The dream is over

I'm going to stray from the usual pattern of things. As for what we did this week, it sufficeth me to say that we had some meetings set up and we had the same amount of meetings fall through. The two real highlights of the week have to be the ward activity on Saturday at our investigator's dacha (the father of the former branch president... we found him again and have a meeting with him on Tuesday). A lot of the members that I know well here came and it was just a good time. We talked, we had chicken, we ate fresh berries, all was well. It was a grade A sendoff by the branch. Sunday was also a highlight. I gave a talk about unity, that was a good end to my mission. I felt that I really have become one with these people. I didn't really notice it until I started thinking about it. As for this next week, Tuesday is packed with meetings and goodbyes and tears and stuff and Wednesday at 6 AM we head to St. Petersburg. We've got to be there by 1, that's when we check out of the mission and all that stuff.

This is such a crazy time. I honestly was walking to the bus today, and there was an argument going on in my head. I don't feel like I'm leaving, but the reality of it is starting to set in. I felt totally normal and that I'm starting another week as usual, but at the same I know that It's almost over.

I'm so glad that I served on a mission. The things that matter most in life and eternity really came to my attention since I've been here. I'm of course not perfect and even far from it, but thanks to my mission I have a deeper understanding for the gospel and for the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us. I love you all! Have a good week!


Elder G

That's a lot of honey

That's a lot of birds

That's a lot of food

Let's sing and dance to mother nature's song

Hello hello! It was a good week. Here's the recap! Tuesday we had to resolve the problem that we found in the audit a few weeks ago, so we were here in the branch going crazy looking at all of the financial records and trying to find discrepancies. We found some! At some point, the last branch president must have added some of his own money to the church money and never gave himself money back. So we'll take it off the card and donate it as fast offerings to the branch. That's the protocol I guess. We had a lesson that night with a less-active, one that we have been meeting with weekly. We had him open up his scriptures (that have not been opened in a while) and he was having a fun time flipping through them and seeing verses that he had underlined and notes that he had written. It was a good lesson, and we hope that he opened up his scriptures a few more times this week. Wednesday we had district meeting, that was good. We then went to Lenta (a store here... comparable to Walmart) to get some lac for painting some wood at the service babushka's apartment next time we go. Turns out it's not as cool as Walmart and they don't have that kinda stuff there. So we just went to a hardware store... probably where we should've gone in the first place. The Novgorod Elders came down here for a split and we met them at the bus station then went home. Thursday during the day, we were on splits. One of the Elders had been in Pskov before and wanted to meet a few members, so we set up meetings with them and he and my companion went to them. My exchange companion and I did contacting until the bus at 3. The bus ride was by far the most interesting and comfortable of all bus rides... there was a fight between arguing women (uppercuts and headbutts... it was intense) and there was even air conditioning (it was hot out and usually they don't turn on the A/C). The police met us at the stop to investigate the fight.. but the instigator of the fight lied and said that she would be going all the way to Novgorod, but got off right before really fast before they could stop. But they stopped anyways, and there was another confrontation. That's when the headbutt was. We got to Novgorod, walked and did some contacting before time was up and walked by the church to find in covered in obscene graffiti. Lovely! So we had to take care of that. Oh, by the way we went to Novgorod. Friday was Zone Training. It was a good one, there was one part about Doctrines, principles, and applications that got me thinking (yes Dad, it's from Elder Bednar's book that you're reading). That was really interesting and now I can't read or hear anything related to the Gospel without saying to myself "Is that a doctrine or a principle? How do we apply that doctrine? It's fun. After zone training, we took a bus home. Saturday was great. We cleaned the branch, did our weekly planning, then went to some less active members. We tried to find them. None of them were home, but we talked to some fun people. There was also some kid (maybe my age) who kept riding his bike by us and trying to knock my Book of Mormon out of my hands, but I always moved it out of the way and made him look silly. There were a few babushki who really liked how we were dressed and were just in love with us. There was also a nice drunk man who approached us for some smokes, but we ended up talking about how he could quit instead. That's how it usually goes. It was funny. He said they weren't for him, but for a friend. He was nice and said he would never drink again. Sunday... Sunday was the day! The day of Miracles! Our good investigator, the father of the former branch president, reappeared at church! I was glad to see him. He even walked from his house (that's 2 hours away) to make it on time. He's usually 5 minutes late because of the bus schedule. He is doing well, we're going to have a ward activity at his dacha on Saturday. He had gotten drunk and fallen off the map, now he's back. I hope that on Saturday we get a good chance to talk to him about that and see if we can't help him out. If not, I'll make a good chance :). Also, MY PAL CAME TO CHURCH THE ONE THAT HAD A BIRTHDAY LAST WEEK. It was sooooo meant to happen, our meeting last week. He met the branch president, and the branch president set up the interview with him for this last week. They talked for 3 hours, he got some things off of his chest, and he CAME! I was happy! I was so happy! I will leave 100% happy. It was a good day. A member also brought us pies with rabbit meat in them. It wasn't half bad. I also had a testimony increase of the importance of meeting as saints on a regular basis. I just felt better after church and I realized that was why. Surrounding yourself with people who share your beliefs and values is important. In Utah, it's mostly all the time and I think we take that for granted. Here I've really learned that it's so important and vital. We had another miracle... the young Ukrainian kid came back here for a day, and we got to talk with him yesterday. He changed his phone number and the missionaries in the city lost touch with him. We restored the contact! Sweet! It was a good week.

I'm glad that I am able to be here with these changes for the better that are going on here! It is a sweet end to my nearly 11 months of labor in Pskov. But I've still got one more week! What will happen? Stay tuned....


Elder G.

p.s. I don't want this feeling to go away

p.p.s. picture time

Who's in that tower?

