You really know how to dance

It was a good week. Things are different here now with all the changes in companions and branch leadership and stuff. Anyways, on Monday night we left to St. Petersburg to get to my companion's dentist appointment on Tuesday morning. We stayed with my friends the assistants that night. Tuesday morning we went to the dentist and man oh man... it's not pretty. The dentist looked at his teeth for 2 seconds, said 'awful' a bunch of times, then made him go get some x-rays of them. One of his teeth is dead from the gum up, and so all they did was work on that one. The roots are still kinda living, but the rest is dead. So they did a little mini root canal thing and stuck some medicine in his tooth to see if it would wake up his nerves. If it hasn't worked by this week when they go in again, they'll just pull out his tooth then move onto the ten plus other cavities and things. So yeah, not pretty at all. Sorry I had to tell you about that, Grandpa Gwilliam. I brush every day, just like you said. After that he wanted to go get a new belt because his old one is breaking. So we did that. Then we ate some fancy hamburgers (that had bacon and were really good) and then met one of our investigators that moved to St. Petersburg a few months ago. We went with him to Avtovo where they were having a ward activity and my companion wanted to go see all of his old friends there. So that was the night. Oh yeah, a recently returned missionary was there... he came back from America with his parents and they heard about this activity and stopped by. It was weird but fun. Wednesday... "Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." That's what I felt like. It was a crazy experience. We had a meeting in the morning with the Glausers to kinda send off the old missionaries and to make them start thinking about what they're going to do when they get home... about 12 hours before they got sent home. We are leaving as you know a little sooner than the next group, so we got thrown in there too. That honestly didn't phase me that much. It was fun to be there. Then transfer meeting happened... my last one... I just was having a good time seeing my missionary friends and then I sat down in the chapel and it hit me like a "lightning strike in a summer storm" that I have 4 weeks left.... I didn't know what to think. I was called upon (as were all the others) to testify in front of all the missionaries... no topic, just a testimony. Everybody did a really good job. I have had this little gift or tender mercy if you will to be able to share my testimony here and cry but be able to talk through the tears. Well, the spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for my mission and I was so sad to be leaving and I was so determined to keep working and I was such an emotional wreck that I bawled and bawled and got out a few sentences and that was it.  I read Mosiah 5:13 I think and just bore my testimony really briefly then sat down. After that, I was totally fine and totally calm. I am grateful for that experience because the other missionaries that felt that urgency like I did got on a plane a few days ago, but I have four more weeks to get some work done! I'm grateful for that. That night we got on a bus and went to Pskov, my new companion and I. Elder Mullen is great. I'm going to have a really good time with him. Thursday morning we tried to get him all registered up and it was hard. The visa worker in the office misinformed some of us and made it hard for us to get it done. But we got it done. During studies, Elder Mullen said some wise things. He asked my what I wanted to accomplish in these 4 weeks. I had never really thought of specific things to accomplish during this last time other than keep up what we've been doing. So we set some goals and we'll get on it. We had a fun time contacting that night and it rained pretty hard. This was a bad week to decide "I don't need my umbrella today". Friday we cleaned the branch and had a good time. Then we did some weekly planning. Saturday the assistants and President came to Pskov and just changed up the branch presidency. I'm now the first counselor. Hooray. We had a good dinner with them on Sunday night. We just talked about Pskov and what needs to happen here. I made a push for another companionship or at least one more missionary to have the ability to help out women. Last night we had a lesson with an investigator that I knew here before that hasn't been met with in a long time. He's doing ok, he's in a depression but he quit smoking. That's kinda weird. I thought that he would be super excited about that because that was always the hardest thing for him, and he's done it and now he's in depression. He was actually depressed before he quit smoking, that started while I was here before. It rained like I've never seen before in my life. It was calm then suddenly BAM rain. Heavy heavy rain. My suit is still wet, my shoes are still soaked. My shoes were filled with water. Again, the worst day on my mission to not grab an umbrella. Anyways, it was a good week. Have a good one yourselves!

Elder Gwilliam

The transfer meeting lunch

the Butters, Elder Jacob Carter

The last planner

California show your teeth

Hello! It was a good week. Here's a quick update. We left on Monday night for Novgorod to do exchanges. On Tuesday morning I went with the infamous Elder Dibble to help the branch president move a fridge to his new apartment. It was fun, I really like the branch president in Novgorod. He's a really cool, laid back guy. After that we had district meeting at the Glauser's apartment. It was fantastic to actually hear what they were saying and to participate. It was good. We decided that since my companion was there we could ask him a few questions about Russian. He decided that he didn't want to help so Elder Dibble and I answered the questions. After that we had some dinner, some tasty french toast, then ran to the bus station to make a bus out to one of the member families that Elder Dibble wanted to say goodbye to (he's going home on Thursday). The bus was pulling out as we got there, so we had to jump in a taxi instead. It was a good visit with them, I had been to their house before but they didn't remember me. We missed the bus back haha so we helped them move some wood around and he drove us back into town. Wednesday morning at 8 we got on a bus back to Pskov. We got home, did our studies, then went to some less-active addresses. The zone leaders were supposed to come on Thursday in the afternoon to do exchanges but cancelled at the last second. We met with the new branch president at the branch building and kinda did the official pass over of all the documents, passwords, keys, stuff like that. We met with a kinda investigator at the statue of Lenin and had a philosophical chat... well I didn't because I don't have the vocabulary or the desire for that. Friday we had the TRANSFER NEWS that I've been waiting for. My companion is leaving, my new one is Elder Mullen from Alaska. He's a new missionary, maybe 3 or 4 months here. I've met him a few times. It'll be great. That initiated the packing of the bags of my companion and the calling everyone to say I'M LEAVING AND WANT TO MEET WITH YOU AND SAY GOODBYE AND OTHER GOOD STUFF. That night we went to our investigator (the father of the former branch president.. I'll call him FFBP from now on) because he hasn't been answering the phone, and that usually means that he's drunk and in a slump. So we went there but he didn't open up or he wasn't home. Bummer. Saturday was really fun. We met with a nonmember mother of a member at the branch with a few other members and she taught us how to make these things called Манты (man-TEA). It's kinda like a dumpling but with only meat and a little more bland. But they were tasty. I wrote down the recipe and everything, so that'll be fun. The thing we didn't know was that they take 40 minutes to cook, and we made enough for 4 batches... yikes. So we ate them up, and in turn they ate up the day. Yesterday was good. We had church, Elder Zaharov said goodbye to everyone, then we had a request to help the sister of one recently activated member (she is also a member, not active and not friendly) move a fridge to her new apartment. So we did that after church, she literally did not say one word to us. But, we helped her out and I hope she'll remember that. So my fridge count for the week was two. I'll have a hard time topping that. I'll end with a funny quote from the former branch president of Pskov who recently got back from a conference in Moscow for those 18-30 unmarried members of the church. He called me to see how things were, and this was the best thing he said. He knows english ok, but he translated literally this phrase and it just sounded funny to me. I asked if he found any potential wives and this was his response: "Yeah, there was one. I don't know though. I don't know how her insides are, but she's really pretty." That was funny. I got a good laugh out of that. Also, one of the missionaries in his ward right now taught him the word "turd" and he loves that one now. Good one, Elder.

It was a good week. I've learned a lot in the last lots of months here in Pskov, I'm sad to see this time of testing come to and end but I'm ready to move on. I'm excited for Elder Mullen and what we'll do together. Have a good week! 

Elder G

PiCtUrE tImE

I thought this picture was really cool until I realized that this is the Serbian flag... not Russian.

