Branch Work

Hi Everyone,

It was another busy week. We had two exchanges, one with the assistants and one with the Bacau elders. We stayed in Galati for it all. They went well, and we kept busy. I got to exchange with Elder B and Elder S-both of my MTC companions in the same week! Unfortunately Elder B headed back to Bucharest a couple hours before Elder S got in, or we would have had a tripanionship reunion.

We also had a good Valentine's Day activity after English on Saturday. I made sugar cookies and icing for people to decorate with, and the sisters came up with a bunch of simple games. Including us, there were 17 or so people, and it went well. It was great for fellowshipping with the English students.

Our focus for the week had been to prepare for a spiritually uplifting sacrament meeting on Sunday. We tried to meet with the people I had assigned to speak to help them prepare, and we wanted eveyone to have a job or a reason to come. We asked a less active member to come and help with the sacrament. We asked a couple sisters to participate in our sunday school lesson. I actually tried to assign prayers before the day of sacrament meeting.

Sunday was interesting. It turned out to be very spiritual, but not in a way directly related to our efforts throughout the week. On Saturday I found out that one of our speakers would not be able to come, and I quickly assigned Elder D to prepare a talk. Then, Sunday morning, President S did not arrive either. So I presided, and also filled in for his talk for the last few minutes of sacrament meeting. However, that was a special spiritual experience. I felt prompted by the spirit to speak about the Saviour, and the spirit was extremely strong as I went up to speak. I just spoke as directed by the spirit for a few minutes, and it was incredibly powerful. It was a rather unexpected blessing for our efforts. Not everyone came that we wanted to, not even the less active member or a single investigator to sacrament meeting, but it was a special meeting.

I am kind of tired, but good. God is on our side. He is helping us out.

Thanks for reading.

Elder Lybbert