Transfer 8: December 27,2016

This Christmas has been awesome. I remember last year when I was still fairly new in the mission field, and I was in Jihlava. At that time we were experiencing some tough times with the missionary work there, we didn't have any progressing investigators that entire transfer, and we just worked, and worked, and it felt quite dark at that time. I remember that we visited one of the Sister Missionaries' investigators for Christmas dinner. That dinner was interesting, we had our Christmas carp, carp soup and carp filets, and the classic Czech potato salad. The Carp that year was terrible, I've got to be honest, it sucked... I was not looking forward to more carp this year. But it was really good this year. On the 18th this year, it was the Sunday before Christmas, a less active and her son came to church, and immediately we jumped on the opportunity and asked if we could come over and visit before Christmas, she said yes, so on Thursday the 22nd, we went to her house and taught her and her son about gratitude and the Holy Ghost, and about Baptism. We invited her son, who is 11, to be baptized after his mother bore her testimony of her baptism. The boy told his mother, "I've never heard your baptism story before." the boy agreed to be baptized. We'll be working with them soon. On Friday the 23rd, Elder Geier and I visited a very active family here, we just dropped in to say hi, we just wanted to ask if we could read a verse with them, and they told us to come inside. We went in and the two sons (ages 14 and 18) told us to come see their Christmas tree. "Nice! Where'd you steal if from?" I asked. they just laughed because many Czech people just go into the forests and cut down their own Christmas trees, even though it's illegal, but the K clarified that they did not steal it... this year. So we shared a verse with them and then the parents looked at each other and whispered something, then sister K said, (in english) "We have gifts for you." she walked into the other room and came out with two small wrapped presents. We opened them, and they were some really cool Czech ties! I got a purple one and it looks awesome! On Saturday the 24th we visited the K, another very active member family here in UH. We visited them in the morning and they gave us a ton of "cukrovi" or little baked sweets, there's not a good work that accurately translates into English. We went with the Sister Missionaries and the Sisters taught the lesson. Saturday afternoon, Elder Geier and I went to visit the bishop's family. We had been personally invited by them to spend our Christmas with them. We took a train from UH to Bujkovice, a small town just outside of UH, and we went to their house for Christmas dinner. Christmas dinner was awesome, we had carp again, and potato salad, and a TON of Cukrovi. There were 7 us of at the dinner, but as a Czech tradition they prepared an eighth plate and utinsles that remained empty at the table. This tradition is old, and goes back many years for Czechs, and they do it in case of visitors, who may wander in, and the extra plate is prepared to give the visitor a place at the table. The carp was cooked really well. Bishop clarified that Christmas carp is clean and good, but if people eat carp during the middle of the year, it usually stinks and tastes terrible. I must have had a bad carp last year. But Christmas carp taste better because they are raised cleaner, eating only good things and pupposly being grown to to eaten. They cooked the carp by covering it in bread crumbs and then deep frying it, classic here in CZ. But then bishop gave us the lowdown on how to eat carp, because many people have to go to hospitals every year from eating carp bones on Christmas. He taught us how to look for the bones, and how to chew the food so that we could feel them in our mouths so that we could remove them with our fingers. It's so cool what they do here! Then Sister D got up from the table and went into the other room. Suddenly we all heard a quiet bell, like a jingle bell, coming from the living room. Bishop's son said, "dad I heard something!" then bishop said, "I wonder if Ježíšek (baby Jesus) came." We got up from the table, walked into the other room, and there under their Christmas tree were some presents for everyone that "baby Jesus" had brought. We all sat down, bishop was up with his smartphone trying to get angles on everything from every direction with his camera. Then everyone settled down. Their son, his name is m, is 11, and he was up bringing everyone their presents, looking at the names on the wrapping paper and then giving them to the other members of his family. Then he brought one to Elder Geier, and then to me, a nice surprise, I guessed that we'd be getting more ties, I was right. The other members of their family opened their gifts one at a time, and everyone appreciated what "baby Jesus" had brought them. It was the exact same feeling that we have at home, on Christmas morning, when everyone is just excited. At one point during dinner, Bishop looked out the window and just got all excited, "We have a white Christmas!" (in english) he said to everyone. Suddenly all 7 of us were at the window looking out from the 3rd or 4th floor where they lived, and we saw it snowing, and everyone was just so happy about that! After everyone had opened their gifts and were grateful (lesson to be learned here for some of us), bishop and his daughter hoped in their car with Elder Geier and I and they took us back to UH. We got home around 9:30pm. On Sunday the 25th, we only had 1 hour of church. Bishop talked a little about our wonderful visit at their house the night before, and bishop cracked a joke over the pulpit about how Elder Geier had accidentally said, "The food was cooked with Christmas Beer" when he wanted to say, "the food was cooked with Christmas Magic" the night before in the car on the way home. A wonderful Sister in the ward gave a talk about the feeling of Christmas, and how we need to keep it our whole lives, and not loose it when we're adults. Then we visited the W(ActiveMemberFamily) for lunch, all 6 of us missionaries in our district were there. we had chicken shnitsl (řízek) and more cukrovi. Then we visited the P (ActiveMemberFamily) for dinner, and then had more cukrovi, and I almost died because my stomach was soooo full of food after meal appointments one after the other, and then Brother P gave us a ride to Brother S house where Elder Geier and I Skyped home. . . . Then we had more carp with Brother S... ...................................................... Then, on Monday the 26th, M Z was baptized in a pool that we reserved at 15:00 by M S, and was afterwards confirmed in the chapel by Elder Geier. We had a testimony meeting after his confirmation, and I was one of the last to get up. I shared my testimony and said, "byv povolan božím prorokem, svědčím o tom, že tato Cirkev je Cirkev Ježíše Krista." (Having been called by God's Prophet, I testify that this Church is the Church of Jesus Christ). Then M Zgot up and bore HIS testimony, and it was awesome! and he actually concluded "I say this as a testimony, int he name of Jesus Christ, Amen."! WAY COOL! Afterwards, Sister K came up to me and said, in english, "thank you for your testimony." I told her, "thanks" and then she said, "no really, every time you speak, I feel it, and it is very powerful." ............................................................ I am so happy to be serving in this area, and the strength that the Lord gives us and the blessings tha we have are without measure, but I've found that we often are only able to see them when we come to the lord and say, "Heavenly Father, I just want to do the right thing, I don't know what it is, but please just tell me what to do, and I'll do it." It's only when we purposefully soften our own hearts and plead for the Lord's help in doing so that we can come to feel the joy the scriptures talk about, and the joy that the Gospel promises. God truly does have the best plan, if you truly believe that, you will be willing to do anything that He tells you in your prayers. I love you all, and wish you a happy new year. Tomorrow we'll all be heading to Prague for the mission conference. Till next year! S Láskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 8: December 12

