Transfer 12 (Apr 9, 2008)

Hello again everyone! Things have been going pretty well here, as usual. The weather was incredibly nice yesterday, which was expecially fun because we went to a village to see one of our investigators, Oleg. He used to be the other elders', but now he's been transfered to us since we're the only ones here anymore. He had a baptismal date, but after our meeting yesterday, that'll probably have to change. He's a really great guy, and he knows the scriptures really well. He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and he reads and prays daily. However, as it turns out, he doesn't believe in the atonement at all. He says it isn't just that Christ could take upon himself all of our sins, and that he feels that the only person who can suffer for his personal sins is he himself. He also believes very strongly that God and Christ are spirits, believing that when they visit the earth, the elements combine around them to form temporary earthly bodies that sort of dissipate after they leave. He also has some strange views about his family; he doesn't like his wife much at all, and he fells that she's more of a temporary earth wife, and that there's a spirit wife waiting for him in heaven. I've never met someone with these concerns and yet a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon; it's almost entirely in reverse of what commonly occurs. I'm also very interested in how these concerns didn't come up earlier in his teaching.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to watch conference. That's one of the downsides of serving on the fringe of the church's influence in Ukraine. We've gotten permission to watch conference on the internet at our senior couple's apartment during less effective times of the week, and in about three weeks or so, the church will send the branch a DVD with the Ukrainian translations, so soon enough I'll know what everyone else already does. I've learned on my mission to really enjoy conference, and I was a little disappointed not to be able to see it. However, what I've heard I've really enjoyed, especially Elder Bednar saying "The missionaries are full-time teachers; the members are full-time missionaries." Good stuff!

We're going to be very busy this transfer. Already, our days are packed with things to do. I love it! There's nothing worse than having a spare hour or two with nothing planned.

All right, I should probably get going. I love you all, and next week I'll send some pictures (and maybe videos)!

Love,

--Elder Hurst