Brian David's Mission: "будь здоров!"

To start off this email, I just want to thank the Empty Nester's group back home for what they sent me in the mail. I really appreciate it, and it was great to hear from all of them!

I cannot begin to tell you how many times a day I sneeze. In Russian we say, "будь здоров!" and my companion has probably said it a million times already. Yes, allergy season has arrived, and it's much worse here than it was back in Orem, Utah. But that's okay, because it will pass hopefully before July.

Raisa is back! Last Monday the other Elders saw her on the bus so that was great news to hear. Unfortunately, we had no time to stop by. Next week for sure. Thursday was a pretty great day for us. We had about 6 straight hours of contacting which actually turned into about 2 of those hours doing area book work. I sat down, opened our extremely organized and well-kept area book (you may think I'm joking, but I'm not), and started looking through former investigators and organizing them into groups. When I found someone that I felt would be good, Elder Streletski would call them, see if they remembered us, and if they're interested in having the discussions again. To make a long story short, we were able to set up 2 lessons the next day, and ended up finding 2 new investigators! One of them even came to church! God has given us area books for a reason and these people have had seeds planted in their hearts that need some water (the Book of Mormon) and sun (the Love of God/Gospel of Jesus Christ) to help them progress more and more until they decide to make that baptismal covenant with their Heavenly Father. So, if we give them the right amount of sun and water, they'll start to make changes (growth) in their lives and turn into a beautiful flower! *Sorry for the cheesy example, Alma 32 kept popping into my head as I was writing this*

Anton is doing great. We were able to have a lesson about Priesthood with him, and he's pretty excited to receive it next Sunday. We showed him how to pass the Sacrament, and he said, "I already know what to do because I watched Elder Westover pass it every Sunday!" See what examples can do? Recent converts are such a blessing to the church!

Testimony meeting yesterday (yes, we had church while the rest of the world watched General Conference) was easily one of the best testimony meetings I've ever been to. Nastia, Anton, a non-member, and almost all of the members got up and bore powerful testimonies. Here's a great quote from a member that I wrote down, "After I joined the church, satan started to tempt me a lot. Then I knew that I joined the true church because in other churches, everything was great." She is so right! satan goes after the Church of Jesus Christ because he knows it's the only true church on earth, so stay strong everybody!

I decided to end my email with a scripture that Elder Feil shared with me just now, 2 John 1:12:

12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not ^awrite with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

Have a great week! Love you!

-Elder Farnworth

P.S. I'd like to thank all of those who read my blog. Especially my number one fans: Jill Feil and Kathy Westover.