Merry Christmas!!!

Wow, Zlín is on fire with missionary work!  We have 4 people preparing for baptism.  Let me tell you about them.

 

Alena is in her 60's.  This last week, we went to go and find some people we first met a month or so ago and we decided to visit this investigator too.  I have talked about her in the past.  She hasn't had time to meet with us, so we haven't, but we are again now.  We knocked on her door and she opened the door and mentioned how it sounded like our knock on the door.  She invited us in and we had a great lesson.  A couple days later, we came back to a scheduled visit and taught her.  We invited her to baptism and she is happy to prepare for it.  She really feels the comfort in the message of Jesus Christ.

 

Dana is one we met last week.  We met her on the streets and told her all the blessings of the gospel.  She replied by saying "What should I do?"  We suggested that she meet with us.  A few days later, we met with her, invited her to baptism, gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read everyday to prepare for baptism.  4 days later, last Monday evening, we called her to see how everything is going, including the reading.  She told us that she already read the Book of Mormon.  If you don't believe what you are reading, read it again.  Now to make things even more unbelievable, two days later we called again and she said she has 6 more pages before she finishes it again.  I know there are people spiritually parched and thirsting for the gospel.

 

Ludwig is a man we met last week as well.  In our lesson, he committed to prepare for baptism too.  He told us that he wants to become a better husband, father, and person in general.  We promised him he can become like that and like our Savior.  He is a great man.  He may invite his family to be taught too!

 

Bědřích is the mentally handicapped man about 45 yeas old.  We have been meeting with him for a couple weeks and he enjoys our visits.  He is full of the light of Christ.  All handicapped people I know, including my brother, have a very spiritual feel about them.  That is the light of Christ that has been given to every person.

 

These people are doing great and desire to come unto Christ.  I love them like family.

 

We had church yesterday and met with the branch president and he is just fired up about missionary work  and wants to help us in any way possible.  He expresses his love and excitement for having us here.  He is the best branch president I know.

 

This last week we had an amazing mission conference.  We went in on Friday to Prague.  Our mission Christmas conference lasted about half the day.  We got to see every missionary in the mission.  He truly have the best.  Our conference started out by having a talent show.  Missionaries shared skits, sang, played musical instruments, etc.  I did magic.  I did a prediction routine.  It was a hit.  :)  After the talent show, we had a nice Christmas dinner!  It was scalloped potatoes, salad, ham, and A&W Root Beer!  It was delicious.  We then proceeded to have a nice Christmas devotional.  Scriptures were read and songs were sang.  The spirit of Christmas was strong.  We then went back to our cities.  It was very nice.

 

My mission is meaning more and more to me every day.  I am grateful for my parents who have raised me to be a good boy, I am thankful for those who helped be grow to who I am today, I am thankful for this decision I have made and that I am in this church and was raised in it so I can come out here and do this!  This work is beautiful and I get to be backstage to God's show, His work and His glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.  I am thankful for this Christmas season to remember Christ and His atoning sacrifice and His life he lived and gave for us.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Elder Bahr

 

"Replace Fear with Faith!"  :)

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Christmas Around the Corner!

The Christmas holidays are quickly approaching.  The Naměstí (town square) is already filled with little tents selling all sorts of Christmas things.  Today I noticed a tank of water and decided to look in it.  There were a bunch of Carp.  Czechs eat Carp on the holidays.  I am not sure of the tradition behind it, but I will be excited for it.  We already have a family that invited us over for Christmas dinner.

 

Lastnight we had a Christmas concert in Uherské Hradiště.  My companion and I were invited to sing in it.  The concert was well planned.  We sang some english songs, Czech songs, and a latin song.  The group I was also invited to sing in that is made up of missionaries had a small part in the concert.  "We sang Joy to the World".  At the end everyone was invited to sing along to a Czech song "Narodil se Kristus Pan".  It was a great concert and I am glad I have been blessed with a talent to sing.

 

This week has been fun.  We met a bunch of people on the streets, whom we will meet with soon.  We met a girl named Dana last Tuesday.  We had a first lesson with her this last Thursday.  She already has a date for baptism.  She is excited to meet with us and continue to learn and feel Christ's healing powers in her life that comes with this restored message.  Our other investigatir Zbyšek is starting to receive an answer about the truthfulness of this message.  Bědřích enjoys meeting with us, but has not had time lately.  We will continue to work with him.  Eva the newest member is planning a mission!  She is going to wait till school allows, which will be toward the middle or end of 2014.  She is a little nervous about it, but she is quickly replacing fear with faith.  I am excited for her.  She has a great testimony.

 

Zlín is blossoming with the gospel.  Just yesterday at church we told the branch president, President Večeřa, about the people we were teaching and how they are progressing and he just about lost it with how happy he was.  We are excited to see what we can do and for the approaching miracles.

 

This point in my mission has really opened my eyes on this, the Lord's work and on myself.  This work is the best work one can do.  It helps people and brings eternal joy to everyone that allows it.  Around this time of year, you can experience this joy by sharing this message of Christ with people.  Remember to keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas; it is not about gifts, candy, who makes the best Christmas dinner.  It is a time to be together as a family and remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Make this Christmas the best one ever and love everyone, spend quality time together, and focus on the purpose of Christmas.  Merry Christmas everyone.

 

Elder Bahr

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I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE MY MISSION!!!!!!!

To start off, let me explain the heading of the letter this week.  When I was at home before my mission, I did mini missions.  When I did them, I LOVED THEM!!!  There was a certain feel to it.  It was full of excitement, fun, and the spirit.  There is a missionary that I served with on the mission that especially pumped me up for the mission.  His name was Elder Draper.  He is where I got the famous quote "Replace Fear with Faith!"  He showed me how to work hard and just have fun with the mission.  Since I have been here on my full-time mission, I have felt a void.  My mission just felt like "Missionary Work".  I have not been able to figure out what was missing until just recently.  We as missionaries have what is called an exchange.  We spend a day with another missionary, usually a leader.  This last week, I was on an exchange with a zone leader named Elder Medonich while my companion (the district leader) was on an exchange with the other zone leader.  I thank Elder Medonich so much.  Before I started the exchange, I had a goal to find out what was missing in my mission.  As I went through the exchange, I found it!!!  I needed to have fun with my mission!  Elder Medonich is a hard worker and has fun at the same time.  He reminds me of Elder Draper.  He teaches so powerfully and with conviction and heart, and at the same time he acts himself and easily finds joy in everything.  I can not explain how I would like to so I hope you can understand.  He also taught me how to be more personable with people.  It is hard to express your true self while using another language.  He taught me how to be bold.  His idol is Elder Holland of the twelve apostles and he takes on his characteristics.  On this exchange, I learned how to rekindle the feelings I had when I served with Elder Draper as a mini missionary.  I feel the void being filled now.  I am grateful for the inspired leaders that God calls to direct the work and help each other.

 

That is mainly what I wanted to share.  Here are a few more things I did this week.

 

Monday:  Finished preparation day at home writing letters.

Tuesday:  We had a lesson on plan with someone and later in the day we had some on plan, but had to cancel.  That evening, we travelled to Brno to stay with some missionaries so we wouldn§t have to travel so early for the next day.

Wednesday:  We travelled to Prague to practice singing.  President Irwin chose a handful of Elders to participate in a small choir that is to travel around the Czech Republic to visit church branches.  I had so much joy singing.  I love to sing, especially in choirs.  I can not explain how happy I was to do some nice singing.  We stayed the night there.

Thursday:  I got to help the office Elders make the Christmas Mission slideshow while my companion went to a new district leader training.  Then we had some time before our train came and we sang with the Prague missionaries in a singing display.  We sang Christmas songs.  This day and the day before were great because I got to use my talents that I studied in school; singing and film editing.  Then we travelled home.

Friday:  District meeting and then we started our exchange with the zone leaders.

Saturday:  Finished the exchange and started my new look on missionary work!!  I am excited.

Sunday:  Church.

 

I know this church is true.  I am thankful to serve the Lord and the people in the Czech Republic.  I am thankful for my mission.  I love it.  I am thankful for all the wonderful missionaries who serve and especially those in this great country.  This gospel is true and everyone needs it!  Take it to someone this special time of the year!  Have a great week everyone!

 

Elder Bahr

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Work is Hard, Spirits High!

