Baptization

This week I was on pins and needles about transfer calls. It's been the first time since my very first transfer that I had absolutely no idea what my fate would be. On Friday I said to the elders, "Is this what you feel like every transfer?! This is AWFUL!" I was praying so hard to be able to stay, or at least to be able to feel at peace for wherever I would go. Transfers can be a traumatic experience as a missionary. You get 4 days to go say goodbye to everyone you've ever loved and met in the last 6 months, and for me....that was just not a happy thought. 

So before I tell you, I was studying about the Book of Mormon, in Doctrine and Covenants, about what the Lord said about it. It was interesting. He said something to the effect that he allowed the writings of the prophets and disciples to come forth in this generation because the prophets prayed for that to happen. I thought about how cool of an idea that was, and how sometimes the Lord just lets things happen because we have a burning desire for them to happen. And look, we have the Book of Mormon to carry around the world and spread the news that Jesus is our Savior and loves us. It's incredible. 

So with that in mind, I started praying. I knew that my fate had already been decided for where i was going, but I asked if I could just stay in Chernivtsi. I've been here for 4 transfers already, and yes, it's only my second area on my mission, but I wanted it so badly. Saturday rolled around, and the district leader called, and guess what. My prayers were answered. I'm staying. Unbelievable. The Lord knows me, and wants me to just have an incredible last transfer, in the city of miracles. I love this place like it's my home!

Lots of things happened this week. First, it was Elder Stephenson's last week. I've had the chance to serve with him for a total of 6 transfers on my mission! NINE MONTHS! That's more than half my time in country. He's like little brother status. We're great pals. In his last district meeting, he talked about lessons he's learned on his mission, and something stuck out to me. He advised, "Don't play the mind game, 'Did I do what I needed to do here?' Because that is from Satan. If you worked hard, and did your best, rest assured you did your part." He also said, referring to sibling relationships but connecting it to companion relationships, that his mother used to always tell him, "Your job isn't to fix them. Your job is to love them. My job is to fix them." I thought that was good advice. I'm sure God sometimes tries to tell us that about our relationships with others.

We had a Mexican Party on Saturday which was a hit! We made pinatas, tacos, played games, and had a blast. We had more people there who weren't members, then actual members of the church. It was so fun! Two of the elders busted out a violin and guitar and sang a mexican duet, and everyone thought that Elder Schindler was Mexican after that. My little asian from the MTC is a pretty convincing hispanic.

Well, we had the chastity lesson with two of our favorites. It was going nowhere fast, and then all of a sudden one of the girls said, "You know, it's like being faithful to your future spouse. It makes sense." she later said, "Our body is a precious gift from God, and we need to act righteously to be able to show him we respect God and ourselves." I was like a proud mama. Phew.

Also. We have a golden child on our hands. He's about 23, and we found him at our English club (the one in the library) about a month ago. We met with him once in the church and he was super interested in baptism. We finally had the chance to meet with him again, and he said, "Look, before we start, I want you to know that I just want to follow Christ and his teachings. You're going to help me, right?" He grew up as a Hindu, but has a pretty good idea of Christianity. We began talking about Joseph Smith, and he's been reading the Book of Mormon religiously. We showed him the 20 minute version of the Restoration film, and he was so into it. It was the first time I had watched it in English in a while (he's a native English speaker), and I was so touched by it. I have it practically memorized in Ukrainian, but not in English, so there were things that stuck out to me that normally don't. This man was really feeling for Joseph. Whenever a preacher would say something that was pessimistic, he'd say, "Man, he should just leave that congregation!" or "That is definitely not from God." and then when Joseph's dad told Joseph that he needed to ask God, our investigator said, "But how do you ASK GOD?!" I smiled and said it was coming up. When Joseph knelt down to pray, and the light began descending on him, our investigator said, "What?! Did that happen?! Wow!" Haha. This continued on through the movie, and I was excited for him to see Joseph's father get baptized. It turned to the shot, and shows him in the river, and right before they put him in the water, the man got really excited and said, "IS THAT BAPTIZATION?!!!" He was STOKED. He made me pause it and then he asked, "What happens to him next?! What does he do after that?!" I was taken so aback by his excitement and started giggling, and told him about the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that he could feel this great feeling always. He said, "YES! I feel so good right now! I want this always!" I then said, "Well, will you prepare yourself to be baptized on March 1st?" 

"YES, I am so excited!! I can't wait! March 1st. Sounds great!" We all started laughing and were so excited, and I was just taken by surprise. I've been so used to the Ukrainian reactions to the first lesson, and they've never been close to the excitement and the joy this man was feeling. It was definitely a new experience for me! 

We invited him to pray at the end, and he said, "Okay! How do I do it?" I told him that we address Heavenly Father, ask him for blessings, thank him for blessings, and close in the name of Jesus Christ. "That's when I say Amen, right?" Right.

He then gave the sweetest prayer I've ever heard. Hearing someone pray out loud in their own words for the very first time is one of the tender mercies of my mission. It's the best thing on the planet.

I was smiling like a crazy person. This kid is seriously golden. We gave him an English Hymnal and he asked if these were our carols, and wanted us to teach him one. My companion played "Come Follow Me" While I sang it, and his eyes got real big and he said, "Can you sing it again? I'll sing it with you this time. But don't sing louder than me, because I want to learn it. I want to sing this in church next week, will they let me? Lets do it together." I don't do duets. But I've made exceptions in the past. :)

I got to do exchanges one last time! The weather was bad, and the other sisters in the city couldn't make it up to Ivano, so I got to go out with them for two days this week. It was a lovely time. While on exchanges, I was in a little cafe, and we hear a man speaking English. We went up and talked to him, and within 2 seconds I pinpointed his accent. He was from Holland! His accent made me miss my trainer so bad. I love you, Sister Van!

Also. Mom. That card you sent me with the afro was killer. I showed it to everyone in the church, and all the men were cracking up at the picture, but when I tried to translate the inside, they were just blankly staring at me. "American Humor" was the response of one of them. It was killer. I couldn't stop crying. Hahaha.

Speaking of which, the 3 sisters in the city here heard my "real laugh" and one of them fell on the ground she was laughing so hard, and the one who made me laugh said, "I'll never make Sister Webber laugh again." I've been successful at keeping that tucked away, but sometimes you just gotta have a good laugh, ya know?

Okay, I'm a fan of taking taxis when it's bone-chilling, and we took a taxi the other day, and the second I sat down and looked at my driver, we both went, "Ohhhhhhhhh!!" it was the same taxi driver we had a few weeks back, and we had a great conversation last time and I gave him a Family Proclamation. I asked him if he read it, and he pulled it right out and said, "Yes, but it was way too short. Can I have your book too?" Um. Yes.

I have a confession to make. I'm starting to get a little bit awkward. I've done an excellent job my entire mission of not being awkward, but it's happening. I think it's because I don't know what to do with sarcasm anymore. I used to be able to dish it back to people, but now I just have no idea what to say to people who aren't nice. The other day I was making announcements in front of our english practice group, about 30 people, and they were being all sarcastic and snippy at me. I just stood up there thinking, "Well, I could be sassy, or i could just not say anything...." And the longer I took to contemplate it, the more sassy they were being, and then Elder Schindler starts making his way up to the front, and he comes and stands in front of me and says, "Sit down. Just sit down." and then I quietly walked back to my seat and sat down....it was so awkward. And I thought, "It's happening....." OH NO. Haha...so that's a treat. Get ready for that one! You all best be purging yourselves of your sarcastic ways, or I don't know what we'll talk about.

Anyway. I decided to not write anyone back this week, so that's why this email is so long. Don't get your hopes up that this will happen every time. I just combined 20 different emails that I would've individually sent out, and put it all in here. That's why it doesn't flow, or make any sense. But there's something for everyone here.

Well, I love you all. Thanks for your support and your love. I'm just really grateful for you all.

Love
Sister Webber

Ps. Natasha (my Ukrainian sister) says "Hi", Mom. You'll meet her on skype one day. And Natasha's probably reading this on my blog that she found, so, Privit Natasha! Ya Tebe Duzhe Leublue. :)

Sister Webber and Sister Olds

Snow, snow everywhere.......yuck 

Our mexican fiesta night

Hola amigos!