Missionary Fun

Wow - wasn't General Conference amazing!? We had the incredible opportunity of watching it this week, and I was incredibly moved and inspired. There is something special about sitting in Simferopol's recently renovated Primary room watching Conference with other missionaries and a few English-speaking members and investigators. I was especially moved by the how so many of the speakers addressed the topic of peace, healing, and light that come through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that to be true - no matter what our pain or distress, the Savior can heal our souls and make our burdens light. I also very much appreciated the messages focused on families and missionary work. (That little Primary room was filled with much joy and laughter when Elder Nelson said, "Let's ask the missionaries! They will help us!" Indeed we shall.) Elder Anderson's talk on miracles also hit home with me. I have seen so many miracles on my mission, and I know that God is a God of miracles. He works through His chosen servants here on the earth today. The work of God truly is rolling forward, and He is in charge.

Monday night we spent some time talking to people in the rain. We met who are now two of my favorite people in the entire world, Saiid and Jumana. They are a brother and sister from Syria who are studying at the medical university here. Jumana knows English fairly well, but Saiid has only been studying it for three or four months and they both started learning Russian three months ago as well. So between a nice mixture of English and Russian (with some conferring between the siblings in Arabic) we're able to get by. They are honestly some of the sweetest people I have ever met and just radiate with kindness and goodness. We had our first lesson with them a little later in the week and they shared with us how their father was converted to Christianity so they were raised in a Christian home in Saudi Arabia, although they could not proclaim their faith openly. They were incredibly excited at the prospect of receiving their own copies of the Book of Mormon in Arabic, and I can hardly wait to teach them again! They make me happy.

Last week I mentioned a man named Anatoli. We were able to meet with him and his wife this week as well. And we found out they have five children! But we also found out they live in Dnepropetrovsk and won't be back in Simferopol until the summer when they will work here for a couple months. So we're excited that the missionaries up in Dnepr get to work with this religious family for a while, and I'm really hoping we'll get to continue teaching them when they return here. 

One morning this week we received a text message from our leaders, challenging us to invite a certain number of people to be baptized that day, whether in lessons or on the street. With that challenge in mind, we set out to do our work. At one point we began talking with a young mother and her daughter. The mother told us that she believes in God, but has never been baptized. (You can't really ask for a better opportunity than that to extend the baptismal invitation the first time you meet someone, right? Perfect.) We of course invited her to be baptized into the Church. She told us that she'd never even heard of our church before and would have to meet with us to learn what we believe first. (Also perfect.) I'm really excited about her! She ended up not being able to come to Conference this weekend like she'd wanted to, but we'll be meeting with her this week. I reflected on how, without that challenge from our leaders, we probably would have simply invited that woman to begin meeting with us and begin coming to church. But because we were focusing on inviting people to baptism, we were able to be very bold, and that helped her see for herself that she would need to meet with us and come to church. God's hand truly is in this work, from inspiring missionary leaders to preparing the hearts of His children.

We had a really great lesson with a member this week. Her name is Svetlana and we've worked with her before on helping her participate in missionary work. She shared with us how she has given away copies of the Book of Mormon to family members and we were able to role-play with her following-up to see if they've read and what their thoughts are on the book. It made me really excited to see members participating in missionary work! That truly is the way that works best for helping people prepare to enter into the covenant of baptism. As hard as we as missionaries work, we are in desperate need of the members to talk with their friends and family about the gospel and invite them to meet with us. That truly is, as President Hinckley said, the better way.

Patricia is doing great! We had a fabulous discussion with her and Tongai this week on repentance. We read Enos together and talked about the joy that comes from changing our lives and turning to God. That lesson was a powerful witness to me (again) of the role of members. Tongai has been through exactly what Patricia is feeling and is an incredible support to her. It is miraculous to see how completely prepared these young men and women from Africa are to receive the restored gospel. I'm so grateful to get to work with them!

We talked with Ombili this week and she shared with us how she knows for sure now that she wants to be baptized! God works in mysterious ways to prepare His children to receive the gospel.

Saturday night we were walking through the park and we met a wonderful little family with two children. We talked with them for a while, and it turns out that they are our neighbors! They asked us to share with them what we believe in our church and we had a nice discussion about the Book of Mormon and restoration. It was really good to get to know them and build that relationship. They are such a sweet family, and I pray that when they become coming to English practice, their hearts will be touched and they will want to hear even more the message of the restored gospel.

I know without a doubt that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of mankind. It is His message and truth that I am proclaiming to the people in Ukraine. I know that God lives and that He is aware of all of His children. And I love Him with all of my heart.

- Sharisa