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