This week has been a good one, there have been many miracles and tender mercies since lest monday. The 10th was the day that the czech republic officially prepares for christmas, and we had been hearing that the town square would be filled with more christmas attractions but we had no idea that on the evening of the 10th (which was a Saturday) that we would have some of the more beautiful weather, a wonderful sunset. Elder Geier and I were on our way to go visit a referal, and as we were at the bus station. We wanted to go look at the town square so bad, but we knew that we needed to be doing Missionary work. We checked the bus times, and we realized that there wasn't going to be a bus for 15 minutes, and we knew that would be just enough time to just go and take a look at the Town Square. Well, I am so glad that we did that. Elder Geier and I started walking towards the center of town where the Town Square is. We started hearing music and singing, and it smelled wonderful. When we walked around a corner onto another street, we looked down the street and we could see the Square clear down at the end, and we just saw a line of tents and booths covering our view of the Square, and we knew that it was going to ba packed, and it was. There had previously been only a couple of booths out on the square, selling various things like treats and drinks (mostly alchoholic) and some trinkets, but we thought that was going to be it. I'll send the pictures below, of when we were approaching the town square for the first time that day, it was insane! As we approached the square, the singing and music got louder, as did the muttering from people in every direction. there were kids everywhere with toy wooden swords and shields and crossbows and there were moms everywhere with strollers and there were old men huddled together around tables everywhere drinking, and there was just a new booth selling something different at every glance in any direction. I was standing on the Town square (In czech it is called a Naměstí) and I was just so happy to see this. I had seen these type of things in pictures in Mr. Mansfield's german class at school, and I had seen it once also before last year in Jihlava, but I will tell you what, there is nothing like a deep Moravian Czech Christmas Market, let me tell ya, this place is so cool! I'm going to search for a handmade-woodcarved-Nativity in the Christmas Market today so wish me luck. As we were standing out on the Naměstí, I just kept looking around with my jaw dropped, they had a big stage that they had built and on it was a big lifesize nativity made out of straw, litterally everything, the people, the baby jesus, the stable, everything, it was so cool! I just wandered around all excited like a little 5 year old for about 8 minutes, and then we had to go back to the bus station. As I was leaving the Naměstí, I just started crying, this place is sooooo cool, It is such a tender mercy to be here. I could never have imagined this, my Father in Heaven truly knows what I want more than I do, and He often give me what I desire even when I may not nessesarily deserve it. I cannot acurately describe just how grateful I am to Him. Then yesterday, Elder Geier was feeling sick so we went home after church, I did some calls while he took a nap, and I called the sisters at one point, they were out contacting at the time, and they seemed excited to tell us/me something. They have been meeting for a while with a girl who comes regularly to our English Class. Her name is E , and E has never been interested in learning about the gospel, but last transfer Elder Andersen and I felt that she was getting close. So we talked to her about prayer and stuff, and, as expected, she was not interested at the time. We would consecutively ask her again and again every week after english, "have you prayed yet?" and she would always reply, "still, no..." At the beginning of This transfer, she finally set up to meet with us, and we set her up to meet with the Sisters. She has been meeting with them weekly every sunday for the past 3 weeks now I think. Although she missed last week, but yesterday she also met with the sisters. During their lesson, the sisters asked her, "E, have you prayed yet?" and she said, "to be honest.... yes." She finally prayed ) and she told the sisters that when she started praying, she just started crying. The sisters asked her if it was because she was sad, and E said she was not sad. The sisters explained to me that the feeling that made E cry during her prayer was just a big suprize and a slight startle to E. But we all know that it was the spirit, and it was just Heavenly Father saying, "E, my daughter, I have been waiting for you to come to me for so long! I LOVE YOU!!!" We'll see what happens with her. She's definitely going to get baptized. Prophecy from last transfer is coming true, the 5 people who are going to get baptized are finally emerging from the woodwork. I love you all, and I'll keep you in my prayers. Stay safe, don't get hurt. Spend time together, and love the Gospel during this time of year! Light the World! S Láskou, Starší Dean.

Transfer 8:December 5,2016

This week has been awesome, we had a volleyball turnament here in UH, members came from several other places around the czech republic to play in the yearly UH volleyball turnament. Elder Geier signed the six of us in our district up, and he put us under the team "Misionarří Uherského Hradiště" When it started on Saturday morning around 10:00, we had also realized that Elders from Olomouc had also signed up and were there to play. Elder Neilson is the Branch President in Olomouc right now, and so he was able to get permission to come down and play volleyball with his whole district, but no other missionaries in the entire mission got to do that, he's milking that calling of Branch President so bad haha. So we are still practicing for our christmas concert which will be on the 18th of december. We're going to be singing some christmas classics like Deck the Halls, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. But we're also going to be singing several Czech traditionals like Narodil se Kristus Pan, along with several small czech carols. The weather is getting colder and today in Zlín (we all went to spend part of our P-Day in Zlín) I bought a 2nd hand trench coat to go over my suitjackets. It looks pretty good, it was 455kč but I talked the lady down to give it to me for 400kč. That's about 20bucks. Our Investigator M is progressing very well, yesterday he took the day off so that he could come to church, what a good guy, that's more faithful than most active mormons. We're all looking forward to Christmas and to the Christmas visits that we will be making with memebrs here, and I know that the Gospel is true, and I know that our Savior lives. I also just bought some new shoes, Baťa's. they look really good. my old shoes are dying. Love you all! S Láskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 8: November 28, 2016 Thanksgiving!

This week was awesome, we had thanksgiving at the Sister's appartment. I know that in some missions, what we did, by going to the sisters' appartment, would be a big big big big no-no. But there were six of us, four elders and two sisters, and we just do things differently in our mission. So we went over there, the six of us, and we had a fun time cooking everything, and I got us cooking everything on timelapse with my go-pro. The Elders in zlín cooked the trukey, and we had a District conference call on Wednesday night to confirm who was bringing what foods. The Elders in zlín told us that they were bringing the bird, and also an apple pie, an american apple pie, that they had made from scratch, as well as some freshly baked rolls. We were all excited and the quote of the day by far was when Elder Stacy (our District Leader) said, "So here's the main question... How are we going to get a 350degree turkey, to your appartment?" We all showed up at the sisters' appartment Thursday Morning and Elder Geir and I brought two cheesecakes, two boxes of Kraft Maccaronni and Cheese (thanks mom is was a big hit at Thanksgiving!) as well as the mashed potatoes. But when we got to the Sisters' appartment, which is on top of a HUGE hill that overlooks the city, Elder Geir and I realized that we had forgot the cheesecakes in the freezer at home. So the Zlín elders just waited outside the sisters' appartment while Elder Geir and I ran down the hill to get the cheesecakes. That day we all ate like kings, Elder Stacy did a good job with the turkey. After we had eaten, Elder Stacy stood up and said, "I'm going to tell you a story" it was the dumbest story ever, about a man who ran over a chicken in his truck, and Elder Stacy had a towel in his hands that he was messing with, and this whole time he wa telling this story about how the owner of the chicked was mad that this guy had run over his chicken, and then at the end of the story Elder Stacy flung the towel open and said, "here's your chicken sir" and he had folded the towel in such a way that it looked like a chicken, it was the siliest thing ever! We then all went outside into a nearby grassy field, and we played Ultimate frisbee. There were six of us so it worked out just fine. Elder Geir rolled his ankle 4 times! so we stopped. Then after we went back inside for pie. We then played Bang (a card game) and then we went home. It was a good day! This is the coolest mission ever, I could not ask to be in a better place right now. I understand that home is home, and I'll be there when I am called home, but for now, This is where I am supposed to be, and I am very grateful for that. Yesterday at church there was a man who spoke from Brno, he came to speak to our ward, and his talk was about Perfection. Often as latter day saints, we want to be perfect, and that is hard. We often have an incorrect perspective of the word Perfect. Oftentimes we misunderstand it to mean, "without fault" or "100 percent successful ALL the time" but that is simply not true. In his talk, this high councelor spoke about two types of perfection. This life, and Eternal perfection. We often think of Eternal Perfection when we hear the word Perfect in the church, but we need to understand better the first meaning, which is different. The word perfect in czech has two words... each word described the two types of perfection. The first word is DOKONALÝ, the second word is PERFEKTNÍ. Each of these words are directly translated in to english to be "perfect" but they are not the same. DOKONALÝ or DO-KONALÝ means to make whole or to do wholly. In other words, we are to fulfill our responsibility. The word PERFEKTNÝ means to be perfect, Eternally. we can be DOKONALÝ when we faithfully visit our assigned families for home teaching each month. In the aspect of Home Teaching, we are "perfect" or Dokonalý because we fulfilled or did wholly our responsibility. This means, in effect, that we are Perfect at our calling as a home teacher. Now, this is not to mean that we cannot improve as a teacher, or that we cannot improve our capacity to serve better, with more love or whatever, but it DOES mean that we are doing our part, and that we are obeying the commandment to "be ye therefore perfect." I have since told myself that I want to be a guy who completes things, who fulfills things, and who does things until they are whole. Don't ever become discouraged thinking that it is impossible to improve. I am learning so much about the Atonement here on my mission, and I know that our Heavenly Father will always provide a way for us to be successfull, and to overcome the world with His help, because He has already overcome it. I'll be helping to prepare for this christmas season here in Uherské Hradiště, the ward is doing a christmas concert, and we're (the missionaries) are going to be a part of it! We'll make sure to get pictures and perhaps some videos too. These members are the best, truly the most faithful people I have ever met in my life, (no offense everyone, but they lived through communism and were baptized in lakes and stuff running away from police and stuff) also, there are red Book of Mormons which were only around during communism, I am trying so hard to find one, and I want to bring it home as a suveneir. If any of you happen to see, hear of, or get one, let me know. Love you all, S Láskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 8: November 21, 2016

Well we just got gyped out of our hour and a half of emilaing today because we had a lesson cancle and then it was postponed for another hour, but we were outside street contacting while we should have been emilaing, but we were not aware that our changed had influenced our emailng time so much, so this week is going to be really small I apologize. This week has been really hard, I'll be honest, we have been seeing ways that the Adversary is trying to stop our investigators from progressing towards baptism by giving them more work, or by making them have hard hearts, or even one of our investigators was stopped by her parents from coming to Sacrament Meeting this week. We had seen her outside and had said hi, we had previously been trying to get a hold of her, and then we saw her on Saturday. She was so happy to see us, and we talked about how school is going for her and stuff. She told us, without us asking, that she wants to wait to be baptized until she knows for sure that it is the right thing. "good" we told her. We then asked her if she had prayed yet, seeing as she was expressing so many concerns in her life right now, and she said that she had not tried yet, but then FINALLY after weeks and weeks with nothing, she finally said, "I don't know how, but you can teach me tomorrow when I come to church." . . . . She didn't come to church, her parents, both of them stopped her and don't want her associating with us. Cm'on Parents!!! So this week's been quite tough. But through it all, we have definitely seen how the Lord has a plan for everythign that he needs to achomplish, particularly His work and His glory, which is to bring to pass the imortality and Eternal Life of man. We sometimes think we have much more control over our lives than we think we do... I've noticed that when we're doing the Lord's work, we're actually just in control of a few things, and they are things like, "what will I study today?" or "Will I chose to listen to the spirit today?" When it comes to the work, He is very much involved behind the scenes, and will not give up on anyone. Sorry for no pictures this week, I have them but no time. This thursday we'll be haveing thanksgiving lunch at the sister's appartment with our entire district which is 4 elders and 2 sisters. We're all making a bunch of food, and of course a turkey. I'll get more pictures and send them all next week. Love you all, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! S Laskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 8: November 14, 2016

I love this area. I love my companions. The Lord has taught me so many things here, and I believe that He has many things yet to teach me. This area is doing so well right now, and the members are so strong. We are working together with them, and we are seeing so many blessings. I know that when we leave ourselves in the Lord's hands, we are taken, and shaped, and humbled, and it hurts sometimes, but He takes us and uses us for His perposes, and saves us. I am at a point where I don't even want to hang onto any pride anymore. and I've found that pride is anything that stops us from doing the Lord's will too, even if it's something small. I have found that I cannot walk with God, if I am not receiving His individual help. And that means, I cannot have the faith, hope, humility, patience, or Charity that I desire without His help. I must pray for these things, otherwise we will have a much harder time achieving them. Let's use the enabling power of the Savior's atonement, to enable us to be faithful, to be charitable, to be patient. Let's pray for Humility, if you're scared to pray for humility then you need to be humbled. If you are worried that you need more faith it's probably because you want more faith, and you need to pray for a gift to have faith. I find myself constantly needing to pray for such spiritual gifts, to have charity, to have faith, to have patience... we can even pray for a gift to be happy, and our Heavenly Father will help us. I have found that praying in this way, and trying to do everything I can to live up to my desires to be humble, and to be patient, and to be happy, and to be charitable after praying for these gifts, I have found that I have received Heavenly Father's help to make changes, to become better, and He continues with me, it is amazing. This week, the sisters got here. It's awesome to have sisters serving in UH. They have not had sisters here in over 2 years, so the members are very excited. The winter markets are already begining to pop up around the country, and things that are only seen at christmas and during the winter are coming around, like Frgaly, my favorite Czech desert, and also the Trhy, little booths on the town squares where they sell treats and fun things for the hollidays. Thanskgiving is next week, and we'll be spending it together as a district. There are 6 of us in our district, and the Zlín Elders are going to come down here to UH and we'll probably go to the Sisters' appartment and have thanksgiving, or we'll go to the church building, but we're not sure. There are some miracles happening here. We are still working with our friend M, who is excited to get baptized. We have given him a new Baptismal Date, the 17th of December. He is excited. Yesterday at church, m came up to me after Sacrament meeting and asked, "What do I have to do to go to the temple?" Bishop Dynka has spoken a little about the temple in Frieberg during Sacrament meeting, and M was interested. Together we went and talked to the bishop who explained to him about the temple and about how only members who are baptized and have temple reccomends can enter the temple. M is now excited to go get the priesthood and go to the temple. Also, a woman who we contacted has been coming to church for several weeks, her name is S, and she is awesome. She speaks English and has been learning Czech for 4 years, and we gave her a Book of Mormon one day after church. Last week, Elder Andersen and I called her up and asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon. She replied that she had not, and then we asked, "how is it going with work?" she replied by telling us that she was still searching for work, and that she was not sure what she was going to do. She was stressed and we knew that she needed work because she has a 6 year old boy. We thought for a second and then we told her, "S, if you read the book of mormon, we promise you will find work." She accepted the challenge to read the book of mormon, and has been reading it, a few verses a day. She came to church yesterday. I asked her how her reading is going and she looked at me with a big smile and said, "I start work tomorrow!" She said that she'll still keep reading, laughing as she said, "it wouldn't make sense to stop reading now that I have work." We have an English student, her name is E, and she has been coming to english for quite some time. We have always had a feeling that she had potential, but whenever we approached her with the Gospel, she was not interested. We prayed for her, and then right before Elder Andersen left, she came up to him after english and said, "I have a question..... you can say that it's about your church." We set up to give her a solid answer to her question which was, "what happens after we die?" The sisters met with her in the building and now she's the sisters' investigator. She never wanted anything to do with the church, and now her heart is being softened. We have a friend named R. He's from America. He met the missionaries about 6 months ago, and then went back to america. Last transfer he randomly stopped us as we were coming home one night and said, "are you guys the Elders?" We've been working with R, and he shared with us that a missionary who served here 6 months ago shared a verse in the book of mormon with him, and R said that this verse helped him answer some very tough questions. This Elder probably had no idea that this verse helped prepare R to receive us here now. We met with R in a resturaunt and ordered dinner, we pulled out the book of mormon and talked about it. R said that he will be going back to america for a week. We promised him that If he reads the Book of Mormon, every day, he will be able to find even more answers to his questions. He is excited about this, and when he gets back here next week, we're going to put him on Baptismal Date. There are amazing things happening here in UH, and in the Czech Republic as a whole. Preparing for the hollidays and such, we're all looking forward to seeing what comes out of this work here in UH. S Láskou Starší Dean

Transfer 8: November 8. 2016

I don't have a lot of time, but I'll start by saying this. It has been an honor serving with Elder Andersen, he is a strong priesthood holder, and a worthy son of God. He magnifies his calling. I also have the privilege to serve in UH for another Transfer. Elder Andersen will be going to Liberec, and will be serving with Elder Lanham. My new companion will be Elder Geier. Elder Geier actually was in my first district over a year ago while I was serving in Zlín. At that time he was actually already serving here in UH, but then when I went to Jihlava, he also went somewhere else. 6 Transfers later, we are brought back to serve, not only in the same district again, but as companions. At the Stake Conference yesterday in Prague, Elder Geier showed me a page in his journal, where I had signed my signare, and had written something to the effect of, "until we serve to gether..." so here we are! Elder Geier is serving his final transfer, I'll be "killing" him, which suggests that I will likely be staying in UH for another transfer even after this one. I am thrilled to be serving with Elder Geier . He is serving his Last transfer... I only have 3 more transfers! EEEEKKKK! What has happened??? Last transfer we served alone in UH, elder Andersen and I. We both felt like the Lord wanted us to "restart" the area, and we did just that. With the Lord's help, and with the combined faith of all the members, we succeeded in achieving our goals, which were very high. I am convinced that the Lord wants me to push member work for the rest of my mission. It is truly the best way to do missionary work, hands down. This last transfer we received 13 referrals from the members, it was a miracle. our teaching pool has gone from 3 or 4, to around 20 people. Some are progressing others not, but we'll organize that all in a day or two. Elder Geier and I are going to talk, and pray together about our Goals for this Transfer, what we hope to accomplish, and what the Lord plans to accomplish, and then we're going to make it happen. This is going to be a good start. Now that the Lord has restarted the area here in UH, it seems that He is bringing to pass more of His plans. The Other apartment up on the hill behind our apartment, will be used this transfer. The're bringing in two Sisters to our city, which has not happened for about 2 years. So we'll now be able to visit all those members who are single women, because the sisters will take care of them. We are so blessed in this area and in this mission!

Transfer 7: October 31, 2016

A quick update: Our Investigator M is amazing. After having completed the book of mormon he wants to be baptized as soon as possible. His desire to do the right thing has brought about some opposition in the form of work. He has been looking for work, and he is busy because now he has to be gone all week long each week in Slovakia, doing the little work he can do. It's hard to teach him, and is almost impossible to sit down with him and actually have a full lesson. We decided with him yesterday at church (he is faithfully attending church every day though) that we would try to talk over the phone ever day to stay in contact and to help him to keep his commitments. He's expressed that the Word of Wisdom is hard to keep. We're continuing with him, keep him in your prayers. The Transfer will be ending next weekend. That also happens to be the Weekend of the Stake Conference in Prague. This will be the first official Stake Conference after the formation of the Stake just a few months ago. Everything will be running smoothly under the direction of the Stake leaders, no more outside influence in the support of the Czech saints anymore, this is a full fledged Stake of Zion! It has been an absolute privilege to serve with Elder Andersen. He is such a faithful son of God, and a powerful priesthood holder. The other day, we were called by a member, he asked us to come over and give his three children blessings. These kids are sick with something like Chicken Pox, but it is only here in the czech republic or something like that. Adults are imune... mostly... We were not able to go over at first, we have been soo busy the last several weeks. But we came over the day afterwards. We blessed his 2 year old son, and his 4 year old Daughter, and their newborn baby, all three are sick. We felt impressed to tell this fine brother that if he would seek for missionary opportunities and heed spiritual promptings, even if they are small, his Children would heal quickly. We, that same morning had been feeling the need to talk about a certain area of town, an area which made us feel uncomfortable. We had been experiencing a lot of opposition from this part of town during the entire transfer, and we decided to talk about it more when Elder Andersen asked me, "Why do you think that there is so much opposition there?" we'd been shoved and punched there in the past, always in the same place... We both prayed about it and I felt like maybe there is someone there who the adversary is trying to keep away from us, but I also felt like we needed to avoid the area. Elder Anderson felt like we needed to go in there as soon as possible for some reason, we talked together and ultimately decided that the plan is for us to wait, to stand fast for as long as needed, but as soon as we have ANYTHING come out of that area of town, whether that be a refferal, an investigator, an English student, whatever, we decided that as soon as something comes out of that place, it was a sign that we needed to get our tails in there and do whatever we need to do. So after blessing this Bother's children, we asked him, "So who are you guys working with?" we asked this question to get information about what people/friends they are sharing the Gospel with. Whether they are aware of their work or not, when we talk to the members about their friends, we can know what we need to do to help them to make progress. When we visit members, they know why we're here, they should not be suprized to hear us ask them who they're working with, and what we can do to help them. This fine brother told us that they have a friend who is a good friend with his wife. They have known each other for several years, ever since they were little actually, and they had last talked to them about a year ago. We asked them where they lived and he said the name of the place of town which we were thinking about. After he said that they live there, we jumped on the opportunity and explained that we have been feeling that somebody there needs the Gospel and that it may be her. We went out there, a back way, came in from behind following the river and tracted the targeted building. We went straight for her name, after some short conversation, the speaker went silent, we thought we had been rejected, and I was about to turn back. But my companion stayed, and we decided to ring again. Thank goodness, because she came downstairs and talked to us, and we set up to come again this friday. Miracle.

Transfer 7: October 24

This week's been good. As human beings we, by nature, continuously are learning new things. This is true for us as we learn the Gospel as well. We however as members of the church, we have a gift. It is a gift to remember, a gift to learn, a gift to understand, and a gift of God's love inspired correction. This gift has been given to God's children since the dawn of time. It was given to Adam, it was used by Moses. It is the key to a constant flow of personal as well as worldwide revelation to a fallen and thirsty people. It has been called the Unspeakable Gift, the comforter, the Spirit of Revelation, and of truth. It is the Third member of the Godhead, which is comprised of three beings, namely God The Father, Jesus Christ (or Jehova) the son, and the Holy Ghost. This gift of the Spirit of God, is given to us after Baptism by proper and complete authority. This gift is kept as we are obedient to God's commandments, as we are willing to repent and as we humble ourselves, and put off the natural man and follow the Light of the World. When we live the Gospel to the best of our ability, the Spirit provides us with direction and guidance from our Heavenly Father, who Himself is the epitome of truth, knowledge and love. When some things in our lives are not in harmony with the inspired teachings of the Gospel the Spirit will cause our hearts to burn, but this is a different kind of burning. this burning comes as we make mistakes, and we feel bad about them, and wish to repair them, repent, and never make the mistake (sin) again. This burning is painful, and is a gift... it is the spirit telling us that we are better than whatever our mistake was, it's the spirit telling us that we Abhor sin, and that we do not wish to partake of it anymore. It is a sign that our hearts are changing, that we are becoming more like our Savior. And these feelings need to be brought to heavenly Father in sincere and heartfelt prayer, that we may lay hold on the blessings of the atonement, which have already been provided, but that we need to reach out and take. Sometimes we over complicate the Gospel, perhaps like I may have just done above... It is not that complicated. The Gospel is to be explained and understood in such a way that an 8 year old can understand it. When was the last time you asked an 8 year old to tell you about the Atonement? The Book of Mormon tells us that even babes often have words given to them which confound the wise and the learned. I have been challenged by my companion to study with more intent the simple truth's of the Gospel. These truths are the foundation of testimony because we bear testimony of them. I know that the Church is true, I know that the Scriptures are from Heavenly Father, I know that Jesus Loves me, I know that He understands. I know that He knows me. There are a lot of clouds in our minds and in our hearts related to pride, and stubbornness which often stunt our growth and begin to make us forget the simple truths of the Gospel. We reject the spirit because we don't want to embarrass ourselves or because we think that our ways are better, or that something was somebody else's fault. We need to put off the Natural man, and become a Saint. Do you know what that word means? Saint... A Saint, is someone who is striving for perfection. Are you striving for perfection? Yes? Great, but who are you striving with? Yourself, or God? Enos, in the Book of Mormon has what he calls a "wrestle with God". We need to do this, and reconsile ourselves to Him. I wrote this as a weekly email, but I think I need to hear this and remind me of these things myself. I will print this off and use it during some of my studies. I am no prophet, so don't trust too much in my words. But I leave my testimony with you that I know that the Gospel is simple, if we allow it to be. I know more than ever before in my life that there is a Savior, and that He is very active in all of our lives. His Spirit is real, because I have felt it, and His peace is real, because I have it. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Transfer 7: October 17

The Priesthood.... By Wednesday Elder Andersen and I were sick of being sick, so I asked Elder Andersen for a blessing. When he gave me my blessing he said to me, "Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?" "Yes." I replied. "Do you believe that I have Authority to do this?" he asked. "Yes." I responded again. During my blessing Elder Andersen said the words, "according to your faith, be whole" and then he clarified, "by tomorrow." As soon as he said, "be whole" I felt a literal "click" in my stomach and I suddenly started feeling better. The next day I felt almost completely better. Elder Andersen was still feeling sick on Wednesday so when Wednesday night came, he asked me if I could give him a blessing. I layed my hands on his head, and wanted to tell him to be whole as well. not sure about it, I hesitated during the blessing. I stood there not knowing if It was the right thing or not. As I stood there perplexed with this, thinking that the Holy Ghost should be telling me whether or not this is okay, I realized that I too needed to be excising my faith. I made the decision that I would proceed forward, but that I wanted to Holy Ghost to stop me if I was about to do something that I wasn't supposed to do. After what must have been about 15 seconds of silence, I said the words, "Be Whole." I then felt prompted to tell him how he can exercise his faith to secure the blessing, and when the blessing was over, he had a similar experience. We're both doing well now. Our friend Milan is progressing well. Today we just met with him, and we determined with him that it will probably take a few more weeks before everything is done so that he can be baptized. During our lesson today we taught him the Word of Wisdom. I was anxious thinking that we were going to have to explain a ton about why we have the Word of Wisdom, and why we keep it, and what it means, and why it's important, and then I was worried about us having to plead with him to keep it, but when the lesson happened, He sighed a little and would ask a few questions but at the end he just agreed, "okay, good, I guess I can't drink tea anymore." I am continuously blown away just how easy it is to teach an Elect Person. When God prepares somebody to receive the Gospel, he PREPARES them. Milan is literally just accepting everything. His opposition is coming in the form of Work, and stuff pulling him away from Uherské Hradiště into Slovakia, but ever with this, he is still finding time to meet. As we prepare for the winter season the ward is also going to be doing their Halloween party (put on by us the missionaries because they don't have Halloween over here) as well as the Christmas concert that the ward is putting on. What a great time to be here in UH! Love you all!

Transfer 7:October 10,2016

This week has been super awesome. I'll just start out by saying that I think the Lord wants my companion and I to take a break from Missionary work because now we're both not feeling well and were told by President's wife to stay home and rest. Nothing that you need to be concerned about, simply a little nausea and some headaches. It's been going around the mission. Classic start of winter here the Czech Republic. Started wearing my coat again. It suddenly changed at the start of last week. Monday it was warm, Tuesday it was fine, and then BOOM, suddenly it was rainy and cold. It's stayed this way since then, and so we've been adjusting to the change. The leaves are starting to fall, don't ask me why they don't change color first. The laws of chemistry don't work in the Czech Republic I guess... the leaves are green and then ope-they're on the ground. The Members here have been feeling the surge of spiritual power since the formation of the Ward. Our new bishop is busy conducting interviews and organizing the Ward into a more unified unit now that we've, in a sense, absorbed Zlín Branch. We, the missionaries, are still working on uniting the two groups as well, Elder Merril, our District Leader, asked us the other day for the phone numbers of all the UH members, so we sent those to them. The Ward is preparing to have our Christmas Concert. We practice as a ward every Sunday after chruch. Sister K plays the piano every Sunday and her husband is suffering from back problems but continues to work harder than he should, and their sons are just so full of life. They're such a Mormon family, I'm not kidding, if they lived in Utah, nobody would think anything of it, they are just such a Mormon family they would fit right in. Sister K is directing the practice of the concert, which we'll be having here in UH. The songs that the ward has chosen to sing are awesome, along with some Czech Classics. Most of the songs we're going to be singing are in English. Lemme tell you, it's super funny to be talking to everyone in Czech, and then suddenly Everyone is singing in English. What adds more to this surprise is hearing them all speaking English with their Czech accents haha! After District Meeting this week, we walked out of the church building here in UH, and we didn't know what to do because the Zlín Elders had unexpectedly received a call to come to service in Zlín, so we had to cancel our finding time in UH. With the unexpected change of events, Elder Andersen and I were left with two hours of time that we were expected to fill somehow. When we walked out of the church building with everyone, I suddenly felt the phone vibrate in my pocket, I answered it, and said, "dobrý den, tady jsou misionaří z Církve Ježíše Krista Svátých Poslednich Dnů, mluvite s Starším Deanem" "Hello, here are the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints, you're speaking with Elder Dean." I heard the man on the other line, (in czech of course) "Hey, this is Milan, can we meet today?" I scrambled through my brain to find the name "m" and then replied, "we have like... 6 people named M who we're teaching..." he replied, "M Z." M had met the missionaries several months ago, they had given him a book of Mormon but they lost contact with him once he got too caught up in work. We had previously tried to contact him but he was never available. Eventually we gave up trying to work with him because we believed her was not ready nor progressing. We set up with Milan for that day just 30 minutes later. At that meeting, he came, saw us, we greeted, and then when he sat down he pulled out his Book of Mormon, it looked used, and there were tuns of papers stuck in the pages. He looked up at us and said, "I read it, all of it." with further conversation we realized that M, despite what we may have been thinking, WAS progressing. the Lord had been working with him this entire time. He had finished the book of Mormon. What added more to our surprise was when he said, "I know that it's true." since this time, M has been progressing ridiculously quickly. He even came to EIGHT HOURS OF GENERAL CONFERENCE and he was able to spiritually retain most of it. when the spirit is with a person, they understand the Gospel. M is on date to be baptized in 2 weeks. Don't be suprised

if that changes to 3 or 4 weeks though. He's got some steps to take before he's ready. S Laskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 7: October 3, 2016

Elder Andersen and I have a Transfer Vision that is very inspired. When I got here in UH I felt like the Lord wanted me to learn some things, but also I felt like He wanted me to use what I had already learned to do everything that I could to help make this area stronger. If there is one thing that I have learned on my mission, it is that God's ways are ALWAYS higher than our ways. His thoughts are always higher than our thoughts. Elder Andersen and I created our Transfer Vision prayerfully and with the intent to do exactly what the Lord asks of us. I was suprised when Elder Andersen told me that he recieved inspiration that the Lord wants us to make a goal to baptize 5 people into this branch this transfer. But upon further prayer and pondering of my own, I came to agree that it would be possible. We created our plan, unaware of what was to come, but with simply a hope that the Lord would allow us to work together with Him in his glorious work. For us to do this we promised the Lord that we would be willing to do anything and everything to help him bring to pass his purposes. We promised to follow any and all spiritual promptings, and that means, also following those spiritual promptings to repent when nessesary, evenf for the smallest things. I'll write up our Transfer Vision below so that you can see what it is: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uherské Hradiště Prepare to be a Ward. Work together with Branch. ---------------------------------------- -Start R.D.V again (family home evening) -Teach all members. -Teach with all members - All Home Teaching Assignments - Help Members Fulfill Their Missionary Responsibities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five People to Covenant of Baptism ----------------------------------------- - Have Three Major Branch Activities - Asking Members to spiritually find refferals - Vylets (fun trips) with memebers (to build trust and unity) - Work with Part-Member Familes - Effective Personal Finding: Using Scriptures. -------------------------------------------------------- Do Everything and Anything the Lord asks of us. See Everyone as God sees them, and work with them Exactly as He needs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, I need to tell you about some things now. Do you see that goal we have up there? the one that says, "Prepare to be a ward"? Elder Andersen and I felt very strongly that we needed to do everything that we could to help this branch become a ward. We felt that we needed to work with the members as best we could and unite ourselves with the branch. We felt that the Lord was preparing something big for this branch, although we were not sure what it was. We told many of the members during visits that "something Big is coming, and it's going to be awesome." Well, last week on Tuesday, during District Meeting, Elder Merrill, our District Leader, delivered the news that would enlighten our minds and change our vision for the rest of this transfer. News that would influence not only the members in UH but also the members in Zlín. If you remember, when I first came into the mission, I was serving in Zlín. I have a very special place in my heart for the members there. I have always wanted to some day go back, and actually be able to understand those members who, at the time, were speaking a language that I couldn't even fathom. Now, one year and two months later, I am in Zlín's neighboring city UH. I felt soo grateful that Heavenly Father had in His plan for me to come serve back in this district, I would be able to on occasion see some of those Zlín members. The news that Elder Merrill delivered to us on Tuesday was this. "Don't tell anybody..." He told us, "...but on Sunday (yesterday) The Zlín Branch and the Uherské Hradiště Branch will come together to form a Ward." A Ward... I was speechless. I could not believe it. Zlín, my first city, one of the weakest branches numerically was the place where I had started my mission. I loved those guys. And now, here I was, the Lord having granted me the privdlege of seeing them become a Ward. Suddenly the clouds were lifted from my eyes and I could see why the Lord had placed me here in UH, and why He had prompted us to do such a Transfer Vision. I suddenly understood why we were seeing so much opposition, it was because the Adversary knew something that, at the time, we didn't. Long story short, The Zlín branch came down on Sunday to the UH Building. Elder Andersen and I came early to prepare the building, air it out and everything. We met with our Branch mission leader and discussed Gereral Conference for next weekend for the members in the building, and we picked up a new investigator and her son to come to church. We had planned it perfectly so that relief society president could be her friend while at church. It was only me and my companion that had any idea in our entire branch that THIS Sunday, we were going to become a Ward. The other members knew something was happening, but they had no idea what. They knew that the Branch President was coming, and they knew that the two branches were coming together for one weekend for a special conference, but other that that they had no idea. When the Stake President showed up, we started Sacrament meeting. President Pilka (stake pres) announced that he was coming to announce that after much prayer, and consideration, and pondering, the stake has decided to unite the UH branch and the Zlín Branch to become a Ward! President Pilka then asked, in czech of course, "all the members of the Uherské Hradiště Branch, and all members of the Zlín Branch, please stand." Everyone stood. I suddenly had a flash back to the day when the Stake was formed. As they were calling out where the wards would be formed, they asked the members of the particular branches to stand and then they were to sustain themselves to become a ward. I turned around, (I was seated on the front row) and saw as the two branches seated behind me, filling our small chappel even into the classroom at the back of the room, stood up together. I saw President Večeře, his wife, their now 12 yr old son, and 7yr old daughter, Brother Mikulenka, his daughter, Brother Janošek, His wife, their 12 yr old son, their daughter, her Husband Michal, and even old Rudolf there in the back stood up. I saw all of the members of the UH branch stand up, and in unison, as Latter Day Saints, the Zlín branch and the UH branch sustained themselves to become a ward. After everyone was seated, the spirit was palpable in the room. The Energy was so strong. President Pilka then turned to the men seated on the stand released first the Branch president of zlín, then his councelors, then he released the Branch president of UH, and his Councilors, and then he released a few other people holding varios positions in each branch. and then the first Bishop ever in Uherské Hradiště was announcced. Brother Dynka. I have to get off now, but I just want you all to understand a little bit about what this all means. WE HAVE A WARD AND A BISHOP, and this will change this area forever. have a good week, and remember that the Lord always has a bigger and better plan than you do. Just learn to trust Him. I'm still working on it, but He never fails to prove His point, that He knows me better than I know myself, and He knows how to be happy and be successful better than we do. That's a piece of my testimony. Love you all, S Láskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 7: September 26, 2016

I have been thinking lately about the concept of happiness, and what it is. Why are we happy, and what do we call happiness? What is happiness? I would invite everyone to think about this and ask yourself, What is Happiness? I love my mission. that is a fact. Don't ask me why though, its one of the most difficult things to try to describe. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I one again fell short to get a lot of pictures. Here's the thing, in CBUD it was litterally one of THE BIGGEST tourist places in the world, so I was getting pictures every week, and several pictures at that. any pictures that I get out here are simply pictures, in the appartment, in the church building, with somebody after a lesson or maybe I can sneak in getting a pictures during the day of some cool things. The missionary white handbook says that we should never look like a tourist, and we've been asked to use cameras mainly on P-Day, so for me to take pictures during procelyting is technically disobedient. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This week we helped a member family, the Ekkerts, build a dresser in their appartment. Brother Ekkert is from the United States, and he married a czech. They live here now, and he doesnt't speak a lick of czech... their kids are learning both Czech and English. It's the funniest thing hearing little kids speaking english again, Iemme tell ya, it's really weird to hear children speak english over here. After helping brother Ekkert, they let us stay over for dinner, it's funny because we speak only english with him, and we speak english with his wife, but whenever we only talk to her, we speak Czech haha! on Thursday we travelled (slept on the bus) to Brno for Zone Conference. It was a good feeling for me to be back in the zone that I started in. I love the Brno church building. Zone Training was godo, we talked and learned about how to teach people who do not believe in God. These type of people should be taught to know who God is. The base of Everything that we do and teach is one foundational principle, "God is our Loving Heavenly Father" without this, the Atonement, The Savior, The Plan of Salvation, Prayer, Baptism, Repentance, and other things would become far less significant. When people first begin to believe in God, it is essential that They begin to immediately picture in their mind a Father figure, because without this, the image becomes that of simply an "energy" or "being" and that at once becomes mysterious and confuzing. There is power in knowing that we are Children of God, On Friday all of our lessons fell through, so we went tracting, or at least that was the plan, as soon at we started a man told us to leave the appartment complex, we told him that we have the right to do what we're doing, and he still refused to let us tract. It's funny though how much people feel our authority because the man suddenly got really afraid when Elder Andersen asked him, "Pane, Jak se jmenujete?" (Mister, what's your name?) "me? Uh, wh.. why me? who are you?" he responded. we still were kicked out of the building unfortunately. On our walk back, we met two people walking in the opposite direction, it was a man and a woman from Africa. When we stopped them, we started speaking czech and the man said, "where are you from?" in english, which threw us off a bit. We told them and told them about who we are and stuff. They clarified that they hated people who believe in God, because we always are trying to force other people to believe what we believe. We clarified that we simply invite people (if they feel like we're making them, that's a lie, the spirit does all the pushing and convincing). And then we just talked, and showed them that not all believers are violent and biased towards other beliefs and oppinions. We are simply trying to do what we believe and feel is right. They opened up after that. In the middle of the conversation, I got punched square in the back, and I stumbled forward, almost falling into the guy. I turn around and standing there is Opposition Lady (we've pretty much offically named her this now). She growled like a dog under her breath and then attempted to spit on me. pretty sure she missed... pretty sure. and then she walked passed us, and the guy and the girl who we were talking to just stood there dumbfounded. As Opposition Lady was walking away, the guy who we were talking to called out to her, "Hey, what was that for?!" She didn't respond. I got my bag and everything situated again and then looked up to them with a knot in my throat and said, "I don't know everything, but I do know this, that there is a God in Heaven, and He loves us, and He loves you, and It doesn't matter what happens to us, we are here to tell you this because it is true. I know it is true." I don't know why God allows these type of things to happen, but I believe that it touched these people's hearts to see how we reacted to opposition, they were in fact blaming us for being violent as missionaries, trying to "convince" people, but they were able to see how we reacted in the face of opposition and violence. I believe it touched their hearts. On Saturday we had Weekly Planning, it was a very long weekly planning. One of the men we're teaching is a Seventh Day Adventist Minister. It is very humble of him to allow two ministers of another faith come and teach him so we treat him with a lot of respect. We both feel like he knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but if the Book of Mormon IS true, that would mean that he would have to give up his Job, his career, his dream, his faith, and his friends, and possibly some extended family. This man is deeply passionate about his current faith, believeing that everything must be proved through the bible, and that nothing else is the word of God. He says that whenever he does anything and is not sure about it, he will compare it with "the Word of God", which he defines to mean the Bible, and absolutely nothing else. We've determined that with him, we're going to allow the spirit to do the heavy lifting. The Lord declared, " I am able to do mine own work, and I will hasten my work in it's time.". We have counciled with the Lord and we now know that He wants to fight His own battles with this guy. We're going to be doing a lot of testifying. On Sunday, we had a man come visit from the Stake High Council. He spoke about Happiness and how we can obtain it, and what it means to be happy. It's explained in greater detail in my letter to President this week. anyway. I got some more pictures from Elder Andersen, I'll sent them, they're good from a companion's camera because I'm in more of them. and I know that you like me to be in pictures. So here ya go. Love you Mom. I love this work, and there is a lot of power in chosing to see the good around us. I've learned that it's very easy to see only the things that trouble us, but if we just lift our eyes to the only one who gives us light, he will help us to see great things, and He will help us to overcome any obstical. I also would like you to consider the Savior, and what He has done and what He is doing, right now, as you read this. What does He think of you, you might be suprized what you find. The Gospel is Beautiful! in one of these photos we were in a park with a bunch of kids, they were playing Ninja, it's a game where you have to try to hit everyone's hands to get them out, but it's turned base, if you are confuzed, ask Kennedy, I'm sure she knows the game, classic. We met them in the park after drawing something with Chalk about the plan of Salvation. S Láskou, Starší Dean​

Transfer 7: September 19,2016

This week I want to talk about some things, I always feel like I never get enough time to write what I really want to. I awlays take time to do other things, I am going to do everything I can to get everything down right now. I love my Companion, his name is Elder Ethan Andersen, he is from Utah, and he is awesome! He is so knowledgable about the scriptures, and he is currently reading the old testament. He is teaching me things about the scriptures that I had no idea about! not to mention, he is spiritually so strong and listens to the promptings of the spirit. I am constantly impressed with his strength as a child of God and his stability in the Gospel. He is humble and he has imense faith, enough for us to push for goals that normally are not possible in this mission, but because of our faith, the Lord has promised miracles among us. This transfer is starting out great, we had a burst of inspiration about what we want to accomplish, I remember when I first arrived here, Elder Andersen turned to me and just stuck out his hand, all five fingers he had, and I read his lips as he silently said, "five". At first I was not sure what that meant, "Five", I was unsure, but I was sure of one thing, I wanted to make this transfer a transfer where I would use the skills that Heavenly Father has built up within me during my mission. I was sooo pumped and ready to just get to work and kick some spiritual butt. As soon and Elder Andersen and I got the chance to sit down and discuss our personal goals and visions for this transfer, we found out very quickly that this transfer is going to be Big. I found out that Elder Andersen had done some praying, and seeking revelation for our area, which the transfer before had been run by 4 missionaries, now, with Elder Andersen and I, it is only the two of us. The Lord saw fit to pull out the two other missionaries and just let us two run this area, so our area just doubled in size. that means that we have both of the phones as well as a bonus. As Elder Andersen was praying, he recieved what he later confirmed to be revelation that the Lord is praparing 5 people to be baptized this transfer, and that if we do everything that is in our power, the lord will do wonders among us. As a companionship we decided by revelation that we each prayed for, and with discussion and conscious effort to listen to the voice of the spirit, we have decided that the Lord wishes for us to assist Him in his work to achieve this end of helping five people come to the covenant of baptism by doing two things. First, we will do everything that we possibly can to work together with this branch, which is quite strong, to bring those who are seeking truth into the gospel. This Branch in its current state is strong and stable enough to support five more converts and to integrate them enough and successfully by the end of this transfer. The Second Thing, is that we are committing ourselves to a challenge, to be consciously doing everything and anything that the Lord wants us to do. If there is a time when the Lord wants us to do somethings spesific, we trust that He will guide us to this end. We concluded our plans by creating several goals for Elder Andersen and I to work on together throughout the transfer that will help us towards achieving our main two goals. As soon as we began to implement our plans, The power of God became very powerful in our work, as we both have felt His presence in our midst, and knowing that we are actively working with people beyond the veil, in seeing things happen that we just know that it could not have happened any other way, we know that the Lord is acting by way of His power among us because of our Faith in Him. As a result and as a by-product, the Adversary has also been pushing us more than I have ever experienced before on my mission. It is quite strange really, I feel more empowered than ever before, but also I feel more opposed than ever before. This opposition has even come to make itself manifest in the form of a Woman, a woman who we see almost every other day. This woman was first met my first day here in this area, although we were not aware at the time that she would become the outward expression of opposition that we see today. When my bus arrived in this area, I got off with my suitcases, and Elder Merrill, my District Leader helped me and my companion to get my bags to the apartment. Elder Merrill ran into this woman when he was talking to somebody before grabbing my bags. This woman walked over to him (he says), and just looked at him. As he talked to her, he noticed that she was not talking at all, just standing there. Suddenly she spit on the ground in front of Elder Merrill, and then walked away. Elder Andersen and I ran into her a few days later when we were on our way to a tracting location. We were walking on the side walk, and then this woman (who we were seeing for the first time) came around the corner on roller blades. Elder Andersen and I were just talking, and then we started hearing somebody again of us just yelling at us at the top of her lungs. I looked up to see this woman just rolling towards us on her roller blades, her hands hug at her sides stiff like a board, looking me right in the eyes, and just yelling at us. When she got close, I split off to the side thinking that maybe she just wanted us to get out of the way, she turned and started roller blading right towards me. When she got to me, still yelling, she pulled back both her arms and then rammed into me punching me in the chest with both arms. As I stumbled back, I saw as she then turned to my companion and as she rolled up to him, reached back and then punched Elder Andersen right in the face, but she slipped a little on her roller blades and only clocked his chin a little. I approached and got between her and my companion, and then she backed away. We turned around and started walking away, and she just kept yelling at us and we walked away. Since this incident, we have seen her three more times, our mission president is aware, no problem, and one of these times, we were in an entirely different city, we were in Zlín for District Meeting, and she crossed the street where we were and started getting angry at us but before she got to us our district leader informed us to get out of there so we left. The Adversary is very aware of what we're trying to do, and the fact is that he's going to and is losing. I'm out of time, I've gotta go, but I just want everyone to know a little more about what is going on over here, and I want everyone to know that I know tha tthe Gospel is true. S Láskou, Starší Dean

Transfer 7: September 12, 2016

I would write more but I actually have to go. very quickly, We created our transfer vision, and we both think that we can, if we do everything that Heavenly Father expects of us, we can help five people come to the covenant of baptism this transfer. We have prayed about this and have come of with a series of goals to help us to achieve this. The Branch here is the strongest branch that I have ever seen. I have served in many small branches, and this one had TWO young men passing the sacrament! Yesterday was my first sunday here, I was asked to translate for a few visitors from the States who came to visit their czech family members, and as I was sitting in the back of the chappel translating into a microphone for the people who were wearing headsets so that they could hear what was happening in english, they called out over the pulpit, "we have a new missionary today, we're inviting him up to share his testimony" So that's what I did. It was awesome. this branch here was the first place the church was organized in the czech republic, and so the members here have a long history. Truly it is an honor serving here. This branch has a very strong organization, the branch ran just fine of sunday when the branch president wasn't here. This branch even has a Branch Missionary, her name is Sister Huťková. I will send a few pictures, just lerned also that we will not be driving, that is a relief for me.

Transfer 7: September 5. 2016

I sit here at a computer in the library here in Uherské Hradíště, a city not too far from my first city, Zlín. As a matter of fact, Uherské Hradíště is actually in the Zlín District. I remember that my first District meeting ever was actually here in Uherské Hradíště. I'm going to refer to this city as UH, just like I refered to České Budějovice as CBud. It is such an awesome opportunity to be able to serve here, I'll be able to go to some district meetings in Zlín, so that means I'll likely get to see some old friends, that is soooo fun! I am no longer the District leader, I'll be serving with Elder Anderson. Our District Leader will be Elder Merrill. He is in Zlín and both he and Elder Anderson came to the mission at the same time. They are both one transfer behind me, and Elder Merrill will be training a new missionary in Zlín. I will be the oldest missionary in this district... that hurts. As we sit here emailing, Elder Anderson just recieved a Text from the Office Elders informing us that we will need to get Drivers Licenses because we'll be having a car here in UH. That's a scary thought at first... Elder Anderson is an amazing missionary, I have seen that he is very tallented, he bought a Violin here in the mission field and has been teaching himself in his free time. He can already play some hymns! UH has always had two companionships over this city, but for some reason, They are shutting down one of the areas, and that means that it's only going to be Elder Anderson and I here. that means that our district is only going to be 4 missionaries. 2 in Zlín, and 2 here in UH. When it comes time for Training, we'll likely have to drive to Brno ourselves. To be completely Honest, I'm a little scared to start driving around here, but, if that's what the Lord wants, I guess that is what is going to happen. I can be happy about that. Driving is fun! I left CBud this morning at 7:00am, by bus, and then I arrived in Brno 2,5 hours later. I thought that the bus was going to stop at the main bus station in Brno, but it actually only stopped at some random bus stop right next to the Train Station. I had to ask for directions and drag my four super heavy suitcases around for about 25 minutes before I made it to the main but station. I prayed that I would get help, while dragging my suitcases, and then a lady stopped, and looked at me and said, "what are you doing?" (in czech). I explained, and then she took one of my suitcases and helped direct me to the Bus Station. She showed me how I could more easily pull all three suitcases at a time, and then she went her way. Just another example of the many miracles that we see daily as missionaries. After getting to the Main Bus Station, I found that a Bus to UH was just about to leave, that worked out perfectly. ...................................... Yesterday we had the awesome opportunity to see the Temple rededication. It was the Temple in Frieberg Germany, and although we didn't get to actually go to Germany, we were able to go to the chapel in Prague, and the Chapel had become a temple, only for those 247 hours, and nobody was let in unless they had a temple recommend. As I walked in, a man asked me in czech if I had my recommend, I showed it to him, and then he said, "Vytáme vás na Chram" (Welcome to the temple). As I walked in, the spirit was so palpable, it was very quiet as everybody sat watching the screen of the broadcast from Frieberg. When I was seated, I began to rest from the journey from CBud, and I becan to stop sweating haha... I realized bit by bit that I was litterally sitting in, at that time, the temple. As I sat there waiting for the program to start, the spirit came over me and I knew that I had completed the assignment that the Lord wanted me to complete in CBud, and I felt my Heavenly Father's love for me, and I felt that He was pleased with me. I remembered the beauty of the Gospel, as the hymn hummed through the air from the organ, "I will follow God's plan for me" The world was left outside, here I was at home, in a small chapel on the other side of the world, I was at home, this was the feeling of Heavenly Home, and the feeling of the spirit was pure, no other influences or distractions. This was the home of my Savior, and I felt that I was a guest, and not only a guest, but I felt that My Heavenly Father was So happy to have me there. An honorary guest in the house of the Lord. The program was great, but this experience before the program began, as we sat there and just prepared for the program, was what my Heavenly Father knew that I needed. On the Bus today, travelling alone of course, I thought about my life experiences and considered on the beauty of the Gospel. I remembered back to the times when I was young, especially those times when my Siblings were just born. I remembered sitting in a hospital chair in the corner of some room, my parrents handing me my little Brother, or my little Sister. Holding them in my arms, I always cried although at the time I don't think I trully understood why. Thinking about this I considered the pain a child must feel, taking his or her first breath, how much new lungs full of dry air must burn those first several minutes. The Spirit having come from the Presence of our Heavenly Parents, into a world where they are ready to give it anything and everything they've got, and the first thing they feel, is pain. But they are fighters, these are children of God we're talking about here, they have just acted in immense faith to come into their second estate. The spirit bears record of the divine heratige. I am so grateful for the knowledge that the Lord's Work and Glory is to bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of man. Right now, the world population verses church membership calculates to be about 0.02 Percent. 0.02 percent of the world population are members of the church. Our Father in Heaven has a perfect plan to make it all work out, and how privdleged we are to be a part of that 0.02percent, to have the opportunity to serve, and to help to bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of man. This Gospel is a Beautiful thing. Oh how the Lord takes us in our weak and frail state and changes us to become Sons and Daughters of the Most High God. We have no need to fear. for this we'll sing, and we'll shout, with the armies of Heaven, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb! Elder Dean

Aug. 22. 2016

This has been an interesting transfer so far. We've seen a missionary go home, my companion, and also, another missionary just went home early because of an injury, and as a result, there are many people moving around to new areas and the Lord is making nesesary changes. I actually believe that something bigger is going on here, the Lord no doubt knew that these things were going to happen, and so he's planned for it. We'll see what happens. Our district (the four of us missionaries) are searching for a man who will be a new powerhouse for this small branch. There are such people out there who will join the church and will be the strongest examples of faith. There are people out there who when they join the church, will never fall away, and will have been so touched by the Spirit of the Lord that when they are baptized, nothing can sway them in their conversion that the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly are true. I know that these people exist because if they didn't this church would not work. It would have failed a long long time ago. But this Gospel is true, and the Lord does gather in His lost Children, therefore we can trust, that in the Lord's timing and in His way, He will bring thousands of souls unto Him. As a district right now, we are trying to get just one of these Elect of God. We have, as a district, come together and made a plan, that we would excersise faith in the Lord, and in His power, and we have come up with a plan. Our plan began last wednesday, and it is this. Every day whenever we pray, we pray that we will find this man, we have chosen a day to find him, it will be tuesday (tomorrow). We have decided on several topics to study each day in preparation for this day, such as Leaders, Articles of Faith, and Faith to see miracles. We have come to the Edge, where we have done everything and are doing everything that we know how to do, and even though we don't understand it perfectly, we are doing our best to trust the Lord, and believe that He wants us to do this. The Adversary even now is trying to make me doubt that we will find him, but I believe that the Lord will not leave hanging after us excersing faith like this. We as a district have decided what he will look like, what characteristics he will have, and also what we will do to find him. We have prayed about these things and feel good about them, and now, we're at the edge, where miracles happen, now we just need to go for it and say "Lord, without you we will fall, help us fly." We need a branch builder in this branch so bad, and we are doing everything we can to qualify for this blessing. Oh how I pray the Lord will hear our cries, and will send us to them, or send them to us, that we may teach them and help them come and build the kingdom of God. I'm beginning to feel the weight of that leap, either we will go and it will work, or we will fall miserably, but I know in whom I have trusted. He will not forsake those who believe in Him. now... enough speaking all scripture-like. otherwise I'm doing well. I am beginning to see just how fast the rest of my mission is going to fly by. I am currently learning about the value of keeping the Gospel simple. but that's all for now. Love you all, and talk to you next week! Elder Dean