Week 11 Zazraky!

Happy Sestra Pyšňáková

Draha Rodino! [note: Dear family]

This week has been a week of MIRACLES!! Sister Brimhall and I always talk about what we're going to write home when we are on our way to the internet cafe and today we were just amazed at the many amazing experiences we have had.

On Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with our investigator that has a new baptismal date and is planning on getting baptized at the end of May. We were teaching him Evangelium Jezise Krista [note: Gospel of Jesus Christ] with a member, when Pavla (our recent convert) knocked on the door and asked if she could be there with us. She loves teaching with us and it was an AMAZING lesson with her and the other member Vasek who recently returned home from a mission to Scotland. As we taught about baptism, our investigator asked us lots of questions and asked about the baptismal font. When he found out we had one in the building he got so excited and wanted to see it. After the lesson we went to show him. He got the biggest smile on his face and it just lit up like a light-bulb. Pavla got so excited to show him everything since of course she was baptized a few weeks ago. She was hopping around in the font talking to him about it. I'm not sure who was most excited, he, Pavla, or us. It was really neat. It DOES bring happiness when we want to follow priklad Jezise Krista [note: example of Jesus Christ].

Also, we arranged for our investigator to go to church in Trebic. Apparently there is a branch there that is closer to where he lives than either Jihlava or Brno. We made lots of calls and stuff, but arranged for a member family who lives in his village to take him to church! We called him yesterday to see how it went and he said it was great! We are so happy for him! He loves it!

Also, something I learned this week after a lesson with one of our investigators is how key the Book of Mormon is. She hasn't been reading in the Book of Mormon very much, actually like not at all, and because of it she hasn't made much progress. I've realized that reading from the Book of Mormon and pondering the words is directly related to an investigator's progression. The more investigators get into the Book of Mormon, the more they progress. It's amazing! It has made me realize just how important the Book of Mormon is for each of us, not just for investigators. If we want to progress and come to know Christ, we better be using that book. We better love reading it. We better ponder those words and apply them. Because the scary thing is that investigators who drop, stopped reading in the Book of Mormon, didn't pray about it, or didn't take it seriously. There's a lot of stuff going on in the world. If we want to keep our testimonies strong, if we want to stand unwavering in our testimony of Christ and his restored gospel, we better take the Book of Mormon as our guide.

Now, for this final experience, I have to go back to a few weeks ago. We had a lesson with Pavla after she was baptized and we were going over the Word of Wisdom. Her sister had said some things about the Word of Wisdom that Pavla was wondering about, and we were trying to answer and address her concerns. The Spirit wasn't really there though and it's hard to teach when the Spirit isn't there. I can't remember exactly what we said, maybe something about it coming down to knowing whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not, but the conversation shifted into prophets. Pavla asked if these latter-day prophets had seen Jesus Christ. I shared with her Lorenzo Snow's experience of seeing Jesus Christ in the Salt Lake Temple and man it was like someone turned on a 1000 watt light bulb in a pitch black room. The Spirit was suddenly there with such force it blew me away. It was electrifying! It hit me hard as I realized what we had done wrong earlier. We hadn't talked about Christ. Christ is the center of our message so we should always be connecting back to Him. It was an amazing testimony to me that I should talk about Christ more in my contacts, in our lessons etc.

Well fast forward a few weeks. We had companionship study, Sister Brimhall and I, one morning. We took a Check your progress assessment from the new 12 week training program for new missionaries. It's a program that was just implemented, maybe 3 transfers ago I think, so it's brand new. Anyways, we took this assessment to see how we're doing in different aspects of missionary work. We went through it after to see how we had answered. Everything was on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best. We realized that we both had given ourselves a lower score on "I seek to help other strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ as I teach" and "My investigators understand my role in helping them receive the blessings of the gospel and of the atonement of Jesus Christ." We both felt that we need to be more focused on Christ in every lesson we teach and on his atonement. As we talked about this, the spirit was really strong. I heard in the MTC that during these hours of study we have in the morning as missionaries, that that is the time we are the Lord's investigators. I definitely felt that way this particular morning as we began to be taught by the Spirit about the importance of Christ and His atonement. We watched a short video clip (yes, we have a DVD player in our apartment for training purposes) from a talk by Elder Perry on the atonement. We realized that everything we teach our investigators, everything we ask them to do is to help them unlock the power of the atonement in their lives.

