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

Wondering

GUESS WHAT? I have no idea where I am going because transfers aren'tuntil tonight :( But I will tell you next saturday, or tuesday depending on whether or not I get transferred again... AHHHH I hate this waiting to find out is no fun haha. 

It was so fun getting TWO missionary letters from my family!!!!! The Brunos are taking over the world y'all. 

This week was good. We had an amazing zone conference this week. My mission president is AMAZING. He is for sure going to be an apostle. FOR SURE. He is so uplifting. We talked about teaching. Which is funny because I ended learning more about how I should be finding people then I did about actually teaching lessons. WE HAVE TO FIND/TEACH like Jesus did. And how did he do you? With love, simply, and boldly. SO I have started trying to think of modern day parables to help the people we are teaching. I know the one about authority (the police man giving a ticket) really helps people understand authority, but if you think of any other let me know. I want my teaching to improve. 

Another thing I learned is that for every 1 baptism in our mission we have to contact 312 people. That sounds really scary but my awesome mission president did the math and figured out that that means we need to have 10 meaningful contacts per day per transfer and we can have 1 baptism. That's not too bad. I can do that. 

Anyway just from the time we had the zone conference (which was on thursday) until now, I have noticed a difference in the way I contact. We need to have meaningful contacts. So quality before quantity. When you stop for a second and ask people how there day is, it makes a difference. 

Another highlight of the week, we had a meeting with Karel. He is so great. We asked him what made him happy and he said making other people happy. He is awesome but I get scared that that is the only reason he meets with us! He wants to make us happy. He loved church, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND (his favorite words) he still isn't sure God is there :( WHAAT DO I DOOOO? We don't know exactly how to help, so we have spent a lot of time praying about him this week. I just feel it in my bones that he is going to make it. He is going to get an answer, he just needs to be asking for it first!!! 

It was a great week. I hope you are all having a wonderful week as well

LOTS OF LOVE FROM PRAGUE 

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

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OH MY PANNA MARIA

So I had a really awkward/hilarious contact this week. We contacted this man from Slovakia yesterday and he asked us what religion we were. We told him we were mormons and he was like... Catholics? We were like, no Mormons and he looked really confused and he goes... evangelists? We said NO we are Mormons, like the Book of Mormon, we are Christian and then we started bearing testimony about God and Jesus. Then he stops us and asked if we believed in Panna Maria (who is the virgin Mary) and we tried to explain that she is important but we don't believe she is a saint and we don't worship her so I said yes but we don't believe she is a Pana (which means a girl lord) the man was really confused but he was interested so we set up a meeting with him for today. Anyway I was telling the Elders and they started laughing really hard. I was really confused and asked why they were laughing and me and they told me it was because I told the man that Mary wasn't a virgin!!!! The word virgin in Czech is Panna and the word for a girl Lord is Pana. I AM SO EMBARRASSED! But we are meeting with the guy today at 4 and hopefully it all works out, we might be explaining more out of the Bible than anything else but we will see. He is a pretty funny guy...

 This week was another wonderful week full of... CONTACTING YAYAYAYAY! haha it is actually starting to get fun instead of scary. Now when we go contacting we go into thinking we have no idea what this person is going to be like so lets just go. It's like a game... is this person going to be nice, funny, weird, happy, sad, rude, confused, PREPARED? We don't know but let's contact them and find out! 

AND in other very important Namesti Miru news, our investigator Karel is coming to church!!! He is so cool. It was funny because he is nervous what to wear! We explained that he should wear a nice shirt and dress pants, but in my head I was thinking, you can wear sweatpants for all I care JUST COME TO CHURCH!!! He still doesn't know if "our path is his path" but every meeting he gets closer and closer to God. It is amazing. I keep praying for him to get his answer and keep trying to have enough faith to know that he will receive an answer he just has to act!

I CAN'T BELIEVE MICHAEL IS IN THE MTC... or at least I hope he is... Nobody has told me otherwise so I am going to assume he is. 

Anyway love you all. Hope everyone is well!

