Hey...Awkward

So here goes I guess. Monday was good. we played floorball, I don't know if you already knew that, but there ya go. It was really fun, there were lots of us there and we had a good time. That night we met with the less-active guy who we've been seeing for a long time. It was a good lesson, I hope that all goes well there and that his life gets better. On Tuesday we had service in the Hermitage in the morning then headed straight for our final district meeting. It was a good meeting, kinda boring because the other companionship just told my companion about their area and about what they should do there, because there is now only one companionship in Nevsky. That night we met with an investigator that will be passed off to Elder Castleton and his new companion. It was a really fun meeting and there were some great testimonies. Wednesday was a crazy day. We woke up at the normal time and we were just up and running all day long! We didn't have any extra time to spare. We had a meeting for all of the people who have never been leaders in a mission setting to help them know what to do. We started that meeting an hour later than it was planned to be started. We then had transfer meeting. It was a good one, this is the point in my mission when everybody that goes home I knew pretty well. And let me say, it was so weird to get emails from some of them. Just crazy. After transfers we were just going around like crazy doing all sorts of things in the office. I honestly don't even remember what.. It was just crazy. That night we had a meeting with an investigator who claims to be of the royal line of King Nikolai who was killed at the beginning of the revolution, and his dream is to one day become the King of Russia. So we'll see about that. But he's really interested in the Gospel, he just won't get baptized because the Russian king cannot be a mormon. Strange. Thursday was good. We had a slower, more relaxed day in order to prepare for the craziness of the weekend. We had weekly planning and got a few things done in the office that we needed to, then went out for a lesson at night. The man didn't show up, so we just ended up going contacting. It was fun. There were actually a few people who approached us and we got some phone numbers. It was a good night. Ok. Here goes. Friday. At 8:30 we were at the stake center, got in a car and picked up Elder and Sister Porter from their hotel. We then drove to Novgorod. It was a really cool experience getting to talk to them in the car and just have a good time. We got to Novgorod and had some lunch before meeting up with the missionaries from Novgorod and Pskov for a small Zone Conference. We had a great time there, Elder Porter is a really smart man. We then had a nice dinner of Hawaiian Haystacks and had a member fireside at the church. Saturday morning we drove back to the city and got some things done that we needed to, including cleaning our apartment so that it didn't get so so messy. Then that night we had a Mission Leadership Council and that was great. I'm sorry I haven't given any details about what was said, there was so much to do. Sunday was great. We got to do a full round of studies, that was the first time of my mission. Then church was good. We don't spend too much time in our own ward, so my companion and I were both meeting people at the same time. That night was a stake fireside. It was good. This morning we also had a good meeting with Elder Porter and the missionaries in the city, and now we're going to Kaliningrad. It's going to be really fun. 

It's been really cool so spend time with Elder Porter and to hear his stories. It's also really cool to see how hard he works. He has really bad health, and he's an older guy, but when he's speaking to a group of missionaries, he's all animated and it's really cool to see that happen! It's really like night and day. One of the coolest things of the week. 

Have a great time! Love ya!

Andrew

hello hello!

