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