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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