Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Ariana’s bye week
Ariana told us a week ago that she might not write this week. She and her district were meeting in Bosnia, or something like that. . . .
[Update] so of course 5 minutes after I get around to posting this, I see she wrote today. :) /kjb
Another author for KJB to read
Recommended by an Argentine co-worker when he heard I'd read some Borges: Julio Cortázar
Zdravo!
Well, Bosnia was fun. I got permission to do emails today since we were gone on monday. This week was pretty good. I gave marijana a list of the 3 or 5 inactive members who are her age, and she looked them up on facebook and asked if they'd come to church, and one of them, a boy named Toni accepted the invitation. his mom used be an active member and play piano for our church, but then she got a paid job to play piano in a different church, so she stopped coming. Toni has started to read the book of mormon, starting with suggested chapters from marijana, and now he's just reading from the beginning, and he came to church on sunday, and he's working towards receiving the priesthood, and he says he'll start going to seminary. I'm way excited about it. Hopefully that will lead to the rest of his family being active again.
I almost planned myself an exchange to bosnia (with president rowe's permission of course), but it's ridiculous going from osijek to sarajevo and back again, or meeting somewhere in the middle and switching companions, so it didn't work out. but we might still do it a different time. It would be interesting going from a catholic to a muslim country. (don't worry mom, i still have been practicing my asking for big things skills)
So I don't know how much I've said about this, but on the 1st of June, we'll have a celebration to commemorate the first baptism in Yugoslavia 40 yrs ago, and it'll be a huge event with tons of famous people there and lots of cool activities and events, including baptisms in the Adriatic, a history tour of where Čosić translated the Book of mormon, hiding the manuscripts because of communism, where the first baptism was, the first place they met, etc., so we're working really hard to get all of the members and their family and friends to come to the event. and maybe the missionaries will be able to attend as well. it depends on us making our goals. And then we have district conference that sunday in zagreb, which will also celebrate how this is the first time of having missionaries in every european country, with the opening of Bosnia, Montenegro, and Macedonia this transfer.
The most heartbreaking thing of the week was that Kristina decided that our church isn't different enough from the catholic church to be worth disappointing her family and being baptized again. It was really disappointing. We haven't quite given up on her completely, but it was really sad. Things were going so well, and then all of a sudden, she gave up. I've been told several times that I'm not allowed to get discouraged, but it's frustrating when people don't want to make the changes in their lives that you know will make them happier than any other choice they could make.
Did I tell you Marijana's grandma's getting baptized? We set a date for the 19th. I'm excited. That shows all the people I talk to every day who say they're too set in their ways to change religion. we had a lesson with her where basically she just talked forever about how she knows our church is true because it helps people and does what Christ would want it to do. The biggest problem is her husband thinks she's crazy and isn't very excited about all of this, but he'll come around hopefully.
President Rowe was here on sunday, which was awesome, as always. He visited with all the members, and his croatian is getting a lot better. he's been slowly learning. after Church he gave marijana a blessing for her health problems and the surgery she was going to have on monday, but the surgery was pushed to the 16th. It was a really great blessing about God showing his power through her. I wish she could be a normal healthy kid. She's got a lot of faith. In less than a year, she's helped the branch here more than all the other members combined except maybe zoran, and probably more than some of the missionaries that have been here. My experience here would've been a lot different without her.
Oh, speaking of zoran, he moved to the coast for the summer, like everyone else in this city, so we're down to no priesthood besides the missionaries once again. luckily, Toni and Alen are both working on being more active and receiving the priesthood.
Well, things are pretty good here in Osijek. Have an awesome day.
love,
Sestra Ariana Black
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Avery, From Mission to Madness: Last Son of the Mormon Prophet
I read this biography of David Hyrum Smith maybe a few months ago. It is missing important details one would want for definite diagnosis, but it probably has all the biographical information that is available. A must read for LDS psychiatrists.
Orson Scott Card, A War of Gifts
This long short story must be one of the most unlikely, not to say bizarre, Christmas books ever written. Yet it shows remarkable skill in its craft, and extraordinary insight into human motivation.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Charles Dickens, Hard Times
It was one of my 50-cent library discard airplane reading books. Picked it up mostly because a smart friend with good taste loves Dickens. I still avoided it for a long time. Finally took it on the plane and finished it a day or two later. I can't believe the dude's skill. He wrote this for serial publication, i.e. keeping to a strict deadline for each chapter. Good characterization, plausible motives, a morsel of mystery, and of course lots of plot. A somewhat too-obvious theme (though the introductory essay by Robert Donald Spector argues for a more nuanced message). I can't believe Dickens published this book that is so down on monogamy with a poorly suited partner, knowing his wife would read it ... but then again, he reportedly took no pains to hide his mistress either.
