Привет мои дорогие люди (Hello My Dear People)

It was another good week here in Russia. On Tuesday we had zone conference from 8:30 in the morning until about 3:30 in the afternoon, that was an experience. It was like school, but sitting in one chair the whole time. It was scheduled to be only until 2, but President Clark likes to say what he's feeling and he's always got a funny line or two to slip into his teaching. It was fun to be in the city and to see Elder Kartchner again. On Wednesday, we had a lesson with our branch president's dad. He's interested in the church, and that's the reason Elder Kennedy got transferred here. To teach this man, President Clark gave him a special assignment. It was a good lesson, there were lots of good questions asked, and we'll have lots of answers when we meet next. On Thursday, we helped our branch president move a piano from his house to the branch building, it's about the same size as ours at home. It doesn't seem like it would be so hard to move it, but going down flights and flights and flights of stairs, in a skinny stairwell, holding a piano was a crazy experience. Then lifting it into the back of a big truck, then reassembling it because it fell apart. That was fun. We also had three lessons that day, which is tied for the highest I've had in a day. Two were with our branch president, that was a really good day. On Friday, we had a lesson with one of our eternal investigators that was a little strange. He had just been watching on youtube about how some US government official had said that there will be a war with Russia and the US if things don't get better soon. So we talked about politics. We tried to just teach him a lesson, but he wouldn't have it. He wanted to talk about American happiness and how it was different than Russian happiness. It was a crazy lesson, I don't have that vocabulary yet. Maybe someday. On Saturday, I heard the song "What is Love?" on the bus. A tender mercy. I couldn't help but bounce my head. I don't think anybody got the reference, but that's ok. We also had a lesson on Saturday night with a referral from lds.org, this guy just went on and watched some conference talks and other movies, liked what he saw, liked what he felt, and put his number in the computer. So we got his number on Monday and had a meeting on Saturday. We met with him, he just said that he liked how we are focused on the family, and just the messages that he heard. It was awesome. He's about 35-40 years old. We taught him a really smooth Restoration lesson, and at the end he said that when he finds out that it's true, he'll be baptized. We set a goal with him for March 22. That's after the next transfer, so I hope I get to stay for at least one more transfer. It was awesome, the best lesson yet. Then on Sunday, after church, we didn't have anything planned. So we walked the streets and went to some less actives. Yesterday was also a holiday here, Defender of the Fatherland day, so there were a lot of drunk people that we saw. It's sad that drinking and partying is how everybody here celebrates. Bummer. 

Other than that, not much else happened this week. People here all of a sudden don't care too much about hockey. Funny how that happens. I haven't heard anybody talk about how Russia won overall in medals, other than the members just answering our questions about it. It's fun here, I can't complain. 

Lots of good things are happening in our mission, there were two baptisms this last week, and lots of baptismal dates. Lots of just good things. You're all the best!

Andrew

That's me

Super Cool WWII monument in St. Petersburg

Lego Movie ad...in Russian

The broken piano

My Zenit practice jersey

The back side

Railroad tracks from a bridge

Hey-o

Russian Orthodox church at night

I Don't Ever Know What To Write Here

Hey! So it was a good week. A good week. A quick run-down: Monday, after p-day, all of our meetings fell through, so we went and we did some knocking. It's been a while since I've done that. I like teaching lessons. Same on Tuesday. No lessons, just some walking and knocking. Nothing really interesting. Wednesday was strange... we found this guy on the street last week who had been to Philadelphia (near where Elder Kennedy lived) and so they hit it off and talked and talked. He actually called us to set up the next meeting which has never happened to either of us. We went to the building where he told us to go. It was his office. Cool. Then we went in, sat down, and in come two more people, they just plopped themselves down. So we thought man, they're gonna hear this lesson, it's gonna be awesome. Then we realized that they worked for a company that sells health pills and shakes and all sorts of strange machines, and they invited us to ask for referrals. That was kinda funny, the tables were turned. Anyways, they just said that we knew we help people, so we can do the spiritual work and they'll help with the health. We left, only after having business cards thrust into our faces. It was a hoot. Then that night we had english again, it was fun. A few people that we had talked to on the street came and it was cool. Thursday was the birthday of an investigator, so we made some Texas sheet cake and took it over to him. he called us later and said thanks, that was nice. We gave a member a blessing, she called us and we had free time, so the other elders tagged along and we gave her a blessing for sickness. Then she wanted a lesson. Then she started talking about marriage, so we ended that lesson real quick and ran away. She told the sisters that she's got the hots for one of us. Had another lesson that night where Elder Kennedy played his french horn (he wants to do that for his career, so he was allowed to bring it) and it was cool. He played some hymns. Friday, we had a belated family home evening where we played some games and gave a spiritual thought. It was fun. Saturday, we had a lesson with a lady that we talked to on the street a few weeks ago. We invited her daughters that know english to come, and one of them came on Wednesday. Anyways, it was a good lesson. She has a lot of good questions (the mom) and we'll come back. The daughter was quiet, but at the end we asked her about what her goals or plans are for life. And she said that she doesn't know the purpose of life, still searching. We're going to have a great lesson next week about the Plan of Salvation. It's gonna be sweet. Sunday night, our meeting fell through because the guy's priest didn't bless the meeting. Now he's blocked our number as well, so that's a bummer. Now, I'm here in St. Petersburg. Today we went to see a cool statue, went to a Zenit store, and played floor ball (hockey with shoes) at the mission office with some other elders. It felt good to do some competitive physical activity. Now we're here, emailing. 

