Week 56  Being Sick and Translating

Well talk about a week and a day. We have pday on a Tuesday this week since we had zone conference on a Monday...so that is why my email came out later. This week was definitely interesting started out with celebrating Y's birthday with all the sisters and M. That was a fun night. Y showed me her drawing tablet she just recently got and man did I nerd out on that. Being with the sisters and one my favorite families was so fun! We met with em a few times this week and went over the baptismal questions to evaluate and see where she is at. I was actually very surprised by her answers...she knows this is true and is willing to follow the commandments. I guess I've gotten so used having baptismal dates dropped so much that I just didn't have any faith in her. Sad I know but it's the hard truth about the mission. You work hard, but reap very few. But hey there is hope because the bom in Georgian will coming soon....don't know when but I know soon. What's actually interesting was right before that meeting I wasn't doing so hot. I was starting to get sick and right before the meeting I thought I was going to throw up, but I went and basically just left it up to god. We actually had a great meeting. This also happened on Thursday at English group. I took a small nap in the middle of the day to get some energy and then we went to English group

...I was not doing very good before English but I just pushed through it and prayed for some strength. I felt a lot better during English which is good. Friday was the official sick day.....expect we went down to Rustavi cause nail lady said she would come to their English group...she bailed last minute and so we were up there for nothing. Saturday we had a young adult activity. Just games and pizza and a ton of people showed up! I had such a blast and Y also came. Sunday was a dozy. Probably the hardest Sunday. I finally translated for sacrament. The elder that has been doing it made me do it and I only agreed if he would sit in the front row to be my cheat sheet. I actually did OK! I prayed so hard and basically was like "god you know better Georgian than I do so you gotta help me on this one". Well I also was chorister....so sacrament was just watching sister Jensen go back and forth on the stand. A lot of the members came up and thanked me and told me good job afterwards. Made it worth it. Afterwards I translated for relief society. I had made the lesson for primary but some Americans came so they needed me for translation. So sister Mafi took my lesson plan and taught primary. Monday was fun, we had zone conference and every companionship taught a part. Me and sister Mafi taught about listening and how listening helps us be a master teacher. It was actually pretty good! After that we had a baptism which was very interesting. Only the missionaries were allowed to come and his brother. He is from a country that isn't oh too fond of switching to the Christian religions let's just say...so he wanted only very close people to see his baptism. Today we are going to Rabati with all the missionaries so that will be fun. Fun pics to come!

Spiritual thought: God is amazing! Literally if you put your trust in the lord he will deliver. I was beyond nervous for translating cause I was worried i was not going to be actually able to do it. Well with a lot of prayer and realizing that I should really just put my faith in god, I did it. I kept re saying a phrase from the bible the entire time leading up to my translation which is, "oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt". That for some reason just really uplifts me. I seem to realize when I say it that I really have nothing to fear. Was my translation perfect no of course not, but I stood up there not nervous and was able to almost understand everything. I felt the same way with our training we did at zone conference I was nervous before but then I realized there is nothing to fear. I stood up there and my mind was clear and my voice was smooth. If I did that before my mission I would have been so nervous that I wouldn't know what to say and my voice would have shaken the entire time. So god is pretty amazing if you give him the chance to work his miracles. Cause if he changed me then I would say he is pretty dang amazing.

Well that's the week, til' next time!

და ჯენსენი 

Also not really any pics this week well at least ones that i can share....sorry

Week 55  კიში! Check!

