#trainsfordayz

going into my apartment for the first time

This week was really just exciting. That is the only word I have to describe how many trains we had to catch, people to see, and goals to keep. Last week started in Bratislava and Brno for a mission conference (wonderful, wonderful, all good times) and ended here back in Košice. Because I had to go and do all my visa excitement on wednesday, we had to stay in Bratislava for about half the week. It was fun to be with all the other slovak sisters but also sad to be away from our area for what seemed like a year! 

Prague

I love Bratislava, and I love all the people there. It is incredible to me to see so many people everywhere speaking in different languages and from so many different cultures. Sister Seninger and Sister Rosenthal were brave and decided to leave me, Sister Parsons, and 

first time on the namestie (main square)
in košice. 

Sister Eggers by ourselves to contact on a namestie for a while...maybe too brave. Haha well, we really tried and it was really funny. We are all able to understand most slovak, and we stopped a couple of really interesting people who had a lot to say. One man was telling us that we were all pieces of God and expounded on the conception of Christ and we were all just standing there hoping he wouldn't ask us some complicated question that could not be answered in our limited slovak. But it was still fun, nevertheless. We had so many miracles there, because Sister Seninger spent the first few months of her mission there. We saw so many people who she had contacted before and handed out a Book of Mormon and a lot of pass-along cards (Okay, we are always handing out a lot of those, but still.) 

me eating halusky and looking like a complete crazy person.

On Monday night we made halušky (noodles and cabbage)... so that was the best thing ever. 

I contacted by myself on the train for the first time. It was a party. 










Sidenote: This little tiny spider keeps landing on my computer screen and I keep thinking my mouse is moving on its own, and it is actually a little frightening because I'm afraid it will land on my head. Help. I promise I'm not in an attic or anything, its actually really beautiful here in this library, but you know, still....

Prague

Okay sorry I'm focused. Wednesday we had to go to like 40 million doctors and people to do our visa stuff, and that is really all the detail I'm going to go into about that. Enough said. I'm healthy and now reside in Slovakia. 

Wednesday night we basically ran out of Bratislava to catch a train back to Košice, and the nine hours passed by slower than normal because it was dark, but it was still fun because I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie. 

from our apartment window

Okay so anyway THEN we finally made it back to our beautiful area! Oh, I love it so much. We have had so many miracles the few days we have been here. And the new members we are working with are so great (I see the spider right now, by the way). Between teaching and contacting, I feel like we have already been here for a year. 

The biggest miracle we had this week, though, was when we got our investigator Inga to come to church! She is a mom! And has the cutest two little girls, who are 2years and 6months old. We were so excited to walk her to church on sunday morning. Church starts at 9 so we went and waited outside her apartment at 8. Unfortunately, it took her a really long time to get her kids ready and it was 8:45 and we weren't sure what to do because it was branch conference and I was playing the piano and it was really a fiasco so when she finally 

entering our church building for the first time

came out and we discovered that the busses all didn't come until 9:00, we told her that we were just going to have to run and we would meet her there. I'm sure it was really a sight to see two sister missionaries running down the street for almost 3 kilometers to a 
church building in long skirts and laughing the whole way. The congregation was waiting for us when we got there five minutes late, and we burst in, threw off our coats, and casually walked in, and I sat down to the piano and wiped the sweat off my face. Needless to say, Inga came to church and loved it so it was all worth it. (even though my voice was basically gone when we had to do a musical number.)

Yesterday, we had a miracle because the night before, Sister Seninger felt really strongly that we needed to go to a certain place and find a woman in a brown coat. We did! She was so wonderful and we talked to her for almost 45 minutes. Shortly after we had a bench lesson with a woman who is so incredibly prepared--she asked every question a missionary could possibly want-- and who we will most likely be teaching again this week. 

These are just literally 1/2000 miracles I see every day here on my mission. I am so grateful for the people here and for everyone around me. I wish I could write everything about every person I have met here but 1) that would take me eight years and 2) probably inappropriate to just tell other people's lives for them. I'm excited to finally be here in Košice, where I can see people selling beautiful flowers everywhere and run when the sun is coming up over the city, and be surrounded by wonderful people anywhere I go. Even on sketchy busses. (Miracles happen on sketchy busses. Am I even spelling busses right? is it buses? I really just don't even know english.) Anyway. And I love the Van Dalens too!

cvicova (tenderloin dumplings and cream)

THEY FEED US SUCH DELICIOUS FOOD I COULD DIE. Honestly I don't even know what I was eating, but there were potatoes and sausage and soup and walnut cake and I just was so happy that my stomach was bursting. Also, the elders made 6.6 lbs of halušky last night so at least I'm not as bad as some people with the food thing. Just kidding. I eat what I want. 

Scripture of my week: Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

really small elevator with sister seninger

There is really no reason for us to be ashamed at all of this gospel 
because every ounce of it is true! It is a map for every person in this life, truly. I hope to share it in everything that I do and say and have never felt more grateful for anything in my life. Not even for halušky. Right now, there are a lot of people that are surprised at
 my slovak and that I can understand anything, but I'm actually just like a four year old telling people (quite brokenly) what I know and handing them pictures of Jesus. Which is fine because its the best I can do! The Lord expects nothing more of us and I know that He is able to make our weaknesses strengths. 

I love and am praying for you all! Thank you for all of your emails and notes! Talk to you soon!

Uvidíme sa!
Sestra Abbott 

church in prague

church in prague

church in prague

lock bridge in prague

pink apartment we stayed in in prague



This is skutočny život. (real life)

 So I have no idea what I'm going to write about--I'm just sitting here in the cutest little library in Bratislava and really having the best time here in Slovakia. I will just start from the beginning...which seemed so long ago...(Haha this is like I'm starting a saga or something)

Anyway so....

1) Sister Parson's visa didn't go through. So that was awkward. She got reassigned to Independence, Missouri, and it was all just tragic. We tried to be really good and strong about it, and had a few moments. Some of you already know about them--blood sweat and tears, man. But anyways. So. She wasn't coming with us. 

2) NAOZAJ it was such a hassle getting out of here. The czech missionaries got reassigned to the states, and as did the bulgarians, and the entire zone was just emotionally traumatized, and then the czechs got reassigned back to the Czech Republic, and it was all just a giant party.

3) We finally let the MTC at 7:00, leaving poor sister Parsons behind (Don't want to dwell on this subject--wasn't pretty), and headed up on the bus to the tracks. The best was that there was an elder on trax who had a ukulele because he was going to Hawaii, and he didn't know how to play it, but he let me play it the whole ride up! Oh how wonderful it really was to play and sing with a ukulele again. 

4) Plane drama made concise: Our plane to Dallas got canceled, so we ended up getting on different flights, but really did make it to Prague in the end, though it was six hours later.

5) I got to talk to this woman on the plane from London to Prague, and she was really so wonderful. It was so good to hear about other people's beliefs and be able to share ours for a couple hours with someone who was so genuine and nice. I gave her my blog name so I hope she reads!

Okay, now some more things that happened in Europe. I lost my luggage, first of all, which really could have been a set back, but honestly, I was just happy I didn't have to carry around 150 pounds of my stuff. Who knows why I have so much stuff? I'm probably going to move away to India one day and donate all my wordly possessions to the chuch. Just kidding, but not really. 

So we got off the plane, lost some luggage, and finally met President and Sister McConkie. It was so good to see them after we had all been so thrown around by airplane security for 24 hours. They took us to McDonald's, and we had to order for ourselves, which really wasn't that bad, and the chocolate shake tasted so weird but for some reason McDonald's are really nice here which I personally don't understand at all.

Can I just say how annoying it is that the spell check on this computer is saying that every word I type is wrong? All I see is red.

So, prague at night was really beautiful (nothing compared to the daytime though), and we stayed in this little kind of creepy place overnight, where we (kind of) slept and were picked up the next morning by the APs. We went on a Prague walk for about 20 minutes, and President told us about the history of the church in this city. It was incredible! These people are so strong and have been so prepared to receive our message. I know so strongly that this is where the Lord needs me. 

OH! So before, President takes me into his office for an interview and tells me that Sister Parsons would be flying in the next day. 

WHAT? really? I couldn't decide whether to punch something or jump up and down with excitement, and so I settled on a healthy excitement that kept me in my seat while inside I was dying. 

