SCOREBOARD!

WINNING TEAM - LOSING TEAM - WINNING TEAM - LOSING TEAM

This week at Family Home Evening we played pictionary for our activity.

GIRLS AGAINST BOYS

you all know who won. (WHO RUNS THE WORLD? girls.)

it was so funny because our branch president's wife is sitting there and turns to the boys and says, "how many points do you have? How many points do you have?" 

Then I felt like I was in high school again, screaming in the stands 

"SCOREBOARD SCOREBOARD!" 

needless to say we had fun.

Then my comp is still sick. So I went out on splits with one of our adorable members and the branch presidents wife. and taught some amazing people!

I love our members. 

We called our cute friend that taught a lesson with me and she told me that she skipped her last class of the day to teach with me. SERIOUSLY? 

wow I am so grateful. that is TRUE CONSECRATION. dropping everything for GOD. (and a couple missionaries in need.)

Then I went out and taught with my branch presidents wife and she bore her testimony so powerfully and by the spirit. and then the guy we are teaching is like "yeah, I have been thinking I want to get baptized in a river." and I was like GREAT

and then that night I realized that that would be a really long time because it is already FREEZING outside. and its going to be a really long time. and then at the end of the week Sis. Parsons and I met with him and he was like "yeah, I want to get baptized soon. like before winter ends, so we are going to have to find someone who will baptized me in ice water"

excuse me?

SERIOUSLY. THE LORD IS IN EVERYTHING! absolutely everything.

Oh, and you already know that if you are in Kosice you are travelling. 

back and forth. 

meškating(delay)

missing trains sprinting for buses missing buses sprinting for different trains. 

while we were running for a bus we hear "hey" english, turn around. 

a girl is running to us and says "are you serving here?"

1.english 

2.no one ever uses the language "serving"

SHE MUST BE A MEMBER!

turns out her brother served in the czech rep. 6 months ago and they wanted to see slovakia, and just happened to run into us at the bus station. 

miracles.

but all is well and we made it to Brno. had an exchage with the sisters before it was too dark and before my tummy was hungry, and then went home and made all the czechs Halusky.

SPOILED

speaking of spoiled.. if you are sick this is the place to be. 

LITERALLY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP DELIVERY DAILY

We still have like 8 more servings in our fridge.

We what have I learned? 

PERFECTIONISM cannot be a thing. 

we are not in a race. it does not matter how fast we run or how fast the persons in front of us runs, or even if they cross the finish line.

WHAT MATTERS is that we cross the finish line.

We cannot look and people and see the FACEBOOK view, because we will always be disappointed with ourselves. 

Don't quit. This gospel is good and there is so much to learn from it. 

it is an amazing blessing. I hope you all know that too.

I also hope you have an amazing week FILLED WITH MIRACLES.

S laskou,

Sestra Ratcliffe

fat fingers and panic attacks

well to cut to the chase,

so I don't leave you all hanging..

CANADIAN THANKSGIVING WAS A BLAST.
AND WAS REALLY YUMMY TOO.
best part is that none of us are sick so that means, mama taught me well.

also learned that I have NO idea where to put the meat thermometer into a chicken or any other piece of meat to tell if it was cooked.
fortunately it was.
and it was our cute friends FIRST THANKSGIVING.
hope we didn't scar her too much 

(we forgot the sweet potatoes and the cranberry sauce. and not to mention we had to heat everything up in the microwave.. lol the missionary struggle)

We have this really cute mom that we are teaching and oh, her baby is so cute. 

and we went over to her house the other day to visit and her baby was on her bed and we were all chatting and then all of a sudden mommy walks out of the room with out baby.

and you all know that as missionaries we can't hold babies.

so Sis parsons and I start freaking out. 

and then the baby starts to crawl across the bed. 

so we freak out a little more...

so I try to push him so he slides closer to the middle of the bed. 

He didn't like that.

so he starts crying.

the from the other room mommy yells "oh bring him here!"

"CRAP WHAT DO WE DO?" I exclaimed to my companion

uhhhhhhhh

Oh, I have an idea lets try to make him walk. we got him down, grabbed his hands and try to make him walk. 

attempt failed. 

