Saturday, December 19, 2009

One Prayer

19 December 2005
"I can't believe the joy that comes from working! It is so awesome. Today was one of the downest days ever on the mission, at least at the start. I had no way of focusing. I sat, read, but nothing got through. It was about 10:00 and I said a prayer to the Lord to help me to focus and to get the spirit. I opened Preach My Gospel right to the Book of Mormon section and had an awesome 30 minutes of study. From that, I was ready to get out on the streets and to do some contacting. Not only that, but I talked with a ton of people and knew what to say. What a blessing just the one little prayer made.

We had собрание округа, and that went well. We ate some pelmeni after that, and we just sat and chatted. The other elders are good guys, and they work fairly well. Our evening was another great blessing from the Lord. At about 4, we left the other elders house, and we had no plans at all. We called several people, but nothing. I finally got hold of one lady, and things went well. We had a meeting with her, stopped by to another lady, had a meeting with her. It was interesting because this lady hasn't seen the missionaries in over a year, and she is very believing. She talked about the Bible, and about how we need to talk more about it not to scare people away. We then stopped by to a couple more people before finishing with one more meeting. It was so awesome. We blessed the lives of tons and it is such an amazing feeling. The crappy day turned out to be a fairly good one."

Friday, December 18, 2009

Effort

18 December 2005
"We tried to kill ourselves today, but luckily we are still alive and moving. As usual, we went to the meeting this morning and that was good. Владик was there and also Афина и Роза. Владик is way cool, and he even paid tithing after hearing a talk about it. He is really a great guy. Directly after the meeting, we went with Илья on a couple of meetings to some members, and that went well. They are both physically handicapped and so it is hard for them to do a whole lot. We were with them for awhile before we had to run to a meeting with Афина. That was an awesome meeting. Афина is a great young lady. She is doing everything that she needs, and the next step is baptism. When she showed up to church today, I was relieved, and I thought about what a great example she is and about how she is truly ready. We need to run through a few more things with her, but we think she will be getting baptized next week.

After our long sit there, we went to the Поваров's house, and did some practicing for a celebration of New Years that we will be having. That went well, and we had a good time. We read a little about becoming something and not to go through the motions. It is such an important principle in life. We need to give all of our effort, and then the results will come."

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Fluent

17 December 2005
" So many interesting experiences all in one day. It was insane. We started the day with a meeting at the Старостины and Vladik was there (was at church last Sunday). We had a first lesson and that was awesome. He was in agreement with us on all, and wants to know truth. As we left, he tried to give us money as he though we didn't have enough. What a great guy. We came home, and had tacos. They were so good and they were better with my homemade flour tortillas. We then had an English lesson, and that was interesting. There were 11 and 12 year-olds, and they knew English awesome. They will be fluent in about 4 or 5 years. We had a good time chatting with them, and playing. Then came собрание миссионеров, and we ran over there to the branch apartment. The meeting went well although there were few people.

We had a meeting with a member right after that, and we went there. The meeting went well, and we read 4 Nephi and discussed the righteousness and wickedness of the people. After our meeting we didn't have anything, and so we walked to several members. We tried to help a drunk laying on the street who was laying in the water and ice but she didn't want any, and just lay there. We sat and waited for Аня on the bus stop as she wanted to go to some member with us. We walked to a bunch of houses with little success and at one point had a little kid launching snowballs at us, and not leaving us alone. It was a real pain, but it was all good in the end. We walked around a lot, and it was a lot of fun, and a pretty successful day!"

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Long Night

16 December 2009
"We had a fairly lazy day today. It was the first one since I have come, but it was sure crazy. This morning we got up and we didn't do much. I studied and all of course. After that, we did our planning, and then we ate a nice big meal of chicken and noodles. We headed out to do a little contacting.

We walked forever with little success. We talked with a few people, but not as many as we would have liked. People weren't really up for talking with us, but I think part of that had to do with us. We didn't contact near as well as we should have. We also searched for a home for a nice long while, but we sure didn't find it. We asked a ton of people, but no one seemed to know where it was. We then came home for dinner and chilled a bit. I was so tired for some reason. We sat around before heading to шавкат's house.

There things are well, and надежда (their neighbor) was there again. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and then we chatted for a bit. She said that she is scared to come to church because she has never been. We encouraged her to pray about it. After the meeting was the long walk home. We waited for our bus forever before making it home. What an adventure - that is part of the mission!"

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Party

15 December 2005
"What a night. We partied everything away. So we had a big going away party for Stapleton and Brimley. We ate a ton of ice cream, and drank a bunch of im-bru. In fact, a couple of the members drank way too much, and it was like they were drunk. They laughed at every little thing and were going crazy. I sat and talked with a bunch of the members, and it was way cool. I love the youth here. We were there really late, and I was ready to kill everyone (I wanted to leave), but it was fun.

This morning we had a goal to talk with our 10 people, and that went well. We talked with all of them and then we stopped by to the store to buy a bunch of crap for this evening. It was cool, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We spent a lot of money, and then we came home and ate. We went to the рынок, made some keys, and then we went to Афина's house.

We talked with her about baptism, and about what it means. She seems to understand well, but she has way too much energy sometimes it seems. Well, we set a baptismal date for her in about a month, and we'll be working towards that. We hope that she will be ready and are praying hard for her. We then went to молодежный вечер and that was exciting and all. Back to work tomorrow."

Monday, December 14, 2009

Fun P-day

14 December 2005
"Another p-day gone and down the drain. We had a way good time, and had a good time relaxing. This morning we went to Gene's place, and the elders played a bit on the guitar and played some interesting songs. Elder Theurer and I went and walked around the рынок and bought him some boots. I love the weird stares that people always give to us and how they talk about us as if we don't understand them. We found the boots he wanted, dropped off my rolls of film and then went back to Gene's to get our companions.

All of us elders then headed over to a restaurant - The Steak House. It was really good, and I had a real piece of meat. It has been such a long time since I have eaten some good meat. We went and wrote home, and that was good. The family is doing well, and they are getting ready for Christmas.

We quick like wrote home, and all is good that way. We had English lesson this evening, and that was alright. I am not a big fan of English lessons, but it is all good, and part of life. We sat and chatted with everyone after the lesson and that was cool. Back to missionary work tomorrow. We have a lot of work, and we are going to be contacting. I love the work here!"

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Marriage Advice

13 December 2005
"Holy crap - I saw the scariest thing ever today on our way home. Hanging on a building was this - 2006. Time is going way too fast. I just can't believe it. I don't want to think about it, but the time can't go any faster. Who thought that time would freak me out like that.

Today was the day of doing all the hud. It was an alright day in spite of that - awesome in fact. This morning we contacted on the street, and that went really well. We were at Раиса's - the lady who smokes and can't quit - and we got marriage council from her. She talked about how love is the most important part of marriage and about how you must show great respect to your wife. We of course knew all of this because we have gospel in our lives. We are sure blessed.

We went across the street, and made a baptismal program and then we went to вокзал and got ourselves tickets to Samara for ZL Council in a week. Well, by that time we needed to eat and so we went to Блин Хаус - the little pancake place that was pretty decent. We paid for our phone, and then also for a couple other bills.

To end the night, we had a baptism! Elder Brimley and Boster baptized Вера Федоровна. There were about 20 people there, and it was awesome. The spirit was way strong, and the Lord has another one of his children on the path back to him. What an amazing thing baptism is. It is truly the only way back. After the baptism, we stood at the bus stop forever, and then finally decided to walk as nothing was going - it took us 1 1/2 hours to get home, but we had a good laugh about it in the end."