Seven Days Have Come and Gone...

Good morning everyone! Happy holidays!

It was a really busy week. One of the really promising potentials I met on the street last transfer, Yegor, finally made it out of the hospital after his surgery, and texted me right away saying he wanted to meet! I am really looking forward to that, and he should be coming to the ward Christmas party with his girlfriend, so this week is hopefully the week. Ilya, unfortunately, was slammed with work all week long. He was so busy, we didn't see him at all, and only heard from him once. But he is reading the Book of Mormon and praying still, which is a great sign!

We finally, after months of trying, managed to get a meeting with our inactive Ward Mission Leader, Andrei. He is still trying to get on a mission in January, so we are trying to help him (as gently as possible) understand that he can't go on a mission until he is a active member. Needless to say, calling a new ward mission leader is in the works. Gotta take baby steps with people sometimes.

Friday I was on a split with Elder Bushlaev, and Saturday, transfer calls came. Elder Radle is leaving, and I am getting Elder Richardson, an Elder who came into the mission right after I did. He has a reputation for being a really hard working Elder, so I am looking forward to getting down to work with him this week. Later that night, a group of Elders was assigned to give a short Christmas concert at the stake primary activity. We killed it. The crowd was going wild.

Sunday, I spent the day in Podolsk again, and when I got back to Moscow, we went straight to ward council to set some goals and plans for the next year.

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Merry Christmas!

Elder Wilkins

It's Winter (Dec 11)

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a good one. A little strange being out of the teens, because I feel like I just finished high school in May, but what do you do?

I was super pleased with the week Elder Radle and I had, but more than that, I know the Lord was pleased with it. We kept teaching Ilya, and he is keeping commitments and accepting everything so naturally. We were a little worried when he didn't come to church, but he had a work emergency show up. He called us as soon as he was free, and told us to come to the branch so we could meet.

We also had MCl (mission leadership council) this week at the home of the McGhies. We gathered for some training and to exchange ideas about what is working, what we can do better, and so forth. Using Preach My Gospel even more in our work was a big takeaway for myself and for Elder Radle, so when we got home that night, we immediately opened it up. Within minutes of beginning a serious study, we made some headway on some challenges we've been seeing in our work, which was a huge blessing.

Thursday we had exchanges with the other Elders in our district, and I got to go out and teach with Elder Webb. It was an interesting dynamic having him plan and lead the day, but he did a great job. We talked a lot about the faith to accept God's will in the attitude of "but if not...".

Friday, we went to a steakhouse with one of my favorite members in Kahovski, Marat. We made a lot of progress with his friend he wants to introduce to the gospel, so it was a double success. We are seeing the work grow!

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

Ft in the pics:

The cheesecake the sisters made for my birthday

Lunch with Marat

The cake

Jesus is a Friend of Mine (Dec 4)

Hi everyone!

18 months certainly is a long time, and it has flown by crazy fast. It only gets faster with each day. Elder Radle and I are seeing so many blessings from the Lord and just trying to keep up with all the things He has for us to do.

The highlight of the week was by far our meeting on Wednesday with Ilya. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. We'd have him read a verse and explain it in his own words, and he would lay out these ideas like he was reading straight out of Gospel Principles. And then we committed him to baptism! January 13th is the day we are shooting for. Hopefully the holidays don't interfere too much!

Thursday we had splits with one of the District Leader companionships, Elder Carter and Elder Heywood. Elder Carter and I met with this young guy, Maxim, who has a young family. He called me out of the blue a few days back, looking for an Elder who served here a year and a half ago. He was really sincere and wanted to know more, so we have a meeting set for Wednesday.

We have also been working with one of our inactive RMs, Marat. Last week he really opened up to us, and this week he brought his friend Ira to dinner with a senior couple. It was her second time having dinner with one of our senior couples, and she really enjoyed it. He told us he will bring her to church next week, so we are really thrilled about that. And if that wasn't enough, when Ilya came to church on Sunday, he brought a friend! I don't know what's going on here, but don't make it stop!

The holidays are coming up too, which is great. There is nothing like Christmas on a mission- you are your gift to the Savior. I love the time of the year, and I especially love the Savior!

