I Made A Call

Thank you so much for the package. The underwear are being put to good use as we speak ;) This week has been great! I love it here that’s for sure. Sitting in a classroom for 9 hours a day in a suit and tie is getting a little old. But I’ll have to deal with it. This week we got a new set of missionaries in our district. They are all Russian natives and speak little to no English. It's fun trying to communicate with them, they teach you so much just by listening to them. It gets me super excited to be going to their country! They all went through the temple today with our zone and it was a really neat experience. When we had finished one of the Elders from Georgia (the country, not the state) raised his arms and said, "eto ictina!!" (Spelled grammatically for those of us who don’t read Russian) meaning it's true!! The look on their faces was one of pure joy. They have sacrificed so much to come be in the service of the Lord. I admire them for their desire to serve.

This week our district went to the call center where we made outgoing calls to people throughout the country who had sent for a church DVD and/or copy of the Book of Mormon. We were to call and see if they had received it as well as their thoughts on the message that was presented. I made about 30 calls in a half hour, I got hung up on, sworn at, told I was going to hell unless I would repent and be saved, and that if I ever called back they would kill me. Ha! Needless to say it didn’t seem like a very worthwhile activity for me.

I thought to myself, I’ll make one last call before I call it quits. I got on the line and called a lady in Alabama and she answered. I told her my name was “JT from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that I was calling to confirm the delivery of her Book of Mormon by the missionaries.” She told me that she had just gotten out of surgery/rehab and had missed the missionaries visit. They had however, left her a note with a copy of the book of Mormon. She had just finished reading and praying when I called. I asked if she would like the missionaries to come back for a visit and she said that she would like that very much, she felt she needed to know if God cared about her and she was so glad that I had called. I set up an appointment with her to have her local missionaries come and visit her and teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. What an experience that was. I really do love being a missionary and bringing others to the knowledge that our father in heaven really does love them. As in Lehi's vision of the tree of life, there are many people wandering in darkness waiting for someone to help them to the rod of iron.

 The language is coming, slowly but steadily. I am learning to read and to write much better. The Russian language really is amazing. Completely, ridiculous but amazing. We've been teaching "investigators" they're really just members who come in and pretend to be. But I feel that Im learning to teach the principles of the doctrine fairly well. Now if I could do it in Russian I'd be set!! It's weird to think I've already been gone this long. I'm already getting sick of the food here lol. So snacks would be greatly appreciated ;) I've nearly got Jospeh Smith's first vision down in Russian, it sounds so sick!! You’ll have to hear it when I call .

 I hope all is well. You’ll be getting my letters throughout this week I hope The mail here is kind of ridiculous. The only thing that comes straight through are the dear elders. We get those the day you send them. So they're a great way to let me know what’s going on. Plus they're free and easy to do!! I wish I could write more.  I will write you again next week! Until then I love you! Please keep me in your prayers as you will be in mine.

 Love,
 Elder Eborn.

 p.s. I will send pictures as soon as I can figure out how? The kiosk doesn’t like me for some reason.