All is well,
I first have to apologize for yet again not getting a letter out to everyone. MyLDSmail is not perfect. I've said it once and I'll say it again. But under the kind suggesting of my father, I've decided to write this letter first every week.
Well, Russia may be cold in the winter, but it's hot in the summer. Usually. This week has been abnormally cold. Around 50 degrees every day. Which is good in some ways. Changes things up a bit.
You'd think with all the cold weather, all the bugs would disappear. And maybe they did. But at least one nasty little mosquito is in our apartment feasting on our blood. I woke up with five bites the other day. Elder Kimball is convinced that different animals end up in different kingdoms of glory. If that's the case, I now understand why outer darkness will have a weaping and a wailing and a gnashing of teeth. Mosquito bites are just that annoying.
The work is well here. We've spent more time this week with less active members in hopes to both reactivate them and find investigators through them. And its working.
We had a meeting with a lady named Nadia, who would come to church more if her daughter (about 11 years old) didn't pitch a fit everytime. We talked all about prophets such as Nephi who speak of parents who taught them the gospel. We spoke of the Sons of Helaman, who had mothers who taught them the ways of God. And then we related our own personal experiences. How sometimes we really didn't want to go to church ourselves when we were young. We've all faked sick once or twice. And when our parents put the foot down and forced us to go, we went kicking and screaming. It was often hard for us. And probably even harder for our parents. Then I testified that I personally am so greatful that my parents made me go. Though I kicked and screamed sometimes, I know that those few hard years have set me on a course for an entire lifetime of great joy and peace. It was well worth their effort. And my frustration.
Partway through the meeting the phone wrang. We agreed to have her get up and take the call. She walked out of the room for a minute or two. Elder Kimball and I twiddled our thumbs awkwardly. When she came back in, she announced that her friend was on her way over. It's a good thing that we didn't have a meeting following directly after.
Her friends name is Louba. She'd been to church with Nadia a few times, but had never sat down to meet with the missionaries. But somehow Nadia in a few short minutes during that phone call had convinced her to come over and meet with us.
That meeting went very well. The proof is in that Nadia, her mother Clava, her daughter Olia, and her friend Louba were all at sacrament meeting this last Sunday. Truly there is a light in the gospel.
And if things with Nadia couldn't get anybetter, last night just before we were about to go out contacting, Elder Kimball was struck with inspiration. He somehow remembered that Nadia's nonmember husband's birthday was tonight. Alexei, her husband, had met with missionaries before in the past, but work became to busy for him. We decided it was time to get things going again with him to. We baked him a batch of snickerdooddles and went on our way.
Now I don't know if it was a bad omen or what. But Elder Kimball spoke with a man on the bus who was drunk to the foot. He could hardly speak clearly. But was insisting that Elder Kimball prophesy to him. Of course he refused.
We took the elevator to the top floor of Nadia and Alexei's apartment and rang the doorbell. Waited a minute. Then rang it again. Waited another minute, then rang it yet again. And finally we heard the lock unclick. Alexei opened the door. He stumbled out of his apartment wearing only a pair of black boxers that said "I love you" and a tank top. He holds his liquior pretty well though. Could speak without to much of a slur, and wasn't talking about anything totally ridiculous like most drunks.
We wished him a happy birthday, and he was so happy that he gave me a hug, there in the open stairwell of the apartment building. Then absolutely insisted that we come inside. We tried to refuse. Afterall we still needed to go contacting. But he wouldn't let us leave. Finally we consented, but on the agreement that we'd only be there for a few minutes. We sat down. He pulled out the tea pot. And we knew we were in trouble. Those few minutes turned into a half hour in no time. Nadia and her daughter were not home. Probably over at Clava's house.
But the conversation proved to be good. He wanted us to even teach to him on the spot. But of course we didn't because he was drunk. And because he was smoking. (he smoked 4 cigarretes while we were there. they love their cigarretes.) However, he did agree to have us come back over and teach him in the future. Hopefully that will all go well. We'll just have to do something about those cigarretes and beer bottles.
