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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