B>B>B>BLAVA

Well I have officially made it one full week in Blava and still have no idea where I am!

This place is HUGE!

So this week was just wonderful!

So on Tuesday we went to the Dunaj and we were contacting and we planned to find a man with a backpack. 

So we are walking and we stop this man and we speak to him in slovak and he says, English?

So of course the next question is where are you from?

And he said France. ( UGH, my previous companion spoke french!) So we chit chatted with him and then we went on our way and then we found a man with a backpack and we talked to him and he was super cool and then we went onto the bridge. 

AND THIS IS WHERE MIRACLES HAPPEN>

So we find two men with a huge backpack on back and another backpack on front. Clearly seeing they were tourists, I stopped them anyway and they also requested english. I asked where they were from and they said Quebec. YOU ARE JOKING. MY LAST COMPANION WAS FROM QUEBEC! I was just laughing my head off. Then they didn't really have interest so we chit chatted and then went on our way. 

So we are headed down the bridge and all of a sudden sister Russell and I hear, "WAIT WE WANT TO KNOW MORE!!!!" and there they were. Gabriel and Jack our two quebec friends. 

So we taught them, but they didn't know how long they would be in Slovakia, and we haven't heard from them since, but SEEDS. Seeds are being planted. 

And then we met this lady and WOW IS SHE COOL. 

She is evanjelik and like ooh she just loved learning about what we were teaching and wanted to learn so much more and asked tons of questions and PLUS her baby is adorable.

OOOOH I wish I could tell you more but I don't have much time, But just know that I am doing wonderful and I love seeing miracles. 

and I see miracles everyday! Its GREAT!!

Okay have a wonderful week

Sestra Madison Jane Ratcliffe

Okay no more goodbyes after this

Don't worry it looks like I'm cross-eyed, but I am just crying. The Branch President and his wife

Girl we tech

More goodbyes

 The millers

 The Branch

GOODBYES>

 Sister Burdigova

I know you only read my emails for the pictures. LOL

 A few of us at the Bowling partayyy Last week

Playing Catch-up

These are all pictures from last week when we went to the "bible" opera

T..T..T..TRANFERS

So here I am on a Saturday night and we get a phone call from the AP's. 

Sister Ratcliffe...BLAH BLAH BLAH SMALL TALK.... you are leaving Kosice and going to Bratislava with Sister Russell! WOW that was unexpected. I thought I was going to be in Kosice FOREVER!

Oh how the Lord has his own plans!
So I got up super early this morning at 4:00 to get on a train to get to Blava. 

Friends, It was insane how sad I was to leave. I felt like I had my heart ripped out and then left it in Kosice. But you know what? I know that the lord has plans for me, and I will love the people in Bratislava just as much as I will love the people in Kosice.

Before I left, the week didn't end there. 

Last week was completely wild. We had culture night where we go out one night and do something cultural. We went to an opera about the bible. THERE WERE SO MANY NUNS! We couldn't help but laugh. After the opera ended our senior couple turned to Sister Parsons and said, "I don't remember that story being in the bible." LOL It was such a fun experience though! and the pictures do not do it justice. That building is incredible. Unfortunately I just realized that my camera is packed in my bag so you won't get to see it until next week. Prepáčte.

Oh I also gave a talk in church on my last day. That was a joy. Crying in front of 15 people with them all staring straight at me. Don't worry I composed myself.

Wow I am drawing a BLANK as to what happened this week...

OH! We had our branch bowling party. I bowled like a solid 70.

Melissa is probably so disappointed. LOL

Well Obviously I can't even remember last week. So sorry everyone. I will bring my planner next week so I can remember! LOL. Have a wonderful week. I will talk to you all next week.

Sestra Ratcliffe

THE LAST WEEK OF THE TRANSFER IS HERE

STRESSED. LOL not really but there is an added amount of stress when you realize that your mom is leaving the nest and you are going to learn how to fly with a different bird. NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO SATURDAY.

FUN FACTS:

Chocolate chips: NOT A THING. Either chocolate bars or the chocolate things that you melt to do chocolate covered strawberrys. LOL NO chocolate chip cookies for me I guess. 

Air Conditioning: that sounds so spoiled but when you wake up in the middle of the night in a complete sweat you feel pretty gross. But lucky enough if we open our door in the living room and the window in our bedroom it creates this nice airflow and cools everything down. HASHTAG BLESSINGS.

MIRACLES:

So we taught one of our investagator the stop smoking program and we had him take all of his cigarettes out and we put them in his hand and told him to crush it. and he did and was literally LAUGHING OUT LOUD the whole time. It was hilarious. and then he destroyed the little tin container that held his cigarettes too. Man I just loved it.

Sad Moment: We were eating Icecream and it was good and all of a sudden PLOP!
......

My icecream was on the ground covered in sprinkles AKA ROCKS. awwww. LOL

Miracle in 24 minutes:

So this week we were walking down the street stopping everyone we could and we taught 3 people a lesson and 1 reset up for a follow up lesson and all of this was done in 24 minutes. THATS REALLY GOOD!!

also the LORD blesses you in the heat. I can testify of that. We see so many miracles on the street in the middle of the day. 

