.... all the Russian elders rejoiced. It was a good day for us.

Hello everybody!

Sometimes I forget that I have a mission blog, and investigators like to let me know about the things I write, but hey! At least people are STILL reading my weekly letters! And just so you all know, we've only had three Russian copies of the Book of Mormon for the past three months, and we received around 150 this past week

Stefan cel Mare holding up his cross, us holding up our copies of the Книга Мормона

.... all the Russian elders rejoiced. It was a good day for us.

This week went by way too fast. I can't believe it's already P-day again. Has anyone heard about missionaries receiving their 88:73's? (Hint: look up D&C 88:73)

P-day picture in front of a big thing in the center of Chisinau.

Lessons with Anya: A member helped out on one of the lessons, and she bore a strong testimony about how she knew that she would be able to help her family be together forever if she got baptized. She teared up, and it made me tear up too!  Elder Westover was able to lead the lesson, and it made me a proud "father" with how well he taught and testified. Another lesson was the Word of Wisdom lesson, which kind of made me nervous since a LOT of people here love tea, coffee, and smoking, but she had no problems except for green tea and was willing to change right away! We still have a lot to teach her, and there were a few days where we had no way of getting in contact with her, but she showed up to church and that was a big relief. It's so amazing to be able to see someone make the necessary steps towards baptism. Jesus Christ can and will change those who are willing to change. One morning, my companion was praying to find something for one of our investigators, and he came across Alma 32:16 -

16 Therefore, blessed are they who ^ahumble themselves without being ^bcompelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without^cstubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.

We also had the opportunity to teach one of my old English students who came into Elder Hollist's class and said, "I want to learn more about your church. How can I do that?" So they went through the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. The next day, they invited us to help teach, since his first language is Russian, and this English student told us about how he learned English in prison. He compared that learning environment which he created for himself to the environment that we have at Family Home Evening. He found God in prison. And now he's found the only true church on earth by going to FHE. 

It's starting to get dark around 7:30 now, so our street contacting time has now become our knocking time. I'm approaching my year mark in Chisinau, and I can't believe that I'll be in the same apartment that I was when I first got here. It's a good thing I love it here! 

A good father with his two sons at the lake park.

Well. I sure do love all of you. Thank you for your emails and words of encouragement. They are a source of strength to me. Always remember that promptings are usually answers to someones' prayers! So let's look up to President Monson's example and follow the promptings that we receive. Have a great week!

-Elder Farnworth