Dear Family and Friends,
Week 14 in Lugansk
Ukraine…………………October 22, 2012
Well another week has come and gone here in the Ukraine (which by the way is still not real to me that I am across the country in Ukraine!). But anyway this week has been such a good week. We have been working extremely hard to make sure that all of our lessons end up working out so we call them the day before the lesson we call the day of the lesson and even sometimes right before the lesson. I know it seems a little much but I think I mentioned that last week but we need to be spending all of our time finding people who will listen and not waiting for people to show up to lessons. The thing about here in the Ukraine is that not a lot of people like to meet at their house so we often times are meeting them at our tiny branch building. We don’t know if they will come or not, but if we call them 3 times and make sure and remind them………… then often times they show up and we are able to have some super good lessons.
Because we were calling and reminding so much we were able to have quite a few lessons.
Well another week has come and gone here in the Ukraine (which by the way is still not real to me that I am across the country in Ukraine!). But anyway this week has been such a good week. We have been working extremely hard to make sure that all of our lessons end up working out so we call them the day before the lesson we call the day of the lesson and even sometimes right before the lesson. I know it seems a little much but I think I mentioned that last week but we need to be spending all of our time finding people who will listen and not waiting for people to show up to lessons. The thing about here in the Ukraine is that not a lot of people like to meet at their house so we often times are meeting them at our tiny branch building. We don’t know if they will come or not, but if we call them 3 times and make sure and remind them………… then often times they show up and we are able to have some super good lessons.
Because we were calling and reminding so much we were able to have quite a few lessons.
One of the things that I have seen be an extremely
beneficial here is having members in on the lessons. I never really realized
what a difference a member can make being there for the lesson. First of all,
the members actually know the language and can fill in the mistakes we make and
make it more ponyatna (understanding) for our investigators and secondly they
are all converts themselves and were not raised in the church so they have a
strong testimony and are able to help us out so much and I would encourage all
of you to let the missionaries know what days and times you have available
because it is such an experience to see people accept the gospel and it is so
much easier for a new convert to stay active when they already have a friend
with them. I love this work and it is moving along so much here in Ukraine and
I can see so many miracles every single day and each week.
As of right now we have 4 investigators who are progressing and we could have a few more but we have to met with them twice, so technically they cannot be considered progressing. However they are extremely promising and I can see them progressing so fast towards baptism. We have been trying to make an effort to invite all of the people we teach to be baptized and although none of them have set a date yet we have 3 that have said when they know what we are telling them is true then they will of course be baptized. The next step for us is to just get them on a solid date and I can see it happening this next week. I am so excited for the Lugansk area to have a few more baptisms. There is a baptism scheduled for this Saturday from another companionship and another one for the 10th of November. The work is moving along all over the world it is truly amazing.
Now one really cool thing happened yesterday. Last week or the week before we contacted a man who sort of seemed interested, but he was in a hurry (like everyone else here) and so we told him what we were doing and why we were here and he seemed somewhat interested. We tried to get his number but he did not want to give it to us for whatever reason. Well we invited him to church and gave him our number and we went on our way. Obviously with all the people we meet we forgot about who said what especially when we don’t have their number and we give our brochures to everyone. Yesterday a man walks into the church, not a member and I vaguely recognized him so I sat down with him and started to talk to him. And it turns out he was the man who said he would come to church and usually when they say that…………. they normally don’t come. BUT HE DID!!! It was amazing and now here is the kicker....he stayed for all three hours!!! Yeah even some of the member’s don’t stay for all three and this was his first time at church. He said we could meet on Saturday and that he was interested in what we had to say.
As of right now we have 4 investigators who are progressing and we could have a few more but we have to met with them twice, so technically they cannot be considered progressing. However they are extremely promising and I can see them progressing so fast towards baptism. We have been trying to make an effort to invite all of the people we teach to be baptized and although none of them have set a date yet we have 3 that have said when they know what we are telling them is true then they will of course be baptized. The next step for us is to just get them on a solid date and I can see it happening this next week. I am so excited for the Lugansk area to have a few more baptisms. There is a baptism scheduled for this Saturday from another companionship and another one for the 10th of November. The work is moving along all over the world it is truly amazing.
Now one really cool thing happened yesterday. Last week or the week before we contacted a man who sort of seemed interested, but he was in a hurry (like everyone else here) and so we told him what we were doing and why we were here and he seemed somewhat interested. We tried to get his number but he did not want to give it to us for whatever reason. Well we invited him to church and gave him our number and we went on our way. Obviously with all the people we meet we forgot about who said what especially when we don’t have their number and we give our brochures to everyone. Yesterday a man walks into the church, not a member and I vaguely recognized him so I sat down with him and started to talk to him. And it turns out he was the man who said he would come to church and usually when they say that…………. they normally don’t come. BUT HE DID!!! It was amazing and now here is the kicker....he stayed for all three hours!!! Yeah even some of the member’s don’t stay for all three and this was his first time at church. He said we could meet on Saturday and that he was interested in what we had to say.
It was amazing and I am so excited for this next week. We
have a lot of lessons we are planning on having and this week should be a busy
one for us.
I am so happy that I am here in the Ukraine of all places and learning Russian, preaching the gospel to all the remnants of the house of Israel. All twelve tribes have been found here in Ukraine through patriarchal blessings and we are literally gathering Israel. I know that this work is true and that we are here serving The Lord simply because it is our way of showing him that we love him and are willing to do whatever He asks us to do. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and if people read it AND pray about it…………. they will get a divine witness for themselves that it is true.
I love you all and I know that The Lord is blessing all of you for your support for all of the missionaries who are serving now and who have served. Thank you for your prayers and all the support. I love you all
Love Elder Litchfield
P.S. All of you who wrote me letters………. thank you so much! I will do my best to respond to them today if I have time (the time on the computer is so limited) but I want to thank you now since it takes a long time for the letters to make it to the states.
I love you!! Thank you for your support :)
I am so happy that I am here in the Ukraine of all places and learning Russian, preaching the gospel to all the remnants of the house of Israel. All twelve tribes have been found here in Ukraine through patriarchal blessings and we are literally gathering Israel. I know that this work is true and that we are here serving The Lord simply because it is our way of showing him that we love him and are willing to do whatever He asks us to do. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and if people read it AND pray about it…………. they will get a divine witness for themselves that it is true.
I love you all and I know that The Lord is blessing all of you for your support for all of the missionaries who are serving now and who have served. Thank you for your prayers and all the support. I love you all
Love Elder Litchfield
P.S. All of you who wrote me letters………. thank you so much! I will do my best to respond to them today if I have time (the time on the computer is so limited) but I want to thank you now since it takes a long time for the letters to make it to the states.
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