Transfers

So, crazy week!

Monday we went to the Телебашня (TV Tower) which is the tallest building in Europe. It is over half a kilometer tall. We could see a lot of Moscow, but it was foggy so our pictures don't do it justice.

wednesday I went on splits with Elder Atkinson, who is in his first transfer of training. Our goal for the day was to talk to as many people about anything as we possibly could. So when our bowling appointment with the ward mission leader feel through, we rode the metro for three hours just talking to people. There are some WEIRD people in Moscow, I learned from that experience. Later that night we taught English institute. I don't know if I like being senior companion. I really hope I don't train right out of training like Elder Smith (Assistant to the President) keeps joking *nervous laughter*

We did a ton of service this week. Saturday it was all we did. And then transfer calls came. I was one of the last people to find out my transfers, because President was supposed to call me instead of the Zone Leaders. He wasn't able to, so Elder Smith told me: I'm training! I am really excited but there is a lot of trepidation that accompanies that. I don't feel ready or capable of helping another missionary figure it out-I don't even have it figured out myself! But I have been constantly reminded by people the Lord qualifies whom He calls. I find out who I train for sure on Wednesday. I also translated in church Sunday for Elder Taylor, which was way hard. But it was a good week! The Sokolniki districts will recombine and we will have a blast this transfer!

-- 

Elder Wilkins

PICTURES FROM THE TOWER:  (The church is for comparison, it is across the street from the tower)

Same Church FROM THE GROUND:

TOWER from the ground:

Update!

Zone training

So it was a good week! We spent four days in Nizhny Novgorod (about 450 km East of Moscow) for exchanges with the zone leaders and zone training. While we were carrying a massive whiteboard a few miles to the branch building, the first snow came. Just really bad timing. While in Nizhny, Elder Mugerian and I actually worked on English with the mother of one of the Russian elders I was in the MTC with! She said she wanted to learn English to make the senior couples feel more at home. What a sweet lady.

Elder Mugerian with the fish we hid under his pillow and scared him with....twice!

While getting ready for zone training, we had some time to kill. We went to лапша, this little hipster Korean place. They sold noodles and waffles. Like I said, super hipster. On our way out we got something called bubble tea. It's basically lemonade with little flavored juice bubbles. Russia is a strange place hahaha.

Noodles

Bubble Tea

We got Vitali a baptismal date for October 29th! Woohoo! Hopefully he is able to stay clean, with some heavenly help.

Sunday, we met with a young couple named Tahir and Volya (Valentina). They're like 25 and love the missionaries, but don't often have them over. (Actually, we were the first.) Tahir served in Moscow West 6 or so years ago, and just told us mission stories while we ate. Then we committed them to get involved in inactive work with their friends, and his former converts. He also wondered if we would help him with Russian tutoring. He teaches Americans Russian, but wants to build a better curriculum and asked if he could use us as guinea pigs. Free Russian lessons, from a Russian? Let's go!

All in all, it was a pretty spiritual week. I know that when we seek for guidance from the Lord and turn to the scriptures, we will always find what we need.

Удачи эта неделя!

-- 

Elder Wilkins

Conference in Russia

General Conference is so different on a mission. It's hard to say exactly why, aside from saying it's the Spirit. It just seems that every single talk has application to my life, whereas before, it was a lot of marriage, parenting, etc. A lot of people have described companionships to me as short-term marriages, and investigators as kids, so I can even use those lessons now hahaha.

We were blessed to watch conference at the Taylor's apartment, all but the women's session (which I read later). This conference was just amazing. They are turning it back to the basics. One of my favorite things said was "The Restoration is still unfolding." Just think of that! You, I, and every one else on the Earth can be a great part of the "stone cut out of the mountain without hands...fill[ing] the whole Earth..." What a blessing! President Uchtdorf is quickly becoming my favorite speaker. All of his talks this conference hit home, and gave me things to do. He also has two other really great ones, "On Being Genuine" and "Lord, Is it I?" which have shaped the course of my spiritual and personal development. I testify that the leadership of this Church is called of God to stand at this time and warn the world, testifying its Savior and witnessing to our divine origin.

We had three people at conference, two investigators and an inactive member (Aleksandr Sorokin). They all really enjoyed the proceedings. We met with Vitali afterwards and asked him his thoughts, which was his favorite, and so on. He said that it was all true, and he wanted to keep learning. And he says he is reading on his own now! If all goes well, we will commit him to a baptismal date when we get back from zone training this week.

Watching Conference

The service here in our mission has exploded! We are trying, in partnership with members, to do a blanket making donating project, hopefully getting 200 done before Christmas. It is a pilot program fore the whole of Russia, and they hope to get over 1000 made throughout the country at some point. It is a really cool thing to see obstacles just fall out of the way of the Lord's work.

I am working hard, I am happy, and I pray for you all!

DC 123:11-14

-- 

Elder Wilkins

If you let Him.....

I think one of the best parts of a mission has to be exchanges. At least twice a transfer, each Elder gets the opportunity to serve with a different companion for a day, often outside of their area. This week our zone leaders, Elder Mugerian and Elder Fairholm, came to Sokolniki for exchanges.Elder Fairholm and I had a great time. Our studies were spiritual and focused, and throughout the day, I felt the Spirit speaking to me and guiding me. We had one lesson that went particularly well, with one of our super active members. He had never been to the temple before, so we discussed the temple, challenged him to get a recommend, and eventually go. He got so fired up, I thought he would start walking to the Kiev temple right then. Exchanges are a great opportunity to learn from someone new and break routine.

We had two lessons with Vitali this week. And we found out he can't see well enough that he feels comfortable reading, so anytime we open the scriptures he checks out. This is a problem! He wants to know but is unwilling to try. Prayers for a long term solution would be appreciated, because we can't really read aloud to him everyday for the rest of his life! He can't progress unless he knows what is in the Book of Mormon!

Saturday was awesome as well. Our bishop, Vlad, organized a stake futbol tournament, with a bracket and trophy and everything. The volunteers had a team and filled gaps on the ward teams. And we got annihilated. If you think church basketball is competitive...come play futbol with a bunch of Russian members. They got matching warmups.

Other than that, we went to a light show on Preparation day, organized some big service projects, and finally got our apartment back! I've never slept so soundly.

I've been going even more in-depth with my studies of the Atonement. The scriptures have SO MUCH knowledge in so few words. I am blown away by the scope of Christ's love and suffering for us. I know he would do it 1,000 times for each of us if need be. He loves us that much. And he did it all with dignity and grace. I have also been pondering the application of the Atonement. It kind of is all-encompassing, in a positive growth direction, but I have narrowed it down to two main parts: Repentance, and the acquisition of Christ-like attributes. I know sometimes, it is hard to feel like you measure up when you look at the Atonement and the distance you have to go. But that's not the point! The Atonement is built to lift you higher. If you let Him, Christ will put you on His back and carry you home.

With love

-- 

Elder Wilkins