Week 97: Igor's ready!

July 20, 2020

Hello everyone!!

This has been a really eventful and productive week! The biggest part of it I would say has been our teaching of Igor. I've grown to love this brother deeply! We quickly went through all the lessons. Most things he already remembered but there were a lot of other things that we were able to remind him and help him with and that was really good. Things like the Priesthood and the Sacrament. I felt that the spirit was a big help when we prayed to know what we should focus on as we worked with him. There were small and simple promptings that came that we then followed and felt good about. It's amazing to me to see the peace that he feels as he prepares for his baptism. He's very grateful for the work and things we have been doing to help him prepare for his baptism and also get his baptismal service ready and planned. He will be baptized this Saturday. We have been able to talk about everything with the branch leaders and we should have a great baptismal service. I'm so impressed with the Kharkiv Center branch. It's like all hands on deck. Everyone is ready to help and do their part! So much support.

We had an exciting lesson with a couple new brothers that we have begun teaching. To one of them we were able to give a Book of Mormon this past week. His name is Mohammed. As we started the lesson Mohammed asked if his friend could join for our lesson! We of course were excited about that prospect. We learned that his friend's name is also Mohammed. For clarity I will refer to them as Mohammed (1) and Mohammed (2). Both Mohammeds were so polite and excited about learning more about our special message. Mohammed (2) remembered meeting with some other missionaries in the past, even Elder Rasmussen! He really enjoyed what we said about prayer. His native language is Persian but in his religion they are only allowed to pray in Arabic. So he doesn't understand what they are praying about. He was really touched by the prayers we said as this was his first experience with a prayer that he could understand. I thought that was very powerful to reflect on the importance of prayer and take a moment to talk with them about prayer! They are really free and want to talk more often. They didn't have time to come to church this week but we look forward to continuing to teach them.

We had a small miracle that occurred this week. One evening for dinner we went to a restaurant and bought some sandwiches which we took home to eat. While we were at the place we met a young lady named Nadyezhda. She was working at this restaurant and as she handed us our order she asked us a few questions about which church we were from, where our building is and so forth! It was miraculous, we were excited to give her contact to the sisters and have them answer some of her questions and invite her to learn more!

So far I've really enjoyed our efforts to find ways we can serve here where we are and around in the community. So far we have just been picking up garbage on the streets and that has been really great. It's been good to try and find places that aren't too crowded but that could use some cleaning up and that has been successful. This week we had one man who saw us and said that we were doing a good job and that we were good people for wanting to clean the streets up.

We spent a lot of time making phone calls this week. And that has been successful. We have plenty of conversations and talk with lots of people each week using Facebook messenger and our other tools that we have on our smartphones. I think I've learned a lot about how to best communicate with these people. As always was the case it's best when we are natural and kind and invite them to learn more with sincerity!

We have some preparations that we are taking care of this week to help us get ready for Igor's baptism. We set some goals to do some more lessons with members as well. I hope and pray that things will continue to get better and we will continue to see the church grow here in Kharkiv and continue in the building of this to be a Stake of Zion.

Spiritual Thought

This week I've read more Conference talks than I think I every had in my life so I really just want to share a bunch of my favorite quotes and encourage you to study the words of the living Prophets and Apostles!! Yeah LIVING prophets and Apostles!! Of course we should listen intently to their words.

My most favorite talk was from Elder Uchtdorf it's called, "Bearers of Heavenly Light"

"We can heal spiritually.

Even the deepest spiritual wounds—yes, even those that may appear to be incurable—can be healed.

My dear friends, the healing power of Jesus Christ is not absent in our day."

"Christ’s light brings hope, happiness, and healing of any spiritual wound or ailment. Those who experience this refining influence become instruments in the hands of the Light of the World to give light to others."

Love you all!

Elder Halls