Branch Conference Week

This week was České Budějovice branch conference.  President Irwin came down the night before (Saturday).  We went to dinner at a place called the Budweiser Hotel.  It was good.  It was nice to have a little more time with President Irwin and his wife than we usually get.  The next day we had branch conference.  President Irwin spoke, Sister Irwin spoke, my companion (branch president) spoke, and couple others from the district council of the church in the Czech Replublic.  The talks were very nice and though I have heard them before (In Zlín last transfer), I learned more.  The church is true.  I said the closing prayer.  After sacrament meeting ended, a member of the district presidency came up to me and asked were I was from.  I told him Washington state in America.  He told me that my Czech was really good and that I had a Czech accent when I spoke.  Ahhhhh, it is nice to finally be able to talk like a native.  That has been one of my goals.  After that, I got an interview with President Irwin.  I always look forward to those!  Then we went to priesthood meeting.  The district presidency taught us about how to help other members remain active in the church.  One thing I learned was that if we participate in ordinances like baptism, if we are baptised and don't do anything after like going to church, taking the sacrament, etc. it is like our baptism didn't count.  Sure God will take into consideration in the final judgement that we followed Christ at baptism, but we will also be judged for not continuing to follow Christ throughout our whole life.  I know that enduring is important.  I know it is part of the path that leads to God.  I am grateful for the many examples in my life that show what "enduring to the end" means.  ANyway, during priesthood, I got to practice translating to English for President Irwin.  It is fun to translate.  Funny thing though, I would hear a word in Czech and KNOW what is means, but I would not remember the english word for it.

Other than that, this week was pretty normal.  We did some tours of our church building and found some great people.  We have walked the streets of Česke Budějovice and found some great people.  We have visited members and gotten new people to teach from them.  The work is going great and I love being a missionary.  Ať zpomalí čas.

 

Have a pleasant week everyone.  Don't forget to replace fear with faith.

 

Elder Bahr

 

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