Transfers!

Wow, I thought that I would just finish my mission here in Chernigov, but I got a surprise. In a interview with president last week I found out I will move one last time. I'm going to be serving in the center branch in Odessa with Elder Schultz. I didn't really want to be transfered again, but when President told me I accepted it right away and now I'm actually pretty excited. I will have a Bulgaria and a Ukrainian in my district and all the district members are just awesome. 2 weeks ago they had 4 baptisms in my branch there and apparently 100 people came! They say it's the biggest branch in Odessa too. I can feel that it will be an awesome 2 transfers down there. We will see miracles.

This past week we used some of our p-day to go to Kiev early and visit a historic village called Piragova. I heard there were some actors that would be playing old instruments or making crafts or something. Unfortunately we didn't see any of that, but we did see a lot of old houses. There's a "modern village" with homes from the 60s and 70s. There is an exact replica of an average home from a village in each of the provinces of Ukraine. It was kinda funny because a lot of the houses look the same as they still do. A lot of the interiors were similar to places I have lived. Haha! Same pots and couches and stuff. I think some of the things might have been nicer that places I've lived. The old village was a bit cooler. There were homes from the 1700, 1800, and 1900s there, as well as churches and windmills. A lot of the houses had wheat roofs (or straw?). It was interesting to think that when people lived in a lot of those homes there wasn't much opportunity to travel anywhere. This part of the world was practically unknown to the people where I'm from and vice versa. Some of the home were built before the restoration of the gospel. It was interesting to imagine a little bit of what their lives were like back then. A lot of the interiors were very nice. Well kept. They'd even painted some things on the walls.

We had a great zone meeting in Kiev on Wednesday. We really have some great missionaries here. I felt the Spirit throughout. I'm happy to be here. I love this work. It goes one. =D

- Elder J. Mahoney

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Atheism

The fact that I'm writing this letter means that another week has flown by. It's pretty wild.

We've continued to meet with our atheist investigator whom I believe I mentioned a couple months ago. He's a great guy. He's smart and he knows history really well. We love him. We had a meeting with him yesterday and we continue to plead with him to pray. He said, "I can't pray. I'm an atheist." At the end, my companion was testifying and then the man said, "Maybe..." I joked, "Woah, can you say that? I thought you're an atheist." He then changed his mind and agreed that he can't. I asked him if being an atheist is an important part of who he is. He said yes. He said, "I was an atheist, I am an atheist, and I will be an atheist." I asked if he believed he could change. He said, "If I weren't an atheist, I would be nothing." It's interesting how much he has thought everything out and come to this conclusion without any openness to other possibilities. He's already read up to 4th Nephi in the Book of Mormon, which is the main reason we keep meeting with him. I think we'll keep meeting with him until he finished is at least. We testify again and again as representative of Jesus Christ that God lives and loves him. If he would just pray he could receive and answer and feel it too. I pray that he might feel God's love and be open to change. It'll be interesting to see how he accepts everything after this life.

I love the gospel and this Church. I love being a missionary. Thanks for all the prayers, love, and support.

Love,

Elder J. Mahoney 

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June 25th, 2012

I don't have all that much to say this week. It was bit of a less eventful week. Not so many of our meetings worked out and not as many people came to Church. We actually just had the 4 missionaries and the branch president in our Elders Quorum meeting. The work goes on though.

The highlight of the week was a woman named Elena who walked into Church after the meetings last Sunday. A member had invited her the previous Sunday, having seen her on the street. I talked to her for a few minutes before Branch Council and we set up a meeting. We had the meeting on Wednesday with that member helping us. It went very well. I felt like we taught by the Spirit, clearly and with power and authority. She said that she will read the Book of Mormon with her husband and that she thinks she'd like to be baptized. Unfortunately I haven't been able to talk to her since then, but she passed a hello through the member and let us know she wouldn't be able to make it to Church and that she had started reading. She fell and hurt her arm about a month ago and it's really been bothering her, so at the end we talked about blessings and faith and offered to give her a blessing. It was a pretty neat experience. She offered the closing prayer and we gave her a blessing right after the first lesson. I feel that there was faith present to heal. I look forward to finding out how she's doing. Sweet woman, about 57. She and her husband were lawyers.

The Church is true. I love the gospel. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. He runs His Church and this is it.

Thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder J. Mahoney

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A God of Miracles

It's been a good week. I love serving here. I love the gospel.

We actually had 9 non-members at Sacrament Meeting yesterday. That might be the most I have ever seen in this branch or on my whole mission for that matter. I witness that God is a God of miracles. I see His hand in this work. As far as I know, at least 6 people have walked into our building this week. We've been teaching a man name Alexandr for a little over a week. He's a 57 year old artist. He used to study the Bible a lot and he painted inside different churches, but he never found one that truly lived a clean lifestyle and where they were really focused on continual progression and making the best out of this life now instead of waiting for something better after death. He kinda gave up and he said he hadn't read the Bible for about 3 years. We were walking through a park and he was sitting on a bench. As we were walking past on our way to a meeting he said, "You guys handing out Bibles?" I said, "No, but we read it and we also have another book." We were in a hurry, so we exchanged info and prayed with him. He has called us almost everyday since then and been to Church on both Sundays. When I first told him about Christ appearing on the American continent he said, "That's just logical! I always thought that he must have appeared to other peoples." I then quoted him John 10:16, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." and the Spirit witnessed to that truth. He's doing great and yesterday without being asked he said, "I would like to get baptized." Those are amazing words to hear because they carry so much meaning when a person truly understands them. As has been my experience before, I feel like I haven't done anything myself, though I have been present for every step of the process so far. I consider it a privilege to have met this man and teach him. He has been searching for truth and he accepts it when he hears it. He says that he feels comfortable at the Church. Miracles happen. People are search. I feel so blessed. The Lord is working through us.

I think I'll leave it at that for now. I love my mission.

- Elder Mahoney

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Press Forward Saints

It's been a great week. Actually 8 days this time... Preparation day was bumped ahead due to a mission conference yesterday. President Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy and President Lawrence of the Europe East Area Presidency were here with their wives. It was really neat to see the whole mission together. It seems like it happens more rarely than it used to. There are a lot of missionaries I don't really know since the ones I knew before have gone home and new ones have come in. It's a pretty big mission and we're up to almost 100 missionaries spread out all over it speaking 2 different languages. It was a nice meeting. I was able to interpret into Russian for a couple missionaries who don't know English as well. The Spirit was certainly felt.

The work goes on here. We're working everyday to try and build the Kingdom here. We're trying to establish Zion, first in our own lives, then in the branch here.

The weather's been quite hot recently, especially in a suit on a small bus to Kiev for 2 hours.

I don't have all too much to say right now. I was just reading this on LDS.org: "Elder Oaks taught that if members have the faith to pay their tithing they will be blessed to work themselves out of poverty. He explained that 90 percent of their income accompanied by the blessings of the Lord was better than 100 percent of their income without the blessings associated with being a full tithe payer." What a powerful though. I know that when we pay a full tithe we are blessed.

I know that this is Christ's restored Church. I feel the Spirit bear witness to me just about everyday if not everyday. I love my Savior I yearn to get to know him better. I appreciate all the love and support. Press forward Saints.

Love,

Elder J. Mahoney

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June 4th, 2012

We recently got a referral from a missionary in Kiev. They had contacted a guy on the street who actually lives in Chernigov. He told me honestly that he wasn't sure how much the guy was actually interested. We gave the guy a call and after a couple tries we met with him. He's about 25 and we had a great meeting with him. He says that he's not that interested in going to any church, but that "man without faith is nothing." He doesn't know much about religion at all yet, but he said he's been planning to read the Bible for his own personal development. The Spirit was truly present on the lesson and he seemed very interested. I told him we want to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon, if he will actually read it. He paused for, I'd say, over a minute. He was really thinking about it and he said, "Okay, I'll read it." At the end he said the closing prayer, for the first time I imagine, and he expressed gratitude that he was able to meet people who could help him understand these things. He seems to be a pretty ambitious business man too. He is involved in selling gel that is used to make fake nails, which is apparently a 3 billion dollar industry here in Ukraine. I suppose it's not too surprising by how many people you see with them on the street. It was a blessing to meet him and I look forward to the next time.

I think I'm finally registered in this city. The bureaucracy here is crazy.

I love being a missionary. Things are going well. It's been a bit of a chilly week, which I didn't expect. It's funny how when it's cool you want it to be warmer and when it hot you want it to be cooler. The problem is just that I don't really have in between clothes, haha, just hot or cold. It's all good though.

I know this is Christ's restored Church. On Sunday 3 members bore very powerful testimonies about the importance and power of the temple. I share the same strong testimony with them that each temple truly is a house of the Lord. I love the temple and I can't wait until I can go more often.

Thanks to everyone for all the love and support.

- Elder Mahoney

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The Members Need Us

The first great news is thatI will be staying in Chernigov for at least another transfer! At this rate I hope I just finish my mission here. I'll have have 2 more transfers after this next one. Actually everybody in Chernigov has stayed the same, so I'm still with Elder Copling. I really love serving here and Elder Copling's a great companion.

Our mission president sends a letter to all of us once a week and this week he talked about how much missionary from another mission was asking one of our missionaries if we can take naps in our "free time" and if we can watch Disney movies on p-days. We can't... Haha. We have a mission culture of work and obedience. I'm so grateful that we are serving in a mission with such high standards. I feel myself developing habits and qualities that I strongly desire. I feel like I'm really improving right now. I'm moving forward. I've been waking up a little earlier recently and I am loving it. Usually I just study more and I am learning so much. I am always hungry now to read and learn more. As soon as I learn one thing I just want to learn something else. It's an awesome feeling.

Last Monday we had an interesting experience. We set up with an older woman in the branch who was baptized just over a year ago. We prepared a lesson for her that was fairly generic. On the way there I was feeling like maybe we were just doing it to get off the street or something, that maybe we could have been using our time more effectively. We got started on the lesson and we soon learned that this woman didn't completely understand and has only been paying tithing on her pension, though she makes about 4 times that much. I immediately got out some scriptures and started to address the issue. At first she expressed that she didn't know if she would be able to get by if she paid tithing on "all income." As the lesson went on and we promised blessings she became excited to give President Solomein an envelop with "so much money in it" and committed that she would do it. I said, "I feel that this is what we were supposed to talk about this evening." and I gave her the talk we were going to read from as "homework". As we were traveling home afterward, I realized that we needed to be there that evening. These members need us in their homes. There are a lot of things they may never learn if we aren't there to teach them. It was such a blessing to see somebody change, or repent, right before our eyes. That's what it's all about really.

We had a missionary leadership training meeting in Kiev that was a good experience. President and this assistants introduced a new idea for counting some different numbers. I liked how it was truly like a council in that when people disagreed or brought up new perspectives they were valued and considered. It got to the point where President was short on time and there were some valid issues brought up, so he just assigned several elders to get together after and figure it out. I took part in the extra "council" meeting we had afterward. I think it may have been on of the most successful meetings of that sort that I've ever been on. It was a great process. We opened and closed with a prayer and, though at the beginning there were many different thoughts and opinions, everybody listened to each other respectfully and we came to a conclusion that all agreed with in the end.

We had the best branch council I've been on here yesterday. We actually discussed 5 people who need help (as the area presidency has asked us to) and what concrete actions we can take with them. Since it was the first time that's really happened the meeting went long and the new missionary program that the area presidency also asked us to do here wasn't introduced yet. I was left feeling though that they have so many problems of their own to figure out and they'd better figure out how to care for the members they already have before they start going out contacting. We'll certainly be trying to incorporate helping with a lot of home teaching into the program though.

I love my mission. Things are going well though the fruits aren't popping up too much. Thanks to all for the love and support. The Church is true.

Love,

Elder Mahoney

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