Only 26 Baptisms by June 30th

My dear Missionaries,

 

I resend you the letter that the Area Presidency sent this morning. Now you know who is leaving and who is coming as your new Mission President. Remember our goal till the end of June – 51 (we need only 26 baptisms in the coming 7 weeks) You probably read already my last e-mail regarding the new way to report progressing investigators On Date. With that in mind and anticipating One baptism of two On Date, we need to have 52 On Date. The good news is that this should be done during the next 4 weeks since the baptisms usually become true about three weeks after the investigator accepts to be baptized. Since we have 35 companionships we should try to have, in each companionship, 2 On Date (rated 7 > 10) by June 9^th. You probably are saying ‘that is easy’; If you think, pray, visualize and teach families, 2 is even much easier. Dear missionaries, Be Smart, work with the church members and especially the District and Branch leaders. Now you have the lists of almost all of the active members. Their relatives and good friends are the Low Hanging Fruit that we want to bring to the church first. Contacting should continue if you don’t have planned lessons. 15 quality contacts per companionship per week will give you the basis for the baptisms that we are seeking. Remember D&C 4:4 The field is white, ready to harvest.

I testify that the Lord and His angels will be with every diligent and obedient companionship.

 

With love,

 

President Campero

 

 

7 May 2013

 

Dear Mission Presidents, Stake Presidents, and Area Seventy of the Europe East Area:

 

We are writing to inform you that President and Sister Vladimiro Campero of the Ukraine Donetsk Mission have been released from their service by the First Presidency as of July 1st of this year. President Campero has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and the Brethren have instructed him to devote his time, energy, and faith to fighting this cancer. This is a huge loss to all of us in Eastern Europe. There is no one more beloved than the Camperos. They have served admirably and effectively.

 

For your information, Brother Robert Lochhead, our Area Office of General Counsel (OGC), and his wife K'Lynn, have been called to preside over the Donetsk mission starting on July 1st. Brother Lochhead will be leaving the OGC office next week and will be replaced by Brent Belnap, who has been working with the Kirton and McConkie law firm in Salt Lake City for the last year. Brother Belnap has been consulting on EEA matters for the last several months and will be well apprised of the issues all of you are facing.

 

We thank, say goodbye, and wish well the Camperos, and let them know that they are in all of our prayers. We congratulate and welcome the Lochheads to their new role. We thank Brother Belnap for his willingness to assume this challenging and valuable assignment.

 

Sincerely,

 

Europe East Area Presidency

 

 

 

Long Time No See!

Privet again family! So basically this email will probably be a little short since we talked about tons of stuff on Skype. It was AWESOME to see you all and catch up a little bit. I know that Heavenly Father truly watches after you. Here are some other highlights from the week that I forgot to mention.

Family Home Evening/Eating Monday - the Senior couple here in Kharkov, the Arnesons, hold FHE every Monday. It is open to all to come with their investigators who know English so we always go with Vadim and most of the brothers come as well. The brothers call FHE 'Eating Monday' because the Arnesons make a ton of food for everyone haha. This past Monday we played a game called Chinese Writing. Brynn probably knows how to play this. You have four butter knives and choose someone to go out of the room. The remaining people in the room choose one person to be it, and then use the knives to make a "pattern" on the ground to show the person who went out who has been chosen. But really the knives don't mean anything and it's all an inside game where someone mimicks the body movements of the chosen person haha. So basically the brothers couldn't figure out how we knew who it was every time and it was tons of fun. 

I went on a split with Elder Moss, probably my last split with him. He is going home in two weeks and is pretty trunky. Bags are packed and is ready to go. Our lessons dogged on us so we pretty much just contacted/found this cool private home neighborhood in a forest by his area. Elder Moss is known around the mission for being a gospel genious. He knows the scriptures and ancient/modern history inside and out. So our studies were very inspiring to me. Companion study we talked a lot about the temple/marriage and in personal study I was pondering about Lehi's vision and applied this to being a returned missionary, always have the temple in sight. I was looking for a picture in the Liahona of this vision and came across the article by President Uchtdorf called "Always in the Middle" from July 2012. This is something I needed to be reminded of, that we are always in the middle of life, no matter where we are. A missionary at the end of his mission is still in the middle of things. Elder Moss is one of my best friends here on the mission. He is like a brother to me.

