Just Another Week in Cold Mountain

Hello again family! Once again, thanks for your emails and love. It's always great to hear from all of you. Sounds like things are going well for you back home. This past week wasn't too crazy, it was just a pretty normal week. We met with Dima and Vova twice. We have been trying to help them understand what it means to have faith in Christ and we decided that we should watch the movie "Finding Faith in Christ" with them because it can explain things much better than we can and it shows the life of Jesus Christ. They seemed to really enjoy it and said it was a beautiful film. Vova said that it's too bad that people in the world have faith in Christ but don't do anything with it and we're like Yeah exactly!! We are still trying to help them understand the importance of a baptismal date. They said that they don't want to set a date because they don't know if they'll have an answer by that time which is true, but we are trying to help them understand that it's just a day to work towards type thing. They are really awesome people though. I don't doubt that they are some of the Lord's elect here. We also need to get them to Church! They were supposed to come yesterday but they didn't. Next Sunday!

We got two new investigators this week, a young married couple like 6 years older than us. Elder Schoen and I called the wife a while back but she said they couldn't meet. So Elder Robison and I called her and she said that we could meet. So we taught them the first lesson last night. Their names are Zhenia and Nastia. They are very nice people and seem to be interested in the Church and the gospel. We gave them a Book of Mormon to read and they said that "of course we'll start reading!" There is a young married couple in the branch and so we're going to try and have them be on lessons with us so that they can fellowship them. I think that they will be an awesome family for Center Branch if they decide to join the Church. It will be awesome!

So a big part of Elder Bennett's visit and our Zone Conference has been about Obedience and we were all promised that if we would strive to be obedient in the areas we needed to improve in that we would start to see miracles around the mission. For Cold Mountain alone we are seeing many miracles. We have been able to find amazing prepared people on the street and in the case with this young couple, just in our Area Book. We have more than 10 investigators to work with right now which to be honest I never thought could happen in Cold Mountain. Not all of them have been able to meet recently but the fact is that they are investigators. And the other Cold Mountain elders have been seeing the same success. I've heard stories around the mission that people have just been showing up to Church and saying things like "I felt this morning that I needed to come to your Church and see what its all about. I think I need to be baptized!" And several miracles have happened in Center Branch. A man that has been investigating the Church for 7 years and has been coming now and then showed up to Church and said "I've decided that I'm ready to be baptized and to quit smoking!" He is getting baptized this Saturday. And just last night the Zone Leaders said that they had an amazing lesson with a man they found on the street. He believed everything and said something like "I sure hope my wife agrees with all of this!" And they also said that during their lesson a guy from Utah walked in off the street with a non-Member Ukrainian friend and introduced her to the missionaries. The man is here apparently to do some work. But his friend was extremely interested and said that she wants to bring her husband and learn about the gospel. Miracles are happening everywhere here! The Lord truly guides His work.

This Friday transfer calls are coming out again. As you might know, every six weeks transfers are held and President Campero receives revelation as to where missionaries need to be transferred. Usually greenies stay in their areas for three transfers and then get transferred. BUT it's not rare to stay in their greenie area for four. I have a feeling that I'll probably get a transfer call this Friday, which means this next week will be my last full week here in Cold Mountain. I don't want to leave yet because I feel that the work is really picking up now but I'll go where the Lord wants me to go. If I receive a call this Friday, then I'll be leaving next Thursday on the transfer bus. But if not, then I'll be here in Cold Mountain until the first week of March. We'll see what happens!

I think this concludes my letter for this week. Oh one more thing, the store we shop at called Villa always plays old 80's and 90's music from America. Ukrainians like American music haha. And last time we were there they were playing the Abracadabra song. (I forgot who sings it, I'm sure you know Mom) So I will leave you with those lyrics. "Abracadabra.. I'm gonna reach out and grab ya!" Have a good week family. I love you all and pray that you continue to do well. The Church is true. Jesus Christ lives. He leads His work in these Latter-days. I am so grateful to be here and to be one of His servants. There is nothing better than this work on the earth!

с любовью,

старейшина каун

украинская донецкая миссия

ps - pics this week are the street in front of our house (it's starting to get snowy), me that same night, i made my first borsch on my own, and one day this week the sunrise was pretty colorful. Enjoy!