Week 38   Answers to Prayer

This week felt like 2 days, and let me tell I got some great things that happened this week. Monday, Pday, we went to Temka rocks. They are gigantic rock formations with engravings of Christ ministry, so cool! We had a Book of Mormon stand (with Russian BOM or printed copies of BOM in Georgia) that night and actually met a former investigator through it! Tuesday was the highlight of my week! So we were about to do the "12 weeks" (a program you do when your companionship is in training) and I got a call from M. She said that a girl that we met through English night at the Iranian Backery's birthday was today and that she would love it if we came and supported her. Because of the fact that she lives in a different country than where she is from she doesn't have a lot of friends, so we went to hopefully make her birthday more fun. Super cool thing is we met the elders on the way, coincidentally, and they ended upcoming as well! We all went and it was so fun. We talked to the kid's moms and danced with them. They tried to teach me a traditional dance...but yeah I'm not good at dancing. Then the best part of the night, M pulled us over and was like I have amazing news. She said, " I talked with my manager and I have every every EVERY Sunday off! I can come to church!". It literally made my night/week! Talk about an answer to many prayers. She came this Sunday and now she is on track for baptism. We are letting her come a few weeks before we get her in the font, but let's just say it's coming soon! Anyway the next few days was just finding and then Saturday we went and knocked. We knocked on this one door and a lady through the door asked who we were and then asked where we were from. Said we were from America and she instantly opened the door. She asked about the church and we were invited in. Her daughter was in 6th grade and knew English really well. What was cool was that as a companionship we had been practicing how to explain about the BOM so when we went in we were able to explain it! Also learned that sometimes the gift of tongues come in a form of a little girl who knows Georgian and English. There were a few times we didn't understand her English, but then we could speak Georgian and explain back to the best of our abilities. Another cool thing was the mom asked about what our church building looks like and I couldn't explain in Georgian (I hadn't studied all that vocabulary yet) so I drew it instead, the perks of being an artist. Anyway we asked if we could come back and left the Book of Mormon, so we will see them this week. That night we picked up M and Y to go to sports night with the elders in our area. We played games and talked to a lot of people. I was pretty exhausted after all that. Super fun though. Sunday was great, M came! We taught primary. My companion forgot to tell me in the morning that she got a call during the time I was showering about us teaching primary. She remembered 10 mins before church started. But it was chill we only had 3 primary kids and they are American form the Embassy so it was easy. Later we had dinner with some members and the elders as a celebration since one graduated medical school. He made some amazing Liberian dish, so good. He dished us all up and he gave all of us a huge portion. Easy for the elders, hard me. Well that was basically the week. We are going to an old church with all the missionaries today for Pday...so that will be cool.

Brother Skidmore
(a old college roommate of a friend in our stake has been over there on business)
is going home.

Spiritual thought: Prayer really works. It never ceases to amaze me. We had told M that if you pray about it (to get work off for church), God will provide. God never gives us a commandment that we have no way to accomplish it. M finally got the courageous to tell her boss, and it worked. She gets to go to church! We testified when she told us, God is there through it all and he will help us through it all, you just got to ask. Miracles happen everyday, and that was my miracle of the week.

Anyway that was the week, til'next time!

- და ჯენსენი

Week 37  მორმონის წიგნი (the Book of Mormon) is printed!

