Family!
So, it's been another week. Yup. There it went. I can't believe how fast it goes sometimes. Each day feels really long, but the week is gone like that. You can't see it, but I snapped there, to illustrate how fast it actually went.
Dad asked me to tell a little bit about my daily routine, so I'll try here. Here it goes:
Wake up at 6:30, pray and shower. Slip in and out of consciousness, trying to motivate myself to exercise. Don't exercise. Around 8, have breakfast, then have 3 hours of studies. One hour is for personal scripture study, one for companionship study (discussing what we learned in conjunction with lessons we have that day) and one for language study. Lately for language study I have been reading as much as possible out of the Книга Мормона and making sure I understand what is said. Every day I'm getting tripped up on fewer words, so that's good.
Usually we have one or two lessons set up in a day. We meet them at the branch building and teach them there, because they don't trust us to come into their homes and teach them. That's just how Ukrainians are. As we wait for investigators to show I usually go to the sacrament hall (if you can call it that) and play piano. We usually have about 3 member lessons in a week, and those ones we can actually show up at their house and visit with them. We ride a marshutka when we have to go long distances (I think I've described those before. Tiny bus-type things with crazy drivers). Most people live in the city in a "dom" (Like "dome"). These are essentially apartments that are shoddily made and they fill up any possibly space in the back of and on top of buildings. That's probably confusing. Don't worry, it's communist. But some people live in "lichne dom"s, or "personal homes". These are all over the country side and are anything from a trailer to a nice home. It's pretty random.
Anyways, we get home around 8 and have dinner (yes, we make our own dinner) and do an extra hour of studies. For the first 12 weeks being trained, you have to do this extra hour of studies out of a training manual. Essentially we are just told to read and discuss Preach My Gospel a lot. Good stuff. After that we make calls to try and set up lessons with people, and we plan out the next day. Then we sleep.
I'm sure that you realize that there is a lot more that goes on in any given day. But that's about all I can say that really.. makes sense. Ukraine doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you try to describe it in words. It's weird that way.
So, I told you that Misha was getting baptized this Saturday. That was almost true. He was way excited for it and he passed his interview last Friday with flying colors. He wanted Antamanov to be the one to baptize him. We were obviously very excited for this. Then on Saturday he called out of the blue and told us that he never wants to talk to us ever again and the like. That was kind of a low blow. Antamanov was very depressed after this news, not wanting to do anything the rest of the day. But we had a lesson with Gabriel, a recent convert from Africa, and I forced him to go. Good thing, too. The moment that we started that lesson, the Spirit was so strong. Gabriel said exactly what we needed to hear to lift our spirits, and we were all able to learn something. The best thing about that for me was that I was able to feel the Spirit bring things to my mind to inspire others, and I realized that those things were already in me. I had been wondering that day whether I had anything of worth that I could personally share with people around here that some other person couldn't provide. The Spirit was able to show me that I can fill people's needs in my own way through His help. Basically, that was a very good lesson and each one of us heard what we needed at that moment.
I've been thinking a lot about the Gospel. Funny enough. And in my reading I found that the Spirit is a spirit of truth. It dawned on me that this isn't just some church that God gave us- it's eternal truth that God is sharing with us. Studying further, I found the principle that there must be opposition in all things. What begins must end. The conclusion that must be drawn from that is that anything eternal is and has been for all time; no beginning and no end. Truth found in the Gospel, in the arts, in sciences, it's all eternal truth that works together and it is all from God. That also led me to think about how charity is the only thing which "never faileth" (Moroni 7:47?). Charity is the Love of Christ. His love has no beginning and no end. We can share in that. I just love going deeper into these doctrines. It's so.. enriching.
I had a terrible lesson this week that got me thinking a bit about this more. It was with a sister in the ward. She thought that she knew everything that we were going to say, and kept finishing our sentences saying, "See? I already KNOW all this." The spirit of contention was very prevalent. It got me thinking about how I at times have thought that I know everything that a teacher is saying in Sunday School or things like that. But it's that very moment that you think that which is when there is something much deeper that the Lord could be teaching you. I've come to realize that there is something to be learned in every instance in life. No matter how cliche the lesson is or how much previous knowledge we have on the subject. In life we can always learn something.
Now you know a bunch of my recent spiritual thoughts. Take it for what it's worth. Not a whole lot else noteworthy happened this week, so I think I will end it there. Just letting you know I'm working hard and enjoying my mission. Now to just get some Ukrainians in the water!
Til next week!
Love,
Elder Brandon Porter
PS. Could you send me Taylor's mission mailing address? While you're at it, let anyone know that they can send me anything and that I promise that I will respond to everything I receive. Thank you!
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