Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
-Isaiah 12 2-3

Monday, August 20, 2012

08-13-12


August 13, 2012
"Watermelon...это...good!" "Good job Oleg!"
Hey there everyone!

Woah, it's pretty crazy to hear what all is going on with marriages and trips and stuff! That's way cool that Thomas is getting married. Who's the girl? Where'd they meet? Is Thomas already done in college? (What is he majoring in anyways?) Ya'll be safe in making trips, alright? :)

This has been a pretty great week! We set a baptismal date with one of our main investigators, and it sounds like it's gonna be happening on this Saturday! Yay! This week in teaching her has been incredible. After a bit of break in being able to reach her and teach her we had a rock solid lesson on Monday night wherein we discussed the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and it was awesome. She'd had no time to meet because the weather has been lousy and she's had guests come in and out a lot, but she spent a lot of time in the Book of Mormon and her testimony and spirituality simply grew a ton even just by reading it. When we first were teaching her she didn't understand a lot, but her faith was great and her desire to learn was huge (in fact, she had in the past quit smoking by praying really hard and asking for help from God). She bore powerful testimony of the blessings of the Atonement in her life and her surety that she can receive a full forgiveness of her sins. Pretty cool. She lives already by the Word of Wisdon, so that's a great blessing.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but every Sunday here in Marks the missionaries give talks during Sacrament. It was pretty tense at first, being really new in the branch and not really knowing anyones situation, along with trying to give a fully 15 minute good talk in Russian. But I really have learned a lot from preparing a talk every week for sacrament meeting. In preparing talks I've been able to delve so much into the scriptures, pulling refrences from all over the Bible, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and using them to help share the Gospel with members. It's reminded me just how much I love the scriptures and how much I like to tell stories. This past Sunday I talked about conversion and shared the stories of Paul and also the people of Anti-Nephi Lehi. Something that came to mind while me and Elder Strebe were preparing our talks was how people who share their testimony and give talks are given so much in return. The time spent in preperation is compensated by the Lord in spirtiual growth. A lot of the members here in Marks are shy to give talks in Church, so this upcoming month we're going to help them to give talks in Church and share their testimonies one with another. It's like why we share our testimonies of take turns giving the lessons in family home evening I think. If every week just one member of the family gave the lesson, how would others learn to teach? We learn as we try, and improve as we do it multiple times and thus we become a lot more able to be instruments in the Lords hands. Pretty cool process, huh? So, if your asked to talk in Church, no worries! :)

Not too much else to talk about from this side of the world, methinks. We find out about transfers on Friday, so we'll see where the wind blows in that respect.

Gosh, I just want to say how much I love you all. It's pretty cool how everyweek I get to write ya'll a letter and hear how the family is doing. Thank you so much for all you prayers and for everything you do. I love you lots :)

As usual, please be good. And eat your veggies!

With love
--
Elder Peterson

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