So this week went by so fast. Started out slightly slow and then by the end days went by in seconds. Week started out with Pday and a good hike. We hiked to this tower called Svan Tower. Well really it was partly on the road that lead to a good incline up so it was a hike. We took this road so that we could see through the gates of this one museum. The museum has a bunch of old Georgian housing and sadly its not open on Mondays...so we took pics from afar. The tower was cool we got a cool view of the city. Afterwards we headed back shopped and took a much deserved pday nap. Tuesday and Wednesday was pretty boring just normal finding. Sadly nothing major to report just some good convos in Georgian. Thursday we saw M and Y and from what it looks like she will be baptized in the next coming weeks!! She has taken all the lessons now (from a missionary who speaks her language in the states over skype) and really the only thing holding her back is church attendance. We really are hoping her manager will let her take at least a few hours off each Sunday. Friday was so much fun. We had Zone Conference and it was so fun! The focus of the conference was all about language, either it be language of the spirit or Georgian. We had these former investigators come and give a presentation about Georgia and at the end they sang the Georgian Anthem. Well more like performed! They sung so well, glad I got a video of it. Saturday and Sunday were the conferences. Saturday was leadership and adult session. President Martino came for the adult session and the big one on Sunday. President Marino is the president over all Europe missions so it was super cool to see him. Sunday the big conference was at the Marriott courtyard, very weird to be in a hotel. We directed people to the conference an hour before it started. Conference was really cool and some of our inactives came! So that made us so happy. We had tried so hard spreading the word of the conference this last week as worked. After the conference we said our goodbyes to our mission president, President Bostrom and Sister Bostrom, because this will be the last time we see him before the new one comes in July. So SUPER cool news is that the მორმონის წიგნი (the Book of Mormon) is printed! They say that it is being sent and is on it's way! We don't know when though...could be next week or it could be in a couple months. Either way it's coming!!! Anyway that was the week , super fun and I made a lot of fun memories. Today we hiking to Temka Rocks so super cool pics to come.

Spiritual thought: I have been listening to a lot of talks recently and as I have been going through them I have been writing down some pretty cool quotes. I thought I would share one, " short term happiness brings long term consequences and short term discipline brings long term happiness". This quote is pretty similar to something my dad would say all the time, which is "don't sacrifice the ultimate for the immediate". Basically in life we need to remember that the choices we make now affect the future. If you pick up one end of the stick you inevitably pick up the other end, meaning if you chose one path you also chose its destination. So to sum it all up we need to make sure that we keep an eternal perspective to remember what we are working for, to be with our family and Heavenly Father again someday. 

Well that was the week, til' next time!

-და ჯენსენი

Week 36  Trekking Poles and Energy Drinks

First week of training done! Talk about a week! A lot of things happened so let's get into it. Monday we kicked it off by going to the bazaar (gigantic maze of shops) to get some stuff for my trainee. We ended up getting lost multiple times...yeah still trying to figure out that area. What was cool was that day we went to go get pens at this one shop and the guy asked us about our badges so we talked to him for a bit, in my very broken Georgian it seemed at times. During that conversation some guy came in and recognized our badges, turns out the guy met some missionaries in the past! Anyway at the end of shopping, the store owner gave me the pens I wanted to buy for free which was so nice! We then had a lunch with all the missionaries. Tuesday was a miracle! So after all our meetings we went to go stop by a member that Sister Arutyunova and I had been trying to meet all last transfer but they were never home due to her work schedule. Well, that day they were home! We talked to them for a bit, and let me say it was a little bit of a struggle to talk most of the lesson...with understanding only a good 50% of what was said, but they said we could return back, so we good. Wednesday was straight finding. We did a Book of Mormon stand for the first time so that was interesting. (They don't have printed Book of Mormons yet. Its just printed copies of portions or Russian Book of Mormons) We had an old guy come up to us to tell us to get some shade and to get married. Said we should get married soon or we will wake up and be his age👍. Thursday we planned and tried to hit a member that's a little far out. According to her neighbors she's either not been home for a year or won't be back in a year...couldn't quite understand. Friday we had a meeting with M for the first time in a while. She has been having a lot life problems recently and because of her situation she's been pretty scared, totally understandable. But she is doing better now. That day we actually got to Skype her manager, he didn't quite understand my English so he thinks I'm from Canada not California. Saturday we popped in on another member who was also home! Gave her some treats and told her about the branch conference that was coming up. Saturday was also the day we cleaned the church, so that was fun and exhausting. Sunday was a both good and a little bit of a downer. So we went to Relief Society and we had a Georgian teaching which is great until Mz(the churches translator) looked at me and said how about you translate, you wanted the practice. My stomach literally dropped. So I sat next to the two Americans and tried to listen...yeah I understood like 30% and literally could not translate. Mz had to take over...still my problem is that I can speak way more than I can understand...luckily the older sisters said they couldn't even understand well since she was speaking too quiet, so that helped a little. Either way the moment is over. That night we saw M and Y. They are doing great. Met her manager again who said that he's actually been to Salt Lake City and really respects the church. He also told us to come to the country he lives in. So yet another country added to the bucket list. That was basically the week. We are hiking to a tower today so that will be fun. This week is a Branch Conference. We are having the president over all Europe missions giving some seminars so that will be cool. They even rented out the Marriott Conference Center. So fun things ahead.

