Week 4 in Praha

Ahoj! This week has been kind of ridiculous. Mom I got your package on Thursday, thank you so much!!! I love it. Wore the shirt yesterday, it's super cute! Oh and I bought my backpack and I love it, it's perfect and happens to be cute as well! Sorry I don't have a picture of it, I'll try to get one for next week. I used my credit card though, just so you know Mom, so you can pay that off. Do you want me to use my credit card or my debit card when I buy personal stuff? So on Thursday I had my first Zone Conference, which was really good. It was embarrassing though, because literally right before it I totally biffed it on the stairs around the corner. Don't worry, I'm fine, just scraped up my knees but then we went straight to Zone Conference and everybody was asking what happened haha. So I got to explain that I tripped on nothing haha. It was funny too, cause that night Sister Bowler did the same thing, not on stairs luckily, but she just totally fell too. It was a super clumsy day I guess, don't know what was up with that. Anyways. Zone Conference was super good though, President showed us a documentary of the assassination of Heinrich Reinhardt, who was the only high-up Nazi to be successfully killed during WWII. He was Hitler's 2nd hand man and was over Czechoslovakia during the war. So the two men that assassinated him it were from here, one Czech and one Slovak who were part of the Resistance, and they were around our age. (We are going to go to the crypt where they were hiding/died when the Nazi's found them today, that will be cool) I know that sounds super random, but I promise he connected it to missionary work haha. One of them wrote as he was leaving England "I've been called on a special mission, and I will carry it out, come what may." So we talked about that, and the attributes those brave young men had, they lost their lives for their country, and were absolutely devoted, courageous, loyal etc. Plus it was helpful to learn more about the history of the Czech Republic--it really helps me with perspective to know things like that. There is a reason that the people here are so guarded, and don't like organizations contacting them--they went straight from a reign of terror during the Nazi's to Communism. So that helps me have more compassion when they are super rude to us on the street, or just ignore us completely. It's so sad, because I know that the gospel would help them so much--and they deserve to be that happy after everything they've been through. On a happier note, it's finally Spring. We had a couple days that were super hot too, it sounds like it's going to go basically from Winter straight to Summer. That meant that I got to go running twice this week in the huge park across the street. That felt soooo good. Ok, people we are teaching--Mom you asked about them. So I think I already told you about Charlah a couple of times, but I can't stop raving about her. I heard her whole story this week--she loves David Archuleta, so when she heard he was going on a mission for his church, she wanted to know what church it was. So she found our website and read everything she could, showed up at the church building and found the missionaries (they thought she was a member at first) at home in Indonesia and told them she wanted to be baptized. So they taught her every day for 2 weeks and then she moved here to Prague for University, and emailed the mission and told us she wanted to be baptized. So our sisters taught her every day for 2 weeks, and she got baptized the week before I got here. So cool huh!?? She wants to go on a mission next year, cause she's 19. It's stories like that that keep me going!! We are getting her started on family history hopefully soon, and she wants to go on the Temple trip this week but has to figure out her visa cause the nearest one is in Germany. So we are hoping she gets that all figured out soon! We have two people with baptismal dates right now, one is Vaclav, he's older in his 50s I think, but has accepted everything we've taught him, including Word of Wisdom, which is hard here cause EVERYONE drinks beer. So we think he might actually make it, it's for May 4th. Then the other one's name is Boky, he's from Macedonia, early 30s I think. He's really cool, really open. He's reading and praying and committed to pray about the Book of Mormon this week, so we'll see! Oh yeah I got a number from contacting all by myself this week! That was exciting. It was super short, he said he didn't have time, so I asked if he had time another day (in Czech) and he said "mozna" which means maybe. He was walking away so I literally ran to catch up with him and get his number haha. He took pity on me and spoke English after that, probably because I was butchering his language haha. But he actually answered his phone when I called, so we are calling him on Friday to set up a time! That was exciting. We have other people we are teaching too, of course, but I don't have time to tell you about all of them sorry. They are all new investigators or potentials, though, not with baptismal dates. Oh one last story, yesterday we were contacting at Dejvicka, but before we got there, Sister Bowler felt like we should get off the tram early. So we did, and walked there instead. And right as we got to Dejvicka after talking to a ton of people that weren't interested, I contacted this Mongolian lady. She was super cool, and is interested in meeting with us. Her number was the only one we got the whole hour and a half, but that's about normal. But if we had just taken the tram there we probably would have missed her, cause she wouldn't have been there at that time. So that was neat. Czech was super discouraging this week, well mostly yesterday I guess. At polar bear Elder Guymon was teaching us this grammar principle that the Slovak Elders call "blby stroj" which translates to "stupid machine" haha. But it's ridiculous. Whenever you use a quantifier (like a lot), instead of using 1st case plural for the stuff after, it changes it to 2nd case singular and makes it neuter, for basically no reason. So that was yet another thing I don't know how to do, which wasn't that great, because I just kept getting reminded all week that I don't speak Czech. And then last night I just totally froze and couldn't say the first vision during our lesson with Boky, I honestly don't know what happened. So Sister Bowler had to save me and I was just so disappointed in myself--I did it just fine my first week here. I know that I'm too hard on myself, but it was rough. So I'm trying to be optimistic, and patient and just trust that the Lord knows what he's doing, and that I can help here, even though I don't speak the language. Your email from last week helped a lot Dad, so thank you! It seems like what took you 3 months in Japan is actually like a year when you are speaking Czech. But I try not not think about that! I know that it only feels like my Czech is getting worse, because I'm starting to understand the gist of what people say, I just need to practice actually saying stuff more. Anyways, sorry to end on that note, it's slightly depressing. But I loved Conference, it was super good, and I needed that boost. Me and Sister Bowler realized the transfer is halfway over this week--so weird!!! I don't know how missions with 6 week transfers do it, it goes by so fast!! She goes home in 4 weeks, and since all the other sisters will be training, that means I have 4 weeks to figure out Czech before I'm probably with someone from my MTC group for next transfer. Aaah! There is still so much to do in our area too. Oh Dad, you asked why we have P-day on Saturday in Prague, it's because we have the office elders in our district and they have to work in the office all the other days of the week. Dad you have a broken finger?? haha wow basketball sounds dangerous! Yeah the branch in Prague is definitely big enough to be a ward, but we have to have a stake first. We have a goal of having one in the next four years, but we need more priesthood. Mom thanks for your letter and filling me in on the news, we heard about the bombing from one of our English class people, but he didn't know that much about it, that's awful. We didn't believe him at first. Sorry I don't have time to respond to everything, but I love hearing from you!!! Ok I have to write the President still, gah there is never enough time to say everything I want to tell you!! Oh well. I don't think I can send pictures today cause the computer isn't recognizing it, but I didn't really take any this week anyways cause we just went shopping for stuff. I should have some from the crypt today though, for next week. Love you all so much!!!! Sestra Cooper

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

First full week in Prague

Ahoj! I can't believe it's P-day already, this week went by super fast. I'm glad you got the pictures from Sister Munro, she's so sweet. They are from Australia and work in the office. We have a bunch of new investigators this week, which we are very excited about, our area was pretty much empty before. So we are teaching a lot of lessons to them, and then also to a lot of less-active/inactive members, because the branch needs the support. Most of the lessons are in Czech, but we do teach some in English because there are a lot of international people living here, cause it's Prague, and English is usually the language we have in common. Oh and this is funny, but remember the silk long johns you gave me? I LOVE THEM. haha. It's been freezing and they get rid of the I-have-to-wear-tights-all-day-every-day feeling. So thanks for those haha. It's warming up a little bit, supposed to be in the 60s next week, I'm just waiting to be able to run! There's a huge park right near us but it's been too cold and Sister Bowler doesn't have any warm running stuff, so I'm just trying to stay in shape in the apartment. Oh yeah we taught English this week too for our service. We have to have the most quirky English class ever. There's a