The Work in Uherske Hradiste

Howdy hey,

so I got transferred... KIDDING. bahaha did I get you??

Sister Roubickova came to UH. It's really cool because she was in my MTC group. We are sooooo excited to serve together!!!!! PUMPED.

This week was amazing. We finally taught our family!!!! They are so awesome. They remind me of what it was like growing up. They're house is crazy and they argue but you can just tell how much they love each other. But the mom doesn't believe vubec. It might be tricky to teach them because everything is so crazy but it's going to be awesome!!!!!!

We also had this amazing experience with this man that I called at the beginning of last transfer. He didn't have any interest but for some reason I told him that we were in a trio and he said that maybe we would see each other on the namesti sometime. One day we were walking along the street and a man started to yell out to us. We were actually pretty freaked out about it but we went over and he talked to us for about 30 minutes. It was the same man I had called and he recognized us because we were in a trio. He still wasn't interested but he said he would come to english. He came to english and sister Graham talked him into meeting with us. When we met with him it was amazing. He is seriously golden. SERIOUSLY. We read the first vision with him and he looked amazed. He said "That is what I think too" He is so cool!!! MIRACLE.

Lukas is still doing great as well. We are teaching him the word of wisdom tonight!!! I'll let you know how it goes.

This transfer I have seen God's hand in the work so much!!! I have seen how God is wise and that everything happens for a reason. I would have never put myself in a trio especially training and with 2 of the most unexpected people but it worked splendidly. We saw the coolest things that could have only happened to us in a trio! God is there. Jesus is our Savior. The church is true! I love being a missionary!!!!

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

I Just Love Talkin' Bout Jesus

Ahojte

So this week was really funny because one of the recent converts we teach started calling me a jižanka. Which means southerner. We taught him how to say the word sasparilla... in a southern accent. It's hilarious.

Anyway on to the good stuff... We are teaching Lukáš. He is doing užasně!!! He's so golden. He came to church on sunday and loved it. We taught him the plan of salvation this week and it was great. It was a little awkward at one point because martin, the friend that referred him taught with us and when we were explaining Christ's role in the plan of salvation, the atonement, Martin said something like "Yeah so everytime you smoke a cigarette, Christ is suffering for your sin" It was very awkward, but also very true. We thought that Lukas was going to be embarrassed but he was so good about it. The spirit was strong and we testified that we can change and become better. It was good. Now we know he knows that smoking isn't good. 

We also taught Radek again. We taught him with President McConkie last week and it was kind of a frustrating lesson, but we went into this lesson just with love and we just got down to business. We asked if he wanted to know if he should get baptized. He was only allowed to say yes or no. He said yes. So we told him we needed a date to help him be prepared. We said we didn't care if it was in 2 months or 2 years but we needed a date. He said that he had talked to members and it took them 3 years to get baptized so we said fine we will mark you for three years. He said that he probably wouldn't need that long, probably just need till the end of the year so we said fine and marked him for December 20th. I know that may seem a little ridiculous but believe me, God was really working with us on that one. We also started over with the restoration and discovered that he doesn't understand the restoration at all... not good. So basically we are starting with ground zero. It's fun. It's a good place to be. We are just so excited because he has been taught for almost a year now and has never accepted a date until now! YE-HAW.

I think you will all be happy to now that we stalked someone this weekend. mwaahahah. My facebook stalking days really paid off. I kid but really. We say that really cool family we met a few weeks ago walking to the grocery store and we followed them in. We saw them by the bread aisle and it just happened that we "needed" bread for the week and just happened to walk by them and run into them. The good news is that their phone was broken and they had been painting their house all week and just finished. They invited us over on Saturday to see it. We have their address and everything now. THE WORTH OF SOULS WAS WORTH FOLLOWING SOMEONE INTO A GROCERY STORE. 

It was a good week. Love you all!!!

s laskou

sestro bruno 

It's Getting Hot

Hello erebody,

Summer is a'comin' and it is getting hot!!! It makes missionary work super fun. 

This week was a good one. We had training. Those are always awesome. Then President came to UH for the branch conference. It was a really good sacrament meeting. Our branch in UH is so close to being able to be a ward. It's insane!!! I just love my mission president. He is so great!

Then we met with Lukas this week. He was a referral from Martin a recent convert here. And now Lukas has a baptismal date for the 21st of June. He is so awesome! He had already read the uvod and the testimonies before our second meeting. He is so golden. It was so cute because it was Sister Frampton's first time ever extending the commitment of baptism and he accepted and she started to cry. She's a great missionary. We are so excited for him!!

Today was a really fun p-day because we went on a vylet with some members and lukas. It was really fun and we hope that he felt at home in the branch!!! 

Baptism is just the best. The sacrament is just the best. We get to feel clean from all of our sins once a week. It's so worth it! Being a member is so worth it!!! 

Love you all,

Sestro Bruno

Shout-outs from Heavenly Father

Hey all,

This week was a good one. I know I say this every week but the members in UH are probably some of the best members I have ever met ever. I just love them!!! And I love UH.

