Week 9 in Praha. Do I stay?

Ahoj! This is going to be short cause we are going to go to Karelstejin today!! I'm really excited but it means a lot of running around like a crazy person (to use Monica's phrase :)) We have to go catch the 1:20 train. This week wasn't really too exciting anyways, not compared to last week. We've been teaching Jana and Vaclav the new member lessons, and it's been really cool to see how much more they understand now that they are members, there really is a difference with the gift of the Holy Ghost! So that was fun, we went for pudding at the Cankovi's house with both of them, and that was really cool. Both Sister Cankova and Brother Canek (they spell the names differently according to gender) were baptized during Communism, and they work in the Freiberg temple every other week. She told us her story, they had to sneak out in the middle of the night to a lake and avoid the police. It was sweet, she said her two feelings at her baptism were, being scared that the police would catch them, and when can I go to the Temple? They are amazing. On Tuesday we got to go to Ceske Budovice (2 1/1 hrs south by car) for specialized training. That was fun, cause it was all about using our time wisely and trying new contacting techniques, so we contacted for 2 hours as part of it. That was cool cause I learned a lot, but also got to see another city! It's beautiful, especially the main namesti (town square). What else...nothing else really happened haha. We have a good pool of potential investigators for next transfer which is good cause our area isn't quite as good now that our two main ones got baptized! So if I'm still here in Prague things are looking pretty good. I'm excited about Boki though, cause I think he finally understands why we want him to read in the Book of Mormon, how everything we teach him leans on knowing whether or not it's true. And he committed to come to church on Sunday even though he didn't like it last time, so he's started progressing. We are also bringing him to Br Zumar's with the Munros for dinner on Sunday so that will be fun. We've been getting feed the last two weekends cause everyone wants to say goodbye to Sister Bowler, so that's been nice. We are getting fed Monday at FHE, then Tuesday at the Balackovi too haha. It's great. It was so good to get your email Annica!! I'm so glad you get to speak Spanish, that's awesome. I'm glad you are enjoying it. Are you really saying blessed?? haha Utah has corrupted you. Oh yeah, Martin Novak made his decision...and it's not getting baptized. It's so sad, he told Sister Bowler he knows he will miss the church a lot, but he can't bring himself to do it. Not even to just make the decision--we told him he could change his mind if he didn't get an answer. But he said he just likes Buddhism better, cause he doesn't have any doubts about it. I don't get that though, cause he's told us before that he believes that God and Jesus Christ are real. I'm hoping he makes it one day! Hopefully when he has a trial or something he will remember the gospel and how much happier it made him. I'm trying not to freak out about transfers, and so far I've been doing pretty well. I find out tonight though! Everyone has pretty much assumed I'm staying in Prague, and I think I might be with someone from my own group, but we'll see! You never know, I could be leaving. I'm feeling much more confident now, though, I know that whatever happens I'll have the Lord's help every day, and that I will see miracles! I've been really working on having charity for the people and it's made a huge difference. love you all!!! Sestra Cooper