Wow, I cant believe it's Monday...to be honest this week went by in a blink. Weeks seem to continue to do that.  Anyway, Monday was a blast we went with some of the missionaries to Gori and to visit the Stalin Museum there and later to უფლისციხე. This is an old cave/stone rock formation of sorts. There were parts of it that I felt I was in the hobbit. Super cool, I highly would recommend it. We met with our investigator a few times this week. She is progressing slowly but surely. We have a few more meetings and then I think she is ready. She didn't come to church sadly this week. We meet with her tomorrow so hopefully everything is well. We went to an English group (not the one we do) this week with the elders to see how how their class goes. It is very interesting to meet people all over the world there. America, Italy, Colombia all here in Georgia. Which is kinda in the middle of no where. Sadly, no Georgians came to it...so not the most effective "missionary" evening, but still a good evening meeting and having some cool conversations with people. I tried "chalk finding" this week so that was interesting. I thought it was time that I brought my talent to the table...art. Some of you might have seen some of them on Facebook. W still need to perfect the finding method however. We need to find a better park with more foot traffic. We have game night ever Friday and one of my favorite members taught me chess. So now I kinda know chess. He is this old man that I always have very deep conversations with on varying topics, politics, physiology etc. It's always a blast to talk with him. I have dubbed him my Georgian grandpa. Anyway, long story short he taught me and then I proceeded to get schooled by elementary school kids in chess...yeah still got a lot to learn with the game of chess. Saturday was Rustavi day. Lots of meetings with members and the nail lady, if y'all remember her. Her husband got baptized a few weeks ago and we are trying to build a better relationship with her and help her have better church experiences. Sunday was actually chill...well for me it was. Beginning was rough, our water was off again in our apartment. Water randomly turns off here even if you paid the bill. So we took cold showers at the church. Sister Mafi wasn't feeling well and 30 minutes before church started she started to throw up so we went home. I just had a chill day. Studying Georgian and playing ukulele. Yeah that was the week, I feel like more happened but literally can't remember anything. Today we are celebrating Y's birthday with all the sisters and I am stoked😊

 Spiritual thought: Since general conference recently just happened I wanted to talk about one of the talks. Elder Bednar gave an amazing talk on the adversary and likened it to cheetahs preying on a group of topis. He explained their strategy in which they (the cheetahs) would alternate in moving closer to the group of topis. However, once the topis "watchman" saw the cheetahs they would immediately run to safe ground. There was something he said about this analogy that I really liked. After he explained the analogy and the topis were in safe ground he said "Without any delay, the two cheetahs resumed their alternating pattern of one cheetah crouching low and creeping forward while the other cheetah sat upright in the grass. The pattern of pursuit continued. They did not stop. They did not rest or take a break. They were relentless in following their strategy of distraction and diversion. Susan and I watched the cheetahs disappear in the distance, always moving closer and closer to the group of topis." I liked this because the adversary is very much like that. It never stops. We always have to be on the look out. We may have calm times but storms always come. So we need to be prepared and ready for when it hits, so we know what to do. We need to have our own strategy too. Luckily the scriptures is our perfect play book, so we got a lot of help in keeping safe. 

Well that was the week, til next time!

 -და ჯენსენი 

Week 54  General Conference in all the Languages

Well talk about a weird week. It has felt both long and short at the same time. So this week we watched general conference. On Tuesday and Wednesday, with all the missionaries, we binge watched it all. Conference was amazing! I especially loved the Women's Conference! I'll get into a specific talk in my spiritual thought later. We met with our investigator "Em" this week a few times. She is progressing just rather slowly. She came to both conference sessions on Saturday and Sunday which made me so happy. She said that she wouldn't be coming to the Sunday one, but I turned around during conference and there she was! Something very special happened this week. I got to meet and see with M and Y again from my old area. I went to the Temka church with some of the sisters to meet with them since M asked specifically for my help her. Of course I got permission to go. M wanted me to help Y because she is looking into some animation schools. I basically played like her academic councilor as I helped her look at schools. M is still taking lessons from the translator and her testimony is even stronger than before. Its just her personal situation is worse. Family matters in her country have gotten really bad...and actually pretty scary. Listening to what has been happening there just made me realize; one how small my trails are and two that the world can sometimes be truly unfair. Yet, through all of what has happened, "M"still looks to Christ. Seeing her and Y again made my entire week. We all shed a few tears at our meeting since it has been so long. Because of work she has had no time for anything else. She finally made it clear to her manager that she is not working on Sundays. She even came to general conference! Conference in Georgia is the weekend after GC becuase it takes a while to get it translated into the other languages...and it was a dozy. On Saturday we had it showing in Russian, English, and Persian. I watched it in Russian. We only have the Sunday session translated into Georgian. So we sat with our members and our investigator through the entire conference in Russian. I have never been so bored in my entire life. I mean that many hours of conference is sometimes hard to get through in English let alone in a language you don't even know. Sunday I watched the first session in Georgian...wow talk about a language study. I have progressed, but still was hard at times. I mean they just talk so dang fast! The second session I joined M in the Persian room. We sat and ate cake, which she brought, and watched conference in Persian. I was beyond happy. For me it was a dear moment sitting together, feeling the spirit, and eating cake with her. Its moments like these that make my entire mission. Something that I have truly learned is the we are literally all brothers and sisters. It's so amazing! l got a little choked up to be honest. Today we are going to უფლისციხე with all the missionaries. Looks like our new president changed the rule and we can go outside of Tbilisi! 

