Week 13 in Brno

24 December 2013 So this email is going to be really short because we only have a half an hour. But it was totally worth it because we had a total miracle happen on the way here, which is why we have no email time. yay. But to make a it short, we were planning on dropping by this inactive's house later today but on the bus to email I suddenly realized that the stop we were at was right by her house and I felt like we should go right then. I was like this is crazy...but we'll do it just in case. Because we'd already stopped by like 4 times last transfer and she was never home. But we went anyways, she was home, let us in, was super excited to see us (she hugged us right away and I've never even met her) and we were able to share our Christmas video, sing with her, get her phone number and we have an appointment to come back on Friday :) aaaaah I'm so happy about it. Total Christmas miracle! But yesterday we had a mission conference in prague, it was sooo much fun to see everybody. And President is amazing as usual. We had a slideshow from the whole year, a talent show and then we spent an hour and a half talking about the Christmas story. It was awesome. And it was good to see all the elders who are going home at the end of the transfer, cause most of them aren't in my zone so I won't get to see them again, and I actually know all of them this time. Oh yeah and last week we got two of our investigators on date for baptism :) And one of them says he loves meeting with us and wants to meet more often, and he asked to see the font and was asking questions about how it works. Ahhh so great. And we managed to get the number of the missionaries in Italy for Diego cause he's going home for Christmas and he wants to go to church there! Good things are happening. I just love Brno so much. And the members are just amazing. Other really quick thing, we had our traditional Czech Christmas dinner on Sunday at the Rezacovi's house. SO COOL. They served us carp, which wasn't actually that bad (it wasn't really that good either, but I survived. And managed not to swallow any bones. So that was good). My favorite part though, was that they explained to us all the Czech Christmas traditions and we got to do them! So much fun. They put a fish scale under your plate and then you put it in your wallet and it's supposed to bring you luck, make little boats out of walnut shells and light a candle in them and whoever's lasts the longest has the longest life....there were a ton and they were so cool. I'll probably just tell you about it more tomorrow cause I'm running out of time. Oh and we went carolling/tracting to invite people to the Christmas Concert which turned out super well. I'm totally an alto now haha. It's been pretty fun. Today we are going out to visit more people with the Christmas video and I'm super excited about it, and then we are going to have dinner together as a district. Christmas on a mission is the best, we just get to bear our testimonies about Christ all day long :) So excited to talk to you guys tomorrow!!! love you soooo much!!!! Sestra Cooper

Week 12 in Brno

16 Dec 2013 Ahoj! This week was pretty good. Nothing too crazy happened, a lot of people won't set up with us because it's right before Christmas and they have to bake things. (Czechs bake sooo much at Christmas) Which is lame, but what can you do? Last night though the Branch President invited us and some of the elders over for dinner and Christmas caroling! He's from England, so they go carolling every year even though they live here. So that was really fun to get to know their family better, they have 4 kids and the oldest is Brigit's age, we sang the alto part together :) She's so cute. The branch president was talking about how important it is for people to be taught in their homes, because if the missionaries don't teach them there often they don't want home teachers to come in later. I never really thought about that, we do most of our lessons at the church because most Czechs don't want us to come to their houses. But it was a good point, we are going to try and do that more. Oh yeah and then we started talking about kinder eggs and star wars, and the mom was talking about how it was banned when she was growing up, along with disney movies, which I didn't know. I never thought about the entertainment side of it. So they knew that those movies existed, but couldn't get ahold of them. I'm sure you guys already knew that, but it was surprise to me. I felt like it helped me understand a little bit more about what life was like for them before the wall came down. Anyways...so then we went carolling. I didn't realize how important carolling was for it to feel like Christmas until I didn't have it. So that was awesome. It was also quite funny because if you bring Czechs anything they have to give you something back. So all we did was sing one song, and everyone was bringing out their Christmas goodies/chocolate/money (yep they tried to pay us) and thanking us profusely haha. It was pretty nice to be welcomed in! Czechs are so nice.. We are going to try and go carolling as a district this week, I'm excited to do that. We're also singing a ton this week again cause the branch has a Christmas concert and we are going to do extra singing displays. So much fun. I'm finally almost better after like a month of being sick so hopefully my voice will hold out! I really don't have that much else to say...nothing really happened this week. We have one investigator on date, he's from the Congo and is super cool, and our other ones are ok, we just haven't seen some in a while cause of Christmas. We did have a really good lesson with Honza on Sunday, so that was a relief. For some reason I was really stressed out about it, but we just ended up reading 2 Ne 2 with him and having a good discussion--I love how the gospel just makes sense! So that was about it.... Sorry this letter is kind of lame, really nothing happened. I'm sooo excited for next week, I can't wait. This one's probably going to go by super slow just because of the anticipation. oh well. We go to Prague next Monday for the mission conference, and we get our presents :) I'm trying to talk to people about Christmas on the trams, and I'm getting a little better at small talk--I never realized how terrible I am at it haha. Well now I'm just rambling :) love you!!! super excited to see your faces next week! Sestra Cooper P.S. Oh, something else cool about Czech culture, they do advent candles here. So for the last 4 Sundays before Christmas you light a candle every week to count down to it :)

