Week 74: Rainy Day, Sunny Day, Snowy Day

Hello everybody,

Week

This was a really excellent week here in Kharkiv! We are seeing some very exciting things happening. I so loved Zone Conference and the teachings that were shared! There was so much to learn and now to begin to apply into our missionary work. I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue to set goals and improve the work that I can do for the Lord and these people.

At the beginning of this week we had an opportunity to do a little mini exchange with Poltava prior to Zone Conference the following night. This went very well! I was with Elder Hamilton, it was really cool to find out how much he has changed in just a couple transfer since when I was with him in Dnipro. His Russian has improved a lot and he has strong faith and love for these people! He's a great missionary. We were able to talk with many people as we contacted together that evening.

Zone Conference

I really enjoyed Zone Conference this week we talked a lot about how we should have great love for these people. About how they are our brothers and sisters. I think a deeper understanding of the plan of salvation really does help us to understand, just how much these other are in need of the Gospel in their lives. We have a big responsibility. The mission is also such a great blessing. There was great teaching and other new invitations regarding members of the church. It's a very exciting time. I feel like in the last few months we have really begun to lengthen our stride in working with members. Especially in these two branches Dnipro Center and Kharkiv Center. It has really helped our investigators to start strong bonds with those we made teaching. And helps members of the branch become more missionary minded. I've seen some great changes in the last little while and I'm excited about this moving forward.

One of the things from Zone Conference was that we want to begin to do these little.stop by meetings with members to check in and see how they're doing!

We were able to do one 5 minute visit with some returning members that live in the Northern part of our area and that went really great! They were happy to let us in and have us leave a blessing on their home! They're such great people and it was good to get to know them and let them know that we are thinking about them.

Weather

This week it snowed and rained and melted and it was warm and cold and confusing. But now it's just cloudy so there you go. The temperature is about to drop hard though so watch out everybody.

Camera

I found this super cool old camera in Dnipro and it still works and today I'm gonna a go buy some film for and we are gonna a see what magic we can make happen. Hopefully pictures to comes soon.

People

At the moment we are teaching many different people! Dima who's first time in church was last week is progressing really fast! He came to the home evening activity in the branch on Monday. Then we had a lesson with him on Friday. He since monday had really began to deeply study the scriptures and he was so excited to come and ask his questions and share what he had uncovered for himself. He hadn't prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true yet. But he said he'd said prayers of gratitude that there is such a book as this. It's amazing to see how in 2 weeks he's completely changed. At the beginning of our meetings he was unsure if there even is a God and now he is praying and reading and coming to church! It's a blessing to be apart of. We this week are going to invite him to be baptized and we are really excited for him! He's a great young brother. He made it to church this week as well! The Younger members of the branch this time all kind of swarmed him and got to know him and then took him to Sunday school with them. Which was really great! He was really excited to be there.

We also had 2 new people make it to church this week Valeri and Vladimir! Valeri was found by Elder Knowlton when he was here earlier in the week on a mini exchange with Elder Payne. We were able to take him on a branch tour on Saturday and sit down to tell him more about the Book of Mormon. He's a very interesting man. He really enjoyed church. I am very impressed with our branch we have very spiritual and inspiring meetings. It's a blessing to be able to invite those we teach and know that they will be able to deeply feel the Spirit. Vladimir is a contact from the phone that I called, Dima is as well. He came to church and we had him sit with a member and that went really great the really got along well and he had a friend his first day in church. We haven't had the opportunity to do a lesson with him yet, but he really enjoyed church and we will find time to do one this week.

We also began teaching a man Aleksander. He is a really kind man. He came to our meeting about 30 minutes early and so of course we weren't in the branch yet. But a member was there and talked with him for quite a while until we were able to arrive. It's so important that we involve members in teaching. They can help these people to understand in sometimes ways that we cannot. They have strong testimony that really hit home often for those that we are teaching. We had a good lesson with him and felt that he is prepared to learn more about this message. He was unable to come to church this week due to previous engagements but said this following week he'll make it.

It was a really good week and I'm glad to have many people to teach. As we have been saying goodbye to those who aren't quite yet prepared the Lord has definitely blessed us with more people to teach who are ready to accept the gospel!

Spiritual Thought

"Dear Fellow Missionary:

We congratulate you on the great opportunity you have to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no more compelling work than this, nor any which brings greater satisfaction.

-The First Presidency" (PMG).

Its soooooo true!!! Missionary work is such a blessing and in it there is so much joy! I hope you pray for opportunities to share the Gospel with those you know, those you meet, and with your family! The Lord will bless you!

Love,

Elder Halls