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Another Wonderful Week in Prague

Another wonderful week in Praha. It is started to get cold and the leaves are starting to change. It is beautiful. I need to send pictures but my card reader broke and I don't know how/where to get a new one :(.

This week was better because it dawned on me... DUH I'm suppose to be happy. I have to believe the Plan of Happiness before I can get any one else to. So after an exchange with the Assistants (yes we have to do that because my companion is the sister training leader) I realized that I can make things happen. They told us to go into a day thinking, I will NOT go inside my apartment until I get an appointment scheduled. AND I WON'T. My companion thinks I'm trying to kill her, but this is going to happen this week. Basically I have been asking everyone for their number. Begging almost I feel like... and they give us there e-mails hahaha sigh... but it's great. ha.

It's been a week full of finding RCLAs. Mostly on accident. We went on an exchange with the sisters in Hradec Kralove and found a man smoking that said he had been baptized 10 years ago. We got his number so those sisters could meet with him. Then we found a women from Mexico that is an inactive member that moved to the Czech Republic to live with her boyfriend... they just had a baby, but she said she would come to church this Sunday. We have some work to do. It's gonna be funnnn

Still no real investigators because school just started or our investigators LEFT THE COUNTRY. But this week is going to be awesome. I can just feel it. 

I feel like everything is changing! MICHAEL IS SOON TO BE ELDER BRUNO! AHHH. That is so weird. I'm so proud. He is going to love Europe! And I found out his mission is the most expensive mission in the world, so he better remember he is worth it! 

Annika is basically engaged... what the... weird but way cool! 

NIKITA IS IN HIGH SCHOOL! AHHHHH 

Well I love you all! Tell me about your lives because I want to know more and keep the pictures coming because I love them!

s laskou

cau cau cau (we say Cioa here too!)

Sestra Bruno

No Lost Souls

No Nazdar Kluci!

So this week was really cool! 

Our mission president made the commitment of every one in the mission having 2 new investigators a week. And then we weekly planned and decided we NEED to teach 10 lessons. WE NEED TO MEET OUR GOALS. Last week as I looked at our numbers I thought, is that even possible? We have been here for 4 weeks and we only have 1 investigator. But I decided that every time I started to doubt that I could do something I would say a little prayer in my head asking for braveness. So Monday happened. The lesson we scheduled cancelled on us... sad. But we did calls and we kontakted and by some miracle we set lessons up. And then tuesday happened. WE TAUGHT 3 LESSONS. 2 new investigators... in 1 day. It was amazing. My mission president is inspired. 

And not just that but one of the lessons we taught was with the first person I ever kontakted in the Czech Republic. On our first day in the Czech Republic after leaving the MTC we had a Prague walk where the Assistants took us on a walk around Prague and took us to dinner and then we went kontakting and Sister Steglich and I kontakted a girl and got her number. Then Sister Steglich stayed in Prague and set up a meeting with her but then there was flooding in Prague and they could never set up again and she stopped answering so the sisters gave us her number to call and we set up with her and met with her and she is AMAZING! She is nice and open and willing to learn more. THAT is truly a miracle. 

Our area is about to explode. It just reaffirms my faith that there are people searching. They might not even know what they are searching for until we tell them but they are searching... it all starts with us finding them!

I love you all! How is school for everyone that has started? Good luck with everything

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

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Smarty Pants Missionary

This week has been crazy. As in, it is hard to remember everything that happened because it's been crazy. 

The highlights of this week were definitely the lessons that we taught. EVERYBODY WE TEACH HAS TO BE THE BIGGEST SMARTY PANTS IN THE WORLD. I think it's pay back for me being the way I was before my mission... aka also a smarty pants. 

We "taught" (I say it like that because it didn't feel like we taught him anything, I think he just thought we were cool and was interested in our church) This man, whose english was perfect, about what we do as missionaries. He is Roman Catholic and it was so interesting because he explained what it means to be Roman Catholic in the Czech Republic. It means that your parents were roman catholic and so by birth you were declared Roman Catholic, you don't have to go to church, you don't have to believe, but you are Roman Catholic. We taught about the Restoration and he said that we were smart and passionate, but that he liked the idea that the Pope prays for his sins and he is forgiven... UGH, and then he said we could e-mail him in September... double UGH. He was so awesome, and I hope we can meet again after he has read in the BOOK OF MORMON.

