Monday, June 16, 2014

Happy Birthday!

Dear family and friends,

We had a pretty crazy week this week. Monday and Tuesday were spent in Chisinau, and I was lucky enough to have my birthday be on a P-day AGAIN. I spent the day buying souvenirs, and received many phone calls throughout the day from investigators, friends, members, and President and Sister Hill to wish me a happy birthday. I felt so loved! Getting back to Balti after four days in Chisinau was nice because Balti is my second home. And plus we were really tired from all the running around and traveling. On Wednesday we did some productive finding and while we were contacting on our way to lunch, I got a prompting to talk to a lady who was just about to pass us. We were in the middle of a conversation about the MTC, so my companion kept walking and talking while I tried to stop the lady. I feel bad that I didn't tell him, but it was a last second thing. Her name was Надежда and she had just moved to Balti and was doing some remodeling on her apartment which just happened to be not far from where we stood. She took a Book of Mormon, and we asked her for her number; but, she said that since she was doing remodeling, her phone wasn't set up yet. The good thing is is that we know where she lives. She told us that she's interested in learning more about any religion, so meeting with her shouldn't be a problem. Later in the day we went knocking, and oh boy did we get rejected a lot. When we walked out of the apartment block, I turned to my companion and said, "Much rejection cometh before acceptance!" Prepared people are behind these doors in Balti.... I mean, Nastia was behind one of them!

When we walked into the church Wednesday night, I could hear people in the kitchen as I walked by the closed door. I was really suspicious as to who was in there, but right as I was about to open the door, the door swung open and a birthday cake with firework candles came out to greet me. It was a surprise birthday party!!! It was a sight for sore eyes to see members and friends and the other elders in the kitchen singing Happy Birthday in English. I instantly got this huge smile on my face and started thanking everyone for being there. Dad, guess what kind of cake they made? Red Velvet! How did they know? It was so nice of all of them to put that surprise party together. These people are such a blessing in my life!

Thursday afternoon after we got done with our lesson with Nastia, my companion was feeling pretty sick and felt like he needed to call our mission president's wife and tell her how he feels. She told him that he should probably go to the hospital in Chisinau and get checked out. So, we went down to Chisinau again. To make a long story short, my companion has pneumonia. We have no idea how we got it, but he has it, and now he's on the road to recovery. The doctor told him that it was a good thing we went down to get it checked out because if we hadn't, his pneumonia could've gotten worse. So because of this, we spent the rest of our week mostly inside. I almost went insane because I'm not used to sitting inside for long periods of time, but we're doing the best we can with the situation that we have.

Here's something that I wanted to share with all of you. It's something that came to my mind during one of my personal studies. It's about commandments, and how each commandment has a blessing attached to it. What does this mean for us? If we don't try our best to follow EVERY commandment, then God cannot bless us. Can we afford not to have these blessings? I don't think so. Especially in our days when we really need these blessings. So if something is not right in your life, think of how well you're following God's commandments and then make a commitment to do better. Because the atonement is all about change and being better. It's a lifelong process!

Well. Once again, I'm running out of time. But I hope you all know how much I love you and look forward to seeing you soon. Have a fantastic week!

-Elder Farnworth

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