Snow, Cold, Work, and Blessings.

It has been snowing a lot this week.  It is nice to be here and see God's beautiful creations.  The snow is pretty, the trees, the clouds, and really everything.  We spent a lot of time outside this week.  We met some people on the streets that seem cool and ready.  We will probably meet with them this week.  We were not able to get many lessons set up with people this week and a few people had to cancel.  We got some nice lessons in though.  Some of our investigators are having opposition in the family which makes things difficult for the investigator and for us.  We have been praying hard for one especially.  This one has been progressing along fine and has enjoyed the blessings, his family is not too keen on his meeting with us.  The family has good reasons, but we are working out a way to meet with the family to help their understanding in why we are here and what importance this gospel has.

 

We had last Friday an activity with our branch.  We planned, prepared, and ran an evening of fun for the members and investigators.  It was difficult but turned out well.  Throughout, I was sure that people would start leaving because no one was playing the games.  People started to do things eventually, I did a magic show portion, and we had a carefully prepared spiritual thought at the end about Christ and his atonement.  We told the story of "The Prince and the Pauper" and related it to how Christ came to earth to experience the same things as us so that he can know how to help us and so that he can have mercy at the judgement.  That is one reason why the atonement was important.  Christ knows our weaknesses and pains and knows how to help us.  We must come to Him though.  He is ready and willing to lighten our burdens.  At the end, the members told us they really enjoyed it and our investigators are asking when another one is.  We will probably have another one in a month or so.  It is a lot of work, so we will try to get members to plan it with us.  I think it will strengthen the members too to help plan.  :)

 

Church was nice too.  The talks were nice.  The topic was "Čím je evangelium pro mne?" (What is the gospel to me?)  I have a question for the readers now... What is the gospel to you?  What does it mean?  How can it mean more?  What will you do to strengthen your testimony?  It was great to see the members as always, and the spirit was felt strongly.

 

The church is true, the Book (of Mormon) is blue.  I am grateful for my mission.  I am happy I am here in Zlín again.  I know that Christ lives and God is our Father.  I am thankful for the hope that the plan of happiness brings.  If you don't know what it is - it is time to learn.  :)  I am enjoying my mission and wouldn't trade it for anything.  Until next week, Replace fear with faith and be happy.

 

Elder Bahr

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Transfers - Zlín!

We had transfers again today.  I am staying in Zlín another 2 months.  At the end of this transfer it will be 6 months in this wonderful city.  This city just gets better and better.  We improved in our lesson last week.  I hope to continue to be able to teach so many people.  My last companion and I really worked in getting this city up and going.  My new companion is Elder Jones!  He isn't really new because I served with him in Brno last summer, but none the less, we are working together in this miracle city of "Zlín - One letter away from Zion!"

I don't remember a lot from this last week other than running around, getting to lessons, and I currently don't have my planner.  I left it at home, so I will try to do my best in a recap.  Here are just a few things; we taught Ludvik again and he is just excited for baptism.  His baptismal date is planned for the 9th of January!  Pray that he will make his date.  :)  We visited some less actives and one is about to be fully active now.  We visited and taught the Kolomazníkovi, a family that the father is a strong believer, the mother is a long time non-believer, and their son is unsure.  We will continue to teach them.  They will make a wonderful addition to the Zlín branch.  Our other investigators are slowly coming along.  Pray for them.

The weather has been cold.  Snow and ice everywhere.  Today it started to warm up and is misting.  The streets and sidewalks are VERY icey.  Kind of fun though.

The work here is moving along well.  I am proud to be a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ.  I know this work is true.  I know the gospel blesses families.  When a family is built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, it can be a place of safety, peace, and love.  The family will grow stronger and closer together.  I am thankful for my family; my parents who raised me in the gospel and to be a good person, my sisters who taught me to be a gentleman, and my brother who can find fun in everything and give smiles to everyone.  I am thankful for the family we have in the church.  After all we are all children of God and brothers and sisters to eachother.