And finally, some investigator progress. Johnson is no longer on date since we can't get a hold of him. We'll keep calling but unfortunately I think he's off the map. Vadim young is doing okay. We work out with him a few mornings in the week and read the BOM with him. He is the one with schizophrenia so sometimes he's excited to meet, sometimes he's very depressed and lonely. We asked him how we can best help him and he said to just continue to meet and read. And Igor read the first 8 chapters in the Book of Mormon but has had many doubts about the apostasy and restoration. Jones and Kumferman taught him while I was on my split so I don't know exactly how the lesson went but this week we will be teaching the Plan of Salvation. And we got a referral from Elder Jones' MTC teacher that wants to meet this week so we'll see how this goes. Her name is Sasha. Basically we need new investigators!!!!

That's about it for this week. I love you all very much and thank you for your prayers and love. Have an awesome week and remember who you are and share this testimony with others!! Talk to you next time!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Two Instead of Three

My beloved Missionaries of our Ukraine Donetsk Mission.

This morning came to my mind a few scriptures and I will explain why I mention them to you.

Our Area president, President Lawrence, called us and read a letter that the First Presidency sent him stating that President Campero and Sister Campero will serve two years instead of the original three. This change is only because President Campero should take care of his health, at this time, as his first priority.

The news was initially distressful but soon after we understood that this is another expression of the love of our Heavenly Father, He knows us personally and he is mindful of our real needs, regardless of our best wishes, so, Ecclesiastes 3:11 applies to us, too. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,

In the Lord’s vineyard He calls us and He releases us, so that means that after we have been called we should do our very best and also prepare ourselves to be released. Every single action of our Lord is for our good. Alma 42:4 And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.

I shared this news with our family and also with my Assistants; they said, very inspired, President, Now what is your goal until the end of June?

I ponder about it during the night and this morning after my prayer I opened my eyes and in front of me was an empty piece of paper. A strong thought came to my mind, “Today is the first day of your future, now you can start with renewed energy.” Yes, I can see my life from a new perspective.

The goal that we should accomplish together in the next two months is to achieve the goals that we already established together, 100 baptisms during this 2013 year, that means that by the end of June we shall bring to the feet of our Savior at least 51 brothers and sisters. We should do this for the correct reasons not only for the numbers. I strongly believe and know that we have all the resources needed. Elder Holland taught during the last General Conference that it doesn’t matter how big or little our faith is, we should apply to the fullest the Faith that each of us have. Our Master said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Are you ready to accomplish our promise?

A long time ago, I said to our President Bennett that he is to me like Moroni and our missionaries are like the Stripling warriors that Helaman taught and guided. You are the Stripling warriors that need this nation. Today in Ukraine we and our members of the church are not at war in the straight sense, but we are all at war with the toughest enemy of our souls. Consider the verse in Alma 46:12. We all have to defend our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children in memory of our God. This is our time to act with the power of God and His angels. D&C 4:4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;

The new Mission President will arrive probably on July 1^st and it would be great if he can start with a positive mission, one that achieves what promises to our Lord. Read once more D&C 4:4. Yes, the field is white already to harvest.

I testify that to save souls (invite to come and abide with our Savior Jesus Christ) is the most important work that any man or woman should do on this earth.

With increased love. President and Sister Campero

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Privet family, kak dela?

Yesterday was Orthodox Easter here so we're a little behind on the holidays. But actually a little Ukraine fact, almost every day is a different holiday but they are holidays for orthodox kings and queens/icons. The next holiday coming up though is May 9, Victory Day. This is when Nazi Germany was captured by USSR in WWII. It's a pretty big deal here and already kids have been on break and there will be tons of parades and stuff. Maybe I'll get some pictures, we'll have to see.

