October 13, 2014 - Bratislava

Ahoj, ahoj!!

   This week was great! We watched General Conference and I loved it so much!! I'm excited to reread the talks again. I'm so grateful to live in this day and age. We have living prophets who have just given us a message straight from God. It's so amazing! It was a great spiritual boost and I love the direction I recieved from Conference. Revelation is a grand thing. That was the highlight of my week.

     So this is my last missionary letter and as many of you know this is a bittersweet moment. I've been thinking a lot about my mission this week, the times that were easy and the times that were hard, the adventures I've had, what I've seen change in myself, in other missionaries and in our investigators. I can't help but think that everything was perfect. Not perfect in the sense that it was without hardships or trials but perfect in the way that I feel my mission is complete, whole. Today was transfer day and it was interesting to say goodbye to missionaries I've served with and think that they'll still be here in Bratislava, Zilina, Kosice and many more cities while I head to America this week. It seems unreal that I won't transfer, that really my mission is at the end. I don't particularly like endings but I do love beginnings so as Prezident McConkie tells us, I open my arms wide and embrace this experience. It truly has been the best time of my life. I believe that's because I now understand a little more of the eternal picture. My testimony hasn't really changed but it has deepened. Quite simply, I know that Heavenly Father loves us. We are His sons and daughters. We have great worth and amazing potential. Heavenly Father listens to our every little need and request and He wants to give us every good thing in life. I know Christ is my Savior and though I still do not fully understand His atonement for me, everyday I'm learning more and more how to apply His sacrifice. I am in awe of the everyday beauty and simplicity of life. I love the stability and structure I have in my life because of my foundation of faith. Even though my next week will be totally different, without the structure of a missionary schedule, I'm excited to move into the next part of my life as a stronger, more faith filled disciple of Christ. One thing that continues to amazing me is that Heavenly Father always arranges everything just right. So short and simply-trust in the Lord. 

     I love you all and will probably see most of you this coming week!

S Laskou,
Sestra WhitneySarah Johnson <3

October 6, 2014 - Bratislava

Ahoj!!

This past week we had some adventures...We had Family Home Evening at the Cottles apartment with some of the YSA and an investigator. It is sooo great to have the Cottles here to support the branch and the YSA already love them! :)

The Koncert was excellent!! We had a more random collection of songs (mostly the ones we sounded really, really good on) so we tied them together using the Articles of Faith and testimonies from members and missionaries.  Lots of folks attended and really enjoyed it! :D It was an excellent last concert for me and I so enjoyed hearing the testimonies of the members.

We also had some cool service opportunities this week as well. The Zone Leaders and us went to a member's garden. We weeded and pruned and destroyed some wood with a hammer (I liked that part a lot. :D). We also helped a lady move her business once again but it was really fun to help again.

We're still meeting with V but since he's more interested in the church history we decided to give him an Our Heritage book and we'll meet once a week to discuss what he read. He's made good progression but he's not really keeping any commitments other than reading.
We met with this really cool girl named D this past week. She's super duper nice and we had a great lesson. She is pretty busy though...we first contacted her in the beginning of the transfer and just now met with her. It's her last year of university. She really wanted a Book of Mormon which we gladly gave and we hope to meet with her here in the next week.

Sorry this is short-ish but I'll see you in a little while! :) Have a great week and remember: Stay happy!

S Laskou,
Sestra WhitneySarah Johnson<3

September 29, 2014 - Bratislava

Ahoj Everyone!

     This was probably the craziest week I've every had on my mission...
     so first off Kosice Konference was amazing! I loved returning to my birthplace, the city of miracles. Actually the conference was the anniversary of the end of the signature project   and because Kosice played a large role in it, Prezident held conference there. And I was so happy to be back! I got to see the van D, and the Millers again and Le too! :D It felt like home. I just love Kosice soooo much and I'm glad I saw it again before I go home soon. We had an uplifting conference as usual followed by EIGHT departing testimonies. Yep, eight of us are leaving...it's a huge chunk of our zone. Of course it's my sisters and I (Sestry Baird, Kane, a Krauel) and two elders (Elders Utley and Frederickson) and the Wrightsons are leaving as well. They were wonderful and it was strange to be giving mine! Afterward we had some time to walk around Kosice and I do think that it's the prettiest city in the world! I have so many good memories of that place and I'm so lucky to have served there for 6 months. Our train back to Bratislava took a really long time though...and of course the trains were running late! But I didn't really mind...I love long train rides.

     This week we were really busy (partially because we did lots of calls the week before and partially because we lost a day for training). We met a few new folks and met with a few old ones. We met a gentleman named J who is not Slovak but has lived here for the past 11 years.  We also met a really cool Irish man. He teaches English here. He also is atheist and doesn't want to change. He's really funny and has an amazing personality but is very logical and can't see or rather accept that God and Jesus could exist and that miracles are possible. We also met with Ma this week. It was a pretty good lesson, a little long though. He really is searching for truth and happiness but I think he's lost hope a little that he's ever going to find out what's true. It's a little frustrating...we have all the answers to his questions and he has little to no time to meet with us! But we'll have another lesson this week and hopefully it will clear a few things up for him.

      Sister Wilson and I hosted book club this week. It was fun! We read in Mosiah where the people of Alma are pursecuted but God lightens their burdens.

      Saturday was the most eventful day...right after book klub, I got a very interesting phone call from Sister Baird. She was informing me that J, a man we taught together in Zilina was getting baptized!! So Sister Wilson and I rearranged our plans for Saturday and headed to Trencin to go to a baptism! It was really cool to see how much he'd changed in the last 4 months and that he was now ready for baptism. I remember how tough some of our lessons were and how far off out of reach baptism seemed. And now he's a member of the church! I'm really glad that I could have been there.

     We had a miracle at church this week as well. First off, we had three members from America who were visiting and then a man who contacted Sister Wilson and asked about church showed up! We have a lesson with that man in a few hours so I'll let you know how it goes!

Well I think that's everything for this week...I hope y'all have a great and beautiful day. I love you!!

S Laskou,

Sestra WhitneySarah Johnson <3