This week we did a lot of fasting and praying. We have really been searching for people to teach, and for things to happen in people's lives that would change their hearts enough to want to meet with us. We had a really cool experience just yesterday. We had just ended our fast and we had trakting on plan. I love trakting, but I don't like it very much. So it was a little hard to go back out after we had had a little break in the apartment, but one of my companions, Sister Graham said that when we don't feel like doing something that is when we should do it. So we went out. 

The first door we trakted into was this little old lady. She had a really hard life. She was 88 years-old and her daughter committed suicide right when she finished high school so the woman had once believed in God but stopped. She said that she was doing everything-- going to church, praying, everything but after her husband died she couldn't believe in a righteous God anymore. It was so sad. She didn't have very much interest in the Gospel, but she asked where we were from and I said South Carolina and she started to laugh. Last Christmas she visited America and went to South Carolina. She started to talk about Charleston and I said YES that's so close to where I'm from and then she said Summerville. I was in shock. I said that is my place. To je muj misto. Her friend that she was visiting lives in Summerville, SC!! In that moment I really knew that Heavenly Father loved me and this lady I was talking to so much!!! She doesn't have much interest in the gospel, but we are going to go back and bring her something next week. She is a special person. We all are!!! I just love that God loves us enough to give us shout-outs from Heaven that show us we aren't alone and he has interest in our lives. 

I also had an epiphany yesterday that someone is getting baptized this transfer. It seems a little strange because we haven't been teaching very many people, but I just know it. UH is so close to being a ward and so close to getting an actual building built here. IT IS SO CLOSE. Someone will be baptized from UH in the next 3 weeks. Just you wait and see.

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Positive to the End

Hey family-fam,

The UH is just killing it. We had a pretty good week considering all the crazy things that happened. On Wednesday we started teaching Elenka, a members granddaughter. She is a fiesty little ten-year old. AND I LIKE IT. haha But really she is super cute and she acts like an adult. It's hard though because her dad is against faith and had a really hard time letting her go to church so we aren't sure how he will react to her getting baptized. But in the closing prayer she prayed that her dad could gain faith. It was the sweetest thing ever. It just reminded me how blessed I was to grow up in the family and place that I did. 

On that same day while we were at the church building someone came in while we were teaching a lesson and stole one of my companions bag. It was the one that was in her last transfer and they stole her camera(with all the pictures of her mission), her pass, visa, money, cards, DRIVERS LICENSE, etc. It was terrible. It has made doing missionary work harder too because we can't drive the car until I get my driver's license now because there is no way for her to get another one. I hate when people steal. It's not very nice. But she has a really good attitude about it. She said that they stole her bag so they could find the Book of Mormon, read it, and want to get baptized. She's great. 

That was sad, but we just knew that it meant good things were coming. On Friday just two days after we had a lesson with an RCLA and we decided to go on splits. I went with a member and taught Martin in the park and the other sisters went and contacted. It was a really cool lesson... I WAS THE ONLY AMERICAN. (way coool) Anyway while I was teaching the sisters found a family of 6 that were formers that want to meet again. IT WAS SO COOL! Then on Saturday randomly on the members texted us and told us that they decided their 15 year old son needs to learn about the church, so on Sunday we went over for lunch and taught him. It was really cool... I definitely learned that I am still scared of 15 year old boys even though I'm 21. I feel bad for Nikita. They are terrifying. But no seriously he is a really nice boy. It was a really funny meeting because his dad didn't tell him until we were all sitting down that he needed to start the lessons and he said he doesn't care if he gets baptized but that he needs to at least know every thing. We think that he is secretly hoping and praying that he will get baptized because you can just tell every time you are around that family how much they love each other and baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end are the only way they can be together forever. We have high hopes for him. 

It was a great week. Moral of the story... Families are just the best. They are the MOST important organization in the world. hahah They really are. Love my fam...

love,

Sister Bruno

Just Another Day In Paradise

Hellllerrrro my dear dear family,

This week was good. We did a lot of finding. Sometimes it was successful. Sometimes not. But that's missionary work. We did have a cool experience where we had a seminar about mormonism and one of the guys from english stayed and asked us questions about the church. Afterwards he asked about the Book of Mormon and took a copy. We asked if he would have time again next week and he said yes! We are excited because he has already been to church a couple of times and asked our branch president how he could learn more about our church. I guess a missionary in the past got his phone number but it didn't save, but he started coming to english and now we can hopefully start teaching him! Also we have a member whose granddaughter has been coming to church and we set up to meet with her! The member is awesome and the little girls mom is already a member she is just inactive and her dad is against the church but hopefully we can talk to them and we can teach her! The branch here in UH is spectatular. I really want to work harder and be the best missionary I can be for them because they are so great!!! Seriously. They are wonderful! Our branch president is only 27 years old and he has already been branch president for 2 years. He started when he was still in school and barely married. They are a serious power couple! They look like the couple from Tangled because his wife has the most beautiful long blonde hair. I love this branch!

