My First Baptism!

I had the first baptism of my mission on Saturday! It was an older woman named Nina, and she is so sweet. I've only taught her a couple times, but I love her so much. Her story is pretty neat. The elders were tracting one day and they ran into her and asked her if she'd heard of the Book of Mormon. She replied, "Oh, yes. I've read that." The elders incredulously asked what she had read of it and she replied, "All of it. And I've read the Doctrine and Covenants, too." She is an incredible scholar of religion and has an entire room in her apartment dedicated to her books and magazines on religion. During lessons she sits there and takes so many notes in one of her numerous notebooks and just accepts everything you tell her. She's wonderful! And she's really good at ping-pong - she gave me some good coaching as we were playing in the branch the other day before her baptismal interview.

The baptismal service was wonderful! We rode a marshutka (there are some videos of these on youtube if you're interested - they're these intense van/bus things that everybody uses for transportation here) for a good while out to the only branch in Dnepropetrovsk that has a baptismal "font." I was surprised to see this little pool that they'd set up in the kitchen for the baptism. I'll have to send pictures of it later. The Spirit was really strong at the baptism and it was definitely a neat experience. I really loved hearing the members bear their testimonies and welcome Nina into the ward. I got to play the piano for the service, and that was a lot of fun, especially our interlude hymn singing. Then yesterday Nina was confirmed in church, which was also a spiritual experience. It was so exciting to play a role in helping her come unto Christ, and I hope we can help her stay faithful for the rest of her life.

It's always kind of funny to introduce myself to people. "Nay" means both "her" and "no," depending on the spelling. My name is spelled differently than either of those words, but since I can't wear my nametag right now, people can't tell that and so they think that I'm either Sister Her or Sister No. It's pretty exciting.

We found out this past week that those of us who just got here are not allowed to proselyte. :( We can still teach lessons, but we can't talk to people on the streets unless they talk to us first. That's been really hard, because I'm dying to talk to these people and share with them the gospel! I feel a little bit like Mormon, when he was so eager to preach to his people but the Lord commanded him not to. It's really hard to just stand by and smile as my companion talks to people about the Church, because usually they don't ask me questions. And she doesn't particularly like having to do it by herself, either. So hopefully our visa issues will be resolved soon and we'll be able to proselyte and wear our name tags again. We are going to Bulgaria in a month for our visa trip, so I think that everything should be worked out after that. Until then, I'll just try to smile as much as possible so that maybe eventually somebody will approach me and ask a question.

It's really hot here! Especially in the marshuktas. And in the non-air-conditioned Left Bank branch. President says it gets a lot hotter and more humid as well, so that should be exciting. We're going shopping today for a fan for our apartment, which will help.

This past Friday there were a number of bombs that went off in Dnepropetrovsk. (Reports here are mixed, and we're not exactly sure what happened, so those of you with internet access probably know more of the details than I do.) No missionaries were injured, and we're all doing well. President Nielsen picked us up from Center Branch shortly after the bombs and drove us back to our apartment and we weren't allowed to work in Center for the rest of the day. The next day, we weren't allowed on the street Karla Marksa (where the explosions had been) but other than that everything was back to normal. There are still a large number of policemen on the streets, but that's about all the after-effect I can see. During the whole thing, starting from getting the first phone call at about noon to not take the trambyes, until President drove us home that afternoon we all felt pretty calm. God takes care of His missionaries.

We had a funny experience the day of the bombs. One of our investigators was going to meet us at Center Branch for a lesson. We got there a little early so that Sister Hooker could practice her musical number for the baptism. A member was there waiting for some elders to have a lesson, but he got a call from them saying that all missionaries were supposed to be in their residences. We were told to wait there until they could come pick us up (since phone service was down and they didn't want to lose us). When the member left, he locked the door. Unbeknownst to us, you can't unlock the doors from the inside. Yeah . . . They have those huge, old-fashioned keys that turn like three bolts and they only work from one direction. So we were locked in the branch for like two hours. Finally, President Nielsen arrived - but he didn't have his key with him so he had to go all the way back to the mission office to get it. I don't think we've ever been so excited to get out of a church in our lives. :) But that's probably one of the best places you could ever get locked in. 

I love the feeling of being a missionary! I know that this message I am out here sharing is true, and I want so badly for the people of Dnepropetrovsk to hear and accept it. I'm grateful for this opportunity to share my testimony of my Savior.
--Sharisa