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

С днем благодарения всем!

This week was a week of miracles, and gratitude (especially for those miracles).

We had an awesome meeting with that guy, Ilya, who has been coming to third hour at church. We sat down with him and a member, and had the best Restoration lesson I have ever seen. Ilya prepared beforehand! He looked up all kinds of stuff on lds.org, researched Joseph Smith, and was super engaged. Our member drove it home with a great testimony, and then we left. Not even two hours later, Ilya texted us and said "Hey guys, I really liked our meeting. My soul feels so much lighter. WHen can we meet again?"

And he has been texting me all week about his reading in the Book of Mormon, and questions about principles we haven't even mentioned yet (how he can pay tithing, when he will get a calling, etc.)

Tuesday, President came to our district meeting (which was held in Russian). We had a cool training about the spirit, and how to invite the spirit into our lives and the lives of our investigators.

Thursday, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the the Smiths with 11 PEOPLE. 2 investigators, 2 potential investigators, an inactive member, and all of us. It was great. We were grateful to be there.

Friday, we were on splits with the assistants. It was a really good day. We taught a new convert who I have known for over a year-since the day he started the lessons. It was amazing to see how much he has changed and how strong his testimony of the Savior is. He has a light in his eyes that was never there before.

Saturday and Sunday were stake conference. There was a lot of talk about preparing for a temple in Moscow. They want to build a temple spiritually before it is built physically, and that means having a people prepared for the temple. It really touched one of our less-actives, Marat. We went to dinner Saturday night with him, and he opened up for the first time. He told us about how he fell away and how he has been making his way back. The Lord opened the door wide for us to finally help Marat make the final steps back to Him.

The book is blue, the Gospel is true.

Старейшина Вилкинс

Nov 19: Mazeltov!

Tremendous. A tremendous week.

On Monday, Elder Radle and I went to the Jewish history museum and Tolerance Center. It was really cool, until I started taking tests to see how tolerant I am, and got personally attacked by a computer. Apparently I don't know how to intelligently advance my arguments. That's ridiculous, because...it's just ridiculous, alright?

Tuesday, we geared up for Zone Conference, which took place Wednesday. We gave our training on the relationship between covenants, the gathering of Israel, and the Restoration. I learned so much about the transcendent importance of covenants while studying for this. They really are a source of strength that ties us to God. That's why baptism is so important- it's the first covenant in this life.

Thursday, I was on a split with Elder Grube, who is in his 3rd transfer. We had great meetings with a few progressing less-actives, and at the end of the night when we went over the day, we had an awesome discussion on coming to know Christ based on Mosiah 5:13.

On Sunday I left Moscow with Elder Webb to go to this little city with a small branch, Podolsk. There are no full time Elders or sisters there, so a companionship of Elders goes there now and again to support the members and help them in their missionary efforts.

I saw so many times how the Lord blesses His children in little ways, more often than not, through us. We are His hands and His answer to somebody's prayer. "Being blessed with hope, let us, as disciples, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have 'moved away from the hope of the gospel' (Col. 1:23). Let us reach to lift hands which hang hopelessly down." -Elder Neal A. Maxwell

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

Pics: Elder Radle and I watching a 4D movie of the Old Testament

Me and my boy Vladimir. What a jokester.

President, Elder Bedke, and I in our matching suits

Nov 12: Endless Splits

What's up everyone, Elder Wilkins here. We had a good week. I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I am in the same area but working with an entirely different group of people. It's a little crazy. And we had like a ton of splits this week, so that made things crazy.

Monday we had a meeting with Natalia. The sisters came with us and we just sang hymns for an hour. It actually really helped to soften her heart. I've never seen a 65 year old woman as giddy as a 3 year old with cotton candy in either hand. That night, we went to McDonald's with one of our inactive members, Marat, so Elder Heywood could say goodbye. While we were there, we got harassed by a drunk who asked if we were part of Obama's task force smuggling bananas into the States from Russia (ie, why we have the Word of Wisdom).