We also went to Brno this week. We had district conference and then had zone conference after. It was a long weekend. But it was awesome because another 70 came to speak to everyone in the district. Elder Jouttenous(sp?) from Finland. He was the nicest man ever! And our training was great because we talked about the power of our call and watched a ted... if you know what those are. I didn't. But I guess they are inspirational podcasts and it was really good. It was this lady who talks about powerstances and how if we do these stances we will feel more confident and how when we are confident and believe in our selves and even just fake like we believe in ourselves until we succeed, then we really can succeed. It was really great. I am really working on these stances. Especially in contacting. I just keep telling myself to "BE BIG" I think it helps :).

Training is going good. Sister Frampton came pre-trained so everything is all good. The trio is great. We are thinking about getting shirts with our faces on them. hahaha kidding... kind of. But really everything is good. I am so lucky to be a missionary!!!!

Love you all! Hope all is well

s laskou

Sestro Bruno

Bittersweet

Hello hello hello,

This week was a bittersweet one for me. I found out that I am leaving plzen :(. It's bittersweet because I will miss Plzen so so so much, but I am also excited to serve in a new area. IT IS GOING TO BE QUITE AN ADVENTURE! I will be serving in Uherske Hradiste you say it ooo-hair-sh-kaa hhh-rad-ish-tee-yuhhhh! (it's a tough one to say) And I will be in a trio. And we will be training... weirddddd. 

Also I found out that my last companion went home because of health conditions. That's why we are in a trio. It was really tough to hear that. I had no idea until president called us and told me what was happening on saturday night. I was basically just shocked. I didn't expect it. So I'm excited I have no idea what to expect so I'll just expect the unexpected I guess. 

This week was pretty great. I had a good birthday. Still can't believe I'm 21. I still feel like I'm 19. But it was good. We went to Indian Food and had district meeting and taught english. Good stuff. Then we had a mormonism seminar and we taught about temples. Which leads me into the coolest part of the week. We stumbled upon the coolest, most prepared man EVER!!!

His name is Jiri. Elder Foster contacted him at the beginning of the transfer in front of the mall on a scooter and couldn't for the life of him set up a meeting, but the man said he would come to english. So he came to our english class and one week we taught a lesson about the book of mormon. During the thought he asked (very loudly) where he could buy one. We told him we gave it for free and got his number. That brings us to this week when we taught about temples. He was visiting Alberta Canada and saw the temple and tried to go inside but they told him that he couldn't! He was so confused why not. This week we had a lesson with us and he is so prepared. We taught the restoration and he agreed with it all. We asked if he would be baptized if he knew it was all true and he said, jasne, obviously. He said he had been coming to english to be around other believers. HE 

LOVES WHAT WE TEACH. He and his four kids and wife are totally going to get baptized!!!

Simona and the girls are doing okay. We taught Law of Chastity... she said it sounds like a fairytale and no one does it... sad day. We don't know what is going on through her head. We haven't seen her since thursday and she cancelled todays lesson, but we have faith that everything will be okay. 

It was just a great week. I love love love Plzen so much. I love the members. I love the city. I love the people. I just have loved this place sooo much. I can't believe it's already time to leave. I just love being a missionary so so so much. I never want it to end! Our mission is on fire right now. We are baptizing more then ever before and I know that the Lord's hand is in our work so much!

I love you all and can't believe how everyone is changing so much. I'm not even going to recognize you anymore! Promise to remember me????

Love yaaa

Sestroooooo

Ahojky

Hello my family,

This week was a weird one. It felt like we were in Prague so much! We had a training on Tuesday in Prague and then we had district conference on Sunday. There was a seventy that came and spoke. Also they changed the district presidency so it was pretty weird. After all that time in Prague it was good to come back to Plzen. 

I'm really starting to love it here. Which is new because when I first got here I had no idea what I was doing and I didn't like that much. But now I can say that Plzen has become one of my favorite areas purely for the fact that I've done the most changing here. It's weird but I've learned a lot about what it means to love someone purely for the fact that they are your brother or sister in the gospel. All this probably means that next week I am getting transferred to a new city, but I am excited for it. I'm excited to kill it for the 6 months I have left. (I CANNOT BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN A MISSIONARY FOR A YEAR!) "The last 6 months are your time to shine"-The District :)))

Other than that we had a pretty great week. Simona and the girls are excited for baptism. They still aren't 100 % sure about the 19th, but in our last lesson they asked who would baptize them and what they will wear and just were awesome about it. 

 

We also started teaching a members girlfriend this week. They are both really really nice. They are a little hard to understand because they are slovak but we are excited. They are totally going to be the next Jackie and Caleb (I don't know why I am referencing the District so much in this e-mail, but there you go) We are excited to teach them. 

 

We also had a way cool experience yesterday. It was pretty much the best weather the Czech Republic has seen in like 6 months so after we got home from Prague we decided to walk everywhere. We walked to a less-actives house and contacted on the way. She was really sick and sleeping so she didn't let us in. It was sad, but we still had an hour until we needed to be home so we contacted home and found this way cool kid! He had time right then so we sat down on a bench and talked about the Book of Mormon and set up to meet again. 

