nech sa páči

I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life! This week has been so incredibly full of miracles and good people and good times and beautiful weather. Every day when we wake up I seriously feel like I am living in a fairy tale! How incredibly lucky we are to be here and we have a castle and wonderful people and nice smelling air and everything is beautiful.

Some highlights:

One of my favorite things about being a missionary is that you are always where God needs you to be. There are people who we see on the streets a second or third time, and it is so evident to us how many chances God is giving these people to accept our message! We ran into one of my favorite people this week and had a chance to talk with him about receiving his answer. He was adament that he was always praying to find the truth, and never receiving an answer. After some discussion, we discovered that he did not really want to receive an answer. He admitted this and admitted that maybe he was not quite ready to receive an answer. God will always, always give us an answer--when we have real intent and desire to act on that answer.

We had a great time this week when one of our members came to our english course. It was probably

beautiful Vah

the weirdest thing in the entire world for me! She speaks english very well, but I have never spoken english with her in my entire life. It was probably the weirdest thing ever. I felt like I could not speak english adn every time I did it felt like I was speaking this foreign language! I do not know why it was so strange but let me just say, I would rather speak slovak. hahah

This week I found in the church building the coolest autobiography printed off by Martha Toronto, the wife of our missions first mission prezident Wallace Toronto. Our mission has the coolest history in the entire world! I could not believe the stories of missionaries being imprisoned, the mission prezident being called at age 24, smuggling things in and out of the country...I found so much faith in the stories I was reading! The Lord is incredible and is really at the head of this work. The pioneers in every country are truly such faith filled people. I cannot explain how grateful I am for everything they did in order for us to be able to spread the gospel in these countries today.

this is how sister ratcliffe gives me my snacks

Another really cool miracle that happened this week was when we were going out to talk with people, and I kept having the thought that we needed to go a different way and contact in a different neighborhood. I was a little confused because there arent always a lot of people out over there, but decided to follow the prompting anyway. SO we turned all the way around and headed over there. While over there, I thought of a less active member that lived down there but who had presumably moved. We decided to ring her bell and just see if she or her family was there. And she was! She invited us in for the first time and we were able to have a wonderful spiritual visit with her, her mother, and her daughter. We are so blessed! I am so grateful for the promptings of the spirit and know that when we follow them the Lord will truly use us in the ways He needs to.

This week, Sister Ratcliffe helped me out a lot. She helped me to overcome a few of my fears. Particularly, she helped me to do a handstand. That was pretty fantastic.

We had so much success this week going door to door, I was amazed! People have been so kind to us and so open to learning more about Jesus Christ and His restored church. It is interesting to see how the spirit can really soften somebodys heart. Maybe at the beginning of a contact, they will say, no, no, we dont want, but after speaking with us, they always seem to realize that what we have is precious and they have question after question. It is totally worth all of the terrifying dogs to go ring everyones bells at their gates, because we get to have these amazing spritual experiences with people!

We helped our dear Sestra Alžbeta shell some stubborn walnuts this week. Highlight.

We made zuchinni bread and delivered it to people. Highlight.

Church was seriously so great. Highlight.

Oh man we got to go to this mans home this week, and seriously it was incredible! We sat in this outdoor indoor villa thing which was all nice and warm and randomly had a motorcycle. Plus he was wearing all white flowy clothing so that was pretty fantastic. His wife was really sweet as well. Didnt really have interest to be baptized in the end but you know, it was a great and strange experience. Gotta have a few of those.

We are so grateful for this older couple that has us over every sunday. They are so sweet and we always feel the spirit so strong at their house. We had a wonderful conversation with them about listening with spiritual ears--that each one of us in life can learn different languages, be it slovak, english, the internet. But the most important language we can learn is the language of the spirit. If we are always actively listening, we can hear what God wants to tell us personally when we read in the scriptures or when we pray. I loved this exerpt from the Bible Dictionary about knowledge:

"One of the attributes of God (Isa. 46:9–10; Acts 15:18; 2 Ne. 9:20). Knowledge of divine and spiritual things is absolutely essential for one’s salvation; hence the gospel is to be taught to every soul. “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14). Knowledge is not obtained all at once, even by revelation, but line upon line, precept upon precept (Isa. 28:9–10). The scriptures, and also living prophets, are given so that the people might have knowledge of things of God and “know how to worship, and know what you worship” (D&C 93:19). Knowledge is one of the endowments of the Holy Ghost (John 14:26; 16:13; D&C 34:10; 121:26–33) and one of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8; Moro. 10:10; D&C 46:18). Peter lists knowledge along with faith, patience, kindness, and virtue as necessary acquisitions for one who would seek for a divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3–9). Since no one can be saved in ignorance of the gospel (D&C 131:6), and one progresses only as fast as he gains knowledge (HC 4:588), it follows that the person who gains knowledge will have “the advantage in the world to come” (D&C 130:18–19)."

I love you all! Have a great week!
s laskou,
sestra abbott