It's about that Time!!! - Welcome Home . . . .

The end is nigh...

Well I don't know if I am going to have a legit time to email next week, because we are heading to Prague on Monday so this will be my last group email of my mission. 

So lets start with this WILD WEEK. 

-Tuesday: I don't know what happened. must have just been a normal day. but what is a normal day for a missionary? I DON'T KNOW!

-Wednesday: this day was just all over the place. We went to our friend to do service for him and we sanded and painted some stairs in preparation for the winter, then we went home and got ready and headed to our members house. She is just great, she is 84 and during communism and everything she was a czech living in Slovakia and at the time czechs and jews were really persecuted. and she told us stories all about those experiences. Then as we are heading to go paint for our branch president we realize we have no clothing to paint in, and our house is pretty far away from where we are, so I said "lets go to the Cinsky obchod and buy the cheapest shirt and bottoms( that are modest) in the store." so we set off on a journey to find these things and we were pretty happy with the outcome. Then we went and painted, and on the way there Elder Harp realized that his name tag was not on his shirt and he about had a panic attack, but I reached into my bag and said "Elder If you would like a name tag you can wear my spare" Thinking he would deny the offer, because, HELLO ITS A SISTERS NAME TAG, i started to laugh,

and he takes the name tag and puts it on.

 I learned a special lesson that day. wearing Jesus Christ on your heart is more important than who you are right now. its about the journey of becoming. in no way am i trying to say elder Harp is going to become me, but it is so much more important to stand ALWAYS as representatives of Jesus Christ at all times and in all things and in all places. 

-Thursday: In the morning we got on a bus and headed to a village to meet with Sister K and learn how to make GULKY. Oh boy I just love her. we started with heading out to her garden to shake her plum tree and collect the plums for the gulky. and then we made them and ate them while Sister K explained to us that if you eat too many poppyseeds and took a drug test you would fail for 72 hours after consumption. Glad my gulky were cover in poppyseeds as she tells us this. So basically we were under the influence of not real drugs.

THEN, With the elders we have been discussing changing up the way we find people. So we came to the conclusion that today was the day. We took elder Kuhlmanns ukulele and 2 cups and had a pretty hipster singing display where Elder Harp and I were doing the cup song and Elder Kuhlmann played the Uke and we just sang for people as they walked by, and in the middle our friend with the eyes called to meet up, so we headed over to meet with him.

-Friday: Okay we met this guy from California, who was born in slovakia and was on vacation and we talked to him for a little bit. and he was telling us how Jesus was not a jew and all these fun things, but hey he was cool. and he wasn't too far from home. 

Then we went to Dubnica a have our culture night and we go sit down and there were two performances a czech group and a chinese group. Our member went and bought us some Non-alcoholic beer so we could experience the real slovak culture, and by the time we had to leave a slovak group came out so we got to hear one song and it started like this "AMERIKA.." hahah 

I just love this place. Jan told us on the way home that most slovak folklore music is about sex, drugs and rock and roll. so thats nice. 

-Saturday: We travelled to Blava for District conference with the branch president and Sister K and prez's wife. and we were there and President Kearon of the seventy was there and we talked for a second which was a really cool experience and during the conference we were singing an intermediate hymn, when I saw pres Kearon stand up and start to walk into the congregation, but I wasn't paying too much attention because I was singing to one of my friends who refused to stand during the intermediate hymn. out of my peripheral vision I see Elder Kearon is walking in my direction and coming closer and closer to me. so i think "oh no, what did i do?" "am i being too abnoxious singing to my friend?" "oh man.." he finally gets up to me, shakes my hand, asks for my name, and say "would you like to bear your testimony before I speak?" before I could even think about what he just said my mouth was like "YES" after the hymn was over I sat down and started to pray real hard for words. I got up to bear my testimony, I have no idea what I said, but I was happy and I know that is a fruit of the spirit. 

