I spoke czech better this week.

how i think i look when i travel

Well, this week started off with a fantastic tuesday and a wonderful concert. It was so successful and so fun! The theme was "finding happiness" and I sure hope everyone who came found happiness because it was really a fun time. We had not ever really all practiced together before, because we are hardly ever with the elders from Nitra, but everything came together so nicely. It was a little hipster-mumfordandsonsish with the ukulele and guitar and egg shaker. We had such a fun time and we are really REALLY excited to go to Nitra tomorrow to do one there as well.

Also, I made slovaks peanut butter fingers. Hee hee. They have expressed to me so many times how disgusting this sounds. Because they all hate peanut butter. So for the concert I made a huge batch and put them out and did not tell anyone what they were, and I had SO MANY people asking me for the recipe and I felt SO sneaky and so happy that slovaks were able to experience the joy that is peanut butter fingers. Thanks mom for the peanut butter.

Also, this week, well on wednesday at least, IT RAINED. We did such a marvelous chalk display with the elders that really turned out so well and was so bright and fun and readable..and then an hour later the world was washed with water. Seriously. Poured.
Shortly afterwards we needed to get on a train, because, well, we had MLC in prague and had to stay the night in Blava to make it there on time. And the train ride was one of the best I have ever had!! We got on the train and it was SO crowded. There were people everywhere and not a single empty seat in any car. So sister eggers and I camped out in the middle of two trains and tried to make some phone calls in the noisiness of it all. When we saw two people coming out of a car, we jumped at the chance and ran in to take their seats. We had such luck because we came to find that we were in the cabin with a grandma and her three beautiful grandchildren. And as soon as we sat down, she started asking questions...

And we were more than willing to answer! We taught them the plan of salvation, and although the grandma was a firm atheist "I have taught these kids since they were little that there will be nothing after this life! Nothing!", the kids had hopeful eyes as big as saucers. We also gave them gummy bears and saved the little boys flip flop when it fell in between the tracks in Bratislava.

Then, after a quick halušky in Blava, we headed to beautiful Prague where we had a really wonderful training and got to see the McConkies. They are so wonderful and inspiring. They told us the story about when they received their call to be mission presidents and I was pretty much crying because the spirit was so strong and I was thinking about how incredible they are for moving their whole family to prague so suddenly! Ah. it is so awesome. They are really the best.

Then, after a wonderful time in Prague, we went directly to Brno to go on exchanges!! Yay! Sister Eggers went back to Trenčin with Sister Holland, and I stayed in Brno with Sister Scherrer. It was so much fun! I love LOVE Brno. So many trams and busses. I forgot how fun big cities are. I was just so excited because there were people to talk to everywhere! Every tram and bus and street--it was way too good. And the city is so prepared--they have a really strong branch with a lot of YSA in it, and people are so elect and open to the message. I loved it. Plus I actually am beginning to understand czech. I just had to get over their really strange R.

how i really look when i travel

Then, sister scherrer and I came back to Trenčin to do the switch with Sister Holland and Eggers, and it was so fun to show them slovakia and make them Halušky (YAY TWICE THIS WEEK). They are really cute and are really great examples for us.

The rest of the week, was, to say the least, very miraculous. The law of compensation is so real! We seemed to meet every one of our investigators on the street and less actives, and never stopped moving. We are tired, but tired never felt so good.

We also have a huge spider living outside our window now, but we cannot bring ourselves to destroy its beautiful web it has made, and it only comes out at night and looks like a brown black widow with a black hourglass. I will take a picture this week. Her name is Charlotte and I will take a picture of her this week and send it home.

So, in short, I am just so full of happy spirit ness. I cannot describe how it feels to have the presence of the spirit with me, but it is a really good feeling to know that you are doing what the Lord wants you to do. When we live worthy of our covenants, specifically baptismal covenants, the Comfortor will always be there when we need him. I know that the reason why I feel so uplifted and strengthened all the time is not because of some secret food I have found--wait, no, just kidding, it totally is! Haluš--I mean, the gospel! (I am really cracking myself up over here, I know that this is really lame and not funny, but to me it is funny). But really. The gospel really can lift our pains, weaknesses, and worries. I am grateful for that in my own life and what it has done in others lives as well.

SO, until next week,
s laskou,
sestra abbott

PS year mark on the 13th boo.