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

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!