Jesus is a friend of mine pt 2

Well hey everyone. I have almost kind of gotten used to Rechnoi. It's weird having so many directions to take the work. Up to this point, I feel like I've been given an orange or two in each area, metaphorically speaking, and just had to squeeze as hard as I can. Now someone has set me in front of an orange tree and and I don't even know which oranges to pick. It's a really nice kind of stress.

Monday...Monday was not a very "missionary" day. We had to close down the apartment the other elders had been living in. We also went to Europe's largest mall, that had a 5 story aquarium.

Tuesday was MLC. We had a really good talk about obedience and leadership styles, and discussed the new zone conference farmat (boring, right?). After MLC, we met with a man named Vladimir Mikhailovich. He took us to this WAY fancy cafe called the Tchaikovsky Cafe and told us all about his work and his ties to religion. We walked away with the win, because he agreed to take the lessons.

The rest of the week was a blur. Friday I had a split with Elder VandenBerghe, and we taught ANOTHER NEW INVESTIGATOR! Nice. We also got in with a really nice less active lady who wants her husband and daughter to be baptized but doesn't want to attend church. Stay tuned.

Saturday we hit the stake gym again for some soccer with our potential investigators, Anna and Sasha (Sasha is a dude). They had a good time and told us they want to come to an activity every night. As it just so happens, there is an activity pretty much every night in Moscow.

So yeah. We also had ward council and got everyone fired up about missionary work. It was a 10/10 week.

Just wanted to throw in there that the Savior is there. He knows what you're feeling on a very personal level, and He's got your back. He never gives anyone something that won't make them stronger and more capable, if only they look to Him.

The book is blue, the gospel is true.

Elder Wilkins

Double Shotgun

Hey everyone, I'm still here in one piece.

So...transfers. Yeah. Elder Pacheco and I shotgunned two areas this week. They pulled four Elders out, and threw the two of us in, and then they assigned the sisters in Rechnoi to also cover the International ward, so we have plenty of things to be figuring out. We barely managed to get our feet under us, there is so much. But wow. Rechnoi. Perk number one, we live in the very center of Moscow. Like a short stroll from Red Square. Cool, right? Perk number two, our ward is the highest functioning unit in Russia, I'm pretty sure. We have a ward council, PEC, a full callings list, and an ACTIVE ward mission leader. With a ward mission plan. I cried real tears when I saw a ward mission plan.

So Monday, I came to the area while Elder Pacheco was on a visa trip. Tuesday, I spent the day getting briefed by the 4 elders who left. The rest of the week was a blur. We met with our bishop to figure out what he expects of us, and we started off strong. I think both at our meeting with him and at church on Sunday, we gave a really good impression, and the members understand we are here to do work, and we need their help. The other thing that's great is that a significant number of our members and young couples who are both RMs. Here we go!

We got a call one night from President McGhie, who got a call from a member of his ward. This member, Caesar, is friends with a man named Vartan who earlier investigated the church. Well, Vartan wanted to be baptized the following day. Instead of doing that, we met with him, taught the Restoration, and got him started on the path to conversion. It was awesome.

The book is blue, the gospel is true!

Elder Wilkins

Sorry, no pics this week. Tough luck

The most interesting week in the world...

Aloha!

Hola!

One thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!

Привет дорогие!

After our somewhat challenging week last week, the Lord decided to keep us on our toes. I don't hesitate to say this was the most unusual week of my mission, as a whole. On Monday, I got re-registered in Moscow, and we said goodbye to Elder Knowles, who was reassigned to Seattle (see pics).

Tuesday we met again with Maxim. It was an interesting lesson about the Restoration. It was going by the text book, just ideal, until our recently reactivated member piped up. " Hey, but like if you're not ready now, that's ok. In fact, it might be better to wait a while until you are a little older and can understand spiritual truth. And who knows, maybe this isn't the church for you yet, and you have to join a few other churches before realizing this is the one for you." Facepalm. But he agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray, and is interested in further discussion.

Wednesday and Thursday we had exchanges with Elder Webb and Elder Bushlaev. I got a text out of the blue from some guy named Vitalii, who wanted to meet. Turns out he is a former investigator, who wants to start the discussions again. So we taught him about faith, repentance, and baptism, and discussed why he hadn't received answers in the past. He agreed to try reading and praying again, this time with real intent instead of mild curiosity. Nice.

Later that night, I ate an entire pomegranate. Bad decision. Right before bed, my stomach started cramping, and when I went to bed, I just laid there in agony. Luckily, I made it to the bathroom before pomegranate-colored puke erupted from my face. After 20 minutes of that pleasant experience, I woke up my companion to give me a blessing. I continued for the rest of the night to sleep restlessly and go puke again. In the morning, we had to get up early and take a 2 hour metro ride up to MLC. That, too, was not the most pleasant, but we made it there, did our thing, and I went to bed when we got home.

Saturday night, we had another really good meeting with Marat and Ira. They still aren't ready to come to church, btu they are trying to get things in order so that they can in the future. We also got a text from Ilia saying his phone got stolen, otherwise he would have called earlier. He finished the Book of Mormon in a month and said it changed his life! We were so stoked to hear that from him.

We also got the transfer call that day. I am going to shotgun the Rechnoi Elders companionship with Elder Pacheco, who's been out about a year now. I leave later tonight, so at church I spent a lot of time saying goodbyes. It is always hard to leave areas, but this one has a special place in my heart.

The gospel is true, yo

Elder Wilkins