Anyway, then we came back and got assigned our companions and areas (I can't believe how concise I'm making this, really..) I was so excited to finally be assigned to a place and get to slovakia and teach the people. I was assigned to Košice, which is the furthest city away from our mission home, over by Ukraine. My companion is Sister Seninger, who is literally the most wonderful, energetic, happiest human. She has been out for a year and has spent six months in Košice. Her Slovak is wonderful and her contacting tactics are even better. We were going to leave on our (9 hour) Train right away, but turns out, I never got my luggage! Haha! SO we ended up having to stay in Prague with the sisters there.

So the next day we got to contact in Prague before we left on our train. It was so fun. I was so tired and really probably not myself at all, but it was so great to finally be talking to real people. We taught a girl an entire lesson on a park bench and gave our number away to a couple people! I really can't understand czech. But the gift of tongues is so real! Although I could never directly translate what anyone was saying, the spirit was always with me so strong and I could always understand and answer them. It was so incredible! This truly is the Lord's work! 

Okay so after a lot of luggage stuff, I ended up only getting one piece of luggage and leaving for my city. The train ride was long but the countryside is beautiful. 

As soon as we got to Košice, we started contacting out on the namestie, which is so beautiful. It was dark but I was still really in love. Our apartment is up on this little hill and we can see the entire city! SO beautiful! 

The more I am there, the more I love it and I love the people. I can't write about everything right now, but I love our newly baptized members and we have so many miracles with people everywhere! I am surprised at how many people are willing to listen to us and I'm always so grateful when the Lord answers my prayers. This is happening! Missionaries on earth are a testament of the Lord's restored gospel and that He surely will be coming again soon. I am so grateful for this privilege. 

Hey, the computer stopped correcting me. Haha

Church was SO good. I play the piano because no one else does. Everyone has such love and faith in us and in the Lord. An 18-year old member from the Ukraine just randomly showed up and said he had biked 200 km from poland to get here, and was staying for 2 days, and would bike back. Haha he was so awesome. (He asked all about Dad and his mission to Ukraine. (in his broken english.)

Right now, we are in Bratislava. Today we had training in Brno in the Czech Republic, and then came back with the Bratislava sestry (Who are Sister Parsons, Sister Eggers, and a czech sister) and will stay here until Thursday morning because on Wednesday I have to get my visa things taken care of. I am excited to proselyte here, but I also miss Košice, and it is hard to be away from our area and from our members there for so long.

Oh! I tried both cvičkova and halušky. No worries. And I ADORE the food here. Bread and cheese for life. Weight gain for life. 

I love you all and am praying for you! I am grateful for all the support I have and am especially grateful for the spirit I am able to have with me all the time. This truly is where I need to be right now, and I know that I and others will be blessed for it. Until next week! 

P.S. Sorry this email was crazy hectic. My life is crazy hectic and I LOVE IT. Will send pictures soon. 

P.P.S. Proverbs 3: 

5 ¶Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Sestra Abbott

Off to their area! Everyone is sooooooooooooo happy!

Dear Missionary Family-

This morning Sister Abbott met her companion – Sister Seninger. Attached is a picture for you to enjoy.

They are serving in the city of Košice. It is approximately ten hours south-east of Prague by train.

There are 2 Elders and a Senior Couple serving with them.

P-Day is next Monday

Sister Abbott will contact you then to share her adventures.  We are so delighted to have your daughter with us. J

With warm regards from,

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

Inconceivable!

I can't believe I'm saying this..but my days as an MTC resident are quite numbered. We are leaving on Monday morning to Prague!! I really have no words to describe my excitement--it is still so surreal. Who knows where I will be at this time next week? I certainly don't. 

We Slovaks and Czechs are lucky to be leaving the MTC at 7 AM and not 3:30 AM like most of the rest of our European missionaries. Ah! Too exciting. Who knows what adventures await us? (Cheesy) (Haha)

Really nothing out of the ordinary has happened this week--We translated the Bruno Mars "Treasure" song into slovak, and for some reason, "Ty si moj poklad" is a whole lot catchier than the original. We have everyone in the halls singing in slovak. 

