Waiting

This is a very slow time for us. We are getting near the bottom of our funding bucket for the year and so we are looking for the ‘best’ projects. Also, we have been working on our wheelchair project for a long time and finally it was ready to submit. It has to go through 9 approvals after we submit it with one of the most important being the approval that comes from the Area Presidency in a meeting that they hold somewhat irregularly. The meeting is referred to as ‘Decision Point’. I suppose that is because it is do or die at that point and so it was sitting at that spot in the process for 3 weeks when we decided to query the new (keyword is NEW) Area Welfare Specialists as to the status of the project. Whoops! Our project was not put on the agenda and so we wait until the next meeting.

So we are taking the time to focus on other things. Our own learning and becoming. We have been able to spend some time with the missionaries and help teach some lessons and get some other things ‘in order’. This is probably a blessing because when the wheelchairs finally get to Kazakhstan we will be very busy.

One of the items that has taken some of our time is the newly pass religion law signed into law last week. The reported purpose of the law is to thwart religious radicalism. All religious organizations have to register in each city they want to work in and, as part of the registration process, have all their religious books and writings reviewed by a committee to be sure they are OK. Other parts of the law require that the organization have 50 citizen members in the city before they can register and that no religious literature can be handed out in public (on the street, bus, etc). We are still trying to figure out what this means for us and the future of our fledgling group in Astana, but we will go forward in faith believing that we are engaged in the Lord’s work and He will provide as long as we do all that we can do – in His way.

We continue having a wonderful time recognizing the Lord’s hand in our lives and in the work here in Kazakhstan. We are serving in the only area of the world where we are allowed to actively teach Muslims. It is a testimony to us how He has prepared His children to hear His voice and recognize His voice calling to them – “Come, follow me.” We are teaching a young lady whose family is Muslim but who felt drawn to read and study the Bible 7 months ago. It is not a coincidence that her desire started at the same time missionaries came to this city. Her friends and professors continue to test her with their negative views of the Church but she has felt so much joy in finding truth that she continues toward a baptism date with a beautiful smile and a glow in her countenance – a new heart.

D&C 101: 36 “Wherefore, fear not … for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.”

We love serving with our young missionaries. This picture is at a luncheon held for one of our Elders who is leaving Kazakhstan to serve in Russia. Each missionary who serves in Kazakhstan serves here for 6 months because that is the duration of their Kazakh visa.

Prophet Joseph said: “Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, Australia, the East Indies, and other places, the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).