Week 44: Hello 😀

 Good morning/afternoon/evening. I'm honored to be a part of your day in the form of this email. 

Items of business🐎

1. I officially got transferred from Prague. After over 6 months there I am in a little beautiful town called Třebíč. Look up how that's pronounced on Google translate, it's kind of fun :) it was a mixture of sadness and peace leaving Prague. I don't really know how else to describe it. I know I'm where I need to be. And that's really all that matters :)

2. I got a new companion named Sister Lane!! Her mom is from the Czech Republic so she speaks Czech already. I feel extremely blessed and lucky...my goal is to speak fluently in the next two months. 

Haha, that is a lie. She is teaching me so much already, though.

I had so many special and cool and literally life-changing experiences this week and I can't even begin to describe them. Because, they were actually really small experiences that made me think and feel and think about others and think a lot about the Lord. I don't think I can convey them very well in a short email. I'm sorry that's weirdly mysterious and vague. But, I know that through small and simple things, great things happen. 

I know that we're on this earth to have joy. To make promises with God. Promises that bring His power into our lives. 

I love Heavenly Father 😊 I love His Son. I know they love me. 

I know they love you 🙂 please look for the little miracles in your life this week. You may just find that they're not so little after all. 

With all my love, Sestra Call

Week 42: Learning, Learning, Learning

 Hello people whom I love.

This week I learned some things 😊 technically, every week the Lord is trying to teach me something, but I don't actually notice and learn it each week.🤷‍♀️

We had English class last Friday and there's a very old man with very strong opinions who attended. We're honestly a little nervous each time he comes because we're not quite sure what he'll say...

So, he walked into class and immediately Sister Call thought, "oh great, now things are probably going to go down-hill".

Then.

He says, "wait. I invited a friend and he's downstairs, I'll go get him".

Uh oh...what's going on. 

And THEN. The coolest young man from Milan walks in. He's kind and he participates in the class and when the class is over he turns to me and says, "I'm really interested in the fact that you are missionaries, can you all tell me what you do?".

And we proceeded to have an amazing conversation with this young man and the old man which was completely led by the young man's sincere and inspired questions. 

There's one other story I wanted to share!!

I saw this beautiful girl as we were walking to the metro from the church and she was standing next to a garbage can smoking a cigarette. We passed by her and I turn to Sister B and Sister Zernzach and say, "It makes me so sad when young and healthy people smoke like that. I just don't get it and it's horrible." 

We're waiting for the metro and down walks the girl and I think immediately, "oh no, this means I need to talk to the girl I just judged really hard." 

And so I did. And she turned out to be the nicest person I'd talked to all day. 

So. Here is my "learned thing". I judged that old man and I judged the young girl. I assumed things about them and their situations and then the Lord took the opportunity to show me that I don't know everything, haha. He showed me that everyone has a story and everyone is a beloved child of God. I know that that is true. I know that I'm going to struggle with these thoughts for the rest of my life but I'm so, so grateful that God reminds me again, and again how much He loves me and everybody else.

With all my love,

Sestra Call

Haha I have no pictures this week, I'm so sorry 

Week 41 WOTW: Sunshine

 The sun is shining every day here in Prague. I went outside with short sleeves this week 🤭😲 Prague is looking absolutely beautiful, and absolutely more full with tourists everyday :) ...yucky...

My Sunshine moments:

1. Today, I started out the preparation day and I had a lot on my mind. A lot of confusing thoughts and self-degrading thoughts about the kind of companion I am and such. Anyways, it was not very "sunshine-y". And then two things happened. One, we played some American football. (Everyone who knows me, please be proud of me for doing something athletic and also for finally learning (kind of) rules of American football) that was in the sun and it was pretty warm and sweaty. Two, I talked to my companions about my thoughts and such. And they listened :) and told me they love me. And they were my Sunshines. 

