Letter: 10 October 2016

Dear all,

I loved this week! We finally got to see conference since it is translated a week later in to Czech. We got to watch it in English since it is always best to hear in your first language but the ward watched it in the next room in Czech. I loved seeing the Czech saints so faithfully come to church on Sunday when there was a big marathon being held outside. Nothing will stop them! They are the best examples for me! 

Our district on P-Day

Conference was amazing and I feel like it went by so fast! I wish I could watch it all over again and take notes even more. I know that It helped me a lot to know that I need to be here and just be the best missionary I can be. I also love how bold everyone was in declaring repentance. I know that we can use the power of the atonement in our lives more and more each day to repent of the little things and let our weakness turn into strengths. I have seen that happen daily as I try to speak Czech and I am patient and rely on the Lord, He softens the hearts of others to understand what I say and how much I love what I share. I definitely have so much that I would like to apply from conference to myself and to how I am as a missionary of the Lord. Like trying to love others even more and have love be the motive behind all that I do. I know that as I focus on loving those we teach, I will have a greater desire to help them and serve them. I also really liked what was mentioned about the Book of Mormon. I want to start reading the Book of Mormon again but really read it as if it were for the first time, taking careful note of everything I read, so that I may more fully understand how those we teach are feeling as they also read it for the first time. 

I love being able to talk with the sisters in our mission each week. They truly are inspiring! They are all doing great and their faith and courage helps me want to become a better person. I love how the fearlessly go out and talk to everyone they can. 

Sister Baxter and I are trying to be bolder and just be the best missionaries we can be. This week as we talked to people, we tried to more simply share our testimonies with them and testify on the streets and in the trains and buses. It was funny that as we talked to a young man about hope using a survey that we made, he thought we were a TV crew and was looking for the camera. We just looked confident in what we were doing. it ended into a beautiful conversation about our heavenly father and we were able to share our testimonies with him. I love getting to know the Czech people and they have stolen my heart. 

We visited a sweet member this week named Sestra Vokalova and she made us laugh so hard!

I know the Gospel is true and that God lives. Jesus is the Christ!

S laskou,

Sestra Manners 

Letter: 3 October 2016

Dear all,

So much has happened this week and there just isn't enough time for me to type it all out or for you to read so I would love to share some of my highlights with you: 

On Tuesday, we had the chance to teach a man from Romania that we had met last week miraculously just from going out and talking on the street after coming back from an exchange. We really wanted to teach with a member and it is perfect that we have a recent convert named Gabriel that is also from Romania! Except there was one catch: Ondra only spoke English and Romanian and Gabriel only speaks Czech and Romanian. so we had to translate the lesson the entire time to make sure everyone understood and yet it was so spiritual. I think it showed me that the spirit really is universal. We just shared our testimonies and tried to keep it very basic and focus on our relationship with God. I know that the lesson was lead by the Spirit because I feel that I learned so much more than we even taught Ondra! He is so prepared and was excited to come to church as well. He has not been baptised but comes from a orthodox family and said such a heartfelt prayer at the end of the lesson. Even though it was in Romanian, I could feel that it meant a lot to him that he could speak with our Heavenly Father. 

We loved being in Prague for conferences! I feel like our training went really well and the Lord helped us a lot. My favorite part was when we invited everyone to go out and talk to people and on Tuesday I had the chance to be with Sierra and it us so exciting that she will be serving here so soon! She was amazing and I loved getting to take her contacting for the first time ever. She really did not know what to expect but loved sharing her testimony with others. She is going to be a great missionary and I felt so privileged to see the future of our mission.

I also loved being able to be on exchanges with the sisters in Prague. We spent most of our time on the streets and metros talking to people and the sisters really are on fire. They love talking to people and even though metro contacting is new for them, they are doing great. sister Heap and I had an awesome lesson with a  young woman from Russia on the metro and were even able to open the Book of Mormon up and read with her. I could feel the spirit, even when we were traveling at a high speed! The Spirit is just unstoppable! 

