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

Transfers...again, Two Areas, and the elevators

Well, hey everyone. It's been awhile. It feels like 3 weeks has passed, because the last week has fried my brain.

Elder Miller left Tuesday night for his new area, and I met up with Elder Bedke, another elder in my group. Until the actual transfer came around, we covered both of our areas. It was a TON of traveling. Each day felt like two days, because we would spend the beginning of the day in one area, and then move to the other. It was exhausting. We managed to still get a lot of good work done.

The highlights were meeting with members in Kolomenskii park (where another monarch's summer home was built), stopping by a crazy old guy who curtsied in his very long polo shirt when he introduced himself, and sports day. We met with a lot of inactive members this week. Unfortunately, the vast majority of investigators we are working with are out of town.

Saturday on our way to the sports day the stake holds, Elder Bedke and I got stuck in the elevator. I guess those things aren't designed to handle too much fun. Sooooo we sang hymns for 40 mins. The mechanic who busted us out seemed to appreciate it. We did see a miracle this week at church! One of our investigators, Kirill, would be ready for baptism if he would attend church regularly. I had only ever seen him at church twice, and he only stayed for first hour. But this week he came and stayed the whole time. We also had a member from Germany come to our branch and bring her non-member son who is studying at Moscow University!

Transfer calls came in Saturday night, and I am going to be serving with Elder Bushlaev! He is the only Russian Elder in the mission, and he's like 7 feet tall, so he and I will be quite the pair walking down the street.

Sorry for the short email, but duty calls.

The book is blue, the Gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

Transferred, Trapped, but Tenacious

The vast majority of this week is a blur, I won't lie to you. But it was an interesting one.

Monday we finally managed to get a hold of a young inactive family we have been wanting to work with for months. They've been a focus for our branch council, and our companionship, but we just couldn't get our foot in the door. Finally, we met up with the father, Vova. He is a big runner, so we agreed to go running with him in the mornings to build our relationship. Tuesday morning, we ran about 7k. I thought I was hurting afterward, but I was better off than Elder Miller.

Tuesday night we got a random call from some guy who said he was on his way to our building. He spoke really fast and didn't give us time to respond, so we just showed up not knowing what to expect. It was a 65 year old man named Nikolai who wanted to sell us lightbulbs or work for the church as a delivery man. Fortunately, he was on our turf, so we could preach the life right out of him. He was actually very excited to hear about the gospel, and we had a second meeting later in the week.

The following day, we met with a young guy named Jimbya who formerly had investigated the church. He wanted to know why the Mormons are so dang sure their church is the only true one. So we told him. And we told him he could be equally sure. But he doesn't believe in "absolute truth " (ie, everyone has their own path to their own God and we just gotta do whatever seems right based on our personal standards). It jsut made me glad I have a witness from God Himself that this church is the one true and living church on the Earth.

Friday we had splits with the zone leaders. Elder Bedke and I ended up trying to meet a member in Tsaritsyino Park, where Catherine built her summer palace. One of the food booths gave us a discount on our churros and free lemonade when they found out we were on religious missions. Blessings can be found everywhere.

The rest of the week went as follows:

-President calls and tells Elder Miller he is being transferred to Rechnoy (in Moscow) a few weeks early. Elder Wilkins will found out his companion when transfers actually roll around.

-Elder Wilkins and Elder Bedke will be covering both Kakhovski and University until transfers, so that means we will be covering the southern half of Moscow for 10 days.

-Elder Wilkins and Elder Miller get trapped in an elevator for just under an hour because someone (won't say who) got bored on the long ride and tried to force the doors open with the keys while the elevator was moving.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I have a testimony of this work. I have a testimony of the Savior. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near unto you.

The Book is blue, the Gospel is true!

------

Elder Wilkins

Even More Ping Pong, Splits, and Talking 'bout Jesus

I say it every week, but what a week! On the upside, I am going to be a killer ping pong player when I get home.

Monday, Elder Miller and I decided to go to the park and sharpen our skills against some Russians. Fun preparation day time for us, and another opportunity to get out there and preach the gospel in some way you'd probably never expect. While we were at the park playing ping pong with some of the college guys from our branch, we ran into a few guys who had just moved into Moscow from Siberia for school. We played ping pong for awhile and got their numbers.

