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

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

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

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

That Awkward After-Christmas-Time-where-people-are-waiting-for-New-Year's-and-still-don't-want-to-meet with you

Hey Fam!

It was so nice to talk to all of you on Christmas! Seriously. It made my year!!!! Things I learned: 

MY FAMILY IS CRAZY (in a good way) all the other missionaries could hear everything we were saying and I was in a different room with the door closed... hahaha. 

I miss you all more than I expected to!

I wouldn't be the missionary I am without all of you!!!

That being said, Thank you... And stop promising me to random strangers in Brazil and utah singles wards. 

It was an amazing Christmas!!!! We started off with a visit from my girl Marketa from Prague. It was a great visit. Then we spent Christmas Eve visiting members and showing them a 5 minute film then bearing our testimony of Jesus Christ. It was amazing. We have wonderful members in this part of God's vineyard. The members in Plzen are just so friendly and genuinely pray for the missionaries success. It is a beautiful thing. Then for Christmas Eve dinner all the missionaries got invited to a members house. She made us... get this... Fried Chicken and potato salad... Traditional Czech christmas food. I thought that was funny since I am used to fried chicken and potato salad but prepared in a whole different way. A little bit of southern comfort for me during my Christmas in the Czech Republic. It was pretty funny. Then we had millions of things called sucrovy which are just these tiny christmas cookies. Every cookie tastes different though. It's crazy. I'll have to send pictures. We literally eat thousands of these things. Needless to say I am F-A-T. I have a New Year's Resolution to give up milka bars (the chocolate here). 

Then for Christmas we visited a hospital and sang to this man. It was so cute. He asked where we were from and we told him America and he was shocked that we had come all the way from America to sing for him on Christmas. Then he wished us health so that we wouldn't end up in the hospital like him. It was really cute. He sang along to the carols we sang... it was awesome. Then we had lunch with our district. And dinner with some members who didn't have family to go home to.

The day after Christmas was probably the funniest because we went around singing at places where we thought people would be, but Plzen is pretty small and so there was no one out. We were basically singing to ourselves. It was definitely an experience that I will never forget. I have never sung so much in my life for an audience as I have on my mission... I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. hahhaha. 

The holidays were so wonderful but I am really excited for everything to go back to normal and to get back to normal missionary work. I have souls to save here! hahaha. But really I am super excited for what the New Year will bring. It is truly a time to reflect on how to improve and change and get better (as is every new day that comes) because "a marvelous work is about to come forth among the Children of men" and I get to be apart of it! #STOKED 

I miss you all so so so much! Have Fun at Annika's wedding!!!! Do the stanky leg for me!

s laskou

Sestro Bruno

VESELE VANOCE

Hey fam!

This week was really good. We had interviews with President. It really helped. So much. My mission president is really THE BEST person ever. I told him how I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing and I don't understand anything and he told me about when he served in Plzen and it was the same time of year as when I am here. He said that he was trained by someone who had only been on their mission for 4 months and they had no idea what they were doing either and they still found people who are still members today. It's amazing. They are super strong members too. He said that we would find the people who would be willing to meet with us no matter what. No matter how much Czech we spoke, no matter how good our people skills were, no matter what. I can tell that's true. It's so amazing how the Lord works and I can really feel his hand in the work that we are doing as missionaries. It has to be him because there is no way that people would listen to my Czech if the Holy Ghost wasn't working with them.

For Christmas I don't think we are going to have time to e-mail next monday because we will be in Prague so I will just tell you what the plans are I guess. I'm still confused what we do... but we can only call after 6 and my companion is going to call her family at 7 so I am going to call at 8 pm here. I think that will be 2 pm on the east coast and 12 pm MST???? I'm not sure. Also I guess you are suppose to call me so our number is 420.775.474.340 at 8 pm our time. We have 45 minutes to talk. So 8 p.m. my time on Christmas Day (the 25th)

Christmas Eve is the really big Holiday here in the CR and so a lot of member are going out of town and things like that but it should still be a pretty good Christmas. On the 24th a member from Prague is going to come down and visit us and I'm so excited! She is the best. I am really excited for my first (and probably only) Czech Christmas.

