Possibly Insightful Ramblings

We had an incredible first lesson this week with a woman named Lena. We met her contacting the previous week, and that in and of itself was kind of a neat story. (I don't remember if I already told this story, so I'm sorry if this is old news.) We were walking along a busy sidewalk and contacting. Quite frequently, when you try to contact in a busy area, you tend to somewhat aggravate the people who were behind you with your sudden stopping, so it is often not the best atmosphere for holding gospel conversations. But right after making the comment that this particular spot of the city was not going to be the most effective place for contacting, we stopped this older woman and began talking with her. She accepted a Book of Mormon and wanted to meet with us! So this week we met with her. She quite liked the Restoration and, although she said she needs to learn more before she will agree to be baptized, she promised to come to church as soon as her work schedule gives her a free...

There's a line in the call letter that every missionary receives which states that as we serve with all of our might, mind, and strength, the Lord will lead us to those who are prepared to be baptized. That's something that Sister Bates and I have thought and talked a lot about recently. There are not merely people in Simferopol who are prepared to listen to the Restoration, or prepared to read the Book of Mormon, or prepared to be nice to the missionary who accosts them on the streets, but people who have actually been prepared by the Lord for  baptism. There are people walking around here who are eager to enter into that covenant with the Lord. And that's something I've always believed as a missionary, but kind of in a far-off sort of way - yes, there are people somewhere who want to be baptized, but I don't know where or when we will see them, and until then we'll just work with the slowly progressing people we have. But this week we had an incredible expe...

We received some incredibly exciting news this week! The number of missionaries in the Dnepropetrovsk mission is going to almost double by the end of this year!!! We currently have about 50 missionaries, and by the end of December we are going to have 96. I'm super excited for all the implications of that increase - the work of the Lord is truly going to take off in this mission. And we also heard a rumor that with that increase, there are going to be sister missionaries in every branch of the mission, which thing would be quite joyous. This is truly an exciting time to be a part of the work of the Lord. We saw a lot of miracles this week. (And despite the fact that we see miracles every day as a missionary, it never gets old. I continually delight to see the hand of the Lord in our work and in our lives.) We had been doing some searching through our area book for former investigators that we could try to visit again, and we identified several that we wanted to try. S...

Merry (second) Christmas! This time, the snow actually stayed for Christmas, and Simferopol looks quite lovely covered in white. Also, I love how strollers are no longer the mode of transportation for all the babies, but that their parents pull them around the snow- and ice-covered sidewalks on little sleds. Quite adorable. Anyway, I feel like I'm probably one of the luckiest missionaries alive, because I get to celebrate two Christmases in the mission field while only missing one Christmas at home. I approve. Last night (Orthodox Christmas Eve) we were tracting. At one apartment, a very nice woman opened the door, and came out to greet us with her hands full of chocolate truffles. She looked at us and said in surprise, "Oh! I thought you were (insert Russian word here that neither of us knew, but that we assumed to mean something akin to trick-or-treaters)! But here, take these anyway!" Slightly taken aback, Sister Bates and I politely took a truffle, to which me...

Happy (almost) New Year! I quite like being in Ukraine at this time of year. It's almost like getting three Christmases - American Christmas on the 25th, then New Year (which is the biggest holiday here - complete with Santa Claus, trees, and presents - very similar to how we celebrate Christmas), and then Orthodox Christmas on January 7th. I approve of the continuation of the Christmas season - I enjoy having an excuse to keep up our decorations and continually sing Christmas hymns everywhere. I also love how complete strangers will pass you on the street and wish you a happy new year (snastupayashim = with the upcoming season = happy New Year). Ukrainians have a very wonderful tradition of wishing blessings on you, even if you don't know them very well. Most often it is the babushky who, after we've talked with them from anywhere from 2 seconds to half an hour on the street, wish us: everything the very best, good health (because that's the most important, as they alw...