Monday, January 14, 2013

January 14, 2013

Good morning! Hope you guys had a fun week. I sure did. We went on 'splits' this week with the Volgograd missionaries. They are so cool, elder S and elder M. Also it was fun going around with elder miller because we came in at the same time so we know the least Russian. haha exciting times when you don't know what is going on and at the end of a conversation you realize you agreed to buy beer for somebody. haha. I told this guy we don't drink and he said well how do you live?! I just said Snickers and Coca cola and he started cracking up. Good times. also I really hope I get to serve with elder S, he is a stud. I told him after the mission I am going to fly up to visit him and go to lake Tahoe with him.

I am still doing well and I am not too cold. It is still relatively warm for this time of year I think. Which is weird because December was freezing and all of a sudden it warmed up. No complaints here.

This morning we went to the gym with I which was fun/interesting. We just worked out for an hour or two and then went to help him buy a new computer and we gave him a spiritual thought afterwards. It was crazy, I read his teaching record for the first time and he has come so far since the missionaries started teaching him. It is great to see his spiritual progression.

Also my resolve to be more obedient is paying off! On Tuesday a guy ran up to us and we started to talk. Apparently he met with missionaries a few years ago and loved being with them. He went to all the activities and church and then got in an argument with a member and decided to stop coming. That happens alot here, but he wanted to call and apologize to the girl and stuff. and so we met with him, he had some questions about the Book of Mormon (he already had one and had read some of it). and he also came to English club, even though he doesn't speak English. Then he stayed for our spiritual thought and also institute! He is a cool guy. He didn't come to church on Sunday so we will meet with him a few times this week and hopefully he comes next week.

Love you all, dad I hope you feel better and mom I missed your email this week. Maybe you should get off the missionary mom web site and write me an email! haha just kidding, but...sheesh! haha love you mom!

Scott

Monday, January 7, 2013

Happy New Year!

Hello again! Thanks for all your emails they are always fun to read. Also I got Christmas cards from the Booth's and Kimball's. J. street wins again. And I got the package! It is perfect. Although I am not sure about that pillow case thing ha I sent a picture let me know how I did. The laffy taffy's will be perfect for english club. Also I read the part of Grandpa's book that he sent me. It is great! he sounds like quite the stud missionary, I bet I could use some of his tips.

This week was great. On Wednesday we had the branch Christmas party which was a hoot. We were in the play (I was a wise man of course) and then there was music and dancing and a Russian Santa Claus. It was cool because one man in the branch who was recently baptized invited a friend who is a journalist. He was a great guy and even made a speech saying how he went to the first LDS church building in Russia when it was dedicated. He said just about how cool he thought it was and he has even gone back since, just because he likes the building. Then when the party started he asked if he could do anything, so the branch president told him he could dress up like Santa Claus if he wanted, so he did! haha it was great, we gave him a Hymn book and a Book of Mormon and got his phone number. As he was leaving he mentioned how great the atmosphere was in the church building.

Also on Friday the president over the European East area came and spoke at our zone conference. He spoke from 8 in the morning until 5 at night! But everything he said was helpful and he really changed the attitude of the missionaries, I think. At least mine! He said because it is a rule to wake up at 6:30, if you wake up any later than that you are plainly starting your day off with disobedience. Wow, I had never looked at it that way before. So needless to say I made some new years resolutions because of what President Bennett told to us. He used to be mission president over the Russia, Samara mission and he told us some cool stories of conversion in Russia.

New years was exciting also, even though it was just me and elder R. We had 'free time' from 9 to midnight so we stayed up and watch all the fireworks. So many fireworks! we were standing on the balcony and crazy people were shooting fireworks out of their windows from like the 8th floor haha! I never in a million years would have thought that I would experience a New Years in Russia of all places. The next day we went out to the city to talk to people and it was a ghost town! I'm not sure if they were sleeping or relaxing or hung over but nobody was outside. Kind of strange but now we are back into the swing of things.

We tried calling a few less active people from the branch but of course they said call back after new years. Which actually means call back on the 10th of January because everyone is pretty much off work/school until then I think. So we will call them back!

It is still super warm here it is so weird. There was like a 30 degree swing from 2 weeks ago to today and now the snow is all melting and turning into muddy slush. I don't want to jinx myself and say I prefer the cold to the mud but I think I do. Every morning I wake up fearing that 'today is the day' that it freezes over again but it hasn't yet. Interesting.

Well happy new year thanks again for the package! I need to learn how to wear a scarf so I can use the one you sent me. When it gets cold again. I love you all and miss you like crazy but I also love it like crazy here. Thanks for your prayers, keep sending them this way.

Scott



This was a fill-in-the-blank candy bar card.  Inspired by Jay.  Created by Amy and Jason.

Elder Reed, Russian Santa and Elder Allen!