If anyone is on right now and has questions let me know because I don't know exactly how this is suppose to work... Or if I should change the time??? I don't know

Changing All of Our Natural Habits

Dearest Family,

A big ahoj hoj from Plzen.

 After being here for a week I am realizing that I am one of those missionaries that is just meant to plant seeds. I got here only to find out that there are absolutely no investigators in this area. (This area has only been opened for 4 transfers so as long as I have been a missionary) YES. So after having a mini-panic attack because I am the senior companion (I'm suppose to know what I'm doing and I don't AT ALL) and praying a whole ton... I came up with the solution. Kontakting. It's so fun. Really I love it. It reminds me of two transfers ago when we opened Namesti Miru in Prague. We didn't have anyone during those transfers and now we have solid investigators and one even with a baptismal date. We will find the elect here in Plzen too. Already last week we saw a lot of success and we have a ton of potential, we just need to get people to meet with us... the problem every missionary has...  But really starting at ground zero just makes me realize that there is so much room to grow and to change and that's why we are here as people on the earth. To learn and grow. So I can't wait to grow-up in Plzen. It's going to be SUPER. Sister Jackson is really good. She is so sweet and really dedicated to the work. If anybody has anytime this week they should write to her because she is kind of having a hard time with her family and just missionary life. It would be really really nice and I think that she would really appreciate it.

This week in personal study I have a goal to focus on CONVERSION. What does it mean to be converted? I was reading in the Topical Guide today and one of the Synonyms for conversion was change. I thought that was interesting. The more I read the more I discovered that when we are converted we change all of our natural habits, everything that the world tells us to do to become Godly. True conversion. It's so hard. Sometimes I really don't want to do what needs to be done. REALLY don't want to. But I know that every time I do something that scares me, or is really really hard, that I am coming a little closer to being like God. It's a good feeling. So I hope that everyone will try to do something this week that scares them, but helps them come closer to Jesus Christ. For me it is kontakting people on public transportation. It scares me so bad, but it shows God that I have faith and trust him. 

I love you all so so much and hope that everything is good!!!

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Plzen Bound

Hey fam,

My p-days are switched to Monday because I got transferred to Plzen!!!! My companion's name is Sister Jackson. She is 1 transfer behind me so we are just a bunch of newbies still... well I guess I'm not really a newbie anymore but it feels like I am!!! 

I'm really excited to be in Plzen. President has been really worried about this area lately, so I'm glad that he trusts me enough to send me here. I am really hoping to see miracles and do some good work here!!! I don't really have a lot to say so I will write more next week once I know what I am doing!!!!!

7 Simple Words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

s laskou

sestrabruno

The Power of Member Missionary Work

Hey Fam,

This week was grrreat. On Sunday we had a way awesome thing happen. This woman from America came to Prague because she had been doing some family history and found family members of hers in Slovakia so they drove down to Prague to meet her. While she met them she gave them a Book of Mormon and invited them to church. They said they would come but they were late because they were lost and during the middle of Gospel Principles the woman came in a pointed to me... I didn't really know if she was pointing at me or someone else, but she told me to come, so I did. She told us the situation and asked what we should do. We decided to go ahead and teach them a lesson. It was awesome. The lady, Sister Hammonds completely taught them everything and it was so awesome. She was amazing!!! Then the son lives in Prague and was interested in English class so he got our number. Usually that is the kiss of death because people don't usually call/text us unless we do it first... BUT he texted and told us he wouldn't be able to come to english this week. BUT we texted him back and invited him to the concert and he came!!!

The concert went really well too. It was a little stressful putting it together but it turned out really really good. There were 98 people there. WAY awesome. And Kristian (the guy) became a new investigator because he wants to learn more about the story of Joseph Smith. It was really cool.

We also had a lesson with a way cool Mongolian girl who has lived in the Czech Republic for 14 years (she is 19) and her family is Buddhist. She is awesome though... a referral from an investigator in a different city in The Czech Republic!!!

Then we had a lesson with Prokop our baptismal date. He isn't really progressing very much and he only meets with us like once a month... sad. We are trying to figure out what to do with him. He is so cool. He is a very nice man, but he isn't putting forth very much effort... WHAT TO DO?!?!? We will figure it out.

I hope everyone is doing well... I love you all... send me pictures!!!!

S laskou

Sister Bruno