This week we have had investigators drop like flies.  We lost three of our best.  Due to no time, no interest, and boyfriends forbidding it.  That however does not snuff the flame inside me to do God's work.  Though we may have lost some people, we have had some great contacts on the street with people.  We have talked with all kinds of people this week.  Extreme athiests, to firm catholics.  Some people have interest and some do.  Either way I have felt the spirit working though me very strongly to help the people here in the Czech Republic.

One lady, we were walking home from church yesterday and she was old and couldn't make it up the stairs.  We helped her and she kept thanking God for sending us to help her.  I was reminded of some memories back home how I used to help the older people in our ward.  I feel a connection to older people.  This lady was nice and we have a lesson with her tonight.

We had a great lesson with Zbyšek this week.  He is closer to baptism and understands even better the Book of Mormon and why we have it.

Ondra is moving along great.  We really gained trust in this last lesson by following the spirit and teaching to his needs.  We attended a Young Single Adult activity this last week as well.

Not much else I can recall now.  This week just has been good though and I am happy to be here.  When times get hard, replace fear with faith and follow Christ even more and he will lead you to the light and joy.  I know this church is true and has been restored by Joseph Smith.  Christ is at the head of this church and reaches out to all.

Have a good week everyone.  With love from the Czech Republic, Elder Bahr

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Slooow Week, But Enjoyable.

This week was super slow.  However, I learned a lot and enjoyed it.  My companion has settled in and coming to know Zlín more and more everyday.  My companion now, Elder Stradling is a VERY HARD worker.  He takes literally EVERY opportunity.  Here is a nice little story about him.  So in all my companionships, I try to serve my companion as much as I can.  One other thing I do is tell him that he is the best and if he says no, I argue the point why.  We had a lesson the other day with an investigator and the branch president, President Večeřa.  After the lesson as we left I told President Večeřa that he is lucky because he has the best missionary in the mission here (speaking of Elder Stradling) and President said "I could tell that when I was speaking on the phone with him yesterday."  Truly Elder Stradling speaks from his heart.  Every word.  Even funnier part of the story, in church yesterday, President announced the new missionary in Zlín and went on to say "I recently heard somewhere that we have the best missionary in the mission among us.  He really knows how to love people, from my own experience teaching with him.  And I am sure you will all feel his love."  Now the branch knows he is the best.  ;)  I am thankful for being able to serve with him.

 

Well, also this week we had a lesson with a new investigator who has some mental disabilities.  His name is Bědřich.  I am thankful for my own brother Adam who has disabilities and that I can understand these blessed people.  This investigator is a happy loving person.  He will be able to understand the gospel with time, so we will continue working with him.

 

We had Thanksgiving here.  We went to the home of Elder and Sister Scott, the senior couple.  They cooked a great meal and we enjoyed our time. Afterward, we had district meeting.

 

Last story for this week.  I heard that Ivo, the newest member in Brno (I taught and baptised him)  went to the temple and just this last Sunday he passed the sacrament!!!!  I am proud of him.  I feel like his Father, he is like my child.  He is growing up so fast!

 

I am thankful for the things I have experienced on my mission that make me happy, make other people happier, help me turn into a true desciple of Christ, and brings me closer to Christ and my Father in Heaven.  It is strange to think it is already half over, but exciting to know I still have half of this mission in front of me.  For everyone reading this - If you can, prepare to and serve a mission.  For those who can not, share the gospel with those you can.  Who can say no to some of the greatest blessings on earth?

 

Replacing fear with faith and have a good week.

 

Elder Bahr

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Transfer Week

I do not have much time today for a letter, but things are going well.  We had transfers and I am still serving in Zlín.  I will be with Elder Stradling.  He is from Arizona.  We served around eachother in Brno.

Alena, one of our investigators is doing well.  We recently taught the plan of salvation.

Ludmila has been difficult to meet with.

We are having trouble finding new investigators, but we are having some great moments with people we have been meeting everywhere.  One lady on the street asked us to pray for her grandson who is getting into bad things.  I have been praying to find him someday and teach him.  This gospel is a happy thing and can lift someone out of the darkest pits.  I am thankful I have grown up in the gospel and have wonderful parents who raised me in it and taught me true things that make me truly happy.  There is nothing to fear in this church and this gospel.  So replace fear with faith  and embrace the gospel.  Sorry it is not a very detailed letter.  More next week.  I love you all.

 

Elder Bahr

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One Year Out.

A year on my mission has come and gone.  It is crazy how time goes by so fast.  It feels like the other day I was in the MTC or even going around to JCPenny and Macy's for clothes and supplies.  The winter in coming in, so these clothes I bought are coming in handy.  It snowed last week and hasn't since, but has been cold and rained a couple times.

 

Not much has happened this week.  Our investigators have not been able to meet for a few reasons, but we should be meeting again here pretty soon.  Anyway though, here is a quick rundown of what happened this week:

 

Monday:  Because it is P-Day, we got our weekly groceries, emailed, and then went to the Zlín Zoo with the Sisters from Uherské Hradiště!  It is voted the best in the Czech Republic.  There were a lot of animals and if you know me, I was mimicking all the animals' sounds.  I tried to share the gospel with the sea lions, but one just came out and yelled at me.  I tried with the elephants and one stuck it's trunk out asking for a Book of Mormon, I didn't have one though.  The sloths ignored me.  The hyenas laughed at me.  But the monkeys were fascinated by the message.  It was a nice little trip.  We came back and had a little bit of time left before we were supposed to work, so we went to the elevators at the "21 Building".  The elevators have no doors and don't stop, but this time they did.  So we got stuck in them for 10 minutes. Then we went back down and at 6pm started working again.  We had a lesson with Ludmila.  She is one of our investigators who knows nothing about the Bible, religion, or anything.  She enjoys our lessons.  We have another lesson with her today.

 

Tuesday:  We taught a less active member after hepling her clean the building.  We watched Elder Uchtdorf's 'Forget-Me-Not' talk.  Then we went to meet with some other less active members, but they weren't there when we arrived, so we came back and had English class.  We have now 3 new students!  Any other time, we went outside to talk with people.

 

Wednesday:  We had language study as a district then did a finding exchange on the square in Uherské Hradiště.  We have another one this week.  We came back and had a lesson with a new member, Eva.  She is a great new member and is thinking about serving a mission!  Then we finished up the day with some tracting in and area of Zlín we call Zalešna.

 

Thursday:  We had a training in Olomouc.  We woke up at 5am and left.  The training was good.  We learned some more acute points of the work that day.  I then had an exchange with the zone leaders.  I served in Olomouc for a day with Elder Gleue.  We had a lesson that night and had dinner with the other missionaries in Olomouc.

 

Friday:  We continued the exchange with a few lessons.  Then went to visit a member who had a birthday.  His wife made us lunch and we shared a spiritual thought with him and left.  Then we drove back to just outside of Zlín.  Right when we got back my companion, Elder Odell, and I taught the branch president and his family.  Then we travelled home to Zlín.

 

Saturday:  We had a good amount of lessons on plan, but most fell through.  We went to find less actives instead.  We found one, then had to go home for weekly planning.

 

Sunday:  We had a conference with Slovakia branches and half of the Czech branches.  The conference was a great time to learn more, grow spiritually, support and sustain leaders, and see some of the members we used to serve.  I saw some members from Brno and also from Ostrava.  It has been a while since then.  I also got to see Ivo.  He is doing well and continues to grow in the gospel.  The speakers at the conference were our mission president, and the member of the 70 in our area.  He and his wife spoke.  They are from Germany, so I got to practice my German.  My Czech is much better though, so for now, I will stick to Czech.  After the conference, we had NO time to chat with people, so we ran out there to catch our train to get to our lesson.  We showed up and our investigators were not there.  So we went home to do our studies for the day.

 

Nice week, not too many lessons.  I am thankful for all the things I do as a missionary like teaching, strengthening members, etc.  I know this is the Lords work and have a testimony that this gospel is true.  Have a great week everyone and replace fear with faith.

 

Elder Bahr

Happy Work This Is

I am greatful for the gospel.  I am thankful for the change it can make in people and for the smiles it brings to people's faces.  We have some great investigators that we are able to teach.  They are great people.

 

One is this lady names Alena.  She is 59 and takes care of her mother who stays in bed all day.  Our first lesson, if you remember from previous letters, she brought out a table, chairs, and tea for us.  The second lesson, some chairs and a table with a table cloth was already our before we got there with tea, and she made some nice warm apple strudle.  This last lesson we had on Friday, she invited us in because it was raining, made a bunt cake ("Buchta" in Czech), made us some tea, and gave us some fresh raspberry jam to take home.  She is such a sweet lady and when we teach her, she feels the spirit and enjoys every minute of it.

