The land of Prague

Well hello there....Wow, what a great week of letters! and great pics too which are always so fun!

So yes I was in Prague last week. We left early Tuesday morning and flew straight there. We got in at like 9 am Prague time and met our contact (well ok, travel agent) at the airport who showed us our hotel which seemed glorious to us and was nice enough to show us different spots that we might want to hit up. So we checked in and then went to old town Prague and the Charles bridge which is very famous for some reason. (People say you haven't been to Prague until you've been there so I can officially say I've been). We saw tons of old buildings/cathedrals which I took tons of pictures of. I swear I felt like I was in the slides of my humanities class! We got to see a chamber orchestra perform in an old cathedral with amazing acoustics. They performed classics like the Four Seasons, Cannon in D and Ave Maria, it was great!

Also of course it was way fun to see the ol' gang from the MTC. Everyone seems to be doing well though two of the elders are currently serving in the Baltics mission up in Estonia because they had trouble getting an invitation letter this go around so we hope they will all return soon. We thought we'd have more time there but as it turns out we flew back the next morning and got home by three so there ya have it.

Um, I'm not sure why you think I'm with a mini-missionary but it's understandable with my track record, but yea...I'm with Cectpa Fourtina who is a full time missionary. This is her second transfer and she's from Canada and speaks French but knows English too and is great! We love serving together and both have a real desire for the work which is nice. Um....what else, what else.....oh yea, I bought a shirt in Prague which I love and we had to pay for food out of our own pockets for some reason. Normally they give us MSF but this time it was up to us....and Prague is VERY expensive so....any replenishing of the funds would be VERY appreciated 8) (This is to the parents obviously)

Um....So Dad I got your email and don't worry it won't distract me -it still is an eternity away. (At least that's what I tell myself to help me sleep at night!) So I'll try and talk to President when I go to the office today but so you know ...we got an email that says the usual about how it's hard for families to come out, and they know they want to know info to buy tickets at the best prices etc. but because of visa requirements/trips etc. we won't know the end of our mission (if we'll extend or not etc.) until 2 or 3 months before the end of the mission. But like I said I'll try and talk to President today cause he knows I want to extend and with the lack of foreign missionaries coming in I would think it shouldn't be a problem so ...we'll see.

What else, what else....so yea, the family we found is great but they haven't really grasped on to the gospel like we'd have hoped and it's hard to meet with them -all different schedules. Their daughter who is 21 and is just going through a hard divorce has two kids -4 months and 1 1/2 is interested and even is open to baptism. But right now her schedule at work changed and she doesn't think she can make it out on Sundays in the near future. So we're praying really hard for her to be able to talk to someone or change with someone. So please pray for her! We found another mom and her daughter on Monday and a lady yesterday and we're going back to both later this week so we'll see how seriously interested they are.

I've been trying harder lately to have a focused mind throughout the entire day. One thing about the mission is that it is pretty easy to do the physical stuff -go knocking, talk to people around you etc. But the actual hard part is keeping your mind always focused and thinking of something productive whether reviewing memorized verses, vocab, investigators, or anything religious and not letting your mind wander to memories of fun times before the mission or movies coming out etc. But the more I've tried and we've prayed, the better our successes have been and I really see the Lord helping me grow in abilities necessary. But like Mike said -the key is to stay humble and teachable. Sometimes the Russian people definitely help me stay humble, haha! One person will comment on how well I can speak, the next will bluntly tell me that I speak terribly. Or more often than not they will ask why my companion has a clearer accent than me ? (Her native language is French so I guess it's easier to speak clearer to their ears.) So in a way it's a blessing cause it keeps me humble.

Apparently the 4th of August will be our P-day because of transfers (it's a Monday) just so you all know. Well I love you all! ...And I would write a fun story of me romping around the mother land like Russ requested but I'm afraid I'm running out of time so I'll save it for next time.

I love you all!

Cectpa Richards