Double baptisms! Week 8 in Praha

Ahoj!! We had our double baptism this morning and it was beautiful!!! aaah I'm so glad everything worked out. We were freaking out yesterday morning cause Vaclav STILL hadn't talked to his wife and he needed her permission to get baptized. He seemed really scared to do it too, but he did, and she was fine with it, so that was a relief. They were both sooo happy today. It was amazing. Me and Sister Bowler sang I Know that My Redeemer Lives (in Czech of course), and both had solos so that was fun. It was cool too, cause some of the members came up to me after and were like, wow your Czech is really good, you've made so much progress! hahaha. So that was nice to hear. Oh it was so awkward though cause one of the ladies that gave a talk was just talking to Vaclav, apparently she didn't realize Jana was getting baptized too, even though she was on the program. So people were trying to point at the program discretely and she was like what? The sisters told me it was just Vaclav....so that was awkward haha. But everyone just laughed about it, so it was fine. We gave both Jana and Vaclav a triple combination and a true to the faith as congratulations. Oh and Martin Novak came too! That was big because he didn't come to church last week. But we had our do-or-die lesson with him, and I ended up promising him that if he just made the decision to get baptized he would get his answer that the Book of Mormon was true. Normally I wouldn't say something like that, but the Spirit was sooo strong telling me to promise him RIGHT NOW, so I did! It was neat too, because as missionaries we can promise things like that, as representatives of Jesus Christ, and we told him that. He was much more serious during that lesson and seemed to actually be considering it. He usually beats around the bush a ton, "chodit kolem horke kase" in Czech (it means walk around the hot potatoes), but he's been a lot better lately. (Every time we say goodbye to him we say "mej se hezky a mene dramaticsky" which means have yourself well, and less dramatically haha. We joke that he's like a boy you can't get rid of, because he tries to drop us but always comes back. So much drama haha. Of course it's not us at all, it's because he knows the gospel makes him happier, but he can't quite admit it) But, we got him to admit yesterday that there was a "strong atmosphere" when I promised him that (he won't admit that it's the spirit). Oh and we ran into him in the metro the day after too, which never happens, Prague is huge, and he admitted that the talk we gave him was written for him. So we are still hoping he's a miracle and gets baptized on Saturday...we'll see. He's so stubborn haha. Oh the talk is Elder Scott's from 1989 about recognizing answers to prayer, can't remember if I told you that on the phone or not. It's not translated into Czech so we just had it in English and Sister Bowler took a week to translate the whole thing to give to him. So we'll see!! He's so close!! It is neat too, because I told him the story of me deciding to go on a mission like a month ago, about how I didn't get my answer until after I made the decision for myself, so I've been able to testify that I have personal experience with what we are asking him to do, and it was the best decision I've ever made. Today he admitted that he actually does want the Book of Mormon to be true. So we're hoping he has the courage to just decide to take that step of faith. This week was insane though, since we met with Jana and Vaclav every day, plus all of our other investigators--we got 12 member lessons. Pretty crazy. We've made mission standards in all areas for the past 2 weeks :) It was pretty funny too, because we've had to hide from our investigators a couple times now--Jana, Vaclav, and Boki usually come a half an hour early to lessons, but we always have a member scheduled to come at the right time, so it's super awkward to just sit there for an extra half hour, when we usually have contacting on plan. So we have to make sure they don't see us haha. They are fine waiting cause they come so early, but it's not like we can walk into the foyer and then leave again! It's been really neat these last two weeks too, because I've been praying for charity and have really felt it. Before it was easier to get frustrated with investigators, and of course sometimes I still do, but now I love them so much! I'm starting to understand "charity never faileth" now. I never really got that before, but I'm starting to realize that loving the people comes first, before anything else. And I really need that charity, or missionary work would be miserable haha. But really, I'm starting to really love it here, so I'm hoping I don't get transferred next week. I will most likely stay here since my comp is leaving, but we'll see. Yeah you will get an email from me on Saturday cause transfers aren't until Monday, but everyone else has P-day on Monday, so that's why they sent out the email. It was so nice to talk to you on Sunday!! It's true, it's kind of funny how normal it is, just like I talk to you every day. That was fun, and it didn't make me homesick, so that was good :) I really do love it here now, especially today after the baptism, so cool. Oh and we taught a part-member family last night too, the wife is less-active, but since we started teaching her she's come to church almost every week with her three-year-old, and now her husband is coming to support her. She's from Peru, but speaks some English, and he's Czech. So they communicate in English, and are both trying to learn each other's native languages. They talk to their son in all three. It was funny cause he was so adamant about how he's Czech, so he's going to drink his beer, and he wants to stay neutral, etc, and we aren't going to convert him. So we were like, that's fine. He came in at the end of her lesson, so we said the closing prayer, and then he asked us a ton of questions so we basically ended up teaching the Restoration to answer them, even though he said he's not interested. So we think he might be a little more than he lets on. He has his masters in psychology, so he was saying stuff like, yeah the things you ask Diana to do are really healthy mentally, like reading and praying every day. They have "family day" every Saturday where they go visit different zoos in Europe and have a "gratitude moment." We were teaching Diana about FHE, so when he said that we were like, well you basically already do it, just add a scripture and turn the gratitude into prayer! So we'll see what happens with him. Well that's about it, we have a super busy week next week too, cause we are having transfer breakfast with the district, specialized training in Ceske Budovice on Tuesday, and lots of lessons! It will be great. I'm excited to work hard to finish out the transfer. Transfer phone calls aren't until next Saturday night, so I'll find out where I'm going/not and my new companion after I email you! Crazy. All of us missionaries are doing a musical number tomorrow in Sacrament meeting too, so there's been lots of singing this week haha. I'm getting over a cold too, so I was worried about that, but it turned out fine :) I'm so curious to hear how Annica is doing in the field!! Oh well, guess I'll have to wait another week. It goes by so fast though, can't believe the transfer is almost over! Oh and mom can you send me the recipes for banana bread and zucchini bread and crepes? I didn't bring them. thanks!!! And if you stick some aussie bites in that package too, that would be awesome haha. K I love you!!! I'll send pictures :) Sestra Cooper

week 7 in Praha, and a roadtrip to Slovakia!!