Spiritual thought: I have seen this week how the Lord will always provide a way to accomplish his work or tasks per say. I feel that my Georgian is still not where I want it to be bee, it's a little difficult since I just haven't had a lot of every day practice, but I've seen this week the gift of tongues working. I have had confidence when I speak, now I still don't understand what they would say sometimes, but I had the confidence to speak and go with what I did understand. So when God gives you a mountain to climb he will give you trekking poles and all the energy drinks you need to get up it.

Well that was the week...don't have a lot of pictures sorry! Til next week!

-და ჯენსენი 

Week 35  They Finally Arrived!

Sister Mercer, my first trainee!

So this week was interesting. Our trainees finally came, so I am officially a trainer which is crazy. The week went by super slow and then not at the same time. Part of it was because I was in no man's land since I didn't have my companion and the other was being in a different area half of the time. It's good to be back in Saburtalo, my home. I've realized that half of my mission has been dedicated to this area, so it's got a special place in my heart. Anyway...the week: so Monday was kinda chill we had to grocery shop for two apartments but other than that nothing too crazy. We had dinner with the other sisters along with a American member family. They have been traveling all over the world and stayed here for a few months so we were lucky to meet them. They took us to this restaurant that I never guessed was a restaurant from the outside. It was in an apartment building and if you didn't know about the place you would have guessed that it was just a normal apartment. Super good food! That night we had a lesson and it was partially in Georgian which was fun. Tuesday was insane. We had 2 meetings that day one of which was a drop lesson and the other a new member lesson all in the Isani sisters area. We went out to go and walk to one of appointments and it started pouring. I mean it was going down so hard and then it started hailing and the hail was as big as a pea, it hurt to go outside because they would fall so fast. We ended up taking shelter in a Shaurma place. The lessons were good. Nothing dramatically crazy about them. Wednesday and Thursday I can't really remember, part of it was in Saburato, l remember that. I went to both English groups the one Temka and the other in Avlabari. Met a guy that studied Japanese for a year in the past so I talked to him a little bit in Japanese. Friday was a little crazy so we had a meeting with girl that is working towards a mission so we kinda role played with her. But during the lesson we got a call. It was the guy that we called yesterday to invite to the baptism on Saturday to say he couldn't come but would be able to meet on Friday. So he called and said that he was heading to Tbilisi (he lives in Rustavi) to meet and what time could we do it. Yeah we weren't expecting that. Luckily we had Emily, I'll call the girl that, with with us. He came and it wasn't really that great. He asked a lot of questions about God and it was more a discussion of science and religion. Cool guy though, but not interested. I will say that lesson built my confidence of my language skills. It wasn't amazing and I didn't say really anything profound but I was able to teach and have a conversation in Georgia, so I'm going to take it. Friday night was when the trainees came! We stayed in the Isani apartment altogether. I am training sister Mercer in Saburtalo! We instantly went to bed when they got here since it was so late. Saturday was insane. We had a cultural day so we took our trainees to see some sites and we went to a restaurant where they tried their first Georgian food. They loved it. It was so hot that day, I tanned a lot that day. Then later we had a baptism so we all went to that. "S", a Delisis investigator, got baptized and I am so happy for him. He is so cool! After the baptism we went back to Isani got my trainees stuff and headed to Saburtalo. On the taxi ride I talked to the driver. I want to say i understand a good 60% of what he said but I talked to him and testified of who we were. Nothing too crazy, but it made me realize I actually kinda of know what I'm doing.  I'm not perfect and I got a lot to learn, but I will say I got something to work with. This past week was something I think I needed, it helped me to realize that i can do it. I think it was God pushing me to realize that I could do it. God has a perfect plan and looks like I needed an extra week of some practicing. Anyway that was basically the week, next week we got a lot of plans and fun things ahead. We have a lunch with all the missionaries today so that will be fun. Big shopping day, sister Mercer needs a phone so we got to go get that. 

Yeah that was the week, sorry the email is so short more to come next week!

-და ჯენსენი

Tbilisi, Georgia

Rain/Hail Storm

Amazing Georgian Food.