Then we taught our investigator Karel again. HE IS AWESOME. He is still struggling to believe but we are working with him. HE IS AMAZING. Whether or not he makes it all the way to baptism or not, I just want him to know that God is there. HE IS. ALWAYS. And he always will be. 

I got to go on Sister exchanges this week because my companion is the sister training leader so I was companions for the day with my old MTC companion Sister Steglich. IT WAS REALLY FUN. We just contacted together but it was crazy because while we were in the MTC we never thought we would get to walk the streets of Prague together. WAY COOL! 

Then we had an amazing training. President McConkie is the best. He taught us about Christ as a shepherd, I hope you can all read John 10 this week and think about how Christ truly is our shepherd and what that means. He leads us and protects us and he is so humbly. It is beautiful. Then he commited us to getting 2 new investigators each week. We are pumped to meet our goals this week. I can hardly wait to start!

I love you all and pray for you

Sestra Bruno

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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

Spirit Helps in Overcoming Trials

Hey fam.

We had a great week this week. We saw another baptism this past week in our branch. The Elders are really killing it finding people, they have another baptism this week too. WAY AWESOME.

I played the piano for it and I was TERRIBLE, but it's okay, I'm over it. One of the members who just got back from his mission said that we were really lucky because we learn humility in this mission. It's definitely true. I have truly been humbled. I have never felt so spiritually uplifted and stupid all at the same time. hahaha

I have really been working on my faith this week. With God, with myself and with the people. Sometimes faith in your investigators is the hardest thing because you don't have control over them and you have to just hope that they feel the spirit and will come again! It's really hard to have complete trust in God but when you do, you see miracles.

We had the most amazing lesson on faith and repentance with one of our investigators Radek. His family is Catholic, his wife and his son, but he has so many questions. Things don't make sense to him and when we told him we were going to try to help him with his questions he was really interested. We had one of the members of the branch presidency who has a similar story, his wife and children were Catholic and he was too, hardcore, but when he started meeting with the missionaries and getting answers to his questions he knew this was the true church. It was an amazing lesson. I wish I could have tape recorded it so I could watch it over and over again... Even though almost everything I said in Czech was wrong and they had to correct me, the spirit was strong. I know that even if we had recorded it, it wouldn't be the same. The spirit really makes all the difference. I hope you all will strive to feel the spirit sometime this week. It will really help with any trials you have been going through.

Gen---Good luck with the baby this week! I'll be praying.

Michael--- study up on PMG. You'll be glad you did

Everyone else--- I love you all!

Have a good week

s laskou 

Sestra Bruno

Weird Stuff

AHOJJJJJJ

Sometimes it is hard being a missionary when all this crazy historic stuff is happening because I feel like I do not have a clue what is going on.

I heard that elders can wear khakis now?

I also heard that they are opening an all sisters area in Columbia? weird weird and weird

This week was really good. We found a girl named Felina from Ecuador. She is awesome. GUESS WHAT. Her mom was baptized 3 years ago, but she moved here 4 years ago so she knows all about the missionaries but she wasn't there to get taught. It was so amazing because she prayed at the end of our 2nd lesson and she said that she knew that she met us for a reason and that she was really going to try to figure out why. I already love her. She reminds me of Desi sort of. hahahah she is the best. After the lesson S. Woodworth and I just said that we would go through a transfer like this one every time if it meant we could find someone like her every time. I am excited. She still has a lot of concerns but as far as I know, she is ready.

My new mission president is so amazing. He told us about the miracles that we can see on our mission if all we do is tell people our testimony. All we have to say is we know God lives and Jesus Christ is our savior and the Holy Ghost testifies. That's all. Nothing else matters. He is way awesome. I cant wait to see the cool stuff that happens while he is the president. And his family is sooooo awesome. Love them already.