Kremlin

Rocky you met your match

Hello! It was a good week. Here's your update: Tuesday had another skype district meeting, this one went better than the last one. We had a change in district leader and the new one really pushes us to do our best and checks up on us regularly. He taught a lesson about weaknesses and had us make a plan to overcome our weaknesses. It was a good, refreshing district meeting. After that we hit the streets and did some contacting. This week was pretty rainy so there weren't masses of people on the streets and in the parks like there are sometimes. My companion and I made a tasty soup (I mostly just contributed an onion and watched what he did, he likes to cook). We had a meeting with a less active that missionaries had lost contact with about six months ago, so it was good to see him again and talk to him. We're planning for a temple trip in the branch for the end of the year, and we're trying to get him to prepare for it. He has never been before. He doesn't come to church because he sleeps... so we'll obviously have to tackle that one before we move on to the temple. But he's a really fun guy and I like him. Wednesday was a branch day, but in a different way than usual... we went out with the new branch president and tried to locate less active members. He has the feeling that our branch won't grown until we know what's going on with the members that we already do have, so that's going to be our focus for a while here. We've already had some success, with a few people opening up and willing to meet. We really spent literally the whole day with him doing that. Thursday we had branch presidency meeting in the early afternoon, then after that we did some weekly planning. I'm really excited for what's going to happen here with our new branch president. I was honestly hesitant at first when president Childs wanted to call him, but it will be awesome! That night we stopped by another less active and found another one that's been off the map for at least 3 or 4 months. He's doing well but just like the other one is sleeping instead of church. Friday we had the dreaded branch audit. It took three hours to do, but it went pretty well. A few things that we'll have to fix, but it won't be too bad. My companion had to get some new pictures for his new visas, so that was the next thing we did. This weekend was a holiday weekend, Paratrooper day, and we recieved a command from up high in the mission (President Childs) to not be out after 6 on Friday-Sunday. So that's what we did next. Went home. I won't repeat that for all the days, but that was it for the evenings this week. We did some language study and moved some of our other day time activities to after that time. Saturday we cleaned the branch, had a lesson with an investigator who has depression. The lesson was not so good at the beginning, but by the end we had him smiling and kinda laughing so I think it was a success. It kinda went from a lesson to a chat about why he was depressed, and we finally got down to it. He quit drinking and without that his life is boring. He really likes to paint, so I showed a lot of interest in his paintings and he got happier. He said he's going to paint a lot this week, so I hope he's feeling better next time we can meet. Before we went home, we had a skype training with President Childs and the councilors in the mission presidency and the other branch presidencies in the mission. It went well, but we've got to get the technology working better. There was a miracle that day... so as we were walking to the branch, we ran into a less active (the one who got baptized right after I left the first time... the one person I've taught that has been baptized! That I know of) on the street. It was his birthday. I was praying for the chance to wish him a happy birthday and for the words I could say to him so that he could feel of our love for him and how we'd like him to return. I was planning on calling him, then I SAW HIM. He said "I'm free, where are you going right now?" And he got a cake, changed into some nice clothes, and came to the branch and ate it with us and the branch president! They have a good relationship! I will leave more happy just because I know he at least likes the branch president. He has a hard time with missionaries he doesn't know. Yesterday was good. We really just had church, did ward council (which was great), finances, then sent the money off to the church. Then it was time to come in.

It was a good week! This next week will be busy with splits and exchanges. We're going to Novgorod again for zone training on Friday.

It's really cool to see how things just fall in place when you do what you should be doing and you work hard. That's one of the biggest things I've seen here, is that the Lord takes care of us if we do what we should. It's often very hard to see how a bad situation or trial can turn us for good, but as we just work through it and have faith in Him everything turns out. I'm grateful for the many small miracles that I saw this week. Have a good week!

Elder Gwilliam

You really know how to dance

It was a good week. Things are different here now with all the changes in companions and branch leadership and stuff. Anyways, on Monday night we left to St. Petersburg to get to my companion's dentist appointment on Tuesday morning. We stayed with my friends the assistants that night. Tuesday morning we went to the dentist and man oh man... it's not pretty. The dentist looked at his teeth for 2 seconds, said 'awful' a bunch of times, then made him go get some x-rays of them. One of his teeth is dead from the gum up, and so all they did was work on that one. The roots are still kinda living, but the rest is dead. So they did a little mini root canal thing and stuck some medicine in his tooth to see if it would wake up his nerves. If it hasn't worked by this week when they go in again, they'll just pull out his tooth then move onto the ten plus other cavities and things. So yeah, not pretty at all. Sorry I had to tell you about that, Grandpa Gwilliam. I brush every day, just like you said. After that he wanted to go get a new belt because his old one is breaking. So we did that. Then we ate some fancy hamburgers (that had bacon and were really good) and then met one of our investigators that moved to St. Petersburg a few months ago. We went with him to Avtovo where they were having a ward activity and my companion wanted to go see all of his old friends there. So that was the night. Oh yeah, a recently returned missionary was there... he came back from America with his parents and they heard about this activity and stopped by. It was weird but fun. Wednesday... "Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." That's what I felt like. It was a crazy experience. We had a meeting in the morning with the Glausers to kinda send off the old missionaries and to make them start thinking about what they're going to do when they get home... about 12 hours before they got sent home. We are leaving as you know a little sooner than the next group, so we got thrown in there too. That honestly didn't phase me that much. It was fun to be there. Then transfer meeting happened... my last one... I just was having a good time seeing my missionary friends and then I sat down in the chapel and it hit me like a "lightning strike in a summer storm" that I have 4 weeks left.... I didn't know what to think. I was called upon (as were all the others) to testify in front of all the missionaries... no topic, just a testimony. Everybody did a really good job. I have had this little gift or tender mercy if you will to be able to share my testimony here and cry but be able to talk through the tears. Well, the spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for my mission and I was so sad to be leaving and I was so determined to keep working and I was such an emotional wreck that I bawled and bawled and got out a few sentences and that was it.  I read Mosiah 5:13 I think and just bore my testimony really briefly then sat down. After that, I was totally fine and totally calm. I am grateful for that experience because the other missionaries that felt that urgency like I did got on a plane a few days ago, but I have four more weeks to get some work done! I'm grateful for that. That night we got on a bus and went to Pskov, my new companion and I. Elder Mullen is great. I'm going to have a really good time with him. Thursday morning we tried to get him all registered up and it was hard. The visa worker in the office misinformed some of us and made it hard for us to get it done. But we got it done. During studies, Elder Mullen said some wise things. He asked my what I wanted to accomplish in these 4 weeks. I had never really thought of specific things to accomplish during this last time other than keep up what we've been doing. So we set some goals and we'll get on it. We had a fun time contacting that night and it rained pretty hard. This was a bad week to decide "I don't need my umbrella today". Friday we cleaned the branch and had a good time. Then we did some weekly planning. Saturday the assistants and President came to Pskov and just changed up the branch presidency. I'm now the first counselor. Hooray. We had a good dinner with them on Sunday night. We just talked about Pskov and what needs to happen here. I made a push for another companionship or at least one more missionary to have the ability to help out women. Last night we had a lesson with an investigator that I knew here before that hasn't been met with in a long time. He's doing ok, he's in a depression but he quit smoking. That's kinda weird. I thought that he would be super excited about that because that was always the hardest thing for him, and he's done it and now he's in depression. He was actually depressed before he quit smoking, that started while I was here before. It rained like I've never seen before in my life. It was calm then suddenly BAM rain. Heavy heavy rain. My suit is still wet, my shoes are still soaked. My shoes were filled with water. Again, the worst day on my mission to not grab an umbrella. Anyways, it was a good week. Have a good one yourselves!

