Our "not real" Thanksgiving

Ohhhhhh boy, let me just tell you that my companion and I are complete idiots...... We thought last Thursday was Thanksgiving....... So we made a nice meal and everything and celebrated it....... Isn't Thanksgiving usually on the THIRD Thursday? Anyway, we get to celebrate it again this week! It was a great Thursday either way.

Our not real Thanksgiving meal. 

Okay. First of all, our English classes are going really well. We have around 6 students who said they want to hear more about the church and now we're in the process of not awkwardly approaching them and scheduling lessons. It should turn out really well!

This week was filled with former investigator stop-by's. We prayerfully chose 4 each day out of a pile of around 100, and stopped by the addresses written on the teaching record. Unfortunately, a lot of them had moved and their numbers were disconnected BUT God blesses the feet of those who are moving. So we were blessed with a lot of people who were put in our path as we tried contacting former investigators. The first instance was this person we call the "Chicken Lady." A week before I came to Balti, Elder Westover and Elder Feil gave this lady a Book of Mormon, so on Thursday (when we celebrated Thanksgiving) we passed by and decided to buy a chicken. We talked to her, and she asked us how our success was. We asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon, and she did! But she had it at home. We're trying to figure out a way to go by and do something like mini spiritual thoughts, since she works all day every day in a stand, to see if she'll become an investigator. The second instance was when we were heading home after a LONG day of finding and a woman was talking to a man on the side of the road and right when she noticed us she said, "Hey! Where is Smith? (my trainer)" She told us how in the past she investigated but Elder Smith left, and lost contact with us. We invited her to church, but she didn't come. However, she has now come in contact with the missionaries again and that's a very good thing for us and her. The third instance was just yesterday. We dropped by a potential family to get their number so we could figure out a good time that works for them (since the husband works every day except for Sunday) for us to come by and talk more about the Book of Mormon, and on our way back to center on a nearly empty bus, the conductor lady walked up to us, put her hand on the Book of Mormon I had on my lap and asked, "How can I get acquainted with this book?" We handed it to her, and after she read the cover she said, "Oh! Wonderful! It's a book about Jesus Christ! Here. I'll give you my number and I'll call you tomorrow and we can talk about what I don't understand." Yes, we most certainly can! Looking back through the week, I can see how blessed we have been to come in contact with these people. Now, the next step is just keeping in contact with them, and setting up appointments.

Funny moment of the week: We were doing service at the newest convert's house moving really heavy bags of coal and at one point she asked Elder Westover how many bags were left and he said, "немного (a few)...... десять (ten)." She just busted out laughing (which made all four of us laugh) because we all knew that ten bags was not "a few." 

That's it for the week. I am still enjoying every single day of being here, and there's nothing else I would rather be doing! Missionary work has been a huge blessing in my life, and I hope the work that we're doing is doing the same for these peoples' lives. I love you all and I wish you a very very happy Thanksgiving!

-Elder Farnworth

Tangled lanterns for an english student's birthday

 

Squeezing through the дом's of Balti