I'm a Dapper Dan Man

Hello everybody! I'm glad to hear that you are all doing well. I love getting your emails and hearing about all the cool things that are happening to y'all. So here was the week: Monday at 11 PM the zone leaders called for us to let them into our apartment, becuase they had just flown in (they're in Kaliningrad) and didn't want to ride the Metro for an hour to get to the assisstants (the airport is in our area) and so we had to let them in and we got to have a fun little sleepover. On Tuesday we had district meeting and it was good. We have a fun district. We all get aling pretty well and we have some characters. Tuesday night we headed to the office elders apartment because I had a visa trip on Wednesday. That was really boring. We left at 7 in the morning from the mission office and just drove for 2.5 hours to Estonia. We walked out of Russia, and into no-man's-land. Then they didn't want to let us into Estonia, or the cool Estonian guy who took my passport was worried that Russia wouldn't let me back in, so he had to make some calls to make sure it was ok for me to enter Estonia. Then we were in Estonia for one minute. Then we walked right back into Russia with no problems. So that was a really really boring day. I did get to go on the trip with Elder Jaynes. It was fun to catch up with him and hear some fun stories. I had lunch with him and then we were back into the city. We had a good lesson with the english guy, and once Elder Saxton gets Russian, he'll be a great teacher. He's good in English. He just pours out his soul. It's fun. On Thursday we had service at the Hermitage, and we got to see some new things and new rooms that I had never seen before. We did splits with our Zone leaders... I was with Elder Doxey from South Jordan. I went to the same high school as him for two years, didn't know him. He played hockey, I didn't know him (I knew lots of hockey kids) and so it ended up that we were finally together, talking and getting to know each other halfway across the world. And the other Zone Leader, Elder Dibble, had a class with cousin Megan in High School. Sports Medicine I think he said. That's crazy too. In two minutes we talked to two different people... one who hated America and wanted us to go home, then another who wanted to shake our hands when we said we were from America. That's about how it goes here. Friday we had Zone Training, we did some fun walking and talking after that. On Saturday we had weekly planning. Then English. There was a really cool, funny, questionable non-active member that came. He's from South Korea and he knows English perfectly. He just comes to hang with the missionaries. Anyways, we share music taste so I'll get some hipster bands from him and pass them on to my hipster sister. He knows english well enough to know what ebonics are... that was crazy to me. Sunday was a good day. We had church, lots of meetings with our ward leaders, and then we walked and talked. That was about the week. 

Training is really fun. I get to show my companion everything. I get to influence his opinion on everything. If I want to go run outside in the morning, he'll say yes. If I put on a tie during studies, he'll put on a tie during studies. If I'm in the kitchen, he's there. If I'm talking to people, he'll talk to people. If I am writing in my planner, he will too. It was just an eye opener to me this week to realize that literally everything I do, he is watching. I guess that's how it is in every situation. I watched my parents. I cook eggs like my dad. I cook food for my companion, like mom did for me. I watched the older lacrosse players like Jordan, Chris, Cameron, and Davis and tried to do what they did. It's crazy to me how much the people around you influence you and how there is somebody always watching. So, I found a cool scripture in Matthew 7, verse 24 that answered my question on how to be a good example (at least as a missionary). We need to hear the words of Christ, then DO what they say to do. Then I guess we'll be a pretty good example. I like the scriptures, I like the church, it's true and it blesses lives and changes hearts! I know that Christ lives and that he loves me. I love to testify of Him because nothing else brings the spirit so strongly. I love Him. He's my rock. I love you all, thanks for all that you do for me! 

Elder G

It's going to be a fun 12 weeks

Hello hello hello everybody! How are you doing? From what I heard, you're all doing great. Here was my crazy, crazy week. On Monday after we emailed we went to this sweet museum that's in our area that was about the Leningrad blockade. That big ole monument, that one with the big tower and the two soldiers standing by it, underneath that is a really cool museum. So we went there. It was super cool. Man, St. Petersburg got absolutely wrecked! Knocked to the ground! It was so sad to see all the videos of the German planes just coming and coming without stopping. Now I understand a little bit more about Russians.. funny how that works. On Tuesday we had a meeting for the trainers where President Clark told us what we were to do and explained the 12 week training program that we were to follow. Basically we're just supposed to be a good example and be optimistic and work hard. He told us that it's really simple. We also had district meeting and I taught the lesson about Chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel. You can all look that up and see what it says so you can read Preach My Gospel like they said to do in General Conference :) On Wednesday I got my new companion. We went to President Clark's apartment at 10 in the morning and had the little intro to the mission meeting and I met my new companion. He's pretty cool. He played lacrosse. He started in ninth grade when they made a team at his school. He's from Preston, ID. You best believe I quote Napoleon Dynamite all the time, probably too much. But that's what I'm doing. So I met him. He came in with one other Sister. We talked about our mission in the Clark's apartment and then it was off to the transfer meeting. After that, we just went right home and we hit the pavement. He's really tired all the time. My jet lag wore off after two or three days but I think it's still getting him pretty good. I don't know why. I made him stay awake until bed time by giving him things to do while I cooked dinner. On Thursday we went to the Hermitage to do service. It was super fun. There was a druggly lady who came and tried to get in, so they locked her in this room with see through doors and then she hit a guard and tried to run away then this huge guy came out of nowhere and clobbered her. They cuffed her up and took her out. It was amusing to watch. I also translated for these British people who were really mad because they missed their tour and were frustrated that nobody spoke english. They got mad at me for the bad message that I had to bear that there would be no refund. It was an interesting day. On Friday we picked up my new companion's registration and had a lesson with the Plan of Salvation guy. It was a really good lesson. New missionaries are chock full of the spirit, and this guy who had never really opened up to us started to open up and he said he would get baptized when he got an answer to his prayers. It was a great lesson. On Saturday we had a big stake service project in the center of the city. We mostly just raked up cigarrette butts and filled up garbage bags with them. It was fun to hang with all the other misisonaries in the city. We had lunch with the guy that has a daughter in San Franciso that Uncle Scott knows. It was fun to talk to him and get to know another awesome Russian family. On Sunday we had church and Elder S. introduced himself to the ward. They love him. Probably because he says funny things to them in Russian. Like when a member asked him if they have big potatoes in Idaho, he said "No... I'm from a small potato. My potato is really small." thinking that potato was city. He also adds random phrases that he knows into my conversations with people on the street. I was talking to this guy who said he loved America, and he rejected us as missionaries but wanted to talk America. He told be about how he likes our government with Congress and the Courts, but he thinks that England has got a better system. I said "and Germany is even better" and we were laughing then Elder S piped up with "It's my fourth day in Russia. I'm an American. Do you want to learn more about my church?" after the guy had already told us he knew about us and didn't want to come to church. Training is going to be fun. It was a really good week. We have lots of activities planned for the next week so I hope that his training experience is fun and not boring. I don't want to just walk around all the time talking! I wanna teach! So, all is well here. Please keep Elder Davis and Russian and Ukrainian missionaries and government leaders in your prayers, we all want to stay here and work! Love you all so much!

Elder G

Hi

Hey y'all! I'm glad that everything sounds like it's going good there in the USA. This was quite the week. Quite the week. So, here goes: Tuesday we had district meeting. That was about it for Tuesday. Wednesday we had a lesson with an investigator who speaks perfect english and is maybe the most logical person I've met here in Russia, he's basically a perfect investigator. He's known the church since the 90's and resurfaced during this transfer. He believes nearly everything that we do about the world. That it's slowly getting away from good standards, that Christ is the Savior, that God loves all of us, even some really specific-to-our-Church things like The Book of Mormon just to name one example. But he just won't get baptized. He doesn't want to for some reason. We're trying to get it out of him, we think his wife and parents have something to do with it. He told us that they didn't like it when he met with missionaries before. That was Wednesday. Thursday we went to the Hermitage. It was cool there, we saw Sister Clark there for some reason... I don't know why. I think she just wanders around there all the time. She really likes art. We talked to her for a while. That was fun. So, this is when things get really good. On Friday, we got....

                                            -TRANSFER NEWS-

Elder Wilkins.... Will be going to the office to be an Office Elder! He's not too thrilled about that.. he really is nervous I think.

I will still be in Avtovo. I will be with Elder Saxton. His last area was Provo, Utah. I'm training. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I'm so excited that I get to show him the ropes and be his pal but I'm also soooo nervous. I'm going to be the only one who knows Russian... Oh gosh. I'll also be with him here for at least two transfers (until July) unless something crazy happens. Hey, I'm nervous but I'm excited. It's going to be a great time. These transfer calls were on the day before we were expecting them, so that mixed with the crazy news made it a crazy week. Elder Kartchner is coming into our district. We'll be reunited. YAY! Also that day we had a lesson with the investigator whose mother died a few weeks ago. He really likes us and the senior couple here, but he's just not willing to change yet. He said his mom was Russian Orthodox and that was her will for him and he can't really go against her will right now. So that was tough to hear. That night we also had a fun ward activity. We sang kareoke (I don't know how to spell that) and it was fun. I sang some Russian songs with members that wanted me to sing with them, and Elder Wilkins and I sang "Take On Me". It was fun. We're doing it again this next Friday. Saturday and Sunday we watched general conference at the stake center with the stake. There were about 20 people that came on Saturday, about 200 for Sunday morning, and 20 again for Sunday night and Priesthood session. I watched all but Priesthood in Russian. Let's just say I'm excited to get the Liahona and read those great talks (at least I think they were great). That was the week.

Like I said, I'm kinda nervous about this training thing, but Elder Bednar's talk when he talked about the truck and the load in the back and how the load gave traction...that was a good message for me to hear. I liked that. I hope that this extra responsibility will help me to improve and to take it to the next gear, all those good phrases. I loved conference! The Priesthood session was amazing, I loved it all! I love all of you! You are the best!

Elder G

GOOD MORNINGGGGG SANNNNN DIEGOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was a good week. A better week. Thanks for all of your awesome emails, I love them. They're awesome. So here's what I did this week. On Tuesday we finished the first class of wheel-chair learners. It was fun, they all liked us, and now they'll hopefully smile at missionaries instead of what normally happens. On Wednesday, we started the second group of learners. They were even better than the first. They were just ready to go, and they were all really smart. They were pretty young too. President and Sister Clark came to check in on the project, and I was glad to have ironed my shirt that morning. Also, that night, after a three week drought of member present lessons we finally got one! Man oh man it felt good. It was with a man whose mother recently died, so it was perfect timing for the Plan of Salvation. We'll see how that goes. Thursday the assistants came to do service with us because we needed more missionaries, that was fun. We also had another split with our district leader. This time I was with Elder Newcomb from Oak-town, CA. He's a fun guy. Strange, but fun. I was in Gatchina again. I miss the small towns. On Friday, back in the city, we had a lesson with a member who was baptized about six months ago. He's pretty old guy, and he was a doctor of the mind. He's got all kinds of crazy certificates from Oxford and the USSR and Russia all over his apartment. He's really smart. He had a stroke not too long ago, so he's got a caretaker. She's about 25ish and she invited us to the theater with her. We said no. On Saturday we served in the Hermitage, we got to see the Bible hall afterwards. It's a big hall that starts at the creation and goes on from there. It's really cool. I need to start taking pictures in there. On Sunday we had church and a few meetings fall through at night. We'll be watching general conference next week at the stake center. There won't be two hour breaks in between sessions, it's just six hours saturday then four on Sunday. It's going to be in Russian and in English. I'll get to choose where I go.

Also, I'm turning into a lady! I bought hair products last week, what in the world is with me... I was just sick of getting haircuts, and looking like a fool!

Here's my thought for the week. Sometimes we just need to change our perspective. In Isaiah 40:31 it talks about being on the wings of an eagle or something like that, and then we'll be happy and fell the spirit and all that jazz. So, as we change our perspective to the things that really matter (eternity) then we'll have a better time. That was a good thing for me to read this week. I love you all! Kiss kiss, hug hug!

Elder G

YAY FOR PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Kennedy with his new companion, Elder Holloway

The view from my apartment

Morning Exercise, every day

Elder Wilkins is the one with jeans. The others are babes.

Temple of John the Baptist

The Hermitage

San Francisco? 

(This will probably only make sense to Bay Area natives. Or maybe only to us )

Finn!

Aerosmith 

Swing Fun

A Pretty Sunset