Elder Gwilliam

The transfer meeting lunch

the Butters, Elder Jacob Carter

The last planner

California show your teeth

Hello! It was a good week. Here's a quick update. We left on Monday night for Novgorod to do exchanges. On Tuesday morning I went with the infamous Elder Dibble to help the branch president move a fridge to his new apartment. It was fun, I really like the branch president in Novgorod. He's a really cool, laid back guy. After that we had district meeting at the Glauser's apartment. It was fantastic to actually hear what they were saying and to participate. It was good. We decided that since my companion was there we could ask him a few questions about Russian. He decided that he didn't want to help so Elder Dibble and I answered the questions. After that we had some dinner, some tasty french toast, then ran to the bus station to make a bus out to one of the member families that Elder Dibble wanted to say goodbye to (he's going home on Thursday). The bus was pulling out as we got there, so we had to jump in a taxi instead. It was a good visit with them, I had been to their house before but they didn't remember me. We missed the bus back haha so we helped them move some wood around and he drove us back into town. Wednesday morning at 8 we got on a bus back to Pskov. We got home, did our studies, then went to some less-active addresses. The zone leaders were supposed to come on Thursday in the afternoon to do exchanges but cancelled at the last second. We met with the new branch president at the branch building and kinda did the official pass over of all the documents, passwords, keys, stuff like that. We met with a kinda investigator at the statue of Lenin and had a philosophical chat... well I didn't because I don't have the vocabulary or the desire for that. Friday we had the TRANSFER NEWS that I've been waiting for. My companion is leaving, my new one is Elder Mullen from Alaska. He's a new missionary, maybe 3 or 4 months here. I've met him a few times. It'll be great. That initiated the packing of the bags of my companion and the calling everyone to say I'M LEAVING AND WANT TO MEET WITH YOU AND SAY GOODBYE AND OTHER GOOD STUFF. That night we went to our investigator (the father of the former branch president.. I'll call him FFBP from now on) because he hasn't been answering the phone, and that usually means that he's drunk and in a slump. So we went there but he didn't open up or he wasn't home. Bummer. Saturday was really fun. We met with a nonmember mother of a member at the branch with a few other members and she taught us how to make these things called Манты (man-TEA). It's kinda like a dumpling but with only meat and a little more bland. But they were tasty. I wrote down the recipe and everything, so that'll be fun. The thing we didn't know was that they take 40 minutes to cook, and we made enough for 4 batches... yikes. So we ate them up, and in turn they ate up the day. Yesterday was good. We had church, Elder Zaharov said goodbye to everyone, then we had a request to help the sister of one recently activated member (she is also a member, not active and not friendly) move a fridge to her new apartment. So we did that after church, she literally did not say one word to us. But, we helped her out and I hope she'll remember that. So my fridge count for the week was two. I'll have a hard time topping that. I'll end with a funny quote from the former branch president of Pskov who recently got back from a conference in Moscow for those 18-30 unmarried members of the church. He called me to see how things were, and this was the best thing he said. He knows english ok, but he translated literally this phrase and it just sounded funny to me. I asked if he found any potential wives and this was his response: "Yeah, there was one. I don't know though. I don't know how her insides are, but she's really pretty." That was funny. I got a good laugh out of that. Also, one of the missionaries in his ward right now taught him the word "turd" and he loves that one now. Good one, Elder.

It was a good week. I've learned a lot in the last lots of months here in Pskov, I'm sad to see this time of testing come to and end but I'm ready to move on. I'm excited for Elder Mullen and what we'll do together. Have a good week! 

Elder G

PiCtUrE tImE

I thought this picture was really cool until I realized that this is the Serbian flag... not Russian.

hooray for smiley face toast

Hooray for man tea

Rain Rain go away

It was a rainy week. It was pretty chilly too. We even put our coats on Saturday and Sunday. IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY IN RUSSIA. What in the world? Last year from April until October I was dying and losing liters of water a day in sweat, and this year I'm wearking a coat. Weird. Here's the week: Tuesday we had another fantastic District Meeting using Skype. We must have a pretty bad connection because we can hardly hear a word that they say. My companion taught the lesson (in Russian) and there were lots of blank looks and no answers to questions from the Novgorod missionaries which kinda made my companion mad. But don't worry, tonight we're hopping on a bus to go there for splits so it'll be ok. We'll have a good district meeting tomorrow. After that we had the ward sports night activity, we decided to upgrade this week from small tennis (that's what they call ping-pong) to big tennis. It was fun! Only one investigator came. Haha but it was fun to play! I've never played before. I always wanted to with mom, but we never got around to it. Now we'll have to! Wednesday we went to the dacha of one of the babushkas here. We finished the little a-frame thing that we started a few weeks ago, it was good. It turned out better than I thought it would. That night we had a meeting with an investigator that we meet with only once a month or so. This time, she tried to compare satan to the internet. God puts info there just like we put info into the internet. But after a while satan got out of hand and powerful, just like the internet. Also where is Cain's wife from? Well according to her, God made Cain's wife kinda like we can make guns with 3D printers. Also satan's job is to make us to God look like unorganized fools who don't get along with each other. That's why it's a monthly thing. All that stuff was what I remembered the most, but she also has some sincere questions that she doesn't like our answers to. She just needs a second source, a second WITNESS or TESTAMENT and she'll be fine. That night on the bus ride home I was reminded yet again of the agility of seventy year old Russian women who see vacant seats on the bus. She hit that gap in the masses and sat right on that seat! Thursday was quite the day. We started off with Branch presidency meeting that affected the rest of the day. My companion and the first counselor, a member here, got in a HUGE arguement about whether or not people should have two callings in our branch because it's so small. It was a silly argument that had a silly beginning and a dumb end. I tried to extinguish the fire, but it got too big and even burned off my eyelashes. So I just sat and listened. The arguement went from that topic to personal attacks on each other. So at that point I stood up and said that I was not going to listen anymore, let's call this an interview and you two talk it out without arguement or harsh words. I left the room and my companion followed. He didn't want to go back in so we just went home. He sat on the couch for a few hours and just cooled down. I made him call the counselor and apologize. Then he said he was glad that this other guy wasn't branch president and that he's not ready. Funny story... the next day we got a call from the second counselor in the Mission Presidency, saying that he was coming this weekend TO RELEASE MY COMPANION and to CALL THIS OTHER MAN TO BE BRANCH PRESIDENT. My companion actually handled this news a lot better than I thought he would. So he's leaving Pskov, I'll get a new comp and I'll know who next week. I'm going to die here (a missionary death, that is). Also Friday we went to the father of the former former branch president and read with him Alma 34 about the Atonement. It was a good lesson, but for some reason he's just not making progress. He doesn't feel too good about the idea of helping us out like President Childs asked him to. Saturday the second counselor came and we did splits. My companion went off with the new branch president and they talked it out and I was proud of them. I was with the second counselor. We made a plan to hit up the Elders that are in Pskov, and only one opened up out of ten-ish. Yesterday was good. At church my companion was released, the other man was called. He actually went to St. Petersburg this morning to get set apart because President Childs was not able to come last week. We had a lesson planned with an investigator, but she ditched us. It was a good week. Really really fast.