Yesterday was just all kinds of wierd. so it was like hot and then rainy and humid so we went to one of our members houses and visit taught her. and she kept us for 2 hours so by the time we had left we had to go home for dinner, and we got on the tram and some men were like "Oh hello sunshine! SUNSHINE! Oh look at you coming back from church!" So we walked to the other side of the tram and then we got off and some kind of ruccis was going on but no one knew what was happening everyone was just looking around to see who was screaming. and then we go to get on the bus and theres some drunk men on the bus (REMINDER: I AM A MAGNET FOR THE DRUNK ONES) and they were like banging on the windows to get out as we are trying to get in and all 4 of them fall out of the bus and I get trampled by one. miracle of this is that one of his friends was sober enough to apologise for him. HOW KIND. and then I was scared for them because they were just running across the street in the middle of traffic. SO hopefully they are okay! awww and then we saw a really hurt bird on the way home and I just hope that it is okay cause the lady behind us picked it up. wow yesterday was real strange. LOL I JUST LOVE MISSIONARY WORK.

Well I suppose that, that is all I have for now. 

Thank you all for all of your support it is really appreciated!

HAVE A MIRACULOUS WEEK

Sestra Ratcliffe

I'VE GOT SUNSHINE

Well folks. Summer has come and my is it HOT!

I told a joke in my english class, and either 

1. They didn't understand OR

2. They didn't think it was funny. 

Because Wednesday was like the official day that it was extremely hot, and we were on the bus, (and NO ventilation, or AC) and I was mad sweaty. 

And I told my english class, if I could have been more wet today, I would have been in a swimming pool. *CRICKETS*

I hope you all thought that was funny, cause I thought I was hilarious!

We went to visit our 85 year old friend this week because he told us he was going to make us halusky and I wasn't about to turn down that opportunity. So we get to the door. and he told us that if he didn't answer to just keep ringing the door bell. 

so we rang and rang.. and rang.. and like 8 rings later we rang his neighbor. and at this point we are scared, he's kind of old and isn't answering and never leaves his apartment. So his neighbor lets us in and we knock on his door and he disn't answer. So we said a prayer and left. we were then all in a slight panic that he might have passed on and we didn't even know about it. 

So the next day we were on exchanges and Sister Parsons and Sister Wilson went to his house. Turns out he went to the hospital becuase he has diabetes. 

Moral of the story: he is alive and well!

So wednesday we had exchanges and that was just weird. So for those of you who don't know what an exchange is our sister Training leaders came to kosice and we split so I went with sister Eggers for a day and Sister Parsons went with Sister Wilson for the day. it was weird. Becuase I have never been away from sister parsons and I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day. Not that I was physically lost at all, but I just didn't have the same person all the time. It was interesting to say the least. Not looking forward to transfers. 

On thursday we went and visited our little friends in velka ida and taught them english and they were a little antsie so we took them outside and at first we had like 8 kids and by the time we had made it to the park there were like 50. Sister Parsons and I were mind blown! Where did they all come from? Cause they didn't walk with us there, but they all showed up and played with us! It was wild. Picture below of our class. 

Well I suppose that is all I have to say this week. Sorry I'm kinda boring. I live in a really not boring place, but I just can't make it as cool as it really is. 

Have a miraculous week!

Sestra Ratcliffe

Seek and ye shall find. LOL

Some quick fun facts about SLOVAKIA. 

PDA is a VERY Common thing. Like its everywhere. The other day we were in the grocery store and this couple just happened to be making out right in front of my favorite chips. And no, I was not about to leave them on the shelf. So I scooted around them and grabbed my chips. They didn't even blink. Just kept doing their thing... LOL All I have to say about missionary life is that its an adventure.

Oh the best thing happened this week. Sister Parsons and I were CRAVING hummus and we went to like a ton of stores and couldn't find it so we decided to go to this giant tesco that was basically winco and we found it!

MIRACLES!! You bet our fridge is full of hummus right now.

Friends let me just tell you how aware our heavenly Father is of you. 

He knows each one of you personally and loves you.

I have seen miracles after miracles. 

And I don't have a ton of time to write because I get to go meet with one of those miracles right now. 

have the most wonderful week!

Seek for miracles!

Sestra Ratcliffe

This cute little house that is legendary for a missionary to Tract at.

 Everyone told me not to touch the cats in Slovakia. So much for my listening skills. 

LOL it was in the Zoo and Sister Parsons told me I could touch it. AND IT LOVED ME AND I LOVED IT, But not as much as I love Louis.

 The Cute Velka Ida kids we teach English

 Me and A girl we teach. LOVE HER

 and sister parsons on the train. our train has yet to make it to the station on time in the past few week. Hail storm, and a few unexpected delays. We always have adventures on trains.

 Girls night for
a Birthday

 Just at Spissky Hrad. (Spis castle)

 We climbed the Don't be afraid tower. I was more afraid of all the bugs at the top! LOL

 Me at the castle posing. PS don't know how to rotate pictures.

Sister Parsons and I, we spent all day at the castle.