Lots to catch up on:
September 11:
There's no need to worry about the Russia-Georgia conflict. We are at the moment relatively safe from anything too rough. That said, there is a lot of worry about the whole matter over here in Daugavpils. There are people here who tell me about their worries that world war three is starting. But right now, the most beef that people have with us is that they think we should be going back to our own countries to preach.
President Dance is an incredibly genuine man. He's made a lot of changes to the way that the mission is run. For example, we no longer play soccer with the locals on Saturday like we used to. That got my companion a little unhappy. But I think he's more or less over it now. I dunno, personally I found playing sports on Saturday a waste of time. Particularly when we had baptisms on that day. So much less work was done on those days.
My companion, Elder Roderick is a good kid. Like I indicated he gets upset or angry pretty easily, which has actually helped me since it puts the responsibility on me to be the one in the good mood. The things he gets mad at aren't anything out of the ordinary, just a lot of them. It seems to me that he wasn't the kind of kid you'd have liked to cross back in high school. But that said, he's a wonderful worker with a exquisite receptiveness to the spirit.
This week's been a good one considering all of the curve balls that were thrown at us. Elder Roderick and I had to go into Riga last week, like I told you, to see a dentist there that could help with his tooth. On that day we learn that Elder Roderick needs to go into Tallinn to take care of Visa troubles the result of this being that I returned to Daugavpils without a companion only to work in the other Elders area for a few days. Elder Roderick came back to Daugavpils for a day and a half before we had to back to Riga for a zone conference, which he wasn't happy about.
But I'm glad he came back. Because we therefore had the opportunity to find Andre and Anya. A younger couple who are living together (and thankfully, not drinking- they just plain don't). The spirit was so strong in that meeting. We set up another meeting and the setting up went like this. Us: "Would we be able to talk to you on Tuesday"Anya: "Definitely."Andre: "But that's your birthday."Anya: "It's okay, I'd like to talk with them more."Andre: "I that case, definitely, come back" When we saw them yesterday, we gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon. Andre told us he would definitely read the book and gave us his phone number without us asking for it. The meeting on Tuesday was just as spirit-centred. They are wonderful.
We've been told recently to start focusing more on getting the members involved with missionary work. President Gibbons from Eastern European area presidency was there and he told us something interesting. He said in order for this to work, missionaries (and members) "need to get it out of (their) heads that this is a hard thing." There has been huge focus on working with members and THEN doing all other things we can do to find people. It was very interesting, because I always saw it the other way around. Well, that's all from me. I love this gospel. It is the only in this world that will save it, particularly in eastern Europe. I love you all and pray for you always.
September 25:
This weeks been one of the tougher ones to start the transfer off. Only three lessons apart from member lessons (active and non-active). So not really much to talk about this week. It's been somewhat ironic, because during last zone conference (which was a little over a week ago) they told us to do all we can to get teach 15 lessons a week. I've been doing all I can. A common plan will usually be somewhere around 6 each day. None work out. We can't even find someone from English classes because we haven't had people come since two transfers ago. I'm now just going to tell elder Berryhill that Elder Roderick and I aren't going to English- It just isn't worth it anymore. We need to find more people we can talk to.
My companion's teeth aren't getting much better. Actually, it looks like he's going to have one pulled out. The infection that's giving him pain is actually in the bone, and the Dentists have no clue what to do- Good on ya, Latvia.
This week, Elder Rasmussen came to Daugavpils. He has now finished his mission and was hanging around Daugavpils with his family. We had a quick lunch with him and his family, and saw him off to the train station. It's kinda scary now. I'm losing my senior companions. The only ones left now are Elder Arnell and Elder Berryhill.
It's interesting being a missionary around young babies. This week Elder Roderick and I tracted into one apartment where a young mother opened with a 10-week old baby. I had never seen a more excited baby in my life. I get reminded about what Piper told The members in Estonia when I was there "Our children are more spiritual than most of us. They remember what it was like being in the pre-existence." I wonder how much they remember. I'm definitely not the first missionary to have this experience. A lot of missionaries have had similar experiences.
