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
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