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
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