As we dug deeper into this concept, we talked about how to incorporate Christ's atonement as we taught him the Word of Wisdom. We discussed some thing, but then I prayed in my heart for Heavenly Father to help us learn more. Then it clicked! We are told in the scriptures that the only way back to God's presence is by relying completely on Christ's atonement. And in Alma 7 we learn that the atonement wasn't just for sin, but also for every pain and sickness and trial we face in mortality. So how does it relate to the Word of Wisdom? Well people get tired so they have to have their coffee every morning. They are sad, depressed, tired, upset so they turn to drugs and alcohol. But those things provide temporary satisfaction.  The Word of Wisdom tells us to avoid those things, and by avoiding those things we can rely on the atonement more. See Satan is super clever. He tricks people into turning to substances to be healed rather than to the Savior to be healed through His atonement. And it isn't just those harmful addicting substances that people turn to, but other things. We need to remember that the Savior's atonement has the power to heal and satisfy, provide strength and happiness no matter what we are facing. It's amazing!

Well I hope that makes sense. Those are just some of the thoughts that I had. But anyways after this amazing companion study Sister Brimhall and I were on fire. We went out contacting on the Namesti [note: City Square] a couple hours later. We were headed to what we call "light bulb" street to contact when Sister Brimhall suggested we go a different away, kind of around the outside of the Namesti. We did and contacted a few people on the street unsuccessfully, and then we saw a man that looked like he was about in his 40s. We started talking to him and introduced ourselves etc. He said that he wasn't a good man. He said he had done so many mistakes in his life. He said he hadn't lived a good life, made lots of mistakes, and that he didn't think he could change. Can you just picture this moment?! Sister Brimhall and I were on fire from our study of the atonement this morning and as soon as we heard this we just testified that he could change, that Jesus Christ provided that way through his atonement, and that it would take effort on his part, but that he could repent and change. We invited him to begin this change by coming to church on Sunday. As we talked with him, thinking of the miracle it was that we had been so prepared for this contact, when I felt how much Heavenly Father loved this man. I realized that this is Heavenly Father's son and he wants him to return home to him. I realized that Heavenly Father was inviting this man to change, through us. It was amazing. I felt the reality of the atonement. I knew everything we were telling that man was true. And you know what, that man came to church yesterday.  We have a lesson set up with him this week. Yes we can all change! It's because of Christ that we can change! I know that!

Well, I need to go. I love you all so so much. Thank you all for your emails and letters. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission. I love it! I am so blessed! I know Jesus Christ lives and is the center of our message. Through Him we can find true joy and peace in this life and return to live with our Heavenly Father. It's an incredibly simple message and yet so deep and profound. I love you all!

Love, Sestra Melissa Pysnakova


Week 10 Amazingly prepared people!

Family Home Evening at the Brno branch

Draha rodino! [note: Dear family]

It's been a good week. I'm learning a lot and love it! Missionary work is just the best! One of our investigators was sick for a week and a half. He's from a village just outside Zdar nad Sazavou, but studies in Brno during the week. Because he was so sick he went home immediately after school so we didn't meet with him for a week and a half. We were worried about him, especially since his baptism date was set for the first week of May, but we hadn't anticipated him getting sick so we needed to move the date. Well he contacted us at the beginning of the week and had an "I need to meet with you now!" kind of attitude. So we arranged it with him and had a meeting on Thursday. We decided to watch the restoration film to help him remember the feelings he had had when we began teaching him and to help him feel the spirit. We had also been thinking about the best way to bring up his baptismal date and how to get him to come to church. Basically, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that when you don't meet with your investigators for a while you worry about them. I mean you really worry about them. You love them! You think all day everyday of how you can help them come to Christ.

Our meeting with him was amazing! We asked him if he'd been reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and he said yes. We asked him how he felt when he read it and he said good. Then we asked him if he prayed to know if it was true. He said yes and had this huge smile on his face! We said and....what was your answer? He said "I know it's true!" Ahhhhhhhh! It was the best moment ever! Yes, yes everyone! The Book of Mormon is true!!! He then got all concerned and asked us if it would be okay if we moved his baptismal date so that he had a little more time to prepare. We were like of course! It was neat to see how concerned he was and how seriously he takes his baptism. The lesson was so great with him. And his prayer at the end was so sincere. We like to have kneeling prayers at the end of our lessons and have the investigator pray. When he prays it is so powerful. He is so sincere and so so humble. He thanks Heavenly Father in his prayers for us. I just feel so humbled when I listen to him because I know it's not me. These are Heavenly father's children. These are his investigators. If I can only be an instrument in His hands to help his children come back to Him than I am happy.

We wanted to bring up coming to church with him because we know it's quite a distance for him. But he brought it up himself. He was like "I'm so sorry I couldn't come to church last week...but I'm coming this week for sure!" I just thought, could he really be more “zlaty” [note: golden]?! And yes, he did come to church! He said it was a problem though with the travel and he isn't sure how he can travel every Sunday, so please keep him in your prayers. He needs to make that commitment to come to church every Sunday in order to be baptized and we know church is so vital to his progression. So please pray for him! He is so so prepared.

Out other investigator, who just came to church that one Sunday, came to church again this weekend. This makes it her 3rd time coming to church. We talked to her Saturday and asked her if she was coming and she was like "yeah I'm coming!" like it was no big deal, of course she was coming. She has a better church attendance than our baptismal dates right now. She is incredible!! She is very very intelligent and speaks English flawlessly.  She loves learning about the gospel and has really been taking it in well.

Yesterday we had a lesson with her after church. Sister Brimhall and I had to split for the lesson. She went to correlation meeting and I taught her with Sister Martin. We taught her the second half of “plan spaseni” [note: Plan of Salvation]. We had split for the lesson last week and I had taught her with a member from the branch. It had gone well so I wasn't worried about teaching this lesson. But right away from the beginning of the lesson came out all of these concerns. I just prayed that I'd know how to address these concerns and I felt really peaceful. I testified a lot and was able to use the lesson to address her concerns. In the end I extended a soft baptismal commitment which means I said "When you come to know these things are true will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God...." We have extended that invitation to her before and she said that she couldn't promise something she didn't know if she'd keep. But I extended it at the end of the lesson and she said: "Well, I was already baptized..." So we talked about authority and I just laid it out as it is, that our church is the only one with the authority to make that baptism valid. I took her through Joseph Smith again and the restoration and she was like: "Well, if my baptism wasn't valid, then it's important that I am baptized by someone who has that authority!" So she accepted that she'd be baptized once she knows what we are teaching her is true. But, she wouldn't accept a solid date so I asked her to pray about it. Keep her in your prayers!

Well, I have to go. Lots of work to do! I love you all so so much! This gospel is so true. Our message is so simple and so solid and so true! I know that when we are obedient to the Lord's commandments and truly seek to follow the guidance of His Spirit, we are blessed in all we do! Keep up the good work! You are all such great examples to me.

Love, Sister Melissa Pysnakova

Week 9 Dobry Den!

Draha rodino i kamaradi! [note: Dear family and friends]

Jak se mate? Dekuji mockrat za dopisy a emails. [note: How are you? Thank you so much for your letters and e-mails] Thank you all for your support, love and prayers! It's been another wonderful week. I've learned a lot and a lot of things came together for me. A lot of "aha!" moments. And can you believe I've been here officially for a month now! It seems like forever and at the same time it feels like time is flying.

On Thursday we had exchanges with the zone leaders. We don't get that opportunity very much because you can't have a sister/elder exchange for the day. But Sister Brimhall and I had studies with the zone leaders Thursday morning at the church and then we went out to the Namesti  [note: Square] and contacted. We paired off so I was out contacting with Elder Coleman. (You stay in sight of the other companionship). It was POURING rain! But it was great! I love missionary work! I also like to see different contacting approaches so I'm glad we got this experience. We learned some things from the Elders that we want to incorporate into our contacting. Also, the best compliment was that a lady we were contacting didn't realize I was an American. She said my Czech was so good... Some guy on a tram told me something similar later that day. I'm not sure what it was because most of the time people figure I'm American right off the bat as soon as I open my mouth. But it could be my new nametag:)

We had a great lesson this week with the girl I told you about who just showed up at church. She's 20 years old and we taught her a lesson this week on the Book of Mormon. We had wanted to teach her the first part of Plan of Salvation, but there was a mix-up in the first lesson we had with her and somehow she didn't ever take a copy of the Book of Mormon with her. Ooops! So she didn't start reading. If investigators haven't read in the Book of Mormon, we don't teach them anything else. We read with them! They have to be reading in the Book of Mormon if they want to progress and come to know what we are saying is true. So since she didn't even get a copy of the Book of Mormon we read the introduction with her and discussed some things about it. We teach her in English because her English is amazing! She also wanted an English copy of the Book of Mormon, not the Czech one. She said it would be easier for her to read it in English than in Czech.

Anyways, so we were teaching her in English about the Book of Mormon and how we came to know it's true and what it means to us. The spirit was SO so strong! It was amazing. As Sister Brimhall and I testified, the Spirit just increased and she felt it. She almost accepted a baptismal date, but then said that she doesn't want to promise anything she can't keep. Keep her in your prayers! She is zlata. [note: golden] Really sharp and really great. After the lesson Sestra Brimhall and I were evaluating the lesson. We realized that we don't often share our personal experiences when we teach in Czech. I mean we always testify, but there's so much more focus on the language when we teach in Czech that I think we sometimes forget the power of sharing personal experiences. It's something we are going to be focusing on a lot more. This young woman came to church again yesterday. She has a better record than some of our baptismal dates right now! She stays for the full three hours always and enjoys it. I am soooo grateful for the members. We cannot do missionary work without them. We need them! We try and teach with a member in every lesson. We make sure members know what investigators are coming to church. We arrange for someone to sit by them at church etc. They are vital to the progression of our investigators.

After sacrament meeting, Sister Brimhall went to correlation meeting so I taught this young woman with a member named Sara. She didn't have time to read so we read from the Book of Mormon together. I was so grateful to have Sara there because when the young woman explained she was so busy with school that's why she couldn't read from the BoM, Sara bore her testimony of how she reads right when she gets up in the morning and how that makes the rest of her day better. We invited her to commit to read from the BoM everyday and she said yes. She is excited for our meeting this week.

Pavla is doing great. We've had a good time taking her to members homes and teaching lessons with them. We're binding her to the church, I guess you could say. It's been a great experience. This week on Friday we visited the Kislenkovi who are a younger couple and have a 3 month old baby girl. We teach all the lessons again to our new converts, so we taught law of chastity/ eternal marriage with the Brother and Sister Kislenko and it was so great! Pavla loved it. After the lesson Brother Kislenko who is a counselor in the Branch presidency asked Pavla to speak in church on Sunday. Her answer was "Well you don't say no when you're asked to do something in the church so of course I will do it!" She has so much faith. She gave a beautiful talk yesterday on personal revelation. Earlier this week she taught a lesson with us and told us afterwards that she wants to go on a mission...tomorrow! She is on fire.

We are teaching a new guy. We had our first lesson with him last week and it went well! I met him either my first or second week here in the Czech Republic. I was contacting a guy on a tram who ended up not having interest so I moved on to another guy and started contacting him. He was really nice, but then I had to get off the tram and wasn't able to finish the contact with him. About two weeks later I was at Billa [note: supermarket], right across from the church building. I was buying dinner when a guy approached me and said "do you remember me?" I recognized him as the guy I had contacted on the tram a few weeks earlier. He was really nice and polite and I was able to "finish the contact". He's a believer, young, married and studies in Brno during the week. He goes home on the weekends to be with his wife. Not sure where he's from. He said he loves the Bible though. I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon to him and he exchanged contact information with us. Our first lesson with him was this week. He had lots of questions. We have another one with him tonight and we are looking forward to it.

Like I said this week a lot of things clicked for me. That has come through diligent study and lots of pondering. I love the hours in the morning where I can dive into the gospel and learn. It's amazing! This week especially I realized how grateful I am for Sister Brimhall, my trainer. I mean I was always grateful to serve with her, but this week I realized how blessed I am.

It's amazing what you can do when a companionship in unity seeks heaven's help and guidance!

Love you all! Working hard!

Love, Sestra Melissa Pysnakova

Week 8 Vesele Velikonoce!

Draha nejlepsi rodina na svete, [note: Dear best family in the world]

Vesele Velikonoce! [note: Happy Easter] Thank you for all of your letters, emails, pictures and prayers! I am so blessed to be a part of our family. Thank you for your prayers for me and also for us to find the people who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel. Heavenly Father hears those prayers. Thank you for your faith and love.

Officially Sestra Pyšňáková

So some exciting things happened this week. President and Sister Irwin, the APs and all of my MTC group came to Brno for new missionary training on Thursday. It was so so great. They brought down your letters for me and it made my day. Also, I got my new missionary nametags! I am now officially Sestra Pyšňáková with haceks and carkas and all:) It was so so great seeing my MTC group. Sister Sears made it to the Czech Republic! [note: left behind in the MTC because of her broken finger]. She and her trainer, Sister Bean came down from Prague and Sister Clark and her trainer, Sister White, came down from Ceske Budejovice Wednesday night and slept over at our apartment since it takes some time to travel to Brno. So yes, we had a sleepover at our apartment with six girls and it was great! So so neat seeing Sestra Clark and Sears again, and I know all of the trainers. All of our trainers, Sister Brimhall, White and Bean were in the MTC together. If you remember, I was in Ostrava [city, where we come from] last summer during Sister Bean's first week in the Czech Republic. It was so neat seeing her now after months of being out, so confident and speaking Czech. Training was wonderful. I love my leaders, fellow missionaries, and President and Sister Irwin. Every time I have an interview with President he always brings up how he met mom and dad at the Prague airport! He and his wife are marvelous. Training was wonderful. We have all made so much progress since we got here. Also, we read some excerpts from a talk called Fourth Missionary. It had a significant impact on me. I recommend you look it up. It's not just for missionaries.

 Czech District

 Sisters Brimhall, Pysnak, Sears, Bean, Clark and White

The work is moving forward in Brno. We sent Sister Smith to Uherske Hradiste on Tuesday when Sister Sears flew in. Sister Brimhall and I are working hard. We had two lessons this week with the young man that was not invited to the church by 3 Nephites but by one amazing YSA - Vasek and two other people from the branch. Vasek got home from a mission to Scotland. He still acts like a missionary and will talk to people about the gospel as he's riding on the tram or invite youth to activities. Such a testimony of the power when members invite! Our lessons went really well. He loves the messages we share of the restored gospel. He is so so sincere. My favorite thing is to hear him pray at the end of lessons. We taught his second lesson with Pavla, our new convert. She is on fire! It was amazing because at one point during the lesson she opened up her scriptures and was teaching him a principle from it. And she's only been a member for 2 weeks!

I had a special tram contacting experience that I want to share with you. Sister Brimhall and I were contacting on a tram. Sister Brimhall contacted a lady who had absolutely no faith, no beliefs, nothing. I came in half-way through the contact, but it looked like she really didn't want to talk to Sister Brimhall. She didn't believe in God, Jesus Christ, nothing. In the end of the contact, Sister Brimhall gave her a pass-along card with a picture of Christ on the front. I will never forget what happened next. This lady took the card looked at the picture of Jesus, and then looked again. She softened up significantly and then asked us "Is this what Jesus Christ looks like?" She continued staring at the picture. "He looks so good!" She just kept looking at that picture of Christ. We left her staring at that little pass-along card. As I left I realized what had just happened. Here was a lady probably in her 40s who for the first time was meeting her Savior. During the contact we could see she knew nothing about Jesus Christ, but her spirit knew. She felt something. She felt his love. And as I watched her staring at that card I felt the Savior's love for her. He wanted her to know that He loved her. That He was inviting her to come to know Him. That look that the Lady had on her face as she stared at the pass-along card was that of someone meeting their Savior for the first time. It was a very sacred and special experience.

