Apr 8: Baltic Chŗonīcļe: Sad Week, Conference Rocks!, Provaslav čurčā preaching

From: Jordan Argyle
Date: Apr 8, 2009 5:20 AM
Subject: Apr 8: Baltic Chŗonīcļe: Sad Week, Conference Rocks!, Provaslav čurčā preaching

All: So, remember that mission goal I told you all about to finish the Book of Mormon by mid-March? Well...I just finished it last Monday. It is amazing! I took some stats that I want to share next time. Just one for ya: there are over 200 different titles for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in that book. And He's mentioned a good deal more than once per verse. I believe the average was 1.6 times a verse (average, of course). If the Book of Mormon is not about Christ, I don't know what is! I'll give you the book break-down next time (hopefully I won't forget...we have transfers, so who knows if I'll still be here...).

Oh, 100,821 steps = 78.64KM..

Pics: Top: We cleaned a very dirty stairwell for service a while back (last week). This is my rock-awsome district!
Next: So, we got a little 3D paper dinosaur puzzle in a box of cereal. Here's my awesome comp after he completed it.
Third: So, how dirty was the stairwell we cleaned? This dirty. Ew. And this is only one of the gross parts of it.
Fourth: In celebrating Sister Wilson's and Elder Payne's birthdays, we went to Fridays. And here's her reaction to the singing of the Friday's crew. This was a fun p-day.
Last: That cathedral.(more below)

We didn't watch general conference with everybody because the broadcasting times were right when prosilyting (preaching...I have no idea how to spell that ridiculously-spelled word in English!) is the best, so we've been watching a two-hour session every day as a district at times when finding people to teach isn't so good.

Speaking of finding, it's only gotten hotter each day. Today it's actually +18° C.! That's way hot!! I've abandoned my coat, and soon my suit coat will follow.

So, this week has been a very sad one for me. Investigators:
A.: wasn't able to meet for a while, and seemed for a while to be avoiding us. He called today though, so I don't think we'll have too many problems.
L.: told us that he could accept some laws, but he's not sure if he'll live them. So, we had to explain that to be baptized, he has to be willing to live all the commandments of God. So...that was unexpected.
Then, I have been praying for charity. If you wonder what that means, read Moroni 7. Anyway, I feel a great love for the people here, and since people here really don't care about God, I have been filled with sorrow for them and their poor choices. And, I've seen alcohol absolutely everywhere, and smoking, which is especially saddifying when I see it around kids. Small ones.
Add to all of that, a very wonderful cousin died very unexpectedly. So...I've had a fairly heavy soul all week.

I have also had some questions about things, and the first two sessions of conference (findable here) had some amazing talks that answered my questions, and filled me with the hope that comes from living prophets and apostles in our days. I strongly encourage you to read the talks if you so choose.

To add to our investigators, we also have a great man named A. He works for churches, cleaning the insides and replacing the crosses on them. We visited him at his work place (a provaslov church+cloisteris (you'll have to find out what that is in English)), and we were able to teach him about the restoration of the gospel in an upper room of the provaslov church. So...I taught about the gospel's restoration in a cathedral-type building. I attached a picture, so you can see what that looked like.

If you research our church's history, you will find references to priesthood. I invite you to read this talk from a while back. It was very, very powerful to me. It is a discussion on the church's "most distinguishing feature": the restored priesthood authority of God. The talk is called Our Most Distinguishing Feature. There are also some talks I would recommend from this last conference. Well, they were all fantastic! Just go check them out! Especially the first and last talks in the first session (Robert D. Hales and President Eyring) and Elders Pino and Scott in the second session brought a lot of peace to my troubled soul this week. It's amazing how much we get from living prophets. Go read a few of those talks (or listen to them...I don't know what's available yet).

I hope you're doing well. Thanks for your prayers and support. I send my love!
--
Elder Argyle
@..@
(-----)
( >/°¥< )
^^‾\/‾^^