Tuesday we had another great meeting with Timur. He took all of the doctrine really well and has really been thinking and pondering about what we teach him. I love meeting with him, because he asks such great questions and I always learn when we teach him. Wednesday I got to the new area, and Elder Radle and I immediately started on our training for zone conference (since he was gone all weekend in Ryazan and ZC is Wednesday). We met with another inactive member who gave us a bunch of his military gear from when he served in the Red Army. Quirky dude. His name is Alexander and it turns out, this is the first lesson he has ever accepted a commitment on. Score.

Friday night was crazy since we had a bunch of people leaving Moscow to go to the outer cities. I ended up spending Saturday with Elder Bohman. That day, we found two young guys who told us they were interested in the church (Sasha and Roma). Details to come. I was just impressed they both spouted Hamlet's soliloquy from memory. In English. Then we taught two new converts in Elder Bohman's area.

Sunday, I was on splits with Elder Bushlaev, because Elder Webb was in Podolsk with a member, and Elder Radle was in Ryazan. One of the members brought a friend and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. The other Elders are going to be working with him. Yuri and Nadia didn't come to church. The highlight of the day was by far when my boy Kolya opened his mission call and is going to Leeds, England!

Blessed to be a missionary, and blessed to share the light of the gospel. I love Russia!

Elder Wilkins

Kolya after opening his call

Milk runs with Elder Bohman

Singing with the Larionovyi

Nov 5: Why are there foreigners in our school?

Здорово Всем

This week was another really crazy one. We had lunch with the Smiths and the Ordyinetsi family again. Translating for 4 hours will really take it out of you, man!

What was cool, was Sister Ordyinets made all of this Georgian and Armenian food that was super good. On top of that, we got an in with their inactive daughter, Sasha. She studies music, so she and Elder Heywood hit it right off.

Natalia is not doing so well. She has closed her heart to true doctrine. This week we are going to let her know that we can not continue to teach her if she fights us every step of the way and continues to not keep commitments.

The work with seeking referrals from members is starting to improve a ton, too. All of the new investigators from the last month in our ward have been member referrals. It has been cool to see how they are taking the counsel of he Priesthood leaders seriously.

Thursday was great. Right after district meeting we went with the Larsens (senior couple) to a school play that one of our inactive members was in. It was a miracle that we could go at all, because there are super strict laws about foreigners being in public schools in Russia. But the play was great! It was about Alexander Pushkin, and our member, Kirill, played Pushkin! Check out the pics.

Friday we spent a lot of the day travelling. We met with the Boltruki. They are an inactive family whose 15 year old son is not baptized. He is interested in the church, but the mother says they will go to church together or not at all, and she is not ready to go back quite yet. With some of these inactive families, you really see the importance of daily devotion. When you stop reading and praying, the power of God is not as present in your life, and the tide of the world slowly pulls you away from the safety of the church.

Saturday transfer calls came in. And I am already moving! Elder Radle and I will be in Kakhovski still, as the south zone zone leaders. I will be moving to the other elders' area, and coming to where I am serving right now are Elder Webb and Elder Bushlaev, two of my favorite companions! I am disappointed to be leaving the area and the people I am working with in this area, but President instructed me to carry some of the investigators I am working with to my new area. I am really excited to be staying in Kakhovski.

Sunday, we were visited in sacrament meeting by Elder Golden of the Area Presidency and President McGhie. We got to hear some great testimonies, and we had another person we are working with come to church! Ilia was met a few months back by some elders, and was immediately interested in the church. Problem is, he is on business trips a lot. He came to church, and we finally got him a Book of Mormon. He surprised us by asking when the next temple trip he could go on was. We explained he needed to be a baptized member of the church in order to go to the temple, and he responded, "So who do I talk to to get baptized?" It was great.

The book is blue, the gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

Oct 30: It's the beeest

Здорово!

The winter has begun....dang it. Six more months of snow, here we come!

We had a really wonderful week, culminating in 2 new investigators, a strong potential, and a progressing less-active!!!!

Monday we had a meeting with 4 elders and the Protopopovyi family, the stake patriarch and his wife. We talked about member missionary work, and about what we can do to "let our light so shine".