As for this week, I am working on faith. I thought that I came into the mission having so much and knowing so much but I am realizing I still have so much to learn. If you have a chance you should read what the Bible dictionary has to say about having faith. I love when things are explained so simply. Sometimes I think I try to make things really complicated but I am figuring out that the most beautiful part about missionary work is when you can explain a principle of the gospel, in whatever language, with the Holy Ghost present, and have someone understand. Those moments really are miracles. 

I am excited to see what this week brings.

s laskou

Sestra Bruno 

Keeping Missionaries in Our Prayers

What´s up y´all?

I´m just chilling... IN THE CZECH REPUBLICK. 

That is still weird to me. 

This week was pretty good. Our District leader challenged us to give out baptismal dates to everyone we were teaching and we did and... nothing. People have a really hard time with commitment. Sister Woodworth and I are having a really hard time getting people to meet with us taky. We don´t really know why some people show up to appointments and others don´t but believe you me, we are going to find out. 

We have one really cool investigator that is so interested in finding truth. I am grateful for him because we finally have a PROGRESSING INVESTIGATOR!!!! Wohooooooo!!! My first... besides Jana who just got baptized. I could not be more excited for him. Even though he hasn´t accepted our invitation for baptism, he is really thinking about it. He is truly looking for the truth. It´s hard to meet with him though because he works so much but he is the nicest, kindest man ever. His name is Radek and he is the best! 

Please keep the missionaries in your prayers this week so that we can find more people! And just baptize the world hahaha, but really.

We finally watched that broadcast everyone was talking about. It was way cool. We just got a new mission president so we don´t really know if anything is changing or not, but we will find out soon I guess if anything is. He is so cool. He speaks Czech and he has the cutest family! He came to our branch and talked yesterday and everyone there already loves him! He is going to be great.

I heard from Adam Walker... He gets home in 3 months. WEIRD! 

I can´t believe Michael is endowed... that is even WEIRDER. Is he ready to go on his mish yet? I keep meeting really cool french people, mostly from Africa and Belgium but still he is going to love it.

Has Gen already moved? 

What else is going on?

I love you allllllllll

s laskou 

Sestra Bruno

Barriers in Missionary Work

ahoj muje rodina. Jak se mate? Still hard at work here. I still can't believe I have almost been here for a whole month! This week was pretty sad because we had zone conference with President Irwin for the last time. I guess I only knew him for 3 weeks, but he was so awesome. I'm excited for President McConkie to come. He'll be awesome too! One thing I have realized this week is how truly blessed I am. I was born in America. I have a family who respects my free agency and I am a member of the only true church on the earth. FROM birth. God really trusted me to get work done. Yesterday after church we were talking to one of the Priest in our ward. His name is Jiři. I guess his family is originally from Russia and they became members because his father drove a taxi and he used to take missionaries to church. One day the missionaries talked to him about the church and the rest is history. He didn't talk much about his father, I guess something personal happened that he didn't want to talk about... but here is why I want to be more like Jiři. Every Sunday his family wakes up at 5 am and takes an hour bus to come to church. Church doesn't start until 9 am but the bus only goes at certain times so they wait for 3 hours just for church to start. Then when church is over they wait another 3 hours to be able to go home. He comes almost every week because he knows how much the ward needs priests to pass the sacrament. His sister isn't a member and missionaries usually don't visit them because they live so far away. Right now Jiři is 18 but he isn't in school anymore because he has to work and help his mother. (I asked him if he was going to serve a mission, that's how we found all this out) He said he wants to but he doesn't know if he will be able to. I guess he understands 5 different languages: Russian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian and one more that I am forgetting. He is so smart. I just wanted to cry after hearing all this. So many people don't want to hear what we are teaching so it's kind of hard sometimes but now when I remember Jiri and his family and how much they love the church, it gives me hope. There are people here that are willing to sacrafice so much because they know what I know. They know the church is true. One of our investigators, MY FAVORITE ONE, Vojta pretty much dropped us yesterday because his friends found out he was taking the discussions. They told him that he would never get a girlfriend if he became religious and his friends and the thought of a future girlfriend matter a lot to him, just like any normal 19 year old boy. He is leaving for 3 weeks on vacation and while he is gone he said he is going to decide whether or not he will keep meeting with us. I was so sad. Partly because what his friends say is true. It's really hard to date and be a member of the church. You are treated a lot differently. And this doesn't just happen in the Czech Republic, it's everywhere. People just treat you differently and question your morals and you have to just care more about God, but he says he doesn't have enough faith in God yet to do that. We are meeting with him one more time before he leaves and I just hope that the spirit tells him to keep meeting with us, despite what his friends say. I wish I could tell him all about Jiri and what he goes through, but it's so hard to communicate in Czech. He never understands what I am trying to say. I don't know... I guess I'll let you know what happens there. Despite all this I know that there are so many miracles happening here. Anyone that does agree to meet with us is a miracle because there is really no other reason other than the spirit for them to come. I am so grateful that I have the HOLY GHOST. WE had 4 people at church this week. That was a serious miracle! I hope you are finding ways to be missionaries because... it's important!!!! I love you all and hope you are well WE HAVE A BAPTISM TODAY. I AM STOKED s laskou Sestra Bruno

