Greetings from Brno!!

May 16, 2012
Hello, family!

So, here I am emailing you from kind of an unexpected place - BRNO! Yes I am in Brno as a Zone Leader with ... Elder Buhler! Yes, Elder Buhler both sent me to the office and is taking me out of the office! So yes, I am here in Brno for the transfer, and I'm so excited! It's the second biggest city and branch, and there's lots of missionaries in the district, which is great. I'm so excited to be here, and it'll be great to serve with Elder Buhler again. How exciting it is to be here - I've only heard just awesome things about Brno. I'm coming into the Černá Pole area (chair-nuh pole-uh), which is fantastic. There have been already 3 baptisms in the area since the beginning of the year, which is fantastic. It's a solid area, and we already have 2 lessons set up for tonight! How fun it will be to be here as a Brňák (Burn-yaahk)!

So yes, I am a Zone Leader and back out in the field! I'm here safely and happily. I'm so glad we got the opportunity to talk on Sunday - you all sound wonderful and it was just so much fun to talk with all of you. Landon sounds as fun and busy as ever, and he sure is a cutie! It was interesting for me - when we started talking, it just seemed so familiar and normal, as if we had talked just yesterday. Now I know it's been like 5 months, but strangely it didn't seem long at all. Now I don't know if Marmees and family members feel time pass at the same rate, but I just marvel at how crazy fast time is flying. The familiarity of it all just made me realize how familiar our Heavenly Father's voice will sound when we talk with Him again one day. I wonder if our life here will have seemed only a moment - it's not vital to think about, but it does make me wonder and smile to know how much He truly loves each of us.

So now time for your answers!

1   Where were your fellow MTC people sent to serve this time.  Were there any surprises?  You said the President is always full of surprises...hehe. - Elder Heath was moved to be ZL in Pardubice with Elder Egger, Elder Dietrich is going to Plzen as a Zone Leader, and Elder Salas is going to Slovakia! How crazy is that? All kinds of fun and crazy changes - but I know they are inspired and that all of us are here for a reason.

2.  How bad was it to pack up after being there for two transfers...probably  not so much fun huh? - Nope! Not fun at all! Haha, it was kind of a pain packing up - I thought that I had thrown away a good amount of stuff and sent some stuff home, but it seems like my bags are magically still only getting more stuffed! Aah! But it's all good haha.

3,  We are grateful for your positive attitude...What are your goals going to be for your new area? - I just want to carry on the success this area had in the last couple months. Success breeds success, and I don't want that success to fall through. I also want to really work well with the members - I've heard they are just amazing here. I'm super excited.

4.  Will you have special Zone Leader coferences, so you still will get to see the President? - Yes! We will have our first, in fact, on Friday! We have Zone Leader Council twice a transfer in addition to leadership training, zone conferences, and specialized training, so we'll have plenty of meetings to attend haha!

5.  Can u tell us about Brno?  What is your apartment like?   How large is the branch?  Do you have some investigators to "inherit"? - Well, I'll just answer these questions for Brno! Brno is the second biggest city in the Czech Republic, so it is quite large. It has MANY náměstí, and lots of great places to go contacting! Our apartment is crazy - it's literally a piece of history. We live in the apartment below the Vojkůvkovi, who were the family that basically kept the church alive during communism and hosted the famous yoga classes where they discussed the church. In our apartment, they used to hold church meetings during those times. How amazing is that? So from a historical side, the apartment is awesome, and it is quite big, as well. Unfortunately, because it is so old, it's kind of fallen into disrepair at times. But Elder Buhler and I are going to give it a nice deep clean and that'll help a lot. The branch is also the second largest (90 or so people go to sacrament meeting every week), which will give us lots of awesome opportunities to work with members here. Awesome! We also do have some investigators that Elder Coleman and Buhler were working with, and I'm excited to meet them.

6. How did your turnover go with Elder Sewell?  I assume Elder Gleue is the DL for this transfer, right? - The turnover went well, Elder Sewell I think was a little overwhelmed with all the responsibilities, just as I was, but I assured him he could call me any time (and he assured me he would haha!). And yes, Elder Gleue is District Leader in Prague this transfer.

So yes! Here I am Brno! It's so exciting and so new, and I'm looking forward to a fantastic transfer. I love you all so much  and pray for you often. I know that this Gospel is true and am SO grateful for it!

S láskou,

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