pathological liar (he spent the first few minutes telling me that in 1928 when he was born they lived in trees and couldn't read or write and they were savages and then in 1978 Hitler came and made them cut down the trees and work in factories. No that's not a typo, he said 1978 hahaha.), a Buddist-y guy with long hair, another man, a woman who spent the entire time freaking out about her tooth hurting, and then a super nice member who was taught by sisters so he always has some sort of treat for us. And they are all regulars, so I guess we teach them every week. We do a presentation thing cause we teach the advanced class, so I got to teach them Anthropology vocab! haha that was fun. I wish they were interested in the gospel, but we do a spiritual thought at the end, so at least they get something. I had kind of a discouraging day on Tuesday, we had been kontakting and everyone was just being super rude, but luckily that didn't last too long, and the rest of the week was fine. We taught an AMAZING first lesson to this man named Zdenek, the spirit was so strong, and I was SO glad I memorized the first vision in the MTC, because I was able to recite it with meaning. I know he felt it too, because I was looking at him as I was testifying of it, and the moment the spirit came in super strong he looked down, it was so neat. We have a second lesson with him on Wednesday. Right now he's a member of Ceskoslovenska Husitska (the church founded by Jan Hus), but he was super intrigued by the idea of living prophets, and we told him about conference, so we are going to try to get him to come to a session next week (we watch it a week late). Oh I learned the czech equivalent of "beating around the bush" the other day: chodil kolem horke kase. It literally translates as: walking around hot mashed potatoes. haha. Ok Mom, your questions. It does feel like Europe, but it's different than France. I'm not quite convinced Prague is prettier than Paris, but I haven't done very many touristy things. We'll see if I change my mind haha. We don't really hear English on the street, it always surprises me when I do, it's mostly just Czech. Sometimes Italian or something else. But I'm not really in the touristy part, so that's probably why. When we went to the Easter Markets last week there were a lot more. Food: we really don't have time to cook. But I'm trying to eat healthy, I have trail mix in my bag and I bought a lot of fruit and salad stuff. I'm sure I will get into more of a routine and figure it out. We've had one dinner at a member's house, but we are invited to another one sometime next week or the one after. Dinner just gets planned around lessons, so sometimes it's not until 8 when we get home, or we just grab something on the way. I think I might buy a backpack, cause I can't fit everything into my messenger bag. Usually when we leave the apartment after studies we don't come back until nighttime cause we aren't supposed to waste time traveling home and back. But since I'm a greenie we have studies until lunchtime anyways. My companionship is really good. We are still working out the kinks teaching together, that's hard cause most of the time if they say something she has to answer cause I can't understand their responses. I'm understanding most of what she says now, but native speakers are harder. But we are pretty similar personality-wise, it's pretty funny actually. She was a Linguistics major at BYU! So she speaks Italian and Spanish, (or she did, it's hard to remember when you are speaking Czech). We now get 90 minutes to email, but she doesn't want to have the extra half hour, so we need to work out a compromise I guess. We go to an internet cafe for it, we aren't allowed to use member's computers. Not sure if we will have a P-day routine but I think we will usually email around this time, after lunch. Next week is weird cause we have conference, so we are going to do it in between sessions. My jet lag is pretty much gone, yeah. I still hate mornings, but I don't think that is going to change haha. Unfortunately there are not any flowers or leaves out yet cause it's been so cold. I'm hoping spring gets here soon though. Oh yeah! I contacted by myself on Friday! Luckily no one wanted to talk to me, so I didn't have to understand anything beyond, no I don't have time, or I'm not interested haha. Which I hear so often that I now understand. But that was exciting. Ok I think that's about it....I will send pictures cause I remembered my memory card! The Czech is coming, I know I'm so impatient. But I am improving a little bit, so that's nice to see. I was hoping you would have Annica's email address, so I could send her something. I guess you can just forward this to her. I'm excited for her, I learned so much in the MTC. Mom, I'm glad Swedish is fun! Czech is a little bit like that, you can drop the subject and there is only one present tense and one past tense. However, the cases make up for it, they are ridiculous haha. I wish I had more time to respond to your email, that is awesome that you are teaching the new member lessons--we do that too :) Ok that's all I can think of and I still need to send pictures and write the mission president. Love you!!! Sestra Cooper (Pictures on Facebook)

