Quick note for this week

Hey! So I don't have time to write you guys personally this week really, but thanks for the emails and I'm reading them. I'll let you know if I get the package, thanks so much for going to the time and effort to send it! We are still working with some individuals towards baptism, namely Pavel and Maxsim, both of which have accepted the soft baptismal challenge on the first lesson, and both of which are meeting with us this week. We were able to have a member present on almost all of there lessons and there looks to be some promise on their behalf. We are planning to commit both of them to baptism this week. That's about it for this week, I love you guys, have a great week and stay safe!

-Elder Skene

following the Spirit

Hey! I'll be staying here for another transfer with Elder Cook but this transfer is only 4 weeks so we'll see what happens. We are still working with the same people that we were working with in the past few weeks, but we were able to meet a man named Aleksei who wants to change his life. We felt prompted to talk to him when we were in the park so we sat down on the bench were he was sitting alone and eventually got his number and we are gonna get a meeting with him this week if we can. Another man about our age was in the same situation, in a different park haha, but we walked past him originally, then I asked Elder Cook if he thought that we should go back and talk to him, we decided that we would turn around and speak to him if he was still there. On the path he met us and we gave him a Book of Mormon and got his number. We had another lesson with Maxsim this week with a member too, his biggest issue is that he is just really into different philosophies and doesn't like to align himself with one confession, but he accepted the soft baptismal challenge, two times actually so we'll keep working with him. I gotta run so until next week! Be safe and have a good one! I love you!

-Elder Skene

Tales from Selmash

Hey everyone, still working on wrapping up the college stuff so this will be shorter, so this week we worked hard and saw miracles, working with active members who were beginning to lose their vision or inactives who have lost their way, multiple people opened up to us that we would have never thought would, people who were claimed by others to never want to see the missionaries, let alone talk to them. It gives me hope and faith that I know that if we try our best here Elder Cook and I can feel successful and make things happen, even if that means that our work down the road will make a huge difference. When things go rough and it seems that we just can never hit gold no matter how hard we search, it's important to keep in mind the future and the eternal perspective. Many people in the book of Mormon saw little to no success, but they were successful, what a principle, only in the Gospel can one really make it or break invisibly. It doesn't matter if we had tons of baptisms or none at all as long as we go down fighting, as long as we finish strong and keep the faith. If we work hard and try our best then we really don't have anything to worry about. We are hoping and praying every day that our work will bear some fruit that we can see with our own eyes, but if not, we will carry on and keep a smile on our faces. I love you guys, have a great week and stay safe, and always remember to keep the eternal perspective in mind as we all constantly have to remind ourselves of these principles and teachings.

-Elder Skene

Tales from Selmash

Hey everyone, I wish I could tell you all the crazy stories of everything that happens here but they don't want us writing things like that home. Don't worry though, I'm keeping track of everything and writing it down in my journals or my notebook. This week we were able to get two member present lessons, and two promises that this next Sunday we will have some people at Church, one of the two seems a little bit more on the iffy side of things but hey, it happens. We met with Tolik on the street and have had a lesson with him and he accepted the soft baptismal commitment, and Yura, our other investigator, said he would come meet us at the branch sometime this week, and while we were waiting for Tolik, I should have payed attention more but it seemed like he wouldn't come for a second but my doubt was swept away to be honest, I just knew that he would come, like a confirmation from the spirit, and low and behold he showed up and it was a good lesson. As we were wrapping up he shared with us his desire to start a family and how he hopes that God will help him, so of course we are gonna jump on that in our next meeting with him. But the work rolls forward here and we are really trying to do everything in our power to make things happen, but as seen with events in the past, we really can't influence anyone's agency, but we can have faith that they will make the right choices, and follow the spirit that we know they are feeling. It's amazing to see how much you care about people you've just met, and their salvation, back home it was usually like, oh well if he wants to hate someone or something to each his own, but here it's something totally different, you pray and fast for people you may never even see again, and desire them to partake of the fruit that the Lord has blessed us with a chance to partake of. All and all, despite it's setbacks, things in Selmash are going well. I love you guys, the Church is true! Have a great week, I'll be seeing you before you know it!

-Elder Skene