Spiritual thought: I especially loved Elder Ballard's talk. It's actually something I have been thinking about a lot. This fight between our physical self, natural man, and our eternal self. Elder Ballard said, "It seems clear to me that one of the most important things we can learn in this life is how to emphasize our eternal spiritual nature and control our evil desires". I have been thinking about that in regards to the scripture in Matthew 16:25 which states, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it". When we put off our natural self and our selfish desires and look outwards we find ourselves, either that looking outwards is to Christ or to others. I think what it means is that we find our eternal selves when we lose ourselves in the service of others and in the gospel. It's during those times when our natural man can fade away to let our eternal spirits shine through. We are able to find and rediscover who we really are. It's in those moments when we progress the most and learn the most. That may be why missionaries grow so much on their missions...because they put off their world desires, their natural man, and serve for 2 years or 18 months. They let their eternal selves shine through. Now this thought is based on the idea that they put their whole heart into, if they truly lose themselves in the work, then indefinitely they will grow. Anyway to sum this thought all up, we can grow and be who we really are, our eternal spirits, if we look to Christ and outwards to others.

Well that was the week, til next time!

- და ჯენსენი 

PS. Sorry not a lot of pictures😬

Week 53  1 Year Mark

Well it's been an interesting week. I'm officially old now, I've been a missionary for a whole year and surprisingly I kinda know what I'm doing. Woot woot! The week started off with going to Ananuri(ანანური) with the sisters. It's an old church by a lake. Super pretty. Tuesday was interesting. Remember the lady we met with that fed us super salty xachapuri? Well she contacted us and asked us to help her out with a lecture at her college. So we went. I'm not really sure what our purpose was because we really just sat there, but it was still good. We definitely bonded more. I think more than likely it was just to hype her up. She has said that every time she is with us she just feels super happy. That's the spirit! We actually met with her and her family and the elders again the following day. She expressed that she feels like God lead us to her. We of course testified that that was true. I sense potential. Our main investigator is progressing, we weren't able to meet with her one on one too much this week, but we have had daily contact. We are pushing her date back because we need a little more time to make sure we have had all the lessons before the date. We met this couple walking one day and they instantly invited us over. We went over on another day and man did they treat us like kings...queens. They fed us a ton and gifted each of us a painting that the husband made. Mine is picture of an abstract baby of sorts...he said since I am a child I should have it. So fun keepsake from a meeting. Sadly, theu live in the other missionaries area so we are passing them off to the Gildani sisters. We had a baptism this week! And guess what!? X came to the baptism! Don't know if y'all remember but she was my main investigator back when I was a trainee. I haven't seen her in a year. Man just the smell of her perfume sent me back to Christmas time last year. We talked with her for awhile and I realized how much I have changed. I remember talking to her in my training days and being so shy and having no idea what to say (this is all in English since she knows English). This time we had part of our conversation in Georgian and man am I very different than I was then. Talk about improvement! Sunday was a doozy, but I wasn't in primary. I translated for relief society and man did it go bad....no idea what they were saying. Doesn't help that the member teaching is known to talk a million miles per hour. Later in the lesson I had to correct what they were teaching because it was incorrect doctrine...yeah we don't take on the sins of our parents. Luckily that is when the gift of tongues really kicked in. 

Spiritual thought: I have done a lot of reflecting in the past few days. You know God is pretty amazing. He has a perfect plan for each and everyone one of us. He knows who we are an who we can become. That plan will, if we make the right choices, lead us to becoming the person that God wants us to become. I have seen that in my own life here. Looking back on the person I was before my my mission and now how much I have really changed. I followed the prompting to come out here and man did God deliver. He has helped me become a person who can be a missionary. If you put your trust in him he can mold you into a person you never thought you could be.

Well that was the week, til next time!

- და ჯენსენი