Also that day, we had a lesson with Dana and Sister Večeřová taught with us.  Her testimony is great for Dana.  We enjoy teaching with her.  Dana is learning slowly, but gladly meets with us.

That day we had a couple other lessons, but another point I would like to touch up on is how much success we had as we did what the Lord wants.  We planned to tract in this area Zalešna where we had found our other investigators and it was raining.  We got the courage and marched out in the cold rain and went to work.  Among all those who were rude, slammed their doors, ignored us, etc.; we found 6 other people, who told us to come back.  In all this experiences, we felt the spirit of the Lord work through us.  It is my testimony that as we do that which the Lord expects of us, we are blessed and edified.  We will bless those around us as we find true happiness.  After our great contacting, we had a lesson all the way on the other side of Zlín.  We would have been late, but we caught a bus, got of, caught another bus who didn't have any more tickets left so he just told us to get on (we payed him anyway), and made it to our appointment.  Everything worked out great.  The Lord  provides a way for us to do all he asks.  Remember that.  Like me I replace the fear of rain with faith to find and was blessed.  As we raplace fear with faith, we will be prepare a way.

 

That is really all I have today to tell.  This week has just been good.  Yes, it went by too fast like always... but it was good.  Here in a few days I will have been a missionary for one year!  Time sure does fly.  Take care everyone and do a good deed in the community.

 

-Elder Bahr

It is Definitely Autumn!

I  say it is autumn because it is just beautiful here in the Czech Republic in the fall.  All of God's beautiful creations are everywhere, in the air, the trees, on the mountains, etc.  There are so many colors of leaves and with the touch of snow on yellow maple leaves in the trees is, well, just great.  Yes, it has started to snow here.  We have been hovering in the 32-38 degree Fahrenheit range this week.  A couple days we woke up with snow and as I write, it is still snowing.  Time to break out the winter sweaters, coats, gloves, and hats!

 

This was a nice week, not as filled with new investigators or lessons, but a great week of growth and missionary work, and fun.  I would like to share just a few things today.

 

So, Monday (last), we planned on going to the zoo which is the best in the Czech Republic.  Our district got all together and started to head over there when we realized we didn't have enough time to go.  So instead, we went to take out last opportunity to find mushrooms in the nearby forests before freezing temperatures destroyed all the mushrooms.  We found a few, but not any that were edible.  I only know of two kinds:  In Czech they are a Babka and Pichavka.  They smell really good, but we didn't find any.  It was too late into autumn.

 

During the rest of the week, we had a few lessons.  One lesson we had a lesson with Dana.  She is doing great.  We taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ - the steps we take to follow Christ and come closer to God. (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end).  The lesson went very well.  Our member Sister Večeřová gave strong testimony about the gospel blessing her life.

 

This may be a small branch, but there are some strong testimonies!

 

We also had zone conference.  Out of our MTC group, all the Slokav missionaries were there, and I was.  All the other Czechs in my group were in different zones, therefore different conferences.  None the less, it was a great "reunion" and the training was great.  All trainings are great.  They are good times to refocus and polish our missionary skills!

 

Other good news:

Ivo, the new convert in Brno that I taught with Elder Strobl, got the priesthood!  He is progressing like a champ in the gospel.  I am proud of him and am excited for the waiting blessings to unfold to him.  A member named Gad Vojkuvka, who kept the church alive during communism, gave him the priesthood.  His blessing, as I was told was beautiful.

Also, I found out last night that in a small city called Lišeň, just outside of Brno, lives a man that we gave a contact card a few months ago.  Yesterday, this man came to church in Brno and the missionaries are now teaching him.  It is a testimony to me that NO EFFORT is wasted!  Even giving someone a missionaries' contact card can open doors to people lost in this world to learning and coming to know God.

 

In church I got to share my talents and play the organ for sacrament meeting again.  Us missionaries also had talks in church.  We spoke about true conversion and how we can become more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If I had more time to talk about it, I would, but I don't.

 

I am very grateful that I can be here and serve God.  It is not work, it is a blessing that I gladly take part in.  It is a blessing for me and for others.  I know that this gospel is true and provides eternal lasting happiness.  I know that as we share the gospel and replace that fear we may have with faith, we grow in testimony and learn how to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.  I challenge all who read this: Members of this church - get a missionary contact card from the missionaries next time you see them, and carry it with you this week until you find someone to give it to.  Find an opportunity in an unlikely place like at work, at school, at the store, or on a morning walk and give the card to someone.  NO EFFORT is wasted.  Non-Members - Go to Mormon.org to find contact information.  Either way, I promise thatyou will have joy that you have never experienced before as you share with people or learn for yourself of this message.

 

Everyone have a good week,

I love you all,

Elder Bahr

Další Dobrý Týden!

The caption means "Another Good Week"  I didn't want it to be the regular caption.  But as it says there, we had a great week.  We visited many recent converts and less active members to help strengthen their testimonies.  :)  We also got some more new investigators!  This deal with going door to door really has been paying off.  We planned at the beginning of the transfer to tract this area till it was finished, if we had time to go finding.  God has been preparing some great people for us.  We have been blessed.  The new investigators we have are a lady named Ludmila and another one named Kouřilová (last name).  They are great.  Kouřilová is the one we met while finding a less active and we scheduled then with her to meet a yesterday.  The lesson went well.  Ludmila was met tracting andwe had a lesson with her on her door step and we are excited to have another lesson with her today!  We will be giving her a Book of Mormon and teaching about the restoration through Joseph Smith.

 

Though I have only a little bit to write, it was a great week in my book being able to teach some new people and help them come unto Christ.  Not too much else happened this week.  We have continued with our other investigators like Dana, and she is doing well.  And we have been just enjoying this work.  Oh, I also got to play the organ for church again this week.  I am thankful I have been blessed with talents and can use them and share them with people.

 

Take care this week everyone and don't forget the famous phrase: Replace Fear with Faith!

 

-Elder Bahr

Amazing Week!

It may not seem like too amazing of a week, after you read this, but it was.  It would make more sense to missionaries and even more sense to missionaries of the Czech/Slovak Mission.  None the less, I hope you will feel the same excitement that I have.

So, to just dive into it, this week we found some great new people and had conference!  Conference was this week here, to get it translated and sent to us.  We missionaries still watch it in English though.  That is what I would prefer anyway to get the most of conference as I can.  I loved the talks.  They were great for me because I could ponder about my own life.  They were inspired for sure.
Now to the new people we found.  This week, we found a few new people to teach.  They are all great and willing to learn.  First is a woman named Alena.  We were tracting the other day and planned an area called Zalešná (Zah-lesh-na) to tract.  On the way there we saw a small, seemingly insignificant street.  My companion mentioned it and I said "It's a sign!!!!", so we decided to try there.  We went down it and got to a house, rang the doorbell, and this lady answered.  We spoke for a moment then she asked if she could get us some tea.  We accepted politely.  She came out a few minutes later with a table, some chairs, tea, and cookies.  We sat on her front porch while we enjoyed her hospitality and taught her.  We have another lesson this week and she told us she would love to read the Book of Mormon!  She has a daughter that she said she would like us to meet too.  She studies in Olomouc, so the missionaries there, may get a nice person to teach.  It was a great evening to find her.
The next one is a man that we found and asked to sit with him on his porch and talk with him.  So we did and taught him right there.  A couple days later, we came back and gave him a Book of Mormon and him and his wife said they would love to read it.
The last one was when we went to find a less active member.  We met a lady out side before talking with the member.  We spoke with her for some time and asked to meet with her and she accepted happily.  In our conversation, she said she was and evangelist, but still didn't know which church was true.  We talked with her a bit more, set up our meeting, and went to find the member.  The member wasn't home, but his mother was, who isn't a member.  We talked with her and got a lesson with her!

We have been blessed this week, and I know it was due to obedience to commandments, mission commandments in specific.  I know as we replace fear with faith and do what we know we should, we will find miracles in life and be blessed.  Do what you should and you will be blessed.

Until next week,
Elder Bahr

I Love Serving Others!

The title of this letter is like this for a great reason regarding apples which I will speak of shortly.

 

It is just cold here.  It isn't bad already, but thinking about how cold it is and the fact that it will get twice as cold here, just chills me. Brrrrrr.  Like I said, it isn't too cold yet, but I am still having to break out the jackets!

