Leaves Are Falling All Around

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

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

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

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

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

s laskou

Sestro Bruno

Open Your Mouth

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

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

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

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Puppy Power

Hey fam!

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

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

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

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

I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Wondering?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LOTS OF LOVE FROM PRAGUE 

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

OH MY PANNA MARIA

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

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

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

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

Anyway love you all. Hope everyone is well!

s laskou

Sestra Bruno

Another Wonderful Week in Prague

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

NIKITA IS IN HIGH SCHOOL! AHHHHH 

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

s laskou

cau cau cau (we say Cioa here too!)

Sestra Bruno

No Lost Souls

No Nazdar Kluci!

So this week was really cool!

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

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

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

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

s laskou

Sestra Bruno