Things are picking up a little bit in our area, we found three new investigators this past week - Johnson, Erik, and Igor, and JOHNSON HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE! We found him on the street coming home Tuesday night. He is a brother here from Nigeria and knows one of the brothers in the branch already, Michael. We had a great first lesson with him and he said 'Of course I'll get baptized!' So the date right now is May 25 but we found out yesterday that we're having Kharkov district conference that day so we'll probably have to move it back into June. And he didn't make it to church yesterday which was a bummer so hopefully he can come this upcoming week. He seems pretty promising and should get along great with the other brothers. 

Erik is the boyfriend of a less-active in the branch named Aliona. Aliona is friends with Anya who we just helped get active again. His lesson was mostly just asking questions about the church and why we do what we do. We're not sure exactly how serious he is but he took a BOM and wants to read it. We found out yesterday that he and Aliona broke up now though so this might effect if we meet again or not. Aliona might have forced him to listen to us haha but that's not a bad thing.

And Igor is a former investigator. He's a really nice guy, in his 40s and divorced. He is unemployed right now because he does some type of industrial work that isn't needed anymore. He wanted to rent us his apartment which is super nice but it's too expensive for the mission. When he was meeting with the other elders before me (Jones already knows him) he said that he feels God is too busy to answer his prayers. Elder Rooney (Jones' previous comp) told him that this isn't true and that he should pray. He finally prayed and claims to have seen Christ and talked face to face with him. He says that it's all thanks to Rooney and pretty much worships him now. I asked him what Christ told him and he says that Christ told him to love all people and that there aren't any bad people on the earth. I don't know if I believe his vision or not, I think it's possible he saw an angel but I don't know. Lots of people I've talked to say they've seen things, even members. We taught him about the BOM and he said he'd pray again and start reading. We stopped by yesterday since he didn't come to church and gave him the Del Parson picture of Christ and he invited us in to have some Coke and hard boiled eggs. (By the way, Ukrainians dye their eggs using oil peels. You boil the peels then add the eggs and they come out a really pretty dark red.) He's a super nice guy, we'll see where he goes.

We also met with some brother members, Paddy and Herold. So Paddy got baptized when I was a greenie and he's doing great. We helped him make plans to share the gospel with his family since he's the only member. All the brothers are getting ready right now to go to Kiev Temple for the first time so it's gonna be sweet. And Herold got baptized back in 2007 and is married to a Ukrainian with three kids. He fed us great food and brought us up to date about all the crazy stuff going down in America right now. He moved to Utah not too long ago and I found out he might just live in our stake! His kids go to Cottonwood Elementary and he said that he knows President Little. He's going to med school right now through the U of U but is also doing some studying/working here because it's way cheaper and he knows Russian. He's way sweet, I'm gonna need to find him when I get home. 

Progress with other investigators- we only met with the two Vadims. We were going to drop Vadim old but then had an alright lesson about prayer with him. He said he knows the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true but doesn't want to get baptized. He is very unsure about everything. We might need to drop him if he hasn't prayed about baptism. He's just met with missionaries for a long time and so if he's not progressing than we've got people that are/can find people that will. And Vadim young. We worked out with him on Friday morning and he was doing ok, then Saturday there was an easter activity at the center branch. We invited him to it and he wanted to come, but it got to be half an hour late and he still hadn't shown up. So we called him again and he said he was almost there so we went out and waited for him. He walked up pretty drunk, like we could smell him from a mile away and he had buzzed his hair off. (He used to have really long and curly hair) He came up to the door and we're like "Vadim, what happened man?" He said that he was remembering his dark past and needed to forget it so he got drunk. "Where did you get the money?" 'The barber gave me money for my hair'....This was so sad to see. He then said, 'So can I come in? The members have seen me drunk before, they won't mind. But you're my friends, you're the missoinaries. I trust your decision.' Wow, I really felt a slap in the face from his words. Sometimes I forget just how much we mean to people. I don't know Vadim that well and would consider him an acquaintance, but he really depends on us. And then I got to thinking that if I was really his friend then he wouldn't be drunk right now. Elder Jones and I decided that he shouldn't come in but that he should go home, sleep off his decision, and then we'd see him tonight at FHE. He agreed. But from this experience I have been reminded of just how much I mean to these people. Too often I get caught up in the motions of missionary work that I forget why I'm really here. Vadim needs our help right now and the Lord has seen fit to trust Elder Jones and I with him. This was a hard lesson to learn but I feel that it was needed. 