 

I had a nice week this week.  We didn't teach too many lessons, but we did got a nice dose of good ol' service.  Just to say a few things before we get into what we did this week as far as service; We had a great lesson with a recent convert.  She explained that people at school were asking ""Why do you go to that sect of yours?""  She didn't know how to answer, so we told her to handle it with the best weapon in the army of God.  TESTIMONY!!!!  We helped her understand how to share what she knows is true with people then we practiced.  It was a fun little reenactment.  She is a great member and knows that she is in the right place.  :)

 

This week I got to play the piano in sacrament meeting too!  It was fun and I made a couple mistakes in the hymns as I played them, but I am happy for the opportunity I had to share my talents.  God has truly blessed me.

 

A good "Side-dish" of being on a mission here is learning history from the witnesses of the history and people who experienced things first hand, instead of learning from a text book. 

 

So now on to the service experiences.  We planned to have a FULL day of finding people on Saturday and we got a call right after studies before we went out to work.  A member here has a garden just outside of town with LOADS of apples.  She asked us to help her.  We said "We would love to!"  And we loved it.  We spent 6 hours shaking trees, climbing trees, bagging apples, etc. so that the next day's storm would not ruin all of her apples.  There were literally thousands.  It was a ton of work.  She was so thankful that she just kept giving us more and more of her apples.  Our counters at home are now covered in apples.  She is a great member and I am glad we could help her out.  That evening, we also had on plan to clean the church building, so we did.  It was pretty much a full day of service.  Other than that, we called some people and tried to set up meetings for this next week.

 

Another service story comes in the form of "Lost and Found."  We were running Saturday morning and we found a wallet on the ground.  It had 2000 Czech Koruna in it (about $100).  We looked for an address in the wallet and found the address.  He wasn't home though, so we left a note.  This morning, he called us and we met and gave it to him.  It was also a great chance to share the gospel.  He didn't have time, so we couldn't share the gospel through words, but through our actions.  Lessson learned from this story is to always do what is right and the love of God can be shared through that to people.

 

When a decision is placed before you, replace fear with faith and do what is right.  That is all I got this week.  Stand up for what you believe.

 

Have a great week,

Elder Bahr

October already and Autumn is showing itself!

The leaves are changing and it is beautiful.  It is nice to be in a nice valley where the hills change color as well.

 

First, I had a great birthday.  My parents sent me some nice things and my twin sister sent me a rarity in the Czech Republic.  Cocoa powder.  I was able to make my companion and I a nice chocolate cake.  Thanks family.  It was a nice memorable birthday in a foreign land.  Oh, my mission president also called me yesterday morning and sang to me.  :)  That was a nice treat.

 

Now that that is out of the way, I need to tell you about some things that happened this week.  We had our zone conference.  We learned about how we can teach people more like the Savior.  To teach with more questions.  As our example Jesus Christ has used this spiritual gift of teaching by asking questions, we can follow him and when people ask us about our religion, we can answer with an inspired question to create an inner soul search in the person being taught.  That is the main thing I learned, now that I look back.

 

Also We had some great teaching moments with people.  I have learned how it is important to be yourself when talking to people.  They will feel your testimony as you bear your own testimony and show your own concern for your brothers and sisters.

 

In one of these occasions I learned a great point.  It is about making mistakes.  When I was younger, my third oldest sister and I got some advent calendars from my dad's friend.  There were enough for me, this sister, and my twin.  When we got them, we decided to eat the advent calendar chocolates that belonged to my twin sister.  We ate them, not thinking that it would cause any harm.  Later my my twin sister came home and my dad said "Casey, there is an advent calendar on your bed for you!"  My sister and I got nervous.  Long story - short, we got in trouble.  We felt horrible for doing it and even to this day, I feel heart-broken about it.  Many times in life, we do things that we don't bother thinking about the consequences.  The thing, is that in the life after this one, after we die and see all we have done.  We will stand before God and realize what we had done against him.  I pray that we will all learn to do what is right now and live without regrets and live how our Father in Heaven would like us to live.

 

"Choose The Right" and replace fear with faith this week.  We will be filled with joy as we do so.

 

-Elder Bahr

Baptism Pictures!

Ivo's Baptism!!!  22.9.2012

Baptism This Week!!!!!

First and most exciting piece of news was that an investigator I taught last transfer just got baptised!  Ivo got baptised last Saturday.  We travelled down to Brno for the baptism.  The baptism was great.  We had a member there sing a song.  It was a solo.  Then there were a couple talks about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.  They were good talks and Ivo seemed to love them.  Then we had the baptism.  I had the honor of baptising him.  It was an experience to remember.  Afterward, the branch president spoke and then Ivo got up and told his conversion story.  He has such a strong testimony now and I know he will be a great addition to the Brno branch.  I am proud of him.

 

Next, I was in Prague yesterday to finish up some visa things.  We were there all day.  I was one of the first of the missionaries there to get done with it.  Me and a couple sisters and another Elder were waiting outside for the others to finish, when an older man came up and tried to sell us some phone plan and we declinded because we already had a phone plan, but anyway, Sister Jorgenson, being who she was started to talk to the man about our church.  She talks with EVERYONE, in EVERY situation.  Great example.... but we all said a little bit about our message, us 4 missionaries, and got his address (he lives in a missionary-less city) to give him a Book of Mormon.  He left and thanked us, then about 15 minutes later came back and gave us all a peach.  We went to the store and bought some, then geve them to us as gifts.  He was a nice man and I can't wait to hear about his experiences he will have with the Book of Mormon.

 

Also this week, I have been reading some things in the book Jesus the Christ, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone who hasn't read it, but I have ben reading from it and other books and I KNOW without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and that God and Christ live.  I wish I could yell this at the top of my lungs through the computer, but just these simple words will have to do.  I know this church is true and everything about it.  Christ is our Savior and God is our Father in Heaven. Reader, If you don't know it for yourself - Read the Book of Mormon and PRAY about it!  Do not hesitate!  Time is getting short.  If you don't know if you want to or not, just replace fear with faith, and try it.  You will feel peace and more joy in lfe.  I promise.

 

I have no more time to write today, but know this:  I love the gospel and this missionary work.  I love my Savior Jesus Christ and know he lives.  I am thankful for this 2 year opportunity I have to share this wonderful blessing.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I have been blessed beyond measure.

 

Have a great week everyone.

Elder Bahr

Early Exchanges!

Transfers were a surprise!  We got calls on Saturday night rather than the normal Monday. No new missionaries are coming in, that's why.  So.  I am in a new city!  I really enjoyed Brno, andI am thankful for the blessings I had to meet people and help people there.  Now I am serving in a small city a couple hours away called Zlín.  Pronouce: "Zleeen"  I am serving with Elder Odell.  He is from Georgia.  He has been out here a little more than a year.  He is two MTC groups earlier than me.  75,000 people live in the small city of Zlín.  I am used to the 2nd and 3rd largest cities with 300,000 people, so this will be a little different.  In the branch here, there are about 20 people.  It is small.  :)  Time to put my extra game face on.  Let's build up the branch!

 

This past week has been a good week.  He missed some lessons with Ivo, because he was out of town, so we had some good time to find more to teach.  Ivo still has his baptism this Saturday and he asked me to baptize him.  I will be coming back to Brno to Saturday, then next Monday I also am going to Prague for more visa work!  I just got to my new area.  :)  Wow.  I like to travel though, so all is well.  Also this week, we met with Aladar and he brought his cousin to the lesson.  His name is František.  At church this week, they also came and introduced themselves and told people "I have found a place for me."  I know this church is true.

 

We also had a member from Brno leave on his mission.   His name is Zdeněk.  His brother served in Scotland and he is serving in Leeds, England.  This church is growing here.

 

Something cool I learned last week was about our Heavenly Father.  He doesn't control our future and know it because he set our fate for us.  He just knows us so well.  For the eternities in our pre-earth life, he gave very close observation to us, by spending time with us, and therefore knows us so well, he know what the outcome of our actions are.

 

I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and my Father and Mother back home in America.  I love my family and am excited to spend eternity with them. I know this church is true and we can come closer to our Father in Heaven through scripture study and sincere prayer.

 

I realized last week, I forgot a phrase that I say in all my emails, but you probably can think of it now already.  Anyway, here it is for last week and this:  "Replace Fear with Faith."  Take care this week.  To my family, friends, home ward, and any other reader out there.  I love you all and pray for the Lord's blessings on you.

 

Elder Bahr

Nice Short E-Mails Now, But Big Stories.

I am not able to write as detailed letters now because some mission rules have been explained better.  I must obey if I want blessings.  It will also help to only write about important things.  So here they are.  I hope you enjoy.

