Three Little Churches, Two Great Baptisms, and a Picnic in Between a Pair of Trees

December 16, 2019

ჩემო ძვირპასო კარგებო,

So the highlight of the week was definitely preparation day last Monday.  We went as a district just past მცხეთა to a little monastery.  It was pretty neat and we all really liked it. 

Gold khati of Saint George

This, however, was not where the fun even began.  The best part was when our driver suggested we go to this giant cross that overlooks Tbilisi. We were planning on having a picnic somewhere and he said there would be the perfect place.  When we made it up to the cross, we were pretty surprised at the setup. One elder described it as a mix between Mad Max and the Georgian Orthodox Church.  It was such a different thing from what we have seen anywhere else.  It is a 60-meter tall cross. At its base is a little outpost of sorts.

 We walk up and an old lady asked us if we wanted to just look around or if we were more interested in the spiritual aspect of things.  We said both. She showed us around and asked if we wanted to talk with their priest.  Naturally, we said yes.  She took us into their humble abode and we spoke with this 80-year-old priest through translation since he only spoke Russian.  

This great guy named Constantine came in and showed us around. He took us around the grounds and explained the history of the cross.  He showed the base of the cross where a bomb went off that was allegedly put there by the orthodox church, decades ago.  He showed us three little churches that they used up there.  They were very simple.  Just rooms, really.  It was great to see people so humbly worshiping.  The last of the churches was literally a cave.  They dug it out themselves.  It was incredible!  It was pretty sizable and extremely dark even with the lights we had.

Afterward, we went into a church that was right next to the cross.  It was not nearly as cool. The cross was so not touristy.  The church was cool, but there is always that slight touristy atmosphere there.  Afterward, we had our picnic which was just such fun. Picnics are great. 

Later in the week we did a whiteboard finding activity. We wrote on the whiteboard, "რატომ გიყვარს შობა?" Why do you love Christmas? We started out thinking it wouldn't be very good because the park we were planning on doing it at, was dead. No one was there. So we went a bit outside of the park entrance and it was incredibly successful. I had my speaker playing Christmas music and we had Santa hats to lighten up the mood even more. It ended up being super fun. We gave out invitations and hopefully, we'll get at least a few people to come to the Christmas activity and sacrament meeting.

Elders Healey, Herr, Fisher, Sisters Workman and Gehring, Elder Nilsson

The whiteboard with people's responses.

We also had two baptisms here in Georgia which is abnormal. Even more so since there will be a third this Wednesday! President Picard talked to the leadership in the mission about the need to be more optimistic about baptisms in this mission. We are not the lowest baptizing mission, but it's low here. I like to think that I'm very realistic in my view of baptisms in Georgia. The problem I see is that sometimes the missionaries will push for baptism for someone that may not fully understand the responsibilities that are put on them when they make this important covenant with God.  Anyway. 

Last, but not least, is the news that we got this week. One of the most experienced missionaries is going back to the USA for surgery. He may or may not come back to Georgia. In six weeks, the three most experienced Elders will also be leaving. This means that in six weeks, there will be three Elders older than me and the younger. This almost guarantees that I will be either in a leadership position or training one of the incoming Elders. This also makes things tough because there will only be three Elder companionships. The dynamics will change a lot. All of the Elders will have to step up in big ways. Well. I think I'll have to save an Article of Faith for two weeks from now. Everyone have a great Christmas season! შობას გილოცავ!

--უხუცესი ფიშერი 

More pictures from the week:

Iranian food we ate at an Armenian restaurant.

Sister Gehring trying to play my trombone