Week 17 in C Bud

16 Sept 2013 Ahoj! Well this week went by pretty fast, we only have one normal week of the transfer left cause next week we go to Prague twice--I have to get fingerprinted for my visa and then we have training! And we were in Prague yesterday as well for District Conference. So a ton of travel lately. District Conference was so good though I loved it. And I got to see Vaclav and Martin Novak again! That was sooo fun because I can actually communicate with them now, I absolutely loved it. Martin's still an investigator, but he's so great, he'll make it eventually. It was so funny cause he was telling me that he's growing out his beard again cause people always think he's a student even though he's had a real job for like 10 years haha. So I was like, yeah I have the same problem, people always think I'm 18, and he was like what? you aren't 18?? hahaha no Martin, I'm not. And it was all in Czech of course. Ah beautiful. And I understood almost all of the Conference as well, which was super exciting, cause the last time I was in church in Prague I just tried not to fall asleep. This time I actually got things out of it :) It was super cool cause they had a bunch of little talks by youth and young adults, one was about to leave on a mission, the others preparing, and then a woman got up and talked about how her husband patiently waited 8 years for her to get baptized and how they were recently sealed in the Temple. It was so cool because I just felt an overwhelming love for these people. The church really is growing here, even if it seems to be so incredibly slow to me. And I just love them so much--I know missionaries always say that, but I don't think I realized how much I really would feel it, you know? It's an incredible gift. Sister McConkie gave a talk on siblings--apparently there is an article in Times magazine called the new science of siblings, and she quoted it--they were saying that our siblings are our true partners for life, because spouses come into the picture comparatively late and parents leave earlier, but our siblings are with us for the whole journey. (It sounds like a really interesting study.) So she talked about how siblings sometimes fight, or disagree, but at the end of the day always forgive each other, because we are family. So then she compared it to how we are all siblings in the church, and how we need to love each other like family, and forgive each other like family. Ah it was so good. And it made me miss you guys, but in a good way, if that makes sense. Because I know that I'll be such a better sister when I get home because of what I'm learning here. Other things...we went on a road trip on Saturday with the senior couple to find inactives, and we actually had way more success than I thought we were going to. We went up past Tabor, which is like an hour and a half away (our area is huge) and one of the families let us in, and were so friendly! It was such a nice surprise to be welcomed haha, usually they just don't answer or say they don't have time. But they said they would totally come to church if they lived closer, but it's just such a long way. And then we tracked down another member in a different town, who also answered the door and gave us her contact info :) I was so excited. So we are going to start visiting them once a month I think. It was awesome. Oh and the elders had a miracle happen to them too, Elder Greener wanted to get some books bound, and Gita (a member) said she had a friend who did them, so last week they went to this shop to get them done, and at the end, they found out that her friend is no less than one of the inactives no one has been able to get ahold of, and she said they can start visiting her :) Total divine intervention! And then yesterday on the train back from Prague the same member happened to get on the same car as us so I got to meet her too! And we had members traveling back with us, so they all said hi, and exchanged phone numbers :) Not a coincidence. The branch is growing!! Even though we only have 1 investigator.... but that's ok. We are working hard and that's all that matters. love you!!! Sestra Cooper