Letter: 12 September 2016

Dear all,

Time flies by so fast! This week has been so great and we have seen many miracles as a result of just speaking to everyone we can. We found some really sweet investigators because we tried to talk to everyone we could and we varied where we went finding and what we would approach people with. 

I would like to share just two short examples:

We decided to go family history finding this week and we talked to many people about doing a family history pedigree chart but we felt like we were not having very much success but we felt prompted to continue forward and go down a street that we did not plan to walk down. As we did so, we spoke to a young mom on a park bench waiting for her kids to finish school. Her name is Lucia and she is from Slovakia. She took a blank family tree sheet and just started to fill it in as we spoke with her. Her kids came out of the school building and it felt as if we had been friends for years. She even asked us to sit on the bench with her while she could tell us about her family. She has had a really hard life. She was in a come just over five years ago and completely forgot everything, how to talk, walk, eat. But she remembered that she had children and they have been the most important thing to her ever since. She is a great mom and has an incredible story that we know can be helped by the gospel. We already had our first lesson with her yesterday and we went over to her little panalak, which is very close to our apartment, and helped her to start her own FamilySearch account. We are taking things slow with her but I feel such a sense of peace and tranquility when we are with her. I know that Heavenly Father loves her. She even prayed with us at the end of the meeting and said a beautiful sincere prayer.  God sent us down that unplanned path so that we could meet her and help give her hope. We are also going over this evening to talk more about the plan of salvation.

Another miracle we saw came when one day we had nothing planned but contacting after we got back from the Toronto project and even though we were tired and not feeling our best, i knew we would be blessed as we went out and spoke with others about Christ. We headed towards the train station and spoke to everyone we could and although it seemed like there were not many people on the streets, we had some great little lessons as we simply asked people what gave them joy. Many spoke of their families and nature and we were able to talk about the creation and Christ. We walked past a man smoking on his break from working in a pizza place and he invited us in and we sat down and had a great lesson. He moved here from Syria ten years ago and is Muslim. But he was very interested to hear about what we do and ¨why we are here and we keep on seeing him. As we walked home yesterday from church, we saw him again and helped him find the Book of Mormon in Arabic on his phone to read. He even keeps trying to send us away with pizza! He is very kind.

Desmond is also doing very well. He was not able to come to church this week because he went to Prague to pick a friend from the airport. We will be speaking about Sabbath day importance in our next lesson. We also decided together with Desmond that the 24th of September was a good date for his baptism as he needs to attend church a few more times before he can be ready. We explained that as this is a life long and beyond commitment, it is better for him to go to church a few more times.

Sister Hill is now training a new missionary (which makes me a mission grandma!)

We had the privilege to be as part of the Wallace Toronto Project, which is named after a past mission president and is a mission wide service project held annually near a branch or ward in the mission to help the community and work together as saints to do good. 

We helped make envelopes as part of helping a charity called life without barriers, which helps those with disabilities to live a good life. The elders worked on ripping out old doors and glass from a building nearby that the charity will use to do training. It was such a blessing and my highlight was just getting to know the members more and being able to see and meet so many people I had heard about, including missionaries from the past.

Sister Baxter and I also made our transfer vision and we want to focus on becoming firm dedicated disciples of Christ. We are loving to so far!

What a blessing it is to be a Czech Slovak missionary!

I know that this work is true and that Christ truly is with us.
 
s laskou,

sestra Manners

Letter: 5 September 2016

Dear all,

This week has been incredible! 

