family and friends,
I know you all already got to watch conference, but we got to this weekend and it was so good! I was amazed at how many very personal experiences were shared, but how they can have an impact on a wide variety of people. I of course loved Elder Holland's talk about the apostles in Christ's time. As I read the New Testament this last time, I thought the exact same thing--that the apostles were kind of like "children"--so young in the gospel. I found a new respect and love for the apostles back then because of the great faith and work that they had and did. I also loved Elder Eyring's talk and Elder Bowen's talk. Well, they were all good of course! Anyway, it was a great experience. We listened to it in English in one room, and the church members listened to it in Russian in another room. I am grateful for the age change of missionaries and we anticipate that there will be a lot more missionaries!! It's exciting.
Well, we had a really good week. We found Ludmilla!! She finally answered her phone and explained that her and her husband had been fighting, so she moved out of there and in with her daughter and grand-daughter. We had a great lesson with her and talked about baptism, and she will get baptized in a few weeks! (if all goes as planned of course!). She is amazing! We met with her again later that week and she had finished the book of mormon (like we asked her to), but then started it over again because in her words "once is not enough!". We taught her the law of chastity/word of wisdom, and she willingly agreed to follow both of the laws. I remember about 3 weeks ago, sister johnson and I gave her a strength of youth pamphlet. So when we started asking her if she had any problems with the word of wisdom, she was like "I read that brochure and I found out you don't drink coffee or tea, so I stopped and I haven't drank for a few weeks now." I was so happy and so impressed!! She came to conference on sunday with her grand-daughter, and stayed both sessions and had a great time with the members! She is so prepared and so awesome! I feel like such a lucky missionary to teach someone this prepared. But we still have the responsibility of making sure she is prepared, and we are trying our hardest. We also met with another woman for the second time, named Janna. She is the one who used to kind of be athiest, and now believes in God. We taught her the Restoration and watched the movie with her. She thought it was very interesting and really liked it. It was cool to see her reaction and she is such a nice lady. Other than that, we are working a lot with the branch, and doing a LOT of finding. Sometimes its rough, but we get through it. We meet some good people like this girl named Lena that we met last week. She told us she goes to church and she likes church and everything, but that the Bible isn't clear sometimes. She wants to meet with us soon and I hope it works out! The other night we were contacting on the street on our way home and we talked to this one guy and then his friend came up and was talking to us. They were asking me why God doesn't protect them in their time of need, etc. and I was just testifying that God is always there for us, no matter what. Then they just changed from being slightly argumentative, to calm and friendly. They even gave us the advice that "at this time of night you should not be on the streets, it is not permitted for you, it is dangerous out here!" haha it made us laugh and we went on our way home.
The weather here has been crazy crazy. Last week it was still warm, then we had a few rainy days and it was really cold! I even pulled out my pea coats and sweaters and boots and tights. Now all of the sudden today it feels like humid and warm. It will get cold soon, and I will be prepared with all of my winter gear gathered. I'm looking forward to the winter even though missionary work in the Winter is quite different.
Well I love this work and this gospel! It's hard, but the thing that keeps me going is that I know the gospel is true, and it's as simple as that. I know there is a special work to be done here in Ukraine and it's pretty great to be apart of it. I thank you all for your support and prayers, I really feel the strength from them. I love you all! Keep the Faith!!
cectpa demille
I know you all already got to watch conference, but we got to this weekend and it was so good! I was amazed at how many very personal experiences were shared, but how they can have an impact on a wide variety of people. I of course loved Elder Holland's talk about the apostles in Christ's time. As I read the New Testament this last time, I thought the exact same thing--that the apostles were kind of like "children"--so young in the gospel. I found a new respect and love for the apostles back then because of the great faith and work that they had and did. I also loved Elder Eyring's talk and Elder Bowen's talk. Well, they were all good of course! Anyway, it was a great experience. We listened to it in English in one room, and the church members listened to it in Russian in another room. I am grateful for the age change of missionaries and we anticipate that there will be a lot more missionaries!! It's exciting.
Well, we had a really good week. We found Ludmilla!! She finally answered her phone and explained that her and her husband had been fighting, so she moved out of there and in with her daughter and grand-daughter. We had a great lesson with her and talked about baptism, and she will get baptized in a few weeks! (if all goes as planned of course!). She is amazing! We met with her again later that week and she had finished the book of mormon (like we asked her to), but then started it over again because in her words "once is not enough!". We taught her the law of chastity/word of wisdom, and she willingly agreed to follow both of the laws. I remember about 3 weeks ago, sister johnson and I gave her a strength of youth pamphlet. So when we started asking her if she had any problems with the word of wisdom, she was like "I read that brochure and I found out you don't drink coffee or tea, so I stopped and I haven't drank for a few weeks now." I was so happy and so impressed!! She came to conference on sunday with her grand-daughter, and stayed both sessions and had a great time with the members! She is so prepared and so awesome! I feel like such a lucky missionary to teach someone this prepared. But we still have the responsibility of making sure she is prepared, and we are trying our hardest. We also met with another woman for the second time, named Janna. She is the one who used to kind of be athiest, and now believes in God. We taught her the Restoration and watched the movie with her. She thought it was very interesting and really liked it. It was cool to see her reaction and she is such a nice lady. Other than that, we are working a lot with the branch, and doing a LOT of finding. Sometimes its rough, but we get through it. We meet some good people like this girl named Lena that we met last week. She told us she goes to church and she likes church and everything, but that the Bible isn't clear sometimes. She wants to meet with us soon and I hope it works out! The other night we were contacting on the street on our way home and we talked to this one guy and then his friend came up and was talking to us. They were asking me why God doesn't protect them in their time of need, etc. and I was just testifying that God is always there for us, no matter what. Then they just changed from being slightly argumentative, to calm and friendly. They even gave us the advice that "at this time of night you should not be on the streets, it is not permitted for you, it is dangerous out here!" haha it made us laugh and we went on our way home.
The weather here has been crazy crazy. Last week it was still warm, then we had a few rainy days and it was really cold! I even pulled out my pea coats and sweaters and boots and tights. Now all of the sudden today it feels like humid and warm. It will get cold soon, and I will be prepared with all of my winter gear gathered. I'm looking forward to the winter even though missionary work in the Winter is quite different.
Well I love this work and this gospel! It's hard, but the thing that keeps me going is that I know the gospel is true, and it's as simple as that. I know there is a special work to be done here in Ukraine and it's pretty great to be apart of it. I thank you all for your support and prayers, I really feel the strength from them. I love you all! Keep the Faith!!
cectpa demille
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Looking out our apartment window |
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