Man, let me tell you about Balakovo. It is a world
of it's own. Well, it kind of reminds me of Walla Walla, except not.
It's definately smaller and it's a bit more like a suberb in that many
of the residents work in a big city like Saratov, Samara, or even
Moscow, all of which are at least 4 hours away. There are little malls
and nice "eco-friendly" grocery stores. People look like they walked out
of an American Eagle catalog and have iPads and Vans. And as we walk
through town I can't decide if I feel like I landed in a childrens'
cartoon or a retirement home. But don't worry, it's still got it's
Russian-ness, it's just not what I'm used to. Coming from Dachney I feel
a bit like Bilbo Baggins coming back to the shire--a bit restless and
bored, out of place. The pace here is soooo slooowww. We can walk for a
half hour and see like two people elligable for conversation. I've
noticed though that those people that we have talked to or have
attempted to talk to are very nice. No one has said anything mean to me
since I've arrived here. :) Okay, I take that back, aside from knocking
no one has been mean.
That reminds me of a cool story this week. We had just left our
apartment and we ran into a lady who was very nice. You can tell when
someone is really ready when they'll stay to listen even when you are
saying things that make conpletely no sense. My russian was all over the
place but we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and we were
explaining it to her when a man walking past sees the Book, looks at her
with a cunfused/disgusted face and says "Why the heck would you want to
read that?" She stood her ground and said, "Because I'm interested."
Then he said "but they're a sect!" and then she really started to defend
us as saying "Do you even know what a sect is? This is not a sect. We
all believe in Christ and that's all that matters." I cannot tell you
how happy this made me!! Us missionaries get called a sect at least once
a day, normally multiple times (less so here I must say) which is like
whatever, it doesn't get to me. But when she said that! Dang!! Thank you
random woman on the street for defending our faith! Best moment ever.
It's gettin chilly! Honestly, I almost forgot that Russia was
a cold country. Yesterday was about 40 degrees F... not too bad but
seeing as it's October... I'm a bit scared. But have no fear! My comp,
Sister Sigman, and I are going shopping today! I'm getting a nice big
winter coat and just in time too because my zipper broke again on my
navy blue one.
A bit more on my lovely companion...Sister Sigman is from Orem,
she's half navajo and super chill. We have fairly similar temperments
and we both love to cook. It's going to be a fun companionship! :)
Thanks for your letters. I love you all so much. It's seems like
every week I'm out I get more and more excited to get to the internet
cafe so I can hear from you. :) Holidays are coming up fast! It's crazy
how quickly time passes!
Loves you
Sister Johnson
What
a great thing it is to be found in the Lord's service! The seasons are
changing and it's getting cold, but our daily work becomes a testament
that whether in cold weather or hot weather, the Gospel is constant and
unchanging, and our efforts to share it with people are also constant
and unchanging!"
Before sharing some wonderful miracles, I feel the need to comment on the unfortunate fact that appointments sometimes fall through--sometimes a lot of them! We cannot stop people from exercising their free agency and not meeting with us--that free agency is the very thing we fought for them and us to have in the pre-existence. I also want you to remember that it was AFTER Nephi had been rejected by most of the people and left "alone" that the Lord's voice came to him and blessed him "because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness" (Helaman 10:4-5). It was after Aaron and his brethren had been cast into prison and "suffered many things" that "the Lord began to bless them" and they brought many to the knowledge of the truth" (Alma 20: 14-17). It was not until after Alma and Amulek had been imprisoned and had horrible things happen that the Lord helped them bring many to the truth.
The same is true of us. The Lord will bless us and the work will go forward, but it is after great trials and demonstrations of our faith and consistency. DO NOT GIVE UP, and remain utterly faithful--the promised blessings will come, and the Lord will help you, as He always helps His servants. Be like Job who resolutely said "though he slay me, yet shall I trust in him!" (Job 13:15). Be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who, when faced with being thrown in a fiery furnace, stated that while they hoped for deliverance, even if God chose not to deliver them, "we will not serve thy gods" (Daniel 3:17). True consecration comes with CONSISTENT AND FAITHFUL service, regardless of that has happened or may still happen.
And now a few miracles (and please keep sharing these so that others may benefit from them):
"It was raining and we decided to go knocking. Not only did the person at the domophone open up when we asked if we may share a message with them about Jesus Christ, but another door opened up with a man who has been waiting to hear our message for a long time. He was literally just waiting for us to come to him."
-All from one missionary: "A woman gave us her phone number and asked us to come by with our brief message. We ended up getting a baptismal date. An alcoholic stopped us and wants help quitting his drinking problems. One our investigators read through half the Book of Mormon in a couple of days.
-"We walked home one night and we got in front of our dom at 9:20. We decided to stay out the last few minutes even though we could have reasonably called it a night, and we met a woman who lives in our dom, speaks English, and wants us to speak at her English club. It was awesome."
-"A man came to church who said that a year ago an elder invited him to church and that he is searching for truth. He is going to read the Book of Mormon and said that he will be baptized if this is what his heart is searching for!"
"We had a man come up at the store and ask us questions about our faith. We offered him a Book of Mormon, but he turned down the offer. As we were checking out . . . he came back and asked for the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to see that the Spirit had been working inside of him, to the point of him turning back and approaching us again."