Vyměňte strach s vírou a dělte se evangelium se těmi svými bratry a sestrami!  Until next week, take care.

Elder Bahr

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Hard, Diligent Work - Pleasant, Rewarding Blessings!

Every night this week, we went to bed tired.  We have been working very hard.  In most cases, we have about 9 or so lessons a week.  This week we taught a total of 17 lessons!  Almost every day we have had full.  17 may not sound like a bunch but with the other things a missionary must do, that is a lot of work.  We also got 5 new people to teach!  We have truly been blessed by our service this week.

 

Here is a quick rundown:

Monday:  Normal preparation day activities were done and we went out on the streets in the evening to find people.

Tuesday:  7 lessons.  We met with two recent converts.  They are doing well.  We then had 5 other lessons.  We taught our English class and showed a church film after.  Many of the people we met with made big leaps in their conversion.

Wednesday:  We had our weekly district meeting and then helped the sister missionaries find some new people to teach.  When we got back we had a lesson with an investigator.  The lesson was a great, spiritual lesson and we showed our desire to help this person and showed our love for them.  He will continue to grow.

Thursday:  This day we met with two less active members and helped them strengthen their testimony.  These two members are great people and we enjoy seeing them at church, they just need to come.  :)

Friday:  We met with an investigator and then with his friends after.  Our investigator had a big roadblock in his progression due to some anti-mormon things on the internet.  We talked with him about it and he is doing much better.  Slowly but surly he is progressing.  Then we had a lesson at the branch president's home.  It was a nice lesson.  The kids were very active, but everyone grew spiritually.  Even the children.  :)

Saturday:  This day we had our weekly planning with took time from the work, but we still got some lessons in and some finding on the streets.  During our finding, we talked to a lady and invited her to church.  Later that evening before we were going to bed, she called us and asked more about church like where, when, and what goes on.

Sunday:  That same lady we met on Saturday came to church.  We had 3 of our investigators at church and one of our English students!  It was a great Sunday too!  Our branch is wonderful.

Oh, It has also been snowing all week!  The sidewalks are icey and slippery, I won't name names, but people keep falling.  :)

 

Anyway, I don't have enough time to explain every detail of everyday, but from my view, we had an outstanding week.  I love this work and hav a testimony of diligent work.  Hard, diligent work brings the best of blessings when we work for God.  Replacing fear with faith and just getting right down to work, taking every minute moves God's work and glory forward which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children; You, me, your parents, friends, co-workers, neighbors, everyone.  Try this week to do all you can to take part in God's work and he will share a taste of eternal joy with you.

 

S Laskou, Elder Bahr

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Dobrý Den Všem!

Last time I wrote was 4 days ago so I do not have too much new to say.  I am happy.  This work is going great.  This week, I feel like not much was done, but then when I look back, I realize how much was done.  Though we may not have had a lot of lessons with people, we have been talking  to many.  We have been a lot on the streets looking for people to teach.  We had a few lessons with Zbyšek and Ludvik this week while our other investigator are trying to find time.  We have also been visiting some less active members.

Just a couple stories.  We were finding people on the streets the other day and we stopped a lady who had ran into us before.  She asked us how God could exist when all the bad things happen in the world.  We explained what we could and then offered the Book of Mormon which can answer that question, help us improve the world situation, and give us peace in times of difficulty.  We continued talking a bit more and invited her to church.  She told us she would come.  Most of the time, people say that and don't show up.  At church though yesterday, in walks in Jaroslava.  She enjoyed church and the members enjoyed her company.  After church, she asked us if she could have a copy of the Book of Mormon. We are meeting with her this week.

Another man we met near our home.  We were just about to turn to our flat when I felt like we should talk to a man that was walking toward us.  So that we could talk to him, we slowed our pace and when he was closer, we talked with him.  At first he said no, but as we continued talking and testifying he felt the spirit.  He had the same concern as Jaroslava whether God exists or not, but the spirit worked through us to help him feel the comfort of this message and the love of God.