So it was a good week. On Monday night we had a good lesson with the less active that we've been working with FOREVER and nothing seemed to be helping him too much. He is still having a really hard time with work and so that's kinda a killer. Tuesday we had a good district meeting and right after that we ran to the same less active's house to pick him up for our WARD ACTIVITY! It was national unity day in Russia, so we had a day of Russian Folk Songs. It was really really fun, President Childs even came up and participated with us. There is a guy in our ward who used to play in a rock band and was voted the best guitarist in St. Petersburg in 1990, so it was cool to hear him just jam. I liked it a lot. After that we went on splits with our district leader and his companion, it was fun. I was with the older of the two who is actually going home this week. The other is a brand new missionary who has been here just as long as my companion, but we put them together to see what would happen... and there was a huge miracle! They were all alone without somebody who spoke good Russian, but they managed to find a man who spoke English, who also happened to be interested, who also happened to be free that night and they got a lesson with him and set up the next one! I still haven't met this man, but I soon will. That was crazy crazy! We couldn't believe it. Huge miracle and huge confidence boost for them. On Wednesday morning, still on the split, we went to the Hermitage. Nothing too crazy. Then we met up with our companions that night at english group, and we left to go to a stake coordination meeting for missionaries. It was a good meeting and we made some good decisions. Thursday we went to the Hermitage again, and we took a survey for President Porter, who is coming in next week right after transfers. Friday we went to Novgorod and had another Zone Training. It was really fun, the Assistants were down there with us and it was fun to have a bigger group. We left early in the morning and came home that night. Saturday we had some TRANSFER NEWS. I'm going to the Center ward, I'll be an assistant to the President. I'm really excited to get to spend lots of time with and learn from President Childs, but at the same time there will be lots of new responsibilities and it will be GO GO GO from day one. We are picking up the area president Thursday, Friday in Novgorod to do a training, Saturday MLC, Sunday church, Monday a missionary conference with him then we fly with him to Kaliningrad for 2 days. I'm so excited! It's going to be great! That night we had another really big miracle. So remember the less active, the one who is tough to get to do much? We got him to come to the opening of the Family History Center in our stake center AND HE BROUGHT A NEIGHBOR, WHO HAPPENS TO BE INTERESTED! It was really really cool! We showed him the building and taught him a quick lesson. It was great! Sunday we had church and a great ward council. All missionaries but my companion are leaving, so we didn't all have time to say goodbye. The one who is going home is the only one who was able to speak. 

This week I read in Galatians and something that was really cool was in chapters 2 and 3. We can't just go through the motions! If we do, we will be wasting the greatest gift that we have all been given. Elder Packer once said something along the lines of "we need to be active in the Gospel, not active in the church." These few chapters really drive this point home. I love you all! Thanks for the love!

Andrew

I'm Bad at Choosing a Subject

Hello everybody! I am so glad that you had fun at disneyland! That sounded like a great trip, and I'm happy all went well. Here's my week! Tuesday was intense... we had Hermitage service in the morning, then we went right to a meeting with Brother Ridd from the YM Presidency, and Elder Kleibengat from the seventy. It was a really good meeting, really inspiring. Elder Kleibengat used to be the Mission President in Kiev. He's awesome! He taught us some great principles that my companion and I started applying right away. We then went to pick up a less active to take to a fireside being put on by those brethren. It was a really good fireside, and it was about families. Kinda awkward that our member is single... but that's ok. The spirit was there and we all learned good things. On Wednesday we had weekly planning, and we started to apply the things that we learned and all has been going great so far! I've loved it. We are just more focused on helping the people rather than hitting the goals I guess.. I don't know how to describe it all that well. We had english group that night. A few people came and it was a fun time. Thursday we had another MLC from morning til afternoon. It was mostly to hand out new materials that we will be using and to explain how to use them. The two big ones were a new english program, where we teach the missionary lessons in english. The other was the beginning of family history work in our stake. We now have a family history center (kinda) and we'll be able to take people there. After the meeting, I was with one of the office elders on a split. It was a really intense split, because the transfers were finished that day and the other elder had my fate in his pocket. So that was fun, trying to weasel it out of him. We finished up our split on friday and then we went less active hunting that night. On Saturday, we had zone training for the missionaries in the city. That was fun. We all had a good time and we got all the information out. Good stuff. That night we went to the local clinic to get our flu vaccinations, under the orders of the area doctor. So cool. Hooray for flu shots. Sunday was ok. We had a good church time, but our bishop is just too nice to say no or to take control of situations! It's kinda frustrating. I got to see a return missionary who served here who came back from Ukraine for a week or so. It was fun to talk to him. Then we broke our fast with the senior couple, it was really nice of them to make us a great dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes and other goodies. Then our lesson fell through... lame.

I thought a lot this week after the meetings on tuesday... I'm in the best place that I could be! I am where I need to be, and I need to take advantage of every single second of it! So that as my big thing of the week. I hope I can give it my all on my mission, and in everything else. Love you all!

