W.O.W. - Sumy, we back!
This week has been LEGITTT. Before our new companions got to our apartment on Monday night, Elder Chambers and I decided to learn the Lord's prayers, recorded in the gospel of Matthew, in Russian, and recite it for morning and night group prayer with the new Elders, making them think that's how all of our prayers went... needless to say, it was pretty hilarious Haha, we all loved it. "Отче наш, сущий на небесах! Да святится имя твоё. Да приидёт царствие твоё..." и т.д.
My new companion, Elder Illera, is legit. We have been hitting it off, straight from the start. He is the definition of G.O.A.T. on the guitar, and is teaching me his ways so I have a few tricks up my sleeve when I'm back home ;) peep my latest video on Facebook, or attached here, of our Moana rendition in Russian. I memorized the lyrics, and he tackled the strumming. It was so much fun to make... enjoy!!
Elder Illera and I have been hitting the work like beasts, and Sumy got no defense against it. We just hammered down on lessons and stayed busy. Knowing this place like the back of my hand has come to much use Haha.
When Elder Illera reached the top of this block, he yelled, "Repent," in Russian like he was on a soap box.
Alongside the work, I have been showing Elder Illera all the good restaurants, shawarma, etc. Of course we have already gone and destroyed that 1.66 kg burger together, as well.
I honestly forgot how much good stuff there is to eat here, especially compared to my last area... hopefully I can keep up my 6 months to sexy workout routines and eating habits... Haha.
I gave a talk my first week back here in Sumy. My introduction was a little like this.... "Sooo... I heard that a little someone went and told my mission president how much they missed me and wanted me back.... you hadn't had enough of me, so I have returned!" Haha, they get a kick out of it. Luckily the talk itself went well, too.
Unfortunately, we got ghosted by Sergei back in my last area. He stopped answering the week of his baptism :/ we pray for him. Things are still great with Viktor there, though! We are still keeping in touch a little, even though I'm not there anymore. Great guy! Can't wait for him to get dunked soon still. The other great news, is that now I might get to see Gennady get baptized in person (that's who we had put on baptismal date in Poltava, but wanted to wait for things to work up)! We are trying to set up an exchange with the other Elder there for the day of his baptism. It would be such a blessing to be there!!
I am nearing the end of my reading in the New Testament and had never realized how much Paul just goes off, laying the good word out on people.
Recorded in 2 Timothy 3 -
11 ...persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
In Elder Neal A. Maxwell's words, Elder Holland taught... “one’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.” It simply will not work “to glide naively through life,” saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, “Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love. In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity.”
My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable. The path to holiness and happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time and tenacity to walk it."
Paul's ministry earned him this understanding, that those who walk the path of righteousness, striving to, "live Godly in Christ Jesus," are those who may receive a little unwanted feedback, be it physical or verbal. But through those trials, he always understood in whom he trusted, having endured those trials, in which the Lord always delivers him out from.
He learned, as Elder Holland said shortly after this remark, that "the reward for doing so is monumental."
I leave that thought with you to ponder in your own lives, and especially in your persecutions. I promise you're not the only one who has faced those persecutions in your service of righteous living. To fact check me, you can turn to almost any page in the Bible, Book of Mormon, church history, pioneer history, and so forth. You're not alone, so don't think that you are, and you're on the right path, so don't mistake that.
Elder Wilde
