Week 11 in Brno

9 Dec 2013 Ahoj! I LOVE MY MISSION. That's all there is to say. This week wasn't even really that spectacular, but it's still just awesome. And we've made it a goal to talk to at least one person on every tram, and surprisingly it wasn't even that hard, I just have to make myself do it. And I felt sooo much better about my day. It was like a night and day difference. Crazy. I think I've maybe been blessed with an overabundance of enthusiasm because my trainee was kind of disappointed that we got no numbers when we contacted this week. I just told her about all the miracles I've seen and got even more excited. But hey I'll take it! Plus I realized that I've almost been out a year, and funnily enough going back to BYU now scares me more than staying on my mission. How did that happen?? But Sister Senkane went to BYU so she was talking about it and I realized that I am soooo far away from that world now--it was so weird. Just the things that used to matter so much don't at all. I just started laughing cause I suddenly remembered that this time last year I was stressing about selling my contract, and I'm pretty sure mom you asked me if it was something I would care about in a year....and for the life of me I can't even remember how it worked out, only that it did. So funny. Really the only things that matter to me right now are my family and friends and the gospel. How blessed am I that I have the chance to be so removed from distractions that I can say that! Missions are just the best. Training has been really fun so far. Sister Senkane is from Latvia so I'm getting to use all my anthropology skills haha. It's been so fascinating. The church is even smaller there than in the Czech Republic but her family has a returned missionary and almost two out. She went to BYU for two years so her English is really good and her Czech is too. And she's a super hard worker, so we are just going to go to work! For the first half of the week I was in Prague with the other two sisters who are training, that was so fun. We taught a couple of lessons together and it was so neat because we had never taught together before, but we all know our stuff well enough that we could just switch off and go by the Spirit and they both ended up being super good lessons! Plus I got to go to FHE there and say hi to all the members I knew my first transfer. That was so fun--the YSAs have already grown a lot! And Alexandra was like, wow you can speak Czech now! hahaha. In terms of the work we have a really cool new investigator! His name is Luc and he's from the Congo. They taught him in 2009. It was pretty funny cause he was like, why do you guys always talk about the Book of Mormon, I want to know how to be saved! And then he asked how he can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost :) Oh yeah and he speaks French, Russian and English and both of us speak French and Sister Senkane speaks Russian. So fun. It was really cool because I realized that two of our current investigators I had called the same night last transfer when we only had like a half hour til planning. But I wanted to make sure I used all of our working hours, so I called formers that night. And now we are meeting with two of them! Diligence pays off! Oh yeah and then our investigator Diego? He had kind of dropped off the planet for a few weeks cause he's been working a ton, but then Pavla told us he was talking to her at work and wanted to know if he really needs to be baptized again! And then he showed up to church and said he's been reading and praying and we were able to introduce him to the District President who grew up Catholic, and that was super good for him. And THEN, the Branch president talked about Mary in his talk and Diego LOVES her. So it was so perfect, tender mercies are the best! I can't believe it snowed that much at home!! It snowed this week but only like an inch and then rained the next day so it's all gone. I think we swapped haha. We got invited over for a traditional Czech Christmas Eve on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas, so I'm excited about that. The Rezac family invited ALL of the missionaries in Brno (4 companionships and a senior couple). That is so much food! haha.I think we get to try the dreaded carp. But it's going to be great. love you soooo much! Sestra Cooper