Dobrý Den!!!

     This week went by so fast, I can't believe it's already time to email again. Tuesday ended alright, not really much to tell about. Wednesday was hard, we had a lot of contacting, and no one stopped. Thursday was basically the same, except that we got a new investigator from our English class! His name is Milan, he has been coming to English for a couple years, and he has come to church once or twice, but he is meeting with us again next week to talk more about the Book of Mormon. That was an awesome end to a really hard day. On Saturday we drove to Brno for the district conference. We had a lot of fun on the drive, and it was awesome being with so many missionaries! Our Zone training yesterday was also amazing. Sister McConkie showed us a tedtalk about body language and how we can use our own body language to change how we feel about ourselves. I am excited to use it.

     This week I have really learned about the importance of enduring. I have to set goals for myself, like, okay, I can make it to the end of today, or I can make it to Mother's Day. I really hope that soon I wont have to make myself baby goals. Some days are really hard, and some days are really fun. I'm trying to learn how to enjoy the hard days as much as the fun days, because it seems like they are getting more common.

     We really want to find a family to teach. It's hard though, we are running out of time. But we have faith, we have fasting and prayer, that is to say rejoicing and prayer. I love this gospel and I love this work.

     One thing that I never want to lose from my mission is my love of studying the scriptures. I never thought I would love studying for three hours. But I do! It's sad when personal study ends. I love the scriptures and I feel like I have learned more in the past almost three months than I have in the past two years! The scriptures are the best. I know they contain answers to all of our problems. I love them. And I love you!

S Laskou

Sestra Framptonová

 

 

Ahoj!!!!

     Wow! This week has been super crazy. I'll explain why I'm emailing on Tuesday later, it's a looong story (i guess it doesn't have to be.. but it is) So last week after emailing we met our Elders to go to Modra for a vylet. We got off at the stop before we were planning so we could see the kostel, and walked over to this area that looked like...i don't even know how to describe it. It looked like a scene from a low budget movie. Like Monty Python. So we went over and saw that is was closed until may, but a girl came over and let us pay to go in. We were the only people there, and it was super funny. I don't know what it is supposed to be, because the map guide thing was in Czech, but we took some great pictures of the elders tracting to this fake log house, and Sister Bruno nearly fell into a puddle when some boar came around the corner and scared her. Also, I saw a cat that day. When we finished there we walked down to the kostel, and Elder Talbot took a picture from the doorway, even though it was clearly posted no pictures, and it flashed, so we ran away. We ate at a little restaurant, and everyone said it was the worst Czech food they have ever had. It was a pretty weird mix of flavors with a lot of dill...i didn't really understand.

     On Tuesday we had district finding, and we contacted on our free English class. I had to talk to people all by myself. Amazingly I kept finding people who spoke nearly perfect English! I had a great talk with a man from Vienna who had been to the tabernacle before and said we were doing a great thing by coming here. That was nice to hear because it had been a rough start of an hour and a half contacting block. On Tuesday I met one of the women who joined the church before communism and kept it going by holding "yoga" classes in her apartment every week. She saved her tithing in her drawer for years and gave it to general authorities whenever they came. The faith of the members here is really astonishing. Our apartment was one of the yoga apartments! It's so cook to think about that when I'm exercising in the morning, that on that same spot of carpet, people sat to hear the gospel in secret because they couldn't do it anywhere else. Amazing.

     On Thursday we drove to Brno for my training! We hod four hours driving time for our four hour training. It was a long day full of great information and great meetings :) I was so excited to see all my elders again! And to get my stuff from the Batemans! We mat with Karel that afternoon and had a breakthrough lesson! He is praying about baptism this week. We meet with him on Thursday.

     On Saturday, the Easter celebrations began in UH. The markets opened up, and we tried to contact, but people were drunk by 11 am, and no one wanted to talk to us. We spent our lunch hour at the easter markets, I had my first Kofola (THE Czech drink. It's like a mix of Pepsi, and Dr Pepper and black licorice. Kind of weird, I have to get used to it) And we all bought little easter whips. We also ran into the Batemans, and they took us out to dinner, and took some pictures. You should be getting those soon, they are heading home on Thursday.

