7 Simple Words

Happy--- We met with Angie!!! She is amazing. We weren't able to meet with her last week because she cancelled the lesson. It was weird because we haven't gone a week without seeing her since we first met her almost 3 months ago. So she came on Thursday and explained why she missed. She told us that her psychiatrist told her that she needs to be independent and not to be really cautious when she meets with us so that she doesn't get tricked into anything... Then she googled Mormons and the Book of Mormon and was really overwhelmed and didn't want to meet with us. All I could think was NO!!! No no no. Please don't tell us you don't want to meet anymore. BUT she came on Thursday and we talked about her concerns and she is doing a lot better. We talked about transfers and how one of us will most likely be leaving and she invited us over to her apartment for dinner!!! She is so amazing.

Sad--- We had studies/interviews with President and he basically told me that I am leaving Prague... sadddd day

Crazy--- Night kontakting. I am learning to love it. It gets dark here at 4:30 p.m. It is insane. Since we are a new area there is not much else to do but kontakting and believe me, you meet some pretty interesting people.

Glad--- We had a lesson with Jaro (which translated means Spring) he told us that he feels different when he meets with us (THANK YOU HOLY GHOST!!!) And after the lesson the member that we had there talked to us for 30 minutes about how prepared he was and said that anytime we had a lesson with him to call and he would come and teach with us.

Far--- We went on exchanges to Ostrava... a 4 hour train ride there, 4 hours back. Blah.

Close--- Sister Bateman and I are practically related. That's what it feels like anyway... and after 4 months, I guess that's how it should be :)

Gross--- Metro P.D.A. It still grosses me out. I know I am in Europe but come on people!!!! Get a room. Actually don't. Meet with us, learn about the temple, and have an eternal family! I mean come on.

It was a good week! I have learned so much about myself these last two transfers. My faith has grown so much. Every day I get a little closer to being truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was reading this week in The Acts... Right after Jesus Christ has appeared to Peter and told him that if he loved him then he would feed his sheep. Then Peter goes on to run the church and he is just a powerhouse! It made me wonder, what happened between the end of The Book of John and The Book of The Acts. What happened to Peter? What did he do? What did he feel? Because before he doubted. He didn't have enough faith to walk on water, he denied Christ, he went back to fish. Christ constantly had to reprimand and revise... he did so lovingly but still. But the last time Christ appeared, the last time he asked "do you love me?" changed Peter. I hope that on my mission the same thing will happen to me. I have experienced the reprimanding and revision but I hope that by the end I can say that I am a truly converted disciple of Jesus Christ and even after my mission continue to be his disciple!

3 Nefi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life"

This work is wonderful. I'm so glad I'm here! Have a beautiful, wonderful, happy, smiley, week!!!

I'm thankful for you all!! HappyThanksgiving!!! 

s laskou

sestrabruno

Leaves Are Falling All Around

This place is beautiful. Holy Cow. Everything is a different color. The leaves are red, yellow, green, purple, orange. SO PRETTY.

 

This week was pretty exciting. We have a super cool awesome wicked new investigator named Matt, really Matous but he speaks english as well as slovak and czech so he told us we could call him Matt. His life has been pretty crazy and not very great so I think he has a hard time trusting people, but we had the best first lesson getting to tell him that GOD LOVES HIM! He is a former from the Elders so he knew a lot already about the church and he is kind of skeptical about living the standards but we asked him to give it a try and to meet with us, and he said YUSSSS. NEW INVESTIGATOR! It felt good because our area is still so new and really every new investigator has so much potential.

 

We also had a great lesson with this lady named Angie (Angea) she is also Czech but speaks perfect english. (Prague... I will never learn Czech because everyone speaks english!!) It is amazing to teach her. She takes gratitude to a whole new level. Really. She is so grateful for everything she has. Sometimes I wonder if our investigators or I am doing the teaching because I learn so much from these people everyday! Angie is so kind and so sincere, but she really does NOT like Jesus Christ. It makes me so sad!!!! She says she doesn't understand why people are so fanatical and she doesn't like to feel guilty about his suffering. We are going to talk to her about it this week and hopefully build her testimony of Jesus Christ... or at least plant the seed.

 

Then we had training and Sister Bateman and I had to do the training. My companion is the sister trainer leader, but president said that her companion should get involved too, so we just ended up doing the whole training together... It was so scary to get up in front of the entire zone and talk about Church Attendence, but I tried to think about it as an opportunity to bear my testimony about why going to church is so important. We told the missionaries that it is because church is the safe harbor away from the storms of life. I was really nervous but I think we did a good job. (?) hahahh it was a lot of fun anyway.

 

Everything is going well here in PRAHA. It really is the city of dreams. How is everyone else doing?  Have you all found the 1 person who you can share the gospel with before Christmas??? Let me know how it's going!!!

 

s laskou

Sestro Bruno

Open Your Mouth

So this week was awesome! We had another exchange with the other sisters in Prague. This one was really fun though because it was our first overnight exchange! And it was with one of my MTC sisters! I love Sister Rosenvall and I'm glad she is serving in Prague. Plus we taught our very own lesson with one of our investigators. I know I shouldn't have been scared becuase we are both in our third transfer and her Czech is really good, but I was a little nervous without Sister Bateman. The lesson went by so smoothly though. We talked about baptism and he said that if he came to know it was true, he would definitely be baptized. YUSSSSS. Way cool.

 

Conference was awesome. SO AWESOME. We just barely watched it this past weekend though because we had to wait for it to be translated to Czech. Thankfully we got to watch it in English... I'm not sure how much I would have understood if it had been in Czech, but we had to wait so that the branch could watch it in Czech and we could have the English in another room. There are actually a lot of members here in Prague that speak english, or some other language besides Czech. My favorite talk was by M. Russell Ballard who told us to OPEN OUR MOUTHS. He was really speaking to full-time missionaries and really speaking to me! Sometimes it's really hard to be brave in a place full of people who think I don't know what I'm talking about, or think that our message isn't important, but hearing that talk gave me the faith and courage to open my mouth and talk to people. The worst they can do is say no. And that is a little devestating, but with time, they'll come around!

 

I hope all of you had wonderful conference weekend as well (even if I am 2 weeks late) And I hope you are thinking about the person that you can refer to the missionaries! I know that they would really appreciate it! (The person and the missionaries) I love you all and I hope you are all happy and healthy and loving life!

 

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Puppy Power

Hey fam!

 

So this week has been really crazy. WE FOUND OUT THAT SISTER BATEMAN AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER. Which really was inspired because this week one of our investigators told us that he was going to stop meeting with us when one of us left, but because we both stayed he couldn't tell us no.

He said that telling us no was like torturing puppies, and he couldn't do that. WE HAVE PUPPY POWER. It is really true. Most people that take the time to get to know the missionaris come to love them and find that they can't say no. He calls it puppy power, I call it the Holy Ghost... same diff.

 

Our area is really starting to pick up. This week we had amazing lessons with people who thanked us afterwards for having the courage to do what we are doing, in a place where people are so unbelieving. Some of the people thanking us don't necessarily met with us, but they are affected and I have faith that no matter what, the Lord is preparing them so that on day, they will accept the gospel. Plus I know that the Lord sends those people to me to give me the strength to keep going and to remember that no matter what, I am making a difference. And I am here to tell you that you are making a difference to. Keep continuing to be an example of Jesus Christ. Keep having faith, Keep believing! USE YOUR PUPPY POWER.

 

Today the Elders had a baptism at a beautiful spot just outside of the city, in a River. Can you imagine? They baptized someone in a river in the Czech Republic in October. It was cold. But it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. They looked like angels in the water and I could imagine angels surrounding them keeping them warm despite the cold. (That is so cheesy, but you had to be there okay) This church is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true and beautiful.

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all

 

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

A Needle in a Haystack

A big hello from Prague!

It is truly beautiful here! Everything is going good. We are in a new area so we haven't been teaching so much, but we did teach one lesson this week! It was way cool because on one of the many full days of kontakting that we had, we stopped in a park for a water break after 4 hours of just straight rejection and I said to Sister Bateman why can't we just find someone who is at least curious about us. Someone who wonders why we are here and why out of the 1.3 billion people in Prague we stopped them? Sister Bateman just being the patient, persistant person that she is said, I don't know. And we kept walking. Then we kept walking and kontakting and after wandering around and getting lost for like 30 minutes we found this guy. It was an empty street and we just stopped him and told him what we tell everyone, we want to talk about God and he asked, Why did you stop me, where are you from, why are you walking down this street? It was so crazy. I didn't even know how to answer. We just said, We don't know, God just wants us to be. So we switched numbers and met with him. He is so nice. HE SMILES SO BIG. That is actually the reason why he met with us I guess, he said that he felt good energy from us because people in the Czech Republic don't smile enough, but we smile all the time. He has some pretty weird ideas about God, so we don't know what to expect, but we are excited.

We have also had some cool experiences kontakting and finding people that have absolutely no interest in our message, but as soon as we are done we ask if there is service we can do for them. Their faces change after that. They are so much more happy and willing to talk to us when they find out we want to serve. My companion was way awesome in comp study she said that we needed to serve more and reminded me that Ammon didn't go to the king and say that he wanted to talk to him about God, first he said that he wanted to be his servant, and then he served him. We don't know what the secret is going to be to get investigators and open the Czech people's hearts, maybe it isn't such a secret but I know that as long I just keep going. That has been the biggest thing I have learned this week. KEEP GOING. Life is so unpredictable and hard and sometimes we wonder, why is this happening to me? I can't handle this, I wasn't prepared for this. Everyone else is seeing success, why can't I? But God has given us THIS life. Your life my life, it's ours. We just have to know and trust that God knows us and he knows what we need. I hope you can feel God's love for you, no matter what is going on right now. I know everyone is having a tough time but God really loves you and the only reason why I tell you that is because I know he loves me! And if he loves me and I love you, well love is just everywhere, that's all.

Keep the faith

S laskou

Sestra Bruno

Opening A New Area is Scary

BTW Since I am in Prague now, my P-Day is now on Saturday!

Prague is amazing. It is so beautiful and gigantic! Seriously it is so humongous. I'm SCARED! hahaha but it's okay, the Lord is on my side!

Opening an area is tough. We have nothing. No formers, potentials, RCLAs. NOTHING We have been kontakting like crazy. I am talking 6 hours of it every day. But we love it. We actually have our first investigator already! He is sooooo awesome. He has the cutest 3 year old son. We have only taught bench lessons so far, but they have been so good! I said the closing prayer in Czech and I prayed to help us be happy and he loved it. Right after we said amen he thanked me for the prayer. It was a really cool experience. Sister Bateman is the best. She keeps me going even though there are so many time that I just want to sit down and be done! She is so positive and hard working! I'm excited to see what we can make our area in it's first transfer!

s laskou

Sestra Bruno