Week 82: Не в своей тарелке

Woah!! General Conference, that was soooooo good! I hope you all had the chance to watch it! I've still got one session to go but wow! So many good talks!! 

And it came to pass in the ninth month of the reign of Elder Payne upon the land of Kharkiv the time did come for him to hand over the judgement seat to another.

Elder Halls with the people were much saddened by the departure of their beloved leader in the work. 

For behold, they did have many great works together in that land. 

The time did come for another to reign in his stead, and it came to pass that Elder Wilson was called up from the Southern Lands to govern in the place of Elder Payne together with Elder Halls in the land of Kharkiv. 

(В память: Ст. Расмусен) 

Неделя

This was a really productive week! We found that we were so busy with different things that it was a little bit of a challenge to find time to just be out on the streets to be getting our daily dose of fresh air. To compensate we spent some of our time on the Балконе же that we have in the apartment. All in all it was an exciting week and I feel energized and prepared to continue rolling forward with the successes that we've seen this week into the next one!

Люди!! 

-We were finally about to have an actual lesson with Dmitry which was really great! It's been a challenge to contact him as I've said but it worked out that he had some time this week and we were able to do a voice call through Facebook! He still wants to be baptized and wants to get back to Kharkiv as soon as he can. It's been a challenging few weeks for him but he's learned a lot of things and is still progressing forward! We should finish the rest of the lessons with him soon and we'll make a plan for his path to baptism this week!

-Dima is doing tremendously! He's really been welcomed into the branch and has a good friendship with many of the members and they've really loved and embraced him. This Sunday we had a testimony meeting with the branch. We had about 18 members all joined into a Zoom call and Dima took the opportunity to bear his testimony! It was so powerful! Especially to see how he's grown and how in just 3 months the Gospel has completely changed his life! I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to take a small part in that and witness the power of the Gospel in the lives of others!! He wants to go the temple and really enjoyed listening to his first General Conference! Recently he spoke with his parents about the church and feels there has been some good progress since from what they first thought about it all. He's got a great desire to serve as a missionary and will be a marvelous one!

-We had a lesson this week with a couple of returning members that went very well! We extended an invitation to watch Conference! The brothers Вячеслав and Paddy were very excited at the prospect. It was cool to see how many accepted that invitation to watch Conference and I hope they felt the special messages that the Lord prepared for them! It's interesting to listen to the words of our leaders and hear the words that you hope some of the people you're teaching will hear as well! Words that you feel they really need. I thought of much I would hope for them to know from what was shared! I realized that as missionaries we can teach with that same power and help them know these things with that same clarity! I want to make it a goal to strive and teach in such a way! 

- We've been greatly blessed and we've got a bunch of others we are working with as well it's been great!!!

Also side note:

Примечание?

In calling nations of people on the phone I always find the greatest conversations are with the Grandfathers who usually have 2 or 3 grandchildren already. For whatever reason we seem to have much in common and so we've got a bunch to talk about and in about 10 minutes we go from strangers to good ole buddies. However, non of them want to do online meetings because it's too strange to them(( But, you should all see my after quarantine list- he's огромный!;) 

Новые Идеи?! (I.e. mixing it up?)

This week we tried something new and started our very first Book of Mormon club on Zoom! It went fairly well! We had six in attendance and some of those people that often come to English practice asked great questions showing their interest in the Gospel message and we were able to answer their questions. It was a good setting as we read in both English and Russian answering questions and discussing in Russian we felt it was a good balance! 

We also had a very successful English practice with 9 different people that joined in! It was a big improvement from the first one we did just 2 weeks ago! We hope as we continue to have English practice we'll see great and continued success! Many of the people that attended were members or returning members so it's good to be able to support them and have that additional opportunity to see and uplift!

Also, people just leave the Zoom call at awkward times. We can't really understand it or do anything to stop it soo...

Ukraine

Now we be wearing masks on the street! They're good masks. I feel a little bit like Bane from Batman but hey safety first.

Everyone be wearing masks though so it's all good.

Also no groups bigger than 2 in public so that's a crazy twist!

Spiritual Thought

Alright General Conference where to even start! If you didn't have the chance to watch! Then stop reading this and go get started haha! 

But I'd just like to share my testimony of divine revelation in our day!! Any sincere, humble, seeker of truth will find the truth for which he seeks as he listens to the voices of the Prophets and Apostles found in the scriptures and at General Conference! 

"For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." - 2 Nephi 31:3

Heavenly  Father and Jesus Christ are able to teach and lift the willing and humble soul. They work with us so we can understand what They are trying to say!! We will find GREAT joy as we follow Them!!

Amongst all the change I'm grateful to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm grateful to be in Ukraine at this time and realize what a blessing it truly is to serve the Lord and his people!  

Love you,

Elder Halls

We paid rent for a couple apartments so they loaded up our cards with the big hryvnias.

That's Elder Payne!