Going for Gold!!!

I'm feeling very Olympic today, how 'bout you? I must say, opening up and seeing "OLYMPICS" as the subject title on four of my emails made me a bit giddy, just like good 'ol Sanka Coffee from Jamaica. You know, the Olympics are actually kind of similar to missionary work... everyone getting all together and competing in many different events. Before my mission I don't know if I ever thought of missionary work to be a conglomerate of many different "works."  I guess I thought I would just be tracting and teaching all day. While that is a great deal of what I do here, there is SO much more to missionary work than just freezing you "royal Rastafarian nee-nees off" as Sanka would say. Missionary work is the work of bringing souls unto Christ. How do you bring souls unto Christ?

I guess I will share three different ways that fulfilled my purpose as a missionary this week. Keep in mind that I am serving in a trio right now, which has provided us with more people to work with, as two companionship's work join into one.

Love these guys!

I have had the blessing of working closely with the members of the Chisnau 1st branch while serving as the 2nd Councilor to the Branch President. The poor guy doesn't have much help from the few priesthood brethren that we have, so that is why I am helping him in the branch presidency. A recent convert by the name of Victor (he is 84 years old), has been having some issues with his living situation. He asked to meet with me and he described his situation. We created a plan, and then I felt like I should offer to give him a blessing. After explaining the purpose of a priesthood blessing, and asking him if he had the faith to receive one, my two companions and I laid our hands upon Victor's head, and gave him a blessing, like Christ did in the times of old. In the blessing, I felt prompted to promise Victor that he would have a place to sleep for the rest of his life (his landlord kicked him out that morning). We all gave sweet Victor a hug and he went his way. Later that day, Victor called me and told me that he tried to go back to the place where he had been staying. Miraculously, the landlord allowed him to stay there again that night, and every night until the 15th. Because of Victor's faith and the power of the priesthood, the Lord provided Victor with a way to have a place to sleep. 

This story is quite touching because of the fact that probably not one of us has had to think "where will I stay tonight?" That is not to say that God thinks less of our trials than of others, for he is the God of all the earth, our Heavenly Father! Victor's faith and this opportunity to help a brother by the power of God, witnessed to me that God loves and cares about each one of us!

Catedrala Centrala

Have you ever wondered what an Orthodox priest looks like? What about teaching the gospel to ten of them?

We got a phone call from the District President on Monday, asking us to prepare an hour-long lesson on our beliefs for a group of priests and priests-in-training, as part of an orthodox "build bridges with other religions" exercise. We were pretty nervous, yet excited. We were then asked by the head guy to focus on our beliefs on the after-life. Hmm interesting! We prayed and sought for inspiration, and line-upon-line, we prepared ourselves. The biggest piece of inspiration that we got was to start with the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ- to testify of the reality that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and by the power of the God, he translated a book of holy scripture, known as the Book of Mormon, to unveil some plain and simple truths that were lost from the Bible. 

Our Orthodox/Mormon Convention extravaganza!

As a testified of Joseph Smith, namely of the First Vision, I felt the spirit burn within me, testifying to me and to those orthodox priests that Joseph Smith did see God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. Throughout the discourse, we were asked (more like tested) with some difficult, deep doctrine questions, but God helped us answer, and we always came back to the restoration.

I know that those who had a contrite spirit and broken heart, felt of the truth of the things we said. Man. What a cool experience!

A lesson with Marina and her Mother.

To cap it all off, God blessed us with some really amazing people to teach. I am really thankful for the time I have had here in Chisinau, to see many people progress in the gospel! One guy who Elder Quist and I had been working with, named Alex, committed to baptism this week! He started off with only a desire to believe in God, and now is seeing the fruits of having faith and keeping the commandments! Another man who was a referral from the Facebook efforts of some other missionaries, also committed to baptism this week. Our lesson with him was very powerful, and the spirit truly witnessed to him that our words were true, and her recognized that this is the way to lasting happiness.

Though I am not watching the Olympics, I feel much more privileged to work in the Lord's vineyard here in Moldova! I feel humbled to be an instrument in the Lord's hands, and helping a variety of his children develop greater faith in him. 

Let's go for gold and bring souls unto Christ!

I love you all!

Elder Ditto!