-Sunday: Hopped on a train with our "eyes" friend and headed to conference in bratislava, Yes we travelled to and from bratislava three days in a row. Conference was wonderful, minus the fact that our train came in 40 minutes later than it was supposed to so we missed the first 15 minutes of conference. but all is well and after the conference we walked around old town with some friends and took some pictures. 

-Monday: we had training, that is why you didn't hear from me yesterday. It was really strange to, at the end of training stand in front of the missionaries and share my testimony for the last time. it was a bitter sweet moment, because as i looked out I knew that these missionaries are those that the czech and slovak people need, but it was hard to say that I am leaving. 

Which I am still in denial if any of you are wondering. I have been telling sister Easton I can joke about going home all day long, because I still do not think that its actually going to happen. I think when I get to prague I will feel like I am just transferring to a new area, then when I get on the plane I will be like "this isn't a funny joke president" and when I see you all I will realize that its actually happening. so thats how that is going to work. 

I have been writing in this journal about the 80 things I have learned from my mission. I have learned way more than 80 things, but yesterday i talked about 5 really important ones that i would also like to share with you all. 

I learned 

1. First and foremost your mission is not about you. It never was. My trainer taught me this early on. This is the lords mission. you are on the lords errand. Everything you do is for the Lord. end of story. 

2.NEVER DOUBT YOUR FIRST CHOICE

Sister Easton has taught me a powerful lesson about a king teaching his son why he is a bad king. he told this son a story about a time when the father was younger and save a turtle from being eaten by a bird.  after rescuing the trutle her thought "oh, no. maybe I just starved the bird and now he will die" to which the son responds " so you are telling me I am a bad king because I choose the weak" and the King says to his son "no you are a bad king because you questioned your first choice." 

Many missionaries know why they came on a mission, but as time goes on, we tend to forget why we came out in the first place, what our purpose is, and what we are even doing here. Maybe in life we will have similar thoughts. but please NEVER question why. don't question why you were baptized a member of the church or why you decided to come on a mission or why you keep commandments (even if you are not a member of a church). Friends for whatever reason you did it, you made that right decision and you can know that it was right from our father in heaven. 

3.This land is a choice land. THE WORLD IS CHOICE. 

the lord has said "For behold the field is white already to harvest" 

it is not brown ready to plant or yellow ready to water it is WHITE READY TO HARVEST. there are people all over the world who are prepared to hear this message and as children of our heavenly father it is our responsibility to share this message of peace with the world. 

4. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can save the world. It is a reality that we live in a world filled with bad music and activities and influences. but the beautiful reality is, with the gospel we can live in this calamity filled world in peace. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring that peace. 

5. At the end of the day, Your mission is all about you. 

I also learned this from my trainer when she gave her departing testimony. and I have a testimony of it. yes, I will leave this country, eventually, but how grateful I am that I could share this year and a half with the most wonderful people. I saw fruits on my mission, I have seen lives change, but most of all I have seen my life change. FOR THE BETTER. I am still a 20 year old girl who has no idea what she is doing. I am not going to come home and be a perfect being, that would be cool but I am not quite there yet, I will make mistakes, but thanks to my mission, the people I have interacted with and the support of all of you, I COULD be changed.  

and that is the most beautiful gift. 

Change hurts but it shapes us into something beautiful. 

I would also like to personally thank all of my companions for the lessons that they have taught me. Sister Parsons for teaching me a. how to be a missionary and b. how to truly love the people. Sister Russell for teaching me what a successful missionary really is. Sister Eggers for teaching me how to teach by the spirit. because powerhouse. Sister Abbott for teaching me to never give up on people, they all deserve the message. Sister Van Langeveld for teaching me that greenies really do have magic. No im kidding she taught me that power come from action and you have to do work to see results. and finally Sister Easton taught me a. to love and treat people the way you would if they were standing in front of you. I have never heard her say a mean thing about a person ever, and b. diligently chase the things that you want. because in order to truly acheive something you have to chase after it. 

This gospel is so true. God and Jesus Christ are in the Heavens. They are looking over us and they love us. ALL OF US. The atonement of Christ is as individual as it is infinite.(from a conference talk) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's church on the Earth T O D A Y. JOSEPH SMITH restored it and it is lead by a living Prophet who holds all of the keys of this dispensation, THOMAS S MONSON is a prophet. I know these things to be true. 

See you all very very soon. 

S Laskou, 

Sestra Madison Jane Ratcliffe

PS.

If any of you are wondering about my arrival home, 

I will be arriving 8 Sept. 2016 at 2:50 in the delta terminal 

My homecoming talk will be the 18th of September at 9.  

Painting

also we totally left our clothes at home and hit the činsky obchod and bought the cheapest clothes we could find. the result was pretty awesome

Elder Harp forgot his name tag to go painting, but luckily I always carry a spare. So we became a trio and left elder Kuhlmann to be a solo. LOL

THE FOOD OF THE WEEK

plum balls( it sounds better in slovak. ) 

"Slivkový gulky"

pumpkin soup with lentils. 

G O O D F R I E N D S

Friends and goodbyes. 

but only goodbyes until Sunday because we are all going to Brno for the temple dedication on Sunday

SESTRY

Slovak sestry and the czech sestry. 

LOVE THEM.

BLAVA

 and walking around the city with our friends! 

the travel to Bratislava

Culture night in Dubnica

We went to Dubnica for culture night and the only super slovak thing was the non-alcoholic beer, which our member bought for us so we could experience slovak culture. :)

but hey we got to see some czech culture and chinese culture so I think its a win-win. hahaha 

TIME! STOP!

OKAY I don't know if time just flies because we are having fun or what, but its definitely not fun to have "last" things. gross. 

This week was filled with the saddest things and the happiest things. 

to start the week out, we met up with natal-pal and ján and headed over to this factory to play some laser tag! it was so fun. we played two games, the first one was individual and Elder Kuhlmann won, BUT the second game we played teams and Sister Easton, ján and I were on a team and then the other team was natalia and the Elders

and I SMASHED. jk

I mean our team won, but I took first place. 

I am slightly proud about it. 

but working on humility. hahah 

Then we had to say goodbye to natalia because she is headed off to bigger and better things. 

BUT LIFE CONTINUES.. 

So after the sad goodbye we met with the guy that wanted to go "convince people of their wrong ways" 

remember him?  

So we met with him and he is sooo cool. 

We met him and he walks into the building and immediately heads over to the Elders to introduce himself, without hesitation. We show him the building and he says "where can we sit?" okay we are just going to hop straight into this huh? so we sit down and he sat in the BIGGEST POWER POSE I HAVE SEEN since an interview with Prez. McConkie. it was like he was laying down in a chair. hahaha so then this lesson happens and it was such a powerful experience. He told us that a couple days before we had met that he had prayed to ask God to show him the path and then we met him. WOW. I can't get over this guy. also he is really good at listening and kind of stares at you with his golden eyes very intensely while we talk. When we were leaving sister Easton said "I am pretty sure he is a vampire." 

But seriously is this guy REAL? 

then the next day we went to a village to meet with our friend who just happens to live in the same village as our golden eyes friend and while we were there our golden eyes friend calls and says that he has time to meet and we met with him and taught him the plan of salvation. which means we basically taught him the first two lessons in less that 24 hours. 

Then it was thursday somehow, and it was my  ( i mean sister easton's) year and a half mark.

I AM NEVER LEAVING! I still have time! hahaha 

just kidding. I am absorbing the time sister Easton has left! 

but we were there and we heard some noise outside, and I just knew what it had to be. so I open the door to see sister Eggers with her parents 

and we jumped and laughed and it was like a movie moment.

and later that night we were able to spend some more time with them and to talk! 

it was a very strange mix of both worlds, and also this strange idea, where she was like "hey see ya in three weeks." and I was like "yeah three weeks!" and then I was like THREE WEEKS?? small crisis. all is well.  

Then Friday we celebrated Sister Easton Birthday with some good west fest corn, in memory of west valley. and the elders thought we were crazy, but I think at least one of the elders liked it! 

Then we had another meeting with Golden eyes and celebrated his birthday with marlenka and volleyball. but the volley ball was literally so hard that we all have bruises from playing. 

Oh I think that over this transfer I have really looked like an old lady or something, because this guy on the street asked me how old he look and I guess 65 and he said "you are good. you should gamble with that" then I asked him how old I looked and he said 34

THIRTY FOUR. 

are you kidding me? 

I cannot pass for a 34 year old. 

NO WAY! 

oh my word. I told sister easton it has to be spiritual maturity or something, because I cannot looked that old. OH BOY. hahahah 

but to a spiritual note, 

"We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I love this thought. We so easily can get caught in the things that are not significant, but if life up our eyes we can truly see the beauty of the small moments of our lives. 

Have a wonderful, blessed, miracle filled week. 

S Laskou, 

sestra ratcliffe

Happy Birthday Sestra Easton!

West Fest Corn

LASER TAG!

Rozlučenie part 1

Ok this week was just completely scattered. After we emailed we went to a village and met with our friend there. He is just great, we taught him the plan of salvation and we told him about the three kindoms and he said, "well if the telestial kingdom is better than this world I think I will be okay there." 

*face palm*

where did we go wrong? 

hahah but we explained that he wants to live in the celestial kindom! 

Then that night we came home and our neighbor asked us to help her in her cellar and we said YES so we went to change our clothes to help her out and she said that she would ring us when she was ready. so we waited and waited and about 8:45PM comes around and nothing. so we went down all ready to help her out and she said "oh, I said tomorrow..."  

... yep totally didn't catch that one. 

SLOVAK STRUGGLES. 

but life goes on. and we got some free cake! Yay fat. 

I know that I have said this a lot but Trencin is really the place to run into people again and again. So we were walking down the street and we hear someone yelling "DOBRY DEN" so we look around to see that it was a lady that I have not seen or heard from since Sister Van was here. and she told us that she wanted to take us mushroom hunting on Saturday and then never called. 

its all good though. they probably just forgot, or got busy. Yeah lets go with that one. 

Then that same day we followed the spirit, AKA we went to the grocery store to get a snack and found our vegan friend, who that day got hit by a car when she was riding her bike, but she came out of it with only a few scratches thankfully. 

but then that night we ran into our neighbor as he was walking his dog and we chatted with him and watched his dog while we went to the gas station. 

3 PEOPLE IN 1 DAY? 

nič nie je náhoda 

Then we went to BLAVA and had an exchange with the Sister Training leaders and I got to serve with Sister Ross. its fun because Sister Ross and I have served around eachother longer that any other sister missionary, but we have never served together, but we had a good time together and time just flew. 

I was telling my companion this the other day the if time goes any faster at this point I might start to panic because we wake up and before you know it I am eating dinner and getting ready for bed! TIME JUST REALLY NEEDS TO STOP. 

Oh but when we came home from the exchange we were pleasantly surprised when our elder were on the train platform with some scones and cake for us to eat for dinner because we would not get back to our apartment until 9PM. what gems. 

BUT THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD. 

(I hope you are not bored yet) 

So we had some oppostion this week, lots of people telling us to leave them alone.. 

"but God loves you" we responded. hah

and then I was on the streets Kind of getting upset that no one would talk to us and I see this man from afar, and I turned to Sister Easton and said "this man is going to be elect" and we stop him and WOW was he ELECT! We talked with him and told him about the message and he stops and says do you have time we could grab tea and talk about it. 

and my brain is like: "So.. yeah.. we are uhh.. missionaries ..we have a completely free schedule tea today and tomorrow and the next day if you want!"

so he says "moment" then he calls someone and asks if he can move his meeting to 30 minutes later. and by his reaction his friend said no and so he said okay well if you are not here I will just take a bus and meet you there. 

WOW HE IS JUST SOOOO COOL

so then we talked about joseph smith and he said "I feel like I should argue against this but I just can't" 

BAHHHHHH 

then he told us that he would like to help us with our slovak by going with us to convince people of their wrong ways. 

I JUST CAN'T GET OVER THIS! 

man miracles. they totally happen. 

Then on Sunday we had a farewell for Natalia because she is leaving us to England! So we made some Vegan food and man it was a party! 

heres a pic:    

Saying goodbye to natal-pal. sorry it is so blurry, I don't know how to fix this feature on my camera. 

Well that was basically my week in a nutshell

The blessings that come to us from enduring to the end in this life are real and very significant. -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
I like this. 
Enduring to the end is the hardest part, but the blessings of enduring are REAL!

have a great week! 

S Laskou, 

Sestra Madison Jane Ratcliffe

Exchanges with the sestry

me and sestra ROSS

tons of vegan food!

Dcera?

HI HI HI

well this week was just full of laughs on the street. I ma obviously really good at making mistakes! but a dear companion (Sister Abbott) read me a talk that teaches you should just learn to laugh at things like that! 

its called: Come what may and love it by Joseph B. Wirthlin

Well this week started out pretty cool, when we met this guy who seemed 100% uninterested in talking to us at all, but he stuck around and we made arangements with him to teach him the gospel( which he didn't want) but we would also help him with english, and the time came around to meet with him and when we texted him to confirm our appointment he acted like he didn't even know who we were, and then said he didn't have interest.

AGENCY. gets ya sometimes.

Then on tuesday we had district contacting and I went contacting with Elder Harp and I turned to him and asked him what his favorite method of contacting was and he responded "I usually do the things that are the hardest" and after that we did not stop talking to people! he would stop in the middle of walking a certain direction around mine and his companion and say "lets get this guy!" thats the missionary spirit! I learned a lot from that hour! and it was so fun!

then Sister Easton and I were contacting and we stopped this guy who was talking to us about life after death and I was testifying and he said "my wife is on the other side." so at this point I am convinced that our testimony made this guy realize that there is REALLY another side so I respond "YES she is! and she is waiting for you!" to that he responded "how do you know? you didn't even look." a little confused I said "well sir, I can't see into the spirit world." and then my companion turned around to see that his wife was LITERALLY on the other side...

OF THE STREET!

I was so embarrassed, but we finished the contact and laughed all the way home!

We met these really cool people from England the other day who told us that their daughter just moved here with her fiance and that because of that they will also be living here! 

Of all places? TRENCIN SLOVAKIA? God has a plan for all people! I just know it!

We had a really awkward moment on the street yesterday where we were talking to this man and he looks at me points to my companion and says "dcera?" which mean "daughter?" completely in shock I said no she is 19 and I am 20. then he left.

HOW OLD DO I LOOK? goodness gracious.

Thats basically all I have today.

I really like this thought about pressing forward:
Press forward implies something more than simply going forward. Press implies something is preventing your advancement, and you must push through it. To go forward in this life, you must press temptations aside,press through obstacles, press the doubt and the fear under your feet, and embrace the divine qualities of faith, hope, and love.
How do you press forward? Nephi answers, “Ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men”

Pressing forward means pushing away the “temptations and cares” of the world and keeping the commandments with exactness. “If ye love me,” Jesus said, “keep my commandments”

We must press forward if we are going to get anywhere! we have to push away the temptations and push further that we ever have before, because this world is never going to get us anywhere without the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Christ and this is his church.

S Laskou,

Sestra Ratcliffe

a lambo and also Slovaks putting their deflectors on the outside of the car. CLASSIC!

THE KIDDOS at game night. 

right before elder Kuhlmann hopped off the teeter totter and I came crashing to the ground

and tacks in my shoe

rain photos