I think that's what I said last year at this time. Oh well. It fits. It was a good week! Here goes... Monday night we had a really fun FHE at the Carters' and had about 9 people come. It was really entertaining and got people involved. The Carters introduced themselves, shared their testimonies, and we played farkle. It's a really simple game with dice. You should try it. Tuesday we had a fun tennis tournament with our investigators and the Carters (after a lesson of course). We don't have an english group here, so we are able to do that instead. And yes, I was the champ. One of our investigators is really good and he always beats me handily but for some reason in the championship he choked. Wednesday was really cool. We went out to one of the cemeteries here and helped one of the less active members clean the gravesites of his relatives. It was a really cool experience to see how much love and respect Russian people have for their ancestors. Last week was some kind of church holiday here. Everybody goes to the graves, they eat some snacks and drink some booze (we had 7 up) and they leave some for the ancestors too. A lot of the graves have little tables and benches next to them to leave the food on. Interesting. We then went and served the babushka friend who can't do much on her own. We cleaned the floor, the windows, and the bathroom. That night we had a pretty awful lesson with an investigator who only wanted to talk politics. I just kinda sat there. I guess he said some things that got my comp pretty riled up on the inside, and when we went home it was a thirty minute rant about how awful America is. I just sat there and bit my lip while my blood boiled and then when he was done just went into the other room and sat there. It's all ok now, he apologized and said that he just couldn't let the opportunity pass by to make his mind known to an american. Interesting. Thursday we took a bus to Novgorod for some splits. Fun stuff. In Novgorod we taught a cool man who has been an investigator for a while because he really wants to know everything before he makes a choice. He's a really humble guy who had great questions about the Book of Mormon. Saturday we took the bus home and got TRANSFER NEWS. I'll be staying, my companion will be staying. I'm actually glad. It will be fun. Sunday was great, we had a small branch council before church. We're starting to focus on teaching more basic things to the members to that they can on their own learn the gospel and be spiritually self sufficent. It'll be a challenge. Yesterday we focused on the scriptures and learning from them which was great. After church we did the finance work and had another dinner with the Carters, this time with an investigator who knows english so that they could communicate more openly and freely. I guess he's not really an investigator, he's a missionary friend I guess. He has known missionaries forever, he lived in San Fran, has been to Provo, etc. He just isn't too interested in all that stuff. It was good though, they now have a good relationship and hopefully we can grow off of that.
It was a good week! This week I asked my companion a ton of questions about the Russian Orthodox church after I found out that he was a very active member before baptism. I was very suprised to learn that they have most of the same rules as we do... especially about Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. He said that for some reason most people just don't follow the rules. There is a difference between those who do and those who don't. I've really come to see on my mission that this is true. I've never been exposed to so many people that don't keep the commandments and it's easy to tell that they lack something and try as hard as they can to find it. Sadly, they search in the things that give them this lack of peace. I remember that Sister Porter (Elder Porter's wife) told us that as we live the commandments, we'll have a special feeling about us. We'll attract people or they'll at least notice. We don't even need to say anything. Try this week to let the people you associate with see that light in your eyes and "never let your faith be difficult to detect!" Love ya all, have a good week.
Andrew
Cemetery
Cool trees
bus to Novgorod
Novgorod
WW2 stuff in Novgorod
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