1st letter from Prague

Hi!! Well I guess my area isn't a surprise since they emailed you. I'm in Prague! I heard they try to put the greenies away from Prague, but hey I'm not complaining. I wanted to serve in Prague at least once, so now's my chance! My trainer is Sister Bowler, she was actually supposed to go home last transfer but 4 sisters got extensions because the other sisters wouldn't have been ready to train cause of the language, so they got to stay and train us. She is from Colorado (I guess Idaho is sort of a close guess Dad? haha). She's been the perfect trainer for me, I'm really relieved about that. She totally asks for my input in lessons and everything, she doesn't pull any I'm-the-senior stuff. And she's really good about encouraging me to talk to people, but not pushing me so hard that I panic. So I'm really grateful about that. It's still super surreal that I'm living in Prague. And that I'm a missionary. So weird haha. I'm almost over the jet lag I think, which is good. The first day here was rough, we only got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane and then the APs took us all on a tour of Prague and it was SO COLD. I did have my first Czech meal though, svicova (don't remember how to spell it) it was really good, but heavy, like all Czech food haha. So after that we got to go back to the mission office and go to bed early which was really nice. The next day we went to the foreign police so they could stamp our passports, met our trainers and were off! I did get to unpack in the afternoon, which was nice cause it made me feel way less anxious about everything. Something about unpacking makes me feel more at home. So then we just went to work--sounds like it's different from your first day Dad. I was allowed to go to bed a little early that night, but after that you just try to stay awake haha. Our apartment is beautiful--it's on the 8th floor and it's all hardwood floors and windows, totally modern European looking, but I forgot my memory card reader at home, sorry, so I'll have to send pictures next week. So that night we taught a lesson to a less-active member, and had an FHE for some of the adults in the branch. The member said I must have paid attention in the MTC cause my Czech is really good haha. Of course 'really good' is relative haha. It basically means I can say gospel things in a lesson. I can't really understand people or say anything normal beyond thank you and hello and how are you. But that was still nice to hear, Sister Bowler told me that too, but I figured she was just being nice. Anyways. oh and I met a member from Slovakia that knows Daniel, Marek I think? Thursday I got to kontact for the first time, which was nerve racking--since I can't understand anything they say back to me yet. But Sister Bowler took pity on me and let me start the contact and then she takes over when they say something. But I was proud of myself for trying, since the first day I chickened out. We've also taught a recent convert named Charlah, she's from Indonesia though so we teach her in English, which was really nice for me cause I could understand her! She is amazing, she's 19 and was meeting with the missionaries back in Indonesia and moved to Prague for school, and contacted the mission office when she got here! It was kind of strange to teach in English though. So after that we taught a man whose been investigating for more than a year--he keeps all the commandments and comes to church every week, but he won't get baptized. that was a good lesson but I didn't understand anything because it was at a member's home and they just jabbered away in Czech. It was good though. Yesterday we went to lunch as a district and did a singing display, which means that one half of the companionship sings while the other contacts. They took pity on me and Elder Romrell (he was in my MTC district too) and so I got to contact with Elder Cizek, his companion instead of by myself. We got 1 number at the very end of the hour, which was super exciting cause no one wanted to talk to us, and some just outright ignored us. So we are going to call him tonight, he was from Slovakia, and really nice. Oh and yesterday we also had polar bear (no idea why we call it that, no one seems to know) but that just means district language study. That was fun, and really helpful, and we played a game basically like pictionary telephone at the end, except instead of pictures you translate the sentences between Czech and English. That was pretty hilarious. One of them ended "I eat thoughts" hahaha. Oh I did have a neat experience yesterday. So the day before I felt like I should talk to this lady on the tram but I got too scared and didn't. So the next day I repented and asked for an opportunity to recognize the Spirit cause I keep second-guessing myself. So then yesterday, I felt like we should talk to this lady and worked up the courage to do it. Well Sister Bowler did the talking really, cause I couldn't understand her, but it's the same thing haha. She thought we were a cult or something, but she did take a card. But I don't think it was for her, it was an opportunity for me to learn from. So that was cool. oh and yesterday was Sister Bowler's 24th birthday, so we made a cake last night, that was fun. Prague is beautiful, at least the old district, Prague Castle is the biggest castle in Central Europe, we got to see that on the Prague walk. I don't really see much of the pretty part, at least I haven't so far cause it's not our kontaking area, but we are going to go to the Easter markets today cause it's P-day, so I'm really excited about that. They sell the little painted wooden eggs, and other things like that. Oh and there's a Paul's here!! That French bakery? We were in Andel yesterday for singing so we stopped in and I got a pain au chocolat, don't remember what it is in Czech. Super good. Aah I love French things. There is also a KFC, McDonalds, H&M, basically anything you would ever need. So yeah, I don't have to worry about the water or anything Dad haha. Annica's experience will be way different I think. The few members I've met seem really nice, I'll meet the whole branch of 150 tomorrow, so that will be fun. We have training in 2 weeks so I'll get to see my whole MTC group again, they don't do it the first day cause we are all zombies. So that will be fun. I really do love being a missionary, I just wish my Czech would hurry up and get better!! I understand most of the grammar, it's just remembering to apply it and learning vocab that I need to do, and that's going to take time. I'm so impatient haha. I know it's only been 3 days....but it feels like way longer. Oh and Mom, you can give this email address to everybody, cause that's allowed now. We have an hour to email here, don't know if that is going to change or not, but it's way longer than the MTC! Oh and since I'm in Prague letters and packages will get to me way faster--but make sure my name isn't on the package, the office elders told me why, they have package slips here, and they can't pick up packages if it has our name on it, we have to do it. So if you are 4 hours away by train, then you are out of luck and you don't get your package. So even though I'm in Prague it's just better if my name isn't on it so I can just get it from the office. We are at the church like every day cause we teach our lessons there if it's not at a member's house, so I'll get packages the day they get here. And we run into the mission president and his wife a lot cause they live on the third floor of the church. So that's cool. Well I'm not really sure that there's much else to say, I wish I had my card reader with me!! Oh well. You'll get pictures in a week. Happy Easter! I hope it's a good one, eat a peep for me :). We don't do anything differently I don't think, maybe the branch will do something in church. Oh and we are supposed to avoid getting whipped haha. I think I told you about the Easter whips? But they are braided branches with ribbons on the end and the men go around whacking women with them. Well not really whacking, I think they just tap them. But still. I think the women are supposed to give them candy or something. In Slovakia it's the women who dump water on the men haha. Who knows why. So that's that, but we are banned from doing it cause we are missionaries, which makes sense. Oh and I found out about conference, we get to watch it a week after it happens cause they have to translate it, even though we will be watching it in English. They send DVDs of it. So that will be awesome. Oh we talked to a really weird guy yesterday--well Sister Bowler talked to him, I didn't understand anything he said. But he grabbed her hand and started swirling this crystal thing around and said she had good energy but she wasn't balanced, and wanted to hold her other hand but she wouldn't let him. And then he went on and on for seriously ten minutes, while I just stood there and tried to recognize a word or two haha. So that was interesting. We finally just left, and he said something about us rejecting him so he was going to reject us? I don't know. Sister Bowler told me later what he said. haha. So there are interesting people here haha. Most of them just don't want to talk to us, but some people are nice even though they aren't interested. Tonight we have a first lesson, so that will be good. I hope he is actually interested. Oh and I heard that we will probably visit a castle outside of Prague on a P-day soon, which will be fun. I heard that I will probably be training my 3rd transfer cause we are getting a lot more sisters this year, so that will be interesting. But that's still a long ways away. Well that's about it, and I'm about out of time. Til next week! s laskou!! Sestra Cooper

One week left in the MTC!

