More Christmas!

01/09/2017

Hey everyone!

This week was great. we had Christmas again and went charoling like usual but on saturday we did it with the Stake. We got there a little late but it was cool to see all of people singing praises to the Lord. 

Elder Carr found the new Harry Potter book in Russian (which is actually a little difficult, even though almost everyone speaks Russina here, and not Ukrainian, you still can't find things in Russian, English is more common than Russian). He bought it, wrapped it up, and is planning on sending it home as a gist for himself when he gets home. This week we had a lesson with Katya where we read the Book of Mormon with her because she hasn't been reading lately. And at one point she told Elder Carr about the new Harry Potter book and how she hated it and how he shouldn't read it. Elder Carr is freaking out a little bit. So later we found a book store that had some books in Russian. And Elder Carr found a different Harry Potter in Russian and bought it. 

Our ward Christmas party was a huge success! On thursday we had the ward Christmas party where we planned to do all of the cookies and things. About a mounth ago the ward predicted that only about 50 people would show up. But we had more than who usually come to church come. It was great. there were musical numbers and games and a mini quest. A awesome dinner and time to decorate the millions of cookies that we had made. It was truely a success. I think I did a lot in building trust between us missionaries, the ward members and our relationship with our investigators.

There was a day his week were I had to stay home one evening because I really wasn't feeling well. Elder Carr took inititive and called former investigators from a long time ago from our area book and set up a lesson with one of them. It was actually right before the time we sang with the Stake that we met with Bladimir. He is a nice guy but likes to argue a lot with us. The lesson a Saturday probably could have gone better. For one we could met in not the middle of a busy mall, and another he could have desided to not pull out a bottle of vodka and start drinking. But we did meet with him again on Sunday evening and it went a lot better. He still kind of wanted to argue but the spirit was able to direct more and help bring peace into our descussion. Since he has already been taught everything multiple times but hasn't read the Book of Mormon, we concluded that the best thing we could do with him is just read the Book of Mormon. From what we have seen in the past, that's is almost always the best thing to do. We didn't start at 1 Nephi, but went to the Title page and the Introduction. He had many many questions but at the end agreed to read it and even said that "I must have skipped that part." He seems to be opening up a lot more than before and is more willing to change. Moral of the story, Read the Book of Mormon! And don't skip the beggining!

Even though Ukraine is part of eastern Europe and is known to be pretty cold, so far in my time here, it has been pretty mild. That is until this week. . . Starting on Friday it just has been getting colder and colder. We got down to -20 C on Saturday. And that was when we sang outside and travel to Moschun to Katya. it sounds a lot scarier in Celsius but it is really just -4 F. But I still don't want to stand at a book table or hand out cards all day. And Church yesterday was fun when we had to break out the little lap blankets during class and try to pay attention. 

It has been a fun week. It's never boring as missionary. That is as long as you are being proactive and not being lazy. 

Thank you so much for all the prayers and support you give me. I can fell it from half way across the world!

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson