What Chu Talkin' Bout, Willis

Hello hello hello! So Momma probably got an email saying that I wouldn't be able to email this week... and that's what I thought. We were going to be busy today up until 6 p.m. (proselyting time) so I didn't think we would get the chance this week. We got let out early, so here we are! Hooray! So the week: Wednesday was a fun day. We served in the Hermitage, we got to go through the ancient rooms filled with things from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. It was cool. You know how those things are interesting to me. So I really liked to see those. Then we were supposed to have a Plan of Salvation lesson with an investigator, but his mother died the day before so he didn't want to meet, and we don't blame him. When he does get around to meeting with us, we'll knock his socks off. Thursday was interesting. We ended up having interviews with President Clark in the afternoon and he was running about an hour late. So we got to chat with other missionaries who were waiting, and it was the week of Zone Training so a bunch of missionaries were there. I got to have a good chat with both of my former companions. From what Elder Kennedy told me, Pskov is blowing up right now. At English group we'd be lucky to have 4 people there (excluding the missionaries) and last week there were 25! Good things are happening there. There was also a baptism in Novgorod two days ago (that's where Elder Kartchner is) so that was a fun day. After interviews, we went on splits right away with our Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Dibble, a defender from Jordan High. He's super cool, it was fun to be with another lacrosse bro. Elder Wilkins went with Elder Doxey, from South Jordan, who went to Bingham, and I never knew him. He played hockey. So that was fun. We had a lesson with an investigator that lives on a construction site. He actually lives in a big apartment building that is being built. As of right now it's just a big piece of concrete with a few windows. So he lives there. We set up a meeting with him for that night, but he wasn't there. He lied to us about when he was moving back to Ukraine (where he was born) and so we went searching the building. I found a nice .22 bullet (spent of course) and a 50 kopeek from the USSR. I took them. We also went onto the very very top as far as they have built and looked out. I wanted to take an epic picture of me looking out over the ocean, but I forgot my camera and Elder Dibble's was dead. Darn. Friday we started our crazy service that is going on all week. We moved 77 wheelchairs from the back of a truck to a basement. Took about an hour, then we went straight to zone training. Then we searched for less actives. Saturday we did weekly planning and called potential investigators. Then at night we had the last english group for a few weeks. We'll start up again in four weeks. Sunday was good. We had a special third hour meeting where we talked about "Hastening the Work of Salvation" and how the members can help us as missionaries. Our Bishop was awesome, he made this big presentation for the third hour. We talked to an interesting man on the street who mistook us for Jehovah's Witnesses and tried to wreck into their doctrine. When I wasn't disagreeing, he got really confused. Then he read our tags and it all made sense. Then he began to tell me all about our church and how we came from England to America, and he even asked me how many wives I will have. He was being dead serious, that's a big problem here. He also told me that if I wanted to get to a Russian's heart and talk about religion with him, I need to buy 400 ml. of Vodka, drink with him, then we'll have success. Also he told me that it's written in the Bible that God doesn't want us to get married, that we actually shouldn't. I pulled out my Bible and said "Where?" and he said I don't want to tell you, find it yourself. Interesting. Then we had a spur of the moment lesson that I'll have to tell you about later on... like in a year and a half. Today (and for the rest of the week until Thursday) we have been helping a senior couple from Moscow area (the Ropers) with a humanitarian project. The Church has people to do training for wheelchairs, how to properly use them and how to give them to patients. So the specialists were flown here, and we help translate for them. But they already have a translater... so we are their example patients. It's fun. There also another couple here now who is from South Jordan, from the gated community near the temple. He is convinced that we're in the same stake, but I know we're not. Anywho, So that's what we've been doing. It's fun, but it takes up our whole day until about 4 or 4:30. 

This week has been a tough one. We have had people call us and say they don't want to meet anymore, one got baptized into a different chruch and called us and laughed at us, and another lied to us and moved back to Ukraine. We're left with a really dodgy American guy and this man whose mother died. We're back to square one here. It's tough. It's going to take blood, sweat, and tears to get this area moving again. We're doing our best. 

I've got a feeling like there's going to be a change in our companionship this next transfer based on what President Clark told me. I don't know for sure, but that's my gut feeling. 

I'm so proud of you all! It sounds like you are doing great!! Just keep on keeping on, know that you have to go through the refiner's fire to come out pure and... good! There's a hymn I found this last week, around the 40s that's about Zion. The first verse is about Zion, but the rest is about God's love. I recommend that you all read that hymn. Read all the hymns. They're great poems, and awesome songs. Love you all!

Elder G

Whazzup

Hey! So here's my week: Tuesday was really fun. We had splits. I was with our district leader, Elder Fausnaught, and we went to Gachina. It's a small town about an hour south of St. Petersburg, and it's the "city of miracles" because every day they don't get yelled at or they talk to someone who hasn't ever heard of our church before it's a miracle. It's a really small, really Russian Orthodox town. So I was down there for a fun time. We had a meeting with a less active who pulled up MoTab on the computer for our opening hymn, he's a really goofy guy. We had a good meeting with him, we committed him and his non-member daughter to church, and they said they would come. Cool beans. We talked to a lot of people on the street, one was a satanist who was really nice to us, even after he read our tags. He gave us a thumbs up, said good luck, shook our hands, and walked away. That was a strange experience. On Wednesday we finished up the split, we had a good time together in the morning. Splits are the best. After we came home that afternoon, it was the usual in Avtovo. Less active hunting, new investigator hunting. We found out that the one investigator that we've met with in the last two weeks is moving back home to Ukraine... I'll send his new address to Elder Davis and give him the deets. I think in three weeks here we've had the amount of meetings we had in a half week in Pskov.. it's pretty slow going here, but we're working on it. There's a lot of people here, someone is bound to be interested. On Thursday we did weekly planning. I also had a dream on Wednesday night that included my homecoming talk, my friends and family, and Elder Holland. It basically went like this: at my talk, everybody that was there was so bored or so disinterested that they left. Even Elder Holland. Then, I woke up with this feeling that if I don't get talking to EVERYBODY I will have a boring talk and boring stories. So that was fun, I'm not going to be boring. Friday we served at the Hermitage, and we got to look around for twenty minutes afterwards. That's our mission rule. So it was cool. I got a map and I'll keep track of where I've been and what rooms I need to see. I got some good recommendations from grandma, so I'll be sure to check those out. Also.. I lost my SIM cards for the first 6 months of my mission... I couldn't find them anywhere. Oh well. Saturday was fun. We had english group, there was a nice group of people. A nice old guy that told me some cool antique stores where I can find a Soviet flag and other such items. He also gave me a list of places to see here in the city. Fun. Sunday was fun, we had stake conference. It was awesome. Our stake president is the Russian on I'm a Mormon with one daughter and he's a neurosurgeon or something crazy like that. He's really cool, and the whole conference was about missionary work. So that was fun for us. It was also President Clark's last stake conference, and he gave a ten minute talk 100% in Russian. He's got good Russian, I'm really impressed. Anyways, that was fun. I think I said 'fun' about 3,000 times. The stake conference was smaller than people we have in our ward at home.. that's crazy. Be grateful for a huge, awesome, supportive ward! Yesterday we played floorball at the stake center, I played with Elder Dibble (who played D at Jordan, same age as me) and it was fun to yell lacrosse things and use lacrosse strategy with him. He reminded me about how bad we were last year, then I reminded him how they got kept out of the playoffs two years ago. Then we laughed and had fun.

So, my thought for the week, just put your shoulder to the wheel and get to work! Whatever you're doing, just do it 100%! It seems really hard to try 100% in school or lacrosse or a calling all the time, but it's easier to put in hard work up front and see results and feel good about the effort than to wait and have to work even harder later. I've noticed that with this area, I just kinda laid back and expected my companion to introduce me to the area, but he didn't know the area any better than me. And now we're having to work really hard to make up for a few not so good weeks. Just my thought. Work 100% all the time!!! I love you all, thanks for being so awesome!

Andrew

p.s. I FOUND MY CARDS GOTCHA! HAHAHA

HYEEEEEEELLO

Hi everybody, it's me. How are you all doing. From what I read, you're all doing great. Thanks much for your emails. So, here's the weekly update. Tuesday was a good day. We started off with service in the Hermitage in the morning, that was fun. We're not allowed to wear our tags and people seem to be a lot nicer and more forgiving of our bad Russian... funny what  little piece of plastic does to people. Anyways, it was really fun. We met a member from Moscow, he asked us if we were from America, then if we were missionaries. It was fun. He had his little boy with him. Also, there was another volunteer there. Her name is Kristina, she was born in Russia but moved to Koln, Germany with her family. She lives there, and just came to St. Petersburg for a month to hang out. Hooray for Germany. At the Hermitage, we just stand at the entrance of the exhibits and tell people not to take in water or their coats. It's a boring few hours, but it's fun. You see lots of interesting people. We also had district meeting, with the CALI district. There's a Sister from Concord, and Elder from SF/Oakland (he claims both), and a Sister from So-cal. And me! Born in Nor-cal. Hecka fun! It was fun to talk to them, we've got an awesome district leader. Elder Fausnaught, from Alabama. He was also born in California. He's super fun, and we're good pals already. Also at district meeting there was this investigator named William (he's an American, so I can say his name). He got married to a Russian, and moved here. He doesn't know a lick of Russian. I don't know how he does anything here. Anyways, he just wanted to come and listen. So he did. But, as it turns out, he wanted to come and counsel us. So Sister Carter (senior couple here) got mad and said we only accept counsel from our leaders and that his comments weren't welcome during our meeting. He was pretty quiet after that. Wednesday... two meetings fell through. Thursday we met with this guy who knows english really well, he's known missionaries since 1998. He said that during our next meeting he'll tell us what he thinks about church and religion. He's been 'lost' from missionaries for a few years. Friday we had a lesson with another guy that knows english pretty well, it was a good lesson. We taught him the Restoration and he promised to read and pray. Also we had a lesson set up with a Muslim guy that called me on the phone earlier in the week. He told me that he needs help, and that he doesn't want to live anymore. So I said "hey, we can help with that" and we set up a meeting. He didn't show up, and I called him every night since. Last night, he answered the phone, handed it to his wife who said that he doesn't need any kind of help, thank you, goodbye. So that was the end of that. Saturday we went to the Dacha (like a summer house) of a member and helped move wood up to the second floor of the house, throught the windows. The member that I was with served in Ukraine, he's 40. He actually baptized his father a few years ago. He's a cool guy. Sunday I officially introduced myself into the ward, it was fun. That was the biggest group of people that I've talked to so far. I kinda drew a blank... but I said some things and now they all know I'm here. That was the week.

I've been reading the New Testament a lot lately, I'm in John right now. I really like John. John 8:12 and John 10 were really cool this week. It's Christ talking about what he does for us. I really love chapter ten that talks about the Shepherd. I really like the New Testament. Heck, I even learn cool things form the Old Testament. I learn things like the Lord's way is the best and only way, when Moses smacks the rock instead of speaking to it. He gets a pretty steep punishment, but he also didn't do exactly what the Lord told him to do. 

That's about it for the week. Love you all. 

Andrew

Hello Y'all

Hello hello hello! I'm now a big city boy! I'm a little overwhelmed, but it'll be good. So. The week. Wednesday we had transfer meeting. We rode a bus up to the city (I'm going to miss those 4 hour naps) and that was that. Goodbye to Pskov. I then met up with my new companion, and off we went. To the Metro. Riding the Metro with two suitcases is not a fun thing. Especially when it's a little chilly outside and you're wearing a coat. It gets so hot! It's crazy! I want to die every time. Let's hope I'm in Avtovo for another year and a half. So we had a meeting set for Wednesday night, but the guy didn't show up. We arranged to meet with him at a McDonald's. That's wierd. There are US restaurants everywhere here. KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Baskin Robbins, Subway, they've got it all. It's funny to me. Anyways, we waited at McDonald's then we delivered a happy birthday letter from our ward to a less acitve member. There's been a flu going around the district here, Elder Jaynes I guess got it really good and he stayed inside for two or three days. Thursday we did weekly planning, then Elder Wilkins started to feel really sick. He's still not feeling so hot, but it's getting better. So anyways, Thursday and Friday we stayed in.. all day... both days. Let me tell you, I felt like I could've fit the first six months of my mission into those 48 hours. Geez. It was so long! I did get to do some intense studying of the scriptures, so that was fun. Read a lot of chapters. So that was that. Saturday started our mission tour. A mission tour is when a general authority comes to your mission, talks to everybody during zone conferences, and visits a few of the wards on Sunday. Our Zone Leaders are in Kaliningrad, so we had our zone conference on Saturday so that they could fly back for Sunday. President Malm from our area presidency came. He's from Sweden, he's a great teacher. We talked about some awesome things. It was really awesome. There was a lot of fuss about how we looked and things like that. We even got a text the morning of reminding us to use knives during dinner "so that we don't look like heathens". The funny thing is, we had alfredo with noodles... so we didn't use knives. Anyways, it was good. Sunday was awesome. We went to church first thing in the morning, and had meetings upon meetings until sacrament meeting. There were about 60-70 people there, so a big change for me. They even had Aaronic Priesthood to pass the sacrament.. what?! So anyways, it was awesome. There are lots of great people there. Elder Wilkins wasn't feeling too well, so we didn't do much else.

Elder Wilkins is from Idaho Falls. He's been here for a year. He's cool. Really quiet, maybe that's just becuase he's been sick. I don't know. He wants to be a pilot or something to do with airplanes. He worked restoring planes before he came here. That's about what I know so far. 

