Four Cities, Five Companions

After spending the past week in four different cities with five different companions, I am pleased to say that all registration confusion has been resolved and I am permanently back in Simferopol. (Permanent meaning I really pray that I don't get transferred ever . . . but for the time being I am here.) The experiences of the past couple weeks have honestly been a turning point in my mission, and I will be forever grateful for all that I have learned.

As a philosophizing side-note, I remember early in my mission coming back from a zone conference thinking, "Wow! That was incredible! I am never going to be who I was before. From this day on I am a changed missionary and person." And in my brand-new missionary way, I thought it was as simple as that. But I soon learned that becoming a perfect missionary does not happen over night. Or over a few months. And now I have come to see that such a change will not even come during the course of our missions. But each experience like that - each moment of resolution and deciding to never return to where we once were - is a defining point in our lives. And while we do not suddenly become perfect with each resolution to do so, we make steps in the right direction. I am incredibly grateful for each of those moments God gives us where we are able to recommit ourselves to Him and learn to give a little bit more than we have been able to give before. These past two weeks have truly been that for me, and I'm grateful that God gave me those experiences in order to help me become the missionary He needs me to be for the rest of my mission.

I spent the first couple days this week in Simferopol with Sister Peterson, who was the MTC companion of my actual companion, Sister Burgoyne. Sister Peterson and I had wonderful adventures and saw miracles. We were able to meet with Tatiana, an inactive member that we visit each month. We had missed our appointment with her the week before, due to being several hundred kilometers away, and since she doesn't have a phone and we were unable to notify her that we would not be coming, we were worried that she would be upset. But we were greeted on Tuesday by a very cheerful babushka Tatiana who was endlessly delighted that we had come. It felt good to spend that time with her, reading and discussing the gospel. I was especially touched when she informed us that it had been 41 days since we had last stopped by - sometimes the little things we do make a much bigger difference to people than we realize. It also brought a little bit of joy to my heart when she asked for multiple reprints of the photos we had brought her so that she could send them to all her relatives to show them that this 81-year-old Tatiana is still alive. :) She just makes me happy.

Tuesday we were also joined by some of our Dnepropetrovsk-serving sisters who also needed to do registration in Simferopol. It was a joy to see my MTC companion, Sister Lewis again and catch up on the last several months of our lives.  I also got to know her companion, Sister Neilsen, with whom I spent three of the most energetic contacting hours of my life. I honestly have never met anybody so completely happy and excited about everything. 'Twas quite a joy to go on exchanges with her and Sister Lewis.

I spent the majority of Wednesday on transportation, first being a train up to Zaporozhye, where we met up with the sisters there. President vanBruggen had asked Sister Hodgson and I to come to the mission leadership council in Dnepr on Thursday, so she and I took a bus from Zaporozhye up to Dnepr. That meeting on Thursday was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The Spirit was so strong as we discussed the successes, progress, and needs of our mission. I was a blessing to be able to interact with our incredible zone leaders who are truly men of God and who are leading this mission the way God wants them to. I left that meeting incredibly motivated to become more like Christ and help everybody around me - missionaries, members, investigators - also come closer to Him. There are so many miracles happening in this mission right now, and I'm so grateful to be here and be a part of it! I appreciated the story that President vanBruggen told us about how we are giving away so many copies of the Book of Mormon that the distribution center in Frankfurt called us in concern to know what we were doing with all of them. We truly are flooding this land with the Book of Mormon.

Sister Burgoyne's registration was still not done by the time we returned to Zaporozhye Thursday night, so we spent Friday working in Zaporozhye again. I was incredibly grateful for that experience for a number of reasons. For one, I was able to meet Elder Knopp, the first 18-year-old missionary in our mission. He - like the rest of our missionaries - is absolutely incredible and is an inspiration to me. I was also able to teach Aleksander, that man that Sister Peterson and I found last week in Zaporozhye. His wife was unable to come, but we are praying that the two of them and their three children will all accept the gospel together. Alekcander was amazing - he was so interested in everything we were saying, and he had even started watching the Restoration film himself on the website. One of my favorite moments was when the member on the lesson was talking about how the missionaries had knocked on her door in answer to her prayers. Aleksander, a little put-out replied, "Wait! The missionaries have never knocked on my door!" I reminded him that we had met him on the street, and that it was okay, because he'd met the missionaries. I really pray that that little family will enter the waters of baptism! I'm grateful I got to work with them a little.

Another blessing of being in Zaporozhye was receiving a referral from an investigator (that Sister Burgoyne and Sister Hodgson had found that week) for somebody in Simferopol! God truly does know what He is doing. When we returned to Simferopol on Saturday, we were able to contact that referral and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and is interested in meeting. While working in that area, we met a nice Muslim woman who told us that we needed to talk to her neighbor who had just had a baby. We knocked on her door, and she also accepted a Book of Mormon and wants to meet. It's incredible to me how small and simple things really do bring about miracles.

On Sunday we were able to go out to Bogota where we did some translating for the senior missionary couple doing auditing with the branch presidents. It was a blessing to be able to interact with the members out there! I love that little branch. I was also able to talk to Galina, a wonderful woman who is basically a member but has not agreed to be baptized yet. We discussed baptism, and she told us she wants us to come to her house soon to discuss baptism. I'm incredibly excited about that!

We had a couple very wonderful lessons with Patricia this week. She is so excited for her baptism on Saturday, and she is doing great! I absolutely love her, and I can hardly wait until Saturday to see her enter the waters of baptism!

This is the work of the Lord, and I love it.

-Sharisa