Another Amazing Week!

This week was amazing. I am just going to go down the list of what all happened and add details where they are needed.

Monday we went to a monestary which was really pretty, and we met Ani to go shopping for her wedding dress and such for Thursday. We were able to find a dress, shoes, a suit, and nice outfit for her 2 boys for relatively cheap at 2nd hand stores. It was so fun, and then we went to the church to watch some conference talks with her and practiced what to do with her make-up and nails.

Sunday was fast sunday and we had fasted that Lica would be able to quite smoking all the way, and to not worry about the 5 that he got down to last week. So we called him Monday to ask his size for the suit, and he asked, "Can I get baptized on Saturday with Ani?" and apparently since we started our fast on Saturday he hasn't smoked at all and he wants to get baptized!!! So we said we would talk with him and see if he was ready which we did on Tuesday.

We had a great lesson with Amalia, had a good english class, had a fun lesson with Florina (One of my favorite members here) and went to visit Lica. We taught him the remainder of the lessons that we needed to teach him, and went over the interview questions to make sure he understood everything. To every part we said, "do you understand? are you willing to live this?" and every reply was "Yes, I do, I will do anything, I just want to get baptized!!" so we called President Lundberg and said "Hey President, I have a question. Is it ok if on Saturday we have 2 baptisms instead of one, and if we baptize a family?" Of course he was thrilled and said if he doesn't smoke or drink coffee for the rest of the week, then it would be fine. Yay!

Wednesday we spent the morning at the Jessees' cooking the food for the reception the next day that we were putting together for the wedding, and had 5 lessons that were really really good.

Thursday was the wedding and it was so neat. The actual ceremony is really funny. You go to the Primarie and wait in the hall for your turn with about 10-15 other people who are waiting to get married with their friends with them. When it's your turn you hear the wedding march playing, and you are ushered in quickly and the couple goes up to the desk where the government official is there and she says why we're there, asks them if they want to marry each other, has them sign the papers, kiss the bride and after a quick 5 minute happening including pictures, the wedding march is turned on again, and you are ushered out. That's it.

So we went accross the street into the park and took a bunch of wedding pictures with them and it was super fun. (I'll be sending pictures next week I hope) and then we had the reception that night. Gabi Oanta's sister majored in cake making so she made the cake and it was gorgeous. When Ani saw it she just started crying because she would have never dreamed that she would have anything like this in her life because of their poor state that she's lived in for 10 years. They were expecting to just get married in jeans some day and go home with a marriage certificate, but they looked so good all dressed up, and we had a dancing party and everything. So much fun.

Friday we got a new investigator who is trying to find a way to get a job and move out away from her husband who has been beating her for the past 10 years, and she loved the feeling of the Spirit. She is so sweet. After that we had another lesson with Alexandra and then our district meeting and then Ani and Lica had their baptismal interviews which went super good.

Saturday was the baptism and it was gorgeous. They were beaming and were so happy to be doing it together. It was such a blessing, especially for Sora Thompson who is leaving and got to be there to see the blessing of her labors. It was a really good program, even though Ani is scared of water and it took all the courage she had to step into the basin (our portable baptismal font) and then she didn't go under the whole way the first time and had to do it again! But she did so good.

And even though Lica had never worn a tie before in his life before his wedding, the Elders taught him how to tie it and he's loving it having worn it three times now (wedding, baptism, and church yesterday.) Church was really good. Ani and Lica were confirmed and received the Holy Ghost, and our choir sang "I know that my Redeemer Lives" and they did pretty good. A lot of them came up to me after and made me promise to keep choir going after Sora Thompson leaves, which I am of course going to do.

After church we went over to the Jessees for a delicious dinner to celebrate Mother's day, and I got to talk to my Mom and family!!! It was so fun talking to you and I'm sooo glad to hear that you are all doing so good. I love talking to the people here who have no hope and being able to show them a picture of you saying that the gospel gives you hope, and joy, and my family is an example of living it. It's so wonderful. When we live the gospel, the Lord blesses us. He has to, and he wants to, but we need to be willing to live in the way that he has asked us to first. It is so worth it. Seeing these people's lives change for the better is one of the greatest blessings I could recieve. I love you all so so so so so much, and I am so happy to hear that all is well. Keep smiling and putting the armor of God on every day - it makes life happier! Talk to you next weekAlways, --Sora Karina