We have had some amazing lessons with Ivo.  He is progressing toward baptism on the 22nd.  We have taught him everything, now just strengthening his testimony in these things.  Right now we are talking with him about the baptism interview questions.  They are some powerful lessons and I always look forward to lessons with him.

We had some great lessons with some members and helped them do their missionary duty.  They will be helping activate less active members.  As we taught them, I felt at home because I could feel their love.  The members we taught this week are the Zikmundovi and Sister Marečková.  Sister Marečková is the one who knighted us at the castle last transfer.  She also, at our meeting with her, taught us how to make Smažený Sýr (fried cheese.)  Members here in Brno are the best.

Yesterday I was in Prague for visa work and on the train there, we met and Austrailian girl and a German lady in our same room on the train.  I was able to speak german for 3 hours!!!!  We spoke about everything.  We also gave the Austrailian a Book of Mormon.  She is in Europe travelling.

We also used a new idea.  He went on the main square and brought around pictures from the Book of Mormon.  Most people had no interest unless I approached them with the picture of Christ in the Americas.

I must go now.  I am thankful for this mission opportunity and love you all.  Take care.

Elder Bahr

A Lot of Finding This Week

Each week these last few weeks have been tougher and tougher to reach goals we have set.  It is good work though.  It has also been warm here too, which makes it harder to stay willing and focused to work all day outside.  I can't wait so on the week.  I will try to write a little shorter than last week because the last one was long.  Here it is.  J

27.8.12

                Today was P-Day.  We had the normal routine of studies and shopping and email; which was nice to hear from my family, they always have good stories and things to tell me.  I love my family.  Then we went to FHE.  The dinner was make-your-own sandwich.  We then had a lesson by Bara a single adult.  She had a great FHE lesson.  It was on friendships.  That was really all today.

28.8.12

                District meeting was very good.  We talked and learned about how to begin teaching someone the restored gospel.  Something that really sounded great was what Sister Martin (senior couple) said; "Their heart knows why they are there.  Help them understand it in their mind as well."  Many people who meet with us feel something good, but then put worldly logic to it and loose interest.  If you just think about it, God does exist, and when he exists – all else is true about him.  After our district meeting, we had a power finding exchange.  If you are wondering what a power finding exchange is, look back in my letters a couple weeks and read about it.  J  During the exchange which was with the district leader and his companion we got the contact information from a priest who is interested in the Book of Mormon.  We had a good time during the finding exchange then went to English.  English class went well as normal.  After English, we had dinner at a curry place near the square.  The owners and workers were all from Nepal.  They all were very nice and very interested in who we were.  After we had dinner, we had to rush home to not be late.

 

29.8.12

                We had a nice district lunch.  It was the sisters' turn to pick and they heard about the curry place, where we went the night before, and decided to have it be the district lunch.  We then went singing on the square.  It went well.  We had later that evening a couple lessons, so we left after the singing display to get to them.  We waited at the building for one and then he didn't show up, so we went around the building to try to give tours of our building.  While we walked around, he snuck up behind us and so we went to the building and talked about the Book of Mormon.  We also had a lesson with Ivo about tithing and at first, he wasn't quite sure about it, but now he feels good about it.  Toward the end, well at the end, he said quickly "LET'S PRAY!"  He had to catch his train, so we prayed and ran.  We finished up the evening with a nice lesson with Anna.  The last lesson, we had on plan to watch the Joseph Smith film, but couldn't.  This time, we did and the lesson was a good one.  She said that the video answered many of her questions.  She is a very humble woman.  Lastly… interesting thing of the day: We saw a car with a California license plate driving around!!!  It had no other plates, so it was a California car.  It must have cost a lot to send it.

                Well, maybe not lastly… we were one the square earlier today as well and I saw someone we met last transfer!  It was André from Portugal.  He had gone to a few activities and then had to go back to his country.  He gave us his contact information to give to missionaries there and when we talked to him today, he said that he got a Book of Mormon!  It is great how the church is organized.

30.8.12

                We found out today that our investigator Anna is leaving for a bit!  She said she will be back on the 20^th though, so no worries.  What else today?... We contacted on the streets almost all day!  Good thing to keep in mind during these long blocks of time is that no effort is wasted.  We had very good contacts.  We have a few new people to potentially teach.  We met all three back to back.  .  We talked with him about the plan of salvation.  Sometime, we will meet with him and tell him about how death is not the end.  We see loved ones again and can live with them forever.

31.8.12

                Today was a nice weekly plan.  We took a few hours to plan out the next week and talked about what how we can help our investigators progress in the true gospel of Christ.  ;)  We also had today a couple lessons today.  One with Ivo and a lesson with Libor. They were nice lessons.  We talked about the Book of Mormon some more with Libor and about the Holy Ghost with Ivo.  Ivo is just great.

1.9.12

                Sports day was this morning, but no one showed up.  The branch here has good testimonies.  Then something really awesome happened in priesthood.  The elders' quorum president had a really cool lesson.  It started out with him asking a couple people what our calling is as priesthood holders.  He gave us 3 minutes to find it in the scriptures.  After that, some people answered.  Then he began to explain that he had been praying for guidance for the quorum.  He told us all that as the president of the elders' quorum, he received revelation and was going to share it with us by the power of the Melchizedek priesthood.  He told us he had never received such strong revelation as he had.  What he said is simple in my words, but when he read what he wrote down, it sounded like the Lord talking directly to the Brno branch.  Simply it was about how we have a priesthood duty to open our mouths and talk to people about the gospel.  To get the whole feeling, you would have had to be there.  To me though, being a witness, will always remember the power of those words.  After church, we went to the Martins for bread bowls and soup!  It was SO good.  Especially after fasting.  The soup were a potato kind and another one was chicken gumbo.  They were very heavy soups and very filling.   After that, we went to go teach people on the street.  We met a couple people, but no one really interested.  Nothing else too much.

 

                Slow week… over the past few weeks, we have seen fewer and fewer results, but it we have been working hard.  This is difficult work, but the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, so this work must continue.  Have a great week everyone and be happy, and don't forget to replace fear with faith.

~Elder Bahr

This Week Turned Out Fine!

Above average week!  That is good.  Fun things happened.  That is good.  Missionary work is great.  That is good.  Everything… is good.  This week, we didn't hit mission standards, but we tried and trying your best is all that God asks of us.  We are happy with the results.  So here it is:

20.8.12

                P-Day is always a nice day to relax and get ready for the next week.  We did what is needed, like buying groceries, emailing home, etc., and then went to the church building to write letters.  We got there and we as a district decided to play basketball.  There is a new hoop up.  The old one was broken.  We played in our missionary clothes too.  Well, we didn't play a game; we just shot a couple hoops.  It is funny to see missionaries play basketball in missionary clothes.  After that, we went back inside and wrote more letters.  Then it was Family Home Evening.  My companion and I didn't go because we had a lesson, but it seemed like it went well.  Our lesson went well.  It was with Ivo and about the word of wisdom.  He happily accepted the invitation to keep it.  He will see blessings from it.  After our lesson, we had another one immediately.  We taught Anna.  We were going to teach in the only room in the church building that had a TV, but it was being used, so most of our lesson plan got messed up.  It was a rough lesson.  We had no meat to the lesson.  This was a great learning experience though.  From now on, I may start making back-up lesson plans.  Hopefully then, things like this won't happen again.  I think she enjoyed the lesson still though.  She enjoys meeting with us and we hear things from her that strengthen our testimonies and hers at the same time.  Lastly today, we came home.  I realized I had put a glass Kofola bottle (full of Kofola) in the freezer for lunch to make it cold faster, so I opened the fridge and there was an exploded glass bottle with frozen Kofola everywhere.  Too bad.  I just need to pay more attention.  J  Until tomorrow…

21.8.12

                I am just a happy missionary!  I liked this day.  We had an awesome lesson with Ivo.  He is just great!  Family: I wish you all could meet him.  He is about 25 and super humble.  He is progressing nicely.  He is very cool.  Our lesson today was about baptism and confirmation – receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Our member there, Vašek, said everything we asked PERFEFECTLY.  We testified very simply.  It was such a spirit filled lesson.  I felt it and our investigator felt it!  These are the lessons that make a mission what it is!  Ivo is just progressing to baptism like crazy.  He is excited for it.  That was the highlight of the day.  As for everything else today, we had English class, meals, and some contacting.  Our contacting, we went on a tram toward the Brno zoo and got off then went on a walking path that leads to a dam and reservoir.  On our way down the path, we went saw a couple people sitting at a table on the property of their cottage.  We walked past and I said the "Good day" greeting in Czech and they said it back and one of them waved and put his hand on his heart to us. We kept walking and when we reached the end of the trail, we turned around to go back to the tram and a couple minutes later, we saw these same men and they had been waiting for us to come back and talk with them.  We talked with them a little bit about why we are here.  They knew we were missionaries for Christ.  One man spoke no Czech.  He was from Iraq.  The other was Czech and spoke the other man's language, so he translated what we said.  He was so happy he met us and he asked to get a picture with us!  Like I said last week, people are out there waiting for us!  I know that as we follow the spirit, we can be led to, well… for us, to those seeking the truth.  For you, the reader, I know that as you follow the spirit, you will be put in the path that the Lord wants you to be in and you will be blessed and bless the lives of others as well.  Other than these things, we didn't do too much else; we met a French kid on the square, we helped and older Jewish couple from Israel find some tourist places, we saw a kid off of work from the place that we get ice cream at all the time, which ice cream is very good.  It is raspberry sorbet and tastes like real raspberries.  Anyway, other than these things, it was a normal, good, missionary day.  You've got to love the life of a missionary.  It is a backstage pass to God's plan and how he works miracles in peoples' lives.  It is great!

22.8.12

                We had an outstanding day.  We had a zone conference.  We talked about using members more as we help out investigators.  This is how we will see real growth in the church in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Then we had some training by the zone leaders and they talked about teaching so people want to read the Book of Mormon.  A lot of times, we say "Oh, this book helps me in life and I know it can help you too.  Can we exchange phone numbers so we can call you sometime to meet?"  Even when we think we are sharing experiences, we still have not let them experience the blessings for them self.  Now, this is what I got out of it; As missionaries are on the street and talking to people, they are more focused on getting lessons set up than teaching someone and getting to feel the light of Christ in life.  I will pose a question and think about it:

                How often do we talk to people about all the good experiences we have had that they can have too, but then not share it with them – not letting them partake of the light of Christ as well?

                I hope as you share your testimony with people around you, you will give them opportunities to help them find the joy too that you have!

                The last part of the training, President Irwin spoke about how we can always be working 100% of the time.  He showed us a movie for the purpose of learning how to use our potential.  The movie was an older movie, I think called "The Quest."  It is inspirational.  It is a fictional story about a young man wounded in the army but doesn't let it get him down.  He went to a business and being SUPER optimistic said he was there to get the job.  The main boss, to see how worthy he is for the lob, tells him to buy a vase.  The boss makes it super difficult, but the main character gets is.  He did EVERYTHING he could to get it.  In the end, the boss told him what the test was and then hired him for his diligence.  My goal is to be just like this.  Be a super optimistic missionary and do all I can in my power to work for these two years.  The specialized training was a great one.  We then, after the training, had a couple lessons.  One was with the legendary IVO!!!  He soaks up all our lessons and tries to follow the commandments so he can be ready for baptism in a week and a half!!!  September 1st is quickly approaching!  He is getting excited, but like all, who prepare, is nervous too.  Pray for him!

23.8.12

                Today wasn't much.  We had 4 lessons on plan, but 2 fell through.  We still had a couple good lessons.  One was with, you guessed it… Ivo.  In this lesson, we tried to resolve any concerns and cheer him on.  He also had a nice "Get to know you" with the branch president, President Vít.  Other than that, it was a normal day.  The other lessons were kind of low key, regular lessons.  The other was just a spiritual thought with an American that has been here for some time.  He leaves next Tuesday back to America.  We also had a spiritual thought at our game night with the young single adults.  The rest of the day was filled with studies, meals, and finding people.  We just got home a few minutes ago.  Now, as I am writing this, my companion is making Halušky (Ha-loosh-kee).  This is the national Slovak dish.  Anyway… so it is dinner, planning, and then time to hit the sack for the late evening schedule.  We are both tired.  We were outside the majority of the day and it was hot and humid, about 40 degrees Celsius.  Tomorrow should be another outside day for us.  We have one lesson on plan.

24.8.12

                Today, we didn't have too much on plan.  We had a lesson, but he did not show up.  To je škoda.  (That is too bad.)  This is the second time we have planned to meet with this guy, but he keeps dogging our appointments.  So all else we did was weekly planning, which this time, we got to incorporate the step "Set goals and make plans for investigators being baptized in the coming week."  Ivo is getting baptized next week!  After weekly planning, we went to a small lake just outside of the city Lišeň and tried to talk to people there.  Most people were very nice and helped then come closer to Christ a little bit, even if it only was the slightest bit through testifying.  We couldn't find the foot path down to the lake shore, so we instead found a forest path that continued to lead down steeply to a parking lot by the lake.  It was a beautiful walk down and we met a nice man.  He helped us find our way better and then we talked about who we were.  He didn't recognize the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" so we talked a bit more and then gave him our card and saw the picture of the Book of Mormon on it and said "Wait……… You are Mormons?"  We said yes and we explained why our church name was different than the name Mormons and we explained the Book of Mormon in a couple paragraphs.  Then we told him to give us a call sometime, then there was a little bit of silence and he thought for a minute, then said ok and we left.  His silence seemed clearly to us that he would call us some day.  I have faith he will.  Later today, we also talked to people in a big park here called Lužanky Park.  Nothing to big happened there.  Today was a mellow day, not too much came from it, but like I have said in the past – is still a valuable day.  Tomorrow will be a very good day.  The young single adults will go with us on the square tomorrow morning and we will draw with chalk the plan of salvation (God's plan for us).  It is raining right now though, so we will see.  I hope it dries up!

25.8.12

                Well, it dried up.  There were still clouds, but it worked out fine.  We were able to do our studies this morning then go to the activity on the square.  We drew the plan of salvation.  Those who drew did a very nice job.  A lot of people stopped, more than usual.  It was such a good idea to do this chalk thing.  It got peoples' attention and it was clear and simple to understand.  This will be the new way of missionary teaching!  Not really though… J  Oh, So funny story; Whenever we do big activities like this, I carry a German Book of Mormon, in case I or another missionary meets a German.  This morning, I debated… I couldn't decide if I wanted to carry the extra weight in my side bag and then not find any German people, or not bring it and miss out.  I eventually decided to bring it.  In our 2 hours of this, I had 6 different contacts in German.  Other missionaries, when they would fine a German would yell "German!" my way to have me speak to these people.  I would then talk with them.  My German skills are getting rusty!!!!  My Czech is a lot better.  We talked to this one man (In Czech) and explained the entire plan of salvation through the great drawing on the cement.

                It is possible that because I speak about German so much, you think I would rather be somewhere else.  Though I love the German language very much, that doesn't mean that I don't love the place I am in and the people who I meet here!  Those are two different things.  As I have gone through my mission here so far, I see the impact I have made on people here that would not have had that impact by any other person.  I know I'm here in the Czech Republic, speaking Czech for a reason.  The reason is because certain people need to hear what I have.  I help these people be what Christ wants them to be and they help me be what Christ wants me to be.  Every transfer out here (every time I switch cities) I think of who I had an effect on and how.  I just know that I am glad to be here.  I am thankful for all I have learned and anticipate what I will learn.

                Anyway, after going off on that tangent, also today, we went tracting.  We went house to house to find some people to teach.  No one was ready.  No one had interest, though… we did plant some seeds in their hearts.  After we went tracting, we went to our language study as a district.  We were in charge of the language learning game.  It was a fun game that I had learned in the past.

                Today was all in all, a good day.  We could have worked a little harder, like every day, but we did do what we could.  We are happy.  Moral of this short story for you is "Do what you can, and you'll be happy!"

26.8.12

                One sad day.  Our investigator who was on date for baptism this week texted us this morning saying he would be to church an hour late.  We said ok.  An hour rolled around and we got another text.  He told us that he actually couldn't be at church at all.  It was a personal reason, so no need to explain.  Our baptismal date this next Saturday will not be though.  He has a new date though.  We just need to work toward it and have faith.  He sure has faith.  He knows how he can prepare for his new date, and wants it.  So that happened.  We had one investigator at church though.  George came.  He didn't stay long, but it was good to see him.  After church, we got a text from a member here, who is just an awesome member.  His name is Brother Lambson.  He is from Arizona, served a mission in Germany, and now lives here in Brno with his wife and two girls.  One just born two days ago!  He works for AT&T.  Anyway, he invited us and our investigator Ivo, our investigator over for dinner that evening.  Ivo actually works for Brother Lambson!  We told him yes and called Ivo to invite him.  We fit studies in for the day then, that evening we went over to his house with Ivo.  Brother Lambson showed us a picture of his new daughter, talked with us, and fed us Sloppy Joes.  It smelled and tasted like home!  It was wonderful.  Then he gave us some ice cream and we had the spiritual thought.  The visit was wonderful.  It was great to have our investigator be invited to a member's home.  It was a nice welcome atmosphere and Ivo enjoyed it.  After that, we went home.  It was a nice day.  It turned out looking rough, and then it got better.

