The Christmas call

We didn't get an e-mail this week because it was Christmas the day after p-day so we got a call instead. It was so fun to talk to Jess and he sounded so good. It is always nice for a mom to hear their kids voices because you can tell a lot from their voice. He is settling in well and enjoying the work. He is looking forward to a transfer in hopes of a companion who is a little more excited about the work as well. It is a hard mission and he finds himself getting a little discouraged at times because the people are so entrenched in tradition but he is committed to work hard. He said he knows he is planting many seeds that he knows will someday grow strong. He misses his brother and sisters but says he isn't homesick to much anymore. He told us he was most excited about the little video we put on his Christmas i pod showing otis. We were all able to be on the phone with him even though Liz and Megan were at home. Rob, Emily and Bob and I were all together and we conferenced the other two in. Jess was pretty excited because he didn't know if it would work. They had a really nice Christmas party at the mission home so he had another long train ride to get there but he had fun. They ate Christmas breakfast at the senior couples home and then will go there again on New Years Eve night to stay the night. I am really grateful for the senior couple taking such good care of them since they are so far from the mission home.

I am going to post some pictures of the kids taken on Christmas so Jess will have a record of what went on while he was gone. We just got some new pictures of the twins as well and some of Alex so this will be a picture post.

Russia is still FREEZING

Hey everyone,


Well, I am officially in Russia. I say that because the thermometer has dropped all the way down to -27C. I'm not really sure what that is in F, but I do know this: 22C is a comfortable room temperature... -27 means that is 49 degrees colder than comfortable... THATS COLD!!! I honestly thought I knew what it was like to be out in the cold, but what I failed to remember is that when I was out in the "cold" I was usually just walking from the house to my nice warm car, then from the car to the nice warm school, or store or something. Now yesterday on the other hand, I was walking around for a good 40 minutes in -16, looking for an apartment. My face was just burning and my feet were FREEZING! I haven't gotten my winter shoes yet, which I will be doing shortly after writing this letter, and so needless to say, my feet were cold. We got to the meeting which was with a couple named the Minakov's. They are the nicest people in the world. She has been a member for a long time, he isn't a member because he can't stop smoking. Hopefully we can help him get through that. Anyway, she was downright upset that I was walking around in the shoes that I was. She brought them in and showed her husband, lectured me about how I need winter shoes and then left. She came back with a pair of old ratty "bob-socks" the socks that the old grammas wear. These socks look like they are made from the old grammas back hair or something! Sister Minakova actually put the socks on my feet for me, over my other socks. She then went and got her husbands brand new winter shoes and told me to wear them until I bought some new ones. I told her I would be buying some today so she made me promise to get some with fur in them. Then they fed us. As she was dishing up some delicious mashed potatoes, she told us she made fish soup but heard that it wasn't allowed for us to eat fish. I'm not sure if it is or not but we went along with it. Apparantly she only really thought it was not allowed to eat fish soup because she brought out a tray with big chunks of fish, skin, bones, and all, and dished us both up one. I ate it heartily! It wasn't as bad as it could have been but the thought of it wasn't too fun as I was chewing fish skin and bones. I survived though. Something interesting that happened this past week, we were walking around one night at around 8 o'clock and a couple guys stopped us and asked for help. There was a drunk guy passed out on the ground and they couldn't wake him up. They didn't know him so they couldn't call anyone or anything to come get him. They needed to find somewhere for him to be so he didn't freeze to death. That is a problem here, people get so drunk they pass out on the street and freeze to death in the night. Anyway, we called an ambulance which took over 40 minutes to get there! When it got there, one little girl got out! There was no crew or anything, just a small nurse. I was really interested to see how this situation would be handled so we stayed to watch. She broke out some smelling salts and tried to get the guy to wake up. They didn't work so she grabbed his ear and twisted it really hard, when that didn't work she started slapping him in the face! Ha, I guess their goal is to wake the guy up so they can just drive away. If the guy is able to stand up, they are out of there because they really don't have anywhere to take the guys. This guy wasn't waking up at all, he sorta tried to put up a hand to stop her from slapping him (remember, it's probably around -15C and the guy had already been out there for a while, the nurse was wearing a rubber glove... OUCH!) Finally, they loaded him in the ambulance and took him away. Crazy.


I think that is about all the good stuff that has happened to us this week. We are getting a lot of lessons with the members still so that is good. We still don't have any real progressing investigators but I'm hoping we can find some people. I really want to help the 23 families in our branch who are part member spouses. The hard part is that they have gotten used to living that way and don't really see a reason to change.


