Greetings from the old country! (1/16/2008)

Hello everyone, it's time again for news from the East! Things have been going really well in Ivano. The work has picked up considerably since I was here last. Apparently, Ivano has been in a six year slump, and it's just starting to come out of it. We've been working really hard, but it's paying off very well. We have a good list of investigators that we feel will very shortly be ready for baptism. We've been working on teaching more clearly and basically, and it's definitely working. Just yesterday, we had a lesson with a lady who usually just likes to Bible bash with us, which isn't very effective as a missionary tool; so, what we did was we kept to a very simple lesson about Christ's church, the apostasy, and the restoration. It was then that I was able to implement something that I thought up while in zone conference on Monday. We talked about how when Christ established His church, he built in using a specific organization and His own authority, the priesthood. Without these two items, the church isn't the church of Christ. Put very simply, this is like a glass of water; if you want a glass of water, you don't want just an empty glass, or a tub of water; nor do you want a plate, or a rock, or anything else. A glass of water, in order to be what it is, needs to have a glass, and it needs to have water--it's very simple. When Christ established His church, He established an organization--He set down a glass. He then gave His servants the priesthood--He filled the glass with water. The full church is the glass of water. But, people rejected and persecuted His church, and many of the apostles--the chief earthly leaders of the church--were killed; and, importantly, new apostles were not called in their stead. The glass was knocked off the table, where it shattered, scattering bits of glass and water everywhere. Even if it were possible to gather all the pieces of glass and put them together, one can't flue them together--that would be something different than the pure original church. And if one can't glue them together, one can't fill this with water because of all the cracks and holes. After the fall of the apostles, there was no church with the organization and the authority of Christ. There was no glass with water, which means there was no glass of water. There was no church of Christ. What was needed was for Christ to get a new glass--the same kind as the first--and refill it with water. A restoration was needed.

Things are going great here, and I'm excited to work in this area. This internet place looks like I can hook my camera up to it, so hopefully next week I'll be able to send out pictures again. Until then, have a good week!
--Elder Hurst