So, I didn't have time to write a letter to the fam, today has been crazy, so I'll just forward the letter I wrote to President to you all. It's a little more formal, personal than my normal letter home. He likes us to be very very open with him he says. So, enjoy!
Hi President,
Today has kind of been a crazy day! We finally got to unpack and move into our new place (yay!), so that took a little while, and then we got lost trying to find the internet. We found it (obviously), but we only have like 30 minutes to be here so we can get back into our area on time. So, this might be kind of brief.
Two of our three Progressing Investigators, Vladislav and Irina, were moved this week into the Non-progressing category. It is always hard to see people not progress and accept the Gospel as you'd like. Maybe you have heard of Vladislav? He is an eternal investigator that lives in Himash, and he had a Baptizmal Date for this past January. His wife, who also investigated the Church at one time, had a dream that the Church was only an American Church, and that her husband shouldn't join. Sister Hanks and I kind of came into the scene a little after this point. His wife is definitely against the Church, and he has a hard time doing anything his wife wouldn't him too, which is a good thing, but in this case it is really unfortunate. Sister Hanks and I thought if we dropped by more frequently and gave his wife our love (we made cookies, etc.) then maybe she would understand how important this was for her husband and have a change of heart. However, we haven't seen any progress. His wife would let him come to Church if he would like to, but the last 4 weeks he hasn't come despite our hardest efforts. We feel like he could make everything work out wth his wife if he wanted to, but we don't see him making that kind of effort at the moment. Maybe he just needs more time, and we'll still visit him, but just less frequently. He has a testimony though, and he knows the Book of Mormon is true. We're keeping him in our prayers, but we didn't feel like we can consider him as progressing anymore at this point.
The other investigator, Irina, is kind of in the same situation. Her mother is very protive and won't let us come to their house or call. Irina is somewhat handicapped and is dependant on her mother to get her to and fro places. So, if her mother is protive, than it makes it really hard for us to meet with her. She also has a testimony, but when we last alked to her, she said she didn't want to meet with us anymore. I think it had something to do with her Mom, but she said it was another problem. We know we aren't supposed to tell people to go against the wishes of their parents, spouses or anything, so we're trying not to create any contention with her or Vladislav. We're going to try and drop-off cookies, write letters, but it looks like we'll need to give them some time before we try and meet with her again.
Our new apartment is nice, too nice! I feel like I'm missing out on the Russian experience a little! Sister Hanks and I are trying to feel grateful instead of guilty for having such a nice place to live. It took only 10 minutes to get to Church on Sunday, so it feels really good to be so close to everything and live in our area. Everything works too!
Sister Hanks and I are doing well. I think we have a pretty good relationship. We don't always view the work the same way, but there is never any contention or anything. We always work things out because we both have the same desires in the end, to serve the Lord. I am grateful for her fire and I only hope I am keeping up. I'm sure I'm not keeping up as much as she wishes I would, which I feel bad about, but I'm really trying! The funny thing is though, is that I sometimes find myself thinking that I don't think anyone would be able to keep up with her! Maybe I'm wrong, but either way, it can't be a bad thing for the mission. So, these are all happy problems really.
I've been studying faith a lot, and I've realized how far I have to go, and the only real way to strengthen your faith is to act on it. We've been trying to stand-up on busses and contact the whole bus at once. To be honest, that kind of thing is really uncomfortable for me, but I'm just trying to do it, because I know it will increase my faith. I think I can also be really hard on myself at times, so the Atonement has started to become a much more personal thing. I love Ether 12:27 and how our weaknesses really our blessings, becasue they teach us to rely on the Lord. I think I've really needed to be humbled on my mission, because I keep finding new weaknesses! I guess the closer you get to the Lord, your ealize how much farther you have to go. I am so grateful for Him. Really. I don't think I could ever stop working hard as a missionary because I love Him too much. I couldn't let Him down.
Well, this didn't turn out as brief as I thought, but I gotta run!
Thanks for all you do President,
Sister Hakes
Today has kind of been a crazy day! We finally got to unpack and move into our new place (yay!), so that took a little while, and then we got lost trying to find the internet. We found it (obviously), but we only have like 30 minutes to be here so we can get back into our area on time. So, this might be kind of brief.
Two of our three Progressing Investigators, Vladislav and Irina, were moved this week into the Non-progressing category. It is always hard to see people not progress and accept the Gospel as you'd like. Maybe you have heard of Vladislav? He is an eternal investigator that lives in Himash, and he had a Baptizmal Date for this past January. His wife, who also investigated the Church at one time, had a dream that the Church was only an American Church, and that her husband shouldn't join. Sister Hanks and I kind of came into the scene a little after this point. His wife is definitely against the Church, and he has a hard time doing anything his wife wouldn't him too, which is a good thing, but in this case it is really unfortunate. Sister Hanks and I thought if we dropped by more frequently and gave his wife our love (we made cookies, etc.) then maybe she would understand how important this was for her husband and have a change of heart. However, we haven't seen any progress. His wife would let him come to Church if he would like to, but the last 4 weeks he hasn't come despite our hardest efforts. We feel like he could make everything work out wth his wife if he wanted to, but we don't see him making that kind of effort at the moment. Maybe he just needs more time, and we'll still visit him, but just less frequently. He has a testimony though, and he knows the Book of Mormon is true. We're keeping him in our prayers, but we didn't feel like we can consider him as progressing anymore at this point.
The other investigator, Irina, is kind of in the same situation. Her mother is very protive and won't let us come to their house or call. Irina is somewhat handicapped and is dependant on her mother to get her to and fro places. So, if her mother is protive, than it makes it really hard for us to meet with her. She also has a testimony, but when we last alked to her, she said she didn't want to meet with us anymore. I think it had something to do with her Mom, but she said it was another problem. We know we aren't supposed to tell people to go against the wishes of their parents, spouses or anything, so we're trying not to create any contention with her or Vladislav. We're going to try and drop-off cookies, write letters, but it looks like we'll need to give them some time before we try and meet with her again.
Our new apartment is nice, too nice! I feel like I'm missing out on the Russian experience a little! Sister Hanks and I are trying to feel grateful instead of guilty for having such a nice place to live. It took only 10 minutes to get to Church on Sunday, so it feels really good to be so close to everything and live in our area. Everything works too!
Sister Hanks and I are doing well. I think we have a pretty good relationship. We don't always view the work the same way, but there is never any contention or anything. We always work things out because we both have the same desires in the end, to serve the Lord. I am grateful for her fire and I only hope I am keeping up. I'm sure I'm not keeping up as much as she wishes I would, which I feel bad about, but I'm really trying! The funny thing is though, is that I sometimes find myself thinking that I don't think anyone would be able to keep up with her! Maybe I'm wrong, but either way, it can't be a bad thing for the mission. So, these are all happy problems really.
I've been studying faith a lot, and I've realized how far I have to go, and the only real way to strengthen your faith is to act on it. We've been trying to stand-up on busses and contact the whole bus at once. To be honest, that kind of thing is really uncomfortable for me, but I'm just trying to do it, because I know it will increase my faith. I think I can also be really hard on myself at times, so the Atonement has started to become a much more personal thing. I love Ether 12:27 and how our weaknesses really our blessings, becasue they teach us to rely on the Lord. I think I've really needed to be humbled on my mission, because I keep finding new weaknesses! I guess the closer you get to the Lord, your ealize how much farther you have to go. I am so grateful for Him. Really. I don't think I could ever stop working hard as a missionary because I love Him too much. I couldn't let Him down.
Well, this didn't turn out as brief as I thought, but I gotta run!
Thanks for all you do President,
Sister Hakes
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