*MORE CRYING*

so gently we pick him up and take him to mommy. 

quick hand off, and phew. safe.

next thing you know mommy throws baby into our arms again and seconds later we hear running water coming from the bathroom. 

IS SHE TAKING A SHOWER?

we finally got out of the house with mommy and baby, (NOT IN OUR ARMS but in a stroller.) 

then we are walking and mommy calls the hair place to get a haircut. 

luckily they didn't have any time to take her.

We were just so concerned about being exactly obedient, that we were praying the the hairdresser was busy. 

my dear friends prayer works.

We had someother times during the walk that mommy passed baby over, we would say a quick prayer and put him into the stroller praying he wouldn't cry. 

AGAIN PRAYER WORKS.

beyond all that drama, we are seeing some real progress in this mommy. 

the gospel blesses lives, I know it because I see it. 

I see a literal change in peoples attitude when they can sing the song of redeeming love. 

and Alma says "I would ask, can ye feel so now?" Alma 5:26

this quote was ALL over conference which by the way ROCKED my world. 

and made me do some major reflecting. 

Can I feel so NOW?  Do I acknowledge that everything good is from God?

We have seen some mad crazy miracles this week. 

We do this thing call tabling where, we set up a table with a ton of brochures and a white board and we have a question, and just contact around the table. and in two days sister Parsons and I taught 19 lessons just tabling! Oh boy oh boy it was fun.

We had a lesson scheduled with a guy that I met tabling at 9:30 we wanted to meet at 10:30 but accidentally sent the wrong time in the text.
FAT FINGERS.
that time rolls around and hes not there. 

its like getting stood up for a date. 

but, less painful because, two people and we are not dressed up for it. 

so we text him, and as we are waiting one of our friends comes running up to us to give us a hug. 

she was in a hurry to get to her train but we were able to talk with her because we hadn't seen her in a LONG time. then we get a text and he said I am so sorry I thought our meeting was at 10:30. WHAT???? 

well that was quite a miracle. we were definitely there to run into our friend.

we were walking out of game night this week, when all of a sudden our bus starts pulling up to the bus stop. WE SPRINTED. pushed the button and the bus started to drive away. "NOOOO" we screamed standing on the side of the road. when out of the blue the bus stops driving and the doors open. MIRACLE!

Few things I have learned this week 

1. My english sucks. I don't know how to form sentences anymore. #slovakbrain

so sorry if you don't understand my broken english. it wasn't that great before the mish and has quickly diminished since then.

2. the lord is in all things. he doesn't just make up the difference, HE IS ALL THE DIFFERENCE. 

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. 

IT IS THE GREATEST BLESSING THAT I COULD EVER WISH FOR.

have a blessed, miraculous week

S laskou,

Sestra Ratcliffe

 conference sockies

and the batter to make more than 70 banana cupcakes! YUM

 the fog outside our house

Helping a friend clean out his house.

 THANKSGIVING DIN DIN

 our group for DINNER.

Our friend doing the splits

wheres the TURKEY?

the miracles just never end.

Sister Parsons and I have been so giddy this week, BECAUSE

literally everywhere we GO we run into someone we KNOW (seriously, I should be a rapper.)

We were on a bus going down to the city when we find this super cool guy who hasn't been answering his phone for the past week, Um hey bud what's up? 

THEN, we are on our bus going home and we see this girl that is really busy and can never meet and the next day she texted us! hahaha PRESSURE.

Then you all know Sis. Parsons and I follow the spirit when it comes to food LOL We go into our neighborhood grocer to get some food, and we run into ANOTHER lady that we know, and Oh, she is just the sweetest. 

AND THEN, (seriously when I say miracles I MEAN MIRACLES. ) we are walking to church and everyone and their dog and their grandmas dog is out because there was a marathon going on and this mom and her baby, just happened to be walking down the namestie and yells out "HI" in this HUGE crowd of people. and you know (or maybe you don't), but when we hear ENGLISH IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, you turn around.

Ahhhh...

man,

missionary life is good.

