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)