"Dedication Hill"

Wow. January has passed, and my 4th transfer has officially started here in Chisinau. 4 transfers, 2 companions, and 1 city. If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that time goes by faster and faster the further I get into my mission. I can't believe that Elder Wheelhouse is a senior companion before I am! To be honest, I'm pretty nervous to be a senior companion/trainer because after this transfer, Elder Peterson leaves and someone has to train the new guy. Don't know who it will be yet, but it's probably going to be Elder Monroe.

Last P-day the whole district went up to "Dedication Hill" and it brought back a lot of good memories of my first day in the country... It was a lot less cold/white back on October 3rd!

This week, we've had a TON of well-taught lessons, but not a single baptismal date set. I keep hearing about all these baptisms in other parts of the mission and I always ask myself, "Why aren't we experiencing that success? We're working really hard and nothing seems to be coming from it." It's often very discouraging, baptisms are what we are working towards, but there's so much more that needs to come before the baptism. We ARE experiencing success. We ARE finding God's prepared children. Our hard work IS paying off. Our investigators need that true, lasting conversion. There's a ton of less-active members here, and it just kills me... I just have to realize that what's happening right now is God's will, and that His time is much different than my time. Dad, what you said in your email was an answer I've been looking for for a while, "...sometimes prayers aren't answered like we want but that that doesn't change our faith. Our faith is in Christ, not some outcome." I shouldn't let my faith take a downfall just because something doesn't happen the way I want it to. We base ourselves upon the rock of Christ, not the rock of outcomes. Heleman 5:12 took on a lot more meaning after teaching from this scripture a lot this week:

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

It sounds like Blakes experience was like mine. The MTC was tough for me. It was nothing like I expected. It was a completely different way of life, and to be honest, I almost went home the first week. But I am so grateful that I did not give up. Even out here in Moldova I'm still struggling with some aspects of missionary work, but that's because Heavenly Father wants to test me and see how I can handle the "mighty winds". The winds aren't as mighty as they were 6 months ago, but they're still blowing. 

I'll try and send more pictures of my apartment and other stuff, but you got to send that picture of your goatee! The weather here still reminds me a lot of Utah weather (hot, cold, hot, cold), but apparently February is supposed to be the coldest month of the year. Today is BEAUTIFUL, but we'll see how the rest of the month turns out. I hope you all have a good week, and I should have some pretty exciting stories for next week. Love you!

-Elder Farnworth