We got a family to church! I thought for this week I'd talk
a little bit more about our investigators since I haven't really talked about
them too much lately.
This week we started with a lot of lessons set up with
potential investigators, but every single one except for one didn't show up, so
that was a frustrating start to the week. But then on Tuesday, we had an
appointment set up with family that we met in the city center who were gone for
about a month, but said when they came back, we could come over. So we gave
them a call, set up a time, and went over. It was one of the best lessons I've
had on my mission. The husband was gone for the first half of it, but the wife
was extremely interested, and very humbly listened to our message. The husband
was pretty interested too, but as he was walking us back to the center, he told
us that he wouldn't be baptized again, which we took as kind of a challenge.
Anyways, we have visited Bojan and Prosina (their names) two more times this
week, and they're really loving the Book of Mormon, which is so key. It's
amazing to see such humble people, and to see their joy as the spirit testifies
to them. They even came to church this week, even though it's about an hour of
travel from their house with two kids!
That's our main group of investigators right now, but we've
also got a Methodist guy named Stefan. He likes coming to church, but he just
goes off every time we go over to his house about how Jesus and God are one and
the same. He's 85, and he still rides his bike over hills for 7-8 kilometers
round trip to go to church – that guy is in such good shape. He also told us
that Boris Trajkovski, one of the former presidents of Macedonia, would go to
his house often and Boris saw Stefan as his spiritual father, which is pretty
crazy. We teach a guy named Kujtim, who is Albanian, and believes in the
Qu'ran, Bible, and Book of Mormon are all the word of God, so we're working
with him on the Qu'ran part right now. I think that's all the ones I haven't
talked about. We have a lot of first lessons with people from contacting, but
oft times we never see them again.
After we gave the blessing to Sasho last week and fasted for
him this week, he looked as good as I've ever seen him on Sunday! He was so
happy to be able to move again without pain, and it really strengthened my
testimony on both principles.
On Saturday, we had a branch activity hiking up Vodno
Mountain. Early into the hike, somebody starting yelling at us, and it turned
out to be Bojan, our new investigator. He said he was exercising, and he just
decided to join us on our hike. I gotta say, it's crazy how many coincidences
happen every day...it's almost like God has a plan for us. We had a discussion
at the midpoint about how God is evident through nature, and all the other
creations around us. It was a good day!
I love you all, and I hope you had a good Labor Day! Chao
Elder Rigby