Olympics News: not much... just a wave of gloom that swept over Russia as the Americans did some work. I sang all three verses of the national anthem the night I found out about the game, I've never felt more patriotic. Today on the metro there were newspapers with the headline (roughly translated): Who are these refs? and another one: How the heck is it so? with a nice picture of whatever that called back goal was. I bought one for comparison with the American story of the call. Our branch president told us that Shaun White fell and got fourth place and we were sad. 

Anyways, enough of that. Our Branch Prez gave me a CD with his favorite clips from Elder Holland talks, and I have listened to the whole thing at least every day this week. I love it so much. One of my favorite messages from it is that "Salvation was not a cheap experience! Salvation was never easy! We are the church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, He is the Great Eternal Head of this church. Why would we believe, why would we think, that it would be easy for us when it was never, ever, easy for Him" in response to the question "Why isn't missionary work easy?" and I've been thinking a lot about that. I've asked that question before, but with some help from Elder Holland, I'm starting to get it... just a little. Not even close to where I want to be, but it's coming. 

Thanks for all your emails, I love them! 

Love you all!

Andrew

Hyello

Hello! Thanks for the good emails! I love to read about what's going on in all of your lives and the fun times that you are all having! Here's a little bit about what I did this week: Monday, we had a lesson with a newer investigator that we have, a referral from another investigator. The man we met with has a problem with alcohol, and unfortunately, he had relapsed again and was totally wasted. I smelled the vodka, so I wrote a note to Elder Kennedy and we got out of there quick. He was acting a little strange, really red in the face, and he just reeked. Anyways, that was our Monday night. Tuesday we met with an already less active member who was baptized in August. He got drunk and in a car crash a few weeks after his baptism, so he's been scared to come back ever since. He wanted to meet with us and told us that he wanted to talk to us about something really serious. We didn't want him to confess to us, but we went and hoped for the best. Turns out he wants to serve a mission. He wants to help other people. We were so happy, but we also had to tell him that he needed to come to church and work out some things before he could do that. We are excited for him. We hope to have him out while I'm still here in Russia, that would be super cool. He works on Sundays, so we're going to have a lesson with him about that this week and hope that things go well. On Wednesday we had a meeting with that Estonian guy we met on the street a few weeks ago. He's a really smart young guy, too smart in my opinion. He didn't let us talk the whole lesson, kinda a bummer, but he gave us a good question to start the next lesson "Why the heck are you here, in Russia?" only with a few more colorful words thrown in there describing Russia. Anyways, to be continued with him. Thursday, the Zone Leaders came to do Zone Training and splits. So Elder Kartchner was back. It was a little bit weird at first, seeing him, but then it got better as the day went on. I was with him that night, we taught a lesson, I think it was the best we've ever taught together. It was fun to chat with him again. On Friday was a birthday party for an investigator of the other Elders', so we went to the branch and celebrated with him. He's 17, and a crazy freakazoid. He went tracting with the Elders last night, and they said it was super cool. On Saturday night we went back to that drunk guy's house, and he was ok this time. He played some Russian songs for us on the guitar, super cool. We had to pass him off to the other Elders because he lives in their area. Bummer. Last night we had a lesson with the Estonian guy again, and we had a member there this time. It was a super awesome lesson, the guy said that it all makes sense now why we're here and why he needs to read and all that good stuff, and he said "How much for a book? I need one." The member that was with us said "The price is to read and pray about what you read, as simple as that." And so he said deal, I'll finish it in a week. So that's going to be cool, to see where that goes. 

Another funny thing: Everybody at the little party on Friday night wanted to get home to watch the opening ceremonies, it was a really big deal for everybody. By Sunday, from what I could tell, interest had been lost by the Russians because the Russian squads weren't doing too well. Silly Russians.

