Children and Cyprus

I had a special experience this week with Harry and his children, which I know is from the Lord. He asked us if he could come over with them and have us "teach" them something little about the gospel. Obviously it would have to be very very simple. We agreed and then we had no clue what to do. I don't know how to teach children. xD Well, when he came over we ended up showing them some videos of Joseph Smith for children that we found on lds.org. It was a very simple activity. Maro (the girl) really enjoyed the videos and was fascinated by them.



For me it was just really special because I felt a joy in teaching I hadn't before. There is something special about teaching little children. Over the course of my mission I'm starting to grasp in some more complete way the significance of what the Lord said about suffering the little children to come unto Him. I felt the Spirit in a very sweet manner that day when I saw them watch that video of Joseph Smith. It is special to teach children the gospel. I can't really explain it but it was special.

We had the hand of the Lord in our lives this week, protecting us from dangers. We went on Tuesday to a District Meeting and on our way back to the office the car right in front of us braked very abruptly. I slammed the brakes! The ABS kicked in and the car skidded to a halt just before touching the car in front of us. We weren't going that fast but it would have been a great bother to have a fender-bender. I was just amazed that we somehow stopped right on time because we seemed to close to actually stop on time. I'm glad the Lord was looking out for us.

This same day Sebastian Stevens and his family came to visit at the office. Sebastian was a missionary here not too long ago (he left in January). It was great seeing him.

This Friday we went to Cyprus again! President Freestone told us only on Tuesday that he wanted us to go to Cyprus with him for Specialized Training and for exchanges. We had exchanges with all the new missionaries in Cyprus this weekend. It was great. They are sending greater and greater people over to our mission. I got to work for a half-day in Limassol with Elder Seluhins from Latvia! That was a treat. We met some great people and he's a cool missionary.

The training on Saturday went wonderfully. We gave a presentation on the value of pure testimony and based it off of Elder Jay E. Jensen's talk. The missionaries loved it. Some of them struggled to apply it in the testimony meeting we had at the end of the training. xD But most of them 'got it'! xD

Mario, Lucy (his mom), Elder Neville and I at Larnaca beach

I, Terestita, Panayiota (daughter), Joan and John in Larnaca chapel

We were privileged to witness a baptism in Larnaca on Sunday morning before church. We attend church after and also had a 'pot luck' lunch following the services. I loved socializing with all the members in Larnaca that I hadn't seen in a long time. We also had an exchange with the missionaries there. There is a great power in having exchanges. All the cool crazy things happen during exchanges. While I was with Elder Koponen (new missionary from Finland) we walked passed two Filipina ladies and one of them said: "Hi, Elders". I immediately turned and spoke to her. She turned out to be a member of the church who had come to Cyprus recently but just hadn't been bothered to try to come to church yet. She was happy to meet us and we were able to get her contact information. xD It isn't everyday that this happens. xD

Now we are back in colder (only 15-20 celsius) Athens and tomorrow we'll have our Specialized Training in Athens.