Dear Family & Friends,
October 1, 2012……………..Lugansk
Ukraine
Wow another week down AND IT’S OCTOBER!!!!!!
Where did September go??
Well this last Friday was transfer call day.....last transfer call day I was not nervous at all because it was pretty much a sure thing that I was going to stay and it was not a big deal at all. I was just going with the flow, but this transfer call was nerve racking…….. I had no idea what was going to happen………. was I going to stay, was I going to leave, was my companion going to leave? Just so many options could go down. Well the verdict is that my companion Elder Stradling will be leaving, Elder Mika will also be leaving and Elder Mikas mini missionary will be leaving. Yeah I was a little bummed about that…………… all the people I know are all going to be gone. What is even crazier is that I will be the most experienced person in Lugansk…………. meaning I have been in Lugansk longer than anyone else. I don’t know who my companion is yet but I will find out Thursday. So these last few days will be saying goodbyes for Elder Stradling especially since he only has one transfer left. That is exciting and scary at the same time but I am looking forward to this new experience.
This last week a few things happened that I see note worthy. We were waiting for a lesson with a man and we were just walking around and this older lady passes us and I say hello to her…………. then she turns back around and is asking us who we are, why we are here and all those questions and in the end we were able to get her information. We have a lesson set up with her tomorrow. It was really cool because at our zone conference they kept emphasizing to always look for people, no matter what, especially on your way to appointments. So we gave ourselves extra time and we were able to find this woman……. it was super cool!
Now on a less of an exciting note……...at the beginning of this transfer we met a guy named Fyodor (I don’t know how to spell it in English but he was the world champion volleyball player and he basically was way cool, way into families and so we went over there all excited to teach him……………and the first thing he says is that he really doesn’t have any interest in religion and doesn’t really want to meet anymore. NOOOO! It was so sad to see him say that to us. We were so pumped about him and he just dropped us like a rock. It was my first investigator to drop me. I didn’t even know it was possible. But he was super nice about it, so maybe later on, because of how we treated him and we were very understanding, maybe later on he will accept the gospel.
Okay Sunday was the most legit Sunday in the entire world. I swear it was so awesome! We met a Nigerian a few days ago; he gave us his information and said he would come to church. All he wanted us to do was to call him on Sunday. So we said we would meet at 9:15 and when I called at 9 he was already waiting for us. He was the first Nigerian to be on time for a meeting with us……… it was awesome. We went to church with him and got there a little early so we had some time to talk and he seemed to be interested. One of the great things that happened was that we told him about some other Nigerians who hadn’t come to church when they had planned to and he said "man I got up early today, took my bath and was ready to go, how can these guys not do this and give one day for God" it was super cool. Then right before church started, Gabriel our Nigerian who we had been teaching, came in and he hadn’t been to church at all that month and he chose the right day to come. The other Elders had a Nigerian and an Indian come as well with them………… so there were already 3 investigators at church. Then after church started one of Elder Mikas investigators came in a few minutes later. Roman our investigator walked in then a few minutes later another Indian walks in, so now we are up to 6 investigators at church. Then as we were sitting there in sacrament meeting, we see this group of black guys walk past the window and immediately we all thought please be coming into the church……. Please!!
Where did September go??
Well this last Friday was transfer call day.....last transfer call day I was not nervous at all because it was pretty much a sure thing that I was going to stay and it was not a big deal at all. I was just going with the flow, but this transfer call was nerve racking…….. I had no idea what was going to happen………. was I going to stay, was I going to leave, was my companion going to leave? Just so many options could go down. Well the verdict is that my companion Elder Stradling will be leaving, Elder Mika will also be leaving and Elder Mikas mini missionary will be leaving. Yeah I was a little bummed about that…………… all the people I know are all going to be gone. What is even crazier is that I will be the most experienced person in Lugansk…………. meaning I have been in Lugansk longer than anyone else. I don’t know who my companion is yet but I will find out Thursday. So these last few days will be saying goodbyes for Elder Stradling especially since he only has one transfer left. That is exciting and scary at the same time but I am looking forward to this new experience.
This last week a few things happened that I see note worthy. We were waiting for a lesson with a man and we were just walking around and this older lady passes us and I say hello to her…………. then she turns back around and is asking us who we are, why we are here and all those questions and in the end we were able to get her information. We have a lesson set up with her tomorrow. It was really cool because at our zone conference they kept emphasizing to always look for people, no matter what, especially on your way to appointments. So we gave ourselves extra time and we were able to find this woman……. it was super cool!
Now on a less of an exciting note……...at the beginning of this transfer we met a guy named Fyodor (I don’t know how to spell it in English but he was the world champion volleyball player and he basically was way cool, way into families and so we went over there all excited to teach him……………and the first thing he says is that he really doesn’t have any interest in religion and doesn’t really want to meet anymore. NOOOO! It was so sad to see him say that to us. We were so pumped about him and he just dropped us like a rock. It was my first investigator to drop me. I didn’t even know it was possible. But he was super nice about it, so maybe later on, because of how we treated him and we were very understanding, maybe later on he will accept the gospel.
Okay Sunday was the most legit Sunday in the entire world. I swear it was so awesome! We met a Nigerian a few days ago; he gave us his information and said he would come to church. All he wanted us to do was to call him on Sunday. So we said we would meet at 9:15 and when I called at 9 he was already waiting for us. He was the first Nigerian to be on time for a meeting with us……… it was awesome. We went to church with him and got there a little early so we had some time to talk and he seemed to be interested. One of the great things that happened was that we told him about some other Nigerians who hadn’t come to church when they had planned to and he said "man I got up early today, took my bath and was ready to go, how can these guys not do this and give one day for God" it was super cool. Then right before church started, Gabriel our Nigerian who we had been teaching, came in and he hadn’t been to church at all that month and he chose the right day to come. The other Elders had a Nigerian and an Indian come as well with them………… so there were already 3 investigators at church. Then after church started one of Elder Mikas investigators came in a few minutes later. Roman our investigator walked in then a few minutes later another Indian walks in, so now we are up to 6 investigators at church. Then as we were sitting there in sacrament meeting, we see this group of black guys walk past the window and immediately we all thought please be coming into the church……. Please!!
Sure enough we hear the door open and they all walked in. We
are blown away…….. That makes 10 English speakers at church on
Sunday. So we were able to have an English class and as we were talking with
them we find out that one of the Indian girls has been a member for 5 years and
that one of the black guys has been a member for 20 years and served a
mission. He was the branch president. He has only been in Ukraine for 3
days and hasn’t missed church in years and so it was nearly a miracle he
found where the church was and he really is not being able to communicate in
Russian. It was a serious tender mercy of the Lord. Things were so awesome on
Sunday and I can really see like 5 baptisms happening this next transfer, which
would just be incredible. It was such a good day and Gabriel was just
glowing. It was so cool to see him so happy because he was always alone
and he needed this to happen to give him some support.
It was so amazing to see all these people just keep walking
into the church.There is no doubt in my mind that this gospel is true and it is true no matter where you live. We had people from Nigeria, India, Sir Leon, other parts of Africa, Russia, Ukraine and the United States all in this one sacrament meeting. The gospel is true and is being taught to everyone around the world. I love this gospel, it is the only true gospel and I know that it will continue to grow as people have the desire to come closer to Christ. I love you all and wish you all a happy October!
Love Elder Litchfield
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