Much work to be done

A lifesized game of chess
Jess enjoying a spring day in Kazacahstan

Hey everyone,

Well I just got here after losing an intense match of big chess. There is a park not too far from our house that has a chess board place. There are big pieces and everything. Elder Hasbiullin and I played against the other companionship and ended up losing. It was pretty fun though. After this, Elder Player and I will be going to the market to start checking things off our list of stuff to buy before we have to leave. My companion hates going there so Elder Player and I will be leaving our companions together and we will go to the market.

Time is continuing to fly. For some reason, last week I thought today would never come, but the week, as usual, went by in a blur. The APs were here and we did splits on Friday. I was with Elder Nuckols, who was in the MTC with me. It was a good split. Nuckols doesn't have permission to preach in Kazakhstan so all he did was stop people and ask how they were doing and stuff, then would turn it over to me. All day was like that, I was pretty tired after that day, but it was fun and successful. On Sunday, Venera came to church! Her first time. She really enjoyed it. I spoke on the Atonement and feel like I did a pretty good job. After the meeting, we had a contact that wanted us to go to their church meeting. We ran over there and got there in time to hear the last half hour of the pastors sermon, which wasn't all that interesting. Their church is held in the basement of an apartment building, you have to go down some creepy stairs and down a long dark hallway to get there. They are a branch of Pentacostles as far as I understand. Things got really interesting when they started praying in tongues. There were about 12 people there and they were all standing, pointing their hands somewhere and just rattling off sounds. Our investigator was next to me just making noise. I can honestly say that the spirit was not in that room, not in the least. All I felt was confusion, emptiness, and a little nervous, ha. After they finished, the preacher sat down and some people left and some people stayed to talk to us some. They asked us some questions, of course about why we don't pray in tongues. I was able to testify about prayer, what it is and why we pray. I told them that prayer is a conversation with God, and that when I speak with God, I prefer reverence and calm, rather than noise and confusion. They kept saying things like, ya but when I pray in tongues, God is able to give me revelation and answers. We said that He can do the same exact thing when we pray in our language. It is really interesting how people are deceived. Prayer is powerful, Satan understands that. When he gets people to either not pray, pray to idles or icons, or pray in tongues, he is able to stop that person from having and using the power of true, pure, prayer to our Heavenly Father.

After that little adventure, we went back to the branch where we had a lesson scheduled with a new person. I think I told you guys about it, but a few weeks ago a girl called and said someone had given her our invitation and she wanted to know more. We hadn't been able to meet with her until this Sunday. We met her, showed her the branch and started our lesson. Her name is Olga, she is a 25 year old English teacher from South Kazakhstan. She has been here in Astana for a couple years or so and says she has been searching for the right church for her. We were able to teach the whole restoration. She was so interested and had a few good questions. She liked what we had to say and wanted to hear more. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We asked her if, when she receives her answer, she would be baptized. She said of course! We had an Easter dinner scheduled at the maxwells that night for the branch members. We invited her to the dinner and arranged to meet to show her how to get there. It turns out that she lives in the same apartment building as we do. She has seen us around a lot she said, but she never knew we were missionaries. I don't ever remember seeing her, but oh well. So when we met up to show her the way, she said she had already read a few chapters in the Book of Mormon. She was still really excited. The dinner was pretty successfull. Venera came and brought her 15 year old son along with her. It was a really good chance for us all to get to know each other better and have a good time. We watched the film, together forever, after the dinner and everyone enjoyed it. All in all a pretty good Easter, but Easter just isn't the same without coloring eggs, waking up to a basket full of chocolates and gumballs, and going to Grandma and Grandpa Geddes' house for the egg hunt. Holidays on the mission are just a bit different than at home, ha.

We met again with Olga yesterday. We started teaching the Plan of Salvation. There were some surprises for her there, some things that were just completely new for her. God has a physical body, premortal life, those kinds of things. We will have to take it a lot slower than we at first thought, that that is good also. We want her to understand and find answers, rather than just blindly accept what we say. We encouraged her to pray about all the principles that we taught. I'm sure she'll find her answers as she continues to pray and study the scriptures. She said she will be at church on Sunday, so that's good.

Things are going good, and I'm happy. Time is ticking, but I'm not scared, we have success right now, it will take me right to the end of my mission. I'm not going to lie, I for some reason have been getting tired of my companion every once in a while, but we always end the day friends, or start the day friends if we didn't end, ha. We are really good friends, but we've been together a long time, counting the first time we served together. I'm still sure that there's nobody else I'd rather serve with a this time in my mission. Good life lessons. I'm glad everyone is doing good back home, and that Meg and Mica and their kids were able to spend some time there. I hope everyone has a good week. Love you guys.

Elder Geddes