hooray for smiley face toast

Hooray for man tea

Rain Rain go away

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 

Hello

Hello! It was a good, really fast week here. Here's an update. Monday after emailing, we hopped on a bus and went to St. Petersburg for Zone Conference on Tuesday. We rode on a really small, really hot bus. That was quite the experience. Tuesday was great. We started off the day with the last hoorah for floorball, seeing as Elder Dibble, a fellow lax bro, is leaving this transfer and most other people want to play basketball. It was fun to play again after a long time, but I remember that game every day thanks to my bruised tailbone. Man that is a really uncomfortable place to have pain. Anyways, Zone Conference was great. We talked a lot about member missionary work and what our responsibilities are compared to members. One of the problems we are seeing in our mission is that the members have become to dependant on the missionaries. In Novgorod for example, a young girl turned 8 and was baptized on Saturday. The missionaries literally did everything... it was so bad I guess that President Childs was a little upset about it (he doesn't normally get upset). So we went over our job and what we are here to do and talked about how to ease them off of their missionary addiction. One of them, as strange as this sounds, was just to refuse to do certain things. Let them kinda feel the heat from their leaders when something doesn't get done in the branch. Of course our situation is different, because my companion is the branch president and all. But it was just interesting to have that discussion. The assistants also made some magic happen and invited some members for us to practice with. One of them is from Ukraine, she's a young mom. We asked her about her baptism, what the gospel means to her, things like that and it just became a tear fest. It was better than any similar meeting I've had with members here before. She's amazing! That was the highlight of the day. That night we went to Avtovo to see some of my companion's pals from when he served there. Wednesday we woke up early and got our basketball on with the "ballers" of the missionary force. That was the best workout I've gotten in a long time and it was really fun. Elder Castleton can ball! He's awesome. We stayed for a day because my comp was supposed to go to the dentist that I went to for some work. We got there and they started doubting his insurance, so we cancelled the appointment and set it up for the next time we're in the city. Hopefully they can work out the problem before then. That afternoon we got on a bus and rode home. Thursday we had a belated FHE and it was fun. We talked about missionary work and tried to get the members all excited about it. We had some good food and played UNO as well. Friday we went bus searching. The one young woman in our ward that we have contact with decided on Monday that she wanted to go to the girl's camp that the stake was doing, so we scrambled all day to get all the forms done, to find a bus that would get her there on time, stuff like that. Saturday we went with her to the bus station to buy the ticket (you have to show your passport to buy the ticket). Before that we cleaned the branch building by ourselves (refer to what we learned in Zone Conferece :)). Sunday was great. I had a lot of realizations that I hope will stay with me. The first is that those I know here that read the Book of Mormon, and really read it, are generally more humble, in tune with the spirit, happy, friendly, and the list goes on. The Book of Mormon is key to our happiness and success and progress on the path of discipleship. I love the Bible, don't get me wrong. For the past while I've been using language study to read the Bible in Russian (I finished the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago.. yay!) and because I know the Book of Mormon better and I want to know the Bible just as well, I am reading the New Testament and adding my own footnotes that correspond with the truths we find in the Book of Mormon. There's a run on sentence for you to disect! I hope you understood. Anyways, basically read the Book of Mormon and you'll be fine!

Here's a cool thing I found in the Book of Mormon this last week about conversion. 1 Nephi 2. We start with verse 3 and see the depth of Lehi's conversion summed up in one sentence, the footnote helped me come to this realization (of course reading on will build upon the fact that he was converted). I read that and thought "dang, I want to be like that". So I read on, hoping for an answer. I found it in the beginning of Nephi's journey to conversion, his prayer to God to know if what his Dad was saying is right or not. It doesn't say that he received knowledge. It says that his heart was softened so that he could start to believe. He planted the seed, he didn't recieve a tree from Glover's Nursery. This is the beginning of his journey, and if he can start we all can. Later on we see so many examples of how this one little thing made a big difference in his life (remeber President Uchtdorf's talk "a matter of a few degrees"?). One of those examples that I read today was also in 1 Nephi. The end of chapter 3 was the angels appearing to Laman and Lemuel to tell them to knock it off, and they still don't believe and don't have much faith. Read their murmurs then read the very next verse, the beginning of chapter 4. As Elder Bednar taught us while he was in Moscow about a year ago, we too often see the division of a chapter as the division of two different events or stories. Sometimes reading past the chapter divisions is needed to see the whole picture. Anyways, that's my little Gospel talk for the week. Have a good one!

Elder Gwilliam

AMERICA! I got my russian companion to eat a bacon burger and Dr. Pepper for the 4th of July (observed) while we were in St. Petersburg. 

Flashback: This place was so cool!

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