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