We had the funniest experience this week. We received a call from a man that we contacted last week, he met the elders about two years ago and gave them his card and nobody had called until last week. What a blessing from going through the area book! He asked us if we could travel to his home to meet with him and we told him that we would only met with him in a public area and he still agreed so we went. We met this young man probably in his late twenties named Radek and he seemed really nice. He brought his dog, too. We started teaching him and he told us that his dad worshiped the devil and our lesson got really weird and we both didn't feel right (it was the gift of discernment by the Spirit). We told him we had to leave and he respected that but we will not be meeting with him anymore. (One example of how it got strange was when he asked us if we could take our nametags off when we met with him) 

However on our way to him, as we were traveling on the bus I sat next to  cute young mom holding a baby. She was on the phone so I smiled and waited and when she hung up, we had a great lesson! Her name is Talia and she has three kids and she and her husband are from Armenia. She in the end asked us if we could meet again! We are so excited. We actually ran into her this morning as sister Boza and I were dropping her off at the train station. What a miracle! She is really excited to meet with us and they are having some financial problems that we know can be helped and strengthened by with faith in Christ. 

Desmond has a baptism date of 25 Sept!

We also had the most wonderful opportunity to attend the temple dedication here in Prague for the Freiberg temple. I felt so blessed! 

The Spirit was so strong and I loved being able to understand everything in German and then again as it was translated into Czech. What a miracle! We also had the opportunity to watch the cultural celebration and it was so great!!! We had so many youth participate and I loved seeing so many that we recognized. We were cheering for them like we would cheer watching FIFA at home. 

I am looking forward to a new transfer here in Parduibce with Sestra Baxter, She is a sweetheart from Paradise, Utah and we have been wanting to serve together for a long time! I am excited!! 

My new companion, Sister Baxter!

S laskou,

sestra Manners 

 

Letter: 29 August 2016

Life truly is wonderful!
 

I have found that the more I love my mission, the quicker it goes by and time is flying! Sometimes I wish it would slow down but I don't want to make that mean I will not enjoy my mission. So I am very happy with the way things are going. 

The weather here has been so so hot this past week and it makes me appreciate that I am not serving in south America! I know that I was meant to serve here. The people here have stolen my heart. I love learning from the saints examples. This week they got to go to the temple open house in Freiberg Germany and they loved it! What a blessing it it that they will be able to go and do ordinances in their own language. We went on a vylet (a trip) today with the sweet Novotny family and the darling mom of seven kids was telling us that when she went for the first time to the temple, everything was in Bulgarian and she didn't understand anything! We really are so blessed! I love finding little things to be grateful for. 

I am also so grateful for the wonderful materials that we have to teach the gospel here. This week we taught our dear friend Desmond about the word of Wisdom and used the pamphlet a lot to explain things. It is such a  blessing! He is so prepared and just accepted to live according to the Word of Wisdom so easily. People truly are being prepared for us everywhere!
 

I love my mission and I love this gospel! It is true!

S laskou,

Sestra Manners 

English class!

 

Letter: 22 August 2016

It is a great day to be a missionary!
 

We are seeing so many miracles as always! This week while on exchanges with sister Huylar, who is amazing, we had a lesson cancelled and walked out of our office and ran into someone we had taught about a month ago who never left us any contact information! She had time there and then and we were able to teach her on the street and have a really sweet spiritual experience. 

I can just feel the love God has for his children so much as we teach them and talk to them and listen to their stories and their struggles. The more I listen, the more I feel like I can help them and share my testimony with them. I love that it helps me to forgot myself and learn to just serve as the Saviour does. It is such a blessing! 

This demonstrates the "Czech smile" very well

As we take the time to listen and truly desire to love and serve ohers, it brings us closer to our Saviour.

I love my calling!!

s laskou,

Sestra Manners 

 

Letter: 15 August 2016

Dear all,

I have loved learning more about Christlike attributes this week and really loved reading Colossians 1:25-29. I can see that I have been called to be a minister of Christ to all those around me. I love that as I open my mouth and share my testimony as directed by the spirit that I can see  miracles happening. I know that the spirit is essential and I am so grateful for it careful guidance each day. As sister Morgan and I taught Desmund and invited him to be baptised, I know that spirit was in our lesson. I felt peace and the love of the lord for Desmund. He has accepted to be baptised next month and we will be working with him closely as he prepares. He loved church yesterday! He even brought his Book of Mormon with him. He said that his favorite part was Sunday school since it reminded him of a bible study class he went to at home in Ghana.

