Week 3 in Prague

Hi!! 13 dubna (april), 2013 Dad I was cracking up about your letters home, that definitely makes me feel better!! That is exactly how I feel. I can say some stuff but the second they say something back I have no idea what they said. I'm starting to get the gist of conversations at least--most of the time. And the sounds aren't quite as blurred together most of the time. So progress! haha. And that is really neat to read that line about the Sakamotos. It really goes to show that even when we feel like we're making no difference at all, we can be an instrument in the Lord's hands and not even know it. Mom you are all talking about Annica's email, but I didn't get it from any of you! Will you forward them to me and give me her email address? This week was good. Super busy. Yesterday I felt like a real missionary, because we contacted for almost 2 hours and got nothing and people were being unusually rude, and then I went tracting for the first time and got sworn at for the first time. (at least in English, it might have happened before in Czech, but I don't understand). haha. Oh and all 3 of our lessons cancelled yesterday too. So that was interesting...We did meet this guy at the very last door though, who had met missionaries before, and might come to Conference tomorrow. So we'll see I guess. But we have a new investigator who we've taught 4 lessons to, and he accepted the word of wisdom with no problems, so that was cool. He was going to come to all 4 sessions but had to work today...so we'll see if he shows up tomorrow. He's on date for May 4, so we are hoping he makes it to baptism. Our new convert Charlah came though! She is awesome and 19, I think I told you about her before? But she wants to serve a mission in a year-teaching her is always such a boost cause she gets so excited about the gospel. Ok fun cultural things...the word for slippers is pantoufle!! same as French. That was exciting haha. We contacted a French guy in the park yesterday and I thought about speaking to him in French but I can't remember ANYTHING. It's all Czech now. Oh well, hopefully it will come back eventually? We walked around Prague last P-day, that was fun. So I have some pictures from that. Oh and we went to this investigator's apartment, it's in Prague but an old farmhouse converted into apartments, and there was a horse pasture nearby. It was so funny, like a little piece of countryside just planted there. I guess the rest of the Czech Republic looks like that, so that was really cool to see. What else happened...oh we had new missionary training on Tuesday, that was cool cause I got to see my whole MTC group again. Oh we taught this guy who is being taught by the sisters in Brno, he's in Prague for the week. I actually heard about him in the MTC cause one of my teachers had contacted him 3 years ago. It was pretty funny cause the whole lesson was in Czech, and then at the end I was struggling to say something, so I asked Sister Bowler how to say it in English, and he said, in perfect English, oh don't worry I speak English too. We were really surprised haha. He was like, yeah I know you need to practice your Czech, so I just let you keep going haha. He's really cool. He's a Jew, so he isn't quite sure about Christ being the Messiah, but he totally gets the gospel. He just prayed for the first time a couple weeks ago I guess and said it was a really neat experience. So that was neat to meet him. My Czech is improving, but it's still so frustrating not being able to understand people. You can't really teach to their needs when you can't understand what they are. But I did contact completely by myself during a singing display this week (one companion sings while the other goes and talks to people that walk by). She wasn't interested but was really nice, and I understood the majority of what she said. She did take a pass-along card though, but a lot of them do. The weather is definitely warmer, I think it's finally Spring! That was exciting. Mom can you send me a real letter with the stuff you liked from Conference so we can "talk" about it? I don't have enough email time to say everything I want to. I really liked Sister Dalton's and Elder Scott's surprisingly, and elder Cook's. We haven't watched Sunday yet though, so I'm excited for that tomorrow. That's really interesting what dad said about the plan of salvation and buddhism, I've never thought about that before. Cool. My companion is good. I'm learning a lot from here. We've had a couple bumps, but we are fine. Our unity is definitely getting better. It's so interesting because I see a lot of myself in her. I can definitely feel the Lord strengthening me so much, I feel like I've grown up a lot already. Like I haven't been defensive at all, and I can tell when I'm putting my walls up and have been able to put them down. Oh and it occurred to me to do the dishes haha. I know you will appreciate that mom. I feel like my communication skills have definitely gotten better too. Ok well i am running out of time. Oh and I think I'm going to go buy a backpack today, I mentioned that last time, but you didn't say anything...So I don't know how much you want me to spend on it/not spend... I guess I'll just do my best to find a reasonably priced one. Most of the missionaries have Deuter's here, they are really nice. Oh yeah, I had an interesting experience last week with fasting. Let's just say I have a testimony of it now! It was really weird, cause I was having a really hard time with swear words popping into my head, which was really weird cause I've never said one in my life. So I was praying to get rid of it, and doing everything I could to stop it, but it wasn't working. So then it was going to be fast Sunday, and the scripture "this kind goeth not out except through prayer and fasting" came into my mind, so I decided to fast about it. And it completely stopped. It was so strange. But I really felt like I was healed spiritually, from something I couldn't fix on my own. I'm not really sure why I needed to learn that lesson, maybe so I can have more empathy for investigators who are addicted to things or something? No idea. But I felt like it really strengthened my testimony of the atonement and of fasting, so that was cool. I love you!!! Sestra Cooper