Week 11 in Plzen

14 Apr 2014 Ahoj! This week felt so long but it was so good. We are teaching a lot and my new companion is AWESOME. She's so great. Such a blessing. We get along super well and are having so much fun. Plus we got to watch conference!! soooo good. As usual. Plus we had 5 investigators come! that was awesome. We made conference bingo for the little girls and they loved it :) We have 4 baptisms on plan for Saturday!! Plus one of the elders' investigators. I'm sooo excited. We are teaching them every night this week to get them ready, and have almost taught everything. It was really cool because the rest of them were feeling a little unsure, but the youngest Johanka was like, I want to be baptized 100% on Saturday! We asked her why and she said "chci byt jako vy!" (I want to be like you). It's so cute--but her faith is propelling the rest of her family to join her--they are all on board now. The mom still feels like she hasn't got an answer for sure, but she definitely wants it for her girls. And the other two said that they wanted to follow the steps of the gospel :) aaah they are the best. So we'll see what happens! We are going to fast with them this week so that the mom will get a testimony. Today we went to the easter markets and the zoo, that was fun. So windy though, we are getting a lot of april showers. It's good though cause I guess they are afraid of a drought this summer since it only snowed once this winter. Anyways. And then for fhe we are going to go to gabca's softball game to support her, so i'm excited for that :) Conference was the best. I loved Elder Holland's talk--it felt really good to relate to the persecution he was talking about, i've been sworn at and ignored and yelled at as a missionary. Luckily never spit upon yet. But the missionaries in Prague got egged at a singing display last week, so it felt really relevant to me. I feel proud to have experience with my "most cherished beliefs being reviled". That was what I was most afraid of when I was deciding if I wanted to serve or not, I wasn't sure if I could handle it. But it's not me at all, it's the strength that comes from the atonement--that testimony and love burning so bright that nothing can dim it. Doesn't make it easy, but it's just so worth it. Loved that. And I loved Elder Bednar's talk--going to have to study that one, I felt like I only got a glimpse of what he was trying to teach. It was so interesting to think about our "loads" being what give us the spiritual traction to make it back to God. I also loved the talk about the olympics-- "your 4 minutes" And I noticed all the preach my gospel references--they quoted from it sooo much. Conference is so great. love you! Sestra Cooper

Week 10 in Plzen!

7 Apr 2014 Ahoj!! I'm still in Plzen :) which i'm so happy about. And Sister Rosenvall's my new comp! I'm sooo excited. She's awesome and only one group behind me so we are going to just work so hard :) It's so great, we just heard that there were 6 baptisms in the mission on Saturday, and the last 6 weeks there have been multiple baptisms across the mission every week. (That's way better than usual) The YSA in the Prague District did a 40 day fast for missionary work and the whole mission is on fire because of it. We're all teaching so many more people and there have been so many miracles. President wants to have a stake in the Czech Republic by the end of the year, and we are soooo close. I'm so glad I get to be a part of it! So we are continuing the fast as a mission. It's just been so cool. The Lord is just pouring down so many blessings. Ah I just love being a missionary! And I'm excited about my new district too, it's going to be so great. Plus we get to watch Conference this weekend--it's like Christmas when you're on your mission. I can't wait! This last week wasn't too exciting, just kind of normal, a lot of cancelled lessons. But we did get a really cool new investigator named Jiri this week--he basically taught us the whole Restoration, already believes all of it. The only thing that was new was Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He's awesome. And he has 4 kids!!! Czech families are usually so much smaller. He says he comes to English because he wants "to be around other believers" and he took so many notes during our intro to mormonism seminar on temples :) it was awesome. Oh yeah.....funny story. So Saturday night I decided to wash my coat cause it was gross and I always forget. So I threw it in there, checked my pockets, took out the pass-along cards and didn't think anymore about it....until I couldn't find the phone. Oops. Guess I missed a pocket...that was embarrassing. Luckily we could use the elders phone to coordinate all the transfer stuff yesterday, our cim card still works, and sister Rosenvall just brought a new one down from Prague today. So that ended up well, but I felt like such an idiot haha. Because missionary work is reallly impossible without a phone--you can't even really contact because sometimes people give fake numbers so you have to call them right then. Oh well, worked out in the end haha, the elders laughed so hard when I told them. I swear, my memory has gotten so bad as a missionary--I think it's because I never get enough sleep haha. Well there's really not much else to say....here's to a fantastic next transfer! love you! Sestra Cooper

Week 9 in Plzen!

