Life is warming up

Ahoj,

I found the switch languages button so I am now using an English keyboard, so much easier !! Sorry for last weeks gimpy letter, I will try to be better. Next week hopefully will be better than this week as I may have forgotten to look through my journal for stories to share... :)

First off I want to hear all about General Conference! Yesterday as I was doing my personal study at night I looked at the clock and realized that the Sunday morning session was just concluding, that the prophet was speaking to the world and I wasn't even getting to hear it. So I want to hear all about it! Especially since I get to watch it Saturday and Sunday this week, only it will probably be in Czech, so it will be nice to come on Monday and read all about the talks and how wonderful they were. I mean, I will feel the spirit and know the gospel is true, but I won't understand the messages being given.... Kind of like church this week. We had fast Sunday yesterday and man was it amazing. We had investigators there, a few less actives, and then almost all the members I think. We had about 20 people there including 2 kids and 4 missionaries. They had no trouble at all filling up the time for testimonies, so that was neat. While I couldn't understand what they were saying, the spirit was so strong. Probably one of the most spiritual testimony meetings, right up there with the youth conference and girls camp testimony meetings. It was so neat to feel the power of the truth! The gospel is true everywhere, in every language! I had sat down and our investigator Constatin came and sat by me. Seconds later the elders investigator Monica and two of her kids came in. Ališka walked in and while her family was headed to the row in front of me, she turned and climbed over me and sat right next to me. It was so cute! She is probably about 6 or 7. Her mother and brother realized this and so they turned around and also climbed on over us. Throughout the meeting as I would write notes (words I don't know and need to look up) she would link her hand on my arm and just lean on me. She would look up and grin at me. It was fun to have a little buddy since I can't have my nieces and nephews during conference. She got a little restless and our little quiet hand game was getting a little too rowdy, so I grabbed out some paper and pens and she had fun drawing all throughout my notebook. Then in RS she made sure that I came and sat down by her. I really hate that she will say things to me and that I cannot understand her. It is so hard! Oh well, she is adorable and we still have fun together. I never realized how hard it would be to play Uno in a different language. I need to get down, "Your turn", "Who's turn is it?", "Have you gone?", "Keep your cards hidden.", "Organize your cards by color.", etc. Man everything is harder in Czech. ;)

A little more information about our branch, Elder Hansen is the Branch President and so Elder Bahr is the district leader. Sister Smith is the RS president and then there is me. That covers most of the ward callings. I need to take a picture so you can see our church building, it is right next to a lingerie (no clue how to spell that) store!

A cute older lady in the ward who is always so excited to see the missionaries painted me a picture. It is of a mountain/volcano and a bird and bushes, it is a really nice painting, makes me smile. I have it hung above my desk with my pictures from Carissa and Landon. Speaking of Věra, she got me into a laughing fit the other day! So we do FHE at the church on Friday nights and then play games. She decided to come early and we were all eating. The elders were making cricket noises and other things and blaming it on other people or something down the hall. Then they decided we needed to play a game, no one smile, first one to smile loses, this was because of the giggling going on and other things. So we did and Sister Smith made a funny face and Vera lost it (her laugh sounds like the donkey thing you have Mom!). Her laugh set us all off and we were on one again. Well funny faces were being made by the other missionaries until my comp. decided it needed to stop. (This is all in Czech and so I am catching little of the jokes and things said between faces) Well everyone was trying hard to be good as it was almost time for everyone to start showing up and we needed to be reverent and be ready for a prayer. Věra had a hand on each side of her head looking down trying to control herself when she burst something out in Czech as she began giggling, then her tongue came out and a funny face and then explosive laughter, seeing this was funny. I was really laughing and then Elder Bahr told me what she said, "I can't hold it in any more!" Just the way she had said it and the face that Elder Bahr got from her threw me over the edge and rather than us laughing at her laugh, it was laughing at me and the tears streaming down my face. It was good and we did get it all under control before we started FHE.

My first week we were asked to go visit a ward member because someone thought the house was smelling bad. After leaving the lesson I turned to my companion and said I thought her house smelled better than ours! She mentioned how that house hadn't really stunk, but if I thought that, that we probably needed to take out our garbage. (This was the second day I was there.) So upon getting home we took out the garbage and it helped a little. What helped more was when she emptied out the liquid cucumber and molding broccoli from the fridge! I knew it smelled like bad broccoli! Yeah so after that our house has smelled wonderful. The only thing is the entryway where the members we live with have their guinea pigs.

Our investigator Michal insists on giving us Czech lessons before we can teach him so that is nice because I am able to learn better, I hope. He told me that he liked my ř better than my companions, hers is too harsh. So that is awesome, but I still have a long way to go.

We have a member, Bratr šir and he likes to cook for us, so we eat there for lunch on Friday afternoons. He made us some really good food that looked way sketchy, I wish I would have taken a picture! It was shredded red cabbage with onions and other stuff and it was so good. There was potatoes that had been boiled and then some meat sauce as my companion calls it. They have this meat stuff in sausage casing and you squeeze it out of the package to eat it. He then sent us home with some Jello meat. The flavor was good, but the texture was killer I was fighting the gag reflex! AH!!! Anyhoo glad he sent it home with us, hopefully that means he wont feed it to us.

Today has been the warmest day since being here, hurray! Also Constantin finished the Book of Mormon! He knows it is true and he loves the church. He just isn't sure about baptism, he needs a spiritual witness, he says. He said he would be baptized if he got that. Also we are hoping that he continues to have work, that they get more iron, if not he heads home to Romania. It is interesting to teach him as he doesn't speak much Czech and even less English. Well I think that is about all if I want to send pictures, love you tons!

Love Sestra Hicken