Well, I think that is kind of interesting that everyone was looking for me, but I can't blame them. (I told him many people in the ward were looking for Ryan in the special KSL did on the Kyiv Temple.) Of course they would be searching out the most handsome missionary there. It is too bad that he wasn't there...
Thanks again for looking for that man. His name, in Ukrainian is: Михайло Маринович Ванджарук. I don't know if that will make a difference. Don't worry about it though. I will just let the man know that you can't find him.
Daniel was baptized this past Saturday and next Sunday he will receive the Holy Ghost. That is a really long wait, but we didn't have Sacrament meeting because we did the translations of conference here. Daniel was so excited and even though it was only a small group of us there, he understood the importance and he is already looking for opportunities to be a missionary. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon because he read it and prayed. It is so cool to see people actually applying what the Lord has asked them to do, and then being blessed so greatly for it. Hopefully in the next two or three weeks, he will get the priesthood and start serving others using it.
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| Elder Clemmens baptizing Daniel |
Oh, and I don't know why there are so many Africans here in Ivano-Frankivsk. There is a medical school here and it is better than the ones in Africa, and probably cheaper than the ones in western Europe. There is a pretty high concentration of them in this city though.
So, to answer your question about the Ukrainian people. (I asked whether the people were similar to the Russians - lack of faith in God and bleak attitude.) Many of them here in Western Ukraine were a little less entangled in the Soviet Union and because of that, there are many more devout Christians. Still, a lot of people here consider themselves either Orthodox or Catholic but never worship. The attitude of many people is really bleak - the older generations especially. The country is really growing into the culture of the world though and my generation is pretty free of the Soviet Union. Tradition is a very important thing here though and honoring your elders especially and because of that, many people say they belong to a church, but they don't really believe in it. It seems to me that almost everyone believes in God, but they don't understand who he is at all.
We did watch conference with the branch this past weekend. I actually watched all of it in English (which was really nice) except for the first session. We will watch the priesthood session next week. I really enjoyed this conference and it was really interesting to me to see how firm the church is becoming in our beliefs versus the beliefs of the world. President Packer's talk was one of my favorites I think. He was so bold in stating that God's laws cannot change. It doesn't matter what Satan does or how the world is changing, the laws of God have been set since before the world and they will not change. I really liked the connection he made to a vote against gravity and how that wouldn't do any good. It doesn't matter whether or not the world votes that homosexual marriages are ok, it is wrong! He also said one thing that really stuck with me. Satan does not have agency at this point, he gave it up and he doesn't have the power to create life like we do. President Packer said "Satan is impotent." It is really true that agency is one of our greatest gifts and we have used it to get to this point which is great. Now we just need to use it to follow the prophets and we will be able to withstand the temptations of the world. It is also that we do it along with our families which is important. Elder Lawrence (he is the first counselor in the East European area presidency) spoke on parenting. One of my favorite line from conference is from him. He was doing five things to strengthen our families, daily family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, family dinner, and personal interviews. He said "Try to imagine what the rising generation could become if these five righteous patterns were practiced consistently in every home. Our young people could be like Helaman’s army: invincible." Invincible! That is so incredible. Even though it is really hard to find time to do all those things, it can make that big of a difference. I really liked that.
Well, I could probably say a lot more about conference, but I don't have time. Feel free to go online though to the new lds.org and they already have all the talks there so you can review them. That is how we saw it in English (there is a family history computer in our branch and so we downloaded it there). And before you know it, the Ensign will be out too. I know that the things taught at this conference are true. That is God's words, given to us through modern prophets. Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God and he has the authority to guide this church. The priesthood is the power of God. This is the only church that has it. Elder Oaks' talk was really good too and he talked about how inseparable the priesthood line of revelation and personal line of revelation are. This is the only church where those lines exist. I know that Christ lives and that He is our Savior. I love Him. I love you too Mom. Thanks for your great sacrifices which have helped me get to this point. Without you, it would be possible.
Love,
Elder Jones
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