Another great week in Chernivtsi

Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well. Things are going very good here in Chernivtsi; the rain's drying up, the water's on, we just moved into a new apartment that is REALLY nice, and the work is going really well!

Last night we had a lesson with our investigator Andriy Dvirskiy (the man who approached us drunk several weeks ago). He hasn't had a drop of alcohol for almost a month, has smoked maybe 3 times (all more than a week ago), and loves reading about Christ. While we were chit-chatting with him, he quoted "Faith without works is dead," then asked us, "What works do I need to do to show my faith?" We responded with a powerful lesson about the steps of the gospel (faith, repentence, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end), followed by a discussion on how these ordinances can only be done by the true authority of God, about the apostasy and loss of this priesthood power, and the restoration of the authority necessary to perform those necessary ordinances. He understood completely, and accepted a baptismal date for August 30! His mom was there also, and felt the spirit strongly; and while she's not ready now to accept a date, she's definitely interested, and she sees the difference it's made in her son's life. Andriy's dad is also gaining interest rapidly; while before he'd stay in the bedroom whenever we came over, he's started coming out and talking with us, and two times ago we had a conversation with him to let him know what we were sharing with his son. They have a very nice family, and I'm really hopeful about the future. It's such an amazing experience to see, in an almost highlighted form, how our message has completely turned his life around. He used to be a drunkard on the streets, dirty and begging for money; now he's clean, he smiles and jokes, he thinks clearly, he has a job, his eyes look bright and alert, and he loves reading about the Savior. Teaching him has probably been one of the best experiences of my mission.

Also, while I was in Ivano, I was able to check up on Oleg Petronyak, the man we baptized last transfer. He's doing very well; he's still got some kind of funny ideas about a few things, but when he gets converted to a part of the gospel, he stays very true. He has a lot of potential to be a very, very strong member once he gets some more experience and learns some more. Elder Hinkle, the scriptorian/gospel scholar senior missionary there, says that Oleg reminds him of himself when he was first converted to the gospel years ago. I took that as a good sign. Elder Hinkle also told us that a week ago, a man came to church to try and argue with people and disrupt things, and he tried to tell Oleg that the Book of Mormon was a fake. Oleg stood up and said, "I know the Book of Mormon is true! It has everything in the Bible and more, and it's a lot easier to understand! I feel the Spirit when I read it, and I know it's from God!"

Well, the next transfer starts this week, so we'll be heading into Kyiv for zone leaders' council. Our companionship's staying the same, so I'll be with Elder Hubbard another transfer, which is good; he's a lot of fun.

Oh, and by the way, I am INSANELY jealous of your job, Adam!

Thank you all for everything! I hope you all have a good week! I love you all!

--Elder Hurst