31 Mar 2014 Ahojky! Oh man I cannot believe this transfer's already over!! aaaah. I better stay, things are going really well. We're teaching more and more people and Simona and the girls are just the best. I'm pretty exhausted though, with going to Prague twice this week (we have to get up at like 5:30) and daylight savings I really need some more sleep....Training was good as always, and district conference was awesome yesterday. It was cool because I was in the Prague district last time in October, and that was my third transfer--I understood about half of what they said. This time I could actually take notes and really get a ton out of the talks. So cool! Plus I got to see people from Prague--Vaclav is still active and he's almost been a member for a year can you believe it!! that was my first transfer. Plus another girl we taught that transfer just got baptized last week. So cool. And they reorganized the district presidency, and the new president is Bro Chrdle from C Bud so I know him too! It's going to be so great. We had a seventy from Sweden there as well, and he talked about hastening the work, it was really good. Oh yeah and Sister Zmolkova updated me on C Bud--they are meeting with inactives we visited for the first time when I was there! A whole family, and only the mom is a member. And then they visited a couple that I met once as well, and he wanted to give his wife a blessing cause she was sick but didn't know how, so they called around to get the instructions in czech, and he was able to give her one--she said he just was staring at his hands after and was like, wow I could feel the power. Missions are just so worth it. You never know what little thing you do will make a difference. All of those hours organizing the branch list in C Bud :) Last night we had a miracle as well! We got back from District Conference at like 6 and I was really wishing we could just go home to eat dinner, but we had on plan to visit an inactive. So we stopped by but she was sleeping (she's really old and sick) so then we decided to walk home and contact. So we talked to a couple of cool people, one lady from Argentina, but no one wanted to meet. Then Sister Bruno contacted this YSA guy, which is always iffy, you never know if they are going to hit on you and ask you out for a beer.... But this one was nice, and he was like yeah I'm interested in knowing if God is there, I have time right now to talk about it! So we were like...ok...let's find a bench! So we sat down and taught him about the book of mormon and prayer and invited him to find out if God is there. He just kept saying, this is so weird, I'm so scared of reading this book, what if it does change my life? But he agreed to read Alma 32 and try praying and we have a meeting with him on Wednesday! The coolest part is that we had made a goal of 2 new investigators for the week and we didn't have anyone on Saturday morning, that night we got an unexpected one and then yesterday we found the other! The Lord really does help us out when we are doing our best. love you sooooo much!!!! Sestra Cooper

Week 8 in Plzen

24 Mar 2014 Cau! Phew this week has been crazy! We taught so many lessons. The most in my whole mission, 22, and we made standards in all areas! That is sooo hard to do. I still don't know how that happened, but I'm just grateful for blessings. The work that we've done all transfer is finally paying off. It was really cool cause the family we are teaching finally came to church all together!! Our district had 13 total investigators at church so it felt like half the branch. It was awesome. And we met some really cool people this week too. Things are finally getting going! Of course it's at the end of the transfer, like always. I don't know where the time is going....we have training in Prague on Wed, and then District Conference on Sunday in Prague again, so this week is just going to fly by. only two weeks left of the transfer! I really hope I'm staying, it would be weird if I left after only one. Other things....We have some new less-actives to work with, so that was exciting...I really don't know what else to say. We've just been busy, nothing too exciting happened. We're going to go shopping today and hopefully I'll get a haircut....nothing really to say haha. We're going to go get sushi on Thursday cause I haven't had it in a year and my year mark in the country/sister bruno's on her mission isThursday. So that should be fun! I'm studying the New Testament now, which has been really cool. I never appreciated it enough before my mission. We got to teach a lesson on the life of Christ for gospel principles on sunday, and it just made me realize how much my testimony of Christ has grown. Missions are just the best. And I finished the Conference Ensign from Oct, just in time! I'm sooo excited for conference. Oh yeah and I read one of the last CES firesides the other day--The Blueprint of Christ's Church, if you haven't read it you should!! It's crazy. Elder Callister talks about how Christ's church was organized in the New Testament and how ours matches the blueprint in every way. Super cool. It just makes so much sense. love it. Love you!!!!

