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