Waddup!
Week and a half has been spent here in Poltava already, and it has been great! As soon as I got here, I cleaned/organized like a maniac. This place be poppin' now. The only downside is I stacked a ton of books and Liahonas on some shelves, and a few days later the screws gave in and everything went flying lol. We then had to walk an hour to this huge mall called Epicenter, and then an hour back, just to find a few little screws to fix the shelves. Fun stuff Haha. New apartment is great though. Filter works great, heating is on its game, we have a personal water heater so we got unlimited hot water, no mold (that I know of, at least), no rusty pipes! Things are lookin good! Plus, we even got a built-in pull up bar with some equipment! To say the least, I'm diggin' this apartment!
So much has happened this past week and a half, so I'm gonna let the pictures do most of the talking. I wanna highlight a few things though...
1. I had my first SASHLIK!! It was soooo good. We got a fire going, whipped out some chicken, and cooked that bad boy up. The best part was when we had literally finished making the chicken and were moving it into a bowl to eat, our friend тая (Taya) ended up dropping the whole thing on the ground!! So, we got a little extra earth spice in our chicken. I argue that it helped out though, because it was still soooo good Haha.
2. Генадий (Gennady). Gennady has been meeting with missionaries on and off for a longggg time now. A few weeks ago, he had called us out of the blue to help him get some dog meat. We accepted, helped him out, and he then asked us to teach him more about our faith. On the second lesson, we read Mosiah 18 with him, talking a lot about baptism. As we discussed, I have to admit that the room was so strongly filled with the Spirit, for sure one of the strongest witnesses of the Spirit I have ever felt in my life. It was amazing, sacred, and beautiful. We all felt impressed to invite Gennady to baptism, and he said yes!! However, he wants to wait to do it after winter is over, because he is nervous of getting sick from the cold, especially when getting in and out of the water Haha. He is a little older and more frail, but we testified to him that if he decided to be baptized during the winter season, the Lord would protect him. We asked him to pray about that, and we will follow the Lord's will in this. We're excited to wait a winter season to baptize him if that's what his will is though!!
In the meantime, we continue to teach him, he continues praying and reading, and always coming to church, and we have the great opportunity to do some service for him. (Peep his garden we plowed for him :) ).
Oh, he also has the cutest dogs. (Besides Roxy and Rosco though, of course).
Lastly... I wanted to add that here in Poltava they have suchhh strong members. The church is strong here. We have had the opportunity to bring the Sacrament to a few families and it has seriously just been so Spirit-filled and touching each and every time. They are all so humble and have a clear love for the gospel. Pictures of Jesus taken from magazines and books always just fill the wall. It's so humbling and beautiful to see.
One thing my mission president says a lot (and said recently to me in an interview and it really struck me this time) is when we are talking about the gospel he says... "Do you REALLY, do you TRULY believe, that(...)" and then says something about finding, about missionary work, the gospel, etc. During the Sacrament at a member's house just yesterday, as we were saying our individual prayers, giving thanks, that thought popped into my mind. I looked around the room, at the members, looked at their sacrifices. It struck me how much they TRULY believed. You can hear it in their words, see it in their actions, and feel it in your heart. Recent conversions stories that I have heard have shown me TRUE belief, and simply left me in shock.
We have been warned that in our time it is no longer possible to sit in a limbo-type faze, between religion and something else, and we need to choose one or the other. It's truly remarkable what true belief can push those who have it to do. If you know how BYU was formed for example, you know that it was built off of TRUE belief. Joseph Smith received an answer off of TRUE belief. Joseph and others had TRUE belief that this gospel would touch every corner of the earth. I could go on and on. There are numerous examples in the scriptures and in our days. We see that those who have TRUE belief are often, if not always, those who are closest to the Lord, for he will be with them.
And I just want to make one thing clear. TRUE belief is NOT 100% knowledge, but TRUE belief can lead to TRULY KNOWING. That is to say, I truly KNOW that the things I TRULY believe, are true. True belief is powerful, and it is something that we should all seek, and it is something that I am seeking and witnessing from people here on the mission.
Apologies for the thick email. I hope y'all enjoy the photos. Stay safe this week!! Lots of love out to yall!! ❤❤❤
Elder Wilde
Pics of the Month