Here's a question for you. I think you all know the answer, but sometimes it's worth remembering and being reminded of. What is the one thing that we do every week in church? The Sacrament of course! It represents and reminds us of the center of everything that we do. Christ is our foundation, our cornerstone, and the head of this church. Everything else is also important, but it can be traced back to Christ and his eternal atoning sacrifice. The more I learn about the gospel, the church, the more I read the scripture the more obvious it becomes. You should all read "A Reservoir of Living Water" by Elder Bednar. It's a good talk that makes me number one feel like my scripture study is weak, and number two I feel excited to read the scriptures and look for those patterns and themes that he talks about. Have a good week!

Elder Gwilliam

Tennis

the train out to the dacha 

Hello

Hello! It was a good, really fast week here. Here's an update. Monday after emailing, we hopped on a bus and went to St. Petersburg for Zone Conference on Tuesday. We rode on a really small, really hot bus. That was quite the experience. Tuesday was great. We started off the day with the last hoorah for floorball, seeing as Elder Dibble, a fellow lax bro, is leaving this transfer and most other people want to play basketball. It was fun to play again after a long time, but I remember that game every day thanks to my bruised tailbone. Man that is a really uncomfortable place to have pain. Anyways, Zone Conference was great. We talked a lot about member missionary work and what our responsibilities are compared to members. One of the problems we are seeing in our mission is that the members have become to dependant on the missionaries. In Novgorod for example, a young girl turned 8 and was baptized on Saturday. The missionaries literally did everything... it was so bad I guess that President Childs was a little upset about it (he doesn't normally get upset). So we went over our job and what we are here to do and talked about how to ease them off of their missionary addiction. One of them, as strange as this sounds, was just to refuse to do certain things. Let them kinda feel the heat from their leaders when something doesn't get done in the branch. Of course our situation is different, because my companion is the branch president and all. But it was just interesting to have that discussion. The assistants also made some magic happen and invited some members for us to practice with. One of them is from Ukraine, she's a young mom. We asked her about her baptism, what the gospel means to her, things like that and it just became a tear fest. It was better than any similar meeting I've had with members here before. She's amazing! That was the highlight of the day. That night we went to Avtovo to see some of my companion's pals from when he served there. Wednesday we woke up early and got our basketball on with the "ballers" of the missionary force. That was the best workout I've gotten in a long time and it was really fun. Elder Castleton can ball! He's awesome. We stayed for a day because my comp was supposed to go to the dentist that I went to for some work. We got there and they started doubting his insurance, so we cancelled the appointment and set it up for the next time we're in the city. Hopefully they can work out the problem before then. That afternoon we got on a bus and rode home. Thursday we had a belated FHE and it was fun. We talked about missionary work and tried to get the members all excited about it. We had some good food and played UNO as well. Friday we went bus searching. The one young woman in our ward that we have contact with decided on Monday that she wanted to go to the girl's camp that the stake was doing, so we scrambled all day to get all the forms done, to find a bus that would get her there on time, stuff like that. Saturday we went with her to the bus station to buy the ticket (you have to show your passport to buy the ticket). Before that we cleaned the branch building by ourselves (refer to what we learned in Zone Conferece :)). Sunday was great. I had a lot of realizations that I hope will stay with me. The first is that those I know here that read the Book of Mormon, and really read it, are generally more humble, in tune with the spirit, happy, friendly, and the list goes on. The Book of Mormon is key to our happiness and success and progress on the path of discipleship. I love the Bible, don't get me wrong. For the past while I've been using language study to read the Bible in Russian (I finished the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago.. yay!) and because I know the Book of Mormon better and I want to know the Bible just as well, I am reading the New Testament and adding my own footnotes that correspond with the truths we find in the Book of Mormon. There's a run on sentence for you to disect! I hope you understood. Anyways, basically read the Book of Mormon and you'll be fine!

Here's a cool thing I found in the Book of Mormon this last week about conversion. 1 Nephi 2. We start with verse 3 and see the depth of Lehi's conversion summed up in one sentence, the footnote helped me come to this realization (of course reading on will build upon the fact that he was converted). I read that and thought "dang, I want to be like that". So I read on, hoping for an answer. I found it in the beginning of Nephi's journey to conversion, his prayer to God to know if what his Dad was saying is right or not. It doesn't say that he received knowledge. It says that his heart was softened so that he could start to believe. He planted the seed, he didn't recieve a tree from Glover's Nursery. This is the beginning of his journey, and if he can start we all can. Later on we see so many examples of how this one little thing made a big difference in his life (remeber President Uchtdorf's talk "a matter of a few degrees"?). One of those examples that I read today was also in 1 Nephi. The end of chapter 3 was the angels appearing to Laman and Lemuel to tell them to knock it off, and they still don't believe and don't have much faith. Read their murmurs then read the very next verse, the beginning of chapter 4. As Elder Bednar taught us while he was in Moscow about a year ago, we too often see the division of a chapter as the division of two different events or stories. Sometimes reading past the chapter divisions is needed to see the whole picture. Anyways, that's my little Gospel talk for the week. Have a good one!

Elder Gwilliam

AMERICA! I got my russian companion to eat a bacon burger and Dr. Pepper for the 4th of July (observed) while we were in St. Petersburg. 

Flashback: This place was so cool!

What's up?