Week 7 in Plzen

17 Mar 2014 Ahoj! What even happened this week...? A lot of lessons cancelled, we got some new investigators, but they are kind of shaky. We did make a lot of progress with the family we are teaching though! The mom is really engaged now I think, we just really need to meet more than once a week. But we got to go to the girls dance rehearsal, and that was sooo cute. Reminded me of ballet :) And they came to the branch activity on Friday and loved it. So we are getting there! That activity was actually a huge success, we had 30 nonmembers there! more than members I think. We celebrated Purim, that Jewish holiday for Esther? The kids loved it because every time the story says the name Haman they got to scream and make noise, and then there was food and Jewish dancing after--Kuba invited his Jewish friend to come lead it. Everyone seemed to have a really good time. So that was great--besides I don't know when in my life I would ever get to do that again! And we had Branch Conference on Sunday, all of the McConkies came and it was spectacular of course. Two of the kids spoke too, it was adorable. The spirit was so strong, and one of the elders' investigators was sitting next to me, so I pointed it out and she was like, wow do you really think that's the spirit? It was awesome, I don't think she's ever recognized it before, so that was exciting. It was really interesting too, because Relief Society was on the Ten Commandments, and I was translating for Sister McConkie, which I like doing because it helps me focus better anyway. But I learned some things--we were talking about the sabbath day, and she mentioned how grateful she is that we have one every week. How much we need that day of rest to just focus on the Lord's work and rest up for another week. That is something that I really miss as a missionary--I think Sundays are the longest, most empty days, it's hard to find things to do cause Czech people all go out of town on the weekends. Anyways, then we were talking about honor your father and your mother, and what is the difference between loving them and honoring them? That was really interesting to think about--we came to the conclusion that honoring means respect and forgiveness. Sister McConkie was talking about how she likes to watch her kids sleep because it's like they are healing from all the parenting mistakes, and that's really what it is--that forgiveness, recognizing that they are human and most likely did the best they could. It's hard here with a lot of people here who want to get baptized because often their parents are so against it, and so they have to choose between following God and the traditions of their families. Anyways...so other things. We are making some progress with one of our less actives so I'm optomistic about that! And we did building tours as a district! That was so fun. And we taught 8 lessons total and got new potentials out of it, so that was exciting. That was probably my favorite thing we did this week--I love it, cause the people you teach are actually interested in what you are saying or they wouldn't have come in in the first place. Oh yeah! And we got to do service on Saturday! That was so fun, even though we were working in a garden and it started hailing and pouring rain. But I was just happy we got to go, sisters never get asked because we can't lift heavy things, but I was like we can shovel dirt just as well as elders! Put me to work! haha. It was fun. And we got to know the couple we were doing service for a lot better--she is Czech, he's British and they found the church in Brazil. Crazy huh? Their life is so interesting. So different than anybody else I know, she escaped communism at 19 and their kids live all over, mostly in the states. Unfortunately they are always travelling so we don't really see them very much, but it was really cool. Thanks for making me weed on Saturdays :) I know I hated it at the time, but I appreciate it with hindsight :) So overall it was a pretty good week. I'm trying not to get burnt out contacting--it's just hard when I get really excited about the cool people we find and then it's so disappointing when they never come for a meeting. But I'm trying to just trust God and work hard anyways, and trust that what's supposed to happen will happen. Maybe they really weren't ready right now, but that contact helped prepare them a little bit. Love you! Sestra Cooper

Week 6 in Plzen

10 Mar 2014 Can you believe it's already week 6?? So weird!! This transfer is just flying by. This week was kind of rough, people dropped us, did a lot of contacting, but then some really cool things happened too. So that was weird, it just felt really long. I still don't have my package mom cause it was held up in customs for some reason, but hopefully I'll get it soon, the next time somebody goes to Prague. We have training in two weeks so at the very least I should get it then. The family we are teaching is doing well, at least the girls (they are reading and praying every day!) but we haven't seen them for a week. The mom comes to church and prays and said she'll come to the activities this week too, but she isn't too thrilled about meeting with us and won't read, which I really don't get... But she's like best friends with a bunch of members now, so that's good? hopefully we'll get a meeting soon, she says it's just because her mom is in the hospital, so we'll see. But in our last meeting they all agreed to a baptismal date! So that was exciting. Oh yesterday something crazy happened. We wandered around the city for 3 hours trying to track down inactives, but no one was home or they don't live there anymore. On our way to Lochotin, I contacted this lady, and she said i'm in a hurry bye, but I gave her a card. So we kept going to the next address, (czech addresses have two numbers, one for the order they were built in and one that's actually the street number.) We didn't have the street number, just the other one, so wandered around forever, until finally getting back to where we started, and we eventually found it. Anyways, the point is, that even though I felt dumb for not looking at that door in the first place (I really don't know why it didn't occur to us before) apparently our steps were being guided that whole time. Because when we got on the tram to go home, the same lady was there! She was like hi I really was in a hurry, but what did you want to talk to me about?! And then she came and sat by me and I got her number and she wants to meet. that really showed me that the Lord is in control, there's no way that was a coincidence--that it was the exact same lady, the exact tram she was on and that she was sitting right by the door we got on at?? So cool. Oh! and another cool thing--we were coming home the other night and i was exhausted, but right outside our apartment this lady was standing at the bus stop, and I felt like I should talk to her. So I did even though I didn't want to, and we had a first lesson with her on saturday, and she is SO prepared. She was telling us that she loves the bible, but she always felt like something is missing. And when we taught her how to pray she said wow, i've only ever said otce nas (the lord's prayer) it never occurred to me that prayer is a conversation with God--that feels so good! She said she almost didn't come to our meeting but she was so glad she did. It was one of those moments when I'm just so glad to be here! That's about it, I really can't remember most of the week, i'm so tired all the time but that's status quo. Oh we started running again in the mornings, that was fun. I can't believe you are learning French now Dad! YES. You can help me relearn it when I get back :) haha cause it's just gone. Oh yeah and we went to a castle today. That was fun, we hiked up this mountain for forever, (all of the castles are on these steep hills) but didn't realize we could have worn normal clothes so we are all still dressed up haha. Awkward. Though I did feel kind of like a princess in my skirt hahaha. I'll send some pictures. love you!!! Sestra Cooper