2. We had zone conference this week and it was such a bright Sunshine for me. It illuminated a lot of things I want to work on and improve. But, also, it reminded me about how I feel about the Savior. We had an opportunity to reflect for about 15 minutes on our personal conversion to the Savior and I sat down and my heart felt really full, really fast. I love Him. And no words I say or write down in an email can really describe my gratitude and love for Him. But, I know what I know and what I feel, so I am happy 😊

3. Maybe some of you may remember, maybe not. But, me and Sister Hagberg met this amazing woman named Alžběta back in January. She is incredible. She found the church online and researched everything about it and called us and asked if she could be baptized. We were SO excited and happy to teach her and then some really horrible things in her life happened and for the past two months we've texted a bit and haven't been able to see her at. All. It was so hard and so sad. But then out of nowhere, on Thursday she texts me and says that she wants to come to church on Sunday and talk afterwards.

It. Was. The. Biggest. Miracle. 

She came. And I gave her the biggest hug and felt the most love and joy. Seriously 😊 She was so happy to be back and it filled my whole weekend with Sunshine.

I know that the sun is always above us. Even when we can't see it, and maybe it doesn't shine as brightly. I know the Son of God is always with us. Even when He is harder to see or we may think He's left because we just can't do anything right or be quite perfect enough or we've made that one mistake for the billionth time. He always right here, next to me, and next to you.

I love you so much and so does He. I am so honored and grateful to be a missionary for Jesus Christ, it's the best decision I've made so far. 😊 have a great week filled with Sunshine moments. 

Love, Sestra Call

The district today, woo-hoo. Also, this is Elder Tauai, he played football in high school and drew this lovely graph for me to teach me how to play today. 

Sister B sang for zone conference and we have a member in the ward named Macey who is a legendary fantastic singer. She gave Sister B some pointers, it was cute. Sister Z plays piano so all three of them were quite useful and naturally I made myself useful by becoming photographer. 

Week 40 Miracle week 😊

 Hello my dear family and friends.

So, guess what. This week was my district's miracle week. And we saw SO MANY miracles. Here is my little list of some. 

1. On Tuesday AND on Wednesday, not a single lesson canceled 🌞

2. We talked to our friend, Vaclav, about baptism and changing our lives forever through Jesus Christ. He told us he needed to think a little bit more about this. A few days passed and he starts to message us saying that in the past maybe he wouldn't have agreed to be baptized, but now he wants to take that step and prepare. Vaclav is amazing. He is this sweet old guy who lived a life when he was younger that was pretty rough. He did a lot of things that he regrets and now he's living a life completely different because he found out that God is real and loves him 😊 isn't that a miracle? 

3. We called this woman named, Kateřina, who has two daughters who don't believe in God at all. We called and started talking and at first, the daughters didn't want to say a word and didn't even want to be seen on camera. Sister B shared a really personal experience a few minutes into the call and little by little, one daughter started to make a few comments. She said to us at the very end, "ok, you guys are kinda cool. I expected you to be pretty lame, but you're ok." 🙏😊 the spirit is the absolute best.

4. We have been talking to people on every tram or metro we get on. And I sat next to this little old lady named Marie one day and she told me about her uncle who lives in 🇺🇸🇺🇲 America. And then she asked why I was so far away from America. And I told her that I'm a missionary :) and she liked that, so we're visiting her again. 

5. Sister B left her passport at home by accident and there was a foreign police/ticket checker on a tram we took on Sunday. We were absolutely terrified. This guy asked us to step off the tram so that we could, "figure out this issue" and he started leading us down into the metro to some foreign police office (or so we thought). And then....he turns to us and says, "I believe you when you say it's at home. I asked you to step off the tram so that the other people riding would see the example. You're free to go." He didn't even charge us the usual 50 dollar fine. I am still a little bit in shock about that miracle. 😳

6. Denis got to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and we got to go with him. I can't even start explaining how incredible and beautiful and sacred going to the Freiberg temple was. I love the temple with my whole heart and I never feel closer to Christ and my Heavenly Father than when I am there.

I can't even explain all the rest, but, there were so many. And I know there were so many because we were looking for them. I know God is a God of miracles. And He loves me. And you. And everybody. 

Love, Sestra Call

I didn't do well with pictures this week. But, we made stuffed peppers (shoutout to my dad and his childhood) and we discovered a gorgeous park in Prague. 

Sestra Talitha Call, Sestra Zenzach and Sestra Borgholthaus