I love my calling and i love my mission so much!!!

s laskou,

sestra Manners 

Letter: 26 September 2016

Dear all,

Time seriously just gets faster and faster! I think it is running faster than me and sister Baxter when we exercise in the morning! I love being a missionary and it feels like a dream come true to just be here and work and serve the Lord by talking to others and helping them come closer to Christ. It really is the easiest and yet also the hardest thing I have ever done. People seem to be so amazed that we can speak Czech and be here but they just do not understand how much to Lord is helping us. He truly is by our side each and every day!

We loved being able to spend time with the sister in Plzen and they are doing great, getting adjusted to being in a brand new city and sister Miller has been such a great help to sister Andersen. She really lifts her spirit and encourages her. 

 

I loved being back in a city that had trams and being able to talk to people so easily as we traveled to places. Sister Andersen and I also tried to visit one of their investigators who is married to a member and they live in a little village and we got off at the wrong bus stop (the driver had told us wrong) and we ended up walking through villages to get to the right place, only coming an hour and a half late! But the family were happy to see us there and they were surprised that they were so important to us. I think it helped them gain our trust very quickly. Petra, the investigator asked why she wasn't baptised yet and it was great!! Such a miracle! The sister there are already seeing so many miracles happen and we were happy to hear that they are already having success with some of the people we meet with them on the streets. One of them even brought their friend!

Pardubice is doing great, too! Desmond prayed about his baptismal date since we wanted him to have the full responsibility. He prayed and feels like the 15th of October is a great date so we will help him to be as prepared as possible for that. We had a really great lesson with him this week when we simply read out of the book of Mormon with him, reading Moroni 6 and focusing on sacrament meeting. It was very spiritual and we all left the lesson feeling uplifted and inspired. we hope the missionaries will feel the same way this week after our training about faith. Sister Baxter and I are focusing on making our lessons short but powerful since our time is so precious and so far it is going great.

This week we really saw how diligence makes a big difference and I feel like that is what Elder Uchtdorf focused a lot of in his talk at the women's conference this past weekend. We got back from a long day of traveling on Friday and were tired but decided to go out and talk to people about the gospel before we had a lesson with Lucia and her darling kids. As we simply talked to people around us we were able to teach a young man from Romania all about the Book of Mormon, using the pictures and sharing our testimony and now we are going to be teaching him even more! It was a miracle and a blessing from being diligent, despite challenges.

I know that this work is true! I live it and love it!

s laskou,

sestra Manners

Letter: 19 September 2016

​Dear all,

This week went by so fast! I really do not understand time because each week just keeps on getting faster and faster. I feel like things that happened this week happened a month ago. 

 I think sister Van Dalen phrased it best this week when she said, "You are not doing missionary work right unless you are having fun!" And we are having so much fun, so we know we are doing things right with the Lord on our side.

We did a lot of finding last week and this past week, we saw the fruit of our labors a lot and we have begun to teach people and find more investigators and teach them and the missionary blessings just keeps rolling. I love it! and we haven't even started having exchanges yet. Exchanges brought so many miracles last transfer and I know they will be the same. 

We are thrilled that we get to go to Plzen this week and help sister Anderesen and sister Miller build up their area. They have opened the area up for sisters after being closed for over a year. 

 

We are also extremely excited that we get to be training next week. We are studying for it each day and are finding lots of different ideas. We are wanting to relate having faith to rock climbing since both sister Baxter and I have done rock climbing in our lives and love it. If you have any ideas, we would love your help! Please email me!

Desmond is doing great! He is starting to get busy with school and getting ready for his job in Brno  He came to church yesterday and even brought his Czech friend who was interested in why he was meeting with us. Her name is Lenka and she loved church and said that we truly are like a family there and she could feel the love. I love this ward so much! They are incredible! 

This week, we also had the opportunity to attend missionary leadership council and we watched a video that I would like to share with you. President related it to obedience and that as we do exactly as we have been invited, we are saved and kept dry on the boat. Exact obedience brings so many miracles!  

 

Today sister Baxter and I also went out with the Holts (our awesome senior couple)

We saw a really cool carving of the nativity in a rock in a forest. 
 

Our mission has the coolest things! We are so blessed to be here! 

I know that Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth for us because he loves us. The church is true! 

s laskou,

Sestra Manners