Andrew

Hyello, Friends

It was a good week. Tuesday we had district meeting, that was pretty good I guess. We talked a lot about the ward and what we can do to help. We had some "language practice" for an hour after that. I added the quotation marks because I was with two missionaries going home in a few weeks and Elder Jaynes, so we just kinda chatted it up. It was a very interesting conversation. Less-active hunting, to no avail. Wednesday we had a Hermitage mix-up, we usually have service that day but the other Elders in our district went instead of us. So... we showed up and went right back home. We will now have service on Tuesdays. We finished studies at home, then got on a bus to Pskov!!! It was really fun. Well, the ride was boring but I took picture number 1 after we got off. It felt good to be back. Thursday I was with the Missionary Branch President in Pskov, we stopped by some less-actives and had branch presidency meeting. It was really interesting to see that and how it worked. The missionary did a really good job, I think. Then they had english that night so we stuck around and helped out. On Friday we went with the other Elders in Pskov, one of my former companions, Elder Holman, and a newer missionary. I went with my old companion and we stopped by some addresses. There was actually a crazy thing too... a lunatic, a pair of mormon missionaries, and a potential investigator who is also a JW all in a small, DVD store... it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but that's what happened. We stopped by the potential investigator and a man walked in who believed he was God. It was a wacky and wild 10 minutes. Wow. The good thing is, they had DVDs for 50 cents and I got the Bourne movies and some Star wars ones in Russian. Coool. That night we got on the bus back to the city. Saturday was a laid back day. We did some training for my companion on the internet. Did some weekly planning. Then met with our less active. It was ok with him, he's doing better now. Sunday was good. We had a great sacrament meeting with a lot of people. Ward council was a little less than fun, there was a lot of arguing going on. Nobody listened to anybody else. Then I translated a temple recommend interview for an american girl living here. That was interesting. Then, best of all, we had a great meeting with our family for Sunday nights. We taught them how to make enchiladas. They loved it, and we all had lots of fun.

A cool thing this week. A brain blast of sorts. I was reading 2 Nephi 10: 20 and realized that we are commanded to repent because God knows that we can't return to Him unless we do. We need to use the Atonement of Christ and use it often, daily. It is a commandment of love. I don't know why, but that just sunk in last week. So that was good. It made the week better.

LOve you all! Have a great week!

Andrew

Night

Day

My Companion

как работал, так и заработал

Hello y'all! How are you doing?! We had a good week here. Now for the rundown. Tuesday we had district meeting. We had a great chat about our ward and the things we need to do to help it. We will talk more about it this week and come up with a plan. The problems are that 8 of the 9 people baptized within the last three years are inactive, and that our bishop doesn't know 85% of the members on the ward list. So we're working on in. We then did some language practice with the BYU-I professor. That was fun. We went home and had some dinner, and the rest of the day was spent at the doctor for my companion's ear. It was a really really nice little clinic that we went to called EuroMed. Everybody speaks english and there was some good music in the background (Queen, Frank Sinatra, All you need is love, etc.) and even newspapers in english. President Childs has given us the green light to catch up on events in this area if we have the chance because we know absolutely nothing about it and it's kinda important. So I hadn't read anything about it until then, but when I saw some english papers I had to. On Wednesday we went on splits with the assistants. It was mostly just a 24 hour Q and A with me. I was with Elder Doxey, a South Jordan man, and it was great. I like him a lot. We had english group and a meeting with our bishop to get some ward lists. The Area Presidency has asked all the wards to get lists of less-actives and inactives to them, they'll do something and probably give those lists back and say "go to work". Thursday we met up with our real companions. We went home and prepared for a lesson with that less active, that was kinda sad because he lost his work between the time he came to general conference and the time we met. Which means he has more free time to meet, but also more free time to do things he shouldn't. So we had a tough lesson with him and encouraged him to keep on going with the basics. Friday was fine, we had to come to the library and do an online course for training. That took a while and so did weekly planning. So then we went out to confirm that night about members who had moved to help clean up our ward lists. Saturday morning we had a stake service project at the Alexandr Nevsky Square in the city. It was fun to see all the members and the missionaries there. We had a good time. We played the spoon game, which made it fun. We had a spoon. The point of the game is to get the spoon into the pocket of somebody else without them noticing. Once you get the spoon, you have to pass it on. It was really fun. We came home from that and did some studies then continued the member hunt. Sunday was interesting... the chapel was "really cold" (it was fine) and all the ladies in the ward were complaining to ME about it. I was the greeter at the chapel door this week and they all made some snarky comment to me and I just bit my tongue. Then, to make matters worse, a window was left open on the second floor and that caused some fits. Other than that it was normal. There was a big change up in callings in our ward. The relief society presidency got reorganized. After church we went to the less-active, who didn't come to church, and taught him. He had been sleeping all day long... so that was kinda sad. Anyways, not too exciting but a good solid week.

