Subject: A Baptism down and more the come!
Well! The big news... we traveled to Yaroslavl this past week and Sasha did get baptized! Finally! After his fourth baptismal date! Nothing short of a miracle! The Elders there rented a pool and there were two baptisms there (haha after the baptism the pool was still open so some of the members and the people that got baptized stayed to swim). The second person was a lady from Africa named Grace and one of our less actives was able to baptize her so that was even more amazing to see! The even better news is that there will definately be one more baptism coming up in Yaroslavl, Sergei (or as we call him short guy who has read the Bible and Koran, all the names are the same here so just saying Sergei brings up to many people!). That is not all of the baptisms, on Saturday is going to be yet another baptism but it will be here in Voronesh! Our Golden Investigator Pavel is going to get baptized!
So... to talk about Golden People who have been prepared for the Gospel! Pavel is about as close as it gets! Met him on the street, he called us, he came to english club and then to church, he had an amazing experience and church where the spirit was so strong, we taught him all of the lessons within two weeks, he accepted everything, and now he wants to get everything as soon as he can! He wants to get baptized, get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, get the priesthood, and he even is planning on the going to the temple as soon as he is able to! We had an amazing lesson about temples yesterday where he told us about his ancestors and how he really wants to do there work.. he told a story about his grandpa dying which obviously about made me bust out into tears.. the spirit was so strong I can't even explain the feeling! Just a peace and a silence! Usually Pavel is such a talker but he was quite the whole time and just was on the edge of his chair ready to hear what was coming next! He said that he wants to drive out the Kiev next week and do baptisms for the dead!! He is just amazing! I have not met anyone on my entire mission as prepared as Pavel has been!
The past two days have really been interesting! Elder Borodin and I have been meeting with missionaries and pastors from other churches! The day before yesterday we met with a missionary from the Russian Orthodox Church... man was the frustrating! He has the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon. He had one question... how do you know that your answer that this is true was from God and not from the Devil... well is answer to that I was prompted to go the D&C 9 where Oliver Cowdery is being counciled on prayer... before we could even get through with one answer he had 100 more questions and would not give as an opportunity to answer any of them.. to say the least I was not very impressed because he strategy was not to teach by the spirit but to teach by proof and control...
Then yesterday we met with a pastor from another church (sorry I do not know how it translates in English) basically they believe in a very interesting way in the Gift of Tongue... this is the process... in groups one of them prays in Russian and all of the others around that person start jabbering.... and this is what they believe to be the Gift of Tongues. So here we have the main person pronouncing the prayers... and about fifty other people going crazy raising their hands up and chanting in "a different language" which they themselves don't understand. This meeting was focused on the Book of Mormon and Joseph. We very clearly and boldly preached our message and told them how to know whether it was true. Then the pastor started asking how many moms I had and asked if we knew that Joseph Smith was mentally ill. Haha... yet another interesting experience! Although... the choir sang very beautifully :)
The weather is finally getting warm here! It is time to take off the jacket and the let the white shirt and tie and name tag shine! People are definately going to know who we are without a mistake!! We have a great and a marvelous work that we are doing! It is great! I love you all! Thank you for the prayers and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
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