Hello everyone! As per usual, I am freezing. That is my weather report, for those of you that were wondering. Now, onto the rest of my week)
This week we had the best meeting with Anton. We talked with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked through faith in Jesus Christ and why it is important, and how faith leads to action which is repentance! I have loved talking about and studying repentance on my mission. I have really come to understand what it is and why it is important to us and to me individually. Repentance to me just means change. To really desire true change, to confess the things that you did wrong that you don't want to do anymore to God, and then move on! We have a wonderful gift given to us by God to help us be better and become the people we want to be and our Father in Heaven wants us to be. It's so amazing! Then, we talked about baptism. When we got to that point, we stayed on that topic for a while and went pretty in depth about how, after we desire to repent daily and follow Christ, we are baptized. We do this to show our commitment to God and to make a covenant with Him that we will always strive to follow Him and do as He would do. Then, Sister Krumperman asked him to be baptized and he said yes! He even picked a date for the end of this month! I love meeting with him because every time we do, he is very happy and very expressive. Anton is a feeling person, and he immediately recognized the Spirit when he felt it. He is very special, and we are so excited for him!
We also have been having a really fun time doing lessons with Alina. She is so amazing! She loves learning more about the gospel and all the things that come with it. We've been having Dima, one of the youth in the branch, in on lessons with us, and he does an amazing job. She still doesn't have a set date, but she is progressing!
Another meeting that really stood out to me this week was a meeting we had with a recent convert named Sasha. She is just the greatest! She was baptized in August (I think?) and she lowkey intimidated me until our meeting this week. She is gorgeous, and very intense. But she is also very loving, and that was what was really cool about meeting with her. She is in her late 30s and she has two sons. We went over to her, and she has a lot of questions about the gospel and about Jesus Christ. She loves learning more and seeing how it fits into her life. At one point, I noticed her Harry Potter books on her shelf, and I said "Oh! I really want to read the Harry Potter books in Russian at some point! But we can't read them while we are here as volunteers:(" and that's when she said "Oh, here! You can have one! You can read it when you go back home!". It was really kind of her and I was also really happy because when I get back to America, I can read the first Harry Potter book in Russian! (sorry mom, I know you don't understand Harry Potter but I love it)
Those were pretty much the highlights of this week. I love being here! I love the Lord! I love His work! I love His children! I hope you all had a wonderful week as well!
Sister Jones
Pictures:
Me being upset because it's cold (but lowkey really happy because I love my coat)
McDonald's thinking things are "Texan" because they add cheese and bacon... actually they aren't wrong
Pretty hot chocolate:)