Later in the week we met with a kid named Timur. He is 22, and was baptized when he was 8, but his family went inactive right after. What a good guy! He is super honest and all about the value of hard work, and he said he didn't know if the church was true, but that he wanted to. Since he is already a member of the church, he will work for an answer until he knows it either is or isn't true. We got to testify to him about the truth of the Book of Mormon, and it was really cool to see how sincere he is.

We continued to meet with Natalia, but she really struggles with the potential of man and the fall. She can't see how God would allow anyone to become like him.

Sunday was by far one of the best days of my mission. We had a special broadcast for the Europe East Area from President Nelson, Elder Kearon, Elder Golden, Elder Martino, and Jean B. Bingham. They all basically talked about the Restoration, defining characteristics of the church, and member missionary work. It was incredible. On top of that, Natalia came to church and really enjoyed the broadcast.

Right after the meeting, Elder Bedke and I (our companions were in Ryazan again this week) meet with some investigators. One of our members ran into Yura and Nadia on the street and invited them to church. They are a couple in their early 60s, and we taught them the Restoration. They loved it. I started to say to them "It's your decision whether or not to accept our message. If you accept it..." but I couldn't even finish before Yura says "Accepted!"

Our evening appointment fell through, so I made a last minute call to a less active member I had met last week, Natalia. She is an RM who married her non-member boyfriend, Arseni, over the summer. They were way happy to see us, and said come over anytime we like.

Work here is rolling!

The book is blue, the gospel is true! (If you have any questions about that, shoot me an email)

Elder Wilkins

1837- When your companions get home from Ryazan at 9 and are happy to see a roast on the table

1821- Thug life

Oct 22 :The Best Two Years

The past 5 days were phenomenal. We had splits, mission conference, attended a baptism, and had church.

Thursday, I had exchanges with one of the Elders in my district, Elder Johnson. We got up and left the apartment for an appointment in the farthest corner of my area. The Boltruki family is great. Super solid testimonies, they love the Savior, they just haven't been active for over 10 years. Their 15 year old son isn't even baptized. We had a great meeting using President Uchtdorf's talk "A Yearning for Home".

Later that day, we met with a former investigator named Andrei. We played ping pong and tried to gauge how interested he really was (the last two times Elders have worked with him, he said he only wanted English help). But Elder Johnson and I really felt that even if he didn't want to change, he wanted to want to change. He has a long ways to go, but we are excited to see what happens.

Elder Kearon, the new member of the Presidency of the 70, was supposed to attend. Unfortunately, he had some last-minute scheduling conflicts, so he couldn't come. But the conference was incredible! We had some trainings on working with members to find. When Elder Holland came in April, that was the task he gave us- do our finding through the less-active membership of the church. And all but one of the baptisms in our mission in the last month have been found that way!

At church we had 6 non-members! Some came on their own, some were brought by members, but none of them had been taught before. It was a huge blessing to see how the members are becoming involved in the work and how we are being blessed for our faith and diligence. Later that night, we were invited by the Larsens, one of our senior couples, to act as translators at a dinner with a member. Shoutout to all the senior couples around the world for serving. We love you.

The book is blue, the gospel is true.

Старейшина Вилкинс

187, 188-MTC Group (last time we will be together before our sisters go home!!!)

Mission conference

Oct 18: I live on companion exchanges....

Добрый добрый, Ст. Вилкинс!

It sometimes feels like I never actually serve with my companion. The Tula/Kaluga Elders (outer cities) came in for splits last Wednesday, and Elder Heywood went to Ryazan with Elder Radle again this Sunday, so I was with my companion something like 4 of the last 8 days. It can be a little frustrating, but it doesn't slow down the work at all.

The work kind of took off this week, despite the constant companion changing. We found three potential investigators, all pretty young college guys who feel like something is missing. Their names are Yegor, Slava, and Ivan. Pretty excited to see how they progress. We also met with a contact we had named Mikhail. Unfortunately, he's one of the people who falls into the category of "I'm far older than the Elders, and have much more life experience. There's no way they can know what they're talking about." So we testified hard, and sent him on his way. He said he is still interested to meet, but doesn't plan on changing his ways.

