So i kind of called him out for wearing the weapon that killed Christ

hello from ukraine!!!

how are you all? unfortunately not too much to write about, really. we got some snow, finally! it sort of snows every day, and then melts the next day, and then snows, and then melts, and its been that for two or three weeks. which just makes for a big muddy mess. but right now its about -5, and there is snow on the ground. so lets pray it stays this time. i'm tired of having such muddy shoes all the time.

as for Festos, i feel terrible. there is just nothing we can do. the church can't help him, and individuals can't either. our branch president called a bunch of people and said that no one can help him. he himself bought him groceries for a second time, but it doesn't look good for the poor guy. the problem is that he doesn't have any money. and he can't work here, so he can't get any money. and so any money we give him will only last so long, and eventually he will have to leave the country. its sad. i felt terrible telling him yesterday. there just isn't anything we can do. and i have no idea. that is really sad. so i don't really think we can baptize him, unless this is all magically fixed.

my companion was only in donetsk for one day, and he is apparantly going to have to go back every 45 days, because his visa is messed up. that will be really annoying for him if he has to do that his whole mission. once a transfer trip to donetsk and back. but its not too big of a deal, i guess.

We had an interesting week. on tuesday we had two set up meetings with new investigators, neither of them worked out. we even had members who were ready to be on the lessons with us. on wednesday we didn't have any lessons. on thursday we had another new investigator lesson that didn't work out. on friday we had two lessons set up with new investigators, neither of them worked out. again, both of those lessons we had members with us. saturday we had two lessons set up with new investigators, the first one dogged us, and the second one, when we tried to go into his hostel, it was quarantined, and he wouldn't answer his phone. so seven in a row. oh well. sunday was great, we had a new investigator lesson with a brother named alfred. he is great, way humble, nice, easy to understand. from kenya. way sincere. that made it all worth it. and later that night we had a good lesson with our recent convert anya. she is doing great.

so yeah...got a little owned this week. but usually this area is the bomb. this area is still as good as i thought it would be. we have been contacting a lot recently, and keep filling up papers of contacts received. like this one drunk guy in the morning. when i realized he was drunk, i thought about just ending the conversation, and walking away. but i gave him a bit of a chance. he was complaining to us that we don't wear crosses, and saying we weren't christians. i figured i could, and kind of had to be, bold. so i kind of called him out for wearing the weapon that killed Christ. i tried to explain it nicely. usually a drunk wouldn't really listen, but he was actually surprised, and listened. he said that he had never thought about it, and that we had "touched his heart". he was amazed, gave us his number and address. we called, and it was the wrong number, and we stopped by, and it was the wrong address, but still. it was still fun.

the new schedule is nice. it gets us out, and walking around, which wakes me up better for the rest of the day. it is a bit harder to schedule, especially in advance, but i like the change. it splits things up better.

anyways, i'm doing great. i have been taking my vitamin D, and i think it is working. at least, i don't feel like i did last winter...though that was a lot colder, in very different circumstances. i'm doing my best not to die, in any and all meanings of the word. i love the work, i love my area, i love the mission. and i love you guys!


have a great week.

love, derek