Week 5 in Plzen

3 Mar 2014 Ahoj! Wow this week was so good. I really don't know what happened, but I guess your prayers are working!! It's a miracle. Me and my comp have been getting along just fine and working hard and we have new investigators!! hallelujah. Training really helped her I think, she's caught the vision too and we are just talking to EVERYONE. It's crazy. I'm going to run out of pages in the back of my planner for potentials numbers--I never ever thought that would happen! Of course a lot of them don't answer when we call, but who knows, someone could call them in a couple years and they will be ready. And we have a really cool new investigator from Portugal, she's studying medicine here and she came to all 3 hours of church! That was a feat because we had to translate the whole time (she doesn't speak Czech) but she stayed anyways. We have a second lesson on Wednesday, and I'm really excited. Plus the FAMILY we are teaching is just amazing. I have wanted to teach a family my whole mission. Those girls have so much faith already, I kind of wish we could teach kids more often. So cool. And they are reading in the book of mormon on their own. We are going to give all four of them baptismal dates today :) It's so refreshing to teach people that actually care! Plus we have some more first lessons set up with really cool people this week, I'm so excited. This one contact was really neat--she started out by saying she was a complete atheist, and 20 minutes later she was saying that she would love to go get hot chocolate with us and talk more about the answers to her questions, and that she feels like meeting us really helped her feel inner peace. Miracles happen every day! Oh yeah and the other thing that happened on Saturday--Constantin called! haha I don't know if that's even allowed, let alone how he got our number but it made me happy. He just kept saying over and over I didn't lie!! There's going to be members in my town, my wife got baptized! haha it's awesome. Then he gave the phone to one of the sisters and she told me about all the miracles that led to his wife's baptism--the sisters had just barely opened a new area in the branch nearest to his town 2 weeks before, when he showed up to church and said hi, this is my wife, she's not a member and we've been reading the book of mormon every day together, you should teach her! haha love it. She said they almost have enough members to establish a group in his town, you need two women and 2 priesthood holders, his sister-in-law is getting baptized in 2 weeks, and his brother-in-law and son are investigators too. And then they will have their own missionaries in Cimplung. Just miracle after miracle. Constantin kept asking when I am coming to Romania with my whole family so it looks like we have to take a side trip next summer haha. Love it. He kept saying you can skype in August, you can skype in August! hahaha. OH the miracle with housing?? So cool. I'm so excited to live with Kylie, I can't believe she was praying for that too! God really is good. I just feel so much love. So much. I was thinking a lot about the quote from Pres Monson--the future is as bright as your faith--this week. I'm not trunky, because I love it here and i'm working hard, but every so often it hits me that I really don't have that much time left until normal life again and that freaks me out. It's already March, Christmas was yesterday, and before I know it, it will be over. But it really is true that the future is as bright as your faith. If the Lord can guide my life as a missionary, of course he can guide it after as well. And there are only good things to come! Plus I still have a lot to do here. But my testimony of the atonement has just grown so much. So much. That was one thing I really wanted to learn as a missionary--before I definitely knew that Heavenly Father loved me, and that was so important, but I didn't really have that much personal experience of how Christ fit in. I knew the doctrine intellectually, but it wasn't written in my heart you know? But now I really feel it. And I understand. In Czech there are a couple words for understand --one is rozumet, that's like I understand the words you are saying, but then there is chapat/pochopit, which is I really get it, I understand what you mean, not just the words. It's like that. Predtim, jsem rozumela, ale ted' chapu. (Before I understood, but now I get it.) Missions are just the best. love you!!! Sestra Cooper