11May 2013 Ahoj!!! Sorry this is late, we just got back from Slovakia! President called us on Sunday and was like, by the way, don't plan anything for Friday or Saturday because you are going to Slovakia! So we left yesterday morning at 7:15 and 5 hours later we got to Trencin (I think Daniel might have served there?) We got to take the van with the office elders, the Pardivice elders and then we picked up the Jihlava elders on the way too, so that was really fun. So the reason for it was the anniversary of the dedication of Slovakia-- President Uchtdorf rededicated it in 2006 I think. So we put on a concert yesterday and then had a service in the forest where he dedicated it today. We got to go because Sister Bowler is really good at the piano, but I got to sing a small solo part in I Often Go Walking (in Slovak, so my pronunciation was a little scary haha) and we sang Come Thou Fount in a quartet with us four sisters and it was so beautiful. Everyone did so well. Sister Irwin was like I didn't know you sang! So hopefully that means I get to do something like that again. Basically I fell in love with Slovakia, it's so pretty!! Hopefully I get to serve there at some point. We spent the night with the Zilina sisters, and it was really cool, cause I was telling Sister Jones that I thought my aunt had served there in the 90s, and she pulled out the area book and sure enough she had signed it!! Daniel's in there too, so that was cool. I got to go contacting in Trencin for an hour with the Zilina sisters too, so that was really fun, I actually understood most of what they said even though it was Slovak! The people didn't understand me very well, probably because I was speaking Czech with an American accent, but it was still fun. It was so nice to be in a little small town, I've missed trees and not-big-city haha. The countryside is SO PRETTY. I can't get over it haha. So I got to see pretty much the whole country this weekend. This week was pretty good, Slovakia made it a whole lot better, especially cause a lot of our lessons didn't show up. But, we should have 2 baptisms next week! I'm really excited about that. We found out Vaclav is married and has a kid...didn't see that coming. But we think they are separated or something cause he lives with his mom. It sounds like if they are separated he doesn't need her approval to get baptized, which is good cause it sounds like she doesn't like the church. And our other baptism was kind of a miracle, her name is Jana. She's the girlfriend of a member, and we were really worried that she was just doing it for him, he would answer for her a lot in the lessons, and she was lying about her reading and stuff. So we were praying about it, and I felt like we should challenge her to meet with us without him for the last 2 weeks before her baptism. We weren't sure if it would go over well, cause when they taught her last transfer she tended to freak out about things, and not really seem to understand the lessons. So we've started teaching really simply. But anyway, so we told them that, and she totally agreed, and her boyfriend told us that he'd actually been thinking the same thing that week! And she actually showed up to the next lesson without him and it went so well!! We quizzed her on the Plan of Salvation to make sure she remembered it this time around and she could put the pictures together almost perfect, so I'm really relieved about her. Before I was feeling super unsure about her being ready, but I feel so much better now, so that was really cool. So member lessons, that means a lesson for an investigator with a member there. We are supposed to do that as much as possible so that they have friends besides just the missionaries. hahaha that is so funny that dad though it was weird we made cookies--we got the idea from the Elders in Jihlava, they made brownies! We live in an apartment building, so it was to all of our neighbors, we don't know our landlord either, he's a British member that lives in a different city, but we have his number. Oh so an update on Martin: we had a really horrible conversation with him on Sunday, he basically was just talking about his indian book (that was written in 1966) and about how the Book of Mormon can't be true cause of it. I could have argued with him all day long and told him that I'm an anthropology major and about all the different theories of how people got to the Americas, how they conflict and how there is not one scientific consensus, how any book written in the 60s is completely outdated in the field, etc. But it wouldn't make any difference, he's absolutely determined that his ideas are right, and he doesn't want to give them up even though he has a testimony of the Book of Mormom. And I didn't bother arguing, because the only way anyone ever will know that it's true is by asking God. Sister Bowler talked to him on the phone this week and he said he's decided she's going to be his last missionary, and he didn't read in the Book of Mormon for 3 days, which is the first time he's ever done that. So he's basically decided to drop us. So we are having one last lesson with him this week--we read a talk on prayer by Elder Scott from 1989 that is super good, and perfect for him, so Sister Bowler is translating it and we are going to talk about it with him in our do-or-die lesson this week. And I feel like we should also point out how anyone that joins the church has to sacrifice something, for some people it's an addiction, for others it's friends--for him it's his ideas. So we'll see how that goes. I just hope he will see that something is missing from his life when he no longer has the gospel in it and comes back one day. But the language is SO much better. I realized I was kind of holding myself back--I think I was scared to improve, as funny as that sounds, because then I couldn't hide behind my companion anymore. So once I realized that I gave that up and started working a lot harder and that's when the gift of tongues kicked in--in the last few weeks I've started to understand soooo much more, to remember what I hear and to be able to use it and everything. So that was amazing, I'm really grateful for that. K love you!!! Sestra Cooper