We've got a number of other meetings set up for this next week which should all be quite good. But still, the most fruitful of all our meetings always seem to be those related to people who are already members. As I said, the work here is good. The field white.
A bit about Russia. And inadvertantly I suppose a bit about America also. At home we have paper and metal currency. Same thing here. At home, a dollar will get you a soda. Here, it takes 30 roubles or so. There smallest bill is a 10 rouble note. So it takes both coin and currency to buy almost anything. At home, our smallest currency is a penny, and here, the smallest is a kopeck. And I swear, it is so absolutely worthless that it would be more valuable melted down for its metal. A hundred kopecks make a rouble. And a rouble is not that big of a currency. When you do the math, a single kopeck is like carrying 1/30th of a penny. If you thought you couldn't buy anything with a penny, you really can't get anything with a kopeck. A bus ride is 12 roubles. A loaf of bread is 15. Literally its so far out of their used currency that I hope the goverment does a recall on every kopeck and makes tanks with the metal.
Now, speaking of pennies as a worthless currency. It's worthless at home. I have never been able to find anything that you could buy with a penny. Everything is more expensive than a single penny. Pennies are worthless here also. Not because everything is to expensive, but because at least one thing is too inexpensive. And that is cigarrettes. A single ciggarrette is cheaper then a penny. Yes. You read that right. Cheaper. No wonder every single person in this country smokes. And no wonder they smoke all day every day. The goverment doesn't tax them, so they are dirt cheap.
I've decided to keep a record of the cheapest bottle of beer, and the cheapest cigarrette that I have seen here. So far the cheapest bottle of beer was 16 roubles (half the price of a bottle of water). And the cheapest pack of cigarrettes was 6 roubles (about the price of a lolipop).
Hope everything is all well and good at home! Love you all. Stay strong in the Church. For it is absolutely true. And if you ever doubt it, you are wrong. Read the Book of Mormon with a prayer in your heart and watch your testimony grow.
Elder Wilson
I first have to apologize for yet again not getting a letter out to everyone. MyLDSmail is not perfect. I've said it once and I'll say it again. But under the kind suggesting of my father, I've decided to write this letter first every week.
Well, Russia may be cold in the winter, but it's hot in the summer. Usually. This week has been abnormally cold. Around 50 degrees every day. Which is good in some ways. Changes things up a bit.
You'd think with all the cold weather, all the bugs would disappear. And maybe they did. But at least one nasty little mosquito is in our apartment feasting on our blood. I woke up with five bites the other day. Elder Kimball is convinced that different animals end up in different kingdoms of glory. If that's the case, I now understand why outer darkness will have a weaping and a wailing and a gnashing of teeth. Mosquito bites are just that annoying.
The work is well here. We've spent more time this week with less active members in hopes to both reactivate them and find investigators through them. And its working.
We had a meeting with a lady named Nadia, who would come to church more if her daughter (about 11 years old) didn't pitch a fit everytime. We talked all about prophets such as Nephi who speak of parents who taught them the gospel. We spoke of the Sons of Helaman, who had mothers who taught them the ways of God. And then we related our own personal experiences. How sometimes we really didn't want to go to church ourselves when we were young. We've all faked sick once or twice. And when our parents put the foot down and forced us to go, we went kicking and screaming. It was often hard for us. And probably even harder for our parents. Then I testified that I personally am so greatful that my parents made me go. Though I kicked and screamed sometimes, I know that those few hard years have set me on a course for an entire lifetime of great joy and peace. It was well worth their effort. And my frustration.
Partway through the meeting the phone wrang. We agreed to have her get up and take the call. She walked out of the room for a minute or two. Elder Kimball and I twiddled our thumbs awkwardly. When she came back in, she announced that her friend was on her way over. It's a good thing that we didn't have a meeting following directly after.
Her friends name is Louba. She'd been to church with Nadia a few times, but had never sat down to meet with the missionaries. But somehow Nadia in a few short minutes during that phone call had convinced her to come over and meet with us.