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

Week 10 in Brno

Ahoj! 2 Dec 2013 I'm TRAINING this transfer. aaaaaah. So I'm emailing from Prague, I'll be in a trio with the two other trainers for the next two days and then we get our greenies on Wednesday!! I'm excited but a little nervous at the same time. We were figuring Sister Schoen would leave and me and Sister Steglich would stay but they both left! Crazy. It's a lot of responsibility, but at the same time I'm really excited to be able to work as hard as I want to, and get her all excited about missionary work :) We are going to baptize!! President is really pushing us all to raise our vision and believe in miracles and they are totally happening---the mission had 6 baptisms on Saturday! Super cool. When he called me to tell me I was training he told me to set up as many lessons as I could for this week so that the greenie will just hit the ground running and raise her vision too. I'm so excited, I have 8 lessons set up I think. We had a miracle of our own on Friday--it was just me and Sister Steglich because Sister Schoen was in Prague for visa stuff. And we had planned to go get lunch in the namesti so that we could see the Christmas markets just in case either of us left cause that was the first day they opened and I wanted to get Christmas presents. So we were planning on being there at 2, but our lesson ran long and we didn't get there til 3. But right as we got there I noticed that an unknown number had called us during the lesson, so I called him back, and it was a potential Sister Steglich had contacted at the beginning of the transfer. He was like hi, I have time right now, can we meet in the centrum? So we told him we were already in the namesti, and he came and met us there. So in the middle of the Christmas markets I had halusky (the Slovak version of mac and cheese--it's potatoes sort of like gnocchi and sausage and zeli and is sooo good) for lunch and we taught a quick lesson on God and prayer and he is soooo prepared!!! Me and Sister Steglich just kept looking at each other in disbelief. And he has two twenty-year old daughters that he might bring to English. The only reason he hadn't met earlier is because he works outside of Brno and doesn't get home until 7 every night. Complete miracle. We have another lesson set up with him on Wednesday. It just strengthened my testimony so much. I thought we had only planned to go because I wanted to see the markets, but the Lord clearly had a hand in that. Amazing. I still can't believe it. Thursday we had Thanksgiving at the senior couple's house, it was good but your cooking is way better mom haha. I missed the sweet potatoes. It was fun but didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all. But that's ok. For English class we taught them about Thanksgiving--they were so fascinated and kept asking all these questions haha. It is really hard to explain the pilgrim story in Czech, let alone what jello and pie are. haha good times. We had them all go around and say something they were thankful for in English. It was pretty cute. Wednesday we had exchanges, that was really fun. Sister Barney is awesome at contacting (she's the one going to Slovakia this transfer) and so it was really fun to contact with her. We were talking to people about family history and we got 5 numbers between the five of us (cause her companion had to come too) so that was awesome. Oh and yesterday we had really good second lesson with this former named Honza. He's studying philosophy so his lessons are kind of intense, but he is such a sincere person, he's really looking for truth. So he agreed to listen to the lessons and really ponders them--we taught him about the Restoration yesterday. Vasek taught with us and he was sooo helpful. But it was really neat because I think Honza was surprised that we could actually answer all of his questions. With philosophy everything is unsure. So we'll see how that goes! He still doesn't want to try praying but he's getting closer. I'm really excited about him, sometimes I like teaching people like him better than the people who just accept everything but don't really think about it, because I know that if he decides to be baptized then he's in for good you know? Well that's about it I think, I'm really excited for this next transfer, our district is getting so many good elders, we are just going to tear it up! I can't wait. And I'm really excited to meet my greenie :) Miracles are going to happen in Brno! love you all!! Sestra Cooper

Week 9 in Brno

25 Nov 2013 aaaah this is the last week of the transfer....and last week was CRAZY. So many things happened, I don't even know where to start. We had our concert on Wednesday, and that was really good to finally have it done. It was so stressful! We were kind of disappointed because we only had 70 people come, including members and missionaries, and we had talked to soooo many people on the street. But we were talking about it in training the next day and President helped us see how much it built trust with the members. It went really well and they saw the effort we put into it, so hopefully they will invite friends to the next one. It really did help us to bond with them. And we did get the numbers of some of our English students who came, so hopefully we will be able to teach them. We'll see. I ended up singing in 3 of the songs, so that was fun but I think it made me sick, cause we sang sooo much last week in the cold at all the singing displays. Hopefully it doesn't last too long. Training was amazing as usual. We talked a lot more about Christmas plans, how to teach more member lessons and how to plan, so that was helpful. And then President talked about the Czech holidays that happened this week--Nov 20-22, 1989 is when the Communists finally gave up control to Vaclav Havel. And he talked about how the members of the church met during Communism and everything, it was pretty interesting. And then there were a bunch of departing testimonies from the huge group of elders going home. I love them cause they always talk about what they've learned and there is a lot of wisdom in that. It's so strange because most of the missionaries I knew have gone home, everyone else is younger. I'm starting to be in one of the older sister groups. So weird. Sister Jones stayed with us again, so fun. But she pointed out that we only have 4 transfers left....I may have freaked out a little at that haha. Let's see....what else happened. We had really good lessons with Draha and Diego and a new guy named Honza. We asked both Diego and Draha to pray about being baptized, both were Catholic growing up, but not really practicing. But it was ridiculous because both lessons were interrupted soooo much. Opposition! During Draha's literally right as the question came out of my mouth her phone went off, someone had set off the alarm at her house....and then 15 minutes later when that was finally over, the branch president stuck his head in and started talking to the member who was teaching with us, and the doorknob fell off the door again... haha. But she said she'd think about it. And then with Diego's lesson there were a bunch of kids in the classroom next door just screaming. We were trying to watch the Restoration movie with him in Italian. So once they finally stopped it was quiet right up until the first vision part....when someone started vacuuming. haha we were like really?? But the lesson went super well, we all kind of bonded over it, we just talked about how the church is like one big family and he really loves that part of it. Oh and then it felt like we were on the District, because at one point he asked "what do I need to do to follow Jesus Christ?" and "So you are saying that my baptism wasn't valid?" haha it was verbatim. (Yes I've gotten to the point where I can quote the whole District haha. That's what happens!) And then he asked for a reading recommendation! I'm so excited to keep teaching him. Our new investigator is really hesitant to believe in anything, but he is willing to listen to the lessons, so we'll see with him! This week should be good, we have exchanges on Tuesday, Thanksgiving on Thursday---which won't really be any different except the senior couple is going to feed us and we get 2 hours instead of one. It will be weird though cause it's an American holiday so no one else will be celebrating it. But that will be fun. And then transfer calls!! I'm pretty sure I'm staying but you never know. This next transfer is going to be crazy since the sister training leaders have both been in for 2 transfers and someone's probably going to Slovakia, and two people will be training. So we'll see what happens! Oh--I'm waiting to send your Christmas presents until after Friday cause that's when the Christmas markets start!! So I hope it will still get there before Christmas. Hopefully I can find something good there, they are supposed to be even better than the Easter ones. The stalls are already set up and so is the giant Christmas tree :) It's supposed to snow any day now, it's gotten pretty cold. love you!!! Sestra Cooper

Week 8 in Brno

Ahoj! 18 Nov 2013 aaah I can't believe the transfer's already over. Ridiculous. The next two weeks are going to be crazy too, we have our concert on Wednesday night and then training on Thursday, and then the next week is Thanksgiving! Crazy. We get two hours for Thanksgiving dinner, so that will be nice. This week was kind of a blur....we did 3 singing displays to advertise for the concert so that was fun and freezing and my voice is going haha. We've been singing soooo much. And we're doing the musical number for the baptism on Sunday too, yay! But it was awesome, we've given out over 1000 flyers. So we'll see how many people actually show up! Prague just did one and had 100 potentials come. So I'm excited for that, we've gotten pretty much everything organized and together, just have to tweak the program a bit! It's going to be awesome, and hopefully we will get a bunch of new investigators for it. What else happened....we had an amazing impromptu lesson with our investigator Draha! That was so cool. We had invited her to the Relief Society clothing swap but somehow it started before so by the time she got there it was over, so we were scrambling to figure out what to teach. We ended up teaching the first half of the plan of salvation and watching Finding Faith in Christ, but the entire thing was so guided by the Spirit--I don't know that I've really had a lesson like that before. I knew exactly what I was supposed to say and how to relate it to her. And my companions were on the exact same page. So cool. We were all tearing up at the end. So that was amazing, she's progressing really well. And we had a good impromptu lesson with our Mongolian investigators too--a father and his son. It's really hard to communicate with them but they know French too (so I really need to relearn it....) and we had a member that spoke French in the lesson with us. It's pretty funny cause everyone in the district is teaching a Mongolian right now, Sister Schoen is convinced that it's a sign and that they will all get baptized and then they'll have their own branch! haha. We are trying to work out a skype schedule with the Mongolian elders cause the time difference is really hard. hahaha oh yeah and my companion accidently dyed her hair bright red last night.... that was pretty funny. She dyed it back this morning but she was freaking out about it. good times.... I think that is about it.... oh wait I had a really good personal study yesterday! That was cool. I was studying the Ten Virgins parable in an Ensign and it was talking about how olive oil was used for all sorts of things back then, food, a condiment, healing wounds, etc. And so then I started thinking about how Gethsemene means olive press and how it can be a symbol for the atonement, and then realized that all of the uses of olive oil can be how the atonement works in our lives spiritually. It was really cool. love you!!! Sestra Cooper