Week 6 in Praha

Ahoj! This week was crazy busy, but really good. We've taught 9 member lessons and we are on track to have 10 by Sunday! And we should have 21 lessons overall, which is really exciting. My companion said this is the closest she's ever been to 21 lessons her entire mission, and she goes home in 4 weeks. So that was really cool. We had a really interesting lesson with Martin Novak this week, he's an eternal investigator--he's been one for a year and a half, comes to church every week and keeps all the commandments, but he won't get baptized. So we keep sort of trying to drop him--we don't teach him that often, but then he always comes back--it's kind of hard to explain haha. But anyways, he knows it's true, but he can't get over things that don't make sense to him logically--like he thinks that science and religion contradict each other, and he really likes Buddhism. It was a really cool lesson though, because he asked to meet with us to ask us some of his questions, so we went in without a lesson plan, really, just some things we wanted to emphasize. The whole thing ended up being completely guided by the Spirit--things that I studied in personal study were perfect to address some of his concerns, and I actually understood most of it so I was actually able to contribute something. He speaks really complicated Czech, so the other times we've met with him I usually don't understand anything. That was definitely a blessing! He brought up evolution vs creation and he was so surprised when I told him I studied Anthropology and I have absolutely no problem with my faith and science coexisting. So that was really neat--I was actually able to be myself instead of just a missionary, you know? I hoped it helped him in some way. Who knows when he will decide to just make the decision, I hope he does one day, he just needs faith. Oh yeah and English class this week was hilarious. It was just the regulars, Stanislav, Ales, and Petr, (they are all at least 65) but then Charlah came, and Ales whips out Indonesian haha. Turns out he lived there for 6 months. So that was really cool, it made her feel really welcome (she just turned 20, almost same exact age as Annica). And then she said she lived on Papua (same island as New Guinea) and Stanislav goes off on how there are cannibals there and asks if she eats people!! hahaha. I was really glad she didn't get offended, everybody was just cracking up at the ridiculousness of it. She was like no, there are tribes in the mountains that do that, but I'm not one of them!! haha. That was pretty entertaining. Oh it was really cool, cause one of them asked if she was Muslim and she said, no I'm Christian. And I said you're a Mormon! And she got all excited and was like oh yeah!!! Then she asked if they were Mormons, and when I said no, she said well they should be! haha love her. Oh mom, do you have any ideas for English class? We answer questions for the first little bit and then usually do some sort of presentation, so we teach them vocab about a specific topic--we've done anthropology, the names of the U.S. states, acronyms, idioms....so any ideas you have would be awesome!! Oh yeah last P-day we went to IKEA! haha that was really fun. We needed some kitchen stuff for our apartment, so we just decided to go. There are actually 2 in Prague, one on either end. We were going to go to a castle called Karlstejin today, but half the district couldn't go so we will hopefully go the last week of the transfer. Cause next week the APs can't, and then the week after, we will hopefully have 2 baptisms! We'll see what happens with those. Vaclav seems pretty solid, we've taught him almost everything. Jana, we're not sure about...we need to make sure she's not just doing it for her boyfriend, cause he's a member. Sorry there's not really that much else to say...all we did this week was study and teach lessons! Which is how it should be haha. Oh we did have a cool lesson with a guy named Jimi, he's from Georgia (the country) and when we asked him if he would read the Book of Mormon, he said "well I can see that you are really good people, so if this book is what helps you be that way, it must be good." That was pretty cool. Oh and mom, I had the BEST salad the other day haha. It was arugula and spinach with balsamic and chevre cheese baked in honey with cranberries I think. It was so good. hahaha. Oh yeah, we heard about the explosion, it was more towards the center of old town I think. But it was pretty funny cause President called us and said, where are you? And I was like, at home, we're about to leave...and he said ok good, have a nice day. So we were dying of curiosity the whole day until Sister Curtis mentioned it haha. (Senior missionaries have so many perks haha. They can google recipes, news, go to cultural things, talk to their families...basically anything they want). Oh but one last thing--something cool I learned in the scriptures this week. I was reading in Alma 31 and compared the Zoramites' prayer to Alma's, and it was really interesting cause at first glance it seems like the Zoramites are less selfish--they just thank God for things, while Alma is asking for help. But then once you study them, the Zoramites aren't really talking to God at all, they are talking at him, and since they don't ask him for anything, they are actually being prideful. While Alma is acknowledging that he needs God's help and he prays for others as well as himself. Just thought that was really cool. Love you all!!! Sestra Cooper