Week 56: WOTW Effort

 The Lord loves effort everybody 😊 

This last week me and Sister Gilmour spent a lot of time out and about looking for people who are looking for truth, looking for peace, looking for Christ. 

And we didn't find a whole lot of them, haha :) BUT we met a couple amazing people who I can't wait to get to know and talk to more. 

One of them is named Daniela and I will tell you a little story about her now. This story is further evidence to me that God is doing all the work, He is completely in charge and I am just honored to be here enjoying the ride and learning approximately thousands of lessons about life and the Lord, so you know, God is extremely good. But, anyways.

We were out walking in Třebíč and talking with people we saw and we've started heading home for dinner and we walk past This lovely girl and we smile at her. And she smiles back. And we proceeded to walk. past. her. Without saying a word. Haha. What were we doing. Anyways, Sister Gilmour turns to me and says, "that girl is ready for the gospel". And at this point the Spirit is basically shouting at both of us that same message so we turn around and run after her. I didn't know what I was going to say so I run up to her and I'm huffing and puffing and I start rambling about how I saw her smile and want to know what brings her joy and why she's happy. 

And the conversation goes from there. It was probably the worst Czech I've spoken in months. It was sort of a chaotic conversation of me saying one thing and Sister Gilmour saying something else and then Daniela didn't really understand our Czech so she just laughed at us. But, somehow, we told her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And somehow, she said, yeah, she wants to meet with us and learn more. And I know, that "somehow" was God. He doesn't need me to speak perfect Czech to touch someone's heart. He doesn't need you to be perfect at following Christ to change you into a better person. Or use you to change someone else's life entirely. He could do all of that on His own. But, He asks me for effort. My own effort I can give and when I give all of it, that's enough. He asks you for all the effort you can give, and that's enough. Because then Jesus Christ makes up the difference :) 

That's a little bit of what I was thinking about this week. I can't describe how good God is. I know you've seen it too, so I don't have to explain it well. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a week filled with so much joy and learning. I'm still studying Joseph Smiths life because it's actually so fantastic, so if you want to keep that going, feel free.

With love, Sestra Call

Sister Gilmour and I are actually the worst at taking pictures...I've never been worse, honestly. But, here is some ice cream and cinnamon rolls we ate today for lunch. 

And the picture of the family is a family from Ukraine who have recently moved to Třebíč. They're members of the church and we're helping them learn English. They are called the Perecovi family. Don't get me started with how much I love them. Also, I promise I'll take a picture with Dáša and her daughter next week. (That's the lady I talked about a few emails ago)

Week 55

 Hello everybody 😊

Best part of my week=

The amazing mom, Dáša and her daughter Naty brought their friends Kristýna and Sofinka to our English class on Tuesday and asked us to teach them about God. It was out of no where. I cannot express how grateful and happy I am that God is in charge of this amazing work. I'm literally just trying to keep up with Him, haha.

Love you all, have a week filled with moments of joy.

Love, Sestra Call

We borrowed some bikes oh my goodness so much fun, had a sports night with our group of members and also I rode on this crazy little roller coaster thingy and it was one of the greatest moments of my life so beautiful 

Week 54 WOTW: Three Nice Things

 Oh hey, Everybody 😊😊

I'm pleased to be a part of your day in some way today. How are you doing?? 

The past few weeks have been really good. I wanted to share three things that stood out the most...

Ok, first. When I was in Prague as a missionary, I met and was able to teach this woman named Alžběta (in English, Elizabeth). I have to say that she was one of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life. Satan has worked so hard on her so that she doesn't get baptized or doesn't have the possibility to come to church or really progress. There's been a lot of really hard things that have happened to her and for a little while when I was in Prague, she asked to not meet with us or talk to us because she needed some time and a break. That was hard. Hard for everybody involved, I think. But, last Saturday, she was baptized. It was actually one of the most incredible things I've ever gotten to see and it made my heart so happy and I'm so, SO happy for her. 

AH it's literally impossible to express through a little email everything I feel and how much I love being a missionary. I feel like each little sentence I write to you has a million more behind it that I could say but I just can't because then my thumbs would be tired...also, you don't really have time to be reading ten page emails from Sister Call.

Anyways, please just know how much she means to me and how special it was to be there. I'm sending a picture down below of me braiding her hair. I promised her I'd do it for her baptism months ago and I had completely forgotten till she asked again. 

Another amazing thing is that I have a new companion 😎🤓 her name is Sister Gilmour and she's from England and a professional rugby player and personal trainer...whoa. she's a powerhouse and a beast in real life and in missionary work. She took me tracting for the first time on my mission🙃 (that means knocking on people's doors and offering to share our message about Jesus Christ with people. And a lot of missionaries did it all the time before COVID and are doing it again today. It's not super effective in my mission so we've been discouraged from doing it, but hey!! It was actually so much fun hehe. And we met a man named Petr who seems interested) I love her a lot to say the least. And, hopefully I have a perfect British accent by the end of this transfer. Also, I think she's going to give me a personal workout plan so that's exciting and 100% terrifying. 

And last. We have a friend named Dáša. when we first met Dáša, things moved pretty slow. It was hard to schedule meetings with her and she didn't seem super interested. And then. Last Monday we met with her and had an amazing lesson and discussion about her journey to God and Jesus Christ and how her life can change if she learns more about them. And the very next day after English class she comes with her daughter Naty and they ask to have a lesson with us. We actually had planned to meet with a different friend after English class but they told us they couldn't stay so it worked out perfectly!! So we taught Dáša and Naty about God's plan of happiness. His plan of mercy and plan of salvation for all His kids to get back to Him someday. It was so unbelievably beautiful to me how accepting and excited they both were about it. At the end Naty said that she wanted to come back tomorrow and learn more. 

And THEN we invited them to come to church and they said they would come. We waited for them at church yesterday and they didn't show up by the time the service started. So, we went to the chapel and sat down. During the sacrament I was praying so hard that she would just come. I was bargaining with God and promising Him stuff if He would somehow help them come (not how it works by the way, do not follow my example) but we just sat through the rest of the meeting and she never came. 

So, the meeting finishes and we stand up and turn around and RIGHT. THERE. Right there behind us was Dáša and she had been there the whole time. One of the happiest moments of my life.

I love all the lessons that the Lord is trying to teach me. He is so creative and unexpected and individual. I feel like I figure Him out sometimes and how He works and then something new happens and I think, "oh. Didn't see that one coming." Then I have a good think about it and realize how good God is. 

I love you all. I invite each of you to study the life of Joseph Smith this week in some way. If you don't have any idea who that is, ask me 🙃😊 I want to do that this week and it would be so much fun if we did it together. 

Love, Sestra Call

I lied a little bit, here are a few more nice things from the last week...some members that me and Sister Lane got to see before she left 😢(the one with the dog is named Míša and the older babička is named Sestra Šuterikova)  and a commemorative conference with all the missionaries in the Czech Republic at a place called Karlštejn. That's where this country was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel right after the cold War ended. It was so cool to be there.