Congo? Morocco?

There wasn't too much super exciting happening this week. I got a call from the assistants though. They met a guy who "only spoke French" so they wanted me to set up an appointment for them so they could give him a Book of Mormon. I called him up and helped them out. They said he was from Congo. I noticed he had a  few strange things in his French and next time I called him back I talked to him a little more and found out he's actually from Morocco, which makes more sense because I know a couple other Congolese people who have pretty clean French. They told me when I'm in Kiev I can meet and teach him because they can't. Sort of a pointless story, but neat stuff. I hope I can serve in Odessa because I know there are a lot more immigrants there and French speakers especially. In Kiev there are lots too of course.

Our Nigerian investigator is in the hospital now. He had surgery on Tuesday I think it was. We've been trying to visit him everyday. We were thinking it would be really good to have his wife bring him his Book of Mormon so we were going to ask him when we saw him next but when we walked in we saw him reading it already. That was such a happy sight. He's a great man. I just found out he's 48. I guessed he was like 35. He looks great and he's lived a very clean life. This is the first time he's ever stayed in a hospital. Even when he was born his Mom just went in, had him in like 15 minutes and walked home. Hospitals are a little different here. It's kinda funny 'cause you can smell smoke, they you go to the bathroom and see patients smoking in there. Everybody that works at or visits the hospital seem to wear masks except us. Ukrainians have different views on what sickness is too. They stay home if they have a little cough, sniffles, or headache. It is also very common for them to have a quarantine where a whole school closes down for a period of time, mostly because most of the kids aren't there anyway.

It was a pretty slow week, so it was nice when we finally got a new investigator on Saturday. Wait, did I say "a", I meant 4 new investigators! We met with a really nice family with 2 older kids who were very welcoming, kind and open to hear our message. The  father even sent us home in a taxi afterward even though we insisted he didn't. That was pretty cool until I had my thumb closed in the door when we arrived. It's a little tender, but I think I'll live.

I don't know too much more of what to say. Last week we did exchanges in our district and this week my companion is in Kiev doing exchanges with the Zone Leaders until Wednesday, so I'm here with Elder Phillips. Side note, mail takes forever to get here! Haha.

Regardless of slow weeks, I know this Church is true. I know this is God's work. I'm so happy to have the opportunity to live and serve amongst the Ukrainian people. I love them. The members here are amazing. Through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ's Church has been restored in our day. I'm so grateful for this. Life is beautiful.

Thanks again for everything guys. Just so everybody knows, my family is awesome. Be nice to them while I'm gone.

Love,

Elder Mahoney

Старейшина Махони

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