 

It's cool because we had the goal of two new investigators and we really didn't know how we were going to do it but we got them on Saturday and Sunday night. It's just cool how God rewards our righteous desires.

It was way awesome because we had a sister's devotional before district conference and the seventies daughter (who coincidentally served her mission in my mission presidents ward where he was the bishop before he became mission president) spoke to us about righteous desires. And the new investigators had been on our mind all week. She talked about how God really does want to help us but we have to give him everything!!! I can testify that it feels so good when you know you have done everything you possibly can. When you fall into bed exhausted because you worked so hard that day. It's probably the best feeling ever! I'm so glad I get to be a missionary. It's the best ever! I'm glad I get to change and I get to help people do the same because I know that when we change to become closer to Christ we just feel so much better. 

Fiera is such a cutie!!! Thanks for the pics!!! I can't believe I have 2 nieces that I've never met!!! It's freaking me out!!!

Consider the Blessed and Happy State

Hello dear family,

This week Plzen was on fire. For realsies. It was amazing to meet so many new people that have a desire to come closer to Christ. 

Isn't Jesus just the best? This week that seemed to be the answer to everything. Jesus is the best!!! 

It all started on monday when we ran into a former investigator from a year ago. I knew he was a former because I have had about 4 awkward conversations with this young guy inviting him to activities and trying to meet with him etc. He wasn't taking it. Until Monday... we saw him on the tram and I was like, proc ne? I gotta go talk to him. It wasn't the most spectacular conversation ever, I just introduced him to Sister Cooper, but at the end I invited him to family home evening because we were on the way to the church building. I was shocked when he said, okay I'll be there in twenty minutes. I was even more shocked when he actually came!!! After Family Home Evening we set up to meet with him on Thursday and it was a really good lesson! He is just already so close to Christ and just a really good guy!!!

Simona and the girls are going strong. We just had a lesson with them on friday and they are just the cutest ever! They are reading and praying and they came to church! ALL OF THEM! And the girls loved it! They didn't want to leave. It was adorable. We are hoping that they will make their date but we still aren't sure, we have to meet with them A LOT more! 

Tomas is Tomas. We might have to drop him soon if he doesn't start reading the Book of Mormon. In our last lesson he said, I'm catholic and I'm staying catholic :( LAME. But we will have to see. 

This week I also just experienced the deepest sorrow I think I ever have for people that choose to sin and reject God. I just love the people of the Czech Republic so deeply and to see the amount of filth that our investigators and members and just nice people here have to trudge through every day just made me sad. I had the opportunity to speak in church on Sunday about King Benjamin. I read all about him last week and probably my most favoritest teaching that he shared to his people is in Mosiah 2:41 It says  

  41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ^ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are ^bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out ^cfaithful to the end they are received into ^dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

This week I really got to consider that blessed and happy state. I'm so glad that God gives us the opportunity to be so happy and so blessed if we choose. And come on who doesn't want never-ending happiness? I like to think that people here don't know what they are missing out on. And a lot of the time they don't! So yes it's hard to see people reject the message but it's so worth it to get to tell people about HAPPINESS. 

#Spreadthelove. #TalkaboutJesus. #Blessed It just feels so good. EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW! 

love you guys

Sestra Bruno

Little Girls

Hello fambam,

Did you know that this week was the Jewish Holiday Purim? I bet you didn't because why in the world would you... haha. We had a branch activity where we celebrated this Holiday. If you don't know what it is, it is basically the Holiday celebrating Ester from the Bible. The activity was really fun and really successful!!! We had 30 non-members there (That is almost double the branch) And we counted 14 little girls there. (members and nonmembers) It was a lot of fun because the branch put on a skit... basically read the Bible story of Esther... and all the little girls had a part in it! Simona came with the girls and it was so cute because little Anicka had a part in the skit and was so excited about it!!! She loved it. Then all the little kids had so much fun because every time you say the wicked name Hammon they made noise with noise makers and screamed. IT was so great!!!

We also got to go to the girls dance rehearsal this week. They are just the cutest thing ever. It was a pretty funny day because we basically spent it with Simona. We had a lesson with her in the morning where we found out that her mother passed away. We also found out that she didn't like meeting with us because she doesn't like feeling like she is forced to do things. We promised so many blessings and shared so many personal stories, it was insane, but by the end of it she was praying about how much she wanted to do these things! WAY COOL! Then we had lunch at a members house, then we had another lesson about family history and then it was back with Simona for the girls recital. We think that Simona really trusts us now because she introduced us to her Father and Step-mother. They weren't exactly excited to talk to us, but that's okay. It was really good to know that Simona is excited to talk to other people about us. During the lesson she said, "Everyone thinks your a cult... I'm not really sure why because I really like it here. They should all try it. They would like it too" haha It was really good. The only thing we have to do is get them all coming to church and meet more often and then they should be ready for baptism. This week was a really good breakthough because I actually felt like this family could and will make their date. We are pumped.

I also learned the importance of family history. We have started to advertise about family history and how we teach people how to start family history and this week we taught a lesson about it. It was kind of awkward because I realized how little I know about my own family history!!! 