     Sunday was hard. I had my first normal sacrament meeting, but Sister Bateman and Sister Barney were there so no one talked to me. Which was kind of nice and kind of sad. We had great plans to share an easter message with people, but things kept failing, and then nobody was home! We only got let in to three houses. However, the people we did talk to were awesome, and I met a man who speaks better English than I do and knows more than wikipedia! Also, he plays the recorder. Like, legitimately. He sounded great. After all the no answers and quite frankly mean people on the street, it started to pour as we were trying to figure out who else to visit. It was a really hard day. We had a great dinner though! Holušky! Again! It was even better the second time.

     Okay now the awesome stuff.....Monday is a bigger holiday than Saturday or Sunday here. Everything in UH was closed. Except an ice cream shop. Random right? So we got ice cream first thing in the morning. Then we made an impulse decision to get on a bus to Buchlovíce!  We had to run to catch the bus and we barely made it! The bus ride was about thirty minutes (I saw two cats on the way) and we got off and walked to the naměsti. We stopped at a little street vendor who had some awesome stuff! I got some Czechoslovakian money and a little fairy tale illustrated book. So cool! Then we went to a zamek, or palace. The grounds were beautiful! I felt like I was a princess walking through a perfect forest meadow thing. There were folk singers in the courtyard all dressed in traditional garb and brandishing whips. Oh, the whipping thing. On Easter Monday, the men walk around with braided willow whips with ribbons on the end and they whips girls they see to give them health, fertility and beauty for the following year. The women in turn offer the men candy or a shot of some kind of Czech alcohol. The older men are typically plastered by noon.

     We toured the zamek and heard a live orchestra in the main room. It was really beautiful!! I am going back someday. We then ate oběd at a nice restaurant and hurried to catch a bus that actually wasn't supposed to come. While we were waiting for the next bus Brother Kvasnička  called to see where we were. When Sister Graham answered he groaned, turned and told someone else, and they all groaned. He then asked when we would be home. We said in about an hour. When we got home, we called them, and fifteen minutes later, our branch president, his first counselor, and all the young men from the branch came to our apartment wielding whips, and helped us keep the Czech tradition alive. I have a fantastic video that is too big to send, so I´ll send the card home soon. It was super funny. and awkward.

     In short, I love this country, I love the people and the traditions, and the crazy stuff that happens to us every day!! It is so fun to talk to people and they realize we are from America and we are here trying to learn Czech,and they think we are crazy! We kind of are i guess, but i know this is where I need to be. I have so much to learn from these amazing people.

S laskou,

Sestra Framptonová

Ahoj!!!

      So the good news is that my companion just told me how to change the keyboard to English. The bad news is that the computer is in Czech so I will never know ever again if I am spelling a word wrong.

This week has been so fast and so crazy! It's insane to think that at this time last week I was waking up to leave the MTC. Now I'm sitting in the tourist information center where we pay to use the Internet by the minute. And it's totally awesome!

      Traveling went pretty smoothly, other than the lost wallet thing. After I called home from London on that wonderful man's phone I was able to calm down and I haven't stressed about it since then. Maybe I needed to learn some humility and that even when I think I have everything in control, I don't. But God does.

     We flew on a little smelly airbus to Prague. And everyone else slept the entire flight. I went to use the restroom, and a flight attendant asked where we were traveling from that we are so tired. I told him we were flying from Salt Lake, and he said "Oh, you are Mormons! Is this the annual pilgrimage?" I said no, that we were leaving to serve missions in the Czech Republic. He asked how long we would be there, a week or two? He was very shocked when           I told him we were all staying for eighteen to twenty-four months. It was pretty fun!

     President McConkie is amazing! I don't even know how else to describe him. He is really kind and he took good care of us. He joined us for the first part of the Prague walk, and told us some really cool history from the top of a hill in  a nearby park. He then encouraged us, as we walked across Charles Bridge, to stop for a moment and look behind us, and that represents our old life and everything we have left behind, and look forward to our new mission, and to leave it all behind us and go forward and serve with all we've got, because the people here deserve it. It was really cool, and although I was half asleep as we were walking across the bridge, I did it.

     I had my first Czech food! It's called Cvičkova and it is super good. I'll include a picture. The elders didn't like it, but I thought it was great. My companions are going to take me to a restaurant around here later this week so I can try Kofola. I'm excited.

     While we are on the subject of food, we have been fed by members three times already!  They love us so much. Oh, and we were fed by an investigator yesterday. I'm pretty sure everyone here can cook really well. Except us. Haha.

