Ok so I know that Thanksgiving has passed but I totally forgot last week so I have to say Happy Thanksgiving this week! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know I had a good one compared to last years Thanksgiving in the MTC! We had investigators and members over at the Forsyths and we ate some dang good food! The only thing we were missing was some good old American Football and a classic Thanksgiving nap! But, it was still great!
So of course this week has been crazy yet again! The temperature has dropped fast and today it is -21 C and bitter cold! I hear it will only be getting colder! I go out side and it physically hurts my lungs to breath through my mouth or my nose turns into an icicle if I breath through my nose so I don't know which one to do! But, I had a sweet coat from Kazakhstan that keeps me pretty warm so no worries there.
Right now we have three investigators who are ready to be baptized. We are literally just waiting on them because there is nothing else to do! But, currently Elder Smith and I gave up big sacrifices and asked the Lord to intervene so we will see what miracles we will see in the not to distant future! I could sure use grandpas heavenly help right now with these people! There is Olga, Olessa, and Sasha. I will explain what happened with Olga a little bit later but Olessa is in a stand still because she is going to be getting married soon so that has preoccupied her mind obviously. Sasha, we found out this week, is studying to become a Catholic Priest. He was raised at Catholic and baptized by his granny in England, but he found out that our church is true. He knows it is true, but doesn't know what to do because he doesn't want to hurt his granny. He just has a few things to figure out inside before he can make that step towards baptism. All three of these people are ready to be baptized, they have just not made the decision quite yet!
So Olga... this is the wife of a current less active member. We had a very very strong lesson this week with Olga! She asked the question about the Holy Ghost and exactly what it feels like before baptism and after you receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We focused an entire two hours on answering this question! Olga know what the Holy Ghost feels like. She has recognized it in her life. She has had a very good life and she herself said that she has not had anything horrible every happen to her. She knows that warm and comforting feeling that God gives her. Because of that she doesn't understand the difference it will be after getting the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We thought of a pretty cool idea to explain it. We had Sister Forsyth make some banana bread and we brought it over. We started out the lesson asking her if she wanted a gift that we had for her. Of course she said yes. We started teaching and had Sister Forsyth relate a story of how she had felt the Holy Ghost after baptism. It brought a great atmosphere for the lesson. After the story we asked her if she wanted her gift again. Of course she answered yes and so we let her see her gift and then took it away. We kept teaching and talked about and read verses from the scriptures about the Holy Ghost. After that we asked her again if she wanted her gift and she said yes. She took of the banana bread and let her smell it and then took it away. They talked about how good it looked and smelt. We talked again about the holy ghost and we all testified and related person stories. The Spirit was really strong! After that we asked her if she wanted her gift again and she said yes. We explained that we can explain exactly the difference between feeling the Holy Ghost after and before baptism. But, what she feels right now is only a taste or a glimpse of what she could have. We talked about the Holy Ghost being a gift and that it is free for everyone, but there is a second part of giving a gift... receiving the gift. She took the banana bread and we all ate it. We committed her to baptism and she said that she was still praying about it. We asked her how she felt. She said that she always felt the Spirit when we were here. She didn't take that as an answer. We asked her to pray about baptism in front of us at the end of the lesson and she did. She still said she had to pray about it more. We offered to give her a blessing and she allowed us. We gave her a blessing and then asked her how she felt. She said that she felt such power and warmth and love surround her during the blessing. She said that she still had to pray about baptism! What and experience! The Spirit was so strong and she recognized it every single time! She knows what she needs to do.. but for some reason is still holding back!
Well.. the work is still going forward! Winter is here and now people are really going to be mad when we want to stop and talk to them on the street! Haha it is going to be awesome! This week the President is coming and we are going to be hunting down a Russian Orthodox Priest which we helped with service and see if we can get a meeting with him. We do not have a good relationship with that church in Russia and we are trying to build one! Thank you all for your love and your support and especially for your prayers! I love you all! Remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
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