And now I have some pretty shocking news. President Campero sent out an email today that he will be finishing his mission at the end of June as ordered by the First Presidency due to his health issues. We will be getting a new mission president on July 1. I forwarded you his email so you can read it. He really wants us to achieve our goal we set together, 100 baptisms before he goes home. I feel a very increased desire, almost burning duty, to do all I possibly can to make this happen and do my part, sacrificing more than ever and giving it my all. President will be coming to Alekseevka on Friday and doing some training with our district so I'm looking forward to this very much. 

I love you all and pray for you always. Have a great week, tell everyone that I send my love, and I'll SEE you Saturday on Skype!

The Seev Cave

Privet family!

Sorry this e-mail is one day late. Yesterday we were pretty busy and didn't get to internet at all. We helped Elders Moss and Kumferman move into President Alosha's super nice American house. It is like the house I lived in when I was a greenie but 100X nicer - heated flooring, all new furniture and appliances, a plasma tv, an attic, and a grill for barbecuing. (We had a BBQ yesterday - it was pretty sweet.) So again, sorry I didn't write we were busy all day helping them move. 

My first week back in Kharkov has been good. Elder Jones and I had 9 lessons, the most I've had in a long time. Here are some of the investigators we're teaching right now and their progress.

Maksim and Oleg - So Maksim is 18 and has been meeting with missionaries for a while. He knows the church is true but doesn't want to get baptized until he goes to America for work. He brought his friend Oleg and he seems to be religious and interested a little bit in the Book of Mormon. They both know English and we had a pretty cool experience teaching them. Maksim asked a question about some anti-Mormon crap he read (basically that Joseph Smith thought up everything, was crazy, needed money, blah blah) and he asked us our opinion about Joseph Smith. I asked him where he's reading right now in the Book of Mormon and he's in Moroni 7. So I said, 'Let's read there and see if we find an answer.' So we started reading and we only read to verse 18 because he answered his own question from reading the verses about "an evil man can't do good...a dirty fountain can't bring forth clean water". We asked him what he thought about this (if Joseph Smith was an evil man why would he 'write' a book inviting all to come unto Christ) and he said he answered his own question that Joseph Smith didn't think up the religion himself. It was pretty cool to just read and see the power of the Book of Mormon in action. 

Aleksander - He is about 60 years old and used to be atheist. Elder Jones and Rooney worked with him and taught him a lot, even helping him pray for the first time. He's heard all the lessons now, but he can't come to church because he works at his dacha on the weekends. Jones and I are gonna try and go help him sometime and see if just one time he can come to church. He's very nice and knows ok English.

Vadim 1 - This guy is an eternal investigator. Not really sure about him yet. He's in his fifties and we went over the baptismal questions with him. He doesn't think there needed to be a restoration and asked us some basic questions. I'm not sure if he really understands our purpose here, even though we explained everything to him. I just wonder sometimes when people have met on and off with missionaries for like 5 years and ask questions like "So why are you on a mission? Why is the Book of Mormon important?" We'll see about him.

Vadim 2 - He is a special guy, also meeting with missionaries several years. He has schizophrenia so this is a challenge to work with. In meeting with him though I've been really trying to love and be patient with him. He's heard everything, comes to family home evening and church each week, but is really scared of baptism. He has made a pro and con list of baptism. We started working out with him a few days this week in the mornings and then reading the Book of Mormon with him in English. He has great English. He also has a history of drinking. I think the best thing for him is just to continue to be his friend and help him feel the Spirit.

Sasha - This guy is also eternal, meeting with missionaries for year and half. He is a Baptist and also doesn't understand the restoration, mainly authority for baptism and saving ordinances. Apparently Jones and Rooney stressed authority with him a ton but he still doesn't get it. He asked me what is needed for salvation which I guess he asks all missionaries, maybe looking for some different answer than baptism and receiving Holy Ghost by proper authority. We'll see what happens with him.

There're tons of people to meet with, I really hope we can find some people that are ready for baptism soon! 

