Thursday, October 27, 2016

Birthday Wishes Come True

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes this week, it is much appreciated! :) 

This week was awesome with the work that has been happening in the zone! Things have been booming lately, and we are very proud zone leaders :) The only baptism we have had up to this point was David’s about a month and a half ago, but this week the first family baptism in the mission since the end of last year happened in Prague!! They are such a cool family, and fun fact, a referral from the same man that referred Zdenek Samec to me while I was in Cbud that later got baptized. His name is Jara Vojta,  a stud, and the true example of member missionary work! Love that guy! :) 

Then we have 2 other baptisms coming up this next week. One in Cbud with a great priesthood holder and another in Prague from the assistants! Then, during the week we had our interviews with President and during that time we went contacting. We wanted to be creative, so after brainstorming with the assistants, we decided to carry a couch a kilometer, (a little less than a mile) down the street from the church building and two other chairs with a table that had pamphlets and play music. Our goal was to find 15 new investigators in one day! Not an easy task. So yes, many people stopped and stared, especially the police, when we carried a couch all the way out to a metro stop a set up a fake living room. The goal was to begin a conversation and guide people to come and sit with you on the couch and have a lesson. As we rotated and contacted in this area that afternoon we saw miracles and between the 9 companionships in our zone, we hit exactly 15 new investigators at the end of the day!!!! :) It was definitely a miraculous day and a huge faith builder for our zone!

I also had an exchange with our awesome district leader Elder Chadwick, he knows how to work out in the morning, he runs fast….I don’t..:). But here is my traditional exchange selfie together!

My quote for the week comes from general conference:

"Believe not only in Him, but Believe Him!" 

Sorry, my notes are very short and to the point and maybe not exactly correct, but from this quote, we can learn a lot. Sometimes we believe in the atonement of Jesus Christ and the power it has unto salvation, but think that it works for everyone but us. When we truly believe and apply it in our own lives, joy can truly come into our own lives. We just have to really trust it enough to try! Have a great week! 

Elder Belshe 

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Building Wards and Branches

When President McConkie left for home at the end of his mission, he shared a thought about Jesus Christ which is called a Jesus Thought.  Yes I know, very original, but in this thought he shared the story of two men that were disappointed due to the loss of the Savior and are visited, unbeknowest to them, by the Savior himself. In this story the Savior spends time with these men, ask them questions to determine their needs, and expounds the scriptures to explain that he, the Savior, had truly been resurrected. Just as they recognize him as the Savior, he vanishes. That story stuck with me from the time I was in Prague until my time here in Plzen. By following the outline of the Savior with many less active families and individuals, we have seen the success that has come from helping them back to reactivity and help them begin on their path to spiritual self-sufficiency. Just like the Savior has done, our work as missionaries is much of bringing them to light, giving them all the tools that they need to sustain it and then leaving and praying for the best. As we have followed the pattern the Savior has set, we have been truly blessed. 

This week we saw the reactivation of part of the Duchkovi family, Radka and the twin daughters, who have started attended church regularly and received a call to be a teacher in the Primary. It has been amazing to see the transformation of the ward as they see old friends come back due to the rich blessings of Heavenly Father. 

We also have had a couple of (finally) progressing investigators Miki and Jules. I am excited for the progress that they are making even though they could not make it to church. We also found a couple of other investigators that we hope will be coming to lessons soon. Other than that, not a lot is going on, we are having interviews with President Pohorelicky this week which I am really excited for. It is always great to have one on one time with President Pohorelicky. He is such a great man, and a great example of a husband. 

That is probably all the updates I have for this week! By the way, conference (if you didn’t hear in my last letter) was awesome, so watch it, preferably all of it! 

Have a great week! :)

S Laskou,¨

Starší Belshe 

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Ahoj Vsichni! (Hello Everyone!)

CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!! If you haven't watched all of the sessions, watch them! :) It is true that each conference is more and more powerful each time. We had a great turnout from all of the recent converts, and reactivated members that we have been working with including David, Martin Sestak, Sestra Duchkova, Standa, and Honza Grega. Unfortunately, no investigators, but we are working diligently on improving that in our area. We found two new awesome people that have some great potential to progress in the gospel. One, named Jules, is a ballet dancer from England, and is in like every play know to man. He is super awesome and really hilarious. Then we have another named Miki, who is a Dad with two kids; both of which I already love so much. We are hoping for some progression from them in the coming week.

