Stressful, Miraculous Week

First of all you have to forgive me, I read your personal emails and I love them, but there is literally so much going on we did not get a chance to get our full email time so I only have time to write this email!  I have two exchange reports to fill out and a baptismal form in Czech...yay paperwork!!! :) 

Ok, so this week...wow! What a week! I blinked and it was over. We had two exchanges, for both of which I was out of the area followed by MLC, a baptism, and a reactivation for this week. My testimony that the Lord sustains you when he needs you, and then floods you with blessings has certainly grown! I will start with the baptism and reactivation. 

David’s baptism was amazing! He was super prepared, but then we wake up that morning and realized the programs were printed wrong, and it was pouring rain, so we had to bunch of things to finish last minute which was of course...just fun :). BUT the program was incredible! We sang a musical number called Zazrak Vody Krtu. “After I am baptized” Which fit perfectly for the absolutely pouring rain. Then I had the awesome opportunity to baptize him, and greatest part of the whole program was the talk given by our ward mission leader. He is stud, and talked about the blessings of baptism helping sustain us for a lifetime of growth. The other best part was exiting the water with David. Even though it was FREEZING cold, after baptizing him, we left completely warm. The Lord approved of this humble man’s baptism. In addition to that, I love that our mission president came all the way down from Prague to make it to the baptism. He gave a great testimony of the importance of having a vision of enduring to the end. It was such a great thing for David to hear at that moment! 

As for our reactivation, after some work with a member that came from Liberec that did not really find his place in the Plzen ward, he became reactivated. He is such a great guy. An incredible, incredible, story of how his life was dramatically changed because of the gospel.

In MLC (mission leadership council), we discussed the importance of teaching for understanding rather than forgetting the step of repentance before baptism, so that those that are baptized will remain active. It was a very good training, and I am excited for the training that we will get to prepare for that topic this week. It is only a little bit unfortunate because we only have a week to prepare it, but it should be ok, I am excited for it :) 

Then on top of planning a baptism and preparing for MLC, we had two exchanges with new district leaders in Prague and in Plzen! Both of which were excellent! We talked a lot about the importance of district meeting to gain the trust of your missionaries, and to give good training to help people progress to baptism. Both missionaries are awesome examples for their districts, and incredibly humble learners! Elder Pickett was in my same position in Prague about the same time I was. I wonder where he is coming next??? :). .Haha just kidding. But after this week, Elder Croney and I were exhausted and a little bit overwhelmed, but we saw tremendous blessings! 

Love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Belshe :)