Blessings and Miracles

p.s. the picture where the are in a line is the progression back from Americanization!

NAAAAAAAAAZDAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Just another WONDERFUL week in the biggest little country in the world!

So what happened this week? LOTS, but can I remember any of it? BARELY! But that's what happens when you have a 16 hour work day EVERY DAY. Luckily I have my journal. So we got two new investigators this week, super cool guys, ones 30 and the others like 40, the gospel will DEFINANTLY bless their lives.

I got my Czech Tags! Hooray! Note the attached picture, No, i do not have a hoarding problem.

Also, this week we met with Pani Volakova, this WONDERFUL older lady. Did I ever tell you all about her? (p.s. sometimes I feel like a narrarator at the beginning of a movie or something in these letters) So Elder Plaizier found Pani Volakova on a bus to Jicin on the way to district meeting a week before i came into Liberec. She talked with him and he gave her a passalong card and she asked if he had a pen so she could write down her address and number so we could come visit her. So yeah, that night, we got a call. IT WAS HER! She said, "hey, I stole your pen, I'M SO SORRY." he said, "It's okay you can keep it," she said, "No like I want to give it back to you, I feel really bad, it says on your card you have church tomorrow, can I come there?" so of course Elder Plaizier is like "HECK YES!" AND SHE CAME! And she's come since and we've been teaching her for about 7 weeks now, and she has a baptismal date. PRETTY COOL. Also, I accidentally agreed to baptize her in our 4th meeting, because I was kindof zoning out in the lesson, and she looked at me and asked me " you can baptise me, right?" I didn't understand, and when I don't understand i generally just say " 'no, 'no " which in Czech means yes, yes. So I accidentally agreed. We hoped she would forget, but we met with her on Saturday and she made it clear I would be baptizing her. But we know it's probably just because she feels like I won't let her drown because I'm the biggest. Haha
So yeah, theres THAT miracle!
We have lots.

FRIENDS OF MINE. EMAIL ME PLEASE. Thought I'd throw that one in there.

Hmmm, Oyuntuya just got a calling as Chorister for the branch and Bayara is now 1st counselour in the Elders Quorum presidency. Pretty awesome! Any questions from anyone? Glad to answer them.

Anyways, much love and I'll talk to you all later!
Elder Chezik

Father's Day

Nazdar!

Soooo this week has been very interesting, not too much happened on here, but I had about 5 people tell me how my mom was having a heart attack that she didn't write me last week and how sorry she was, SARCASM mother. I am very sarcastic.

AAAAnyways, missionary life is wonderful as always, this week is week 6, which in a normal mission would be the end of transfers, however, in the BEST mission in the world, we have 9 week transfers, so thats whats up.

 

Hmmmmm, what else, I got some pretty sweet landscape pictures because this week, like all weeks here, was absolutely flipping gorgeous. Also, we do ALOT of walking, so I have alot of picture opportunities.

Hmm, my czech is pretty good for how long I've been out, but blbost overall, I wish it was better. Everyone seems to be doing well I see, glad for that. So I might be buying a guitar. Mostly because they're super cheap here and also, we had a training about using your talents as finding ideas, and we live in a college city, so lots of progressive thinkers, so this week when we're contacting, we're gonna be sampling to see what the demand for guitar and piano lessons is. Elder Plaizier is an EXCELLENT pianist. So I might get a guitar. If so, please don't send me anything for Christmas or my birthday mom, shipping would be like 50 bucks, which is like a guitar price here, so I can just get myself something.

Hmmm, what else, thank you everyone who is emailing. Unfortunately, if you are emailing me and not family, I can't email you back but i can paperwrite you, and you can email me. So keep it up, and the letters on its way!

As for new things happening, there's not a ton. Our investigators are progressing well, though I'm not supposed to give too much detail on that.

Oh to answer your question about how people know us out here, at least in Liberec, not many people have even heard of us. Most people here are atheist and if they're not, 9 times out of ten they're non-practicing Catholic. We are one of the only Protestant churches here, and the ONLY one who has Christ's name in its, so usually we just sayy we're from the church of Jesus Christ and point to our tags. We get shot down alot, but generally we laugh it off because some people here are characters.

So everything is going well, I'm a missionary, just like I've always wanted, and I haven't got hit by a bus yet or found out I have a flesh eating bacteria or anything, so overall I'm doing wonderful.

-much love, Starší Čížek 

Mom's first fail... sigh

Doooooooooooobry Den!
Well, seeing as i have NO IDEA what is going on at home this week, because of the lack of letters received from mom and dad, i guess i shall talk about MY week.

Hmm, so on Tuesday I almost had to deck a drunk bum named Sergie, (the only reason I know his name is that he kept repeating "My name is Sergie" (in czech of course) So it started because he gave us each a bus ticket, so we said thank you, and introduced ourselves, and when he shook MY hand he didn't let go. He proceeded to profess his love for me to Elder Plaizier and pedestrian passers-by, after which he then started shouting to people that we were Jesus Christ, or something to that effect, and finished up by grabbing my arm with both hands as tight as he could. We were late for a dinner appt, so I told him we had to go and he said, "nooooooo don't leave me", so I shook him off and we began to walk away, he then chased us, and elder plaizier started to jog, so I followed. So that was Sergie.

Hmm, we had a sweeet training on Wednesday about how a mission is forever and watched a Jeffery R Holland talk. WHAT A SPEAKER. Also, did I mention that his son, Gordon B Hinckley's grandson, D todd Chrsitofferson's son, ALL served here? Oh and that President Uchtdorf was born in Ostrava and Elder Bednar's family is from Slovakia? So yeah, we're pretty well connected.(p.s. if you're my non-lds friends reading this, you  will have NO IDEA what that means, but its okay)

Hmmm, what else happened.........
We went to Prague, AGAIN. And we're going again next week, AGAIN. Its great but I loooove Liberec. I'll attach some pictures of Liberec.

Hmm, it would be FANATASTIC if I could get a ukelele chord chart PDF emailed to me, also a picture of a čížek. 

This week was good, but SO fast, on Wednsday I'll will have been in country for a month. WEIRD.
Hmm, I'll also attach a picture of Elder Plaizier, My wonderful, patient trainer who I'm sure I drive insane :)

Much Love!
-St Chezik

First Baptism! June 4, 2013

Dobrý den rodini!

Well, hmmm this week was, well....
AMAZING!

Oyuntuya was baptized, Nan'da (their daughter) was blessed, and i learned TONS!
So to start off, first things first. This week was crazy. We were ALL OVER the west of the country all week. I was in 4 cities this week, and Prague TWICE! District meeting in Jičín, specialized training in Prague and then Exchanges with the zone leaders in Paradubice! AND then Prague again for the baptism! Crazy bananas I tell you, crazy. AND we dont have a car, so we ride buses alot and the people here drive like they're flippin driving the Knight Bus in Harry Potter or something! But its exciting, what can I say. Speaking of Harry Potter, that lesson with Harry Potter Plan of Salvation, not so good, so no more H.P. :( but its okay! This week I have a toonnn of pictures to send, some are of the exchange with Elder Egger, (he's Austrian) some are of random nonsense, and some are of the BAPTISM!

Bytheway, I forgot my razor for the exchange and in the past 3 months have started to grow facial hair like a flippin Bulgarian! So, if it looks like I have a goatee, well, thats why. SO the exchange, was pretty cool because Elder Egger has a guitar so i got play again for a bit, (HOORAY) but also we were teaching a guy in our English class and we practiced asking people about where they're from and he told me our last name isn't Čežík its ČÍŽEK! Apparently, in the czech republic its suuuper duper common, its like the Mitchell of the Czech Republic. Also I found out that a čížek is a type of bird like a sparrow, and that theres a song about them, which of course I'm learning. Also I figured out how to decline our name into the different modes, OH I never explained that. So with Czech names, only the men keep the real last name, the women take the name and add ova, and for the family, you add ovi. BUT our name is special because it has a fleeing e so Mom's name would be Carolyn Čížková and ¨we are the Čížkovi. PRETTY COOL, RIGHT?? i THINK SO! So if somebody could google ČÍŽEK for me and send me a picture of one, that would be sweet.

Glad to hear everyone is doing well, and feel free to tell tom ill be happy to take that old jeep off his hands when i get home. haha This week should be good, we have more training in Prague on Wednesday, and that means I get to see all my mtc group again for the first time in 3 weeks! Exciting.

Well, thank you for writing me everyone, Be good, ill see you in about 22 months and a week, muahahaha,

Much Love, Starší Čížek

(ps the caption for the last picture is "P850X?!?!?!?!? THAT WILL GET YOU WAAAAY MORE PUMPED THAN P90X!")

May 26, 2012 Liberec, Czech Republic

What a week in the Czech Republic!
We are working our little fannies off out here! So we have one of the smallest branches in the country, (hence us being a two man city) anyways, we are one of the smallest, but not for long! So Oyuntuya is being baptized on Saturday, AND ELDER PLAIZIER BAPTIZING HER! Apparently, Bayara told us he was going to and then they thought about it, and they just knew that Elder Plaizier should do it. Pretty legit. He was suuuuper reluctant to accept though, because he is alot more humble than me, haha. Anyways, we see miracles every single day here. Its suuuuper weird to think that Matty and Amy are already married! Buuuut oh well. SO we have this investigator named Matouš, who is nine years old and refuses to get baptized and when we ask him why he just says, "just because". Hes kindof a stinker, BUT i finally got him with something! He has a very short attention span BUT i found out he loves Harry Potter. So guess who is teaching the Plan of Salvation with Harry Potter refrences throughout, THATS RIGHT, THIS ELDER. HA! I knew all of my random knowledge of Harry Potter facts would come in handy some day! Also, i got to look at the books in Czech, SUUUPER cool. Hmm what else, oh we are all over the place this week, going to prague TWICE for specialized training and the baptism and also going to Jičin for District meeting AND going on exchanges in Třebič, not that any of you know where ANY of that is, but suffice it to say, i am gonna be traveling ALOT and Liberec is in the very north of the country, next to Germany and Poland. SUPER cool. Im super stoked to stay here for a bit if Elder Plaizier leaves at transfers, which he PROBALY will seeing as hes in his 3rd transfer here, but he is also 2nd counselour in the branch so theres that. Also, apparently Prezident sometimes likes to mix it up and have missionaries followup train each other, so if that happened to me and Elder Plaizier left I would be the district leader out here, AHH! That would be sooooooo much work, I dont know how elder Plaizier does it. Anyways, i hope everyone is enjoying lide, THANK YOU for the emails, please keep them up.
Much love Dawgs,
-Starší Chezik

First P-Day in Czech Republic May 21, 2012

Send e-mails to robert.chezik@myldsmail.net - remember to include your home address so he can write back.

Hard copy letters can be sent to:

Církev Ježíše Krista Svatých Posledních Dnů

Elder Robert Chezik

Badeniho 1

160 00 Praha 6

Czech Republic

P-DAY WOOP!
So our pday here is monday whihch is super duper nice and i loooooove pdays here. I found out I can have musical instruments so im gonna go buy a ukelele today (guitars are too big and too distracting for me, i decided) MAN this city is legit! We are a prettz small operation, seeing as its just me and Elder Plaizier but we still do crazy work! We have a baptism on the 2nd, An awesome young lady named Oyuntuya. Guess what language shes speaks? WRONG! Mongolian. Her and her baby and her husband and his mom immigrated like 3 years ago. They are THE COOLEST FAMILY EVER, Bayara (her husband) has been in the church forever and so has his Mom, but Oyuntuya just started taking the lessons like 6 weeks ago. SUPER SOLID. We teach her over Skype with Bayaras brother (who until yesterday was a missionary in mongolia) Mongolian is crazy! It makes Czech sound SUPER easy, but its not haha. We have a bunch of other investigators too, but theyre the coolest haha.
Hmm what else, Oh yeah! How was the wedding?? I want details and pictures ya punks!

Dad, just like i told you before i left, we shower EVERY DAY. I could shower twice if i really wanted to. Also we have a washer in our apartment but no dryer :( Speaking of, i attached some pictures of our views from our apartment and also Halušky, a suuuuper awesome slovak dish. The food here is WONDERFUL, well mostly anyways, and the buildings are suuuper cool. I looooooove all the naměsti, (town squares), they have them ALL OVER here which is totally sweet. Ah man i love being a missionary!
TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO HAVE YET TO WRITE ME, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KICK YOU IN THE FOOT. EMAIL A BROTHA WOULD YOU?! plus, everyone should just email me because its like a BILLION times faster. That goes for family too, emailmeeeeeee1
Im doing suuuper well overall, happy as can be and stoked for more teaching. Learning a ton of czech, loving all of the members here (all 15 of them:)), and overall kicking feet and taking names. (p.s. saying kick in the foot is a sister bohne phrase, so we all say it.) I miss you all but DEFINANTLY dont want to see you for another 23 months, p.s. i come home on Vickis birthday 2014 hahaha, looks like we are gonna have 3 parties in 3 days!
Much love, Stay good, read the B.O.M. feed the missionaries, live well, enjoy every second! Youll never get it back!
Nashledanou,
Starší Čežík

P.s.s.s.s. I found a former investigator whos last name is Čížek, WHOA!

Arrived in Czech Republic May 16, 2012

 Ahoj Rodinu!

So i made it! Im here and safe and crazy thankful! Guess where im serving?! Thats Right, Liberec!! Whooop!
This place is SUPER CRAZY! Think of diagon alley but totally modernized stores and stuff there, we have a mcdonalds right across from our apartment. My new companion is Elder Plazier and he is super cool, well actually, i have no idea because I've only known he existed for like 4 hours now. Yesterday we were in Prague which was insane, WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE AND PICTURES DO NO JUSTICE TO THE BEAUTY OF PRAGUE! And Liberec too! (its pronounced LEE-BER-ETS) What a place! Our mission president is super nice, but we havent really had too much time to talk because theyre doing this new program where they throw you in the water and ask if you can swim after, pretty funny actually. So we meet up and do all our interviews and training in two weeks. I am SOOOOO happy to be here, its craziness, the weirdest thing is that EVERYONE speaks czech! I met our branch president, and Liberec i guess is a pretty small branch, so we have about 15 to 25 people there at a time. Send my mail to the prague address, and mom, please post that on FB for me? I dunno overall, im totaly psyched, i tried to attach some pictures, but i dunno if they got there, oh well if not haha
Overall everything is great. I get to teach and english class tomorrow, which should be interesting. SO stoked im doing great, i would love some mail, Czech food is amazing, people are nice, Place is INSANE. Love you all! Talk to you next week!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.