December 30, 2013 - Zilina

First, a family note...

With her sisters at the Kansas City Temple.

The end of December marks the halfway point (9 months) for Sister Johnson. We look forward to the many adventures awaiting her as she serves and shares the gospel of Jesus Christ with those in Slovakia.



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Everyone!!

So I guess I'm supposed to cover how the last two weeks went but honestly I don't think I remember that far! It's been crazy here...traveling all over and what not. 

This is what happened this past week...
 

Sunday 22.12.2013: We went to church and then afterward caught a train to Praha! The elders from Kosice were traveling with us and it was super fun. Elder Christensen (he's in his 1st transfer) and Elder Ferrell.  We stayed with Sister Rosenvall (she's from my MTC group) and Sister Smith (she's new!!) and also the Trencin sisters stayed over (Sisters Kane and Belibi Minya). I love sleepovers!! ;)

 Monday 23.12.2013: In the morning, we went to the church building and practiced for the talent show! My district (Elder Clark, Sister Krauel and I...Elder Hammond didn't want to sing with us) and the Kosice district (Sisters Barney and Jones and Elders Guymon, Ferrell, and Christensen) sang the song Sister Jones and I wrote! Other missionaries and the McConkie kids performed (and yes I recorded stuff;)). Then we all ate lunch and then had a devotional from President and Sister McConkie and President's parents. I loved training!! It was great to see everyone, especially missionaries from my MTC group I hadn't seen since we arrived! After the conference ended Sister Krauel and I went to the Christmas Market in Prague (yes mom I bought something).

Tuesday 24.12.2013: We woke up early and caught a train to Zilina. We dropped everything off at home then went out to spread some Christmas Cheer! We stopped by an investigator's house and dropped off sweets. Then went to visit a member (sadly she wasn't home but at least we got a good workout;)). Sister Krauel and I were invited over for Christmas Eve Dinner by the Se family (Slovaks celebrate Christmas on Chrismas Eve). It was really cool! We ate the traditional dinner: fried carp (actually we didn't eat carp because the Se don't like it. I think we had trout instead) and potato salad. Then all the kids (us sisters included) left the room and sang Christmas songs while Jezisko brought presents. 

Wednesday 25.12.2013: We had dinner (an amazing, american dinner) at the Wrightsons. Zu, one of the members, came also. Of course I skyped with my beautiful family! :D 

Thursday 26.12.2013: BOXING DAY! We did singing displays around lunch time. From Thursday through the rest of the weekend, we did lots of tracting and contacting and lots of walking! This past week the city has been like a ghost town because nothing is open and everyone is with their families. 

Sunday 29.12.2013: We had church, of course! There were a lot more people there because everyone was home for the holidays. Sister Krauel and I created a vision for our area. We also ate at the Wrightsons again. One sad thing though about Sunday was that Starsi Guymon came through Zilina on his way to Praha. He flys home on Tuesday. 

So that was more or less what I did!  It's been a great week. Thank you for the Christmas Cards and presents! I love you all so much and wish you a  wonderful new year!!

S Laskou,

Sestra Whitney Sarah Johnson<3