May 17, 2010

Hey Mom,

So, life here in Rivne is absolutely crazy. This past week we had to drop Zhenya as an investigator. He wasn't serious and he isn't making the right choices. David is also tough to meet with, but his sister, who is serving a mini mission in Kyiv, should help a lot when she gets back next transfer...assuming I am still here. I feel that he will start progressing soon when he is out of school. Having two other missionaries here has helped us so much, but it has also lessened our work load a little. Plus they speak Russian! The scary thing is that I can say little phrases in Russian now. Maybe that means I will be going to Kyiv sometime where there is tons of Russian. This past week, we had our zone leaders here on a 3 day exchange too. We saw some miracles from that! They called it a dedication exchange and we did all we could to more fully dedicate ourselves to the work. After two tough days, Elder Dorius and Monson ran into an old investigator and he wanted to get baptized. We set a date with him and hopefully within the next month it will go down. Elder Monson just said hi and the guy stopped him and they started talking. Turns out he wanted to get baptized 10 years ago but couldn't. Also, yesterday, after having 3 lessons fall through on us, Elder Monson and Sasha Polyshuk ran into these two kids and set up a meeting. When Elder Monson and I showed up for the meeting, there were these 5 teenagers together who all wanted to be taught. Hopefully a couple of baptisms come...

So, today, we don't have much planned, but last week's p-day was awesome. President Didyshok took the four Elders and his 5 year old son and we spent the day out in a village where a 200 plus year old fort was. It was a great day and it helped us build his trust as our branch president. Sadly, my camera died - battery - but I will get pictures from the other Elders.
So as you guessed, we have been getting tons of rain and it is always humid. The umbrella has been great though and my shoes are doing just fine.

So I look forward to this spiritual thought thing from the conference talks. Elder Monson and I are through all but the last session now in English. We have been listening to them every day and this conference was absolutely incredible. I love the emphasis on family, because in today's tough times, the Family is the best way to keep out of trouble. Elder Holland's talk was absolutely incredible as he testified so boldly against moral sins. I also loved...well I loved them all. The Atonement was at the center of so many of those talks and that is exactly as it should be. Christ is at the head of His Church and His Atonement is the center of our Heavenly Father's plan. I have been reading in Alma where Alma and Amulek teach so powerfully about the Plan of Salvation. I have developed such a love of the scriptures and each and everyday as I read, I learn so much more of the importance of following the Gospel and Plan of God. This Church is true and my testimony of that grows stronger everyday as I read the scriptures and then bear my own testimony to others that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for us. I know as we do our best and remember to apply the Atonement everyday, the Holy Ghost guides us and we feel the Love of our Father in Heaven. I know that we can all live together as a family and gospel is the path. Christ is the means if we will just turn to him. As Amulek said, we cannot be saved in our sins, but we can be cleansed through the Mercy of Christ. I see that mercy always as we are given opportunities to teach. God blesses us everyday. I know that He knows us and loves us and wants us to live with Him again. Keep following the words of the Prophets and we can't go wrong.

Love,
Elder Jones