Love you all!

Andrew

District! (me, Sis. Rundell, Sis. Yeates, Sis. Ahlstrom, Sis. Hansen, Elder K)

Some cold pills for me. Looks like sprinkles in a plastic case does the trick for a good cold

(I guess Andrew isn't old enough to know that cold medicine actually did used to look like  this!) 

a BIG Russian word

(Yeah so I don't even know if Andrew knows what it is but I used Google Translate and it says "Pskov Electric Machinery Plant". Wowzers.)

Elder Gaytrell and Elder K

**Editor's note: If you are easily grossed out, you may not want to look at the next picture. If you're not, well then you will get a little glimpse into life in Andrew's apartment building (not his actual apartment, just the building).  I guess he thought this would be fun to share?! Thanks!

Some blood in our apartment building from last Tuesday. As of this morning when we left, it was still there. 

New Week

Hey y'all. It was a good week. I think all the weeks are good. Every week is different, but good every time. On Tuesday, we had a meeting with a less active member from our branch, one of about eighty on our records, and it was a good meeting. He brought a lady-friend that he found sometime and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. This member lives about an hour away from Pskov by train, and he's got zero money, so he makes a really big sacrifice every time he comes to meet with us. He loves missionaries, loves church, just doesn't want to come every week. Too much money. Anyways, we'll be going out to his house sometime this next week to help him clean up. Elder Kartchner went to his house all the time to help out and found all sorts of crazy things there. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Anyways, the lesson, it was good. The lady lives in the Sister's area, so we'll pass her off sometime this next week. That's the worst. We don't live in our area, so when we go contacting really quickly around where we live, almost all of the people we talk to won't be our investigators. But whatever. Wednesday, lots of walking and talking. Thursday, lots of walking and talking. On Friday we had an interesting night, we went over to one of our investigators. He wants us to help him quit drinking, and so we do that... but after we've covered one of the missionary lessons. We're sneaky. He's actually becoming more and more interested in the Gospel part, so that's good. He also plays the guitar, so he always finishes off lessons with us by playing an old gypsy song on the guitar. Then once he told me to play... so I banged out the bass line of "Joker" by Steve Miller Band, and called it good. That's about all I know anyways. So that was fun. After that, we were walking around looking for a less active member's address to see if they had moved/become super against the church/died. That's usually what happens. One of the three. So we asked this guy for directions, and he told us where to go. Then he said "Do you have a meeting there, Elder?" and we flipped. He's a member who we thought moved away, but he really just moved across town. So that was fun, we were really excited to talk to him. Got his phone number. Then we asked the members about him yesterday, and they said that he's an investigator of all churches. He gets baptized into all churches so he can have a better chance of getting saved, just in case, you know? So he's a member of the Jewish religion right now. That was interesting. Then on Saturday, we cleaned the branch. We had a branch party, played a game kinda like Jeopardy. The questions were all insanely hard, but I got one right for our team thanks to a week of studying deep doctrine in the MTC with Elder Jaynes: "What is the name of the nation and its leader that will be on the Earth at the time of the Second Coming?" Answer: The nation of Magog, lead by Gog. Thanks, Bible Dictionary! So that was fun. Then yesterday, just stopped by lots of less actives to figure out their status. Also talked to the member from above that lives far away (he came for literally the last 2 minutes of church... that's it) and he gave me an Armenian copy of the New Testament. Don't know why, but I took it and now I have it. If you all think that the Russian alphabet looks hard to read, check out the Armenian characters sometime. Makes me happy I don't have to read that. Anyways, that's my week.

So a little cool spiritual thought here for you: I was reading Articles of Faith this morning (I got my hands on one, and I can't put it down. President Clark lets us read books like that that aren't technically in the missionary library but could be), and there's a really good chapter in there about faith. How knowledge is to wisdom as belief is to faith. It's not hard to obtain knowledge, but it is hard to use it and remember it when you have it. Same with belief and faith. It's not that hard to believe in something, but to have faith and to act and to use that belief for good is the next step. I just thought that was interesting. Love you all!

Andrew

I know what you're all thinking...yes, that is a real polar bear on the bed.  (The missionary is our zone leader. Goofy guy, Elder Kartchner's new companion.)

Ghetto hockey rink we found one day. Only in Russia.

Bonus material:

For all of you who have asked and wondered why we can't use the word "Elder" when addressing mail to Andrew, we finally have an answer from Andrew! He says:

"We can't have Elder on our mail because that's not our first name, so if there's a problem with the delivery, we'll never get the package."  We learn something new every week!