We continued to work with Natalia, Andrei's (one of our YSA) mom. She is having a little trouble getting over her old beliefs but is slowly coming along. She believes the Book of Mormon is true, but has trouble with Joseph Smith and the doctrine of eternal progression. So we are hoping Andrei can help his mom realize that if the Book of Mormon is true, it all is.

In other news, we helped a member get a bunk bed across Moscow, made borsch with a member named Marat who is returning to activity, and finally watched Gen Conf! You could say it was a pretty good week.

I am so thrilled to be a part of this great work and to represent the Lord each day.

The book is blue, the Gospel is true

С Богом

Elder Wilkins

                                                   Morning prayers

                                              Candids during study

                                                     #Metroselfie

"So, Basically, he Kidnapped You?"

What's up, everyone. Elder Wilkins here. Still killing the mission game out in Russia.

We had a pretty busy week. Unfortunately, we still haven't been able to watch conference in English-that will be this week. But thanks everyone for the insights quotes:)

The week pretty much cruised by as I got acquainted with our members. It really is the strangest feeling to be in a sacrament hall with more than 30 people. But it's great, I love it. On Wednesday, I had a split with Elder Radle. We met with a former investigator named Natalia, who is the mother of one of our YSA. It was an unusual lesson. She basically said the doctrine is all true, but she thinks Joseph Smith just found some of the Incas' records and decided to copy their religion. Which is not entirely untrue, if you leave God out of the equation. But we don't, so she had a hard time understanding that.

We also hit the gym the stake rents out on Saturdays with some of our inactive YSA for some futbol. You won't be surprised to hear that Elder Wilkins is STILL awful, even after playing every week for a year and a half. Some things never change.

The highlight of the week by far was our meeting the the Zakharovyi family. They were baptized as a young family in 1995, and he still works for the church. But the story of how they met was even better. Basically, he worked on a train, and she needed to be on that train, even though tickets were sold out. He let her on, but "accidentally" locked her door when it was time for her to get off (see the title of the email). So she ended up in Moscow instead of Kazakhstan, and 9 months later they were married. Crazy.

In other news, we had a few more big changes in the mission. We are now expected to speak only Russian all of the time, except for very rare exceptions. And the mission set a goal for 10 baptisms a month. So we're pretty excited for the swell of work that must be coming our way. Until then, we'll just keep seeing how many people we can get to be interested not in the American guys in suits, but in salvation. Guess we'll see.

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Старейшина Вилкинс

My Head is Spinning...

Hey everyone. I was sad to see University go, but Kakhovski is a blast.

Tuesday night I said goodbye to Nick, Katya, and their cat (some of my favorite members in University). Wednesday I got to Kakhovski, went to district meeting, and spent about two hours getting acquainted with my companion Elder Heywood. He's 20, from Seattle, beatboxes like a champ, and just finished his training. He and another Elder in our district, Elder Carter, had visa trips, so I spent the next day with Elder Johnson.

Elder Johnson, the sisters, and I helped our new senior couple, the Smiths, move in and buy a few necessities for their apartment. Unfortunately, we got on the wrong train to get to the store, and got kicked off by an angry security lady.

Elder Heywood came back for a day, long enough to bring me more or less up to speed on the area and our work, before he and Elder Radle left for the city Ryazan. They will be the travelling elders in Ryazan every other weekend. So Elder Bedke and I got back together!

Sunday was quick. It has been almost a year since I have had three hours of church. I forgot how long that can be sometimes, especially on fast Sunday. Yikes. It was also the largest unit in Russia I have been to-we have almost 80 active members. It kind of was a blur of shaking hands and trying to learn names. But the Lord answered our prayers for new people to work with in a miraculous way- two investigators showed up to church unannounced!

The week just flew by, but I am really excited about the work that lays ahead of us. Also, no general conference spoilers, we have to wait until the translation comes out in the next week :)

The gospel is true, the book is blue. Say your prayers.

Elder Wilkins

Забавно, что вы еще не думали переводить эти

I wish I had something more original than "Hey everyone" to say, but this was the best I could do.