It was fascinating that the day after I finished the most persuasive pro-divorce chapter of this book, I had a most inspiring conversation with a faithful Protestant colleague who was remaining faithful to (as he phrased it) "the woman I covenanted with before God," even though she had recently divorced him. He was living the advice of Ephesians 5:25.
Otto Reimherr, ed., Quest for Faith, Quest for Freedom: Aspects of Pennsylvania's Religious Experience
Includes an essay by Reimherr, "The Susquehanna: Mormonism's Jordan," but I also read essays on two early African-American clerics, Isaac Leeser and his remarkable contributions to American Jewish culture, a comparison of 3 early Roman Catholic intellectuals in Philadelphia, and a history of Katherine Mary Drexel.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Rick Riordan, The Son of Neptune
So despite not thinking much of the first one, I like reading these books. The quality is improving.
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
The book was on my dresser for a year or so after I started it, waiting to be finished. I finally did.
I'm sure it's been said before, but . . .
Still waiting for a plot, waiting for interest, waiting for relevance, waiting for enlightenment. . . .
Monday, April 23, 2012
Hey everyone!
I hope you're having a wonderful week. Things are pretty good in Osijek. This week has had some miracles and some big disappointments. Dužanka, who I thought was about to get a baptismal date, gave up. She was beginning to get answers, but it was too much work, and things didn't happen as fast as she wanted, and she's overwhelmed with life, and she says she can't do it anymore. We haven't given up on her yet, but if she's given up believing she'll get an answer, she won't get one. The highlight of the week was friday. We had a lesson with Kristina where we watched the restoration movie, and we finally got her and Marijana together. It was awesome for Kristina to have someone who's going through what she is. My testimony of member-present lessons was strengthened. At aktivnost, Matea, an investigator who is going to school in Zagreb, but is from here, came, and she brought 2 friends.
Marijana's grandma came to church this week, and we asked her if we could meet with her, and she agreed. Marijana asked her if she'd get baptized, and she said maybe. I knew she was ready. she's seen how much the book of mormon and this church has blessed Marijana's life, and she wants to learn about that. Marijana has been sharing scriptures that she's found through her scripture study with her grandma, and it's been softening her heart to the book of mormon. I'm so excited about that. and seeing how excited Marijana is about it makes it so much more exciting. For english spiritual thought, we made a chart for questions of the soul, and invited people to find answers from the book of mormon, and it got a few people more excited about the book of mormon. that was cool. We also had a very good lesson with Žužika, a woman who has a really cute family who we met with once, but haven't seen in a couple months. She really got a good understanding of our purpose, and I feel like we were bold and loving in our invitations. She didn't accept everything, but I feel like I did everything I could to help her understand our message.
Elder Wade and Mulder were here for some visa stuff for a couple days from Varaždin, so we sent them on some goose hunts for us to find people. It was fun to have some servants for a couple days.
Seminary was awesome, like every week. Elder and Sister Taylor, who are leaving in a couple days, came to visit for the last time. I love having lessons with her. We'll be talking about something in the old testament, and she'll bring up a scripture in the Book of mormon that goes along perfectly with it that she found in her scripture study that week. She knows much more about the book of mormon than most kids her age, especially ones that have been members for less than a year. She really understands the principle of finding answers and revelation through scripture study.
On sunday, President Babić, the district president, came to Osijek with the district Relief Society president and her councilor. That was cool. They've never come before. I was disappointed Kristina didn't come. She needs to come to church, or she can't get baptized. I would've loved for her to hear President Babić's talk too. it was really good. I gave a talk about charity too. It's sort of annoying. there isn't really a good translation for the word charity. in the bible it usually just uses ljubav, but that's love, and most of the official church stuff uses dobrohotnost, but most people I've talked to say that's a horrible translation, and I'm not sure what connotations it has. I think the new Book of Mormon they're translating uses the word dobrotvornost... i don't know. I can't wait until the new Book of Mormon comes out. That'll be exciting. They're pretty much done, they're just working on finishing the guide to the scriptures that's in the back.
have an awesome week!
love you guys!
Sestra Ariana Black
Marijana's grandma came to church this week, and we asked her if we could meet with her, and she agreed. Marijana asked her if she'd get baptized, and she said maybe. I knew she was ready. she's seen how much the book of mormon and this church has blessed Marijana's life, and she wants to learn about that. Marijana has been sharing scriptures that she's found through her scripture study with her grandma, and it's been softening her heart to the book of mormon. I'm so excited about that. and seeing how excited Marijana is about it makes it so much more exciting. For english spiritual thought, we made a chart for questions of the soul, and invited people to find answers from the book of mormon, and it got a few people more excited about the book of mormon. that was cool. We also had a very good lesson with Žužika, a woman who has a really cute family who we met with once, but haven't seen in a couple months. She really got a good understanding of our purpose, and I feel like we were bold and loving in our invitations. She didn't accept everything, but I feel like I did everything I could to help her understand our message.
Elder Wade and Mulder were here for some visa stuff for a couple days from Varaždin, so we sent them on some goose hunts for us to find people. It was fun to have some servants for a couple days.
Seminary was awesome, like every week. Elder and Sister Taylor, who are leaving in a couple days, came to visit for the last time. I love having lessons with her. We'll be talking about something in the old testament, and she'll bring up a scripture in the Book of mormon that goes along perfectly with it that she found in her scripture study that week. She knows much more about the book of mormon than most kids her age, especially ones that have been members for less than a year. She really understands the principle of finding answers and revelation through scripture study.
On sunday, President Babić, the district president, came to Osijek with the district Relief Society president and her councilor. That was cool. They've never come before. I was disappointed Kristina didn't come. She needs to come to church, or she can't get baptized. I would've loved for her to hear President Babić's talk too. it was really good. I gave a talk about charity too. It's sort of annoying. there isn't really a good translation for the word charity. in the bible it usually just uses ljubav, but that's love, and most of the official church stuff uses dobrohotnost, but most people I've talked to say that's a horrible translation, and I'm not sure what connotations it has. I think the new Book of Mormon they're translating uses the word dobrotvornost... i don't know. I can't wait until the new Book of Mormon comes out. That'll be exciting. They're pretty much done, they're just working on finishing the guide to the scriptures that's in the back.
have an awesome week!
love you guys!
Sestra Ariana Black
Monday, April 16, 2012
Happy Serbian Easter
We pushed Kristina's baptismal date back to May 12th. It was one of the better lessons we've had with her. We used the baptismal calendar more effectively, so I think she feels more like she has a road map and plan to get to baptism, not just a date that we hope she'll be ready by. We put on the calendar when she'll talk to her parents and a goal for us coming to her house to meet her family, along with a place for her to mark her reading. I think she saw more that we wanted to help her be prepared, not trying to rush her to do something. it was good.
We had a good lesson with Du?anka this week on the plan of Salvation. She read 9 chapters of the book of mormon. We talked more about how she'll get an answer from God of whether the book of mormon is true. She wants to get baptized, and we still need to figure out a date, and we have to help her understand a few things, but it's been really cool to see her faith grow in a pretty short period of time. We also had a good lesson with a woman named An?a. We could tell she really felt the spirit while we were talking. she's got lots of potential.
This week we had an awesome lesson with Marijana about family history work, and she's actually working on it. I'm excited about that because before, she hadn't wanted to do any family history work because her family isn't the greatest, and she didn't want to be closer to them, but I think she saw how family history work is missionary work, and she trusted my promise that you can get the same joy that comes from missionary work when we do family history work, and that it helps us be closer tied to God's family. It's always cool to see her actually apply the things we teach her. Yesterday we had a lesson with her with someone who she helped us contact. To prepare for the lesson, Marijana prayed for guidance, and then found some cool scriptures and insights to share in the lesson. It wasn't a great lesson; the people weren't ready to listen to our message as much as we thought, but we shared our message boldly and brought the spirit. It was a good teaching lesson for Marijana though. Sometimes you do all you can, but they're just not ready. We had another lesson or two sort of like that this week too. That's the saddest thing about missionary work. you do all you were called to do, but some people just aren't ready to accept it.
Sister Moody is doing great. Now that she's a bit more confident in talking to people in Croatian, she's just talking to everyone. She told her family that she loves being a missionary, so I guess that means I'm doing my job well. She gave her first talk yesterday. It was about the Book of Mormon. It was good. We had 6 Members there, so that was exciting, since we haven't had more than 3 for a while. Alen was given a calling to bring the bread for the sacrament, so hopefully that will help him progress towards being more active. He started recently to show some desire to be more active and have the priesthood, so that's been cool to see. Zoran says he's moving for real this time, so we'll be out of priesthood leaders again if Alen doesn't step up quick. We really just need to baptize some more of them soon. We have a goal in our mission to baptize 40 people by June 1, the 40th anniversary of the first baptism in Yugoslavia. It's about 1 person per missionary, 2 per companionship. So we're working towards that.
Love you!
Sestra Black
We had a good lesson with Du?anka this week on the plan of Salvation. She read 9 chapters of the book of mormon. We talked more about how she'll get an answer from God of whether the book of mormon is true. She wants to get baptized, and we still need to figure out a date, and we have to help her understand a few things, but it's been really cool to see her faith grow in a pretty short period of time. We also had a good lesson with a woman named An?a. We could tell she really felt the spirit while we were talking. she's got lots of potential.
This week we had an awesome lesson with Marijana about family history work, and she's actually working on it. I'm excited about that because before, she hadn't wanted to do any family history work because her family isn't the greatest, and she didn't want to be closer to them, but I think she saw how family history work is missionary work, and she trusted my promise that you can get the same joy that comes from missionary work when we do family history work, and that it helps us be closer tied to God's family. It's always cool to see her actually apply the things we teach her. Yesterday we had a lesson with her with someone who she helped us contact. To prepare for the lesson, Marijana prayed for guidance, and then found some cool scriptures and insights to share in the lesson. It wasn't a great lesson; the people weren't ready to listen to our message as much as we thought, but we shared our message boldly and brought the spirit. It was a good teaching lesson for Marijana though. Sometimes you do all you can, but they're just not ready. We had another lesson or two sort of like that this week too. That's the saddest thing about missionary work. you do all you were called to do, but some people just aren't ready to accept it.
Sister Moody is doing great. Now that she's a bit more confident in talking to people in Croatian, she's just talking to everyone. She told her family that she loves being a missionary, so I guess that means I'm doing my job well. She gave her first talk yesterday. It was about the Book of Mormon. It was good. We had 6 Members there, so that was exciting, since we haven't had more than 3 for a while. Alen was given a calling to bring the bread for the sacrament, so hopefully that will help him progress towards being more active. He started recently to show some desire to be more active and have the priesthood, so that's been cool to see. Zoran says he's moving for real this time, so we'll be out of priesthood leaders again if Alen doesn't step up quick. We really just need to baptize some more of them soon. We have a goal in our mission to baptize 40 people by June 1, the 40th anniversary of the first baptism in Yugoslavia. It's about 1 person per missionary, 2 per companionship. So we're working towards that.
Love you!
Sestra Black
Monday, April 9, 2012
Easter and Transfers!
Sretan Uskrs!!!
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Mine was pretty good. You may be thinking, if you've been following this closely, why does the title say transfers? didn't she just have transfers like 3 weeks ago? Well, we had them again. 2 of our missionaries were moved down to the Adriatic South mission to open Macedonia, Since our language is closer to Macedonian than Albanian is, so a lot of people were moved around. Elder Wade was transferred to Vara탑din, so Elder Marcek came here to be the Osijek district leader.
Things are going pretty well here in osijek. Kristina, our investigator with a baptismal date, is doing well. We've still got a few things to work through, but things are good. We'll probably have to push back her baptismal date so she can have the chance to go to sacrament meeting a few times before she's baptized. She's got strong faith and a strong desire to follow Christ, but she just has a hard time accepting having to change her viewpoint though. her desire to follow Christ has, to this point, been much stronger than that though. I have faith she'll pull through this though. I'm excited for her.
This sunday was awesome. Iris came to church for the first time in a month and a half or so. We introduced her to Marijana, who talked to her about her experience with quitting smoking, and how it was horrible to go through, but it was worth every second. Marijana had been smoking more per day than Iris had, so i think that was encouraging to Iris. We've been trying to have a lesson with the two of them together for a while, but it hasn't worked out so far. I think now that they've met, they'll both be more up to the idea. She's progressing pretty slowly, but every time we start thinking she's not worth our time right now or that she needs to be dropped, she starts progressing and coming closer to baptism.