Don't worry mom, you aren't the only one who thinks it doesn't really feel like Christmas. For me, it is good and bad. I miss the feeling of Christmas, everyone happy and excited for the holidays. The good thing is that I haven't gotten homesick. I am trying to enjoy this Christmas in a way that I never have and maybe never will be able to again, aside from next Christmas that is. There is no commercialism here, people do celebrate Christmas but not like we do. I have been able to really reflect on what Christmas is. It's really nice to remember that this is the time of year we celebrate the birth or our Savior. A babe that was born to be a king. I have been able to think alot about why we would even celebrate someone's birth that occured over 2000 years ago. His birth was the beginning of a perfect life, filled with love and service. In his life on earth, he accomplished the most loving act of service imaginable when he voluntarily suffered for all of us so that we also could have the chance to be born to be kings and queens. I know Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer. I know there is no other way to return home than through Jesus Christ. While we shouldn't focus on gifts on Christmas, there is one gift that we have been given that we can focus on. My prayer is that this Christmas and all throughout the next year, we remember the birth and life of the savior, the greatest gift of all.


I will probably take a suitcase with me to get the gifts home in, I think that's what other missionaries do. I hope the others got there or else I won't be getting them for quite a while. Thanks everyone for sending stuff and the money, I really appreciate it. I think I might buy myself my own big furry hat or something, we'll see. Thanks again.


I will plan on getting a call from you at 8:00 Russia time Christmas night, okay? I will check my email next week incase something changes but I don't know that we will take the time to write since we will be talking on the phone. Our number is 8-10-4732-53-50-17 I can't wait to talk to you, I hope you all have a good week. Write me an email if there is anything I need to do, that way I will have time to get a calling card or change my plans before friday. I love you guys.


Love, Elder Geddes

Russia is FREEZING

Hey everyone,


Well, it is FREEZING here. It changed all in one day from kinda chilly to what am I doing outside! The worst part about it is that the coldest day we have had yet happened to be a day where we were on splits with the zone leader and his companion. Me and Elder Johanson got to be together, the bad thing is we only managed to schedule one lesson and it wasn't until 7 o'clock that night. We ended up spending a little over 4 hours outside on the streets talking to people. If I thought it was hard to speak Russian, I didn't know what it was like to try speaking Russian while not being able to feel my face! It was a good experience though, and I am happy it finally got to the stereotypical weather of Russia. I thought I had been cold a few times in my life, but I don't remember it feeling like that! Everyone says we will be getting snow either today or tomorrow, we'll see if they are right.


It sounds like everything is going good back home. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. They will be even more enjoyable when those little girls get out of the hospital so you are able to enjoy the holidays from home instead of a stuffy hospital room. Hopefully soon they will be home.


My Christmas will go like this. Night train the night of the 22nd, Christmas party on the 23rd, night train home. Elder Traasdahl wants to call home Christmas eve night here so that means I can call Christmas night. It will be Christmas morning for you so let me know what time in Idaho time you want me to call and I'll figure out what time. I will keep an eye out for a good calling card but just incase you find a way to call me, I will tell you my number next week so I can make sure I have the correct one.


This past week, we had a lot of lessons. It was a really good week that way. As we have met with more of the members and gotten to know them a little better, I have realized something so amazing. I have always known that the gospel blesses families but that fact has been made even more real to me over the past few weeks. Meeting with the members who are solid, active, striving to raise their families properly, has shown me how happy the gospel makes people. When you walk into gospel oriented homes, you can feel almost a physical difference from those around. You walk up some pretty shady stairwells here in Russia, and it is amazing to take a step from a smoky garbage smelling entry, littered with cigarettes and sometimes other drugs, grafitti on the walls and a burnt out light bulb, into a small apartment full of the spirit. The people with the gospel in their lives have a smile on their face and a light in their eyes different from any other Russian on the street. I think growing up in a town where that feeling was present in most of the homes I spent time in, I probably got a little too used to it. It took me a while out here to realize that that feeling isn't present in every home. It is a blessing to have that spirit in the home.


I love you guys and pray for you evey night. I hope you are enjoying the holidays and remembering the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Hopefully you are staying warm and safe. I'll write you next week and then the next week I will get to call! I'm pretty excited. I'll try to save all my good stories for the phone call. Have a good week, and try to get those little girls home from the hospital! Try to let me know what everyone's schedule is for Christmas so I can have a chance to talk to everyone. I love you!


Elder Geddes

Time is flying

Time is flying by so fast that I can't keep up. This letter is a week late so I will be posting another tomorrow, I hope. Since I last wrote, Jess's twin nieces have come home from the hospital and are doing great. Grandma is tired but having a blast, what a great Christmas present. Here are a few pictures so you can see for yourself how cute they are. Of course I am not biased or anything.

Six months out

Hey everyone,
Well, I have made it 6 months on a mission. Crazy how fast it has gone though. I have 18 months left to learn the language, and become a real missionary. I have a feeling that 18 months will be just long enough for me to lose all my hair! Ha, I'm not sure if it's the water here or if it's finally just happening but I think I'm losing my hair, if you know any tips for me or anything that can help, let me know. I asked my mission presidents wife, she said there is some sort of medication you can get in America, but I didn't think that was necessary. After I hung up the phone she called me back just to tell me that men lose their hair because they have a lot of testosterone, so I guess it's a win lose situation ha. It still looks fine if I comb it but the second I can tell that it is getting real bad, I'm cutting my hair like Jason, I'm not sure I can pull off mica's haircut yet, maybe someday but I wouldn't feel too bad about having Jason's haircut. If I pull on my hair, I can sometimes pull out like 9 hairs or something. That seems like a lot. Just pray that I can pull off the bald look!
Well this week has been a lot more productive than any week so far here in Veronezh. We will end the week with something around 17-19 lessons if all goes as planned. That is really good, except all of them but a couple have been with members. We still don't have any real progressing investigators. We need to spend more time finding people to teach but my companion thinks it's more important to have a lot of lessons than spend a lot of time searching for new people to teach. I think he kind of just doesn't want to spend time searching. The other thing is, we lost our area book somehow when we moved apartments. I was pretty upset and he didn't seem to care so we kind of got into an argument. Luckily, we had most of the progress reports we needed out of the book so we still have those. I just can't help but think we could have found someone from way back if we hadn't lost the book. My companion and I got in one more argument about missionary work. He told me he's tired and he's served his time (even though he's still got 5 months left) and I wasn't going to stand for that. I didn't really hold any of my opinion back so we kind of were mad at each other for a while but we got over it and now we will have the most lessons either of us have ever gotten on our missions. Hopefully he kind of woke up and remembered where he is and what we need to be doing. I will be pushing for more searching time this week so hopefully we can find an investigator.
Our Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. There were 18 people there, in an apartment in Russia. I'm still not exactly sure how it worked but it did. We just brought a veggie tray and some ranch. There was some Borsh, some Russian pancakes (pretty much exactly like swedish pancakes) turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and desserts. I ate a ton and we got to go home with a bag of mashed potatoes, some turkey and about 20 bleeny (the pancakes) which was a lifesaver because we had some weird situations with our money... as in we had absolutely none. We had to pay for the apartment and some other stuff and the bank had some problems so we didn't get our money when we should have. Anyway, the leftovers saved our lives and we used my gravy mix to eat the potatoes the next day. The dinner was a lot of fun because all of us missionaries brought a non member. It was a lot of fun to get to know people and find out that, just like us, the thing they are most thankful for is family. Thanksgiving wasn't too hard for me, I enjoyed myself so I wasn't missing home too much. Hopefully I am able to make it through Christmas with the same luck. I'm sure we will be riding a train to Moscow around the 23rd, that's crazy about the train. How does a train just explode? You should probably start getting your plans finalized for who is going to be where for Christmas so we can do the whole phone call thing as efficiently as possible. I'm excited to call you guys in a few weeks. We have zone conference on Saturday here in Veronezh. Since we will all be going to Moscow for Christmas, they decided to have 3 zone conferences, one in Moscow for all the close cities, one in our city and another in a different city that is far away. It will be 10 missionaries including the ap's and the senior couple, and the president and his wife. It won't be as much fun as when we have one big conference but it will be good. Hopefully we will find out the details on this Christmas so I can let you know next week what I can do, then the next week we can finalize everything then the next week will be time to call! It should be fun.
Well I'm glad Thanksgiving was fun for you all, even though it was a bit different. Thanks for everything. I love you guys!
Love, Elder Geddes
p.s. I probably won't be sending anything home this christmas... I don't really know how all that works yet. I will figure out what kind of stuff I can send safely and how much it costs and maybe send something home later. Let me know if there is anything specific anybody wants.

Becoming a new uncle

Lacey Gray

5lbs
17 in.

Ashley Gray 4lbs 8oz 16 1/4 in.

Jess became a new uncle this week to twin girls named Ashley and Lacey. Emily and Jason got an early present when their twin girls were born six weeks early on Nov. 21, 2009. They weighed 4lbs 8ozs and 5lbs. They are doing great but will need to stay in the hospital for a little while so they can gain some weight and make sure they are doing well. Emily is doing well considering it was an emergency c-section and spends all her time at the hospital as does Jason. They will be great parents we can't wait to get them home. Jess was pretty excited to hear the news since he has been waiting to know they were here and healthy.

Hello everyone,

We all have a lot to be thankful for don't we. I am so glad we have two new babies in the family and that they are safe and sound. I had a feeling I would be getting the news this week. I hope they continue to get bigger and stronger so they can enjoy the holidays at home. I wonder how max feels? The pictures were sure cute, usually newborn babies are a little iffy looking but these ones both look pretty darn cute!

There is one good thing about the fact that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, and that is the fact that I hardly even knew it was coming up! Between time going by so fast and the lack of said holiday here, I haven't had to sit and miss home and think about the banana cream pie that I won't be eating. Although instead, we have had to worry about other things that still took us away from the work we need to be doing here. We found a nice apartment after looking at several and calling several agents. We also finally have everything moved in. All this has taken a lot of time away from our missionary efforts. I am glad to finally be done with it so soon our focus will be on nothing but the work. I don't have a whole lot to write about this week since it seems like all we did was move. We took the opportunity to get rid of all the junk in our aparment from previous missionaries so that was good. Our apartment now is really nice and we have it pretty well organized. It will be a home where we will be able to feel the spirit and receive revalation on what we need to do.

Today we will be going over to Sister and Elder Lowery's apartment to have Thanksgiving dinner. Our assignment is to have this dinner, invite an investigator and help prepare the meal. The rule was that every companionship had to bring something. Neither Elder Traasdahl or I know how to cook so we came up with the brilliant idea of bringing the veggie tray! Elder Traasdahl has a packet of powdered ranch dip so we will make that as well. We are bringing a girl that comes and plays volleyball everyweek after English club. She isn't technically an investigator yet but this sure will be a good start! It should be lots of fun, and yes, Sister Lowery does know how to cook. After eating at her house a few times already, I decided a crockpot should be in every missionary apartment. Ovens here are only about as big as a small cake pan so you can't do much in there. You can't even buy a turkey by the way. You can buy pretty much all the pieces of a turkey so our turkey will be a bit of a frankenturkey.

I was wondering if there was ever any article in the church news or the ensign or something about Elder Nelson coming to Russa recently. If there is, maybe you could forward a copy to me or something. I really can't think of anything I need in that package, I will trust your judgement.

This Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for family. You are such a huge support to me while I'm here on the other side of the world. It is great to know there are people out there who love and support me. I am so thankful that I have such a happy, loving family as well. I know there are missionaries out here right now who have problems with their families at home and it only makes things that much harder. I know my family is a loving happy family and that means I don't have to worry about things back home. I am thankful to be here on a mission, especially here in Russia. There are around a million people I think, here in Veronizh. A little over a hundred are members of the church. That means there is an incredible amount of potential out there. I know the gospel blesses lives, I have seen it in my life and in our family. I am so glad I have the opportunity to invite people to accept these blessings and come closer to Christ. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and remember all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for. I love you and pray for you daily. Thank you for everything you do for me!

Love, Elder Geddes

Traveling through Russia

Hey everyone,

 

