Happy Turkey Day! (11/22/2007)

Happy Turkey day! Well, our office elders here decided to send an email with a really large attachment that filled the rest of my inbox space, so I wasn't able to get anyone's emails today, except for Grandma and Grandpa Hurst's. I spent a little time since then cleaning it out, but that means my email's going to have to be kind of short today.

We had a very cool experience last Thursday. The night before, we had planned out our day like always, and had things in a certain order; after study, we would place up some English flyers near a metro stop called Akademmistechko, and then after lunch (so at about 2), we would stop by some less active members and try to give them a church magazine. However, on Thursday morning, one of our investigators called and told us that he wanted to meet us that day at 3:30, but it would be halfway across town. We agreed and decided to skip our stop bys and put up english flyers for a little longer; then, we both had a feeling that it would be better to do our stop bys and postpone our flyers instead. So, after study, instead of going to Akademmistechko, we went to where our stop bys were (a street called Tupolyeva). It took us a while to get down there because Tupolyeva is pretty out of the way--in fact, missionaries hadn't really visited this area in a very long time. We went down and walked up to the first apartment, where no one was home. Suddenly, from the doorway to the apartment building we heard someone say, in perfect English, "Missionaries!" Startled, we both turned, and saw a girl about twenty five or so. As it turned out, she was a member of the church from Oregon who was here as part of an English teaching program. Apparently, she had been having a really hard time here, and that day was especially hard. She wanted a priesthood blessing, but, this being Ukraine and she not knowing Russian or Ukrainian, she didn't really have any hope of getting one; however, she said a prayer that morning that she might be able to get a blessing. She then went for a walk to calm down a bit, and saw Elder Higgins and I walking into an apartment building. When we gave her a blessing, I had the most distinct impression I've had in a long time that we truly are instruments in the Lord's hands. There's no feeling quite like realizing that you are the answer to someone's prayer.

Well, that's all the time I've got today. Have a good and happy Thanksgiving, and I'll write again next Wednesday!

--Elder Hurst

PS - Thanks for the package Mom! It got here safe and sound, and has been thoroughly enjoyed since then. I think that every spare minute of my day has now been taken up by Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.