Well, Viktor is back, the world is a happier place, hugs were shared, smores were consumed, and weddings are being planned. We met with them last night and mostly just talked. Next appointment we plan on reteaching a few things, such as the importance of the Book of Mormon, and we will see how much Viktor read while in Krimea(he was to 2 Nephi before he left). We made smores with them and Elder Jarman shared his Reeses with them. They are super busy this week just as any couple would be before their wedding.
Vadim came to church for the second time and Liza came as well. This week was good for both of them. We taught Liza the plan of Salvation on Saturday after our smores activity and she seemed to like it. She is still under 18 so she cant get baptized without parental permission, but Masha got baptized, so we think she can as well. It would be super cool if She AND her parents go baptized.
With Vadim we didnt think that we were going to have any spiritual talks this week, but after English he walked outside and stepped on a sparrow accidentally, he felt HORRIBLE. He waited for us to came out walked straight to me and told me what happened and asked why stuff like that happened. Then ensued a conversation touching topics such as The Atonement, accidents, etc. He shared a kind of cool experience with us. He said that as soon as he started meeting with us that the Dogs stopped barking at him on his way home. Now they are just quiet. "As if they sensed the presence of the elect"-Elder Jorgensen Cleverly thought to himself. he explained that he didnt want to join any churches. I responeded with testimony about the happiness and joy he could feel in the church.
Funny story: We were asked to cast a devil out of some dude by his friends. Boy they thought they were so clever. Elder Jarman and I just asked what his name was and said we would pray for him. (The guy didnt have a devil in him, he was just playing games on his phone.) We got a pretty good kick out of it after we left. I am imagining what we would have done if we werent servants of Christ with actual athourity to do something like that. (Maybe throw both of our hands in the air and shout "BE HEALED!")
Hey Bud,
First off, thanks, your letters last week were awesome! I think it was your longest emails to date! I loved it! The stories make it seem like I'm there with you for even just a minute! It was great to read about all that stuff!
Wow, time is flying by! Grandma and Grandpa get home in 10 days!!! We are all so excited for them to come home! We are starting to make plans for the week they are home. Cam's birthday is next Sunday so he is sad they miss it by a couple days. Kaestli keeps bragging that they didn't miss any of her birthdays. They left last year on July 11 her birthday is the 10th, and they get back the 5th.
This week was good. It took me several days to adjust to the medicine they put me on for the nerve pain. I am finally feeling better though and I think it will be a good medicine for me to be on.
We swim 3 times a day at this point. Jordy's bleached out hair has turned completely green. I take several measures to keep Kaestli's hair from turning green. So far it is working. The kids are staying up late almost every night. The other night we started a swim party after 10:00 with the little kids. So all rules are out the window at this point and we are just living it up this summer. We have all the cousins over several times a week too. It has been a lot of fun:)
The Tboys have been coming over a lot more than usual too, which has been fun. They kind of just show up before or after work some days. Ollie's birthday was friday and he spent that at Scout camp. They are coming over tonight for a fire, Smore's party. It was Curtis' family reunion this weekend. We spent Saturday at Downata Hot Springs. It's up in Idaho and has slides and a hot spring. The kids loved it! So some of the family from the reunion that is still in town is coming over to do Smore's with us. It should be fun.
Josh was called to be the Bishop's first assistant today, so he is super excited about that. I think he will be great at it. Youth Conference is this week. They are doing a ropes course in Provo and then going boating the other day. Jordy and Josh are both excited for it.
Good news...college. I checked again today and you were added to the Russian class!!! So yay! You got all the classes we were hoping for! So I dropped the choir class I had you in and the general fitness class. So at this point I just need to figure out the AFROTC class. So you should be set. Go on and check out your schedule. It looks good and you'll be finished by 3:30 everyday so you should be able to get an evening job.
Today I saw a Facebook post from the dark haired girl in your branch. It was a picture of the activity you guys did over the weekend. I always love when she posts them. There were several comments in Russian on it between her and another girl. Facebook will show translations...it's not perfect but you can get the idea. So anyway, the other girl was really attacking her for being mormon, for being with mormon missionaries again, and attacking mormons and missionaries in general. It made me sad, but what I wanted to tell you is that she really handled it so well. I was really impressed with her responses. She defended mormons, missionaries, and the church. But she was never contentious. She said several times, "please stop making these negative comments" or "this conversation is over" but she never attacked back. Just defended herself, the church and you guys and then asked her to stop. It was several interactions. I was really impressed by her. I can't imagine how hard it would be to live in Ukraine as a member and have people constantly attack you for it.
I miss you and can't wait for you to come back!!!
Discussions
1-College/how are you feeling about it? Did you check your schedule? How does it look to you?
2-What do you think about the Facebook story I just told you?
3-Is it common for them to be attacked for joining the church?
4-Is the wedding happening this week?
5-How is Masha's sister coming along?
6-Any other drama/interactions with Masha?
7-Funny story this week?
8-Any letters yet??? I wonder what is going on with them! I didn't send one this week...but I sent 2 the week before that. I hope they eventually get there!
9-Don't forget to send a shout out for Cam and Ollie's birthday.
10-pics
11-recordings
12-message for me:)
I miss you and love you so much! I am very proud of you. I trust you 100%! Completely! I think so highly of you! You are honestly one of the best people I know and one of my very best friends. Thank you for always being so great. I feel really lucky to have you for my first son. You are the best!
Have a great week! This week will be just 2 months away from that airport hug! I think it will be awesome that we will be there with your friends and their families too! Your homecoming will be on Sept. 10 at 1:00...and so is Elder Biesingers:(, and Elder Olsen's is the 10th as well. So we have already planned a mini reunion with the moms and missionaries at Elder Montgomery's homecoming on the 18th!
Stay strong and faithful! Keep working hard!
Love you,
Mom
1
2I think that it totally makes sense. She knows that she gets on our nerves sometimes, and she knows she is super manipulative, but she loves us and she loves the church. Also she doesnt take anybody's crap, so that Facebook conversation makes tons of sense.
3 Not as much in Ukraine as in Russia, but they face tons of challenges especially their children growing being not just the only Mormon Youth in the school, but likely the only one in the city. Teasing, Rumors, pranks, pressure etc. It is not easy to be a Mormon. She personally had a guy tell her "You choose now, me or your cult!" And she told him to shove it.
4 Yes it should be, we likely wont be there just because it will be a super small family thing, I really hope they invite us though.
5Good, we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she really liked it. I pointed out the whole idea that millions of people have died without knowledge of Christ and accoridng to the majority of Christianity are therefore lost, but according to Gods plan they still have a chance.
6 No, she skypes Vladlena after English and of coarse wants to talk to me. But at this point we have determined(not from her) that she doesnt actually think anything will happen, and that it is just a crush.
7 Yesterday on our way home a couple of guys were in a car and they motioned us over and asked us to cast a demon out of their friend. Their friend looked at them like "What?" One of the guys couldnt handle it and just started laughing, and walked away but the other guy stayed in character and was like "He needs your help, there is a devil in him". If we werent representatives of Jesus Christ we would have turned the joke around on them and done all sorts of silly things but instead we were like "Okay cool, well pray for him, whats his name?" And then walked away. Boy we got a good laugh at that they probably thought they were so clever.
8Nope. I hope they get here too, but it sounds like once they do I will have an entire book to read. Speaking of books, what is up with the one you were writing?
9 Okay
12 I miss you so much and I cant wait to see you all again. THanks so much for helping with the College registration and I am so happy that I got into the Russian class! I love you and am so thankful for all of you support.
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