People will think that you're killers...

Dear everybody,

We almost forgot that Valentine's Day was this past week, and even though we didn't get to celebrate it like the rest of the world, it ended up being the best day of the week for our work. We got to go to one of the two restaurants here in Balti for lunch and eat with the other Elders, and after that we did some weekly planning, then went out to go knocking. Now before we went knocking, I bought a big bottle of juice because I was really thirsty. I, of course, did not drink all of it and as we were heading to our knocking area my companion asked me if I wanted to take the rest of the juice back to our apartment so I wouldn't have to carry it around. I told him that it was fine and that I would bring it along. Right as he asked that it reminded me of that time I was with Elder Monroe and I also had a bottle that turned out to be lucky. So I told him that it would bring us luck that night. We knocked, got rejected, knocked, got yelled at, then we got to a lady whose name was Nina. We told her about the Book of Mormon and how it was another testament of Jesus Christ. She held it in her hands and said something that almost everyone says, "I have a book like this, but it's called the Bible." We had to explain to her once again that it was not the Bible, but that it did support and expound upon the teachings in the Bible. She asked if she had to give it back later but we told her that it was hers forever.... I had never seen someone kiss the Book of Mormon before.... She then asked us if we would like to come in for tea. Well, of course we do! So she sat us down in her kitchen, and I'm not kidding when I tell you that she had the nicest apartment I've ever seen in Moldova. "Now, you two need to know that it's not safe that knock on doors at night. People will think that you're killers or thieves!" She obviously realized that we weren't either of those, but her neighbor thought we were. He was a 42 year old man who called her while we were sitting in her apartment and asked if she had let two guys in. "Yeah, and they're sitting here right now drinking tea with me!" She was such a hoot. It gets even better too. She takes care of her sister who has Parkinsons and has actually been to our English classes before. What are the chances?! I asked her if she reads the Bible, and she leaned in to me as if to tell me a secret and said, "To be honest, I don't read the Bible very often. I know that's bad...... Would you like something to eat?" While she warmed us up an entire meal, we continued to get to know her more and her religious background. As we were leaving, we thanked her for letting us in and giving us food, and invited her to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon before we come back on Tuesday. She said that she would right before she goes to bed. We are 95% sure that this woman is our next new investigator. We'll find out on Tuesday!

As far as Nastia and Denis go, we went back to the basics and invited them to keep working on reading the Book of Mormon often, and praying with real intent about our message that we have been teaching them. We were going to have a lesson with both of them, but Denis called and said that he couldn't make it; so, instead Nastia taught us Russian just before sports night started (I FINALLY figured out the difference between ш and щ.) They didn't come to church on Sunday, which was disappointing, but we are still praying for them in every single prayer. 

Yesterday we were street contacting and met two drunk guys who told us that they could prove us wrong and my companion asked them, "How?" They just stood there for 20 seconds trying to figure out what to say. It was so funny! Ohhh drunk people.... We just said that we know our message is true, shook their hands, and walked away. A few minutes later we met a man who had heard about us before, but we had the hardest time understanding him. We got his number though! I love the people that we get to meet everyday. There's quite a variety of them.

There are a lot of other things that happened this week, but I need to hurry and put pictures on this email before my time runs out.

Love you!

-Elder Farnworth

A Romanian word in Russian. Welcome to Moldova!