Belief in a Higher Power

AHOJ MUJ MILOVANY RODINY,

My week was pretty crazy. We are still on the hunt for investigators so we did A LOT of kontakting this week. Like A LOT. Every time we are on the tram, we talk to someone. Everytime we are walking home from our apartment, we are talking to someone. But nobody is biting. 

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE BELIEVE IN GOD???? is what I would say if I was discouraged, but I'm not. Proto jsem tady. (that is why I am here) And that is what I keep telling people when we kontakt them and they don't believe in God. 

We have had some pretty cool miracles this week. While doing all this kontakting, we have actually had 2 lessons result from it. Sestra Woodworth does this really cool thing were she asks people if they have time while we are kontakting for us to teach them a lesson. Most of the time they don't, but they will at least give us their number, but sometimes they do! We taught 2 lessons this week with people that had time. One of them was a 20 year old boy who didn't believe in God, but did believe in a higher power. We told him God was his Heavenly Father and we talked about how he loves us and gave us the book of mormon. Then he asked if he could have a copy and we said of course, but neither one of us had one with us!!!! It was a serious missionary fail moment. I WAS SO MAD AT MYSELF. We made an appointment to meet him the next day and give him one, but when we called the next day he had already gone home for the summer (he is only studying in Brno, he isn't from Brno) but we said we would keep in kontakt with him and in 3 months when he gets home, the sister missionaries will be all over it. He just needs a little more preparing.

Then we had another kontakt in the park with a man who had just called his boss and lied that he was going to the doctor when really he just wanted to spend an hour in the park. We were scared because at first he wasn't interested in talking about God, but we won him over with our charm... haha not really... and he invited us to sit down next to him in the park and ended up asking us what we teach people about our church. He had awesome questions. He didn't understand why God was important, he thought there was just a higher power and he didn't know really what happened when we died, or that we lived with God before. I guess he tried to be religious when he was younger but he never felt anything and he told us after we talked to him that he had learned a lot and felt different and that he was going to tell all his friends... BUT ALAS, he isn't from Brno either. He is only in Brno like 5 times a month, but maybe we will catch him the next time he is here. He just needs to be prepared too! 

I am definitely learning patience. hahaa

BUT we do have 2 investigators. One of them, Jana just turned 18 and she is getting baptized!!!! WE ARE SO HAPPY! But her parents don't know... Kind of a hot mes

 

The other is a 19 year old boy, Vojta who thinks he is so cool (and he kind of is) he works on motorcycles and has million friends and is having a hard time believing in God all the time because he thinks that sometimes God isn't there and sometimes God isn't fair. AND he hates when people tell him what to do... which makes commitments SO HARD because he doens't keep any of them!!! UGHHH But we love him so much. It's definitely tough

FUNNY/ SCARY story of the week:

 