This week we went to the cute little village to teach english. Oh, MY HEART IS JUST SO FULL THINKING ABOUT IT. and we thought it was going to be the last time we were going to go (but it wasn't) but we took the kiddos outside and there was this stage and Sister Parsons has this brilliant idea,

"sister ratcliffe, Go teach them a dance on the stage"

"OKAY"

So the kids and I hop up onto the stage and the only upbeat missionary appropriate song we have on our phone is "I SAW THE LIGHT"

we hopped around the stage and oh boy it was cute.

also this week we were just walking down the street when a man heiled us.

HONESTLY DON"T KNOW WHY. but we decided it would be best not to contact him.

speaking of CONTACTING, we have a member who is preparing to serve a mission so we went outside and he was my companion and sister Parsons was just a lady on the street, OH, it was funny. he was like:

"Hello do you have time"

                    "No I am in a hurry (most common thing we get on the streets)"

"Good well we teach about God"

LOL

and speaking of member missionary work, we were doing service with two of our members at this guys house and he is SOOO grateful the we help him out and he was like is there anything I can do for you all? 

and our member was like "Ummmm, yes. You can come church this Sunday at NINE." 

He kindly declined this week, but promised he would come in the future. 

our hearts were real happy.

Last, week we received a notice from the church that there was someone who wanted to meet with us. REALLY HE WANTED TO MEET WITH US!!! and Oh, boy is he cool. he met with missionaries four years ago came to church and then moved to Blava. 

came back to Kosice a month ago and wants to meet again. I can literally testify of how truly prepared god makes people. yes, it was necessary for him to meet with missionaries four years ago, but now he is ready to meet and to learn and to make steps towards baptism. Aw. yeah.

also hear in Slovakia, it is not normal to knock on doors. usually there are really big gates outside or we are at apartments and we just ring the bell and wait for someone to answer the intercom system.

BUT, 

this week we found a village, 

without big GATE

and sister parsons and I about flipped. 

we were actually a little scared because we never have like face to face communication. its usually through a giant fence.

STEPPING OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE.

this week sis Parsons and I are celebrating canadian thanksgiving!

BUT WE CAN"T FIND A TURKEY.

so thats okay. 

we found some chickens instead. 

it should turn out good. 

I hope. 

Pray for us.

Okay friends. 

This is a really long email. 

I hope you all know HOW MUCH I AM GRATEFUL for you all. 

We are on this gratitude HYPE. 

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for the knowledge that I have of his existence. 

What a miracle it is, this life we have.

Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me. hahaha 

s laskou

Sestra Ratcliffe

študium a služba

 messing around during studies

WEARING NORMAL CLOTHES 

"EW GARY GET OUT"

 VELKA IDA

 KIDDOS

AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR DAT

SHORT STORY LONG? IS THAT A THING?

 

this week was different to say the least. 

 

its hilarious. 

 

You know how I told you all that we have been sick since like the beginning of the transfer?

Well we were really sick on Tuesday so we called Sister McConkie and she told us to go to the doctor. So our Branch Presidents wife picked us up 30 minutes later and took us to the doctor. Thank goodness for her because I DON'T KNOW MEDICAL WORDS IN SLOVAK. 

After the doctor examined both Sister Parsons and I he came to the conclusion that we both had BRONCHITIS. 

 

AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR DAT! 

Especially a missionary!

 

We had our blood tested so that the doctor knew what kind of medication we needed and the Phlebotomist asks sister parsons "WHERE DID YOUR MOM GO?" LOL

We were laughing so hard, because we felt like twins going to the doctor with our mom and she was like "COME HERE, GO HERE, LETS GO GIRLS" 

 

oh boy was it cute. 

 

Let me just tell you. I love our branch. Our branch presidents wife called us the next morning

(Because we were quarentined to our house) and asked us if we had food. "YES" 

 

ONE HOUR LATER...

Our branch president is at our door with HOT squash soup desert and sour cream to go in the soup. 

 

I just feel SO loved here.

and don't you forget that we saw MIRACLES. 

 

We were laying in our bed and our phone was ringing of the chain! 

former investigators wanting to meet with us. 

people from the summer who received contacting cards

the whole nine yards. 