Elder Bushlaev and I had a killer week, and almost got back to where we were when the work in University had peaked. We met with our most promising investigator, Mikhail, 3 times this week. You can really see the difference the gospel is making in his life- he smiles and just looks cleaner. He has a baptismal date for Dec 3. We also had Kirill, one of our other investigators, at church (which is his biggest hold-up for baptism), so I could call it a successful week right there. But! We also met with a man named Anatolii, who was already familiar with the doctrine of the church. However, he said he could not join any church that was not actively taking a stance against loan sharks. In addition to his impeccably manicured nails, that made him the most interesting investigator I have had to date.

I had a split with Elder Lainhart on Tuesday, and we helped one of our teenage members prepare to give his friend a Book of Mormon. Friday, I went on a split with Elder Miller so we could meet with Oleg and introduce him to some of the other young people in the stake. Well, the other young people bailed. And Oleg told us he won't read the Book of Mormon anymore, which was pretty disappointing. At this point, we have done what we can do, and any further efforts are just going to push him farther away. It's in the Lord's hands now.

On Saturday, we met with a member's nonmember dad. This member is actually on her mission in Novosibirsk, but I knew her from my first area, and she asked Elder Bushlaev and I to meet with him. He was a way nice guy, and would be a phenomenal member someday. Later in the day, the transfer calls came in. I am leaving University, and going to the Kakhovski area, about 20 minutes away from where I now am. I'm pretty excited, because two other elders from my group, Elder Bedke and Elder Radle, are going to be serving in that district with me!

The book is blue, the Gospel is true. Keep it real out there, ya humble followers of Christ.

Elder Wilkins

Oleg, 10K, and a really long, formal event

Shoutout to the Russian weather for being more tame than the United States right now. I hear you all are having an "end-of-days" scenario over there.

The past five days haven't been all that usual. On Wednesday, we got a call from President McGhie. The PR reprersentative for the church in Russia needed a companionship of elders and sisters for some event Thursday. It was at a veteran's home where we had done some service for several years, the Cheshire house. Basically, it was the founder's 100th birthday or something, and they were doing a bunch of awards for people who had volunteered there. After the event got buckets of rain, we moved inside. The church was presented with a certificate, and we did lots of handshaking and photos (which, unfortunately, are not in my possession). That actually took up most of the day.

Friday we had the other Elders in our district with us for a split. I got to be back with Elder Webb! We had a lot of fun catching up, and at the end of the day, we had our обзор (review) on this huge monument in the middle of Gorki Park. See pics.

Saturday morning we went running with one of our inactive members, Vova. Elder Bushlaev and I thought we were going for a short jog. 10k and some pullups later, I felt like jello. But, we actually managed to set up an appointment with him and his family (something no elders have been able to do in over a year). The Lord truly blesses us when we care about people, and find creative ways to show it.

The most disappointing moment of the week was a tough one. Oleg, our new convert, came back from his vacation with his parents two weeks ago, and hasn't been to church since. HIs mother is a devout member of the Russian Orthodox Church, so he attended church with her for a month and a hlaf while he was gone. He came back and this week, he told us he likes the Russian Orthodox church better and will be attending their services from now on. He is still willing to read the Book of Mormon and meet with us, but won't come to church. For a while I just kind of wondered what could have gone so wrong so fast. But I know that Oleg knows this church is true, and I know that I did and am doing the best that I can to help him. It is in the Lord's hands now.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's true church. It is the only church authorized to act in His name and perform saving ordinances with any authority. There is no way to go through that fact and leave activity in the church. One must go around, over, or underneath it. I have a testimony of this great work and of the figure who stands at it's head, Jesus Christ.

Книга синяя, евангелие истинно!

Elder Wilkins

Zone Conference and the Longest 9 Days

Hey, how's it going everyone?

We'll start off with the bad news-it snowed today. Say hello to 9 months of dark and cold hahaha.

Other than that, we had a week that wasn't altogether too bad. We found lots of people to talk to and set up a TON of first lessons. It was insane. Unfortunately, it turns out that quite a few of those people are also insane. So there was a big turnover in our teaching this week. Our most promising investigator, Kirill, is doing really well. He called us up in the middle of the week to meet, and we wanted to talk about baptism with him. Как раз, that's what he wanted to talk about! He has started attending church consistently, and so we were finally able to set a baptismal date with him! Unfortunately, he is crazy busy right now because he is running for public office, so we have to be really on top of things with him as the baptismal date approaches.

On Tuesday, we had zone conferences and it was fantastic. The best zone conference I have been to, by a long shot. We had some trainings on charity, receiving revelation, and my personal favorite: grit. Sister McGhie talked about grit and how it is the number one indicator for success of an individual. Grit is the ability to work hard and persevere for the realization of some goal. And sometimes, our work really requires grit. Like this past week.

Every day, we had lessons lined up and our schedules full. And every day, like clock work, the meetings would fall through one by one. Aside from our big push on having first lessons, almost all of our appointments cancelled. It was rough, but almost comical. We pushed through though.

Despite the hard days and the occasional disappointments, I know this is the Lord's work, and that the gathering of Israel is underway. I know that the Lord has provided a plan and a path to salvation for all of HIs children, through the Savior Jesus Christ. I know if we live worthy of them, no blessing will be withheld from the righteous.

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

"Elder, How Can you Not do the Trunk?"

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM MOSCOW!

Elder Bushlaev and I had a busy, busy week. One of those weeks where you are so tired your body hurts. The only way we made it through was pleading to have strength and be guided every day. We spent a lot of time with our investgiators this week. One of them, Kirill, even took us on a tour of his company (industrial construction materials) shop and workhouse. It was pretty cool-they print pictures on these huge aluminum sheets, among a ton of other things. We also had a killer first lesson with a 23 year old kid named Davron. His sister is a member, and the Elders before dropped him because he wasn't making any progress. It was written that there was little hope for him. Turns out, he wasn't progressing because the Elders didn't actually ever invite him to learn about the Gospel, just invited him to activities and things. He is very ready to hear about the gospel and was asking all kinds of great questions.

Later in the week, one of our lessons feel through, so we went looking for inactive members that had gone MIA. We checked quite a few addresses, and were pretty disappointed with the success we were having, until we checked the last place for the night. To our surprise, one of our most active members opened the door, having gotten home after a month of being on vacation. And her inactive son was there! We talked to them for quite a while. On our way back to the metro, she told us that was the first time in over 5 years  that he had talked to the elders. Usually, when the elders had come over, he would just lock himself in the back room. It was a huge blessing to see how the Lord lined up everything that night so we would get there right when we would be able to see him and build a relationship with him.

I wish I could write out all of the little miracles we see every day, but I am not allowed nearly enough time for that. Thanks for your love and prayers!

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

PS

Here is Elder Bushlaev and I without umbrellas in a small hurricane

A Tall, Tall Tale

Ну, как оно пацаны?

Hey, everyone. Elder Wilkins here, in case you've forgotten my name. Here's the Moscow low-down:

Monday, Elder Bedke and I went bowling with Nick, one of our members. Elder Bedke won, but not by much. Tuesday, we got up and went to the Kakhovski building, where we made breakfast for a less-active member, Andrei. We finally got him to open up a little bit. Later that day, I met up with my new companion, Elder Bushlaev. He's just short of 7 foot, he's from Siberia, and he beatboxes like a madman. We set some goals for the area and discussed all the work going on before calling it a day.

The rest of the week flew by. We really stepped up our game talking to people all the time, everywhere. We can't directly approach people about the gospel still, but if they are interested we can do almost anything. So it's a matter of getting people to ask the right questions. We've become really good at SNEAKY CONTACTING finding people who are interested in the message we have.

Eventually, Saturday rolled around and the real fun began. We had another branch picnic, and this time, they made Elder Wilkins grillmaster. IE- the food turned out great. Someone knows what's up :) We had a good number of non-members there, which was a pleasant surprise. Most of them were invited by the members! We played soccer and frisbee, and ate an unhealthy amount of watermelon. Even Kirill, one of our investigators, came and had a great time.

This week, we had the opportunity to explain the nature of Christ to a man who really doesn't understand much about Him. He kept saying, "Yeah, He exists, but He needs to do His thing and let me do mine!" And he was exactly right-almost. What he should have said was "He is doing His thing, and helping me do mine!" The name of Jesus Christ is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved. I know He lives, He loves us, and this is His church!

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins