Hello

It was a good week! Here goes... On Monday, we went to the big famous church here in St. Petersburg (the big colorful one) and met some members from America on the street! It was fun to talk to them, and I'm glad you got the picture that they sent you. On Tuesday we had district meeting, but Elder Butters' phone is acting up so we didn't get the message that it was starting early this week, so we came about an hour late. It was fun, we have a big district. That night we were supposed to have a meeting with an older woman investigator, but we couldn't find a male member to come with us so we couldn't end up going. It was sad. This lady is really old and lonely and she almost cried the first time we came over because she hadn't seen missionaries in a long time. So that was a bummer. Wednesday was an exciting day.. we had Hermitage service in the morning, and it was good to be back. I like the people there that we work with, they're fun. After our service, we got to go to this cool exibit thing called Manifesta, it's like a yearly european modern art festival, and this year it is here. It was cool to see some of the rooms. Some were interactive, and that was fun. After that we tried to go get my package. There was this lady there who didn't describe too well what I needed to do, but then I figured it out. I went to the window that I needed to and the guy looked and my papers and turned me away right away, and said "send it back". Then the lady found me again, and I asked for her help. She went and grabbed my package and took a picture of my last name on the box and gave me a copy to show him. He saw it and said again "send it back", this time he was mad because of an angry customer that was in line before me. The lady took my paper from the customs, wrote my name on it (super illegal) and said come back on Friday, he won't be here. So that night we had english. It was good, we only had one guy there, but he is an investigator and so we got to have a lesson with him afterwards. Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council and we talked all about effectiveness and efficiency. It was a great conversation, and we had some great lunch. I really like President Childs, he's got his head on straight. We'll now be heading out to the outer areas to have Zone Training meetings for the missionaries who were not at MLC, so that will be fun. We basically relay the message that we heard and get ideas and input from the missionaries in our zone. Then we'll do splits with a few of them. That night we got to meet with the investigator grandma from before. Her situation is so sad, but so full of faith and hope! It's crazy to me. She has no money (somebody stole her passport and her pension funds for the next few months) but she is happy and she loves her Heavenly Father and it was a great lesson. She's got diabetes, she's going blind, she had surgery on her leg not too long ago, and she's had a tough few years. It was really sad, but a great experience. She reads the Book of Mormon even though it makes her eyes hurt, she's wanted to get baptized for the longest time but she always is not feeling well or in the hospital when her date came around. She's going to be in the hospital again soon for an eye surgery, and so we hope that after that she'll be all ready to go. She is a great lady and is grateful for all that she has. Friday we served at the Hermitage again and went for my package. The lady this time took my paper and said that the box was addressed to the church, asked me what I did here and got all suspicious. She said I could get my package, I just needed to get a letter from Mom. So they'll open it up and make sure all is well, and hopefully give it to me today. That night we had a meeting with a less acitve who hates america and americans. It was interesting... he thinks that Obama was elected president becuse he would make a good president of the world... he's kinda african, kinda muslim, kinda christian, cultured, educated, kinda hawaiian, so that was an interesting conversation. He has no desire to come to church though. "Too many fakes". Saturday we went over to the grandma's house again to try and do some service for her, but she just wanted us to teach her a lesson. She can clean on her own, but she can't teach herself. So that was interesting. Good surprise. We had a ward picnic during the day with a few families that came. It was fun to hang out with members and one of our investigators. sunday we had church, there were some american tourists who brought their tour guide to church! Good missionaries. That night we had a fun meeting with a less active and his active family. He's a twenty something year old who's trying to figure out life, and he likes to argue. We took it easy this week and just had some fun. It was nice. Great week.

I read Alma 29 verse 10 this week. I don't remember if I have the right verse or if this is a different one, but this made me think that as we serve others and see good in the lives of others, we see how much we have been blessed. And I thought about my mission and how it's true! The times when I lost myself in the work, I've learned the most. I've seen more blessings even if the situation wasn't changed too much. I think that's one of the reasons we are told to serve, because we help those around us and we help ourselves more than if we were focusing on our needs. Love ya all, have a good week.

Andrew Gwilliam