Tuesday we had interviews with President. It's one of those things you get really excited for, even though you know almost exactly what to expect. President asked us about the work in our area, what kinds of successes and struggles we were seeing, and how we are finding new people to teach. He also asked about personal growth and the like.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent our time between meetings putting together a game plan for our area. We identified on our ward list all of the prospective elders, and inactive elders who had served missions, and made specific goals for when we wanted each ofthem to receive the priesthood or receive a calling.

I've found one of the surest ways to obtain the Lord's help with anything is to set some goals, make a plan, and then ask Him what He thinks. I have yet to see a time when I have done that and the Lord has not blessed me for my effort. He wants us to succeed!

At the end of the week, I felt satisfied in saying I had done all I could this week, and that my prayers for the monsoons to stop were answered.

Give 'em heaven!

Riga, Zone Conference, and Ping Pong Preaching

What's up friends, family, and fans?

Kind of a crazy week here in Moscow. On Monday, Elder Miller and I went to the flea market to buy some ties.We, together with one of our members, bought 31 ties for about $70 total.  Who knew the Lord's servants liked ties so much?

Tuesday night we headed up to the office, and Wednesday we spent the day in Riga, Latvia. We had to get new migration cards. Turns out our visas are for 3 years, but our migration only for 6 months. We got back late Wednesday night.

Thursday we had zone conference! We had some great trainings by President, the STLs, and our Zone Leaders. Woven throughout the whole conference was the theme of going back to the basics. Working through members, praying, and teaching the doctrine of Christ. I love zone conference because it is a day that gets your fire going again, and gets you really pumped up about missionary work.

Saturday was a little rough. We had a ton of meetings scheduled, but they all fell through. We called everyone we knew, and nothing turned out. We figured the Lord probably couldn't do much for us just doing some extra studies or finding some busy work somewhere. SO we decided to take a risk and see how many people we could get convewrsations going with by going and playing ping pong in the park. And it was surprisingly successful! We met quite a few people!

Sunday we had two miracles. Earlier in the week we had met with a less-active member named Aleksey. He has been inactive for years-no one even knows him. All traces of a testimony have disappeared, but he wants to know again, if it's all true. He came to church!

When we got off the metro on our way home, we got a call. Some guy asked if we were the Elders and if we could meet right then. SO we turned around, and had a great lesson with a man named Mikhail . The Lord has really blessed Elder Miller and I for our faith, diligence, and obedience.

I am constantly humbled that the Lord trusts this, His work, to a bunch of young people who are sometimes still just trying to figure out how to cook rice.  He trusts us to reach out and gather HIs children. We are so blessed to be participants in this great and joyful work!

The book is blue, the gospel is true!

-- 

Elder Wilkins

Some ties

Ping pong

Riga trip:

Moscow traffic is RIDICULOUS!

I won't lie, it felt like we wrote home yesterday, but we had a lot go on this week.

Monday, after taking care of all of our other stuff, Elder Miller and I decided to use our remaining preparation day time in the most effective way possible-napping. We went to Park Gorkovo, a massive park not far from our apartment, and took naps on bean bags in the park.

We were a little more productive the rest of the week. We called through a list of old investigators and found another group of people ready to hear about the gospel. We met with two of them this week, Sergei and Artyom. Sergei already understands all of the basic doctrines of the gospel, so we have really high hopes for him. Artyom had some trouble understanding who God is, but we committed him to read the Book of Mormon. He is really earnestly seeking, so we have high hopes for him too.

The rest of the week was spent meeting with inactive members and other investigators. One of our inactive members, Dima, is now reading the scriptures consistently, and trying to attend institute, which is a huge step. Saturday we went with Sergei to the gym the stake rents out every week, and played soccer with a bunch of guys from the stake.

Sunday was a full day. There is an active family that lives about 90 minutes outside of Moscow, and no Elders have been to visit in over 3 years. We took one of our member friends, Dima, and jumped on a bus for the long trip. On the way, I noticed the lady next to me reading some article about religion. So I casually turned the Liahona I had been reading to an article about the First Vision. It caught her attention and she read the whole article over my shoulder before asking me what church I am from and how happy she was to see that there are "young believing people in this world". We had a great lesson with this active family when we arrived, followed by a 3 hour

trip home because of the RIDICULOUS Moscow area traffic.

The book is blue, and the Gospel is true! If you don't believe that, please schedule an appointment with me or my companion.

Love ,

Elder Wilkins

Park naps:

 Dima and the Vechtomovii: