Czeching into Brno

She made it! Here's Carley's first letter from the Czech Republic!

Nazdar!!

So its official now! I'm here in the grand ol' Czech Republic and it is just like home....NOT! haha.

 

When we first got here, President Mckonkie and his lovely, amazing wife Sister McConkie picked us up, but....wait for it...the airline lost my luggage. Not even pulling your leg right now. So I arrived bleary-eyed due to the lack of sleep over the course of the forever long plane-rides and now my luggage--come to find out--is still in UTAH, lol. Luckily I had brought essentials with me in my carry-on just in case. That in itself was a miracle! 

We went on a walk through Prague taking in the wonderful sights, sounds, smells, rain...(it began to rain on us as we walked) then we went to dinner where I got some orange colored Czech food, that I can't pronounce but that was really filling! We got set up in a room really close the mission office at some guy named Alexander's. The room was a quaint little European apartment that had some interesting artwork and decorations. 

The next morning we went to do paperwork for our visas. Everything was like bam, bam, bam!! Then we came back to the Mission office and were told where we were going to be for the next 9 weeks and with whom....and I am in BRNO!!! We all made guesses before coming and I just had a feeling it would be Brno. And it was!

And I am so blessed to be companions with Sister Woodworth, she is the BEST! I honestly think we haven't stopped smiling the entire time I have been here (a whopping 5 days but whatevs). We both are so excited about the work and ready to work hard every day. So after we met we had lunch and waited for them to bring my luggage, they did several hours later which is awesome that it was that quick! We started off in a mad dash to make it to our bus, only...to get there we would have to take some trams. 

Sister WW hasn't been in Prague yet for a transfer and didn't know the trams too well so we got a bit turned around, but we corrected ourselves and hauled it to the bus going to Brno juuuust in time. I was sprinting with my carry-on and one of my suitcases with me, quite the workout. By the time we got there I was drenched in sweat. we got on, sat in the back and began the 3ish hour drive to Brno in Eastern Czech. We had made it about 15 minutes out when after bumping the fellow next to me, he responds in English. "Whoa!" So of course we began to chat, he plays baseball here but is from Brisbon, Australia. (Baseball isn't a popular sport in either country come to find out) and we told him why we were here. Then we had a 3 hour long lesson lol.

He was intrigued, prolly more for conversation's sake, always adding "hypothetically" onto the ends of his statements. ooookay. It was a great discussion though, and Sister Woodworth and I had the opportunity to teach together right off the bat (haaha get it?) We transitioned really well in and out of each others comments. So fun!

I love our apartment! Its so cute, but fun fact, the Czechs don't believe in air conditioning. And it is actually rather hot here. Like reaaallly. Like for me, a Texan. Its very humid and sunny. But I love it!! It is a gorgeous place. We keep our windows open all the time, everyone does here. Thank goodness it is so safe! (No worries though mom, we are still always super careful, but it is). 

We taught 2 Lessons, (insert Courtney's note here: names have been changed) Jill and Armen. Both are actually recent converts, Jill is 18 and is super sweet! Armen...is difficult. He is from Portugal actually and we speak English with him. He is having a rough time right now and we are trying to help him.

Yesterday I went to the ward here. I love all of them!! They are so dear and sweet, their testimonies are so strong! Oh! and Starsi (Elder) Scherf is actually in Brno too! I think we are one of the only ones to have a fellow MTC Districtee in their new district. He got up to bare his testimony which instilled the courage in me so we both bore our testimonies in Czech! I had members telling me they were impressed by my Czech, shows just how nice they are! The ward has about 100 members I think? Numbers aren't really my thing.

a little girl at church gave Sestra Schoen this origami bird that had written inside, "Believe and miracles will happen."

There are alot of young single adults (YSAs) too, they just got back from a huge YSA conference in Slovakia. From what I heard about it from the Martins (The senior couple from Arizona serving here in Brno but are finishing soon--insert Courtney's note: missionaries can be young men/women, or they can be older couples who have finished raising their families and desire to serve a mission together, leaving behind their homes, careers, etc.) it was an awesome spiritual experience being there.

I love everything here! We have had some interesting experiences talking to people, I just usually smile and nod the whole time haha, then they turn and say "Does she even know what I am saying?" One lady kept touching my face, in a grandmotherly, non-patronizing way. They do that here. Like, they are, as a whole, super nice, so if they don't want to talk to you they will stroke the side of your arm and say " Ne zlop'te se" That is phonetically, It means "don't be angry," lol. We take the buses and trams everywhere here and walk a bunch. Have I mentioned how much I love it? Its awesome! I will send as many pics as I can! 

"Beautiful building, not so beautiful shot of my face'

Alley in Brno

What a view

"Petting the dog on a bridge for good luck, it's a tradition here."

View from the plane ride window

You don't see architecture like this in Texas!

Carley was reminded of all the ceilings sh had faux finished with my mom, so she had to include this picture.