CHRISTMAS

С Наступающим!

If you have any thoughts about how hard Christmas must be for missionaries, don't worry! It is the world's best thing. The cooking isn't quite as well done, but the spirit of Christmas is strong. There is no better way to celebrate the birth of the Savior, than by sharing the good news of His Gospel!

Monday, Elder Radle and met up with Oleg, my convert from University, to play ping pong for awhile. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had seen him, until I actually saw him! For those who are wondering, he is still slowly making his way back. He hasn't been to church again yet, but he spends a lot of time with the Elders, so he is doing well. That night, we went to the Christmas Village on Red Square with one of our senior missionary couples, the Larsens.

Tuesday, we helped a member remodel a room in his apartment. He is the only active member in his family, all his kids and his wife are inactive on the verge of anti. We were blessed to see his and their hearts opened through service. Wednesday, I was on splits with Elder Webb again on a split, and we had a few good meetings with some potential investigators.

Thursday was our Christmas Mission Conference! It is always a blast to get everyone together, feel the Spirit, and catch up with people you haven't seen in months. Elder Radle and I split up, and I got my new companion, Elder Richardson. I also said goodbye to my trainer, Elder Morris, who goes home at the end of this week. Elder Richardson is pretty cool. He's from Northern California, and we've had the same opinion on every topic of conversation so far, so we're in for a good time.

Saturday was the ward Christmas party and talent show, where we combined with the University branch. I was shocked at how many people were there, and I only knew probably half of them (crazy, considering I have served in both place). That means we had a ton of non-members and less-actives there! it was a huge success, and the best part was, no one made Elder Wilkins sing this year :)

Merry Christmas!

3 Nephi 1:13-14

Elder Wilkins

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

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