Yesterday in our lesson with Vojta we read 3 Nephi 11 because we wanted to teach him about Jesus Christ and make sure that he felt that Jesus Christ was his Savior. We read the chapter and then we asked if he had questions. There is a verse in that chapter that says if you are not baptized you will be damned. And he said that that wasn't fair because his family/friends don't know about the gospel and they haven't been baptized and it's not fair that they should be damned, but we didn't realize that the word damned and lost were so close (ztraceny is lost and zatraceny is damned. The difference is 1 A!!!!) so we thought he was saying lost and we were really confused and couldn't answer the question and then we got home and realized what he was saying and we were so scared that we had just told him that he and his family were going to be damned because they weren't baptized. SERIOUSLY HOT MESS. Luckily he is meeting with us again on Wednesday so we can clear this up. We kind of tricked him into meeting with us again because I made him take my memory journal home with him because he is my first investigator that I ever taught in Czech and I wanted him to sign it. So he has to meet with us again to give it back. hahah. But IT was one of those moments were I was really sad I wasn't serving stateside or english speaking. I'm so embarrassed! 

I hope everyone is doing well

P.S. This Wednesday is the Sacred day of Bruno... weird huh? A member told me that on Sunday. They love that my name is Bruno and I am serving in Brno. 

I love you all so much

Sestra Bruno

Missionary's Secret Weapon

So let me tell you what:

IT has been RAINING SO MUCH! We thought it would never end! I guess there was flooding in Prague. It made me so grateful that I am in Brno because in Prague they had to shut down most of the trams and they are having a really hard time getting anywhere. A lot of our appointments were cancelled and we are just having a really tough time! Luckily the sun has finally come out this past week-end and let me tell you, people are a lot more receptive to hearing about how the gospel brings joy when the sun is shining! 

The language is definitely tricky tricky. I maybe, MAYBE understand every fifth word that people say. And I definitely understand when they tell us that they don't believe. But I'm not letting it slow me down. I'm trying to speak as much as I can and when they don't understand me, I just smile. I smile so much. I think it is because so few people do it here. They just need a friendly reminder. But they are so nice... and really try to help me practice my Czech. Me and Sister Woodworth made a goal that we were going to kontakt someone everytime we are on a tram. It is so hard going up to someone all by myself and trying to speak Czech to them. Sometimes they don't understand, and a lot of the time they aren't interested in talking to me about God, but whenever I ask if I can practice my Czech with them, they help me! My companion told me I am a secret weapon because it's hard for people to tell me no. I think it's because they all think I am a lost 12 year old and it's hard to say no to some one who is either smiling at you, or looks like they are lost. It's a great strategy though. I have slipped in a lot about the church that way. Mostly people just think I'm crazy, which is true... but then other times they listen to what we have to say. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can kontakt better I would love to hear them. It's pretty hard in Czech, but I will try anything!

This has definitely been a week of firsts:

My first time dropping an investigator, don't ask... that was a hot mess.

My first time getting dropped. That was the saddest thing ever. They said that they had their own church and just weren't interested.

My first time bearing my testimony in sacrament meeting in Czech! Everyone was laughing so hard. Probably because my Czech was soooooo bad. But the man that gave a talk afterwords said that it was fate that I was in Brno because my name is Bruno. And everyone says they love my smile. So that is my advice for the week. JUST KEEP SMILING! Even when people are telling you NO, because they might change their mind. You never know.

My first time solo kontaking. We did a singing display and I kontaked people in the namesti allllllll by myself, in CZECH. It was terrifying, but I know Heavenly FAther is helping me.

It was so good to hear from all of you. Especially about the squirrell. To that I say, what the Heck??? And also, bahahahha. I'm glad you are all having such a good time. I love you and I am working so hard I promise!

Love you love you love you

Sestra Bruno

Smiling Makes A Difference

That's right. It's not a joke. I really am serving in BRNO. And it is beautiful. I still can't believe I am here. My companion is great. She is really really nice and really really energetic. Which is good.

