Finding and Waffles

We had a few great experiences this week. Most of our week we were running here and there preparing for Elder Kearon's visit this week. We had to figure out how to make the projector setup we have in the church work with an iPad, as Elder Kearon wants to show us things from his. By Sunday we finally managed to get that work.

On Tuesday evening President Freestone called us over to his house at 9.15pm  and had an impromptu meeting with us about how missionaries are using their time and how district meeting are going. It was quite interesting, but it went on so long that we got home late... What can we do? xD

The Mission Office, we live in the dungeon below.

A great experience I wish to mention happened on our exchange this week with Elders Kopischke and Smith. Elder Smith is a new missionary who came to Greece about five weeks ago. I was with Elder Smith all of Friday. It was a great opportunity to work with him and I got to feel the joy a trainer feels again as he helps his trainer progress to become a fully powerful missionary. Elder Smith struggles with speaking to strangers on the street or elsewhere, and he finds it especially difficult in Greek (in which he doesn't feel confident). As you can easily imagine that makes missionary work pretty tough. So, we decided to work on that together during our exchange. When we went out I contacted the first person we met as an example and then I turned it over to him. He didn't speak to anyone, at most a "hello" for while. I encouraged him and pointed out people to him that he might contact. As I prodded and encouraged and pushed a little he finally spoke to someone. They stopped and we spoke to them. Then we went through the same process again. Each time it took him less time to gather the courage to speak up. Finally, we got to the point where we switched after each contact and I didn't have to say more than that it was his turn.

In the afternoon we went through the same process with doorknocking. At first he wouldn't do anything. Then I told him he should say hello and introduce ourselves and I would continue. Once he'd done that a few times I just didn't speak up and after glancing at me he continued speaking to the people. It was a wonderful experience for me (and I hope for him) as he grew during the day and gained confidence that he COULD speak to people. Although he wasn't really comfortable by the end of the day speaking to random strangers, he now know that he can do it. I'm so glad for these opportunities to do exchanges and help people grow. It is one of the greatest joys! I'm grateful that the Lord inspired me to know what to do with him and how to help Elder Smith overcome some of this fears. At the beginning of the day I felt very worried about how we would approach this, but as we went out and I put my faith in the Lord things just worked and ideas came to my mind.

We had another wonderful experience on Sunday! In the afternoon after church we finally managed to meet with a less active member we've been trying to see for months. His name is Julian and he's from Albania and has been a member for about 14 years or so. We sat down with him at the chapel and spoke about why he'd left the church and what was missing in his life. He was quick to admit that he felt a big difference and something large missing in his life. He said that he didn't know why he'd left the church. He'd just missed one Sunday and then another and 2 became 3 and so forth. Now, he said it was hard to change the habit of not going to church back. But he's willing to try. He committed himself to praying every day again and he'll come to church, he said, after Easter. I'm just glad we could speak with him. He's a great person and I know he could help the church here if he just gets back in 'the game'.

On Sunday evening we were invited by President Freestone and Sister Freestone for waffle dinner! We should now call it an official tradition to have waffles on Sunday at the Freestone's. This is the second time they invited us. The waffles were super delicious and I couldn't help but eat a lot. In fact I had so much I was afraid I'd pop. It really hurt :) It was a wonderful end to this week.