This weekend we got to watch conference. We watched it at the Budove [note: ward/stake building]. In the chapel they watched it in Czech and the missionaries watched it in English in a classroom. It was so so amazing. It's such a different experience as a missionary. I found myself thinking a lot about investigators and how these talks could help them. Really, so many inspired words. And wasn't the MTC choir so great? Did you think of me? Did you notice Clara Cubova in the choir and David Archuleta :) Actually there were so many missionaries I knew from the MTC in the choir so it brought back lots of memories. Also, Elder Scott's talk meant a lot to me. I thought a lot about Megan during the beginning of his talk. 

I love you all! I pray for you every day. May, thank you for your email. You said just what I needed to hear. Dad, thank you for your diligence in doing missionary work. You are such an example to me. Thank you for your email as well. I love to hear your experiences. Mom, thanks for your willingness to do so much for me. I appreciate it. And Megan, thank you for being my angel and companion.

I am grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. Especially this Easter season I am reminded how much I have to be grateful for. Because of Him we can be together as a family forever! We will see Megan again! We will see our Father in Heaven again! All pain and sorrow will be turned into Joy. We can have Peace in this life. We don't need to hold on to grudges, anger, resentment, envy, pride. Jesus Christ paid for that. He suffered for every sin, pain, sickness. He knows and loves each and every one of us. He calls for us to come to Him. Let's do. Let's come to Him. It's so much easier that way. I love Him.

I am honored to bear His name on my badge. I love Him!

Well, I'm on my way to the Namesti [note: town square]. Easter is apparently a very very big holiday here. We're going to take a look at some of the booths out in the square and grab some lunch. I might invest in buying a little whip:)

With all of my love, Sestra Pysnakova

If you want to know what whip has to do with Easter read the article:

http://www.intrepidtravel.com/express-blog/?p=305

Week 7 Three Nephites?

Dobry den rodina!

Where do I even begin! This week has been full of miracles and it's just flown by. First of all, thank you all for your emails. It sounds like General Conference was great! I love you all! I get to watch conference this weekend at the budove [note: ward/stake building] and I'm looking forward to it.

I told you a little bit about our experience last Sunday when we went on splits with the YSAs and went to visit less-active families. Sister Smith and I went together with two of the YSA girls. We got kind of lost and it ended up taking us way more time than it should have to find the first home. I kept thinking, "Things happen for a reason. There's got to be someone we need to meet." When we finally made it to the first home, we were told that the person we were looking for didn't live there anymore. So we knocked a few doors in the neighborhood, but nobody wanted to listen to us.

As we walked down the road, headed to the tram to go to our next appointment, I saw a young man in the street. I got the most distinct impression that I needed to talk to him. I turned to Sister Smith and said, "We gotta contact that guy." I could tell she had the same impression because she said, "YES! We need to!" We moved quickly over to him and introduced ourselves. One of the first things I noticed was how much light was around him. I am not kidding. This young man was full of light. He was super friendly and as we talked, he told us he believes in God and Jesus Christ. We testified of the Kniha Mormon and invited him to learn more. He said he was interested in learning more and said: "I have a friend in your church." We were like "No way, WHO?" It turns out he is friends with a YSA in the ward who is a great great member of the church. During this time, the young man’s friend came over from one of the houses behind us and listened for a bit and we invited him to learn more as well. He said, "NO, I'm a neverici [note: non-believer]. And walked away." There was SUCH a difference in light. It was so interesting. We invited the young man to come to Family home evening the next night which he did. He also came to English on Tuesday and we set up a meeting with him. So that was the story of miracle number 1.