                This week, I have learned some more that I can apply to my life.  I learned how to be more humble.  This mission is a great method in which we can learn to become more like the savior.  I love the small and big things I learn here.  President Irwin, during an interview, me being a few weeks in the country said this: "This mission is an investment for the rest of your life."  I know that this decision is one I will never regret.  It is hard and trying at times, but is only setting me up for greater things.

                I hope everyone had a great week and seeing miracles from the challenges I give you almost every week.  If you haven't been trying them, what are you waiting for?  Blessings are awaiting!!!  Take the opportunity.  Replace fear with faith.  Enjoy this next week.  J

                -Starší Bahr

Reflection of Last Week - Great!

Like I said in the title, this week was good, and was a small refection of last week. It started out slow, but sped up to have some great experiences. So, enough with the boring intro, here is what happened this week. :)

13.8.12

Today was P-Day, after doing all necessities, we visited a castle. To be exact, it was the Brno Castle. Its name is Špilberk. It had a great history. We were lucky to be able to visit it because, castles and other historical sites are always closed on Mondays, but because it is summer break, they were open. We went through the tour of the prisoner cells and things like that (only part open that day) and lost track of time and had to run through the last part. In the underground prisoner cells, we sand Elder Stradling "Happy Birthday." He turned 20. He was surprised. After that, we had to catch a tram to go to Family Home Evening. We, 9 missionaries including 3 sisters ran from the castle and down the street behind the tram to catch it. It was hilarious. It is too bad that my camera was not readily available. I would have totally gotten a picture. It was fun though. After that, we had Family Home Evening and it went well, then we had a lesson with our investigator Anna, who I talked about last week. We introduced the Book of Mormon. She is so sincere and will need a little more care than past investigators, but she has much potential. I am happy we have such prepared and amazing people to teach. I have been waiting, sometimes impatiently, to get some miracle people like these people. After our lesson, we went home which brings me till now.

14.8.12

We had a great day today. We started our day off with the normal studies and then went on our way to our district meeting. At the district meeting we studied about commitments and how important they are when teaching. It went well. At the meeting we also got a cake for Elder Stradling and sang again. Then we went out for a little bit on the main square before our lessons and went contacting. We talked to a couple people with no apparent results. Then a homeless guy that is plays accordion on the square came up to us and asked us for some food. I told him we didn't have any. Then he asked for 1 crown (5 cents) we said we are not in the position to give money. So then, he asks for 50 crowns. I said we are volunteer missionaries and we can't. Then he got all mad and was waving his hand at me in the shape of a cross while calling me by the name Satan. So we walked away. About 100 yards down the street I looked back and he was talking to someone else he stopped and was pointing at us. Who knows what he was saying, but you could probably make a guess. After that, we went contacting some more and found and awesome Ukrainian guy that wants a Book of Mormon then went to the church building again for our lessons and English class. English class went well. We all showed each other pictures of our families and talked about them. Oh, family; Our English class likes you all! Then came the spiritual thought. This professor that always comes decided to go off about how the Book of Mormon is false. It took us 3 tries telling him, that we needed to end because we had a meeting to get to. After that, we had a nice lesson with Ivo about the gospel of Christ. He is progressing nicely. Our member that taught with us may have been a bit rough on him, but we will see how it goes. It was an odd day, but I have faith that this week will be just as great as last week.

15.8.12

Today was another odd day. We woke up and did studies like usual and went to a park near by. It was the same park we met that girl Ludmila that was a miracle then told us she was not interested. So we went there by tracting up one side of the street, going through the park, then tracting the other side of the street. We went in the park after some tracting and tried hard to go by the spirit. We went certain directions as we felt the spirit tell us. A couple times the primary song "Choose the Right" came into by head and I sang it out loud. Other times I felt like I was told to make a decision, like God trusted our judgment. We did that and found an old couple that were atheists. They weren't interested, but we gave them a taste of what our message is. I showed a picture of my family to them and they liked it. We continued on and went out of the park and then went to the main square. We saw the guy, on one of the streets, that crossed me yesterday and he did it again. Every time he sees me, he stops playing his accordion and crosses me. It is displeasing, but if that is what floats his boat, then... Ok. We then went to the church building after trying to talk to people on the square so we could be there for our later lessons. We first decided to do some building tours. We walk around in the nearby neighborhoods and try to get people to show our building. After a couple minutes, we came back with a nice lady. We showed her the building and invited her to church and she said she would come sometime. She thought it was a place only for members. After that, we had no more time and then we got dinner and went to a lesson with a less active member. We did the lesson and went home. And that was today. Oh, I also woke up today with a sore throat.

 

16.8.12

Sore throat – not better. I even went to bed earlier. It was a long day. However... it was great. The week has improved! Today, we did a lot of contacting in the hot dry weather. I almost lost my voice. We did what is called "Caussé Contacts". This is when you go up to a person and teach very concise. You go up to a person, introduce yourself, and say "Have you every heard of the Book of Mormon?" Then after they answer no, say "This book has helped me..., and I know it can... for you." Then you ask if they would like to meet. They work wonders! Future missionaries; REMEMBER "Caussé Contacts"! Oh, it is called that because Elder Caussé, the new first counselor in the presiding bishopric, came to do a mission tour before Elder Christofferson came last March, and Elder Caussé taught us this way. It works very well. After contacting a bit more, we had a lesson, I almost could not speak. I just had to take some time and talk slowly and gently. It was quite funny at times. The lesson was with Ivo. We taught about obedience and the ten commandments. We taught with Sister Martin (A senior missionary here.) Then left for dinner. Our investigator Ivo asked where we were going and we told him and pretty much invited himself. We went to get crapes at a restaurant nearby. He is really cool, so I don't mind that he invited himself. He is 25 years old and works at AT&T under his boss, who is a member. :) After that, we had to get home, so we went home and planned for the next day. Tomorrow should be a good day. Today I learned how when we teach something in the gospel, it must be taught simple. We don't need to over describe things to make it sound better. Today with our "Caussé Contacts", we taught quick and simple and saw results. Teaching simply is the way to go.

17.8.12

A good way to start off the day is a nice singing display. We, as a district went to lunch together and then went to go sing on the square. Our success wasn't the best, but we had fun and felt like missionaries, which makes it all worth it. At the end of the singing display, we saw a miracle. I, being one who loves to search for German tourists so I can speak with them, saw a couple who looked lost, so I went to go help them. They were actually from Israel. We talked to them for a bit and as we did, we bought enough time for someone who was prepared by the Lord to spot us and then stand off to the side till we were finished with the other people. This week and last week people have been lining up to speak with us. The key to this is diligence. Anyway, this guy... came up to us and said "Hey! Where can I get one of your Mormon Bibles?" We just about jumped for joy. All these wonderful experiences this past week are just outstanding. We told him we can get him one. He was Dutch by the way. We told him we can get it by next Wednesday. He is happy to get one. He has our contact information (he only had an out of the country number) and he will be in touch soon! Great thing is, I got to speak German with him because he is from Holland and the language there is very similar to German. That experience was an awesome coincidence that as I tried to help who I thought was German, someone who speaks German found us! The craziest thing is that if we hadn't talked to the Israelite people, he would have not found us.

So we continued on that day to have a lesson with Ivo and then with another investigator that in now a new investigator for us. It was our first lesson. His name in Miroslav. He is a shorter man, but his enthusiasm makes up for it. He is super energetic and could totally be a next branch president! We gave him a tour of our building and invited him to church then introduced the Book of Mormon to him. He said he will read it and said he will be at church. Something funny though, he speaks Czech and German. No English. Whenever I don't understand Czech, he explains in German. I don't know German as well as Czech though, so it doesn't really help. :) I just smile. He is a great investigator though. He just needs to find a testimony of these things, like everyone. When we finished our lessons, we went home.