So, during my two days of not much to do, I read the scriptures. I read some cool things. One of them was from the Docrine and Covenants. Section three. Verse nineteen. I thought about what it says there. The Book of Mormon was brought forth in part because of the faithful prayers of some Nephites to have the gospel shared with the Lamanites, and if possible, all other nations. Think about how long it took for the answers, or results, to come! I was thinking about that about my mission, because that's what's on my mind right now. So when we do things, sometimes we see the results right away. Sometimes it takes some work. And sometimes we don't see anything in our lives. Sometimes it takes thousands of years, but it will happen. I don't know if that's too much of a stretch, but it makes sense to me. Anyways, thanks for all of your emails. I love them. You're all the best, love you all!

Andrew

Will I Stay or Should I Go?

Hello everyone! It was a good week! Sorry I didn't email yesterday, Elder Kennedy had a visa trip, so we were up in the city. I'll tell more about that later. So the week: Tuesday, we had district meeting. Fun stuff. Then we had a meeting with our investigator who found us on the internet, and he's the bomb. He told us that he got the impression to pray with his own words, like we did in our lessons, to know if the Book of Mormon was true... this was before we gave him one... and he says he know's it's true and can't wait for March 22nd. He's awesome. On Wednesday we had the 2013 Audit of Pskov branch, done by a senior couple from Texas who are living in Moscow, serving the whole Europe East Area. They haven't been "home" to Moscow in months. They just travel all the time. Anyways, all went smoothly and nobody got excommunicated. The money is all accounted for. On Thursday a young man had a baptismal interview conducted by my companion, and he passed. Sweet. Friday we got our room checked for cleanliness by a senior couple living in Novgorod, they came all the way here just to do that. We also did splits with the other Elders from our district that night. I was with the Russian Elder, bummer that I can't say his name. It was really fun, he taught me a lot, and all I want now is to serve with Russians. That's it. Also, the kid who was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, his Mom wouldn't sign the permission slip, so that was a bummer. He's gotta wait three more years or soften the heart of his mother. So that was kinda a bummer for the week. We were supposed to get transfer calls on Saturday, but President Clark was in Turkey, so he did it on Sunday. Saturday, we finished the split, cleaned the branch building, and met a less active at his work and walked home with him, just chatting. Sunday morning... TRANSFER NEWS: The moment you've all been waiting for.. Ok... here goes... it's coming... I'm leaving Pskov, I'll be going to Avtovo! It's the south-western part of St. Petersburg. Here's what I know: I know the bishop (there's a ward there), huge ward, love to do missionary work, they function almost like an American ward, and it's gonna be sweet. President Clark told me that I'm going from one extreme in our mission to the other. President Lawrence, or however you spell that, came here last spring (he's from the Area Presidency) and went to church in Avtovo. He said that the feel there is like nothing he's felt in Eastern Europe as far as how it should work and feel in the church, and the ward should be a model for all others in the area. So it's gonna be sweet. I'll miss my friends in Pskov. I'm excited and nervous and everything, I heard that going to your second area is like starting over in Russia because right now Pskov is Russia to me. Hopefully it won't be too much of a shock. My companion will be Elder Wilkins, I know absolutely nothing about him other than I've seen hime once and his suit was three sizes too big. After chruch we had to get on a bus to go to the city becuase Elder Kennedy had a visa trip. That night, as I was falling asleep, the door opened and Elder Kartchner came and jumped on me. He was sleeping in the other room, but we made a plan to go on a split the next day, seeing as our companions would be gone to Estonia. We had a blast. We just chatted and had a good time. We went to the market with fake versions of whatever you can imagine, we went to legal stores, we went and got great food. We saw a guy on the Metro on the way back wearing an old American flag as a scarf, with an NBC jacket with "Sochi" written in English, and a US Olympic Team jacket under that. So I was so happy to see an American with so much courage to wear all that in public here. I asked him where he was from in Russian, he look at my tag, looked at my face, and answered in Russian "I'm Russian. What do you want?" Then we talked to him a bit, turns out he was the chef for the US Olympic Team while they were here. He was zero percent interested in the church, but it was a cool chat. Then a bus home. That's about all for my week. It was a good one. 

Today in District Meeting I'm teaching about the Plan of Salvation. I thought I'd shake things up and not draw the picture with the circles and the lines... crazy, right? I studied it today and I'm going to point out that the Plan of Salvation lesson is really The Mission of Jesus Christ lesson. I'm great, I hope I do alright. Just think about all the steps in the Plan and try to figure out the role that Christ plays in each of them. It'll be fun. 

Love ya all, 

Andrew