Hello! It was a good week here. I'll jump right into it as usual. Tuesday we had our Skype district meeting that went well. Our district leader, Elder Leblow, has been doing a good job of trying to make the meetings better even with the awful connection. After that we went home and had some good dinner. We met with the less-active (from the last week drama... or a few weeks ago... I forget) and he seems to be doing a little better as far as how he feels about the church. But as you'll see later, we were mistaken Tuesday evening! WEdnesday we had a bunch of branch work to do. We had to do a branch membership audit (which sounds scary but takes five minutes) and some other things with finances that we had to work out. We also had to search the russian version of Craig's list to find a crib for a member's baby. So we found a good one. That night we went and picked it up from a very nice family who wanted that thing and the two mormons who came to buy it out of the door ASAP. We got to the bottom of the staircase and I realized "Dang, we're going to have to carry this thing pretty far or call a taxi or something". So I'm all about saving money (and I had lazied out my morning excercises that day) so I was all game for carrying this thing accross Pskov. My companion was not. We carried it. This member has a really really hard situation right now that would take way longer than my alloted hour and a half to describe, so basically her husband (a member and a return missionary) is a bum right now and doesn't help her at all after she had her child. So we've been helping her out where she needs it, but we are also suspicious about some of what she says and if it's 100% true or not. So we asked her where we should take the crib, she told us the address, and we took it there. She won't give her address to anyone, so we were kinda surprised. We took it to her staircase and she said "ok, my mom will help me now. Thanks so much! See ya!". So we walked away and I thought, hmmm we should see if she really lives there so we can update her member record (being the clerk, I'm responsible for such things). So we did some good detective work and found out that she lives NOT where she told us, but in a different building! So we got the number of the building. I kinda want to call her out on it, but my companion wants to let things play out and see what happens. We'll see. Thursday we went to our investigator at his dacha. We didn't really have a "lesson", but we talked about life and had a good chat. He has a hard life but he does a great job of having a good time and loving life. He's a good example. He has strawberries growing there, oh my goodness they are so tasty! Friday we went to the Carters old apartment to clean it out and but the stuff into the mission driver's car (he drove down with the Coltons to close up the apartment). We also moved the safe with all the church documents back to the church. That night we AGAIN met with the member who we're welfaring. We bought some diapers for her child. Saturday morning we went again to the Carters to meet with the landlord and finish the deal. It went smoothly. We then cleaned the branch. That night was another meeting with the infamous less-active, and something happened during the week that made things worse again. He was smiling during our whole lesson (not a good smile, a "this is a joke" smile). He started calling me Andrew... what the heck? He must have found me online or something. Anyways, we walked a little with him and saw the sights of the town but for now it's not looking good with him. That night at about 10:25 I received an assignment to speak on prayer the next day. It was a good Sunday. The talk was good, I think. I had actually studied a lot this week about prayer and am trying to make my prayers more sincere and so I was glad to speak about it. We hunted down some less-actives and found one that lives in Rostov, well we actually found his dad. But we found out that he lives in Rostov. Success!

It was a good week. Things are going well here. There's not much else to say.

Elder Gwilliam

Russian Bingo

Pskov!

FHE with some sweet pizza 

There are places I remember

It was a good week here. Kinda slow based on what we are used to, summer is here too and people are starting to disappear to dacha and computer games. So we've got some work to do on that front. Tuesday was good. We had a district meeting with Novgorod over Skype from the branch building, it was good but it's hard to do a meeting like that over skype. There is a new Sister missionary in Novgorod, from the great city of South Jordan! We just pump out Russian speaking missionaries I guess. Her name is Sister Davis, don't know her first name, she graduated in 2014. I asked her who her friends were and I didn't know any. So that's interesting. That morning before district meeting my comp took 2 of his suits to get refitted, they're both a little too big. He's kinda a skinny guy. The evening was tough though... the less-active that we've been meeting with most frequently came to ping-pong and was in a weird mood, so my comp (who is also the Branch President) took him into another room and had an interview with him. It was a tough one. The member laid down everything that he wasn't doing right, said the church was too boring, said he doesn't care anymore and that it's easier for him to be in the world and do what they do. That crushed my companion and I don't know exactly what happened, but I don't think my companion said much. The member came to me, said goodbye, then left. When I found my companion, his face was red and he was crying. That was the first time on my mission I saw a russian man who was not under the influence of some substance cry. It was a pretty intense evening trying to say the right things and make him feel better. The next day we went to some addresses of people we'd never seen before and found some grumpy moms who didn't want to tell us how to get in contact with their children. That night we had kinda a family home evening at a members house for the members who don't have anybody with them (so all but our one couple). It was fun. We played a russian version of bingo, I was the caller and I tried to go as fast as I could until the babushki were confused. Then I had to slow down. Thursday was good as well. We put some branch business in order and tried to organize the records. The more I dive into the calling of a branch clerk, the more I realize how intense it is and how long it hasn't been done here. This week alone I've found multiple members who have moved (the hard part is getting their new address), that we're way over budget already this year and I was the first one to actually look at the budget, and that we've got an audit this week of member records... joy. That was during the day, at night we had a lesson with a former investigator who liked the missionaries who started teaching him, but hasn't wanted to meet since. It was a good meeting, and we'll meet with him again. He likes us. Friday was another branch day. That morning I also learned that when Listerine comes through your nose, it really really hurts. We had planned on branch presidency meeting at 11, and when we got there the first counselor said that he was busy and for us to wait... so we waited for 30 minutes. Then he came and said it wouldn't work out and that he had to reconfigure the internet in the branch and didn't know what to do. So we went home to have some lunch. Then he called and said "jk guys, that was easy. Come back now!" so we again hopped on the bus for the 30 minute ride to the church. It was a good meeting and we got a lot done. That night again we went to addresses, but nobody answered. Saturday we cleaned the branch building and had a good time doing that. That night we again hit up some addresses. We need to know the status of every member before the audit this week. Sunday was interesting. During sacrament meeting, one of the talks was given by a babushka who basically just read a sermon from some baptist pastor and said a lot of things that weren't right. I was very grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible together so that we can understand the teachings of Christ and our testimony can grow based on true principles. My companion also gave a talk on the Sermon on the Mount and there was not one reference in sacrament meeting to the Book of Mormon... yo my yo. After that I taught the second hour lesson from the Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson about the power of the word... a wonderful time to testify about the Book of Mormon! Then we had a great branch council. Yesterday we found all the books and Liahonas that that member with whom there was a bad interview laid on the steps of the church. So my companion called him up and had another interview with him last night. This one went a lot better and ended with "I still don't want to come to church, but we can meet and I'll come to activities." Sweet! Great end to the week.

I thought a lot about what he said about living in the world and how it's easier for him... it's really easier for all of us! But as my wise Dad always tells me, "When it hurts, that's when you have to keep going and then the growth will come." I may have paraphrased that and it may be about sports, but it applies here too! If it's easy, we don't get any lasting results from it. We need to put effort into something to get a result. It will be hard, but it is worth it. "There no growth in the comfort zone, and there in no comfort in the growth zone." Have a great week!

Elder Gwilliam

We're at the library today and I can't send pictures :(

"Do you think I'd look spank in this suit?"

That's an Elder Butters quote. President came down here Saturday night with the assistants and the assistants stayed this morning to buy new suits here in the cool factory. That's what he asked me when he walked out of the changing room and I about died. I love spending time with him. Anyways, here is the week. Tuesday was good. The Carters left us to go to transfer meeting, we went to the dacha of the member that we went to last week. On Sunday she told us that she had another emergency there and that we had to go move the foundation of one of the structures on her property that had broken a pipe. Really complicated sentence there, but that's what we did. She fed us again some really good buckwheat. Wednesday we went to the dacha of our investigator to teach a lesson. His dacha is not far away from the city (ten minutes) and so we can go there just for a lesson. We had a lesson with him about repentance because he is coming of a rough few weeks with drinking and feeling alone. We talked about that and read Elder Packer's testimony of the atonement in the last few paragraphs of his talk at last general conference. It was a good lesson. Not the best, but good. One of the members who was here a year and a half ago reappeared! She's 15 and crazy. She wants to go to youth conference, so we met with her and signed her up. Thursday we did some planning along with repairs from the apartment inspection. The Carters then invited us to dinner at a restaraunt for my companions birthday. We went to this cool little place by the river, it was an outdoor restaraunt. The carters had gotten back from St Petersburg only a few minutes before and their power was off! So Elder Carter stayed home and Sister Carter stayed and met us. We were supposed to meet a less-active at a park to talk about welfare help, but she didn't show up. Friday was Russian Independance day! And my companion's birthday. We had a really fun activity by the river in a pretty park. We had a soccer ball, a frisbee, and a lot of people show up! I honestly didn't think that many would come, but the bus we were on was suddenly filled with a ton of members and investigators after one of the stops! It was really fun. We had some food and a good time. We were supposed to meet that less-active again in the park but she didn't come. But Saturday morning she did come! Her situation is pretty tough. Her husband is a member and he doesn't support her at all. He's totally off the map right now, he has a lot of debt and is running from his problems. Oh.. and she just had a baby. So that's another twist. Anyways, we are trying to help them out. We cleaned the church after that meeting then were supposed to go back to the branch for an interview with a member who wanted to make things right with the branch president, but he didn't show up. Sunday was really fun! At 8:30 we had a good meeting with President and Sister Childs and just talked about Pskov. Read some scriptures. We then had a meeting with a member here who is really strong spiritually but really lazy physically. He loves video games and plays them all the time. President Childs interiewed him and I translated. We had a good sacrament meeting, again with me translating! Then a good second hour lesson from President, again with me translating! After that, Elder Zaharov and I quickly did the finances and then I was on splits with President and Sister Childs (yikes!). We visited a very old woman in the ward who usually comes to sacrament meeting, but this week was too sick to come. We took her the sacrament and gave her a blessing. Then we met the others, had a dinner at the Carters and said goodbye. It was no fun to say goodbye to them! They are awesome and we'll miss their energy. After dinner and goodbyes, we went to the church and had another meeting with the man we met with on Wednesday. This time President wanted to talk with him about faith and then towards the end we shifted to service. He wanted to have this man do more service in the branch for him to come closer to Christ. Mosiah 5:13 I think. This man does lots of fixing up things that are here in the branch physically, but President wants him to go "home teaching" with us and visit less-active members. He said that he would help us. I hope this works! He's kinda an eternal investigator now. We drove him home then I met up with the other missionaries and we were done for the day. It was a good week. Good to be reunited with some of my favorite missionaries.

Also, President told my companion is his interview (that I translated!) that he would be getting a transfer in July. So that was a really boring transfer call. I don't know who I'll be with or anything like that, but I'll most likely finish off here where I started. Have a good week!

Elder Gwilliam

You go, Grandma!

Me in a tree

Summertime Sadness

Well, summer has finally come this year. Last year it was in full swing by the beginning of April and I was dying in St. Petersburg, but this year it's come really slowly. Winter put up a good fight. The last few days have been nicer here and the sun has peeked through the clouds. Summer is here! Too bad it'll be a shorter one. It was a good week. Here's the update for ya! Tuesday we went out to a member's dacha and helped her there. Our big project was moving some wood that had been created by her destroying one of the little structures on her property. That took most of the day, to move all the wood into a shed so that it wouldn't get all wet in the rain. We had some fun with it. The Carters came with us. She fed us some good buckwheat with onions and other goodies. Buckwheat is an absolute staple here, but I never really tried it (or wanted to) until returning to Pskov. It's not that bad. Wednesday we did our planning for the week and also cleaned up our apartment for the inspection on Thursday. We had a lesson with a less-active at the church. He's kinda tough to work with because he is kinda lazy and just likes to make excuses, but at the same time he loves to just meet with us and have good talks about church topics. He's just got some problems in his life that make him feel like he's not worthy or able to come to church. No matter how many times that we tell him that the church and its functions are for the PERFECTING of the saints (as opposed to the PERFECT saints), he just doesn't seem to want to understand it. Also we ran to a member who is a seamstress in the local suit factory, TRUVOR, and gave her a pair of my pants that had ripped in an unpleasant area to fix up. She's great. Thursday we did our service for the babushka. This time I helped cut off some branches from a tree growing near their apartment building. The Carters then walked back home with us and inspected our apartment. We did a good job. Friday we had zone training over skype with the Novgorod missionaries and our zone leaders. It was honestly really boring. I think most of that was the fact that we were all tired and covered in bug bites from our dacha service and the fact that their microphone had a hard time picking up their voices. After that we ran over to the branch and did a quick little cleaning, then we got a call from the first councilor in the branch presidency saying that he had hurt his back and wanted us to come and give him a blessing. So we rode the bus out to his house (25-30 minutes from the city) and gave him a blessing. It was fun to see them at home (this is the only family in the branch, but they still don't have kids). Saturday was really really fun. We rented a 15 passenger bus and drove to Novgorod for a seminar put on by President and Sister Childs about strengthening famlies. It was a fun ride. The Carters organized some bingo for us to play. We had exactly 15 people show up so it went well. The seminar was really good. The Childs introduced the seminar, then the councilors in the mission presidency each gave presentations with their wives. They gave some good council. One of the women that was there stood up and told them that they were teaching the wrong principles (while talking about raising kids) because she didn't ever punish or guide her children and they turned out fine... yikes! So that was interesting. After the 2 hour seminar, we drove back to Pskov. It was a really fun day. Sunday was good. We had a great sacrament meeting. I don't know if you remember the Ukrainian that I told you about a few weeks ago, but he has had a hard time getting a visa to Turkey so he's still here, at least until the end of the week. He stood up and testified! He really just kinda thanked the members and missionaries here for accepting him so warmly and letting him participate in the activities. The branch did a good job of loving and accepting him (maybe this was a test for future investigators, ones who will stay here). Anyways, during his testimony he told of how he first met missionaries for english practice, but here in Pskov he had felt this love and spirit and felt that the church was true... and we were all like "WHAT?!" That was really cool! It's a bummer that he has to leave us, but I'm going to do all in my power to make sure that missionaries keep in contact with him where he's going to so that this progess will continue. That was a good one! Hooray for Pskov!