This last Sunday was fast Sunday too.  Church was amazing.  Most members got up and bore their personal testimonies of the Book of Mormon and this church.  The spirit was felt by everyone.  It was one of the best testimony meetings I have had.  A few people expressed thanks to us missionaries in very humble ways, but I know that God is the true one to thank.  I know that when we do what God expects, he can help us to bless people around us.  I am thankful that He has called me here as an instrument in His hands to make a difference in the lives of others and to spread the light of Christ with people.  This gospel is true and can make people happy not only now, but forever.

I don't have much more to say.  Pray for missionary opportunities and "Vyměňte Strach s Vírou!" (Replace Fear with Faith).

Elder Bahr

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Šťastný Nový Rok!!!!!

It is a new year!  I hope it started out well for everyone.  Last year was quick.  Here in a couple days will be the day a year ago I arrived in the Czech Republic.  Many good things happened.  I started in Ostrava with my trainer Elder Gibson.  We taught some good people.  Alena Fafejtová was a miracle.  She was so humble and wanting to learn.  She was preparing for baptism then had to move far away to take care of her mother.  I have faith that she is still reading and coming closer to the savior on her own.  I hope before I leave my mission I can see her again.  She is a dear person to me.  I remember I was discouraged about my Czech and she told me not to worry, that soon I would be able to speak well.  She had a lot of faith in me.  I thank her for her faith.  The next transfer I was with Elder Clyde and Elder Stimpson.  That transfer, we worked hard and had fun at the same time.  We were able to teach Andy and Godwin.  They are brothers from Nigeria.  They have such a strong faith in Christ and loved to learn with us.  We started teaching them thanks to a member who called us and said "Hey, I've got a friend that needs the gospel.  Go teach him!"  I am thankful that I met Andy and Godwin.  They are great people and deserve the best blessings from our Lord.  The next transfer I moved to Brno.  It is the 2nd biggest country in the Czech Republic.  There I started with Elder Jones.  We worked a lot on the naměstí through the hot summer.  Most people started to leave for summer break, so we did our best.  The next transfer Elder Štrobl came in from Ostrava.  That transfer was a good one.  We found Ivo Meluzin at the beginning of the transfer and continued to teach him to baptism.  Now he is doing great!  I feel like Ivo is one of my kids.  I have no kids, but I feel proud of him like a parent would when he makes happy choices.  He loves the change this gospel has made in his life.  I pray for the best for "my son" Ivo.  Then I went to Zlín.  It is a small town on the far right side of the Czech Republic.  I started here with Elder Odell.  He helped me enjoy this small city.  We didn't have very many people to teach, but we tried our hardest here.  We found a couple people to teach like Alena Kaňaková.  She was very excited to meet us the first time.  She enjoys having us over.  She once said that she is like our mother while we are here.  She takes good care of us.  She enjoys the gospel and the peace it brings.  This city at that time, I saw was going to soon grow in the gospel.  Now I am here with Elder Stradling.  This work has blossomed here.  We have a great vision for what Zlín will become.  We are teaching outstanding people as you can read in the last few letters.

 

Now that 2012 is over and 2013 has started we need to up our expectations and work hard, replacing fear with faith.  I am excited to see what will happen this new year.  This work is great.  Being a missionary, a personal representative of the Lord is a great privilege.  "The book is blue, the church is true!" as they say.  I love this gospel.  I love these people I get to teach.  I love my Savior and all he has done, does, and will do for me.  We are truly blessed in this day in age to have the restored gospel and a living prophet to speak in behalf of God so that we might know exactly what we must do to live happily and to someday stand before God the Father and hear the wonderful words "Ye shall have eternal life."  I know this work is real and true.  I pray that each and everyone of us may look forward in this new year, move on from our past mistakes and do what we can to strengthen our testimonies, grow our faith, and come closer to God and Christ.

 

Happy New Year! (Šťastný Nový Rok!)

 

Elder Bahr

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