The stone is rolling

It is an incredible blessing to see the kingdom of the Lord growing in this little corner of the world. It's amazing to see people's lives change as they accept the restored gospel and come closer to the Savior Jesus Christ. I feel like we saw a lot of that here this week, and it made me quite excited!

On Saturday, a medical student named Eric (from Cameroon) was baptized! It was an incredible experience to watch his friend Evalday (from Ghana) baptize him. The Spirit was so strong as members and investigators from at least three other countries gathered to take part in this sacred ordinance. The Ukrainian members of the branch especially got fired up about the baptism - it very much rekindled their enthusiasm for missionary work, and yesterday at church there were more people in attendance than I have seen for a while. It was especially touching to listen to Eric bear his testimony after his baptism - he said it in French, which was then translated by Evalday into English, which was then translated into Russian. That was neat. It's so exciting to see the church grow! And there will be three more baptisms this Saturday, and hopefully a couple more the week after that. Pretty soon this little English group is going to be a real branch!

Earlier this week, Sister Bates and I had marvelous plans to spend the day in Sevastopol. But, as sometimes happens, that morning they fell through and we were left with an open day to spend in Simferopol. That turned out to be a miracle - all of the missionaries had previous engagements, so nobody had been planning on teaching the weekly Family Home Evening, but since our day was now open, we were able to. Christina and Anton (one of my favorite married couples in the entire world!) had been planning on coming. How we found them was kind of a miracle in an of itself. One night, Sister Bates and I met a woman named Ira who accepted a Book of Mormon. A couple days later, we received a call from a woman we didn't know, telling us we had met her mother-in-law and that she wanted to know about our English practice. So Christina and Anton began coming to English practice. (At first we were worried that the only reason they had come was to return the Book of Mormon that Ira didn't want anymore after all, but when they kept coming even after that first time, Sister Bates and I became really good friends with them.) This was going to be their first FHE, and we were grateful that we got to teach them the lesson. We read 3 Nephi 11 together and had an incredible discussion about Christ's love for each of us and how God hears and answers our prayers. Anton even cried at one point, which was incredibly touching. They felt the Spirit so strongly, and even though they told us they don't have time to read the Book of Mormon right now, I know that as they continue to have spiritual experiences like that one, they will become even more interested in the church. And eventually get sealed to each other and their little girl. :) I quite love that little family.

As a little side note, which doing some contacting this week, we met some really nice students from Iraq. We talked with one boy for well over an hour, and he very much ate up the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, Word of Wisdom, and Law of Chastity. (Also, I have never in my life seen anybody get so excited about the law of chastity - I was quite proud of him.) I don't think I've ever thrown that much doctrine at somebody in such a short frame of time, but he was highly eager to know what we believed. That was quite enjoyable. :)

English church yesterday was incredible! We had a very powerful testimony meeting. I was especially touched when Andrey stood up and said that he would try to bear his testimony. He had worked all morning writing and preparing a paper entitled "my speech," which he delivered wonderfully. I was touched as he recounted events in his life where he had seen God's hand and where God had answered his prayers. That man has grown and changed so much since we first met him two months ago! I'm so proud of him.

Eunice and Ombili, two students from Namibia who we are teaching, came to the Russian branch with their friend Ben, who is a member. (They usually come to the English branch, but since Ben has been going to the Russian branch for years, he wanted to go there yesterday.) I love those two girls so much! They are really coming to love the Book of Mormon, and they both felt the Spirit as they were at church. We had an incredible lesson in Sunday school about prophets. (I was excited that I got to translate that one into English for them so that I could explain to them a little more as we went - that lesson was so perfect for them!) These two young women are incredible, and it is inspiring to see their love of the Lord and their desire to follow Him. I was also very touched when Ombili told me about how the Book of Mormon spoke directly to her. It is so exciting to see people I love so much come closer to Christ and strengthen their faith in Him!

Another highlight of Russian church yesterday was little Elya passing the sacrament for his first time. His older brother passed it with him, and his father blessed it. And twelve-year-old Elya was just glowing! I was quite touched. The church really is growing here, both through baptism and through parents raising their children in truth and righteousness. I'm so grateful that I get to be here right now taking part in this marvelous work!!

- Sharisa