So this was definitely a week of firsts. First real life contact. First real life rejection. First real life missionary success. It seems like almost every person we talk to says they are atheist. And I know it shouldn't but it makes me so SAD! They have all grown up that way. At least that is what President Irwin said. He said that when communism was around, in schools they would tell the children to sit and pray to God for candy. They would and nothing would come. Then they told them to pray to Mother Russia for candy and the teachers would put candy bars on their desks. Now there is a generation of people that don't believe in God. It is hard, BUTTTTT there are still some people that ARE interested. And I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has put them in my path!!!!

We are meeting with a man we met walking near our church build (which is awesome by the way. I'll have to send a picture) And he speaks Russian... which is rough to understand... especially since I don't know Czech!!! But he said that he was interested in meeting with us and he was going to come to church, but he had to work! Then we met another man on the tram who said he would meet with us! 

My companion says it's because I smile so much so I have been trying to smile every chance I get. When someone looks at me, I say "Dobry Den" and smile and sometimes we get them! 

Contacting is probably the scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life, or so I thought. Then I went to my first week of church in Czech. I understood almost nothing. It was sooooooooooooooo scary. Then we had to greet all the church members and they were talking to me in Czech and I was so scared. But it was great. The members are so nice. Really so nice. And their conversion stories are really beautiful! 

One girl got was meeting with the missionaries when her brother died and now her mother blames her for his death. Even though she is going through all these trials, she is still firm in the faith. It is amazing to me!

Anywhoooo Mam Rad Brne. To je uzasne!!! 

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

First Email from Czech Republic

AHOJJJJJJ

I'm in the Czeck Republick. It is so beautiful!!!!!! I can't believe I am here! The assistants took us on a walk around prague. It is unreal. So many castles. Then we ate realllll Cesky food. So delicious!!!! Then we contanted and got someone's number named Aliska!!! She was so nice to us. She wanted to meet with us again too. Sister Steglich is staying in Prague so she gets to call her and hopefully she has success. I'm excited for her.

You will never guess where I am serving.

Bruno in Brno!!!!!!

So cool. My companion is sister woodworth. She was in the MTC with Desi. She is so nice. I love her already!!! Brno's namesti is so beautiful. There is a castle here that is so beautiful.

Sorry I didn't get to call in the airport. I didn't have time and I figured I should let my companion. There weren't enough phones for me. Don't worry I cried a lot that night because I was sad I didn't get to talk to you all but it's okay because I'm in the Czech REPUBLICKKKKK. And it's so great!

I hope everyone is doing well. Talk to you at Christmas!

Sister Bruno to Serve in Brno

Off to their area!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 6:32 AM

From:

"Czech/Slovak Mission" <2013061 ldschurch.org="">

To:

"Frank Bruno"

• Sisters Bruno and Woodworth.JPG

Dear Brother Bruno

This morning Sister Bruno met her companion – Sister Woodworth. Attached is a picture for you to enjoy. Don’t you love their matching colours!

Today they will travel to their area – which is called Brno.  It is approximately 2 ½ hours away from Prague by train.

There are 6 Elders, 2 Sisters and 1 Couple in that district.

Brno is in the south-east of the Czech Republic.

P-Day is next Monday.  Sister Bruno will contact you then to share her adventures.  

With warm regards from

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary

She is Here! Sister Francesca Bruno Arrives in Czech/Slavak Mission

She is here!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 1:30 PM

From:

"Czech/Slovak Mission" <2013061 ldschurch.org="">

To:

"Frank Bruno"

Message contains attachments

2 Files (5809KB) | Download All

• Bruno Czech Sister dad.doc
• Sister Bruno.JPG

Dear Brother Bruno

 

Your daughter, Sister Bruno, has arrived safely in Prague. We are delighted to meet her!

 

Attached is a photograph for you to enjoy. It was taken with President and Sister Irwin when Sister Bruno first arrived.

 

Tomorrow she will meet her companion and travel to her area. I will email you again tomorrow with a picture of Sister Bruno and her new companion. I will also be able to tell you which area she will be serving in.

 

P-Day is next Monday.  Sister Bruno will contact you then to share her adventures. 

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

 

With warm regards from

Sestra Judy Munro

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Czech/Slovak Mission

Executive Secretary