MOM!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAREST MAMA, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! (wow, sorry for my voice, it is a little out of practice) ;)
Happy Birthday Mom, wow, I am turning 20 which means you are now.... 38??? How does it feel? Wow, 38, that is soo old. I will never be that old.
Anyway, so as far as your business, I can't really think of anything. (I'm sending him a box and asked if there was anything he needed besides insoles and shoelaces.) The only thing that I think I might need to buy sometime is a Ukrainian winter coat. That one that we bought at Mr. Mac would be plenty for a Utah winter, but it has been killer here and we haven't even gotten to winter. Still, I haven't pulled out the scarf or thermals which will be necessary once the winter hits. They are saying though, that this is going to be one of the coldest winters ever (last winter was the snowiest in tons of years and so of course this one has to be the coldest). We will see, but there is nothing I need from America for that. I may just end up spending that birthday money on a winter coat which leads me to my question, how much money do I have on that card. Well that is all for business today. Thanks for the package by the way. Hopefully I will get one off to you sometime in the next month so it will be there long before Christmas.
So I am glad to hear that you had a fun weekend down in Cedar City. We here made a long trip too out to some members who live 3 and a half hours away from Ivano-Frankivsk. We don't get to make trips like that often, but, especially here in Ivano, there are a lot of members who live far away who need to support every once and a while. That was not the most fun ride though - almost 7 hours total on a bus that was absolutely jammed full. Luckily we bought seats so I got to sit, but with my long legs, that wasn't much more comfortable. Still, it was totally worth it, and we got to take conference to them which was cool.
Other than that, our week was pretty normal. On Monday, our entire district of four got food poisoning from a restaurant and we spent Tuesday mostly indoors. That was not the most exciting thing, but we know not to go back there. Then on Wednesday, Elder Kuczak and Clemmens went in to Kyiv for transfers. Elder Belashov and I will be together for another month and a half, but Elder Clemmens is moving on so we have a new Elder here, Elder Schmutz. Also on Wednesday, we met with Isaac, and had a wonderful lesson. At the end of talking about the plan of salvation, we shared a scripture from 2 Nephi 31. We read verse 10 which talks about how in order to follow Christ, we must keep the commandments of the Father. Then we read verse 11 which says, "And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son." Elder Belashov asked Isaac if he was willing to repent and be baptized in order to follow Christ and Isaac said yes. So now we are working to help him be prepared for baptism by the 30th of October, the date that we selected. It was such a strong testimony to see the way that the scriptures do the inviting, and all we have to do is help people to understand the scriptures. Isaac says that he already believes the Book of Mormon is true and he continues to read it everyday and to pray to God to know if what we are teaching him is true. He understands so well what the Lord has asked us to do and as he goes forward doing these things, his testimony will grow to be so strong.
So I really like that talk from Elder Hallstrom last conference. I remember one lesson we had in Rivne on that talk and how it is so important that we turn to the Lord for help and answers. It is true that Christ suffered all these things so that we don't have to suffer. We just need to trust in Him and turn to Him in prayer and the peace we need will come into our lives. Even when life is tough, turning to the Lord and trusting Him will get us through anything. I liked President Eyring's talk about Trusting God in this last conference. It is important to remember that we need to trust in God and His prophets always, not just when life is tough, but when challenges are thrown our way, we do have the Savior to help lift us. As long as we continue to follow the Savior when things are well, we will remember to turn to Him in those times where we are struggling. I know that Jesus Christ loves all of us and He is our Savior. We only need to trust in Him and follow Him and we will never be put into a situation that we can't overcome.
I love you Mom and I am grateful for your love and support. You have always been there to help me and you have sacrificed so much to help us kids get along in life. I am truly thankful for that.
All My Love,
Elder Jones
P.S. Two investigators, Inna and Juliana, just got baptized this past weekend in Rivne. I can't remember if I ever told you about them, but we as missionaries worked with them a lot while we were there and it was cool to hear that they finally made that step. Juliana is Genadiy's wife (Genadiy is a member there) and so in a year, they will be able to get sealed in the temple!
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