It has finally snowed!

It's January 20th and it has finally snowed!

We spent a lot of time in New Balti this week. Sister Valea's 2nd of 3 homes is there and it's the only one NOT made of concrete. She built it with her own bare hands a long time ago. Anyway, we cut wood, moved rocks around, burned trash, and put firewood into bags and took them to a member who didn't have any heat at his home. It was really peaceful out there too. It's at the edge of the city and we basically just did a lot of service.

We also had zone training meeting this week. "The Book of Mormon is blue (water), and it's going to FLOOD the entire earth." Our zone leaders pointed that out to all of us and I had never thought of that before, so I also wanted to share it with you.

Russian transfers again. Everyone changed except for Balti. President is really pleased with what we're doing up here, so we'll keep doing the best we can!

New Balti! 

We had only one lesson with Nastia this week, but it went really well. We read 3 Nephi 11 and Moroni 10 and talked about how we don't need to know everything before we ask to get answers from God. Even though there is an effort required on both parts, He will answer in His own time. I told her to read 3 nephi 11 again and think about what it really means to her, and she said that she would and write her feelings down on paper and share them with us the next time we come by. Our English classes have been struggling a little lately, but Nastia has really boosted them up for us. It's great to have her as one of our students because she is not afraid to say what she wants to learn. AND she even came to church the next day with her daughter! It was great to see her there and she sat right next to the member I was hoping she would sit by. Nastia asked this member if she had been baptized and she told her yes, then the member asked her the same question. Well, she's not baptized yet, but the member told her, "You should give it a try. It will be a miracle for you." Perfect! I was praying that this would happen, and it did!

Denis' Birthday at the hospital.

Denis has been in the hospital because of a sinus infection, so we've been visiting him a lot. His birthday was this past week, so we made him a cake, sang happy birthday and talked for a little bit. He told us that he is going to wait until summer to be baptized because he wants his mom to be there. She's working in Italy until then so we'll see how everything turns out. It's hard to wait, but we do the best we can with what God gives us! In the meantime, we're still finding and working with our current investigators, who just happen to be really golden and great! 

That's it for the week. I love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Farnworth

Funny experience of the week: My name is now Elder Fourchette. Everyone has a really hard time remembering my last name, but Fourchette is a well-known grocery store here, so it's easier to remember! .....I cannot tell you how many different ways I've heard people say my name here.....

A beautiful sunset. In New Balti.