Things were quite busy in Kurgan this week. We met with a lot of good people. Helped a lot of good people come closer to God. One such person is named Stan-e-slav. He is middle aged, quite an intelligent man, and has a desire to know truth. And he actually found us. He came to church last week without anybody inviting him. He’d just walked by a number of times and always wanted to know what we were all about. So he sat in on a meeting, and liked it enough to come back this week. Last week at church somebody gave him a copy of Our Heritage, and he’s already finished it. He’s begun the Book of Mormon and is loving it. I believe God has led this man to find the truth.
We met with Stan-e-slav after church and taught him about the Restoration. He already knew most of these things because of reading Our Heritage, but the spirit was still strong. He is so ready to receive the Gospel. We are excited to teach and work with him. I’ll keep you posted on his progress.
We also went to work on a Dotcha this week. A huge amount of people here in Russia own Dotchas. Which are this sort of cottage/shack things outside the city. Usually they are in patches of hundreds. Everyone has their gardens and grow enough food to last a year. The Russians love to go out to these Dotchas on the weekends to spend time enjoying hard labor with shovel and rake. We were privileged to go and help Sister Zoya tend her crops this week.
My expectations for future Dotchas might be set a bit high now. Her Dotcha had running water, electricity, and everything that a cabin in America might have. Normally Dotchas are just shacks built on the dirt. She also had a Bannya, which is a sort of sauna. While you’d think that this is a bit of a luxury, most Russians actually have one built onto their Dotcha. Really its just a small room with buckets of water and a furnace. A funny Russian pastime – sitting in a Bannya, rubbing various herbs into your skin. They say its healthy. Who knows, maybe it is. I’m just not all to keen on finding out.
We hold an English Club every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6-7. Its one of our best ways of finding investigators. During the summer we would have over twenty people come everyweek, but it seems with school and other things coming around now, people are more busy. Our attendance has been cut in half, which is sad. But those people who do come are surely benefited. We always end with a spiritual thought. I’ve talked with many people who have found the church because of English Club. Hopefully we can keep enough people coming to make it worth still holding.
What an incredible world we live on. Truly the designs of God are without flaw. Everything moves in its perfect motion. Everything in perfect harmony. Light presiding over darkness. Difficulty being swallowed up in the Joy of Christ.
This week I’ve watched the children of God, here in Russia. They go about their lives so busy so much of the time. They don’t know what they could be enjoying. They don’t know what they could be having. They don’t know the direction, the power, the life they could have. Yet really even at home sometimes we are not so different.
This week I just finished the Book of Mormon again. There is a special spirit to that book. I’ve read much in my life already, but nothing has done for me what that book has. Everytime I prayerfully read it, I feel the powerful influence of the Spirit of God. I would encourage all of you to read and reread it again and again. No matter how busy your life may be right now, if you will take the time to read it for a half our every morning, I promise that your day will be better. The blessings that come from consistently reading for thirty minutes a day will well pay for your troubles. Don’t let yourselves run around in your life, like the people here in Russia, not having the power and joy you could have. They don’t know what they could have. You do. God has given you such a great opportunity to know him so personally. Take that opportunity.
Love Elder Wilson
We met with Stan-e-slav after church and taught him about the Restoration. He already knew most of these things because of reading Our Heritage, but the spirit was still strong. He is so ready to receive the Gospel. We are excited to teach and work with him. I’ll keep you posted on his progress.
We also went to work on a Dotcha this week. A huge amount of people here in Russia own Dotchas. Which are this sort of cottage/shack things outside the city. Usually they are in patches of hundreds. Everyone has their gardens and grow enough food to last a year. The Russians love to go out to these Dotchas on the weekends to spend time enjoying hard labor with shovel and rake. We were privileged to go and help Sister Zoya tend her crops this week.
My expectations for future Dotchas might be set a bit high now. Her Dotcha had running water, electricity, and everything that a cabin in America might have. Normally Dotchas are just shacks built on the dirt. She also had a Bannya, which is a sort of sauna. While you’d think that this is a bit of a luxury, most Russians actually have one built onto their Dotcha. Really its just a small room with buckets of water and a furnace. A funny Russian pastime – sitting in a Bannya, rubbing various herbs into your skin. They say its healthy. Who knows, maybe it is. I’m just not all to keen on finding out.
We hold an English Club every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6-7. Its one of our best ways of finding investigators. During the summer we would have over twenty people come everyweek, but it seems with school and other things coming around now, people are more busy. Our attendance has been cut in half, which is sad. But those people who do come are surely benefited. We always end with a spiritual thought. I’ve talked with many people who have found the church because of English Club. Hopefully we can keep enough people coming to make it worth still holding.
What an incredible world we live on. Truly the designs of God are without flaw. Everything moves in its perfect motion. Everything in perfect harmony. Light presiding over darkness. Difficulty being swallowed up in the Joy of Christ.
This week I’ve watched the children of God, here in Russia. They go about their lives so busy so much of the time. They don’t know what they could be enjoying. They don’t know what they could be having. They don’t know the direction, the power, the life they could have. Yet really even at home sometimes we are not so different.
This week I just finished the Book of Mormon again. There is a special spirit to that book. I’ve read much in my life already, but nothing has done for me what that book has. Everytime I prayerfully read it, I feel the powerful influence of the Spirit of God. I would encourage all of you to read and reread it again and again. No matter how busy your life may be right now, if you will take the time to read it for a half our every morning, I promise that your day will be better. The blessings that come from consistently reading for thirty minutes a day will well pay for your troubles. Don’t let yourselves run around in your life, like the people here in Russia, not having the power and joy you could have. They don’t know what they could have. You do. God has given you such a great opportunity to know him so personally. Take that opportunity.
Love Elder Wilson
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