Spring Begins in Plzen

A super quick rundown of the week, no one answered their phones so we went contacting a lot. And I am excited to meet Elder Terry's parents and get my magic box (sent a box with some necessities and mostly fun stuff over with an elder’s parents going to the Czech Republic… free shipping)! It will be sweet. We will be there tomorrow!

• My new companion Elder Anderson is from Idaho, and he is a total outdoor guy. He actually reminds me a lot of Carson, but he did some different sports and had access to dirt bikes, snowmobiles and guns growing up. I really like him. We have some different ways of teaching and talking to people, but nothing that stops us from working well together, and there are good things that we can learn from each other. The top 3 things I am learning from him are probably 1) Humility. 2) The importance of working out and stretching. 3) How to make fast, filling food. Morning workouts, we switch off between running and P90X every other day.

We made chicken legs in a crockpot, and steak fries in the oven. That was a tasty Sunday night dinner. Elder Anderson bought a crockpot, and then brought it with him.

• Our investigator L. (the sassy Czech man) is slowly but surely getting there. We will get him there eventually.
• In our Plzen District, Elder Brockbank is training for his first time. Sister Andersen has already trained and follow-up trained, so she knows what she's doing. So we have 2 greenies. They have the “deer in the headlights” look pretty good. The sister more than the Elder, she is a little more shy. He just goes for it, even though he can't roll his "r" yet. The greenies tried solo contacting for the first time during a singing display, and they did great. They don't understand much right now, but they are trying hard.
• Sestra Heap, one of my MTC sisters, was set to train in CBud this transfer. (I can't believe our MTC sisters go home after  this transfer. I keep pretending that is all a big lie and they are staying.)  From Sestra Heap: “Plot twist! So it turns out I'm not training a new missionary straight from the MTC in the normal sense. My new companion is Sestra Chalupská, and she's Czech! She's a member from the city Ostrava, and she's on a "mini mission" which means she's set apart as a missionary and everything, but only for one month. So that means I get to try and help her have all the experiences of a normal mission all packed into the next 4 weeks! The fun part is that she doesn't really speak any English, so that means we only speak Czech together 24/7.  She speaks the language perfectly so she completely understands them in that sense, but she also understands their mindset. She's a convert of about 3 years, so she knows exactly what it's like to go from being athiest to finding faith. Serving with her just brings an entirely new aspect to evertything! It's awesome!” 
• Tomorrow we will also go to Prague for MLC and have exchanges, so that should be fun. This week is looking better, as we will be able to meet with some people and work with them. All exciting things, and we are excited for the week ahead.

A picture I drew of the temple. I have discovered that I enjoying drawing things from pictures. Who knew? Not me. But I do now.

• We trigger dogs ALL the time while we are tracting. We will get close to the gate and some giant dog will jump up out of nowhere and started barking like crazy. They freak me out sometimes.
• I can't really hear out of my left ear, but we will be getting that earwax problem taken care of tomorrow. Which will be nice, because only hearing out of one ear for a week has been kind of disorienting. Interesting little experiment about what it would be like to be mostly deaf in one ear though. 

• To Caroline: Nazdar! I could try to use those crazy slang words you are suggesting, but the Czechs mostly don't speak English, so that wouldn't work too well...And yes, there is a ton of slang in Czech. All over the place. There is basically a whole accent that's kind of like slang. It's the accent here in Bohemia, and I love it. But I don't use it, because I am not sure if I am allowed to or not since it’s pretty informal.

So my spiritual thought this week comes from a thought and scripture from my Dad on Grace. I really like the scripture 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, it was one of Elder Tingey's favorites.

9 And he [the Lord] said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
I know, like Paul, that when I have these weaknesses, that I am able to rely on God's grace and then be strengthened. It is a great concept and also relates perfectly to Ether 12:26-27.

26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness;

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I have definitely found that by coming to the Lord I have seen where I am weak, but at the same time that as I am humble, the Lord magnifies me to be far more that I can by myself. Have a great week!  

-Elder Pickett

Our lunch today. We went to the brewery, and they have a huge restaurant 

in the complex that is really good.