Ahoj! Thanks for the package!! Annica sent me one too, and so did Janyse, lots of love this week :) This week was good, very up and down. We had an amazing TRC lesson on Thursday--I felt like I was actually able to sort of speak from my heart in Czech for the first time, and I actually remembered to case some things, which was exciting! And one of the people we taught said that our lesson was an answer to his prayers, which was really nice to hear. But Saturday was pretty discouraging because of the language--we've finished all 42 board displays now (each one is a different grammar principle) and so me and Starsi Howell were practicing putting together just simple sentences using all the grammar we know--and I realized that every single word in a sentence almost will change depending on the sentence--so I kind of freaked out haha. Brother Machado told us he met an American while he was serving that had lived there for 13 years and had given up on learning Czech cause it's so impossible. So in a way it's pretty amazing that we can say anything at all, but that makes it sound pretty daunting! I'm feeling a little better now--I know there is no way I will be able to speak Czech without God's help, so as long as I'm doing my best, He will do the rest. The devotional on Sunday was really good--it was a guy from the Missionary Department like always, but he used rock analogies because there are so many in the scriptures. It was cool cause he said sometimes life is like igneous rock, we are on fire, super excited and everything is going well, but most of the time it's sedimentary. Small acts of faith like layers of sand, and it's hard to see how it is turning into rock. So we can choose to stay a pile of sand, or let the Lord mold and shape us into metamorphic rock-something new, different, and better than what we could ever be on our own. I loved that imagery. And the devotional on Tuesday--he talked about how when Ammon was having success, Aaron was in prison, so we should never compare ourselves to other missionaries--that was cool. And he quoted 1 Thess 2, and talked about how Paul describes what a missionary should be, that was cool too. We got our flight itineraries on Thursday!! That was super exciting, we leave in exactly one week!!! It's going to be awesome. Oh and we can now officially email family, friends and leaders, it was announced in District meeting, so it must be church-wide. So that will be super nice when we get there and don't have to wait for letters once a month. So write me friends!! haha. We are attempting to do SYL all day every day for our last week, so that should be interesting! I really do love the Czech language, it's so pretty. I just have to squish my perfectionist side and be ok with making mistakes. I'm understandable for sure, at least about gospel words--I can't really say very many normal things, but I'm trying to learn some on TALL. It's pretty funny that I can teach a whole lesson in Czech without any notes but I don't know how to buy something haha. I did learn the words for train (vlak) and bus and stuff like that, so that's progress haha. Well that's about it! Oh wait I forgot--one of our "investigators" got "baptized" on Saturday! That was exciting haha. It was pretty neat to feel that happy when it wasn't even real, I can't even imagine how much joy I'll feel when it actually happens :) Our other one wasn't quite ready, but we are done teaching her since it's our last week. She was still progressing though! I'm super excited to go to Prague though, it's going to be awesome. I think most of us are going to buy a Book of Mormon to try and place on the flight over there--it will be fun to talk to people in English, before we get thrown into Czech :) I just love this gospel so much, I can't wait to share it. I'm going to ride that optimistic wave as long as I can haha. s laskou, Sestra Cooper

2 weeks left!

Ahoj! 11 March 2013 There really isn't that much to say from this last week. We do the same things every day, and I'm just waiting till we get to leave haha. Last night's devotional was given by the same guy that spoke our first week, and we recognize all the choristers now-there's the super slow one, the one that looks like Umbridge, the other lady and the choir director haha. I think we've been here too long! We are just waiting and waiting for them to give us our itineraries so we know when we are leaving--hopefully we get them this week. We have to do most of our packing next Monday cause they only give us an hour to pack the week we leave! I'm so excited....I can't stand it. It's taking forever haha. But I am really using my time as efficiently as possible while we wait--trying to get as much Czech crammed into my brain as possible. I was super productive this week I memorized the 1st Vision in Czech, the missionary purpose in Czech and the whole singular case chart, phew. It was good though. Oh and remember that blog I was reading before I left? I got to meet her when she came to TRC, so that was cool! Oh and there are now MORE sisters than elders at the MTC. Crazy huh? I didn't realize how much it had changed until we were watching Bednar's talk from October--there were like 3 rows of sisters in the choir. Now we fill up almost the entire 19M auditorium for Relief Society. It's pretty crazy. Um...what else? Oh Mom you were wondering about the partnering thing--I play a progressing investigator for Starsi Howell to teach and he plays one for me--we teach each other twice a week in addition to our other two "investigators." Something I learned in Sacrament yesterday--God gives us commandments to help us return to Him. Can you imagine if He just said ok, be good people and come back to me, good luck! I really liked that cause I've never really thought of them as blessings before. I knew we received blessings from following them, but I thought that was really neat to think of it that way. Oh and we watched yet another Bednar talk haha. I'm not complaining though, I love it! This time he talked about how he studies the Conference Ensign--it made me feel really guilty for not having one--can you send me one Mom? But he pulls out the doctrine and principles taught about, what you he feels the Spirit is inviting him to do or act on, and which blessings he hopes to recieve from following that prompting. It sounds really simple but it was a really profound talk. Sorry there isn't really anything else to say. Oh Starsi Payne broke his sit-up record again (and dips and pushups) but he did 1700 in 45 min haha. He's crazy. Annnnd that's about it. Oh well. Life is good. I love being a missionary and I can't wait to get out there and serve the Czech people! Sestra Cooper

Letter #6

Ahoj! This week went a lot better, Im happy to say. I learned a ton. There arent really any funny stories- although Starsi Jaynes did accidently wash his whites with an entire box of dryer sheets and stained some of them orange from the cardboard hahahah. That was pretty funny. And I ran into a bunch more people I know from BYU at the TRC on Thursday, thats always fun, but kind of weird. TRC was good because we only go once a week so I can actually see how much progress Ive made with the language. We also did our Language Speaking Assessments last week, its a 7 point fluency scale, and I got a 3 on pronunciation and 4s on everything else, which was exciting, since 2-3 is what they expect. My accent is a lot more Czech now instead of French, which is good. So that was good to see progress! Of course I can only talk about church things, which is slightly pathetic, so Im working on learning more normal vocab. We got new Bulgarians and Polish this week though! That was fun to welcome them to the MTC. There are 7 Bulgarian elders and 6 sisters and 6 elders going to Poland. So we wrote the sisters all notes for their first day, and gave them donuts, so that was fun. That means that my district along with the Croatians are next to leave though!! aaaaah. Im excited but I definitely need to use the three weeks I have left to learn as much Czech as possible, cause it is HARD. I dont write down anything but vocab when we teach lessons now, though, which is really good. My grammar might not be perfect but I can express what I need to, in a way that they can understand most of them time. What else happened...oh Elder Ballard came for the devotional on Tuesday, so that was cool! He gave a really simple message about the gospel, and basically said you can do this. Most of you have been learning about the gospel for your entire lives, and you know a lot. Oh another thing I learned this week: sometimes God lets us fail so that we realize how much we need him. We started teaching each other last week as investigators, and Im partnered with Starsi Howell, but the 2nd lesson went so terribly. He basically said, I dont need religion, so I was like, why are you talking to me then. So I was going to drop him the next lesson, but I felt like I should ask him what trials he was going through right now, which is not really a normal question, but I went with it. And he told me his parents are divorced and that is really hard. So I got to testify that Christ can heal any hurt and that He can bring peace to his life, and hes willing to listen now, so far. So that was pretty cool, the entire lesson was completely by the spirit, I had no idea where I was going to go with it. I think as Ive gotten more confident in my language skills its easy to think that I can just teach by myself, but thats so not the case. The Spirit is the teacher, not me. Yesterday, the devotional was by the Provo Temple president, Robert Daines, and it was so amazing. I learned so much more about the Temple, but Ill write you about that. One thing he did tell us that I liked: he said that the blessing to run and not be weary isnt just a physical blessing, its also a spiritual and emotional one, which means that we are not going to quit. I really liked that, never thought about it that way before. Then after that, we went and watched a talk Elder Bednar gave here in 2009 called the Spirit of Revelation. SO GOOD. He talked about how we shouldnt just sit there and wait for a message from heaven, and worry about whether or not its the Spirit or you. He said over and over, quit worrying about it! You press forward, you be a good boy or good girl, you keep your covenants, you keep the commandments, and your steps will be guided and you will be a tool in His hands. He also related the 20 mark story with Pres. Packer, do you remember that. (it wont let me type question marks...) He said when he handed those 20 marks to him he thought he did it because they might be hungry. But it ended up saving Sister Packers life. He said he didnt recognize it as the Spirit at the time, and didnt know the rest of the story until 20 years later. (interesting side note, the border crossing they got stopped in was Hof, Germany! I was like, hey i know where that is! haha) So his whole point was, as long as you are trying to do your best, the Lord will help you accomplish what He needs you too. oh and my favorite quote: He shouldnt have to be smacking us with the Holy Ghost to get us do something. haha I love Elder Bednar! K im running out of time, love you!!! s laskou, Sestra Cooper