"Activity NOT Activities"

"Activities is the genius of this church" - Elder Ward "No Ward, it's ACTIVITY." - The rest of the missionaries.

Okay, quick question... Do any of you know who Bill Warren is? The Bromanians met him on the street a couple days ago, and apparently he's a really famous gospel singer in America? We got a good laugh from hearing the experience they had because he gave them a card that said, "Bill Warren: Author, Singer, Explorer" There's no way of us being able to find out over here, so if you can find any info on him, let me know!

Ever since I've been here in good old Chisinau, the attendance at church has been really poor, but yesterday we had the most people I've seen since my first Sunday! It was 10:00 am, and not very many of the members had arrived at church yet; but, at around 10:05, it seemed like 35 people suddenly appeared in the chapel! There were some less-actives, more members than usual, and some investigators of the other missionaries. It was fantastic. We would've loved to see our investigator (Aba) there, but he couldn't make it. 

One of the lessons we had with Коля this week was an interesting one. Basically the question we wanted him to answer was if he had a desire to keep ALL the commandments of God. Well, he said he did, but he also said he wasn't perfect. So as we were talking about the coffee and tea part of the Word of Wisdom, he stops us and says, "Guys, wait, my wife sent me some candy from Italy and I want you to try it." He got out the package and the picture on the package was... a cup of coffee... We were thinking, "We're not going to eat those!" but he told us that you "dip" them in coffee. So, we took his word for it, took a bite, and there was coffee in the middle of it... We both looked at each other and the look on our faces was, "Oh no... We broke the Word of Wisdom..." We couldn't spit it out in front of him, so after the lesson, Elder Monroe and I talked about it, and we made the conclusion that this situation counted towards breaking the Word of Wisdom, but did NOT count as a sin on our part, or on our investigators part. Funny story though! Breaking the Word of Wisdom while teaching the Word of Wisdom. Don't try this at home kids!

Later in the week, we decided to go visit Коля again. We had some time before the appointment, so we went knocking. The whole time I had a water bottle that I needed to throw away, so as soon as we got to his street, we either had to turn right and find a trash can, or turn left and just go to the lesson with the big bottle of water in my hand. The Spirit told me to go right. So we went right and a few steps down the street we heard someone say, "Hey guys, I had no idea you were coming by tonight." And guess who it was...? Коля! He was just getting some potatoes from the store, and he saw us walking up the street. I had that annoyingly big water bottle for a reason. Without it, we would've never seen him that night.

Yesterday we went knocking with the Bromanians. While they did they survey thing, Elder Monroe and I just did our own thing. One lady acted like she was expecting us, but it turned out that she thought that we were the police. As we were leaving her apartment, she told us to come back if we liked her daughter... We had no idea what to say to that so we just said, "Yeah... Have a nice night!" Maybe 14 doors later, an old woman answered the door, had no idea what we were doing, but let us in anyway! She was a part of the Russian Orthodox church, but enjoyed reading books from other churches. So when we showed her the Book of Mormon, she seemed really interested. She took the book with care and we set up an appointment for next week. It's amazing to see the power that this book has when people haven't even opened it.

We're still working with a lot of investigators to help them progress towards baptism. Elder Monroe is a fantastic companion, and we've been together for 10 weeks now. Not a lot of missionaries can say that! Haven't gotten that package yet, but I should in about two weeks when we go down to Romania for mission conference. Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

-Elder Farnworth

Scripture of the week: D&C 112:11

11 I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren. Be not partial towards them in love above many others, but let thy ^alove be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name.