 

The LORD truly does adjust your circumstances. 

REMEMBER THAT!

 

Well that was basically all of our week. 

Confined to beds and many MANY hours of church history

 

THEN YESTERDAY WE WERE IN BLAVA FOR TRAINING. and that rocked my world. 

EVEN though we had to STAND on a train for four hours because there weren't enough seats. LOL 

LIFE OF A MISSIONARY, am i right? 

 

OK.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK. 

 

S LASKOU

 

Sestra Ratcliffe

POWER IN WORDS

FAMILY AND FRIENDS HELLO
I just want to tell you all quickly about this guy we met on the street. 

We stop him. Tell him we teach about god. and he starts talking, and my mind was blown. 

He said two years ago he was in a real rough situation drugs, alcohol, lots of bad things. 

One day he goes to his drug dealer and his dealer says to him "I THINK I FOUND GOD"

He gave it all up. Drugs, alcohol, everything, and he, like his dealer found God. Man, I cannot even tell you the power that people have on other people. This guy changed because his drug dealer found God. 

Friends, remember the power and influence you have on others. 

THE BIGGEST MIRACLE OF THE WEEK

EVA WAS BAPTIZED.

Last thursday Prezident McConkie came to town and on Friday Eva was baptized. 

We then were helping Eva get changed after she was baptized and Sis. Parsons turns to her and says "EVA, You are 100 percent perfect right now" Eva looks up, looks in the mirror with the biggest smile that her smile turned to laughter and she just giggled for a minute. Because SHE REALIZED how truly powerful her decision was. WOW I am just speechless about it all. And on sunday she recieved the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Ahhhhh, I love missionary life. 

LAST SUNDAY,

We met this girl on the streets. We were talking and I could not get the word I was trying to say out of my mouth. So I apologized to her and told her I dont speak very good Slovak. She then asks us where we are from, We answered..

AND SHE FLIPPED

She started rejoicing.

 "YOU SPEAK ENGLISH"

"OH MY GOSH, Do you know how rare it is to find people who speak English here?"

It was really cute. Then we asked her if we could meet this week. 

AND SHE CAME

currently she is living a vegan life so we got hot chocolate and she got ginger ale and we talked. and she came to game night and was just so GREAT!

Well lets just say that yesterday was a MIRACLE. So we have this guy who we are meeting with, and usually we meet him during the week at this cafe, BUT this week he asked if we could meet on Sunday. Trying to keep the Sabbath Day Holy we asked if we could meet somewhere else. Turns out he is afraid of crowds and that cafe is the only place except for a park. So we are planning on a park and we wake up and it is POURING RAIN.
 literally pouring. 

So crap we are going to the cafe. 

So we get there. and the waitress comes out and asks if we need anything.
We told her we were waiting. 

Our friend came. And for the WHOLE HOUR the WAITRESS NEVER CAME BACK! 

Oh yeah. GOD IS SOOO GOOD.

I just LOVE SLOVAKIA. I am so indebted. 

Search for miracles, because they are there and god is just waiting for you to open your eyes. 

Have a great week

S Laskou

Sestra Ratcliffe

 the baptism

EVA 

Studies

My ears were hurting

 me being pretty

 My dear friend

Grocery shopping in 7/11

Okay, So I failed to mention this last week, but we went to this little grocery store right next to our apartment to do our weekly shopping, we get a cart and start shopping, then a rush of teenagers come in, so we patiently wait a little until they are all gone to go buy our groceries. We get up to the counter which is a solid 1 foot long and start putting all of our groceries up. THEN all of a sudden this huge line forms behind us, the most awkward part is all of them have like a chocolate bar or a pastry and we have a weeks worth of groceries! They opened up another check out because the line was so long, it seriously felt like we were shopping in 7/11 for a weeks worth of groceries. Can you all just imagine?

wednesday:

Do you all know that in Slovakia, we celebrate peoples names? 

its a real party, but we don't really know how to celebrate them, but this week we celebrated Martina's name day, we went out to lunch and then we went and got hot chocolate. OH MY HOTCHOCOLATE HERE IS THE BEST. It is literally a melted bar of chocolate in a cup. Seriously SOOOO AMAZING. 

