Alina is baptized!

-

Wow so this week was AMAZING. Honestly just one of the happiest and most uplifting weeks on the mission.

There was a mixup with the other Moldova sister's registration appointments in Ukraine and so she flew up to keep her visa alive and left her companion, Sister Gunderson (my MTC comp) in Chisinau with us for a few days and it was a BLAST to be together! I would send a bunch of fun pics but our phone got stolen earlier today hahahha so I dont have any!! WOOHOOO!!! 

We contacted and taught and planned this baptism this week which was really crazy and stressful but everything worked out better than I could have imagined. We had members there and missionaries and investigators and it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Alina during the service leaned over to me and said "wow there are so many people here for me, this is really cool!!!" It just touched my heart and I was so full of gratitude for the branch, and the Lord for making it so special for her.

So yeah Saturday was Alina's baptism. I have honestly never seen or taught someone who so sincerely wants to follow Jesus Christ. When we first started teaching her I honestly didnt think it would lead anywhere but over the course of just a couple months she changed so much. She has an amazing story that would take a really long time to tell but she has truly been chosen out of the furnace of affliction. Her life has been really hard and she has been through her fair share of trials but I think thats where she gets her humility. The Atonement of Christ has just been put in motion in her life and her baptism was the trailhead of her life in the church and her life with Jesus Christ. At her baptism she shared her testimony and said how the first time the missionaries offered her the gospel she rejected it and how she is so grateful that we called her again and she felt like she needed to be at the church and be with us. It is so amazing how the Lord is preparing and gathering his people. This work is truly a redemptive work. I could not stop smiling the whole day it was just so truly amazing!!! AHHHH I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK! Days like this honestly are few and far between in this part of the world so it is just so amazing that we got to experience this and walk alongside Alina as she came closer to Christ. Her eyes were just filled with the LIGHT of CHRIST on her baptismal day. SHE IS SO CUTE AND WE ARE SOO HAPPY!

love you all! 
Cectpa Daines


Popular posts from this blog

Слава Украине

-
Image
This is it... 18 months later and I am coming home this week. I can't believe how fast the last year and a half have flown by but looking back, there has been so much change, growth, and learning I have experienced in this short time.  This week we went out with a bang. Faith was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Her baptism was a special day and many people came to support her. She was baptized by a member of our ward who's family was involved in the finding and teaching process, it was such a cool experience! She got a new wave though so she had to put a plastic bag over her hair when she was baptized and we were dying! After the baptism a bunch of us went out for burgers and then I had my closing interview that night. So bittersweet! We also had a thanksgiving dinner this week where we ate lots of food, celebrated a Ukrainian/Hungarian wedding, and bore our closing testimonies. What a week.  It has been a huge bless...
Read more

Я люблю Украину ❤

-
Image
Woahhhh man this week has been a busy one but it has sure been a blast. I just got to my new area and me and my companion, sister innes, are loving it! My new area is a ward in Kiev right by where I served in Kiev a while ago. This whole week honestly every other word out of my mouth is "I LOVE UKRAINE!!" I seriously loved moldova too but for some reason Ukraine just feels like home to me. And I love these people soooooo much (even though they hate talking to us and reject us a ton). I'm so happy to be back in kiev for the next couple transfers!  So on Wednesday I woke up  at 4 am  and flew out here and man I was so exhausted because my comp and I just came back and taught lessons and did a ton of planning. The next day we also had a ton of meetings with the zone leaders to plan our zone activity for Monday and zone conference for tuesday! Everything is coming right at the beginning of the transfer. Contacting here is definitely different than in moldova, I forg...
Read more

First Women Witnesses Ever!

-
Image
Jk! I have no idea if that is actually true but literally a couple days after the announcement a woman in our ward called and asked us to be the witnesses at her son's baptism! It was actually super special because she is someone I have known throughout my mission! My parents were in her ward when they were first married and living in England and when I got my call to Ukraine they immediately connected through Facebook and now I am serving in her ward! We went to family home evening at their house on Monday and were really excited to find out that their 8 year old son would be baptized on Saturday. Little did we know that we would actually be able to be the witnesses! It was so cool, I love modern revelation. Other than making history, this week was crazy as usual. On Tuesday we had MLC for all the leadership in the mission at the Kumfermans' house which is always the best when we get to be there. We also went to the Temple and did baptisms with our recent convert Natash...
Read more