A cool story about the Book of Mormon in the Czech Republic--in 1930, with the communism and wars and all that non-fun things, every religious book was ordered to be burned. However, the book of Mormon was published as a little red-bound book with a big "KM" on the cover (Kniha Mormonova). The best part about this was that the book of mormon was the only book that survived the burnings because it seemed like it was Karl Marx. So cool!

We had an incredible devotional on tuesday with a member of the seventies, and he told us that right now there are 88,034 missionaries--What?! And the best part about it is that this number, that so many people thought would expand then shrink after the missionary age--this number is growing still! The gospel really is spreading throughout the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

I can't describe how incredible conference in the MTC was. Every single question I had was answered--even some questions I hadn't even thought about for a couple days. I absolutely loved Jorg Klebingat's talk--it was exactly what Sister Parsons and I needed. I can't believe how up front he was and still so perfect. I want to re watch it 90,000 times. 

I really don't want to continue talking about conference, because I know most people I'm sending this to watched it, but I'm going to keep talking about conference. It was too wonderful. How lucky we are to have prophets and apostles on the earth today to give us inspired counsel and advice! President Bednar's talk was an amazing example of our purpose as missionaries. President Monson's talk filled me with appreciations for blessings I have received from obedience and gave me new motivation to be exactly obedient. The women's conference talks (and that temple video, wow,) made me bawl like a baby. I can honestly say I don't think I could have counted more tears coming out of my eyes over the period of two days in my life. And our Elders in priesthood!? Weren't they just spectacular!

The devotional on Sunday night that we had after conference was wonderful. The man who spoke, Vaj Sikahema, (football player/news guy in philidelphia) told us to put our notes away and just sat and told us a bunch of wonderful missionary experiences. It made me so excited. I am so ready to go. I'm ready to go out and to bring the spirit and God's love to His children! I'm excited to fail--I'm excited to have challenges and successes, I'm excited to feel like I'm not making any progress, I'm excited to make a fool out of myself by saying something silly in Slovak or sounding like a four year old. We are so blessed to have been prepared for this! I'm already sad for the day in 16 months when I will have to come home, because I love this work more than anything.

Sister Parsons and I went to the temple for the last time in 16 months today. How strange that the place that has been my comfort zone every week for the last 6 years of my life will not be present for this next year or so! Afterwards, we were talking to the recorder about some symbolism, and he just said "Just wait for the day when your converts can go to the temple--or for the day when there is a temple in Slovakia!" The spirit washed over me. I know that this day will come! I don't know when, but I know that the church will be so strong there and I know already how good the people are. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the temple and for the long-lasting blessings it has brought me. 

Well, I'm not sure what else to write about--but I will write again from Prague/Slovakia! In a week or so! 

Love you all,

Sestra Abbott 

P.S. Scripture of the Week: Alma 24:11-16. The Anti-Nephi-Lehis are too incredible, and I have loved studying this story. The atonement is real and Christ is our Savior--I know it with all my heart! We can have our blades clean through Him and I am so grateful for that. 

P.P.S. this week, a czech sister prayed for us to "feel the spirit in the bathroom tomorrow" Just sayin. 

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11

ELEVEN DAYS PEOPLE

I can hardly believe it!! I can't tell you how excited I am to finally start eating real vegetables and fruits again! I cannot remember what real bread, mashed potatoes, or meat tastes like at all. But I can't believe how fast it has gone by.

The language is really coming along. There are some days when I feel like I could be doing so much more, but there are other days when I remind myself that I never thought I would learn this much in the MTC. I am far from perfect, but I can understand and communicate at probably an elementary level, which is semi-okay.

This week the highlight was Starsi Kuhlmann's birthday. He has really become like a little brother to us, so we really went all out. Well, for missionaries. The big 1 9 ! haha, these elders. We went and spent the rest of our five dollars on a bunch of candy for him, hung up a leftover sign from a sister's previous birthday, taped the candy all over the classroom (along with printouts of his Mormon.org picture), made tape streamers above his seat, made him a cardboard crown, and really surprised him when he came in and we started playing primary birthday songs and jumping up and down. It really was a bonanza. Or a rozruch. Haha really though. THEN his mom sent him this HUGE package

wait, side note....