District Meeting!  Mission President and wife next to me.

I love something that sister Audrlicka shared with us this week when we visited her and her family: she said that the incredible thing about the gospel and church is no matter where we are in the world, the teachings are the same because we are lead and directed by the Spirit. That is so true! I love learning from the examples of the members. Their faith inspires me and gives me hope. I know that they help me to come closer to my Saviour.

I love my mission. I love the gospel. How great is my calling!

Some highlights of the week:

We went on exchanges with the sisters in Ostrava, sister Bailey and Morgan,
we had a baptism! A dear sweet lady aged 68 was baptised in a lake and there were nudists there! I will remember that forever!

We visited the dear sweet Audrlicka family who have 7 children, aged 2 to 18. Their youngest became a dear friend and we shared name tags together.

Desmund came to church and loved it!!

S laskou,

Sestra Manners

 

We made Pizza after district meeting!

 

 

Letter: 8 August 2016

Dear all,

The scriptures have come to life for me while I have been here as a missionary. I find more meaning in them each day as I study and pray about them and ponder their personal meaning for me. I know they were written by inspired prophets of God and contain the answer to every question we will ever have in our lives.
 

This week, 1 Nephi 1:20 has rung true to me just as always and even more. I know that the Lord has a tender plan for each of us and that he will always bless us with miracles. I have seen answers come and blessings be unfurled as I serve here. The Lord knows exactly what we need and he blesses us with even better. 

Here I am with some of the other sisters and our new Mission President and wife

This week, we have seen so many people make progress in the gospel. One example is a lady named Angelika that lives really close to the Polish border. She asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and after making the two hour journey to her house, we gave her everything that we could and our testimonies. She cried and kissed our cheeks when we arrived and it was a very humbling experience. I had a very spiritual moment with her that I would like to share. 

We went with the elders and taught Angelika and her husband and sister and brother and their children. It was pure craziness with kids screaming and a cute kitten. But as we explained and taught about the Book of Mormon, I felt prompted to just talk to Angelika about Christ. I leaned over to her, holding the picture of Christ visiting the Nephites in my hands and poured out my feelings about the Saviour with her. It felt like the world around me disappeared and in that moment all I felt was love for Angelika. I felt how much Heavenly Father was grateful that we were there for her. I know that the spirit was the true teacher and I had the privilege of being an instrument in the Lord's hands.
 

I love this work. I love the Gospel and I know that it is true.

S laskou,

Sestra Manners

Letter: 1 August 2016

Dear all,

I love the spiritual experiences that we have on this earth which remind us of our divine potential. 

We had the most amazing lesson on Tuesday when we taught a referral we had found in the phone called Desmund. Desmund is from Ghana and is studying economics here. He comes from a christian background and had heard of us as Mormons before when he lived at home. We had no idea what to expect adn we didn't even know his name before our meeting but it was such a highlight for me. 

We simply taught him about the Book of Mormon and had a very basic how to begin teaching lesson following the points from Preach My Gospel. Honza was there and he would listen and comment and teach with us. Then Honza simply turns to Desmung and asks him how he feels the spirit since it is the spirit that will be the converter in all that we teach. It made us all ponder deeply and think upon our personal conversion story. I felt the spirit testify so strongly as we taught and it felt as if Desmund really understood what we were teaching with him. The lesson became a source of spiritual goodness for us to rely upon during the week and I have had my testimony of the importance of the Spirit strengthened. I know that the promise in Moroni 10 verse 5 is true!
 

As we remember our spiritual experiences and rely upon them as sources of strength, I know that we can do all things.

I also got to go on exchanges with Sestra Heap in Mlada Boleslav, visit Kutna Hora with our district again and have a fantastic week.  The Lord is so tender in His mercies to us!

The gospel is true!

S láskou,

Setra Manners

 

 P.S. This cathedral is amazing and includes things made from human bones.  You may remember I visited it last year.