That was great. However, I feel as if I don't really have much to talk about now because... well, I already talked about it with you all. Oh, I guess I have a story.
So we were going to this less active guy named Felix. His record said that he posed a lot of questions and was really critical. I wasn't too excited to deal with that, but I figured we should probably figure out if this guy was still alive. Seriously, 70 years old is OLD for here in Russia. So we go over, and his wife immediately invites us in. No yelling. cool. He comes out and sits down across from us. He has a SUPER nice apartment that felt so welcoming and honestly felt like home. We sat down and he was very nice. We talked about life, purpose, and God. He was a very intelligent man and very sharp. There was no arguing, no bitterness toward the church. Only fond memories and respect. We asked him why the last time he came was ten years ago, and he said that he couldn't fake being a believer. He said he'd love to believe, that his life would be better if he did, but he wasn't going lie to himself and say he did. He said he had tried, but he couldn't continue because if God really did exist, he wasn't going to mock Him by pretending. It was very interesting. As we were talking, he simply expressed so much doubt and felt like things many saw as the hand of God were simply coincidences. I mentally poured out my soul to the Lord for this man, asking what I could say to lead him back. I got this impression to ask him what his thoughts were on death. He seemed to not know what to say. He said that it had always been something he thought about, as with everyone else. I specified the question and asked if it had recently been something troubling him. He didn't really know how to answer and finally said that the older you get, the more it hangs over you. I testified about life after death and how I knew that there was more than just the material world. If you didn't know, for some reason on my mission, I never cry. I cry everyonce in a while during personal study, or during testimony meetings at Zone conference, but on lessons, there have been very few occasions that I have even shed a tear. This was one of those rare times. As I testified, for some strange reason, a few tears began to flow, and I was surprised. I had testified thousands of times about the same thing. Why was I feeling it so strongly right now? My companion came in and testified and backed me up and before he could say anything we said that we were out of time and said we'd like to pray to end. I meant to ask him who he'd like to pray, but for some reason I asked him IF he'd like to pray. I was surprised I even said this and expected him to refuse because of him previously saying he didn't like to put on a face of believing when he really didn't. Even more surprising was when he said yes. We all kneeled and his prayer went like this "Heavenly Father. Today was a very bad day for me. This morning I was diagnosed with a heart disease that the doctors told would kill me if I didn't undergo an operation. And even the, my chances of living they said were hard to determine. Thank you for sending these young men to me today. Not Yesterday, nottomorrow, but today. I am a man of many doubts. But one thing I know for sure. This morning I was devastated, where as now I am filled with peace and happiness. I know that was no coincidence."
I'm out of time.
Elder Swartz.
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