For some reason I am not linked to you on family search... it's awkward. Do you know what I can do about that???

Also I don't have any pictures of my family!!! CAN YOU SEND ME SOME??? I promise it would help my missionary purpose to have TONS! People eat that stuff up. Every time... almost every time... I sit down on a tram I talk to someone about family. And they can not believe that I have such a humongous family! SEND ME PICTURES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! 

Our investigator (the old man) is doing good too. He is super old too and super catholic too. But we taught him the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it. And learned new things. He started off saying that God and Jesus were definitely the same person and then we used examples in the Bible where Jesus spoke to God and vice versa and by the end he was just scratching his head and saying, yeah I guess I agree with you. YUSSSS. And it was not bible bashing, I promise hahah. 

It was a good week. Basically how blessed are we that we know about the Plan of Salvation. We will get to be with God again and we are happy because of it. It's the best. Everyone needs to know about this! 

I hope everyone has a good week. STILL NO BABY??? :( Looking forward to next week to see her!)

s laskou

Sestro Bruno  

If you want to baptize as many people as you can, you have to talk to as many people as you can

Oh man have we been talking.

I don't think I have ever talked to as many people in my life. I'm talking trams, trains, streets, restuarants. EVERYONE. Everyone in the city of Plzen is going to know that I, Sister Bruno, am a missionary of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, at least. What I have figured out is that is the best way to do missionary work. YOU TALK TO EVERYONE. and then sometimes you get rejected so hard. And then later in the day you see them walking down the street, or riding in a tram and you contact them again and you get their number. It's the double contact... works every time!!!

If you are wondering about Simona and the girls... THEY HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!! April 19th.It was such a good lesson. The only thing is that Simona is pretty shaky about it and she came to church this week but didn't bring the girls and now isn't setting up with us and her mom is really really sick right now so she has to take care of her too. Saaaadddd. But it's okay. We are having a branch activity this week and she said she would come with the girls so  hopefully we can talk with them there. Plus we have an in with one of the ladies in the branch because they are best friends. So pretty much they are doing good... just a few snags here and there. 

As for Carolina... she dropped us. Skoda It was really sad. She texted and said that she was Catholic and would always be Catholic. We think that she probably talked about meeting with us to her family. It's okay. One day she will remember what we talked about and I hope it will bring her comfort to know that there is more. 

That is the best part about being a member of the Bhurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE! I think before my mission that stressed me out. But know I realize how great it is and how many opportunities it gives us. But mostly it just gives me faith that there are better things to come. And I don't really know what they are, but God does and he knows me and he knows what things I need. 

We had a really good week finding. We found 2 new investigators that have a TON of potential. One of them has met with missionaries before and is still reading the Book of Mormon!!! and the other is this way cool lady that we contacted at like 8:45 at night right outside our apartment. We were about to go inside but we decided to talk to her right before she got on the bus. She is so cool. She is evangelical but said she still has questions. We talked about the Book of Mormon and she said that she had always thought that there was more to the Bible. WAY COOL. The only problem is that she really loves her other church and said that it is like a family to her. But she wants to meet again! 

Basically I'm just super pumped for this week. I'm excited to talk to everyone. I don't feel afraid anymore and it's a great feeling. I just have so much trust that if I talk to as many people as I possibly can that God will trust me enough to put prepared people in my path. Isn't it just so great that we have a Heavenly Father who knows us SO WELL. We watched a mormon message this last week and at the end it said "Of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to deity, he has asked us to call him father." quorum of the 12 apostles. It's a great month to be a missionary.

s laskou

 

Sestra Bruno

Consecrated Missionary

Hello my little family fam, It was a crazy dazy week here in Plzen. We had zone training on Tuesday and it was intense. It was all about being a consecrated missionary. Our mission president talked a lot about opening our mouths. It was a really good reminder for me that there are prepared people here in the Czech Republic but I won't find any of them unless I talk to EVERYONE! Also it was re-emphasized that we should ask for referrals more from the people we teach and people on the street then members. A lot of the members here have been telling the missionaries for the last 10 years that they don't have anyone for them to teach and so we are really focusing on asking everyone. It was really funny because President told us at the training that the people on the street that refuse our message a lot of times are hay and we need to start asking them if they know where any needles are. He said that we should ask people specifically for who we are looking for. We have gone crazy this week, and it's really made a huge difference. WE MET WITH SIMONA AGAIN! And her 3 adorable 10 year-old. They are the cutest ever! We are so excited to teach their family. They are the best. We have another lesson tonight are we are PUMPED. WE"RE TEACHING A FAMILY!!!! It is sooooo cool. We also met with Carolina this week, that way cool girl from Portugal. It was an amazing lesson. She has the most sincere desire to know who God is. And she came to church!!!! Despite the fact that the only Czech she knows is Dobry Den. She is truly prepared. And I knew that when I contacted her she looked really familiar and just reminded me of someone and that's why I talked to her and this week I figured it out... SHE IS THE EXACT MIRROR IMAGE OF SAMANTHA MOORING. It is really insane. And they have similar personalities. I am so glad that I stopped her because I came so close to letting her walk by, but at the last second I stopped her. We asked her what she wanted out of meeting with us and she said she didn't know exactly but she wasn't expecting me to stop her and when I did, she decided that maybe I could help her find out more about God... I almost started crying... she is wonderful. I can't believe I get to teach someone as cool as her. It has been a really great week. I'm so glad that the Lord has put me in Plzen at this time and that we are seeing true miracles at every turn. I know that as I start to focus every energy every thing that I have to doing the Lord's work that he is going to bless me and my area and my companion and everything SO MUCH. It's a great time to be a missionary. GET STOKED. Love you all, s laskou Sestra Bruno