Our mission has been focusing on teaching repentance, and baptizing converts, so we have been learning to teach simply and not rush through to baptism. Our zone has been doing really well, and have a few solid people that are very close to baptism. President Pohorelicky and Sestra Pohorelicka are teaching us and its awesome because they themselves were converts to the gospel coming from Atheism. We have been learning a lot! But I think that is about it for this week...:)

Here is one of my favorite quotes given in conference by Elder Hales in the Saturday Morning Session: It is very simple "Love more, and suffer less!" When we forget ourselves in service to God through love for his children, we are find ourselves and are happier no matter the circumstance that we are in! Have an awesome week! Love you all! Remember to lift where you stand! :)

Starší Belshe 

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!!

If you haven't watched all of the sessions, watch them! :) It is true that each conference is more and more powerful each time. We had a great turnout from all of the recent converts, and reactivated members that we have been working with including David, Martin Sestak, Sestra Duchkova, Standa, and Honza Grega. Unfortunately, no investigators, but we are working diligently on improving that in our area. We found two new awesome people that have some great potential to progress in the gospel. One, named Jules, is a ballet dancer from England, and is in like every play know to man. He is super awesome and really hilarious. And then we have another named Miki, who is a Dad with two kids. Both of which I already love so much, and we are hoping for some progression from them in the coming week.

Our mission has been focusing on teaching repentance, and baptizing converts, so we have been learning to teach simply and not rush through to baptism. Our zone has been doing really well, and have a few solid people that are very close to baptism, and the fact that President Pohorelicky and Sestra Pohorelicka are teaching us its awesome because they themselves were converts to the gospel coming from Atheism. We have been learning a lot! But I think that is about it for this week...:)

Here is one of my favorite quotes given in conference by Elder Hales in the Saturday Morning Session: It is very simple "Love more, and suffer less!" When we forget ourselves in service to God through love for his children, we are find ourselves and are happier no matter the circumstance that we are in! Have an awesome week! Love you all! Remember to lift where you stand! :)

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Preparing for General Conference

This week was a really great one for us! We have been counseled by President Pohořelický to focus on the work with recent converts, because “without hanging on to the fruit we have already found”, our work has no purpose. So we have been working with the district leaders in our zone to follow up on all the recent converts within the last 2 years. We are starting to work even closer with the ward and branch mission leaders on making sure they have home teachers, a calling, and are actively attending church. Then we had training, and our topic was ‘in contacting how to set good expectations and teach simple principles to find progressing investigators’ because our progressing investigators numbers have been lower. It went really well with a lot of practices in many situations including trams, buses, on the streets.  President really liked it, and we think it helped :) So, in our book it was a success! It was the first training that I have conducted and I was WAY nervous, and it went ok, but I was pretty glad it was over because it was successful and the stress of it was gone. 

I had the opportunity to give David the priesthood on Sunday, and it was amazing to really see how the spirit truly guided me to know what was needed to be said to David.  I have had a lot of opportunities lately to use the Priesthood and my testimony of it is at the level where I can say that I know it is the power of God for the work of his ministries. It is interesting to me how truly when you love the person more, your ability to work by the spirit improves. Next week, we are hoping that he will have the opportunity to participate in passing the sacrament. He has been teaching with us in the district often, and we are so grateful to see how much he has progressed in the gospel. It has been amazing to see his growth already and how much he will be able to provide for the branch.

Other than that, we have been preparing the members, investigators, and recent converts for this awesome opportunity to listen to general conference. Unfortunately, we have to wait a week until it is translated into Czech, but I am so grateful we have the chance to listen to latter day prophets and apostles.

My scripture for the week:

34 Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
35 Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson.
36. That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon theprinciples of righteousness.

When we live our lives according to Gods commandments and strive to listen to the promptings of the spirit, we will have the power to work Gods miracles here on earth. Whether that is for priesthood holders, or for those that are recipients of the blessings, if we live righteously we can receive these miracles.

Have a great week! Tak moc tě miluji :)

Starší Belshe