Phone Call from President

It was a little bit of a wild week. I spent about 2.5 days in another city called Vinnitsya on exchanges. It was pretty cool. It's a really nice city. I enjoyed it. It's hard on my area though, of course, because my companion doesn't really speak either language hear, so nothing happened while I was gone. On Thursday we had a concert in an art museum. They have a grand piano there. Elder Hofeling is a really good pianist so we set up this free concert. That day we found out that a girl who was supposed to be singing backed out, so I ended up singing this Ukrainian folk song I'd just heard that morning. It went fairly well. Since we were out of the city so much we didn't get to advertise as much as we'd have liked, but it was fun.

Before I knew it was on the way out of the city again. On Friday night we took a train to Lviv where we had Zone Conference on Saturday. It was a super awesome conference. I also had an interview with Pres. Klebingat. The more I get to know him the more I love him. He inspires me to be a better person and missionary. I was left with plenty of things to ponder and work on. I really love one principle that he taught. He said that we already know the Lord's will in this work, so we don't need to ask Him. We know that He wants the people here to come unto Him so we just need to trust Him and work with Him to make that happen. It can definitely give us plenty of confidence in the work. Things are going very slowly here, in the whole mission actually. I don't know why and other missionaries have the same feeling, but I know that we're here doing what the Lord wants us to do. If anything will make a difference in this part of the world it will be the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's interesting to see all the ups and downs in my own mission and in the whole mission. I feel like we are becoming stronger in our unity and obedience as a mission.

I got a call from President Klebingat on Thursday morning and he informed me that I have been called as a trainer for next transfer. I'm pretty excited about that. This Thursday I'll meet my new brand new companion, straight from the MTC. This transfer 13 missionaries are leaving and 13 are coming. I'm sure that he will teach me just as much or more than I'll teach him. I'm excited to meet him and spend the next few months with him. Even though the stuff around us and the things that happen to us really stink sometimes, it's a privilege to be here and serve alongside such great young men. We really have some good missionaries here and I feel blessed to find myself among them.

I know that the gospel has been restored. Jesus is the Christ, our Lord. I love this work and this Church. Thanks to all for the love and support. Godspeed.

Love,
Elder Mahoney

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