Here's some highlights of this past week as well for you - Tuesday we had Zone Meeting. I didn't really learn a lot of new things, just reminders of small things to improve in. Elder Moss bore his final mission testimony. It was awesome to hear, we've both grown so much and have had the privilege of serving around each other on and off during the mission. That night he and Elder Kumferman dropped their keys down a hole haha so they came and lived with us for two days. This was a tender mercy getting to spend time with both of these elders. Our district is awesome. Elder Jones and I have also been working with a less-active girl named Anya. She is pretty much active now and sat on many of our lessons. She is getting ready to go to the temple next week with the mission so it's awesome to see her active again. I don't know her super well because I haven't been in Alekseevka that long but she's a pretty solid youth from what I can see. We also went and helped President Alosha on Friday do some service. When the Burrs were here they organized a program where there is a big community church garden and you come and work in the garden and can get your own vegetables and stuff. We're getting that going now so we did stuff like shoveling holes for a fence, planting, and painting. I have pictures but my thing isn't working today so maybe next time. Ukraine is really a beautiful place, it was cool to just be working out in a nice big garden and seeing meadows and stuff in the distance. 

I also had a pretty cool contacting experience I'd like to share with you. Saturday night on the way to our lesson we were talking with people and talked to a guy from Sedan. He knew English and so we got his number for English classes. We kept walking and for some reason it seemed like all the people we passed were just staring at us and judging us for who we were, kind of like the feeling you get when you are walking and you know people are just staring at you. So we kept walking and then all of a sudden this guy on a bike came up behind us and said in perfect English, "Hey guys, you don't know me and I don't know you, but I just want to say thank you for all that you do. Not that many people understand what you do here, but I do and really appreciate it. Keep up the work." We talked briefly and he has met with missionaries and come to English but is just super busy right now with life to be religious. This was for sure a tender mercy, totally made my week. That night after the lesson we were walking home and we passed a group of older guys drinking. They were making fun of us and saying dumb stuff but before I knew it I had stopped them and started talking with them. They were super surprised (as are a lot of people) when we talked back to them in Russian and told them who we were and what we do. I pretty much talked the whole time with this guy named Denis. He kept on telling me all this ridiculous stuff like "You're wasting your time, go back home and get back to normal life. Church is just a big business and you're getting worked. Find a girl here and go back to America where you came from. You can't see your success here, you're doing nothing. You can't bless someone through this message, it's a bunch of crap." This is the edited version :) So pretty much we just bore our testimonies to him that in due time he'll come to see the Church's truthfulness and the future of Ukraine changed and that it's his choice to believe this way. There was a lot more I wanted to tell him but he was getting drunk and so it's probably better I kept my mouth shut. It was just pretty crazy to see day and night in people, someone who really appreciated the missionaries and someone who could care less. Experiences like this just strengthen my testimony even more that the church is true. Why do so many people fight against the truth instead of accept it? Because Satan has a deep control on their heart. I've been reading Doctrine & Covenants lately and have been impressed by the doctrine of light, that everyone has the Light of Christ and light grows as we are obedient to commandments. But the absence of light is darkness (or absence of Christ in someone's life) and Satan has a hold on these hearts who are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore our service and work here is of utmost importance.

I love you all very much and hope you have an awesome week. Know that you're in my prayers and that God lives and loves you very much! Talk to you next week!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Back to the Future

Privet family! How are you doing? Sounds like everyone is keeping busy which is good. Well, life is pretty good here on the mission. I will fill you in on things since my last email!

Transfer meeting was Thursday and I honestly didn't expect to hear where I've been assigned - I'm back in Kharkov to finish my mission, serving with Elder Jones in the Alekseevka Branch!! I never thought I'd make it back up to Kharkov, I haven't been here for almost a year. It's pretty weird being back here but I'm happy. The Branch President of Alekseevka (maybe you remember) is Alosha Miroshnichenko, my landlord from Cold Mountain who lived above me. It was crazy seeing him again since the last time he saw me I was a greenie. He's happy to have me in his branch. I've also seen a few other faces I knew when I was a greenie. It's weird talking to them, they all remember me but now I can actually talk Russian with them so it's cool. And my comp is pretty sweet, Elder Jones. He is from West Jordan and got to Ukraine in November. Side note/small world - His dad Mark Jones graduated from Cottonwood and his grandparents live just beyond the Sinclair on 9th East, across from the elementary school dad went to. He is pretty young on the mission (transfer 5) and is still 19 years old but we get along great. And Elder Harris was his trainer so Harris talked about him a lot so I knew a little about him already. He'll keep me in line as I finish my mission. He is District Leader and senior comp so unless something changes I'll finish my mission as a normal missionary, no leadership or anything! Freedom!! I just get to work hard everyday and not worry about call-ins and meetings and all that stuff. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at! And my district is great - myself, Elder Jones, Elder Moss (yes, The Elder Moss, MTC companion, he's going home at the end of May one transfer early), Elder Kumferman, and Sisters Helsten and Bull. Don't really know the sisters that well but they seem pretty cool. 

So Alekseevka Branch is pretty awesome. There are tons of brothers in this branch, and by brothers I mean African brothas here for school. They come here because it's cheaper or easier to get education and lots of them have joined the church here. There are about 10 members and several of their friends come. We haven't met with any investigators yet but Jones tells me that we are teaching 6 brothas right now named Michael, Edmond, Luke, Theddy, Toosin (Cash), and Jay. I met Edmond and Luke yesterday at church, they're pretty cool. Apparently they almost got baptized but they never come to church on time and miss Sacrament Meeting. So we're hoping to get them baptized. We have several other Ukrainian investigators as well but just need to meet with them it sounds like. The past missionaries in this area got tons of contacts and first lessons so we're going to focus on meeting with these people who only know about the Restoration and get them to church. This area has tons of potential, I'm pretty excited to be working here. Jones says we have a lot of lessons in English so it's gonna be weird teaching in English again. And my first Sunday yesterday I had to give a talk! The missionary that got transferred was supposed to do it but passed it to me. Such is my luck. My topic was "How reading the Book of Mormon helps us share the gospel". I pretty much used Preach My Gospel Chapter 5, I think it went well. I don't write out my talks anymore so I can't really send you a copy. Sorry! 

Upon getting to Kharkov I called Akbar and told him I was back. He wanted to meet the next day so we met Friday night. It was great seeing him again! But honestly he's not doing so hot. He can't find a job anywhere and the church hasn't been able to help him he says to get citizenship here (there is a new Ukrainian law just passed that foreigners can't be given jobs) so he thinks he'll go back to Iran pretty soon. He's going to hide the fact he changed religions and maybe go to Armenia or somewhere he can find work. I felt impressed to talk about patriarchal blessings with him. It went pretty good I thought and he wants to receive one. The only problem is that the patriarch is coming here in August so he doesn't think he'll be here anymore. He wants to get one though so I hope very soon this works out. He's going to play a huge role in getting the church into Iran.

Now for some comments/tidbits. Elder Harrison (the one who I trained) is now my Zone Leader. This is pretty weird for me but I always knew he'd be ZL pretty early on in his mission when we were together. We're going on a split this Wednesday, I'll catch up with him a bit. 

I love you all so much! Have an awesome week and keep on keeping on! D&C 84:85.

 

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Last Week in the Promised Land

Privet family-

Well, I will start off by telling you about last night. We got a transfer call at 9:00 from President Campero (which is weird because the APs always do calls) and he said, "Are you home?" 'Yeah.' "Good. I called to say that you're BOTH GETTING TRANSFERRED. But don't worry, it's a good thing, you'll understand later." Then he hung up the phone...This isn't what we expected at all!!!! Elder Harris has been here a total of 4 weeks and next transfer is his last one. He wasn't happy at all to get this news. The APs even told us when they came down for Denis' baptism that he was staying and I probably was too. But things have changed. I really wanted to stay and keep working Left Bank and see more miracles here but I have learned on my mission that whenever transfers come it's always something better, even if we don't think that way. Our thoughts are not the Lord's. So today will be spent finishing packing, cleaning, writing whitewash notes for whoever is coming to our area now, saying goodbye to people if we even have time, then tomorrow morning at 8:30 the transfer bus comes to our apartment, transfer meeting is at 1, and I'll probably be assigned to my final area. It's crazy being a missionary, so much moving and goodbyes, but I know the Lord's hand is in it all. My guesses for transfers are as follows - either Elder Harris and I stay together and go to a new area, I train one of the three new greenies coming in, or go somewhere else. Only time will tell! 