I read Alma 29 this week and thought about it a lot... Sister Childs taught us about the word Remember in the scriptures at the last MLC and I've been noticing it more and more often. It's in this chapter a few times. I made a connection... at least I think I did. We are told to search out our ancestors and find out their stories and do temple work for them because we remember them and how merciful God was to them. We notice patterns and see that we, from that very same God, have recieved great blessings. That's why the law of Moses was there. To help Israel remember the things that had been done for their fathers and how they were led out of captivity. That  was a cool thing to study about this week.

Well, that's it. Love you all!

Andrew

SNOW!

Hello Y'all

Hello! Let's get to the week, shall we? Tuesday was good, we had district meeting and language practice with the BYU-I professor after that. I really like the language practice, we learn some good words and phrases that we would never learn otherwise. Mostly stuff that we don't ever need to use, but it will be fun to hear. Not bad words or anything like that though. That night we went on splits with the other elders in our district to help them out. They had two lessons planned, and we came to the rescue after our lesson fell through. It was really fun. We taught our lesson in English which was really strange... it's really tough to teach when you know all the gospel words and phrases and you are fluent to describe what is going on and define words. I'll stick to my basic Russian vocabulary. The lesson went well, we had it at a member's house and they knew english as well, so it was great fun had by all. On Wednesday we went to the Hermitage... nothing too crazy to report there. I had to go to the office to get my new registration to live in Russia legally after my visa trip nullified the old one, and it wasn't there. So that was awkward. We had english group that night and it was probably the most effective one yet. Effective as a missionary tool I mean. It was great. There were members and non-members, so it was a good mix and there were a few teaching opportunities at the end. Thursday morning we went to Novgorod to do Zone Training. We taught, and all went well. We did splits with the elders down there. I was with a new missionary who is just a stud. It was really great to be with him and to see his level of dedication. That night there too they had gamenight, which is a thing they have to get investigators and members talking together. It's at the senior couple's appartment. We even got to watch the little segment about those sister missionaries from our mission. That was cool to see. Did you know that Emily Winder's sister was in that program too? I just caught a glimpse of Emily and her sister at the airport.. also the Childs know the Winders... small world. That was really fun, there were lots of people there. The next day we were still in Novgorod. It was raining really really hard. We went out to meet this woman, but we forgot that we needed to bring a male with us... so we just had to go to the door and give her a Book of Mormon. That was a bummer. Then we hopped on a train for home. Saturday was general conference day part one. We spent almost all day up at the stake center watching conference. I watched in English. I'm glad I did. That night we went to a less-active's that we have been meeting with for a long time and taught a good lesson about prayer and read some scriptures about it. Sunday we were at the stake center literally all day and our less-active came! Two transfers of weekly lesson, and he finally came! It was great to have that happen. In between the afternoon and priesthood sessions (we watch priesthood on Sunday here) there was a pot-luck dinner with all the missionaries in the city. We brought fruit salad, and it was about the only choice that didn't include meat or potato chips. It was really fun. I caught up with Elder Jaynes there. I guess Elder Kartchner is having a tough time in Petro, he's the district leader there now. Lots of drama.

