November 18, 2013 - Košice

Hello Everyone!!

So I feel like we did everything and nothing this week! It was just a really long week!!

To start out: our concert! It was absolutely beautiful! Our district (Elder Guymon, Elder Ferrell, Sister Jones and I) had help from the Sister Training Leader and her companion (Sister Barney and Sister Huggard).  They are Czech sisters serving in Uherske Hradiste. They were coming to do exchanges with Sister Jones and I.  We also had help from P (Our super awesome investigator) and President van Dalen (our fearless branch president.). President was narrating for us (the program was based upon the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ).  Here is how it went:

1. We started out with "I Am a Child of God", a cappella (almost--P accompanied us on his bass guitar).
2. Sister Jones and I sang "Hark! All Ye Nations", while P played his bass and I played Tibor (my uke). Not gonna lie...it was nerve wracking!! I started the first verse and chorus solo!! Then I did harmony for the rest after Sister Jones joined in.
3. The UH sisters sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth", doing amazing harmonies. They are so talented and it was wonderful they were there to help out. I accompanied, yet again (actually I accompanied everything except the 1st song in which I sang! It's been really great but I've had to stretch myself to create accompaniments).
4. Our district sang "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" (the one we sang at conference).
5. The district performed "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" (The elders did solos and sister Jones did some harmonies--it was amazing!) with part of the Joesph Smith movie playing in the background. It was soo beautiful and powerful!

6. We ended with I know that "My Redeemer Lives", using the accompaniment from Jaclyn's book. This was the hardest song! I had to alter some of the music so I could actually play it but all in all it was WONDERFUL!!!!

Afterward we had refreshments (I made two cakes. They had delicious orange frosting thanks to my oils! and were gorgeous...I really should have taken a picture) and set up meetings with some of the people (remember the concert was meant as a finding tool...a really fun, really stressful, really beautiful finding tool)! The concert was such a good experience and I'm looking forward to the Christmas Concert!!!

      Afterwards we took the Sister Training Leader and her comp home with us (1st ever sister exchanges in Košice!) and the next day did a singing display with them! 

R's gma made us some really yummy cake, which I have the recipe for!

  

  On Saturday, we went to R's again and laid more concrete (and we must be getting better-we were significantly faster and less messy by the end of the day!). It's cool to go help out and do manual labor. Surprisingly that's something I miss from home! (Weird, I know.)



       So some more big news...I gave my first ever talk on Sunday!! I'm so pleased and it was an occasion I never want to repeat!! I really hate speaking in public. My talk was on miracles and I think it was okay. Maybe not the greatest and of course later that day I thought of how I could have improved it BUT it was understandable!! And when I read/referenced scriptures, the congregation could follow along! It was SUCCESSFUL!!

    After church, Elder Ferrell helped me with Slovak. He's a really good teacher and even gave me homework...actually even better, he's a really good missionary and committed me! I think one reason I struggle with learning Slovak is I don't always know what to do or where to start. But I've been improving, especially since my district is AWESOME and HELPFUL!!!  Then us missionaries ate lunch together. Sister Jones and I made Chicken Alfredo and the Elders brought brownies. It was fun!

     Our area is doing pretty good. We're struggling to find new investigators (still :/) but we do have one new investigator (from the Hudobny Vecer!). We've taught P pretty much everything so now when we meet with him we either teach something like receiving personal revelation or serving a mission or we'll read in the KM with him. And PK is just awesome! Recently, she decided that she can and will follow the Word of Wisdom. She started weaning herself off coffee (replacing it with Caro or Hot chocolate). It was a wonderful surprise for Sister Jones and I! We are so happy!

      That's more or less it. This week was pretty great and this coming week will be excellent as well (we have another conference in Brno). I'm a little sad though because there are only 2 weeks left in this transfer and my time is Košice is coming to an end. I've been here for 3 transfers already so I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving. I do have to say though, I'm excited for next transfer! We'll have a new sister and be opening a new area (which I definitely want to serve in...not that I know where it is yet).

      I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

S Laskou,

Sestra Whitney Sarah Johnson <3

President van Dalen was playing St Mikulas and put oranges in our shoes after lunch today!