18.8.12

Oh boy! Today was a LOT of walking!!! We decided, because we had no lessons, to walk to the church building (On the other side of Brno, the 2^nd biggest city in the Czech Republic). It took us all day, but we contacted along the way as according to plan. In the evening we had our district Czech study. But, to tell you about the contacting: We met some great people. We will have two new investigators this week. They are from Afghanistan. They moved here 4 years ago and thought we were Czech by how we spoke. :) They are from the capital of Afghanistan and moved here for safety. They are of the Muslim faith, but interested in the Book of Mormon. This time, again we did "Caussé Contacts". Along the way, we had a couple small conversations with people, but they had no interest. One one a girl from New York. Her parents are Czech. She speaks little Czech though. We talked to her and I found some German people on the square again, but that was all. So we got to the building, and did district language study, then went home.

19.8.12

Today was Sunday. Sad thing is we had no investigators at church. It was a good service though. After church, we went to the Martins for lunch and then did our studies there because we had a lesson soon after. We would not have had time to make it to the church building or our house for studies and make it back in time. We finished studies and went to our lesson. He forgot, so we rescheduled. So, we went home and had dinner then did weekly call-ins to the district leader. Now it is time for bed and it is P-Day tomorrow!

One thing sticks out this week. It was meeting the people from Afghanistan. From walking for hours to the church building, we found two of God's children, who are searching. I know that this mission is a sacrifice and takes faith, but the reward is great. We spent hours in the hot sun contacting and being rejected, and found 2 people. Keep in mind this scripture as quoted in Doctrine and Covenants 18:10,15-16

"10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

15 And if it so be that you should that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

I know this work is true and blesses many people. Thank you all who are have taken part in my mission whether by reading about it, helped me get here, or helped my testimony grow in the past, and to all who support m in any way. I pray for all of you to be blessed. Now for this week's challenge; talk to some one and bring one soul unto the Father. You will have great joy. Replace fear with faith and you can find someone searching for the truth.

Take care, Elder Bahr

Miracle Week!

Great week, just read on.  You will see.  :)

7.8.12

Today we had a couple lessons and our district meeting. We had a lesson with Ivo, who is just SO cool. He is enjoying the gospel and progressing well. He so far has no concerns, which concerns me.... He'll be fine. We also taught Ivan. Ivan just needs some time. In our district meeting we learned about "Teaching people, not lessons." It was a great lesson and we were able to learn a lot and we'll apply it to our missionary work. We will see how it turns out by the end of the week.

8.8.12

So today we went all over to find some members who are less active. We went everywhere in our area and found no one. Either people moved or their address was wrong or something. Then we went to the main town square and tried to find some people to teach. One guy we walked up to and he was American. Sad thing was, he was just rude to us. One of his many offensive comments was "Sorry I even looked at you." He was not even nice when we first said hi. He knew who we were and just threw darts at us. SO.... we continued on. We got to a place near the train station and we were stopped by a girl selling insurance. We didn't understand all she was saying, but we did talk to her about our message and got her contact information out of it. As we were in this contact, a girl about 23 years came up to us and started to hand us all a new gold watch. She sounded like she was in a panic. She then said "Hey, you got any money? I need to catch a bus, hurry!" As all this happened, her boyfriend stood off about 30 meters and looked around all suspiciously. After that, we just continued to the church building for some calls.

9.8.12

Crazy story and proof that miracles really do happen. My district leader and I were on an exchange and on our way to the church building. We did some contacting on the tram with little success. As we stepped off the tram at our stop, and walked away, a girl about 26 years old jumped off the tram and said "Wait!! You are Mormons right?" She began to explain that she had lived in Salt Lake City, UT and went to a lot of Mormon activities while there. She thanked us for all we do and told us that she just loves the Mormon community. This girls name is Anna. She is from Romania. We told her our church building was close by and we gave her a tour of it. She said she wants to go to church too! The cool thing is how perfect God's plan is. Our investigator who we would have had a lesson with a couple minutes after meeting Anna, came late and came just as we were finishing our tour. So, that is Anna. I like to call her; the miracle that jumped off the tram at us. Later, we had a singing display. I had probably my best contact ever. I truly felt the spirit working through me and the lady felt it. I testified in appropriate spots, I asked her questions, related it to her, etc. She said that it all made sense. Throughout the contact, she agreed to everything. By the end she said that she doesn't feel like she needs the Book of Mormon in her life, but she did say this "I am convinced." She said that when she needs it in life, she will call us. It may sound like she was just trying to get rid of m his mission call! He is serving in Leeds, England. As for us, we had our interviews, which I always look forward to. It is nice to take some time and talk about how we are doing and to get advice from President Irwin.

10.8.12

Today we went home teaching with a member, but that was later in the day. Earlier in the day we had a "Power Finding Exchange" with the zone leaders. We and the zone leaders went around the main square and did some finding. After some time, we switched companions. So Elder Strobl and I both got to work with both the zone leaders. They are both so good at talking to people. They can make anyone feel like their friend. I thought I was good at that, but they are much better. And, they can speak Czech better, so it is easier. This week, I have noticed that hard work pays off, especially when you try harder and in more detail. We already have had 4 member lessons and 3 other. That is a lot for the Czech/Slovak mission. On our way home from working hard this day, I got into one of my "Contemplation Tangents" where I all of a sudden think of something and it just CLICKS! Today it was about how God DOES exist! - We are too intricate to just be a coincidence. We have an intricate body, we have thoughts, feelings, passions, etc. In the moment, it just made SO MUCH SENSE. Maybe it doesn't now, but it was just a great moment at the time. If you were in my mind at that moment, it would make so much sense to you. If you were in my mind at that moment, it would make just as much sense to you. :)

11.8.12

Today we met a British/Czech couple on the tram. It seems like there are a lot of those, but we talked to them for a bit in English and the wife (Czech) said "Your English is really good! Where are you from, are you from the Czech Republic or...?" We had thrown a few Czech phrases in there too and so she knew we spoke Czech, so she thought maybe we were. We told her that we were Americans and she could not stop laughing at how surprised she was! That is one of the best compliments to get here, is when a Czech asks if we are Czech. :) We also had sports day. It went well. We had a good amount of people there and the weather was good. Anna was there our investigator that found us a couple days ago. After sports day, we had weekly planning, at which, we planned some GREAT lessons that we are very excited for. We have learned how to really plan for our investigators. I just love the people we teach. They are so sincere and ready! Our investigators are progressing well, especially Ivo. He really has the desire to find what he is searching for. It is right in front of him and he is starting to see it. It is just so exciting to have awesome people to teach. To wrap up our day today, we had Polar bear (Our language study as a district.) It was fun. We had a fun game to memorize a scripture. We chose 2 Nephi 25:26. It is one of my favorite scriptures. Then we had to hurry home after setting up chairs for church tomorrow. We thought we would be late because we missed the latest tram that we can take to get home on time. Now, we have been trying to be exactly obedient and being home late would bring us down on our personal scale to be exactly obedient. We saw a bus down the street and booked it! We caught it before it left and rode home. On the way we thought how we may not make it still. We got closer and closer and made it. We ran inside with 2 seconds to spare before we started our nightly planning in prayer, then we started right at 9:00pm. We are studs. :)

12.8.12

We had church today then lunch at the Martins, like every Sunday. We had a good turn out at church. There were 80 people and a good majority were investigators. After that, we had a lesson with a Nazarene. He is a black man from Florida. He had met with missionaries in the past and missionaries called him "Priest", as he said. He had a crazy story. The lesson was not as good as we hoped it to be. He pretty much came just to argue and look for things we said that were wrong. It was, sorry to say, a waste of time. It doesn't matter anyway, because we had an amazing week.

It is interesting how this week has played out to be. I, in the past, have always heard of other missionaries' miracle stories and have thought "Dang, when am I going to get some experiences like that?" It just takes time and hard work. There are small miracles too. Often, we just don't notice things till they are right under our noses like these experiences I had were. When we do everything we can and work hard, God puts things in our path. We, however, can't do all we can, then sit back. We need to search for these miracles too. Expect miracles even! I know that having this hope leads to faith, which leads to works, and then eventually MIRACLES! We just need to have 100% effort, 100% of the time. I know that as we do this and replace fear with faith, by working how we should or doing what we should, we receive blessings and great opportunities for testimony builders.

Readers; As you go through this next week, take righteous opportunities. They are in front of you everywhere. Even the small and simple ones. When you do, continue in them, you will see what comes. Have faith and stand tall. I know Christ live and God lives. They help us with things that we see, and they help us with things we don't see.

I wish everyone a great week.

~Elder Bahr