 

Last Tuesday we had Zone Leader's Council. It wasn't as spiritually uplifting as I expected, but it was good though, we talked about lots of topics and where the mission is going at this time. Our focus is the family - families can be together forever, teach families - investigator families or part-members, emphasizing the family proclamation. And this was the last ZLC with all elders. There has been a new guideline made for all missions around the world that there will now be sister coordinators (basically sister APs) because of all the sister missionaries serving now so all the meetings will be "Mission Council". But this probably doesn't concern me anymore haha, just thought you might be interested about that announcement. I'm very grateful for the time I've spent down here in Mariupol. The people I've met have changed my life forever. The branch is very special, I have experienced true love between the members and missionaries. And I have grown so much spiritually as well as in leadership skills. I was blessed with awesome missionaries to work around. I will miss Mariupol but I'm excited to see what is in store for me to end. 

Elder Harris and I have been doing lots of contacting/tracting chastni doms (private houses= normal size houses put together like neighborhoods). You walk up to the fence and if there's a doorbell you can ring it, if not you can yell for them to come out or just move on to the next house. It's a pretty wild experience. And there are always huge dogs that can easily jump the fence just barking and drooling everywhere the whole time you wait for the person to come out. We had a few people say we could come back but then it didn't work out (example - a lady in a really nice house said we could come back. We went back two days later and walked up to the gate and a really sketchy guy sitting in a parked car told us we had better get lost or else some bad things were gonna happen). We think it was a mafia house. But anyway, moving on, there continue to be tons of miracles happening in Mariupol right now!!! The sisters finally got Natasha on date for May 4! I don't know if I've talked about her, she is a member referral, about 30 yrs old with a son named Vlad, 12 yrs old. She directs the choir that the member sings in (we went to their concert a few months ago). She is basically a member already, comes to church each week plus FHE, and it's just super awesome she is getting baptized. She wants Vlad to get baptized as well and serve a mission. The sisters are also working with a great family that President Gushin referred, a mom and two sons. They have committed to baptism, just no date yet. And Elder Bolingbroke and Fife two weeks ago were walking out of their apartment and a lady came running up to them asking if they were Mormon missionaries. They talked with her, turns out she lived in America with a friend and heard about the church there but just didn't have time to find out more. She knows English, came to conference, and is on date now for May 4. AND Elder Harris and I got a mormon.org referral, FIRST OF MY MISSION. He's way awesome, his name is Georgi and is a good family man. He saw the Kiev Temple recently and looked the church up. He's already into 1 Nephi 17, maybe further, and we were going to meet him tonight but have passed him to the elders since we're getting transferred. He also came to conference, only saw a little bit but seemed to like it a lot. He'll for sure get baptized soon. We also taught a lesson to a man named Sergei. He is the husband of a lady we contacted a few weeks ago. It turns out the wife gave him the Book of Mormon we gave her and he read the whole thing and had tons of questions for us! So we met after conference. He is an atheist, but the lesson was really good though. His thought process at the end seemed to be that "If I believed in God, this would be the only true church, it's the most logical". Perhaps he'll get baptized sometime in the future as well. 

I'm running out of time so sorry if this is rushed. Conference was awesome. We watched it in Russian with the members and then in English. I received many answers to questions, mainly about what to do as a returned missionary. The answers were simple - keep sharing the gospel and my experiences with everyone, especially family members; marriage should be a top priority :D; my education is important to God; don't forget the basics - church, prayers, scripture study, temple; and President Monson's formula of success - 1) Study the scriptures diligently 2) Plan life with a purpose 3) Teach with testimony 4) Serve the Lord with love. It was an excellent conference, just what I needed. It really impressed me that President Monson talked about missionary work and obedience as well.

I'm out of time! I love you all so much!!!! Have a great week and know that you are always in my prayers. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today. The Book of Mormon is true. Talk to you all on Monday again!

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Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия