From Ghanain to Californian

So, last week Elder Davis and I spent our last couple of days together and before we knew it we were in Kiev already for transfer meeting. It can be pretty tiring because we got on the train just after midnight and got to Kiev at 07:30. Then on the way back it was 10:00-03:00. There's not too much time to catch up sleep. Anyway, in Kiev on Thursday we had a meeting with all of the trainers and they introduced a new program. For the first 12 weeks new missionaries do an extra 60 minutes of study per day with their trainers. It's a cool program and I think it'll help us both grow a lot. The programs of the Church really are so inspired.

After that meeting we went in and all the transfers were announced. There are 12 new missionaries this transfer. 2 other missionaries from my group are training, but we are the youngest ones. 12 really is a lot of missionaries, it was interesting to look at them and try to guess which would be my companion and think about how they are the future of this mission. My trainer Elder Calahan Larson just went home last transfer. Today I've been on my mission for 11 months. Time is flying. My new companion was announced, Elder Christopher Hair. He's from the San Francisco Bay Area. We made our way back to Khmelnitskiy and we've been getting to know each other a little bit at time. There's plenty for him to learn, but he's doing so well. He's already understanding a lot and speaking some decent Russian. I'm impressed. He's a good Elder and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve with him. He's the oldest in his family too and the first grandson to serve a mission, like me. He is still a little tired and has fallen asleep is serveral situations already, but that's normal. I've been tired just from the train too.

I feel excited about the work and the Gospel. I been loving my scripture study more that ever recently and I can feel my testimony burning. We've set a goal as a district to hit 100% home teaching in our Branch this month and we're on the way. We are also trying to set the example by preparing for the lessons on Sundays. I prepared a lot for the last Sunday and it was so great. I was able to get so much more out of it and contribute a lot. At the beginning the teacher asked who had prepared and only 2 of us missionaries raised our hands. Soon we should have all 4 missionaries and we're looking forward to seeing the other hands going up and to really raising the spirituality of our meetings.

It's been great to train so far, I feel like it's stretching me a little more and I'm getting better in many areas each day. I feel like we're becoming more Preach My Gospel missionaries and I'm loving the dynamics in our district so far. We really need to find more people to teach so we're going to be trying some new things and asking the Lord where he'd have us go.

I love the gospel and I'm in it for the long haul. There's nothing better than God's plan for us. He knows us and all the commandments are for our good. I've been so blessed with the knowledge that I have and I'm here to share it with others.

Something pretty funny happened the other day. I heard Elder Johnson talking to President Klebingat and it was pretty obvious that he didn't know where our city is. Haha. I heard him say, "Yeah, it's quite the trip, about 6 hours." and "Yeah, we're in the West President." Haha. We're really in the middle of nowhere. Not even our Mission President knows where it is. Haha. Good stuff.

Thanks for all the love and support. The Church is true.

Love,
Elder J. Mahoney

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