Also we were tracting in some places we have never gone before. And though people didn't let us into their houses, on our way traveling house to house or on the bus ride there and back we had some wonderful conversations and met people that were interested in meeting! 

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Save the Trees and Pray Always

Sestra Baxter