07_08_13 Kari's Letter

Hello family :)

Gosh how I miss you all :)

How did the 4th go? We obviously didn't celebrate it here.
We did however spend the 4th eating the Slovak national dish of
Hl'usky. We had lunch with an investigator and she made it for us. It
is kind of like a potato pasta, with bacon and cheese. It's super
good. I'll have to make it for you when we get back. They have the
coolest traditions here :)
We also spent most of the day out in a little village called Budmerice
visiting Brother Kultan. He is like the Slovak uncle I never knew I
always wanted :) He also speaks french, so we get along quite
swimmingly. Had quite the embarrassing moment this week though...
So the bus ride to get out there is quite long... and it is quite hot
here... thus I drank lots and lots of water. Sooo, by the time our bus
arrived at the Kultan's, you can imagine how badly I needed a
bathroom.
ahem.
Well, we get in Brat Kultan's car and he's trying and trying to turn
on the Air Conditioning to make us comfortable, but it's not working.
Keeps trying. haha so finally I say, in my broken slovak. "Brat
Kultan, sorry but I must use the restroom." "O no" he says and then
something like "really fast then we will go" and we speed off to his
house. I booked it inside and quite surprised his wife. Needless to
say... it became quite the joke of the evening. At my expense, of
course.
But it's funny how little things like this helps members to trust you
and find common ground with you :) Brat Kultan, I think, liked that we
were comfortable in his home and enjoyed being there. I love the
members here.

Slovakia is quite the place to be! There are little chapels all over,
shrines to Christ and crosses. Belief here is strong, and the people
here amaze me with their politeness and kindness.
I am loving it here and trying to learn Slovak. Phew, God must get
quite the laugh out of me trying to learn this language he assigned
me.
This week I was trying to tell an investigator the story of how Satan
tempted Christ, but Christ did not give in to temptation. Well, the
word for "to tempt" is close to "to bite" in slovak... needless to
say, I ended up verbalizing the lovely phrase "Satan bit Jesus 3
times" instead of tempted.

Go ahead :) laugh all you want. We sure did :)

We will meet our new mission president tomorrow! I am so excited.

We had an awesome awesome lesson this week with an investigator.
He hasn't been progressing, but just randomly showed up to meet with
us. We then met with him the next day and started talking about
prayer. He began to talk about a peaceful feeling he feels when he's
with us. He said he feels it sometimes when he's not with us, but it
never lasts. I asked him, "What do you think that peaceful feeling
is?" I don't know, he said. Maybe you have something that I don't
have.
We testified of the Holy Ghost, the 3rd member of the Godhead, who
comforts us and helps us to feel peace. We receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost after being baptized by proper authority. We then asked him
if this is a gift he would like to have in his life. "That sounds
nice" he said.
We weren't able to set up a baptismal date with him, but He is
beginning to recognize the spirit, and he wants it. It is amazing to
know that investigators do feel the spirit when we teach them.
Spiritual power is evidence of our missionary calls :)
The spirit truly is real.

I find it amazing how temporary is the mission, but how eternal is the
call to be a missionary.

We should never compare ourselves to others. The only person to whom
we should be compared is ourselves before now.
Don't we understand that diversity is beauty? that God doesn't want us
to all be the same, otherwise he would have created robots and not
human beings.

It is so disheartening to me how little people understand about being
children of God. We are His beloved Sons and Daughters and He wants us
to be happy in this life and the next. Life, of course, is hard. But
He provides a way. He loves us, knows us, understands us, and wants us
to see how great we are.
Satan is the one telling us "you're not good enough" or "you can't do
this" or "give up" while God tells us "I have given you many talents;
trust in me and all things are possible" and "endure to the end"
I think the world could be a much happier and wholesome place if
people could just understand this relationship with God. More people
would know who they are and why they are important. There would be
less loneliness because everyone would have a family, a perfect Father
with whom they can communicate.

Brat Kultan told me this week that "we all have our own fingerprints."
I really like that phrase; I hadn't heard it before in English so I
think it may be a Slovak phrase. I am so glad that God gives us
different strengths so that we can build up one another.

I love you all and I wish you the best with everything. I pray for you
and thank you for your prayers.

Love Sestra Kane