June Flowers can bloom in December through our memories

Ahoj hoj my dear rodinicko Miracles were blooming allllll over the place this week. I really could believe it. The first miracle being that I had exchanges in Prague this week. I love that city with all of my heart. I was with Sister Rosenvall (one of my MTC sisters) and she helped me so much! We talked about how I can improve and what I can be doing better. One of the main concerns I have had on my mission is being about to feel successful. She, so lovingly, told me that all that I am doing shows my success, and even if I don't see it right now, that when I come home from my mission and when I have daughters that are going through the same things I have gone through that I am going to help them thanks to all that I am doing on my mission. Plus I got to be in Prague... and I saw Jardo and Angie!!! (2 investigators that I taught) Jardo is getting baptized on Friday!!!! and Angie... well she dropped the missionaries, but still I got to see them and tell them how much I love them. It just helped so much to see how much they have changed all because of the gospel. I'm so glad that I was able to bring that into their lives in even the smallest way. Then I came back to Plzen and we just exploded. We taught a girl that was contacted in September who texted us telling us that she wanted to meet! It was awesome. She met some believes through cheerleading and she wanted to know more. Unfortunately she went to Austria this week so we don't know when we will get to meet with her :( We also had first lessons with a man named Janu who contacted us our first day here in Plzen and gave him all the committments and he accepted them all. And we had a lesson with a man whose grandfather helped build Pilsner-Urquell (the beer factory here). And the coolest thing ever happened during a chalk display (we just draw things on the ground in chalk and contact people about it). I talked to this AMAZINGLY PREPARED girl from Portugal who doesn't know if she believes in God but wants to find out. At the end of the contact she asked if I really thought I could help her. I almost hugged her and half-shouting half-crying said "YES, I PROMISE THIS WILL HELP" It was an amazing feeling. She had a test so we are going to call this week to set up. On top of that we keep running into people that I have contacted/taught before last transfer and getting numbers... miracles. The cherry on top of an amazing week was that a women from church and our investigator (that only comes to church and wouldn't meet with us) became BEST FRIENDS. Seriously best friends. We had a meeting with the member to talk about her personal mission plan and talked about how she could help us bring this women to baptism. THE MEMBER WAS SOOOOO EXCITED. She set up the meeting herself. The member and investigator became friends while the investigator was coming to church and now they are working together. Roksana (the member) told us that our investigator was going to help her with work and Roksana was going to help the investigator be saved. IT WAS SO CUTE! We just had the lesson today and it was soooooo cool. The member taught the lesson for us. She shared all the commitments and told the investigator that she was going to call and check if she was reading and praying. And we set up again for thursday to teach the lady and her 3 daughters!!!! WE ARE STOKED. Members are KEY. Seriously they make a HUGE difference. I can't believe the amazing week I have had and I'm so blessed to have seen the hands of God in my work this week. My testimony of no effort ever being wasted has been so strengthened. God really knows the right time and condition and brings forth miracles in his way. I am so glad that he knows better than me and he makes these things possible for his children. Isn't he the best??? I love you all and I hope that all is well. GIGI IS HAVING HER BABY?!?!?! I'm freaking out. I'm so excited to see pictures. Everyone looks like models in the pictures they sent. How did I luck out with such a great family? I love you guys s laskou Sestra Bruno

True Colors

I won't lie, fam, this week was a buttkicker. The lovebug must have been in the air because people were just not showing up to the meetings that we set. Other than that it was good. We taught Tomas again. He is the sweetest old man on the planet. And it's hilarious because he tries to act like he isn't, but then when he prays during our lessons he thanks God for sending us to him... we still haven't really talked about baptism because he is hard-core catholic, but we plan to talk to him about whether or not he is catholic by tradition or by choice. Most people here believe what they believe because of their parents. Which is weird to me because so many people pride themselves on being "individuals" but then when we ask why they aren't believes 9 times out of 10 it has to do with how they grew up. SO I just want to take this time to say THANK YOUUUUUU to my wonderful family who taught me about God. And who taught me not to take their word for it, but to find out myself. I just want so badly for all of these people to know what I know. They would LOVE it too. Anyway just wanted to say, I love you all sooooooo much! 

