Czech Christmas Bread Making

All missionaries plus other members met at the bishops house for the annual bread making.

We then deliver these to less actives, investigators, etc.  A memorable day.

Christmas Time

It finally snowed this week! That was very nice! We finally will have a white Christmas, even though today it is starting to melt and get warm. I took a picture, so it counts :) Mirek is doing well, and we focused on finding more joy from reading along with teaching about the plan of salvation. We met with several other people this week, but many of them will not be able to meet again until the beginning of the New Year. This week I spent some time with the Holts helping with some translation as part of their humanitarian responsibilities. It was such a great experience, and brought the spirit of Christmas right into the work that we are doing. We visited a deaf school after the church had funded them for a couple of new facilities. As a way of thanks, all of the kids that were 3 to 5 years old put on a presentation for us of the three little pigs with a Christmas twist at the end where Jezisek (the Czech equivalent of Santa Claus) leaves gifts for the little piggies in the brick house. It was a good week, and as part of the time with the Holts we were able to visit some less actives. One of which, came to church WITH his friend! That was a huge blessing! We are hoping they will actively come to church now even though they leave pretty far outside the city.

My scripture this week comes from Matt 2:

7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

11 ¶And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

There is much that we can learn from the wise men especially of their diligence in seeking the Savior even during their long journey to find him. The Wise Men, like many of us, are seeking the Savior and bringing our gifts and talents with us, and I can promise that we can find him if we continue diligently and hearken to the signs that are presented to us along the way, much like the star guided these wise men.

Have a MERRY Christmas!

Elder Belshe

Member Missionary Conference and Trip to Kutna Hora

Transformation of Mission Culture

You are probably wondering why I am emailing on Tuesday, one of the elders in the District, had some kidney stones and is trying to pass them, and he starting to feel some serious pain while we were on a vylet (trip) during the open part of the day yesterday. So we accompanied him to the hospital and helped him out there. A place a little far away from Hradec Kralove. He is doing ok, and should pass them soon. The poor guy.

It’s been an awesome week! We had 3 investigators at church this week which was a huge step for our investigators right now. Mirek is working well towards baptism, and should hit his goal coming up in the New Year, and Pavel also has started changing his heart and is really looking like his baptism goal in the new year will also be reachable.

We also had the first ever Member Missionary Conference of the Czech Republic Stake this week. That was a great event! It was a great blessing for us missionaries to be a part of it! It focused solely on how we as missionaries can teach members and practice with them on how to be member missionaries in order to help us in bringing others to Christ. It is such a perfect time for our mission right now to go through this transformation because of the trust they have in us being able to see others come to church, and obedient missionaries that are striving their hardest. Our goal in the next year is to truly focus on member work rather than solely tracting and contacting on the streets which has been really the only source of baptisms for our very young mission :) Our goal is to inspire all the active members to bring one of their friends to the waters to baptism next year.

Not a lot of time today but I would like to share one scripture:

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

 9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo,the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

 11 ¶And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

 

Our goal must always be to wise seekers of Christ! If we, like the wise men of old, seek diligently and give of ourselves through our service and acts we can come to rejoice in the Saviors light and love! Keep serving and #lighttheworld.

 Love you all! 

 

Elder Belshe 

Christmas Ornaments and a Czech Christmas Carol with the Holt

Land of Believers

So, the Czech Republic it is split into three regions. The one that I have spent my entire mission in is Bohemia, on the west side of the country, the other side of the country is Moravia. Bohemia is a land full of "atheists" about 85% (which no Czech truly is in my opinion :)) whereas Moravia is a land of more believers,  it is probably more like 50\50. We had our last Exchange and visit to a district meeting in Ostrava. (Where pres. Uchdorf was born) The travel there is very long and takes about 3 hours, but the Exchange was great and we were able to give some good advice for the Ostrava district which is doing really well right now! Giving an example for the zone :) However, Ostrava is technically on the Moravia side of the country, closer to the Slovak Republic, and it was the first time ever that I have done missionary work in Moravia. Fun stuff! And also interesting the differences in the contacting that we had on the streets! 

Other than that there is not much news to share, things in our area are finally starting to build even though towards the end of the week they started to slow down again. We have a great guy named Mirek who is looking to be baptized at the beginning of the new year, but really struggles to understand spiritual things so things have moved a little bit slower with him. But I love him, he is funny and a great guy! :) Also we are teaching a student at the university named Nikil who is also really awesome and has a lot of faith, but cannot meet with us until later in the month. 

The Christmas challenge has been great! People have been positively responding to the call to do service which is why Christmas is always the best missionary time of the year! :) 

Here is a scripture that I found this week: 

1 When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.

 3 The Lord hath done great things for us; whereofwe are glad.

 4 Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.

 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Let us not forget the wonderful blessings the Lord has given unto us! In this Christmas season I hope we can rejoice from the message of hope that Christ brings into our lives when we seek and knock! Have a great week!

Elder Belshe

Light the World

If you have not heard, the church has come out with an initiative for Christmas demonstrating how we can bring the Light of Christ into someone's life in 25 ways for 25 days! I am way excited! It is going to be a blast!

However, this week we had a lot going on. Tuesday, we spent the day traveling and did a Hradec Kralove Zone tour basically where we went to 3 of the districts, participated in their district meeting, and trained them on how to give baptismal invitations. It was really fun, and we got to spend an hour and contact with them afterwards on the street! Many of the things we are doing are looking forward to our big MLC and mission conference that is happening at the end of the year in preparation for the new year. 

After the last district meeting in Jicin, I came back with Elder Hudsons (one of my former district members in Prague when he was a greenie) and a greenie named Elder Mueller. Awesome kid, hard work ethic, and absolutely no fear of Czech, which is awesome to see! It was a fun exchange, and a good experience for both of us! Thursday was Thanksgiving and preparation for zone interviews in Hradec Kralove which was great! Shout out to Elder Holt! He prepared an amazing meal for us and we loved it! Then we started wrapping some copies of the Book of Mormon for a finding activity. 

The new Light the World initiative starts this week, and the video came out on the 25th of November, the same day that we had everyone in Hradec Kralove for interviews. So we came up with the idea that we should show the video on the main namesti with a Christmas tree, and hand out Christmas gifts (copies of the Book of Mormon) to individuals and explain to them what it was! We did something similar in Plzen a little while ago where all of us were in Prague and we set up a living room by a main metro station, but this one was definitely my favorite :) It was very successful! We found several new investigators and gave away about 70 copies of the Book of Mormon on the street, after explaining what it was to them. One woman we met on the street had just heard her husband was in the hospital and did not know if he would make it or not. After explaining the Plan of Salvation and the power of the Book of Mormon, she started crying and she said she always wanted to believe something was there...I love Czechs! :) It was a great week! Check out the Light the World Initiative (you can find it on Google) and participate during the 25 days! Sorry, short on time, scripture next week! Have a great week! Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving! 

Starší Belshe

Pardubice Tour

Old Chicago Restaurant

Elder Belshe and Elder Mueller

Book of Mormon Gifts 

Christmas Tree Contacting