Hi everyone,
"I looked out the window, and what did I see? Snow, snow, snowing on the bare Russian trees!" Snow has hit the city. It's so pretty and exciting! I'm looking forward to winter. I love bundling up in my Russian coat with scarves, gloves, and a hat. (The hat is more out of necessity. I don't really like messing with hat hair or getting my hat to fit nicely over my glasses and hair without looking silly.)
We have been so blessed this week. Suddenly we have two baptismal dates with a third hopefully coming this week. Heavenly Father has been watching over us. The first baptismal date was definitely guided by the Spirit. Sister Woodland was calling a woman to set up an appointment, and halfway through the phone call realized that the phone numbers were mixed up and she was talking to a different woman by the same name. We ended up seeing that unplanned woman that day and setting a baptismal date for December 5th. Everything's got a plan, and Heavenly Father always makes sure his plans work out. The other baptismal date is with a babooshka. Her date is for December 12th. With her, we're going to go slowly and make sure that she really understands. Even though she's old, she listens well.
One of our members has had a tough week with her drunk family members, but we've been taking turns with the elders visiting her family and doing small service. A woman who recently started living with this family has started investigating, and she came to church yesterday! This woman is considering a date for baptism, and she's making great progress. Yesterday when we were talking about baptism she said, "I have one sin." We waited, and then she said, "Cigarettes." Don't worry, we can help with that!
There's another investigator who is super nice, and she keeps inviting us to go to her dacha for a day. We keep telling her that we can't, but she is persistent. Now that we're closer to winter, she might be able to come to church and start progressing. From what Sister Woodland's told me, she's interested in church and baptism, but has just been busy with other things and said she'll free up when it's winter.
We also had a miracle Sunday where we found a whole lot of people. There were three less-actives who said we could meet with them later this week. Then a man stopped us and asked for the time, and then he recognized us as the girls from America. He met Sister Woodland several weeks ago at a bus stop. As we were talking, he said he's not baptized, and we set up a return appointment. He said he believes in God and will for sure be at that appointment. That was another random miracle. He has a wife and three kids, so we hope we meet his whole family soon.
We also went to Vlad. on Wednesday to have a min-conference with the traveling patriarch. He didn't speak to us long, but his words about going the second mile, setting goals, and just getting started were so clear, and it was such a wonderful experience.
Have a happy week!
Сестра Спрингер
"I looked out the window, and what did I see? Snow, snow, snowing on the bare Russian trees!" Snow has hit the city. It's so pretty and exciting! I'm looking forward to winter. I love bundling up in my Russian coat with scarves, gloves, and a hat. (The hat is more out of necessity. I don't really like messing with hat hair or getting my hat to fit nicely over my glasses and hair without looking silly.)
We have been so blessed this week. Suddenly we have two baptismal dates with a third hopefully coming this week. Heavenly Father has been watching over us. The first baptismal date was definitely guided by the Spirit. Sister Woodland was calling a woman to set up an appointment, and halfway through the phone call realized that the phone numbers were mixed up and she was talking to a different woman by the same name. We ended up seeing that unplanned woman that day and setting a baptismal date for December 5th. Everything's got a plan, and Heavenly Father always makes sure his plans work out. The other baptismal date is with a babooshka. Her date is for December 12th. With her, we're going to go slowly and make sure that she really understands. Even though she's old, she listens well.
One of our members has had a tough week with her drunk family members, but we've been taking turns with the elders visiting her family and doing small service. A woman who recently started living with this family has started investigating, and she came to church yesterday! This woman is considering a date for baptism, and she's making great progress. Yesterday when we were talking about baptism she said, "I have one sin." We waited, and then she said, "Cigarettes." Don't worry, we can help with that!
There's another investigator who is super nice, and she keeps inviting us to go to her dacha for a day. We keep telling her that we can't, but she is persistent. Now that we're closer to winter, she might be able to come to church and start progressing. From what Sister Woodland's told me, she's interested in church and baptism, but has just been busy with other things and said she'll free up when it's winter.
We also had a miracle Sunday where we found a whole lot of people. There were three less-actives who said we could meet with them later this week. Then a man stopped us and asked for the time, and then he recognized us as the girls from America. He met Sister Woodland several weeks ago at a bus stop. As we were talking, he said he's not baptized, and we set up a return appointment. He said he believes in God and will for sure be at that appointment. That was another random miracle. He has a wife and three kids, so we hope we meet his whole family soon.
We also went to Vlad. on Wednesday to have a min-conference with the traveling patriarch. He didn't speak to us long, but his words about going the second mile, setting goals, and just getting started were so clear, and it was such a wonderful experience.
Have a happy week!
Сестра Спрингер