Week 7 in Brno? I can't keep track anymore haha

11 NOV 2013 Hi!!! We heard about our Christmas plans and I GET TO SKYPE YOU. hahah I'm sooo excited. I miss being able to just tell you everything. I know it's been almost a year but sometimes I still want to call you and tell you how excited I am about stuff. The rest of the holidays are going to be super awesome too. So the 23rd we have a mission conference so I get to see everyone I haven't seen in forever, and I'm pretty sure they will pass out the Christmas presents then too. And then on the 24th we go around and teach as many 5 min lessons about Christ as we can--to members, investigators, anyone who will listen to us. Then Christmas Day we go and do 3 hours of service with a member, so we can go carolling or something, and then spend the rest of the day with our district and skyping :) We only have 45 min of course, but I'm so excited. And THEN, on the 26th we do singing displays all over the city as a district :) It's going to be so great. And then on New Year's Eve we have to be home by 5 cause everyone will be drunk and we get to watch disney movies. haha. I can't wait. President McConkie is a genius--he didn't like that in the past they watched movies on Christmas, but he knew that everyone loved it so he just moved it to New Years and made sure Christmas was still about Christ! President McConkie is amazing mom, don't worry. I honestly think that part of the reason I am in this mission is because of him. It's such a blessing. And he respects the sisters and doesn't play favorites at all. In one of my interviews he was telling me that at an Area training one of the other mission presidents asked him how the sisters in his mission were, like they were going to be a problem, and he said are you kidding? I've never had a problem with any of them and they lead the mission! haha. Seriously he understands the gospel soooo well and his wife and family are amazing too.(haha mom my companions say that you look like Sister McConkie and she really does remind me of you :) She is awesome. At the end of every training President spends the last 15 minutes talking about one of Christ's titles in the New Testament--last time it was the Great Physician, I learned so much. I really wanted to tell you about it Dad. And he is so wise, seriously everything that comes out of his mouth is so helpful. (Dad-I think about you quoting o be wise aaallll the time). We rode down with him from Prague cause he was coming to Brno anyways and on the 2 1/2 hour car ride he went through all of our investigators with us, how they are progressing and where we are stuck and we came up with lesson plans for their next lessons. We actually tried one of them this week and it was so inspired. She's from Equador, and her mom is a member, but she's living here, and hasn't really been progressing, she's scared to come to church too. So he suggested that we relate the gospel to her mom--and ask if we can just teach her 4 lessons (since she's latin and already has a lot of faith we can teach her a lot more at once)--the same exact lessons her mom learned and then during the 5th lesson have a heart to heart with her about what she's learned and if she believes that it's true. So we talked about this plan with her, and she loved it, AND it turned out to be her mom's birthday that day anyways so she was already thinking about her. Can you say inspired?? And then she said she wanted to learn about the plan of salvation so I whipped out my pictures that I always have in my bag and we had an amazing lesson, completely by the spirit. So we called President after and told him about it and he was really excited. This week really was fantastic. The branch had a bonfire night activity cause the branch president is British (remember remember the 5th of November), and it was super cool. We had 4 investigators show up and Draha just loved it, met a bunch a members and everything. And then they had real fireworks too! It felt like 4th of July haha. And then two little girls got baptized on Sunday and we got to sing at that, that was fun. (I've done more musical numbers on my mission than my whole life haha) They are totally adorable, I'll send a picture. Their parents totally involved us and we got to teach them a couple lessons the last couple weeks, it was so fun. And our investigator Diego came to that and I think he really liked it. I had a really good personal study in Psalms of all places the other day too. I was just letting my fear hold me back from talking to people, and I realized that and repented, and it made such a huge difference. My attitude got way better and now I'm all excited to share the gospel again. Plus I had a lot of tender mercies this week--we had 4 people independently (members and investigators) tell us that they see the light in our eyes, and that when we speak we have the spirit and that it will make a difference when we talk to people. That was so good to hear, because sometimes I really don't feel like we are. So that was really nice. The Branch here is super awesome, it feels like a ward family, it's so nice. Well that pretty much sums it up. We have some pretty awesome progressing investigators now, so I'm hoping that I get to stay next transfer and help them make it to baptism. We'll see! I realized the other day that I've had a baptism in every area so far. Pretty crazy huh? But we are supposed to expect miracles so I want to keep the streak going :) I'll do my best! love you!!!!! Sestra Cooper P.S. Oh yeah and we are teaching this old lady who's husband was famous in the 60s in Hollywood apparently. I'd never heard of him, but his name is Eduard Ingris if you want to look it up. She's pretty cool, we've only had one meeting with her and she mostly just talked about him, he knew all sorts of people, including Hemingway!