Hello! This last transfer was probably one of the fastest transfers ever. Next one should be good too.
Well, it's start of the new transfer, and I'm happy to still be serving still in Shoovalova with Elder Anthony! We are starting to see success with our investigators slowly but surely, and we are finding more investigators to teach.
Elders Haddock, Andersen (small), Hunt and Nielsen went home today. 5 new missionaries came in, and our mission is getting younger and younger every transfer.
We now help a Grandma~Babushka named Raisa in our branch to go to church every week. She is in a wheelchair, so one of the branch members comes to pick her up and we all carry her down 3 flights of stairs, as the elevator is too small... She is a really nice lady. Hard to be mad at her house.
This last week week we met with lots of church members. We've been trying to get two less actives named Myakishev and Faik to come back to church, as they both only have the Aaronic Priesthood. They both are nice guys and know that the church is true, but they have some quirks that are holding them back. Myakishev thinks that he is too old to come to church, but he travels around all the time to paint, so we showed him that that wasn't the case. He said he already knows everything so it is boring to go, and so we felt that we need to talk about the Sacrament with him and talk to him about the importance of it. Even if we do know everything (and nobody does), we still have the opportunity to show the Lord our faith, and also remember our baptismal covenants with the Lord. We can be in a setting with other people who want to feel the Spirit, and we can feel more support in our life from God.
Faik has some problems with his health, as he is sick a lot with stomach problems, and he also has talked about how he is a little afraid of responsibility that comes with the Priesthood. We had a lesson about how we can only receive more blessings if we accept responsibility and the Lord will help us with whatever he asks. Faik was really open with us and he wants to start coming back. We are hoping that his health with get better, as that is a big factor to him not coming to church.
We had a cool meeting with our Buddhist investigator, Galina yesterday. Earlier this week she told us that she knew more than we did and there was nothing that we could teach her, but we met with her, asked her questions about what she believed, and she gave her a basic run down of the Plan of Salvation. We left the meeting not knowing how it would affect her, and she called us later and said that she changed her mind and wants a Book of Mormon and wants us to teach her. Success! We know the Spirit was really helping us out during that lesson.
Our other, new investigator, Valerii is really hard to meet with. We met with him last week, but only succeeded in giving him a restoration DVD. He is a really funny guy, but we are wondering if he really wants the messages, or to talk with us because we are American? That happens way too often.
That's pretty much what is new with Elder Anthony and I. Looking forward to this transfer!
I got your envelope with photos the other day and that was great! Thanks a ton! The only problem with mail that day was they sent back the first letter I sent to mom, even though everything on the letter was written correctly, and the second letter isn't as good as the first one... I'll resend it as soon as I can.
I know that the Church is true and that the Lord is leading us. I've realized that the Lord has a specific purpose for every single person on the Earth, and as long as you are trying your hardest, you are doing what the Lord wants you to do, even if you don't see the results that you think you should. He wants us to all come unto Him, but He wants US to want that. He forgives us so easily of our shortcomings and our sins, and just wants us to listen to Him. I know that I wasn't sent to a place where I will see a lot of baptisms and where faith is still fairly young, but I know that He is happy with us that we are trying. Just like Mormon or Nephi or Job, or especially Jesus Christ, they had hard times, and didn't see the success that they would have liked, but they helped so many others through their work later on because if they hadn't done it, then others wouldn't have continued it. I love this Church.
I love my family and my friends, both back at home and here that I have met in Russia. I had a song that I listened to before my mission stuck in my head today. "If I had a chance for another try, I wouldn't change a thing; It's made me all of who I am inside and if I could thank God that I am here in that I am alive, and everyday I wake, I tell myself a little harmless lie: The whole wide world is mine."
The Lord God has offered us the world and more, everything He hath, if we will follow Him.
The Lord God has offered us the world and more, everything He hath, if we will follow Him.
Take care of yourselves! I love you! God be with you! Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling! Peace!
Blake
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