When his mom dropped off this huge package, she drove slowly around the field while we were having gym and yelled out the car door (I LOVE YOU!) It was so funny. We all jumped up and down and waved at her.

Anyway, this HUGE package contained EVERYTHING necessary for an all-out birthday party!! She made this incredible Nissan car cake, so delicious, and put in all these shark-themed decorations and forks and plates and napkins and the whole shabang! It really was so incredibly fun. Sister Palinikova gave in and let us go outside and set it all up (Even though it was freezing) and she even taught us the Slovak birthday song.

Anyway. This fast sunday, I had the best experience fasting for the people of Slovakia. I was feeling pretty inadequate the few days before, and feeling very unprepared to do this great work. However, when I was fasting for them, I had the most overwhelming feeling of love with me all day. The older sisters who spoke of their previous missions in relief society talked of the people, and I was just crying because I can feel those spirits who are so prepared and so ready to hear this wonderful word of the gospel! I know that sometimes it is scary, but I know that even if I couldn't speak the language at all, I could show them God's love for them and our love for them.

OH! On Starsi Kuhlmann's birthday also, during gym we played kickball, and it was my turn, and there were three outs already and I REALLY did NOT want to be our fourth out. So of course, I kicked it directly to first base. I kind of got really competitive and sprinted to first, and ended up jumping/diving/tripping over this elder who somehow was on the ground in front of me, and really bruising up my knee (Like real bad). It was pretty epic. But I think what really matters is that I made it to first base, and Sister Parsons made it to home base because of it. So.

Back to Sunday.  On our temple walk, a very frightening thing happened. The member of our branch presidency who was with us, President Robinson, suddenly collapsed and was unconscious. It was really terrifying. We all thought he was going to die. Our elders immediately rushed over to hold him up, and took turns holding him. When he became conscious again, his face looked almost blue. His wife ran to the car and to call 911, while the elders continued to help him. After a few minutes, one of the Elders pulled out his consecrated oil, and they leaned P. Robinson against a tree and gave him a priesthood blessing. How grateful I am for the priesthood! The ambulance came, and he ended up being fine, only deprived of nutrients, but it was really frightening. I am so grateful to be surrounded by so many worthy young (and old) men who hold the priesthood--I know that the power of God is real and that through it, miracles really can and will occur.

HEY! Our Elders are singing in priesthood this week!!  Watch conference and watch for our elders! (Like you would be able to recognize, but we have like 20 from our zone!)

One thing I have really been grateful for this week is how prepared I have been for this mission and to serve the Lord. I am so grateful for the way that my parents raised me! From little things like fasting for 24 hours (A lot people's main stress stems from this) to following the rules exactly and staying far away from the line, I know that because of my parents' diligence I have far less trouble than many missionaries in the MTC do.

One cool story from this week: A woman spoke in our devotional about her experience as a mission president's wife in Russia. She talked about how scary it was to be in Russia and have no language experience, and feel so unprepared. She said that at one point she had to carry all her luggage down a huge, icy staircase without a railing. She counted 96 stairs, and she knew there was no way she was going to make it down all 96 of those stairs without tripping and falling. She said a short, faithful prayer, and as she embarked, she felt tangible arms gripping hers and supporting her down those stairs. She talked about how she knows there are angels around us, supporting us every step of the way. This could not be more true! My mission may be 18 months, or I may have 12 more days in the MTC, or maybe go down 96 stairs, but I know that if I rely on the Lord, I will be supported every step of the way and he will not allow me to fall! I am so grateful for the angels I have already felt around me and for the spirit I feel so strongly in every moment of my day.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 6:34-36:

34 Therefore, fear not, little flock ; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
35 Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.
36 Look unto me in every thought ; doubt not, fear not.

Sorry, no slovak words this week because this computer is weird and the keyboard doesn't like accents. Anyway,
Dovidenia!
Sestra {Kalli-Paige} Abbott

P.S. Last P-Day, we ran into the Coveys at the temple (Which was SO wonderful!) And they sent us FRESH FRUIT! Who knows how they got it in, but I was crying eating the raspberries. I almost died. Raspberries and peaches--nothing better.