Love hearing everyone's stories. Particularly amused by the pigeon incident, and Peet's choice of costume for the Pine dance. I'm sorry there's not much to talk about this week, it's been a tough one, but that usually means the Lord has something great in store for us. Our district leader, Elder Freeman (who used to be district leader her before elder Berryhill), gave us a couple of tips on how we can find more lessons. Some of which I didn't even think were possible for a long time. So, I'm confident that with the Lord's help, you'll get a longer, more interesting letter next week.
October 2:
Well, interesting bit of news this week. Someone tried to convert me to the baptist church. We were tracting last week and we ran into a baptist family. They tried to tell us how there was no salvation in the Book of Mormon, only in the Bible. The father of the family took my Book of Mormon and tried to explain to me how we were "rejecting the gospel". At that point I had enough. I snatched my book from him, growled a goodbye, and went into the next building. I waited for a while before I could calm down. I was so mad.
I soon realized, however, that calming down wasn't going to happen. A verse from the Book of Mormon came into my mind: 3 Nephi 12:23-24 (translated from Russian) "Therefore, if you will come to Me, or desire to come to Me, and remember that your brother has something against you -Go to your brother and first be reconciled with him. And then come to Me with a humble heart, and I will accept you." It occurred to me that as tactless as that man had been against everything I know to be true, I was the one claiming to be a servant of Christ.
I told my companion that we had to go back and I to apologize to that man. After doing so, he again tried to convert me, but I respectfully declined and we went our separate ways.
That decision turned out to be one of the better ones I have made. After my apology, we found this wonderful family. A huge one with 7 kids (the oldest being just eight years old). We had a wonderful lesson with them. I taught while my companion got to know the children. We want to go and see them sometime again this week.
Other bit of good news this week comes from only a day or two before. My companion and I had been stood-up by two different people, destroying our plan and back up plan for that afternoon. We decided to go to our regular harvesting area, which involved us going past the home of Anatoli- an investigator that we were on the verge of dropping because meeting with him had become impossible. Both my companion and I decided to drop by him since we were going by his house- just to give him one more chance. We knocked on his door and he wasn't home. We turned around, about to abandon him forever, when he showed up from taking a stroll around the suburb we asked if we could talk with him for 15 minutes, and he agreed. That lesson, we taught him about the Plan of Salvation and challenged him to baptism. He now has a baptismal date for the 25th.
I haven't gotten the camera yet- I'll probably get that next week at zone conference. That will be next Wednesday, by the way. As such next P-day will be on TUESDAY. You can expect a letter from me then. But I nonetheless send you a photo. The whole Russian-speaking Zone in Latvia had a photo taken together last Zone conference with president Gibbons of the the Area Presidency. I'm top left- the who looks like he is falling over- there wasn't much room for me up there. I'm holding onto my companion, Elder Roderick, for support. Elder Seastrand is standing next to Elder Roderick. I'll send you the photo in a separate Email since it got sent to me by Sister Strodl.
Well Alec, if you're thinking of putting in your papers at that time, then I'll be perfectly honest with you- I was hoping you'd do that. I would honesty love to see you again before you go- but you do what you feel the Lord wants you to do.
I've also been thinking about the trails of missionary work. The more I think about it though, the more I understand that the biggest trial a missionary faces is his own lack of vision. His own inability to look further than the here and now. I think that's the way it is in life in general. Last week I wasn't so much sad as stressed. It's so easy to get stressed when you can't see the end from the beginning.
Well, that's all from me. Love Max's story about him praying twice. Sometimes I think the youngest children have the purest faith. Maybe that's why Christ said, regarding children "Such is the kingdom of God". Well, Love you all. Look forward to hearing more from you on Tuesday.
October 8:
Daugavpils has gone mad!
Don't be too alarmed by the subject of letter. It just means that we seemed to have run into every nutcase in Daugavpils this week. Just contacting we have run into every kind of person- From the Angry, to the Nice, yet strange, to the Plain Nuts. We even had a lesson with one (Plain Nuts) and she was really insane (coincidentally, she was a Jehovah's Witness- my companion and I had a good laugh about that).
Not much huge news this week, we're going to push back Anatoli's baptismal date probably to the 15th of November. He wasn't able to come to church last week because of health problems, and he has a lot of work to do before he's ready.
