The Miracle of a Mission

It is a very surreal feeling that is the last email that I will send as a missionary. I have learned so very much, and have gained so many experiences. We had the opportunity this week to go to Karlstejn, a castle outside of Prague, and close to Karlstejn is a place called Priests Hill where over 80 years ago the Czech/Slovak Mission was dedicated. We began by singing my favorite hymn: The Spirit of God. The words of the 2nd verse have stuck out to me:

2. The Lord is extending the Saints’ understanding,

Restoring their judges and all as at first.

The knowledge and power of God are expanding;

The veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst.

There are miracles of a mission when we see others come unto Christ through baptism which is incredible and can never be forgotten, but the greatest miracle of a mission is the one of your own personal conversion. As that verse states, I have felt my understanding extend, the knowledge and power of God come forth as his servant, and ultimately my connection and relationship with God become closer than ever before. Almost as if the "veil beings to burst".

Over the last two years I have felt so much joy, accompanied by times of sorrow. I have seen testimonies strengthened, and others lose their testimony. I can leave saying that I have no regrets. I can leave saying I strived for 100% obedience from day 1 to the final day. I worked hard, and gave it my all. I am very grateful for that.  I have witnessed the creation of a stake of Zion and its growth, but ultimately I have seen the solidification of my testimony of these eternal truths:

I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father that knows us, cares for us, and loves more than we can even imagine. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and through his redeeming grace we are saved after all that we can do. I know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's restored church here on earth. Restored by a prophet of God, Joseph Smith, and is led today by a living day Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I know that ultimately our relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is the only way to help us to find joy wherever we may be in our lives.

S Láskou,

Starší Belshe

 

Bring on the Heat

Bring on the Heat

It has been quite a hot week. It has been so hot some days you come home and take another shower because you get really sweaty. I am ok with it though, at least I know that I am working hard :)

As for news this week we had a fun p-day of bowling in Mlada Boleslav with the Sisters, our recent convert, Otakar, and the sisters investigator Michal. The bowling alley was pretty old, kind of sketchy, each of the bowling pins was held to the top with a string and then there was a crane and pulley on the inside that would pull it back into place. Elder Murley destroyed us all, but it was fun to be able to be with all of them.

Tuesday, we did some more home teaching with Brother Tmej and had the rest of the day out on the street finding! We had one conversation with a guy who had met with missionaries many years ago which was good, and he said he might come to church in 2 weeks. We also have been helping a less active named Honza who has been building his home from the ground up, and we put insulation on the house. He is doing really well, and has been to church for 5 weeks straight. We had our last district meeting this week, and we did it as a Jesus Seminar where we talked about Christ and his example and teachings in the areas of the atonement, discipleship, prayer, and miracles. It was very spiritual, and a great way to prepare us for conference in Karlštejn this upcoming week.

Sorry that I have been slacking on the spiritual thoughts in my emails, I would like to share one of my favorite verses about Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:3-5

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ¨Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Even after 2 years of study in the scriptures, these verses still remain my favorite scriptures. It emphasizes the reality of the atonement. From the word choice we can understand how much Isaiah was grateful for the Saviors atonement,<script id="gpt-impl-0.7418685625512463" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gpt/pubads_impl_121.js"></script> and that it was revealed to him the reality of the peace that we can feel thanks to this ultimate gift our Heavenly Father has provided for us. How grateful I am for a knowledge of the atonement of Jesus Christ, and that it is the way of which I have been healed. He is our Savior and Redeemer! He lives!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Belshe

Pictures: My failed selfie at Sister Jirkus house, our service project with Honza, and the biker crew that came to Jičin.

More Miracles, More Opposition

It has been a rollercoaster of a week for us, we started out with visa work for Elder Murley on Tuesday in Prague. The only reason I brought that up is because I ate a Subway sandwich" :D It has been a while since I have had an Italian BMT. But to the more important, and spiritual aspects of the week. 

Best Home Teaching Visit of all time. We went with Brother Tmej, he needed a companion, to go visit a less active who he is home teaching. We taught about the power of Christ and shared "Because of Him" video, but we then started talking to one of the people that his sister takes care of about his smoking in the house. We encouraged him to not smoke in the house, and he said "Alright, on one condition, you beat me in an arm wrestle"…now this guy is pretty big guy, but we figured if we did win, that he really would stop smoking inside of the house. So Brother Tmej starts to arm wrestle him, and it may have been the most intense arm wrestle I have ever seen. It ended in a draw, but because of how well Brother Tmej fared against him he agreed to try it for a week. 

We also had a meeting with a less active woman and her family. They are incredible, and have three kids that really are dedicated to the gospel. They have been coming weekly to the U-nites that we have been holding at the Martincovi, and have chosen a baptismal date for the 15th of July. They came a little late to church, but it was the second week in a row that they have made it. They are facing a little of bit of a trial with one son, that had recently been in an accident and had a surgery. The surgery went well, but the cut that he had, opened up again and he had to go back to the hospital. We are praying fervently for them that he will heal quickly. We are so excited for them, and are hoping that their baptism will be a catalyst for their family in coming regularly to church for now on. 

It has been overall a good week, even though we had one very solid investigating family drop this week due to some family opposition. I don’t want to go into detail about the situation, but it was very hard, and an even harder choice for this family to decide not to continue because of this opposition that they faced. 

The gospel is true, and it blesses lives! Have a great week!

Elder Belshe 

So these are pictures of me playing the cello on the town square! :D, Elder Murley and I and our evening chess games, and one of the greatest Czech delicacies...smažený sýr.(fried cheese)