Late Night with Italian-speaking Landlady

Wow, that was quite the week. It began with a continued frantic search for an apartment we needed for Thursday and didn't have. It was really not easy. We need to do official contracts and have them stamped by the government and nobody wants to do it because the tax authorities could find out and charge them taxes. So, with a city of 300,000+ we could only find one apartment that would meet all of our requirements. Luckily it's a pretty nice one. There are a few issues that we're ironing out, but we finally got things worked out with the help of a great member, Inna Solomeina, the Branch President's wife.

We learned on Tuesday night that I need to pack my bags, but that I would be staying in Chernigov at the new apartment. Wednesday consisted of a lot of that. We stayed in Chernigov and they just sent our companions up from the transfer meeting. My companion is Elder Austin Brinck from South Jordan, Utah. He started his mission in Chernigov for 2 transfers and now he has 3 more transfers in his mission, so he'll probably finish off here. The other Elder now serving with Elder Drasso is Elder DJ Polivka and he's on his last transfer. It way cool that we got 2 older missionaries up here. I know that they needed to close another area to reopen this one so the Lord is investing a lot in this city. I know that we are going to continue seeing miracles and see more baptisms here.

I've been with Elder Brinck for like 4 days now and things have been going great so far. He's a good guy and a great missionary. I know this will be a great transfer. We have many things in common and we're learning lots of different things from each other.

We weren't able to finalize the apartment until Friday, so we all stayed in one cluttered apartment on Thursday night. We filled out contracts and worked everything out on Friday. Our landlady is pretty neat. Her name is Vika. She has a 15 year old son. She lived in Italy for like 6 years. On Friday night she was still doing some last minute cleaning, then we sat down at the kitchen table because she wanted to understand better why we're here. We were able to share the message of the Restoration with her and give her a Book of Mormon. She's already read some. Things are gonna be good.

I was really disappointed that we weren't allowed to watch conference at all this weekend, but I get plenty of chances to learn patience here. We'll be able to watch it next weekend. I am so excited. I love General Conference! Church was good though. We had a good fast and testimony meeting. I love the members here. They're an inspiration to me. I'm happy to be staying in Chernigov for at least another 6 weeks. I'll have spent about a quarter of my mission here. There's still a baptismal date with the older couple for April 22nd (I'm pretty sure) and apparently they want me to baptize the wife, Valentina. That would be an honour. We'll soon see.

I love you all. Thanks for everything. This is the work of God. =)

- Elder J. Mahoney

P.S. Watch the revised Joseph Smith movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xVw6PsSinI

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