We are also going to be working in a new area in Daugavpils. It's part of the new policy put in by President Dance. Cities used to work thus: 2 companionships of Elders would take each half the city, and 1 companionship of sisters would take care of the women that the Elders couldn't teach in the whole city. Now each companionship has a particular area- be they Elders or sisters. And well, that means we're working in an entirely new area (although, we still get to keep the investigators that we've been teaching previously). It means that I'm looking at a lot of juggling in the future.
The new area has been paying off, though. We found a new investigator yesterday while tracting- Yariga. She's a nice old woman. Being in a new part in the city has been strange for me. All of sudden, I'm able to get lost in my area- that hadn't happened to me for a long time. But I'm excited. Yesterday we we tracting in a suburb on the outskirts of town (again, new for me). It was sublimely beautiful. Huge forests of green and yellow leaves (Autumn has definitely hit- having seasons like this is kinda bizarre) and an area that is many times cleaner than what I'm used to. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be quite the adventure.
We have zone conference tomorrow. That'll be interesting. Each missionary needs to prepare a 5 minute talk on faith. one missionary will be selected on the day to present, so we'd best be ready.
Sad part of the week, though. We tried going by that family we found last week, and the father told us he doesn't want us by again. Oh well, maybe the Lord was more concerned about teaching Elder Fulcher. Understand about Dad not coming. Even if he did, the going into Russia would probably be out of the question. Elder Berryhill told me some right horror stories about when he was there. Well that's all from me. More interesting stuff next week.
October 16:
Well, sad bit of news this week, we've had to say goodbye to Anatoli. His Book of Mormon was gathering dust, he had never come to church and he wasn't really taking his own Baptism seriously.
But that's about as far as the sadness goes. I don't know if it's just been yesterday that made us happier, or just it's generally been a good week for us. For starters, I'm very excited about Yariga, the older woman we met last Monday while tracting. Last week we gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon. She was incredibly thankful to finally have a form of God's word to man. She was without a bible for many years, and upon receiving the book, she held it close to herself and kissed it lightly- Like I said, very thankful. She has a slight problem coming to church, but that's not due to lack of care so much as she is scared of downtown Daugavpils, where the church is located. Gonna work with that.
Also yesterday was amazing for us- 5 lessons taught in the one day. This brings us to 6 this week- Already equal to the amount of lessons we had last week.
I got the camera last week. Was overjoyed that Dad left some photos on the camera- they were great to look at. Peet's pictures of discuss-throwing are great, and I think I will definitely have to get that printed. As well as Alec's photo of him getting a Mullet (care to explain?). The pictures of Straddie are amazing too- looks like a really beautiful place, and it was great to see pictures of the whales and (I think) dolphins. I was a little confused when first I saw them. I thought Dad was just taking photos of water and trees.
Zone conference was amazing. So much good stuff, but the best was probably President Dance's comments. He spoke to us about people asking him what was and wasn't allowed. He introduced to us the "one degree principle"- the idea being that venturing off our course, even by one degree can put us many miles off track. He related this to our purpose as missionaries- we are to find, teach and baptize. That is the one degree. Anything that takes us off that one degree (for example, lingering after church) should be avoided if at all possible. It gave me a lot to think about in regards to planning. For example, at lunch, do we just eat and go or do we take some time to recharge? We've adjusted our plans and have found better results because of it.
Final thing in the week I'd like to talk about is another lesson we found while tracting some small weekend-gardening cottages (Dachas). Russians use these a lot during the summer and autumn to grow natural food, and relax away from home. They are usually there every weekend when there's no snow. So last Saturday, we thought we'd find them there. We found a lovely old lady named Elizaveta. We taught her about Joseph smith and knowing by the Holy Ghost and invited her to pray and ask God for knowledge about the truthfulness of the message. She told us she wasn't sure about that. She usually prayed to Jesus and Mary. I asked her if she believed that God was our Heavenly Father, if she believed she loved, after she said yes, I affirmed it with my testimony and asked her again to pray to God. She said she would.
It's getting pretty cold up here at the moment. Temperatures have gone back to 6-10 degrees and that's been made worse with the wind and rain. I think I might be coming down with a slight cold thanks to all this, but not to worry. It's intestinal flu that makes me really worried. I've had that before and it's been terrible. Well, that's all from me. I hope you are all well, and I love you all.
