Monday, again... October 22, 2012

MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY!

Oh Boy they come quick!

Well this week we had a ton of fun and worked our tails off left and right! We had exchanges on Wednsday and I was in a different part of Ostrava with Elder Boysen, who is another Englishman, and is actually from the same stake as Elder Simcock. It was way fun to get to know him a little better and to contact people with him because he's actually a proper sized man, hes 6'7'', so it was pretty hilarious to see peoples reactions to us on the street. Anyways, we had some good fun with that, and when the exchange ended, Elder Hansen an i got back to doing what we do best, that being, tearing it up! So overall a pretty good week.

         So this week was cool because we learned alot about acting on impressions. President Monson said in conference afew weeks ago, "Never hesistate to act on a prompting" It was way cool to hear that, because the other day, it really hit me that being led by the spirit, or receiving inspiration, isnt necessarily one huge incident where an angel comes down and tells you everything you need to do for the rest of your life, but really, its acting ona the little promptings and feelings you get throughout the days, weeks, months, and years. I always find it interesting that we're told to "Pray ALWAYS, and not faint" and not, "well pray once and i'll tell you everything for every situation you'll ever need" because Heavenly Father knows better than anyone that life changes, and he likes it that way, and thats why he gives us the spirit, so that if we FOLLOW it, we can roll with the punches of life and actually enjoy it a little too. :)

So there's that,and it really does work, i have really seen over the last 7 months that when i act on the little stuff, i dont have to worry so much about the big stuff. Things just seem to work out. I think that having any sort of attribute, whether it be being courageous, faithful, hardworking, inspired, or WHATEVER, really comes down to making the decision every single day to do so. When life gets tough, smile and know that HEY! At least im not dead! And that makes me happy!

I love you all, youre in my prayers, be good, follow the spirit and choose to have yourselves well, every single day:)

Photos courtesy of Sestra Mills!

- Elder Chezik

Conference in the Czech Republic 10-15-12

 

OH BOY WHAT A WEEK!

So this week was great in the wonderful city of Ostrava! We watch conference here a week later so we just watched it yesterday, it was sooooo sweet! Elder Hollands talk was AWESOME! And mission age getting lowered?! WOOOOOOHOOOO! Get ready Union ward young men! Yeah buddy!
So yeah, we had alot of way cool stuff go on, but mostly just a ton of little miracles. One way cool thing about being a missionary isnt necessasarily seeing afew insane huge ridiculous miracles, alot of the time its getting to see little miracles and things you wouldnt normally take the time to see. For example, TIMING. Oh boy do i have a testimony of timing, Heavenly Father knows exactly where to be at literally the exact moment, and a matter of afew seconds over the course of a lifetime can determine someones destiny! So its way cool, when you get to see that when youre doing the right thing, using your time right, that everything seems to line up without problem, you make it just in time for your bus, or even, you MISS your bus, and meet someone awesome when youre walking because of it. Heavenly Father has timing down to a perfect system, and if we want to slow down and back up like president monson says, and look, we can see that thousands of tiny moments end up being a whole miracle. Its pretty cool. So time for missionaries is important, but for everyone else, its just as important, time isnt something you can save, it doesnt work like that, everybody has a certain amount of time, and we can only ever spend it, we have to spend it somehow, so why not GET SOMETHING for it? It wouldnt make any sense to go spend 10 thousand dollars on used diapers, would it? Then why would we spend ten thousand moments on doing nothing of value? Its really funny when we think of all the times we complain, even if only for 5 seconds, and add those al up to litteral hours, days or years of time we could spend in a better way, sleeping, reading, on vacation, or even spending that with the ones we love the most. Im not trying to get preachey or anything, but im just trying to say that this time is a time for us to prepare to meet god, it already has a purpose in how we spend it, but heavenly father lets us pick the way. So we need to take a step back, look, evaluate, and choose our next move, and i know that as we do that, we can see the miracles, we can make the good choices of how we use our time, and we can truly look back after, and be happy with the purchase we've made of how we\ve spent our time.
So be FRUGAL! USE IT WELL! I love you all and pray for all you

More Ostrava Miracles 10-1-12

 

TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII YO WHAT A WEEK IS OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSTRAVA!

So this week was pretty insane! We worked our TAILS off and saw some AMAZING miracles because of it! So I dont even know where to start, hmm how about last monday, oh yeah so we met this awesome kid from Belarus on last Sunday, and met with him again on Monday and Tuesday, and he's WAY awesome and way solid. After that we just happened to be contacting out on the Namesti and we saw this guy playing awesome accordion versions of john williams songs (raiders of the lost ark, star wars, the works!) and so of course, we had to talk to him, after we did, we found out he already knew a mormon "his name is mills" he said, Elder MIlls! As in the elder mills of elder and sister mills, our senior couple here in ostrava, who had contacted him the day before in the subway. Anyways, this man said he believed that God didnt love him, and the mills bore testimony that he DID love them, and gave them his card, and then we found him the next day. So he said "i think god is trying to tell me something." YEAH HE IS! So yeah, we agreed to meet with him at the mills the nex day, we had a nice lesson with him, gave him a polish book of mormon, and sent him home on back to warsaw (he was polish here on holiday). with a smile on his face and new hope in his heart.

We also met with that awesome lady from the tram again and shes amazing still, and still meeting with us. And on sunday, we started teaching these two WONDERFUL little boys who are the sons of one of our members, they are 8 and 11 and have ALOT of energy, but so do we so its great!

SO This week, we worked hard, asked for help, and got some MIRACLES. Thats they way the Lord works, its a mysterious way, but one of the coolest things ive ever seen. Im so glad i can be here and so grateful to be doing this every day, and i LOVE this work. Im soooo glad President Monson said, EVERY YOUNG MAN, and i listened. If you ever hesisitate to do what the prophet asks, smack yourself and remember how great a blessing it is to have a prophet, and follow what he says.

 

I love you all, keep yourselves well, may the lord bless you,
-Elder Chezik

Ostrava Miracles 9-24-12

 

OH WHAT A WEEK IN OOOOOSTRAVA!

So ostrava is pretty crazy, WAAAAY different than Liberec in almost everyway except for it still being in the Czech Republic, and its on the border, so it barely is haha
But anyways, its great here, no mom we dont have wards in t he mission yet because you dont get a ward until you have a stake, and we definantly dont have a stake yet, But we get about 80 to 100 people to church a week, it feels way awkward for me because im used to MUCH less now. But theres that, ostrava is way big and its strange how long it takes to get everywhere comparitively, but altogether wonderful. We have an amazing senior couple, The Mills, and theyre from North Logan Utah, but no, they dont know grandma, but yeah, the'yre awesome, they work SO HARD, its sweet! I've attached some pictures too.Everything is waaaay cheap in ostrava for some reason, and so ive been buying stuff ive been holding out for, like sweaters and ties and stuff, because they each cost like 2 bucks here. So yeah, this week has been way cool, and Elder Hansen and I have been seeing some sweet miracles. H'es from houston, buth has broken himself of his texas twang, but will still do it sometimes if I ask him to, and I'm getting pretty good at mine. All over we're just a couple of goofballs and we have a really good time.

So this week was all about hope!
In Preach My Gospel in the christlike atrributes section, under hope it says, "When you have hope you are able to work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that ALL THINGS will work together for your good." So, if you miss your train, if your tram is late, if theres construction in the city center so you have to walk, its okay! Because heavenly father is smart enough to figure it all out where and when you need to be. So that was pretty cool as a thought, but it really does work, and in action, it was A MIRACLE. So on monday, we called a former investigator and set up to meet, which was great, but there was construction so our bus didnt go so we had to call and cancel, so that was a bummer, BUT since Heavenly Father knows whats up, we figured itd all end up well. So we got on a tram with the mills, our awesome senior couple, and were on our way to the english class we teach, and i saw a lady in her mid 30s who i wanted to contact, but i had to call and cancel that lesson, so i did that instead, in english, because the guy is from new zealand or something. So anyways, after we get off the tram and go to english, and that SAME LADY who i wanted to contact comes in and sits down with the other students, So I thought, "Aha! thats why i wanted to contact you, youre and english student!" so throughout the lesson she was awesome and cracked jokes and laughed and spoke great english, and afterward i went up and talked to her, turns out it was her first ever time at english class, she said "im here because of YOUR english! I saw you on the tram, and i heard you speak english, and i had a thought that i should follow you, but then i thought ""no! thats weird"" and i didnt want to, but a voice from heaven told me that i needed to follow you, so i did, and you came here, and that is the BEST english lesson ive ever had! I feel SO GOOD and I am SO GLAD I listened to that voice from heaven!" So we are going to start teaching her this week. If we hadnt had to take that tram, and cancel that appointment we wouldnt have met her, and she wouldnt have found us. Oh by the way, she had been to english one time ten years ago in a different city and has been looking for missionaries in Ostrava ever since. So, all things working together for our good? I certainly think so, and i get to see it every single day, and i know its true. And i love it.

(on a train at 5am)

- Elder Chezik

Transfer Ostrava 9-17-12

Well so its transfer week, and USUALLY that would mean we wait till Wednesday to have pday, BUT for some fun and insane reason, transfers are today! And im in............................................................................................ Ostrava! One of the biggest cities in the czech republic, with 3 missionary companionships and a senior couple! Insane! Oh no big deal, this is just the city President Uctdorf was born in, Pretty sweet.

My new companion is Elder Hansen, he's from Texas, Houston, Texas. He's also one transfer ahead of me in the mission, and has served in Moravia his whole mission thus far, which is funny, because thats me with Bohemia. Anyways, he seems pretty great, although i have been with him for about an hour, and Ostrava is on the other side of the country, so i got to wake up at 5:30 this morning and got here on a train at 2. WOOOP!

 

goodbye to everyone in our branch yesterday, and theBayarovi too, and Oyunuyas parents too!

So my last week in Liberec was great, we had alot of success and did alot of good work, and i said also i had to pack SUPER FAST, because we packed our Sunday full of meetings so we wouldn't think about transfers so we had no time to pack, but we also went to this SWEET little village outside Liberec for an appt., and it is ALL preserved from communism and Hitler and stuff, so the kostel (catholic cathedral) is actually Bohemian style and they have sweet monuments to patron saints and stuff, so i got some pictures, and yeah, it was a pretty great week,

 

I dont know too much what to say this week, because it was just a blur, but it was great, and now im in ostrava, and im happy and tired. So i think that will conclude my weekly report, and I will talk to all you in about a week!

-much love, Elder Chezik

How You Doing Family and Friends? 9-10-12

 

JAK SE DAŘÍ RODINO A KAMARADI?! (Title is a rough translation)

Everything here is wooooooooooonderful as always, and of course a bunch of craziness has happened. So this next week is going to be the last week of the transfer, which means its possible i'll be leaving Liberec, and we had our last District meeting that was in Liberec the other day, so that was a little nostalgic. But all together, we're all really stoked to run to the finish of this transfer, the last week = crazy miracle week. Pretty Sweet. 

So yeah, we had exchanges this week, and Elder Burton (who serves in Jicin) and i were together in Liberec, hes a new missionary, this is his first transfer, so it was pretty fun to teach lessons and contact people together, it was like taking of the training wheels for me, and for him it was like getting a really sketchy pair of training wheels from california. So we had a bunch of fun with that, and had a HUGE amount of progress with one of our investigators who is ten years old, and hasnt been baptized yet, his name is Matous and he's really cool, but for some reason has fears of baptism, we love him alot, and have been trying really hard to work with him and for some reason it all just clicked on the exchange, and he committed to be baptized, (a little grudgingly, but hey, its progress) and we gave him a date yesterday and a SWEET baptismal calendar that we made him (it has legos, Harry Potter, and the battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes back on it, oh and the book of mormon too!) So that was way sweet for us and for him.

 

So yeah, umm, the branch is doing wonderfully, everyone is super happy and a ton of people have gotten more active, so we're counting our blessings with that. Also, we have been becoming better cooks, so that makes us alot happier too! Yesterday i made like PICTURE PERFECT pancakes from scratch, like out of an ihop add or something, pretty boss!

 

Also, i discovered that indian food is FANTASTIC, except for the fact that my butter chicken curry stained by teeth orange for the next 3 hours. (see attached picture of me in front of the town hall) so yeah!

Everythings great. im happy, havent bought very much of anything yet but, we'll see what the future holds!
-Elder Chezik

Ridiculousness

What a week!
And the ridiculousness does not cease to continue!

We have been working a ton and seeing alot of cool stuff going down, and looking forward to more. We are constantly all over the place and doing everything, and then BAM! Its pday and we§re sitting in the internet cafe just dazed that its monday again already. Hmm, so some cool things that happened this week, we FINALLY got a meeting in with a less active who we§ve been trying to for the entire transfer, we called him every single day straight for 22 days and visited his place like 5 times and finally got him, MUAHAHAHA! So thats pretty cool, we§re hoping to help him get back to full actvity, since the branch really needs some strong members. Tomorrow we have specialized training in Prague again, and we§ll have exchanges after that with the Zone Leaders, which should be pretty fun, because i LOVE Pardubice, which is their city. So yeah, hmmmmm I got a ton of mail on Monday last week while i was in Prague, so thank you everyone who wrote, and you'll get some mail back shortly. Oh, something funny that happened this week. So we were out with the Branch list trying to find where all the lessactive members live, because in europe it really is a search because they have like NO street organization, anyways, we were in Jablonec, which is a suburbs of Liberec, and we found the Apartment building where one of them lived, and there was a sign that had a cartoon of a missionary on it, he had a tag and everything and it said, "NO RELIGIOUS SALESPEOPLE!" A rough translation, but pretty dang funny nonetheless, which explained why everyone around the building looked at us really weird. So that was fun.

We have some awesome new potential investigators, who seem really cool, so we§re pretty stoked for this next week.

 Oh, an update on The Bayarovi, or the Bayara family, they are doing AMAZING, Oyuntuya is veeeeeeerrrrrry pregnant, but still very sweet and happy, Bayara is still funny as can be, and we had a ton of fun at sports night with him speaking english, because he wants to learn, suuper funny, although he§s a little crestfallen, because he really wanted a boy, and the new baby will be a girl.Also Nandka, their daughter, is still super hilarious and cute and loves "MIIIICKEY MOUSE!" Super funny, she runs around speaking rapid mongolian and has no idea we dont know what shes saying, or she just doesnt care, and shes everyones best friend within 2 minutes of meeting them, even with the language barrier. Awesome little family.
So all over im doing very well, elder spencer and i have alot of fun being goofy together, so hopefully, i can attach a video we made the other night when we had extra time after planning.  (Sorry kids, the video didn't come through).