Well that is about it for the week. Now for conference highlights. I really liked Elder Ballard's talk about the old ship Zion. It was a great talk. I especially love it when the speakers give lists so that at least one of the applications to the talk is handed to me. I could relate to the story about the rafting, I was thinking about my experience with Tyler that whole talk. Another one I really liked was Elder Christofferson's about goals and having direction. It was cool that he said that God can't help us become someone if we haven't decided who we want to become and how he won't compell us to make a decision. We just need to make a choice and go for it! God will help us. It was a great conference. Love ya!

Elder Gwilliam

A few weeks ago

Train station at 5 a.m.

Wow. Just, wow.

So, I'll start off with this. If this is going to be the next 3 months of my mission, me as a lone Zone Leader and trainer, it will be the most hectic, busy, fun, strange, difficult, uncomfortable, wacky, and fulfilling time of my mission (probably in my life thus far). It is so busy. I don't think that I've had free time to even write in my journal since last Monday. It's also really really fun. I love it. It's just so hectic. Here's the week. Monday we went to the Peter-Paul Fortress after we emailed. It was really fun and really pretty. We went to the Cathedral and the prison. It was fun to go to the prison and see the history of that place (plus everything was in english and russian, I felt like I learned more than I usually do in historic places here). That was it for Monday. On Tuesday we had district meeting bright and early, we had a good time together. It was our last district meeting with those guys because we have our own district now. Right after that we had a meeting for the trainers, really similar to the one that I had six months ago. We just talked about how to be a good trainer. Elder Kartchner was feeling like Father Abraham because he was there, I was there, Elder Saxton was there. That means he has a great grandson in the mission now. It was really fun. That night we went to our less-active's house and taught him a good lesson. We committed him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. He said ok. To be continued... On Wednesday, we had breakfast and met our new companions. Here's the stats. My companion is cool. He's a teeny bit shorter than me. He played soccer at Brighton and then at Corner Canyon his senior year. He's right out of high school. He is the second youngest, with 7 siblings. His dad has been stake president for 10 years now. He's a cool guy. His eardrum burst on the flight here, so we're going to the doctor in a few weeks to check that out. I don't know what else. He's better at Russian than I was when I came. So we met them and had breakfast, then we went to the office to have our visa training for the new ones. Then we got lunch fed to us, that was good. I liked that part. Then we had transfer meeting. It was good. There were 8 new elders and 4 Elders left. None of them were too special. There were almost no sisters there, they all about stayed put. But not next transfer, they'll be all over the place. So after that meeting we went home and had a bite to eat. Then we went back to the church and had english group. That was fun, three older citizens came and we had a good time. Thursday was ruled by MLC. It was good to have some changes in the leadership with the big talkers and chatters gone, now we're all thinkers. It was really great and we got a lot of things done. That night we went back to our less active and checked up on the reading. He wasn't doing it. DARN IT. So we read Alma 34 with him and he really liked it. Then we set up a service project at his house for Saturday. Friday I had a visa trip, pretty uneventful. I was with two new missionaries on their first trip, so it was fun to help them out. Saturday we had zone training for the missionaries in our zone in the city. It was good. My companion helped out quite a bit and it was cool. He just jumped right in. We then helped the less-active clean out his kitchen. COCKROACHES is all I have to say about that. Sunday was good, a little strange though. There's been this burst of Russian pride in our ward and one of the prelude songs was the Russian National anthem and everybody but the young members and missionaries stood up. I think some people got more emotional at that point than at any other. That night we went to a family in the ward that we've gone to a lot, and it was fun to be with them. Next week I'm making Enchiladas for them.

So we didn't get to watch conference, but we'll watch it at the stake center this next weekend.

This last week I read 1 Nephi 18:21, and I really thought about this concept, that prayer can calm the storm. I really love the last phrase of that verse. I know that whatever storms are whirling around us, temptations, deaths, homework assisgnments, we can have peace through prayer.

I love you all! Thanks for the emails.

Elder G

The buds (Elder Butters and me)

Summer Gardens

This is where Russia was dedicated for missionary work.