Okay, so finally we got to sleep, and I passed out as soon as my head hit a pillow. The next day we met our companions! I am serving in a trio!! We are the only missionaries in the small city of Uherské Hradiště. There are many outlying cities, and the next closest missionaries are in Zlín, forty five minutes away, and even there it is just one set of Elders. The five of us make up our district!. We are going on a trip with them today somewhere...I don't remember where, and I'm sure it will be really fun. I also don't remember their names. I have met so many people!

So it has been a week of firsts for me. On Wednesday we drove the three hours back to UH and had our personal, comp and language study before contacting on our way to a lesson with a recent convert, Martin. I kind of followed what was going on in the lesson, and I even offered a few on topic comments. My trainers were very impressed. We were supposed to teach a Family History class afterwards, but no one came. Bummer. SO we contacted until our meeting with the Kamarádovi family. We met a really great girl and set up an appointment (which she later canceled) and had fun in the rain. The Kamáradovi are an active family, and we help their daughter with special needs with her personal progress every week. They have three girls who are so sweet. The youngest, Běti, warmed right up to me because she likes that I have blond hair like her, and she liked my watch necklace. We colored while other people talked. Pretty awesome.

     On Thursday we had district meeting in Zlín, then we are lunch as a district. I had Czech-mex. It was very weird. Not really Mexican at all, but it was tasty. We met with an investigator later that day who brought up a lot of weird topics and I had absolutely no idea what was going on,. and i kind of fell asleep. On our way to our next appointment, I did my first contact. They walked away before I finished my sentence. Sister Graham says that that means they could understand my Czech, so that's something hahaha. We taught another recent convert, Vojta. I had a really hard time focusing, but I think it went well. We teach English every Thursday night, and I worked with a man who already knows English very well, he just needs to practice conversation. SO we talked for an hour about his work and about his faith. We then had another member lesson with Sister Huďkova. Her son and husband are not members and sometimes they come in for the lessons, but they didn't this time. She speaks English and Czech very well, and she is very patient and corrects our casing very kindly, even in prayers :)

     On Friday we went grocery shopping because we had literally no food in the house. I felt like a four year old again, having no idea what any of the labels said, and I kept getting in people's way. We then contacted for like three hours. We talked to a crazy old guy, to an old lady who was very nice and very catholic. Wait. I met my first totally drunk person on Thursday on our way to a meeting. at first it looked like she could have been crying or something. Then we walked up to her and smelled her. Maybe she'll find the pass along card when she's sobered up. Hahaha.

     Saturday we watched some of conference, I put numbers into our phone, we contacted, and met a less active, well, inactive member. And we had weekly planning, which took two hours one day and another hour last night to finish up.

     Yesterday I met many members of the branch. They are all very  nice and very patient. but i am kind of scared of them. I need to try and talk more. We also did our first tracting yesterday in a panelák, or big apartment complex. We didn't even get yelled at, we even got a number and a tentative appointment! People were rejecting us nicer in there than they sometimes do in the street! Crazy people. I also had my first really hard lesson yesterday. I cried in the lesson, and when we left. It was this family with four girls, and the dad is totally against basically everything that we teach. The meeting was very long, and seemed very hostile toward us. I said something (also the whole meeting was in English) and he went off on a ten minute rant about how wrong everything is that we teach. To be honest, I don't know why they have been meeting with them so long. They have been meeting for nearly six months! The dad said that he said from the beginning that his family will never join our church and they will never come to a church meeting. It was really rough to hear him bad mouth everything i hold dear, mocking the prophets and the idea of the temple. It's really sad that someday he will know everything we tried to say is true. We dropped them. And we all cried as we walked home.

     I have been sleeping amazingly. My bed has a memory foam mattress and I am converted. The work is really fun, and really creepy. We waited for a black guy to cross the street so we could talk to him. I have seen so many dogs. Oh! Yesterday, we were trying to visit a less active family, we rang the zvonek and a young man walked by with his dog. The dog came up the stairs to us, sniffed all of us, then laid down and looked at his master. It was really funny, and he refused to leave. He was so cute, and I pet him. (The dog, not the boy)

     I have seen four cats already! Sister Bruno says most people see fewer than ten their whole mission. I hope I can set a new record. I think they are so funny!

     I love you all! I miss you, and I can't wait to talk to you next week!

S laskou

Sestra Framptonová