That meeting went very well. The proof is in that Nadia, her mother Clava, her daughter Olia, and her friend Louba were all at sacrament meeting this last Sunday. Truly there is a light in the gospel.
And if things with Nadia couldn't get anybetter, last night just before we were about to go out contacting, Elder Kimball was struck with inspiration. He somehow remembered that Nadia's nonmember husband's birthday was tonight. Alexei, her husband, had met with missionaries before in the past, but work became to busy for him. We decided it was time to get things going again with him to. We baked him a batch of snickerdooddles and went on our way.
Now I don't know if it was a bad omen or what. But Elder Kimball spoke with a man on the bus who was drunk to the foot. He could hardly speak clearly. But was insisting that Elder Kimball prophesy to him. Of course he refused.
We took the elevator to the top floor of Nadia and Alexei's apartment and rang the doorbell. Waited a minute. Then rang it again. Waited another minute, then rang it yet again. And finally we heard the lock unclick. Alexei opened the door. He stumbled out of his apartment wearing only a pair of black boxers that said "I love you" and a tank top. He holds his liquior pretty well though. Could speak without to much of a slur, and wasn't talking about anything totally ridiculous like most drunks.
We wished him a happy birthday, and he was so happy that he gave me a hug, there in the open stairwell of the apartment building. Then absolutely insisted that we come inside. We tried to refuse. Afterall we still needed to go contacting. But he wouldn't let us leave. Finally we consented, but on the agreement that we'd only be there for a few minutes. We sat down. He pulled out the tea pot. And we knew we were in trouble. Those few minutes turned into a half hour in no time. Nadia and her daughter were not home. Probably over at Clava's house.
But the conversation proved to be good. He wanted us to even teach to him on the spot. But of course we didn't because he was drunk. And because he was smoking. (he smoked 4 cigarretes while we were there. they love their cigarretes.) However, he did agree to have us come back over and teach him in the future. Hopefully that will all go well. We'll just have to do something about those cigarretes and beer bottles.
We've got a number of other meetings set up for this next week which should all be quite good. But still, the most fruitful of all our meetings always seem to be those related to people who are already members. As I said, the work here is good. The field white.
A bit about Russia. And inadvertantly I suppose a bit about America also. At home we have paper and metal currency. Same thing here. At home, a dollar will get you a soda. Here, it takes 30 roubles or so. There smallest bill is a 10 rouble note. So it takes both coin and currency to buy almost anything. At home, our smallest currency is a penny, and here, the smallest is a kopeck. And I swear, it is so absolutely worthless that it would be more valuable melted down for its metal. A hundred kopecks make a rouble. And a rouble is not that big of a currency. When you do the math, a single kopeck is like carrying 1/30th of a penny. If you thought you couldn't buy anything with a penny, you really can't get anything with a kopeck. A bus ride is 12 roubles. A loaf of bread is 15. Literally its so far out of their used currency that I hope the goverment does a recall on every kopeck and makes tanks with the metal.
Now, speaking of pennies as a worthless currency. It's worthless at home. I have never been able to find anything that you could buy with a penny. Everything is more expensive than a single penny. Pennies are worthless here also. Not because everything is to expensive, but because at least one thing is too inexpensive. And that is cigarrettes. A single ciggarrette is cheaper then a penny. Yes. You read that right. Cheaper. No wonder every single person in this country smokes. And no wonder they smoke all day every day. The goverment doesn't tax them, so they are dirt cheap.
I've decided to keep a record of the cheapest bottle of beer, and the cheapest cigarrette that I have seen here. So far the cheapest bottle of beer was 16 roubles (half the price of a bottle of water). And the cheapest pack of cigarrettes was 6 roubles (about the price of a lolipop).
Hope everything is all well and good at home! Love you all. Stay strong in the Church. For it is absolutely true. And if you ever doubt it, you are wrong. Read the Book of Mormon with a prayer in your heart and watch your testimony grow.
Elder Wilson
Here's some pictures from his flight to Russia