-"Last time, when we extended the commitment to pray, he said basically that he didn't see the point and probably would do it. But when we asked him, he said he had, and he'd gotten an answer, and since then, as he's been praying--with his friend too--they've seen miracles!"
-"We were contacting and decided to skip dinner so we could contact more people. We were talking to a man . . . and his friend came up to us and we told him that we were missionaries and he said that Mormons are good people and he said that he was interested [then they went over to his house, which is an amazing story by itself]. We gave him the Book of Mormon and committed him to read Alma 40 because his best friend died. He called us this morning at 5:20 in the morning and said that he had read the chapter and he wants a friend to take the lessons from us also."
"We saw a man starting to walk towards us. We stopped him and started to talk to him about the Restoration. He loved it, and stayed and talked with us for about 20 minutes in the middle of the rain with no umbrella or anything to cover himself. He took the Book of Mormon and gave us his phone number, telling us that he would love to meet again, and asked us where."
These will give you an idea of the great blessings that the Lord is willing to pour out upon us as missionaries. Keep working hard, pray for blessings, and they will come. Pray hard for your investigators. Ask God to cast Satan away from them so that they will follow through on their commitments. He will bless you as do so and pray for your investigators and the people around you.
We love you. You are a choice group of missionaries. We look forward to seeing you at this week's zone training meetings!
Love,
President and Sister Schwab
Before sharing some wonderful miracles, I feel the need to comment on the unfortunate fact that appointments sometimes fall through--sometimes a lot of them! We cannot stop people from exercising their free agency and not meeting with us--that free agency is the very thing we fought for them and us to have in the pre-existence. I also want you to remember that it was AFTER Nephi had been rejected by most of the people and left "alone" that the Lord's voice came to him and blessed him "because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness" (Helaman 10:4-5). It was after Aaron and his brethren had been cast into prison and "suffered many things" that "the Lord began to bless them" and they brought many to the knowledge of the truth" (Alma 20: 14-17). It was not until after Alma and Amulek had been imprisoned and had horrible things happen that the Lord helped them bring many to the truth.
The same is true of us. The Lord will bless us and the work will go forward, but it is after great trials and demonstrations of our faith and consistency. DO NOT GIVE UP, and remain utterly faithful--the promised blessings will come, and the Lord will help you, as He always helps His servants. Be like Job who resolutely said "though he slay me, yet shall I trust in him!" (Job 13:15). Be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who, when faced with being thrown in a fiery furnace, stated that while they hoped for deliverance, even if God chose not to deliver them, "we will not serve thy gods" (Daniel 3:17). True consecration comes with CONSISTENT AND FAITHFUL service, regardless of that has happened or may still happen.
And now a few miracles (and please keep sharing these so that others may benefit from them):
"It was raining and we decided to go knocking. Not only did the person at the domophone open up when we asked if we may share a message with them about Jesus Christ, but another door opened up with a man who has been waiting to hear our message for a long time. He was literally just waiting for us to come to him."
-All from one missionary: "A woman gave us her phone number and asked us to come by with our brief message. We ended up getting a baptismal date. An alcoholic stopped us and wants help quitting his drinking problems. One our investigators read through half the Book of Mormon in a couple of days.
-"We walked home one night and we got in front of our dom at 9:20. We decided to stay out the last few minutes even though we could have reasonably called it a night, and we met a woman who lives in our dom, speaks English, and wants us to speak at her English club. It was awesome."
-"A man came to church who said that a year ago an elder invited him to church and that he is searching for truth. He is going to read the Book of Mormon and said that he will be baptized if this is what his heart is searching for!"
"We had a man come up at the store and ask us questions about our faith. We offered him a Book of Mormon, but he turned down the offer. As we were checking out . . . he came back and asked for the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to see that the Spirit had been working inside of him, to the point of him turning back and approaching us again."
-"Last time, when we extended the commitment to pray, he said basically that he didn't see the point and probably would do it. But when we asked him, he said he had, and he'd gotten an answer, and since then, as he's been praying--with his friend too--they've seen miracles!"
-"We were contacting and decided to skip dinner so we could contact more people. We were talking to a man . . . and his friend came up to us and we told him that we were missionaries and he said that Mormons are good people and he said that he was interested [then they went over to his house, which is an amazing story by itself]. We gave him the Book of Mormon and committed him to read Alma 40 because his best friend died. He called us this morning at 5:20 in the morning and said that he had read the chapter and he wants a friend to take the lessons from us also."
"We saw a man starting to walk towards us. We stopped him and started to talk to him about the Restoration. He loved it, and stayed and talked with us for about 20 minutes in the middle of the rain with no umbrella or anything to cover himself. He took the Book of Mormon and gave us his phone number, telling us that he would love to meet again, and asked us where."
These will give you an idea of the great blessings that the Lord is willing to pour out upon us as missionaries. Keep working hard, pray for blessings, and they will come. Pray hard for your investigators. Ask God to cast Satan away from them so that they will follow through on their commitments. He will bless you as do so and pray for your investigators and the people around you.
We love you. You are a choice group of missionaries. We look forward to seeing you at this week's zone training meetings!
Love,
President and Sister Schwab
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