Kari's Letter 07_22_2013

Hello everyone again,

Phew, writing emails is a laborious work :) I'm excited to tell you
all about this week.

First of all, NOTHING went according to plan. and it was the WEIRDEST
week out of the ENTIRE transfer.

That being said, here's why:

We had NO hot water this week :) I got to take ice showers every day,
which meant I had the blessing of more time in the mornings to read my
scriptures because showers lasted a full 2 minutes tops.
Our Trams also stopped working. Yet, another blessing, because we got
to walk A LOT. It's good for your health.
We only had 7 lessons this week, which meant we were able to talk with
a LOT of people on the street. Contacting, contacting, contacting, all
day long.
Unfortunately the contacting ended up not so "fantastic" for me...
We made our way back to the building after a full day of contacting,
and I was NOT feeling well at all. (hadn't been most of the day, but
nevertheless I trekked on). We sang with our Elders to practice for
the BAPTISM (since we did the musical number), and everyone informed
me how "pale and sickly" I looked. I had the "sicky eyes" as everyone
called them. The rest of the day ensued as follows:
Sister Kane wants to work.
District leader says no.
Sister Kane feels fine.
District leader says you look like you got hit by a bus.
Sister Kane says I just need some water.
District leader calls President.
President tells Sister Kane it would be wise to stay inside, but it's
"her choice"
Sister Kane feels guilt tripped into resting... goes home.. passes
out.. and apparently has a fever of 102 degrees.
I have a really hard time staying indoors when I feel like I should
work. My thoughts were screaming at me "YOU CAN'T REST YOU CAN'T REST
WORK WORK WORK., this is SACRED time. Don't waste a SECOND!" yet, kept
feeling the prompting like I should take a rest. I got on my knees and
prayed. I asked Heavenly Father what he wanted me to do. If I should
rest? If I should study? Was it even okay to rest?
After the conclusion of my prayer I opened up the scriptures and found
3 Nephi 17:3
"prepare my mind for the morrow".
Earlier, my district leader had pointed out that it would be better to
rest NOW so I could work all day tomorrow, than to just be sick for
many more days. "what if you were so sick you couldn't go to Palko's
baptism?" he said.
My heart sank.
Not go to our investigator's baptism?!
Miss Palko's baptism (0.0) I couldn't do that.
I decided to rest, taking this scripture as a sign from the Lord that
it was better to be prepared for the morrow.

Just fyi, I feel fine now :) But I woke up this morning with Pink Eye.
I get to go to the pharmacy after typing this email and try to figure
out how in the world to communicate with them in slovak. It was fun
trying to learn the vocab during language study this morning for "pus"
"goop" "oozing" "red eye" etc.

Speaking of the language, people here don't believe I'm from America
haha. Everyone thinks I'm Russian, Austrian, or that I'm from Ukraine.
Apparently I don't speak Slovak with an American accent.

I was able to use the ancestry information Aunt Cathy sent me in some
contacts on the bus :) I showed some Slovaks my ancestor and tried to
talk to them about eternal families. They weren't interested but it
was fun to use my own family history while contacting.

I am forever grateful for the talent God has given me of musical
ability. The Branch pianist went out of town for a while, and so I've
been playing the music for the past couple Sundays. I have never
really played music for sacrament before; but now every Sunday I get
that chance. This week as I played the sacrament hymn, I sat pondering
"what would it be like to play music for the Savior?" If Christ were
breaking the bread and the water, like he did for the apostles, would
I play differently? With more emotion? with more solemnity?
As I played I pictured in my mind that Christ was standing at the
little table breaking the bread and handing it to the 2 priesthood
holders who give us the sacrament every Sunday. How POWERFUL would it
be to have the very man who the sacrament represents administer it
unto you? I cannot even imagine what that must have been like for the
apostles.
I am so lucky that I get the take the sacrament every Sunday. It is
one of the greatest blessings in my life. Remembering the savior is a
blessing.

We had 2 awesome lessons this week! They were first lessons with
people that we just contacted on the street. Both of them are
Catholic. One of them found it so fascinating that we see repentance
as a good thing; that we enjoy repenting. To him repentance was a
terrible thing. I am so grateful that the restored gospel of Jesus
Christ teaches us that we can repent each and every day and that it is
a BEAUTIFUL process. It is a process through which we can be made
clean and come to understand Jesus Christ on a deeper level. How else
can we come to know Him as our Savior unless we see a need to be
saved? Of course, it's hard to repent. Change has never been easy. But
the cleansing feeling that comes through the Holy Ghost, and the love
of God that we can feel as we honestly turn our hearts over to him,
are some of the greatest blessings that this life has to offer us.
Unfortunately, this man dropped us right before our 2nd appointment,
but the other man has become a progressing investigator! We speak with
him in Slovak, English, and Spanish because he's from Peru. We love
him So much and have high hopes for a baptismal date soon. He is sooo
sweet. He prayed for us in our first lesson, and he hasn't prayed for
15 years! He has soooo many questions haha. When our 2nd lesson ended
he was so shocked an hour had already gone by "that's not possible!"
he said. "already? But I have just begun asking questions."
I will let you know what happens with him :) for now I am trying to be
patient and let him learn in his own time :)

Do you think God was ever nervous to give us our agency? Did he ever
fear loosing his children? As a missionary I think my investigator's
agency is what makes me most nervous.
What if they don't keep commitments or don't choose to be baptized?
That is what scares me. Not the language, not the teaching.
Trusting in God one day at a time.

okay a little bit about the baptism and then I'm out!
It was on Saturday. It was beautiful. Little palko was baptized in the
Dunaj at his dad's canoe club. Which we hiked through the wilderness
to get to :) (If you've never hiked in a pencil skirt, please do me a
favor and jump inside the "life-as-a-missionary-bubble" by doing so.
Sincerely, sister kane)
Anyway, once there, the service began. There were about 20 people in
attendance. The spirit was so strong. It was beautiful to see his
father be able to baptize him. We (missionaries) sang "oh my father"
to the tune of "come thou fount"
I am so so so so so ever so grateful to the Lord that I was able to be
a process in teaching Palko to help him prepare for baptism. The
members shared testimony after testimony of how they have seen the
church grow, of their own baptisms and spiritual experiences. Everyone
in this branch is a convert except for a few of the little children.
Slovakia is an amazing place to be. One brother in the branch shared
with me about how he has been praying for YEARS for Sisters to come to
slovakia. Well, Here we are :) and boy are we so glad to be here. I
love the people. I love the work :) I love being a missionary!

Also, I have to give a talk on sunday in Slovak ! Wish me LUCK