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