Life

As missionaries, we spend a great deal of time looking and praying for "elect" people. We have faith that there are people in our areas of service that are looking for God and searching for the truth. And as elitist as the term "elect" may sound, it really isn't, because election is a choice - anybody who wants to search for and accept truth can. And indeed, we wish that every single person with whom we talk would choose to be elect! That would be grand. In light of this concept of election, we had a funny experience the other day. We were contacting through a park on our way home from Sevastopol (well, after we got off the bus - don't worry - we didn't try to walk the whole way home) and we met a really nice young couple. We began talking with them and invited them to English practice.

After a while of getting to know each other and laughing and having a good time, the girl asked, "Do you go around inviting everybody?" We replied that yes, as missionaries we invite everybody. 

"Oh," she replied with a mixture of laughter and disappointment. "I thought we were elect or something."

Sister Bates and I laughed about that later - most people don't tell us that they hoped they had been elect. But I really like those two young people, and I hope that they truly are elect, in the sense that they want to come closer to Jesus Christ. 

Yesterday I had the delightful opportunity of attending Young Women's with Sister Bates, one young woman, and the teacher. We had a very spiritual lesson about the plan of salvation, and I especially enjoyed role-playing teaching situations with Nadia. That young woman is such a stalwart member of the church! Even though she is almost always the only young woman at church and in seminary, she has such a strong testimony and is deeply rooted in the gospel. I look up to her a lot and want all of the members I know to have such dedication to the gospel. I think sometimes about how difficult it would be to be the only member of the church my age, and I am so proud of Nadia for her strength. And I'm super excited that she is already counting down the years until she can serve a full-time mission! She will be an incredible missionary. I really love the members here so much! Whether the branch president and his wife call us while we are tracting for some translation help as they study English or whether we are helping an elderly woman learn how to call people on her cell phone, I absolutely love interacting with my brothers and sisters here. I know that this is exactly where I need to be, and I'm so grateful that God has allowed me to be here now with them.

The church is true!

-Sharisa