Now for miracle number 2. A few weeks ago another young man showed up to English. No one knew who he was. He came to beginners English which is taught by the sisters. After the English lesson we do a short lesson on a gospel principle. After the lesson, this young man asked Sister Brimhall if our church has ordinances. From this short conversation, she found out that this young man had been contacted by three people on the street who invited him to the activities that our church had each week. Sister Brimhall figured it was the Elders since there was a threesome during that time so she didn't get his contact information. Sister Brimhall talked to the Elders later that week and it turned out nobody knew him. She felt so bad that she didn't have his contact information. Well, the young man showed up to English this week and we had a lesson on prophets after teaching English. We talked to him after and he was so impressed that our church had apostles and prophets. He said, "This is like Christ's church that he organized when he was on the earth." We immediately set up with him and ended up having a lesson with him the next day. It was an amazing lesson! We taught the restoration. When we teach the pattern of prophets and apostasy, we draw out a little diagram that shows that pattern and have it end with an apostasy after Christ's death. When he saw that, he said after we were done teaching that principle, "So, what happens next? Are we out of that apostasy?" The spirit was SO strong!! So so so strong as we testified that yes we were out of that apostasy. It was amazing and a testimony to me that yes the gospel of Jesus Christ and his church has been restored on the earth today. He accepted a baptismal date. We are so happy for him! And we have no idea who the three people are who contacted him. Probably the three Nephites!

Miracle number 3 happened yesterday. Before sacrament meeting started, we were out in the foyer visiting with members and investigators when we noticed a young woman come in. She introduced herself. She studies in Brno and usually goes home on the weekends, but decided to stay in Brno this weekend. During the week she had passed by our building and decided to stop by on Sunday and see what we were all about. I know right!!!! She stayed for the full three hours and stayed after to talk to members. She asked lots of questions and during gospel principles; she was flipping through the manual and ended up reading some chapters. I don't think she realizes what she walked into, but we are teaching her tomorrow. She is really amazing and very sharp. She speaks English perfectly. We're excited to get to know her. And to think that she walked in herself!

This week my testimony has been strengthened that there are people being prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. We are praying to be led to them and for them to be led to us. I know that when we work hard and are obedient the Lord blesses us and trusts us enough to send these people to us. We are so blessed because he truly has been guiding people to us.

Now thinking on these miracles that have happened. I need to share something that's been on my mind since last week. With a recent baptism of a young woman and seeing her grow in the gospel, I've been so amazed with her spirit. From what she's told us about her family it's like she doesn't belong to her family. She's completely different from them. As I thought about it I was reminded how in the MTC we had a district meeting and the Branch President said that there are choice spirits sent to families who do not have the gospel. These choice spirits have a mission to accept the gospel and change their entire history. I realized that is what happened with her and with dad and mom. You were choice spirits sent to your families. The Lord knew you would accept the gospel and it was through you that you are changing your legacy and can bring salvation to your ancestors and the blessings of the gospel to your posterity. I hope that makes sense! It's so neat!

On Thursday we had training in Brno for the missionaries. Bratislava is in our zone and we also combined with Olomouc zone (includes Ostrava). It was an amazing training!

On Saturday there was a leadership training in Brno. Some of the members came up from Ostrava [note: Ostrava is a city we come from]. It was so great seeing all of them! They all are hoping I get to serve in Ostrava. I just told them it's wherever the Lord wants me to serve! They are all so wonderful.

Also, for a funny experience. I was standing in the tram between the bar and the door. We stopped and I was getting ready to get off, but I didn't realize that as the doors were opening that I was right in between that and a pole. My backpack got pinned in between and I was stuck. It was SO funny. I had to wiggle myself out of my backpack and try to pull free. Some people came up and were speaking to me in English and trying to help me. I don't know how they knew I was American, but then again who else but Americans would get stuck in the door…J

We have new missionary training this week here in Brno. I will get to be with my MTC group again and I am so excited!

I love you all! I'm working hard and I'm so happy to be a missionary. The gospel is true! The work is moving forward here in the Czech/Slovak mission.

With love, Sestra Pysnakova