For people in college: Please email me your new addresses! I am sure some of you have moved and others of you are getting married. I do have some letters to send but I have no idea where to send them!
This week turned out to be a good week. We had a total of 4 lessons and we have a new investigator. During weekly planning this week Sister Gish and I discussed what our area needed. I opened up all my planner for the Sokolniki area and did a review of the average of lessons. After discussing we came to the conclusion that we need more lessons and more investigators. So that is our main focus in addition to working with the members.
Tuesday we had district meeting and originally we had plans to go contacting as a district. We were at the doorway to leave when the first counselor called and asked if we could help pack up our branch building. He had been doing all the packing himself so of course we went over to lend a hand. It was sad how different the building was after we took down everything. I didn't realize how much the Church had put into the building! The movers took down the air conditioning units from the ceiling and the stove and sink in the kitchen.
Some other sad news is that because we no longer have a building we no longer have English club. But thankfully, we talked to President Sorenson and he agreed that we could hold our own English club at the senior couple's apartment because English club is an important time. A few of our regulars had recentlysaid that they could be willing to listen to our message. So this is a critical time for us.
We met with Izolga this week and there was progress! The last two times we visited her we decided just to read the Book of Mormon with her. We did and she corrected us on our Russian but she has continued to read a little bit every day. OORA! Sister Gish gives her a call at night to check if she read that day and I think that has helped with her accountability.
So on Saturday I went on another visa trip. I swear our visa group gets bigger and bigger with every trip. Everytime we have a visa trip we get informed the night before that 2 more elders were added to our group. So on this last visa trip it was Sister Thrall, 8 elders, and me. This was actually Sister Thrall's last visa trip because she is going home in August. Because of new laws in Ukraine for the time being we fly to Riga. However, we don't have any time to see the city so the most of what we saw was from the airplane window. I was just fine with that. Visa trips are a nice chance to catch up with the missionaries we came in with and discuss how the work is going in different areas but at the same time it is a day out of the work. I took the time to catch up on my Bible reading. I am almost through with Exodus and I have to say, the Lord has a lot of patience because I was getting frustrated just reading about their fickleness.
I know I have been talking about it a lot but I am just happy to see the results of working with the members. I have been making a big effort to talk to more members and I can sense more warmth from the ward. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. This week we have three appointments set with members and some of the YSAs were happy to hear that I am in their ward for another transfer. We have a good group of memebers who have told us they want to help with meetings. We are making a bigger effort in our district to meet with members and teach them about Preach My Gospel and encourage them to study the missionary lessons.
In other news this week we had attack of the poohk.Poohk is this little white fluff that comes from the trees in Moscow. Honestly, at times it looks a little like snow flakes. Unfortunately it is a pain for those with allergies and gets in your eyes and in your mouth. The past few days it has been a little cold and so I still get to wear my sweaters and my long sleeve shirts. I didn't pull them out a lot in the winter so now I am trying to use them more before it gets too hot.
Like always I feel that on Mondays I have the time to reflect on the past week and see the areas that I can improve. I do see progress but I still see areas to improve and trying to look for ways to improve my time. I've also been thinking a lot about when I will come home and lately I have been thinking about staying until November. After all, I was thinking about it and it is only a three week difference between when I was thinking of going home and my late date. I will continue to pray about this decision but these have been my current thoughts and feelings. I hope by next week I will have a definite answer. Yesterday I finished the Book of Mormon once more and every day when I read I learn something new. I have been finding more answers to prayers and overall, I just feel good when I read. More often than not I learn how I can better serve my Heavenly Father and make Him proud of me. There is still a lot of work to do but I try to take it a step at a time. This week my focus will be on talking to people and using our time more effectively. I'll report on the sucess next week. I'm trying to exercise my faith more when I talk to people and for everyone I've talked to it just comes down to opening my mouth and praying that the Lord will fill it. Here's to a step into the dark!
With love,
Sister Daniel
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