So first of all, I don't know what happened, but for about a week spring had begun here in Volgograd, but now the snow is back in force, so it's been a blizzard outside all day. On the plus side, the sunlight now looks normal. The winter sun up north isn't very strong or bright, so I'm really grateful to see real sunlight again!
The email is entitled Men's Day because tomorrow in Russia is Men's Day or Defenders of the Fatherland Day. (They also have Women's Day on March 8th.) So, to all you men out there who defend your own fatherland, Спасибо!
We had an awesome week this week. For some strange reason, we found a lot of people interested in hearing our message. (One of them does happen to be a Muslim whose as interested in converting us to Islam as we are in converting him to Christ, but what can you do?) We had a few people that we had met on transport call us, which happens so infrequently that for the past almost 7 months of me living here, it has never actually happened unitl this week. So, miracles do occur even when it's freezing outside and there's a blizzard.
We also had Zone Conference here this last week, so President and Sister Miner were up in Volgograd for the weekend. It was really fun, and I got to do some translating for them as they came to help Sister Greenwood and I on a lesson with a recent convert family. I was amazed as I was able to translate everything they said. It frequently catches me off guard as I remember that a year ago I couldn't even read Russian much less speak it. God really does create miracles in those who serve Him.
One of the things we focused on in Zone Conference was our own understanding of what it means to repent. Now, I used to think that repentace was a horrible process that people told me to do so that I could feel bad about myself. That, my friends, is a false notion. Repentace, as it says in Preach My Gospel, is gaining a fresh view of yourself and of God. Meaning that when you repent, you recognize that you can be better than who you are currently, and that you can become perfect like God is. Yes, part of repentace is acknowledging that you are not perfect and that you have work to do, but if you didn't recognize that, you'd never be able to see that you can learn and improve. So for this week, I'd like to invite you to repent! Or come closer to being the person that God sees you becoming: your perfect self.
"Repent, repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"
And now, I'm off to tell people in Russia to do the same thing! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
The email is entitled Men's Day because tomorrow in Russia is Men's Day or Defenders of the Fatherland Day. (They also have Women's Day on March 8th.) So, to all you men out there who defend your own fatherland, Спасибо!
We had an awesome week this week. For some strange reason, we found a lot of people interested in hearing our message. (One of them does happen to be a Muslim whose as interested in converting us to Islam as we are in converting him to Christ, but what can you do?) We had a few people that we had met on transport call us, which happens so infrequently that for the past almost 7 months of me living here, it has never actually happened unitl this week. So, miracles do occur even when it's freezing outside and there's a blizzard.
We also had Zone Conference here this last week, so President and Sister Miner were up in Volgograd for the weekend. It was really fun, and I got to do some translating for them as they came to help Sister Greenwood and I on a lesson with a recent convert family. I was amazed as I was able to translate everything they said. It frequently catches me off guard as I remember that a year ago I couldn't even read Russian much less speak it. God really does create miracles in those who serve Him.
One of the things we focused on in Zone Conference was our own understanding of what it means to repent. Now, I used to think that repentace was a horrible process that people told me to do so that I could feel bad about myself. That, my friends, is a false notion. Repentace, as it says in Preach My Gospel, is gaining a fresh view of yourself and of God. Meaning that when you repent, you recognize that you can be better than who you are currently, and that you can become perfect like God is. Yes, part of repentace is acknowledging that you are not perfect and that you have work to do, but if you didn't recognize that, you'd never be able to see that you can learn and improve. So for this week, I'd like to invite you to repent! Or come closer to being the person that God sees you becoming: your perfect self.
"Repent, repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"
And now, I'm off to tell people in Russia to do the same thing! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Me at the old train station in Volgograd (it was bombed in WWII)
Our zone! (Elder Boyer was unexpectedly given a halo by the painting of Christ behind him)
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