thursday:

So my companion has had a cold for the past week and has been a real "Snuff-a-lub-agous" so we talked to Sister McConkie and she told us that we have to cancel the rest of our schedule for the day and take a nap. I thought that maybe just sister Parsons would have to take a nap, since she is the sick one, but nope. I had to take a nap too. It was the strangest thing. We literally sat in our beds in the middle of the day, not doing missionary work. It was an obsurd sensation. We both wanted to jump out of bed and hit the streets. Needless to say it took us a little while to fall asleep and was pretty restless, but all is well and we are getting back to normal health!

friday:

we got our ears talked off for 2 HOURS by this man who talked about literally everything. Buddha, Jesus, Meditation the whole works. 

it was fun, I had hot chocolate while he talked. :)

saturday:

another name day celebration!

Sister Van Dalen's! Yay, us and the elders made her lunch in the church building and she was so cute. We had the table all set and we made pasta and salad and garlic bread, because that's basically all we can make, and SHE LOVED. It was so amazing. She was just so grateful and hugged us and sent us cute text messages afterwards. I just love this branch. 

Then for game night we went to this warehouse that is full of badminton courts and we just played badminton with this guy who is so amazing at it. Literally, I never thought I could sweat playing badminton. Boy, was I wrong. 

Well I guess my week wasn't as eventful as I thought it was, but man did we see miracles. Slovakia is so ready to just explode. I am so grateful that I can be a part of it. I love seeing peoples hearts change in front of your eyes. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

HAVE A MIRACULOUS WEEK KIDS!

S Laskou,

Sestra Ratcliffe

Trencin project

Last week

Badminton

Lunch for Branch President's wife

Sept 7, 2015

Hey is everyone getting my email, if not let me know. Cause when I select group it is only bringing up 30 people. 

Well this week has just been full of adventures. I know I say that every week, but really mission life is just a non-stop adventure. 

So, on Monday we are going to the mall to get water balloons, because we have on plan to have a water balloon fight with martina and the elders. FUN FACT. Water Balloons don't exist here. But real balloons work just like water balloons so all is well. On the way to the park we are walking down the street and all of a sudden this lady yells "MISSIONARIES" and then her husband was like "They have missionaries in Slovakia?" LOL 

Turns out this couple is from Idaho. they were here for a dirtbike race the wife is a member and the husband is not. We invited them to church and the husband said "I have been to plenty of those" so me being me replied "well have you ever been to one in SLOVAK?" He said no and they both ended up coming to church on Sunday. 

Anyway then we had our water balloon fight lasted a solid five minutes and the Elders were the only ones who got wet. LOL then we are walking back to the building and a police officer on his bike comes over and starts chewing us out telling us that if we leave balloons in the park again that we will be banned from the park. Guys, We cleaned the balloons up, so we walk back and there is one balloon that we missed and a small piece of another balloon. that officer must have taken his bike through the whole area that we were playing. LOL Silly officer. 

tuesday we were street contacting, and really had no sucess until we stopped this guy like an hour into our contacting block and we were talking to him and he was just seriously so cool. 

We are asking him if we would meet and he was like "yeah, but I have training..." and so Sister Parsons asked what kind of training he had, and under his breath he says "ninja" so we were like "WHAT?" and he told us he was a NINJA. it was the best! 

Thursday we went to a girl we teach house for dinner. It was such an amazing experience! He parents don't want her to get baptized, but her parents were out of town so she invited us over for dinner. It was really fun and her house is just adorable. then, She walked us to the bus stop with her dog and then her dog ended up peeing right on sister Parsons leg like she was a tree! Sister Parsons reaction "WOW THAT WAS REALLY WARM!!"

This weekend we went to trencin for a service project. we got rained out in the morning so we went and cleaned a hockey stadium, soaking wet and then in the afternoon we went and painted a Fence! Oh I just love service! 

Well I don't know what is happening with the whole email situation so I am going to let you all go. have a wonderful week! 

Continue to build that testimony! This church is true the book is blue! 

S laskou

Sestra Ratcliffe