This week I would say qualifies for the craziest week I have had so far in my mission! :) This week we had the opportunity to be with an elder in the mission who was struggling to do the work, and he decided that he wanted to go home, but President wanted him to have one last shot here in Prague in the office, so he came and Elder Smith took his spot in Slovakia. Being with this elder this week has taught me quite a bit about myself and also how I handle stressful situations. It was wonderful getting to know him, and see the love he has for the mission, and really, really, difficult to see him not wanting to leave, but feeling that it was the right decision for him personally to make. I am grateful that we could give him one last shot to see if he could handle it, and at the very least allow him to leave the mission on a high note. We gave it our all this week to help him, trying to get his mind off things we did our best to work him, a lot. We would run between appointments trams and metros to be able to talk to as many people as we can. It helped for a while, but towards the end the episodes came back to him to the point that he just could not handle it anymore. I will be fervently praying for him, and his return to the mission. I also have his email and I told him I would check up on him :) He is a great elder!
In other news, Amanda is progressing amazingly. She is purely elect like I have seen only rarely in the investigators I have taught. She is excited for her baptism, is planning to regularly attend church, and is really coming to love the Book of Mormon. I am excited to see her continuous progression in the next few weeks. Mia and Oldrich are also doing wonderfully, Mia missed church, but Olda came and loved it! He is really good friends with Andreas, our new Gospel Principles teacher! All of our investigators are really integrating well into the YSA group here in Prague, it is fun to see! Our next goal is to really strive to find a family with that, we are going to tract twice a week for the rest of the transfer while also doing tracting letters, which simply introduce who we are and what we do as missionaries which we leave in people's mailboxes a few days before and then come back once they had a chance to read it. I am excited to see these goals come to pass as we work hard to support our fervent prayers!
This week we also went to a Museum for Culture Night, a night once a transfer that you can spend seeing and embracing the culture of the Czech Republic and we got to spend some time learning about Jan Hus, a man that challenged the church authorities of the day here in the Czech Republic which lead to the Hussite armies and fights among the people here in the Czech Republic which spread through Europe. Quite an amazing story he had, he was eventually burned at the stake like many in those times that opposed religious authorities of the day. Really interesting experience!
My scripture for this week is DC 58:42-43- Behold he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I the Lord remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold he will confess them and forsake them. I am so grateful for the reassurance that my sins have been forgiven me even in the times the guilt of past sins comes back to hurt me. I can find peace in the fact that God no longer sees these sins as a part of me, and I have the opportunity to start again completely clean! Thanks for all the emails and love and concern! Talk to you next week! :)
Elder Belshe
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