Speaking of individuals, we met a lot of those this week. :) One of them brought my companion chocolate on Valentine's Day. bahahahah. We had to give him to the Elders... but it was definitely a journal moment. We also taught the WAYYYY cool guy named Daniel. Unfortunetely he gave us every excuse in the book for why he couldn't meet even though he was clearly feeling the spirit. Sad day. BUT he said he would call after he read Alma 32, if it interested him... Since I know how powerful the scriptures are, I know he will call... if he actually read and had sincere interest like he said he would. Basically I know how ready Plzen is to explode, but for some reason something is missing... we will find it. 

PLUS Simona came to church again this week!!! She is the one with the 3 daughters... But she won't set up to meet with us :( It's so weird because this usually does NOT happen. Usually it is us begging our investigators to come to church and not the other way around. Plans are being made to rectify the situation. Haha. If you have any ideas let me know. It's a tough one. 

Plzen has definitely been good for me. I think I have learned more things about myself and how the world really works here then anywhere/any time in my whole life. But I think the one thing that sticks out the most is that I have undoubtly, with a surety learned that God loves his children. Me and you and all our investigators and our friends and every one. SO. MUCH. Even if it is hard to recognize. I think that I am in store for another tough transfer, but I'm looking forward to it. 

Happy Valentine's Day. Love you love you love you!!!

S laskou 

Sestra Bruno

A Short Report from the Czech Republic

AHOJ! Hey sorry so my enter button isn't working. It's going to be kind of a weirdly formatted letter home this week. BUT. It was a good week. We taught some really good lessons and got a new investigator! Her name is Pavla. And she's 21. SHE'S AWESOME! We are so excited to meet her again. The lesson was a little bit crazy because we met her on the namesti (town square) and then walked to a cafe and it was so loud and people were smoking and drinking all around us and I ordered hot chocolate (the only thing not against the word of wisdom on the menu) but they brought me out a latte instead... awkward. Then we taught her a basic lesson and she was awesome. She responded well to everything!! The Book of Mormon was really hard for her to read though, but it is for everyone here in the Czech Republic because it uses really old Czech and people aren't used to reading religious books. So that was understandable. She is so great though. Unfortunately she didn't come to church this week,

Eating Your Way Through A Mission

Hello family.

Another transfer has just flown by!!! I can't believe I have been in Plzen for 2 months already. But I guess that I will be staying here and Sister Cooper is going to be my companion. She is great. From what I have heard, she works really hard and is really motivated. I'm pumped. Plzen is going to see some really cool things this transfer!

It has been a really amazing week. We have eaten at SO MANY MEMBERS HOUSES! The members here really loved my last companion so they had us over once before she left. There is this really funny old lady called the "groovy grandma" who makes ovocny knedliky (fruit dumplings). They are the best things ever, but they are basically a heart attack waiting to happen. They are potato dumplings with apple filling then she covers them with powdered sugar and cream and a cup of butter (1 cup for every knedliky). We went over to her house this week and had what is called "The Knedliky Challenge" basically you try to eat the most knedlikys. Your pride is really on the line. I ate 13 of them!!!! And my companion ate 20 (That was the record for Sisters, 45 is the record for Elders) Don't you worry, I have one more transfer to beat the record!!! It was insane. We also had traditional Ukrainian food at another members house. IT WAS SO GOOD. Real Ukrainian borsk. It was delicious. Seriously I am gaining soooo much weight. But it is worth it.

We also had another lesson with the Catholic Man. He prayed correctly after we taught him how to pray so that was really interesting, and great. Also Simona came to church again yesterday, and she took the Gospel Principles book home! We still haven't been able to meet with her though. She is really busy and I'm trying to figure out how to get her to let us teach her!!! It's really good though. 

It's been a crazy week, and a crazy transfer. I'm really looking forward to seeing the amazing things that will happen here in Plzen the next two months. I know that great things are ahead! I hope you are all doing splendidly. 

Love you!

s laskou

Sestra Bruno 

Faith, Agency and Opposition

Hello dear family,

It's been a slow week here in Plzen... We kontakt really cool people and get their numbers and even set up times to meet, but they stillllll don't come... FRUSTRATING!!!! But it's okay. We are just going to keep calling :) 

My district leader is really awesome. He told us in our last district meeting that faith is like a ladder. We climb and climb and when we get to the top and there are no rungs left then that is when our faith is truly tested and we have to hope that God is going to add more to our ladder. He also told us that we need to focus this week on giving people a reason to come back and meet with us. We went on mini-exchanges with him this week and he said to think of it like being in the mall... when salespeople come up to you in the mall and start going off on how this new lotion is going to help you so much and you should try it and blah blah blah then most of the time you are like, no thanks I'm not looking for lotion, I wasn't even thinking about lotion and I don't need it right now, OR you are like no, thanks I have my own lotion, I don't need your lotion. BUT if we start off by giving people background and really focus on making them WANT it so bad that they can't think of a reason not to take the dang lotion, then we will be successfull. :)   He also said to focus on people that we can relate to and that we really really really want to teach and once we find those people to grab on and don't let go. And he said if you can't think of people that you want to teach, or if we are having a hard time finding people that we want to teach then we need to change ourselves. That has been really hard for me thus far on my mission.