We showed Marijana the YW session of conference as part of seminary, and it was really great. We all took notes, and after the conference, shared what we had learned, and she had some good insights. she said she learned a lot, and she was really excited to show it to her friend Marina because she thought it could help her. My next project for her is to get her excited about family history work. She's gotten excited about missionary work, and i think once she understands that family history work is another way she can bring people to baptism, and that then we'll have more people helping us to get a temple in Croatia on both sides of the veil, I think she'll be way excited about that, which will help her respect her family more, and will help her be a stronger member and be more excited about going to the temple.
We got a new investigator named Du?anka last week who shows great promise. I hope we can help their family get baptized. She really wants to know that God exists and loves her, and she is willing to do the work to find out through the Book of Mormon. She's got 2 cute little kids named Luka and Lana, which makes it harder to have lessons, but I think there's great potential for them.
This week we also saw Luka, the 9 yr. old son of an inactive member in our ward. He was really excited to see us, and he talked to us for a little bit. He was with his grandma, who really doesn't like the church, so we couldn't talk long, but it was fun to see him. He and his sister are some of my very favorite people in osijek.
For easter, we went to mass with our old investigator, Ivona, and then went to our church, and then worked on some finding activities we're planning, and then went tracting. Nobody wants to listen to two girls talking about Jesus and the resurrection on Easter, because everyone's celebrating, but we've been told to go tracting from 6-8 when at all possible, so we did.
Well, I hope you all have a good week. love you guys!
Ari
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Mine was pretty good. You may be thinking, if you've been following this closely, why does the title say transfers? didn't she just have transfers like 3 weeks ago? Well, we had them again. 2 of our missionaries were moved down to the Adriatic South mission to open Macedonia, Since our language is closer to Macedonian than Albanian is, so a lot of people were moved around. Elder Wade was transferred to Vara탑din, so Elder Marcek came here to be the Osijek district leader.
Things are going pretty well here in osijek. Kristina, our investigator with a baptismal date, is doing well. We've still got a few things to work through, but things are good. We'll probably have to push back her baptismal date so she can have the chance to go to sacrament meeting a few times before she's baptized. She's got strong faith and a strong desire to follow Christ, but she just has a hard time accepting having to change her viewpoint though. her desire to follow Christ has, to this point, been much stronger than that though. I have faith she'll pull through this though. I'm excited for her.
This sunday was awesome. Iris came to church for the first time in a month and a half or so. We introduced her to Marijana, who talked to her about her experience with quitting smoking, and how it was horrible to go through, but it was worth every second. Marijana had been smoking more per day than Iris had, so i think that was encouraging to Iris. We've been trying to have a lesson with the two of them together for a while, but it hasn't worked out so far. I think now that they've met, they'll both be more up to the idea. She's progressing pretty slowly, but every time we start thinking she's not worth our time right now or that she needs to be dropped, she starts progressing and coming closer to baptism.
We showed Marijana the YW session of conference as part of seminary, and it was really great. We all took notes, and after the conference, shared what we had learned, and she had some good insights. she said she learned a lot, and she was really excited to show it to her friend Marina because she thought it could help her. My next project for her is to get her excited about family history work. She's gotten excited about missionary work, and i think once she understands that family history work is another way she can bring people to baptism, and that then we'll have more people helping us to get a temple in Croatia on both sides of the veil, I think she'll be way excited about that, which will help her respect her family more, and will help her be a stronger member and be more excited about going to the temple.
We got a new investigator named Du?anka last week who shows great promise. I hope we can help their family get baptized. She really wants to know that God exists and loves her, and she is willing to do the work to find out through the Book of Mormon. She's got 2 cute little kids named Luka and Lana, which makes it harder to have lessons, but I think there's great potential for them.
This week we also saw Luka, the 9 yr. old son of an inactive member in our ward. He was really excited to see us, and he talked to us for a little bit. He was with his grandma, who really doesn't like the church, so we couldn't talk long, but it was fun to see him. He and his sister are some of my very favorite people in osijek.
For easter, we went to mass with our old investigator, Ivona, and then went to our church, and then worked on some finding activities we're planning, and then went tracting. Nobody wants to listen to two girls talking about Jesus and the resurrection on Easter, because everyone's celebrating, but we've been told to go tracting from 6-8 when at all possible, so we did.
Well, I hope you all have a good week. love you guys!
Ari
Monday, April 2, 2012
Opći Sabor (general conference)
This week was pretty good.
We got lots of potential investigators and lessons we weren't expecting
to have. We also got to listen to 3 sessions of conference this weekend,
which was more than i expected to be able to listen to. We listened to
conference with Zoran on his laptop. I'm so grateful to have prophets
today. The world is just getting worse and worse, and people are less
and less happy, despite how many more gadgets they buy. A lot of the
things the prophets said were just common sense, but if people actually
applied them to their lives, it would solve most of their problems. It
sort of makes you wish people would just live the basics so we could
hear a higher law. but as always, it was so nice to be taught the gospel
instead of being the one teaching. Every time that happens-- general
conference, zone conferences, my week in slovenia where they have a real
branch, the week president rowe came into town for the weekend,
whenever we actually have a sunday school teacher or relief society
teacher come to church-- I'm so grateful. I definitely will appreciate a
lot more when i come home than i did when i left. I don't think the
missionaries back home understand what they've got. I'm sure it's always
greener on the other side though. I'm sure if i were serving in the
states I'd be complaining about how people weren't doing their callings
well and i'd rather just do everything myself. oh well. anyways, i
didn't mean to get on that rant. I'm so excited to see the day when this
branch is actually self-sustaining and has a local branch president and
a complete family or two.
Let's see... what happened this week? On monday we were tracting and we got a plant from this nice old lady, and then we realized that we didn't have anywhere to put it while we tracted for the rest of the night, so we just took it around with us and put it by a tree, tracted a few houses, went and got our plant, repeat. it made the night a little lighter. We also found this guy that we happened to find out last night from an old potential sheet was tracted into about a year ago. Then he was given a Restoration pamphlet (the 1st lesson), and that day we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet (2nd lesson). It just made me remember that God's orchestrating everyone's salvation, not us. Charissa sent me an email this week talking about that same principle, funnily enough. You know, when you're doing God's work, there are lots of coincidences. The more i see that, the more i believe that actually, none of them are coincidences. God has a perfect, intricate, but simple plan for every one of his children to hear the gospel and learn its principles. and each one of you are part of that plan for each of your neighbors. the question is: will you teach them by showing them and helping them understand God's love, or by helping them grow from opposition. You have to work with God's plan either way, either to your personal salvation or damnation. It's crazy how well God has all of these things worked out though. Tons of little ˝coincidences˝ go into every little thing I learn, or every little thing I teach someone else. It's silly to think that could all be by accident. Blocks don't fall on the ground by themselves in a tower. Order can't spontaneously come from chaos. but every little moment in my life builds on each other, to help me learn, and to help God's kingdom continue to grow.
On wednesday Sister Moody taught the first lesson with my assistance and support to a wonderful woman named Mirjana. She has a daughter going to school in Rochester, and she came to english sign-ups. She was very impressed with the ˝for the strength of youth˝ pamphlet that we put out with the church pamphlets during english sign-ups. The lesson went really well, and she said she would be baptized if she learns that it's true. Sister Moody did an awesome job leading the discussion, and giving commitments. The new training program is really inspired. It's geared towards having the new missionaries ready to train another missionary within 12 weeks. I feel like the new mtc program and this new training program make a huge difference. I feel like sister moody is already more ready to train-- language, teaching, finding, and everything else --than many missionaries under the old program were after serving for almost half a year in the field. it's pretty cool.
Here's an update on people who have/had baptismal dates, for those of you who have been following and are wondering where these people went:
Kristina is still doing well. She still hasn't come to church, and we still haven't been able to meet her family, but she got the courage to stand up to her friend to start investigating, so I think she'll stand up to her family as well. She knows it's true. We taught the word of wisdom, and she accepted it without any concerns. she has a lot of schoolwork right now, and she just got a new job, so we've had trouble meeting with her, but I think it'll go ok. she's been way prepared for the gospel. she'll work through the barriers.
We were finally able to meet with Suzana again. She still can't come to the church, but we went over while her fiance was at work, and we read the book of mormon with her.
