Work Here Going Great!!!

Missionary work here has exploded!  We have now three people preparing for baptism, we had a couple people at church, we taught a good amount of lessons.  It is all well.  We can still do better and we will.  In this mission we have a saying "Our best will

get better."  We will see that soon and then continue.  This last week we also went to Prague for my companion to have a branch president training and we also had a very nice zone conference.  It was held here in České Budějovice.  We had a zone activity where we all 20 or so missionaries went out on the streets to find people and practice our new skills learned during the training.  It was very helpful.

 

This week is transfer week.  I am staying here with my current companion, Elder Hansen.  I am excited because we will be able to both see what we have been working hard on.  We have been trying for a while to get some baptisms here and new members because this branch is so small.  We should see that this transfer!

 

One cool story I wanted to share is of a lesson we had with someone this week.  This investigator was talking about how God doesn't answer his prayers.  I decided to tell a story to illustrate the fact that praying doesn't always change things to how you want it to be, but that God has His own timing and knows that it is for our better.  The story seemed to help him and I feel it could help a few others who need to hear it.

"Almost every year, as I grew up my dad and I and a few of my sisters would take a backpacking trip into the Wallowa Mountains.  In the Wallowa Mountains it is far away from civilization which makes it very beautiful because not many people go there.  One year we hiked up to the upper lake and came to a beautiful ridge that overlooks the miles of forest and the meadow from where we just had hiked.  We set up camp and went fishing, swimming, and hiking around.  Night time came and we cooked our fish and our military style meals (MREs).  As we finished and sat around the campfire, we heard some rumbling far off.  We went over to the ridge and sat watching down the valley where a giant thunderstorm was showing us its magnificence.  As we watched, we noticed that is was coming directly up the valley to the ridge where we were camped.  Winds picked up.  Thunder got louder.  Rain began to fall.  We hurried in our tents.  We lied there waiting and the storm got worse.  We began to be frightened.  To calm us, my dad ironically began to sing the church hymn "Master, the Tempest is Raging."  After some time, we decided to pray.  My dad offered a prayer for us for safety and that the storm would go away.  After our prayer, we waited.  The storm continued with more rain, lighting, and thunder echoing off the mountainsides.  After a time longer than we had wished, the storm finally dimmed off.  It was quite an experience to go through.  Today I look back and realize God's beautiful timing in our lives.  We prayed for the storm to go away; God let it go on against our wishes for a little while longer and then ended it.  Through this experience, we as a family grew closer and stronger.  We shared a beautiful moment together, witnessing God's power.  We would not have grown closer and stronger to each other if God took the storm away the instant we asked for it."

God has perfect plans for us in life.  He knows what is best for us and will give us these trials to help us grow.  Let us accept them and find what we are to learn.  Trusting in God will bring us much farther that giving up in life's storms.  Let us replace fear with faith and gain our potential.

 

I hope that everyone has a pleasant week.

Elder Bahr

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