CHANGE. Ugh. It's the best worst thing ever. It hurts to evaluate yourself and realize that sometimes what you thought was enough isn't. It's not a very good feeling, but then once you can fix the problem and you are able to grow, then it's the best feeling in the world. 

This week we had a really cool experience testing the ladders of our faith. We tried to go and visit a less-active but they weren't home. BUT the events leading up to us finding out they weren't home are what tested our faith. First we had to find out where she lived because she lived in an apartment building that is surrounded by other apartment buildings and the numbers on the buildings are sometimes really hard to find so we walked down this row of apartment buildings looking for the number 65. We got to the end of the row and their was no 65. It ended with 63, so we went to the next row, but is started with 67, so we had to go back to the first row and we kept walking until we found this random building that wasn't really on a street but was just kind of in the middle of all the other buildings and it was... 53 so by that point we were thinking that 65 didn't even exist, but we kept walking straight up the street and looked up and there was 65. That was the easy part. Once we got to the building, we looked at the zvolnek (which is where you ring people to let you in to the building) but her name wasn't there, but a girl came up and opened the door and asked what we wanted, but just as she asked a man came out of the door and saw who we were and pushed us out of the door and said something mean in Czech and walked out of the building. I still think that could have been the ladies husband, I'm not sure... But then we really didn't know what to do so we just started ringing people asking them to let us in. It was terrible. I got through 5 people telling me know and the whole time my companion was saying that we needed to go but I just keep ringing. I'm not even sure why. Finally this man with a really scary dog that barked and jumped on me, opened the door for us and we asked if he knew where the women we were looking for lived and he yelled at us that she lived upstairs so we walked all the way to the top floor of this building and then we looked at the buzzers up their and their was on that had her name on it so we rung it and NOBODY ANSWERED! Then we looked at all the doors on the floor, there were 6 and 2 of them didn't have names on them, so I thought, you know we made it this far so we knocked on the first door... no answer. (the whole time I was praying please don't yell at me, please don't yell at me, I will start crying if you yell at me) Then we knocked on the second door... no answer. So then we went back downstairs and left a letter in the mailbox telling her that we tried to visit and leaving our information. I know it might not sound like a lot, but I was scared out of my mind to do this. But I know that even though the woman wasn't home and we didn't miraculously find someone prepared that I am showing God that I am willing to do what it takes to find his lost sheep and I think that's what he wants. Plus we can always go back and see if she is home on another day now that we know she lives there. Next time we will even take the next step and trakt her building... even though there are scary mean people there... It will be great! hahah

It was a good week. I hope you read the above story because it's funny and applicable to your lives and if you care about me you will read my long e-mails too... hahahah

love you all and hope you are having miracles of your own

s laskou

Sestra Bruno (Franny) 

TRAKTOVANI...

This week was INTENSE. We had a mindblowingly crazy spiritually uplifting zone conference. Our mission president changed a lot of the things... Then we had interviews with him and he asked if I would do whatever he asked and I said YES! I'm really excited to start doing everything I can to find people. One of the biggest pieces of advice he gave was to have in mind who we need before we go finding, and plan accordingly. The church in this part of the vineyard needs some extra TLC... we are so close to getting a stake. I WANT IT TO BE THIS YEAR. And we need families and strong priesthood holders. So we are thinking outside of the box and we are doing things that scare us. LIKE TRAKTING. I know I might sound like a horrible missionary to some of you who have served... like everyone in our family... but we don't do trakting really in the Czech Republic. Well... we do it's just really scary because the way that Czech houses were build is crazy. There is a front door, but you can't get to the front door with out ringing people the peoples zvolnek, then they have to come out and open the gate that is locked before you can even think about getting to the front door. Even with houses. EVERY HOUSE/APARTMENT BUILDING/SHACK/ANY LIVING ACCOMODATION has one. So there is no way to knock the door and people are just not super nice when you knock on their door. BUT Holla at 'cha girls. We got over our fear and we trakted. We are starting small... one hour a day of trakting and we are starting with houses and not humongous ponaloks (apartment buildings that were built during communism that are super scary and people threaten to call the police on you and yell at you). Baby steps. WE ARE BEING BRAVE AND WE ARE BEING BOLD because these people need it! People need us to tell them that their lives aren't ok without the gospel. They need the message that we are talking about! And we desperately need them to be our branch builders here in Plzen so that we can get a stake in the Czech Republic. It was actually pretty good. We talked to some really nice people, and we talked to some really not so nice people and we had one man who basically kicked us out of the neighborhood... that's okay, we'll get 'em next time. 

We also talked in training about becoming Czech... figuring out what they like, how they act and then using that to talk to people. I'm going to try to be better at that. I really want to embrace this culture. I want people to think that I'm Czech! It's gonna take some work.... hah Also we watched the Mormon Message "The Curren (sp?) Bush" The Lord is really the gardener in our lives and I really want to focus on being the person that the Lord wants me to become. Which is hard. Sometimes I don't know exactly what the Big Guy wants from me, but I'm working on that too. It's gonna be a good week. 

Wishing you health and happiness

s laskou

Sestra Bruno