Iris is doing ok. She isn't leaving for the coast as early as she thought, so we have more time to teach her. We tried to teach her that sometimes God's plan isn't our plan, but she didn't really want to hear it. she is slowly cutting down on cigarettes, and i think she's slowly progressing to baptism, but it's still a work in progress. She's been avoiding us for the past couple days though, which is annoying, but she'll come around. we've been praying for her.
Still haven't been able to contact Valentina. She hasn't been answering her phone, and she isn't often home, and she lives almost an hour from where we live. Still working on that. if nothing else, she has a great head start for next time the gospel reaches her.
Andrea is being difficult to schedule with too. We haven't met with her for about a week and a half. She's having some trials we'll need to work through. I'm a little worried about her.
Well, lots of other cool things happened, but i don't have all day, and i'm getting tired of writing this email, so just make up the rest with your imagination.
love you all
Sestra Ariana Black
Let's see... what happened this week? On monday we were tracting and we got a plant from this nice old lady, and then we realized that we didn't have anywhere to put it while we tracted for the rest of the night, so we just took it around with us and put it by a tree, tracted a few houses, went and got our plant, repeat. it made the night a little lighter. We also found this guy that we happened to find out last night from an old potential sheet was tracted into about a year ago. Then he was given a Restoration pamphlet (the 1st lesson), and that day we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet (2nd lesson). It just made me remember that God's orchestrating everyone's salvation, not us. Charissa sent me an email this week talking about that same principle, funnily enough. You know, when you're doing God's work, there are lots of coincidences. The more i see that, the more i believe that actually, none of them are coincidences. God has a perfect, intricate, but simple plan for every one of his children to hear the gospel and learn its principles. and each one of you are part of that plan for each of your neighbors. the question is: will you teach them by showing them and helping them understand God's love, or by helping them grow from opposition. You have to work with God's plan either way, either to your personal salvation or damnation. It's crazy how well God has all of these things worked out though. Tons of little ˝coincidences˝ go into every little thing I learn, or every little thing I teach someone else. It's silly to think that could all be by accident. Blocks don't fall on the ground by themselves in a tower. Order can't spontaneously come from chaos. but every little moment in my life builds on each other, to help me learn, and to help God's kingdom continue to grow.
On wednesday Sister Moody taught the first lesson with my assistance and support to a wonderful woman named Mirjana. She has a daughter going to school in Rochester, and she came to english sign-ups. She was very impressed with the ˝for the strength of youth˝ pamphlet that we put out with the church pamphlets during english sign-ups. The lesson went really well, and she said she would be baptized if she learns that it's true. Sister Moody did an awesome job leading the discussion, and giving commitments. The new training program is really inspired. It's geared towards having the new missionaries ready to train another missionary within 12 weeks. I feel like the new mtc program and this new training program make a huge difference. I feel like sister moody is already more ready to train-- language, teaching, finding, and everything else --than many missionaries under the old program were after serving for almost half a year in the field. it's pretty cool.
Here's an update on people who have/had baptismal dates, for those of you who have been following and are wondering where these people went:
Kristina is still doing well. She still hasn't come to church, and we still haven't been able to meet her family, but she got the courage to stand up to her friend to start investigating, so I think she'll stand up to her family as well. She knows it's true. We taught the word of wisdom, and she accepted it without any concerns. she has a lot of schoolwork right now, and she just got a new job, so we've had trouble meeting with her, but I think it'll go ok. she's been way prepared for the gospel. she'll work through the barriers.
We were finally able to meet with Suzana again. She still can't come to the church, but we went over while her fiance was at work, and we read the book of mormon with her.
Iris is doing ok. She isn't leaving for the coast as early as she thought, so we have more time to teach her. We tried to teach her that sometimes God's plan isn't our plan, but she didn't really want to hear it. she is slowly cutting down on cigarettes, and i think she's slowly progressing to baptism, but it's still a work in progress. She's been avoiding us for the past couple days though, which is annoying, but she'll come around. we've been praying for her.
Still haven't been able to contact Valentina. She hasn't been answering her phone, and she isn't often home, and she lives almost an hour from where we live. Still working on that. if nothing else, she has a great head start for next time the gospel reaches her.
Andrea is being difficult to schedule with too. We haven't met with her for about a week and a half. She's having some trials we'll need to work through. I'm a little worried about her.
Well, lots of other cool things happened, but i don't have all day, and i'm getting tired of writing this email, so just make up the rest with your imagination.
love you all
Sestra Ariana Black
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