So, seeing as there was an emphasis on family this week, I thought I would talk about family! Also this will be a shoutout to my parents. I am so glad that my parents were not the kind to just let me grow up and learn on my own! Even though I didn't always listen to what they had to say, I am so glad that they said it! It showed their love for me and their desire for me to have a good, happy, successful life. They have the balance between fun, serious, study, play, and spiritual pretty well figured out. And that comes in part from practice and also from their parents who were great examples to them. So shoutout to my grandparents! I am so blessed to have the family that I do. I feel their love and I know that I can trust them. I really don't even know what else to say, I started crying as I typed that. I will be very lucky to find a woman who has the same values, work ethic, humor, and personality that my mom does. And my sisters will be lucky to find a man with integrity, wisdom, and love like my dad. Families are the best! Families are forever. I wish that before my mission I had told my family that I loved them more than I did. So here goes... I love you all! You're the best! Have a great week and sorry for the excessive use of parenthesis. 

Andrew

Pretty flower from the dacha

Elder Carter is a goof

The train to the dacha

The hardest part of emailing is choosing a good subject line.

Hello! It was a fantastic week here in the concrete jungle of Pskov! Here's an update for you. Tuesday was an especially good day. We had a good district meeting over skype (which sometimes turns into us making up what the other people are saying when the connection is bad) and after that headed over to the branch building with the Carters to set up for the devotional that night. In Moscow there was a devotional with Elder Nelson, Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the 70, and Elder Porter, our Area President. They broadcast this meeting by sattelite to all the stakes and branches on the European side of the area. The Asian side got the devotional a few days earlier. The meeting was 2 hours long and there were some great talks. Sister Nelson talked about how to improve relationships and used Paul's epistles as examples. Almost all of them were written as a letter of correction, but he always starts and ends with kind, loving, encouraging words. That was a really interesting topic. Then Elder Nelson shared the 10 most important things that he has learned in his 90 years of life. He shared basic truths that he has learned as his top 10. It was a very good devotional and we had a great turnout. Wednesday the Elders from Novgorod came to do splits (they are now the district leader companionship for us) and we went out with the first councilor and hit some addresses of less-actives. I went with our District Leader, and my companion went with the others. That night we had our sports night of ping pong. It turns out that the Ukrainian kid that we met last week didn't leave and he's still going to be here for about a week. Thursday the Novgorod Elders left and we had some branch business to take care of. We had to look through some financial records and member records to make corrections because there will soon be an audit. We had a lesson set up with a less active who has been off the map for years, but she didn't show up. Friday was a fun day. We did some hunting for a less active and an investigator who has been MIA for about a week now. The less-active always answers and agrees to meet but never shows up. So we tried to call and just ask where he was, what he was doing, etc. and try to find him that way. It didn't work. That night we had another meeting set up with a less-active and he didn't show up. It was kinda strange because he called us to meet, and usually when they call us they're really wanting to meet. But I guess not. He hasn't answered since. Saturday we did a cleaning of the church. This was kinda a deep clean this time, we did more than we usually do. That night we had a lesson with a less-active! Hooray! He is just kinda a lazy guy and plays lots of computer games. Last time we met with him, we wanted him to read one chapter from the Book of Mormon before the next time that we came. We knew that we didn't, so we decided to use this lesson to help him fulfil that commitment. It was one of the coolest, best, most spirit filled lessons of my mission... and he didn't really respond. What made it so great was the fact that even though we hadn't planned a real lesson, we both walked in and felt like we needed to talk about the same thing. We didn't say this to each other, but as we read we just kinda stopped and started talking about the same thing. I would have an idea of a verse to share, and my companion would beat me to it. We both had felt like we needed to talk to him about keeping the commandments and the blessings that we recieve from them. It was a great lesson. We shared Mosiah 2:41 and testified about the importance and the blessings that come from obedience to the commandments. The Spirit was very strong. What made it even more sweet is that my companion and I have in 12 weeks gone from arguements and not much spirit to that. I'll talk about that in a sec. Sunday was great. We came to the building and the Carters gave us the news about Elder Perry. That was sad, and my companion (who had the lesson for the second hour) decided to watch and discuss his last general conference talk. It was a great day. 

So the progress in my relationship with my companion came from following one simple rule that I made up: In ANY situation, be it an arguement, the silent treatment, good times, bad times, basically no matter what, SERVICE is always the answer. Always. To come to know the Lord, SERVICE (Mosiah 5:2). To recieve charity, SERVICE (and prayer). To show love, SERVICE. It's been a great journey and I have learned so much. It's so weird that with the hardest companions I learn the most and I dread the end of the time together. We'll get transfer calls this week and I feel that I'm leaving. But we'll see. 

Have a great week!

Andrew

Yeah. That's my District Leader.

I closed my eyes and was in America for a few minutes... Elder Carter spoils me. 

Sister Carter's spoils. She calls its "Satanic hospitality".  (this is from last week, but we had the same thing last night)

Hyello my friends!

Hey hey hey! It's Elder Gwilliam! Here's another recap of another good week! The week started out really interesting and never really died down. On Monday night at family home evening, President Childs decided to give us a call. So we answered with shaky, sweaty hands (as you do when the President calls). He informed us that my companion's registration was running out in Pskov the very next day and that we had to leave. The landlord did not want to register him again, so we had to wait it out in St. Petersburg while the negotiations were taking place. So he just told us that we had two possible situations: 1. We get the go from the landlord, we go back. 2. She refuses, I go back with a new companion. So that was pretty intense. Tuesday morning we hopped on a bus and went to the city! I was in Shuvalovo, the northern part of the city. When we got to the bus stop, the other elders met us and I was separated from my companion. He went to Avtovo. I went straight to their district meeting, which was good. Kinda all over the place, but good. That night we had a really cool lesson with their investigator who is really close to baptism. He even commited softly to a baptism on June 20. He's a really quiet, humble guy. I liked talking with him. He's a really cool guy! We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ with a member family and it went sweet. He told us that he'd drive us home, so we went with him. And I heard this funny song "Don't you worry child" that the other two very young elders belted while I just sat and enjoyed. Wednesday we were in the Hermitage, it was fun to be back. That night we took some tasty cinabon sorta thing to their bishop... but he wasn't home. So one of the Elders ate it. That night we got the go to return to Pskov. So Thursday we had interviews and we met up at the office to head back to Pskov. We had some time before the bus, so we went and visited the former Pskov Branch president at work there in the city. Then we took the bus home, it traffic and were 2 hours late. Friday we went and got the registration done, which is a very long and annoying process, but we got it done. While we were in the city we had a random phone call from a Ukrainian who knows missionaries in other cities and found our church in Pskov. HE's a really cool young kid, a hipster one may say, The bummer of the story is that he's only here until Wednesday this next week. HE's going to Turkey to work. But we had a good lesson with him and the Carters. Saturday was service day! We cleaned the brach with one of the members and the carters, then went with the carters to the babushka that we serve and did the standard service for her. Windows, floors, dusting. This time we cleaned some of the kitchen too. Sunday was good. I gave a talk on Fasting and I think it went well. I really like that topic, and used some quotes from President Eyring's talk from this last conference. I really like his talks. We had a good Sunday school lesson about the life of Christ that got everybody asking questions and thinking. Then we had dinner at the Carters with the Ukrainian fellow and said goodbye, left him with our testimonies, etc. I gave him some CTR rings because his grandma likes to throw them away when he takes them off. So yeah. 

I had a cool realization this morning while reading the Fourth section of D and C. Verse four reads: For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;  I don't know why I always thought this, but I always thought that what we lay up in store is baptisms. Well, I'm sure that's one of the things that we lay up in store. But the thought came that we're not only putting up baptisms in store, but all of the spiritual experiences that we have, especially on missions. The quesiton also came "Well what if my field wasn't white and ready to harvest?" Yes it's true, some missionaries do the harvesting and some the planing and some the watering (see Corinthians) or the "offensive lineman missionary work" as I like to call it. But then I got to thinking.... everything about my mission is white and already to harvest for ME. My mission president, my companions, the members, the areas, everything was ready when I came. It's my job to thrust in my sickle with my might and I'll lay up in store. Maybe not baptisms, but in friendships, experiences, and conversion. That's the miracle of a mission in my eyes... everything was personalized for me just as it was for all my companions and all missionaries. I don't know if these thoughts make sense to you, but it was really cool for me to think about my mission like that this morning during studies. 

Have a good week! Love ya bye!

Andrew

The morning breaks!

Hello! It was a good week. Here's the update for y'all. On Monday night we had a really good Family Home Evening at the Carters apartment. We had more people there than we had at the meetings on Sunday a week ago.. that was kinda awkward. I guess only one more person came to FHE than did to church, but still. That's kinda silly. We watched a movie about the Book of Mormon and then played some fun games with M and M's. Tuesday was good too. We had a branch presidency meeting at noon at the branch building and it wasn't the best one we've ever had. There were some opinions and some words flying and I was having a fun time trying to take notes of all the ideas and suggestions that were made. We then walked over to the Carters and had a district meeting (finally) with the Novgorod district over skype. It was fun. It was obviously a little weird at first, but we'll make it work. We then ran home and had some dinner. Then we met with a member that we gave some welfare help to, had a chat with her at the bus stop. She recenly had a baby and her husband left her... well, it's just a really complicated situation. She was active last summer, but after she got pregnant and had to work to support herself she stopped coming. So we're trying to help her out. Then we had our "sports night" with ping pong at the branch. The Carters are really good. We had a small fun tournament and they were in the championship together. We only had one less active come, but a few active members came and it was fun. Wednesday in the branch we set up the new computer that came from Moscow. We also helped the first counselor clean some windows here. It was really really rainy this day... just like Utah weather. Raining cats and dogs now, but in five seconds sun and it stops. The russians with me were amazed and didn't believe that it happens like that in Utah sometimes. We went to an old babushka in the ward and ran some errands for her. We grabbed some water and groceries. She lived in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during WWII and is the sweetest lady ever. She was happy to show us the letter and medal from Putin that all who lived during the war recieved. Thursday we finished downloading programs for the new computer and did more window cleaning. Then that night we met with a less active member who's pretty flaky when it comes to church, but will always meet with us and in fact calls us to meet with him. He's the one that I started to teach while I was here the first time that got baptized right after I left. He's super nice. We pulled a quick one on him and had him teach us the lesson. We just handed him our scriptures and said it's your turn to teach us. So he did. He knows the chruch pretty well, he knows his stuff but for some reason just has a tough time coming to church. HE's a really shy guy and we think that might have a lot to do with it. Friday we hopped on a bus up to St. Petersburg. We got there pretty quick and had a few hours to spare so I took the chance to get almost the last of my shopping done. Almost there! And my shoes were dying, so I got some new ecco kicks. There are no ecco stores in Pskov and the pair I had bought at a non ecco location died in two months, so I decided to get some ecco for the homestretch. That night we went to Avtovo's activity. They do a ward activity every Friday night, and we both served there so we asked if we could go. And we could, so we did. Saturday was a long one. We had a seminar about MLS and finances from 10 AM until about 5:30 PM. It was a killer, but we learned a lot. We'll be able to solve a lot of our problems now. Two members from Moscow who work in the area office came and helped us out. It was good. But too long. Way too long. That night we bussed back to Pskov. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the US played against Russia in the semifinals of the Hockey World Championship that night. So everybody was just checking the score on the bus. At the stop that we make at the halfway mark, the gas station was playing the game. For the next 24 hours, my comp was telling me that Americans stink (to use a soft word) at hockey. We lost 4-0. It only lasted for 24 hours because Russia lost 6-1 against Canada in the finals (ouch) and we beat the Czechs in the third place game 3-0. So that was a fun little drama in our compaionionship this week. We got home at midnight so we were super pooped. Yesterday was good. There was a member here from St. Petersburg who came to visit the Carters. She's a good strong member who served a mission. She gave a good talk. Yesterday was Elder Carter's birthday, so we had some brownies after church with those that came. We also had dinner with them and a few members last night, that was fun.

This week I learned a lot. Too much to write about. I read some great verses in D and C that I'll talk about. D and C 93: 27-28. These verses talk about obedience and the importance of it. We can't come to a fulness if we don't keep the commandments. This section also talks about how Christ wasn't born with a perfect knowledge, that He recieved line upon line. I remember reading somewhere, whether a talk, a book, I don't remember, but that Christ was untainted and unhindered in His learning because He was free of sin. That's a really cool concept. I've seen the same in my life and in the lives of investigators and members. As we keep the commandments we have the Spirit with us and we're able to learn from it.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder G

Me at the kremlin

Cool monestary