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

The Weather Outside is Frightful

AHOJ HOJ moje rodina!!!

It's getting purrrty cold here in Praha... The sun never shines. And my companion said that from now until April it's going to be pitch black starting at 4:30... FUNNNN. That makes street contacting velmy interesting. But I'm just glad we had such good weather up until now. Really it was the most beautiful fall I have ever experienced in my life. OH Prague in the autumn. Y'all missed out.

The work continues on in Namesti Miru (that's the name of our area). We have been getting a TON of referrels. I LOVE referrels. The investigator is like 20 times more likely to show up to an appointment when they have been referred by a friend... and they don't think missionaries are as crazy :P!! We started cleaning a less-active man's house this week and he has been so grateful.(If you saw his house you would know why) At dinner yesterday he asked if we could go to other people's houses that weren't members and talk to those people. We answered really excitedly, yes!!! So he is going to have us meet one of his friends... Service is so awesome.  

Also we are putting on a concert this friday to try to find more investigators. It's been really fun getting ready for it. Yesterday we had a singing display on the street and handed out flyers... and we sang on the Metro on the way to the singing display. That was an interesting experience for sure. But now I can say, I have sung on the Metro in the Czech Republic, in PRAGUE. Not everyone can say they have done that :). I really hope that people come. This transfer my testimony of how the spirit can work through music has grown so much. I know that my Czech is not perfect, but when you sing a song and you feel the spirit swell within you so much you just want to burst! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! That happened for me last week when the primary kids sang a mix of English and Czech of Families can be together forever. It was beautiful. Great things are happening. The Lord is really hastening the work and I'm glad I get to be here to help!!!