Wow, what a strange week I had!  Last week I wrote from Moscow.  One of the office elders there made the french toast by the way.  One of the toppings we had to put on was this kind of sweet and sour salsa.  It wasn't too bad.  Anyway, I stayed there until around five when one of the senior couple elders drove me and a native sister to the train station.  We were going to meet my companion there but they said if he didn't make it to just get on the train and go.  It took about 3 hours to get to the train station so we had less than an hour to find our train and everything.  The sister said she was going to go find out and had me watch the bags.  She was gone for about 20 minutes and I had no idea where she was.  So I was staning in the middle of a crowed train station with 4 suitcases and my train was leaving in just over a half an hour.  I usually don't get too stressed out but I was feeling it a little bit at this point.  Finally the sister comes back and we get a call saying my companion is there and waiting.  We go outside and find him by our train and got on with just over 15 minutes to spare.  It was a nice train, somehow the AP's messed up and bought us the nicest tickets.  Me and my companion had a small room with two small beds to ourselves.  I slept okay and woke up and we were almost to Veronezh.  The other elders in the city met us at the station and took us to our new house.  The problem is, the elders who we replaced had a situation with their landlord so they had been kicked out.  They needed to find a place pretty fast so the apartment we got stuck with is a one day find.  It is pretty junky.  We are searching for a nicer one that is closer to the branch.  I hope we find one soon!  Maybe they have these things in Austria but I had never heard of or seen one before.  It is basically a water heater but it is a small box on the wall of your shower.  It has two levers, one to open a valve and one to turn on the gas.  It has a small slot for you to put a match in to light it.  The water has to be running for it to work and so you have to light it every time you get in the shower.  You just have to be careful when adjusting the levers to not let too much gas out.  The fact that my left hand has no hair on it anymore should give you the idea that it isn't easy to get used to.  Also, sometimes the water is weird so there is no pressure at all.  That means you can only flush the toilet once every 45 minutes or so, so just hope both of us don't have to go to the bathroom at around the same time or the second guy doesn't get to flush.  Anyway, we want to get out.  So we arrived Friday morning, and the first thing you have to do when you move is get registered or you will be deported.  While trying to do this, we found out that my companion couldn't be registered because they hadn't done the right things for him when he came out of Belarus (his last area).  They told us we were not to leave the house, but we had to anyway.  They really don't want you to do missionary work if you aren't registered because it isn't unheard of to get the cops called on you.  Anyway, we didn't get a whole lot done for the whole weekend.  They figured out he would have to come with me and my group to Ukraine when we went to renew our visas.  So we got him a ticket with us and kind of had to bum around for a couple days.  Sunday was cool, we had church start at 1:00 and we got to meet a lot of the members of our branch.  It was so awesome to go to a priesthood meeting where the room was filled with guys all wearing jackets and ties!  The branch president is really awesome and a great president.  So church was good and we had to head to the train station right after to catch a not so desirable train to Moscow.  It left at around 5 and got to Moscow at 4:30.  We didn't get the Lux like we did from moscow here but it still wasn't bad.  It was a private room with 4 beds in it and there were three of us.  We just talked and had some fun until bedtime.  They came around and woke us up at 3:30 for some reason.  We got to the metro in Moscow at about 4:45 and had to wait until 5:30 until it opened.  Once it opened we went to the stop and met the rest of our group.  It was so crazy trying to get 9 of us on the same bus to the airport!  People go nuts when the bus gets there so we didn't make the first bus but the second bus pulled up and some crazy stuff happened.  I was near the front of the line, if you could call it a line.  When the bus pulled up I found myself being squeezed so tight by the people around me that I could niether move nor breathe.  All of a sudden I feel myself being lifted off the ground and moving toward the bus.  The next time my feet touched the ground was when they hit the first step of the bus.  I had the money to get tickets for our group but my companion was closer to the window.  I handed him my wallet and continued being forced to move.  The last I saw him, he was plastered against the ticket window with a 1000 ruble bill in hand.  It was so crazy!  The bus ride was way long and we knew for sure we would miss our flight to Ukraine.  We finally get to the airport and are running around like crazy.  Somehow, the people were so nice to us and rushed us through security and got us on the plane.  It's about an hour and twenty minute flight to Ukraine, and they still gave us sandwiches and drinks!  We had about 2 hours in the Ukraine airport so we went outside and got a dessert at a small cafe diner thing near the airport.  We got on a plane back to Russia and got more sandwiches.  Someone was brave enough to ask for another sandwich so almost all of us ended up having 3 sandwiches and 2 glasses of juice.  Once we got back to the office in Moscow, we ate some delicious food made by the same elder who made the french toast.  We headed back to the train station and this time got on the least desireable train ever.  There are no private rooms, just beds.  Picture about a hundred people all just sprawled out on the train beds, snoring, breathing, making other weird noises, it was so weird!  The only reason I was able to sleep at all was because I had been up since 3:30 the morning before.  I got woken up by my companion who told me to hurry and get ready because the train had stopped at what we thought was our stop.  I start grabbing all my stuff and just as I was tieing my shoes, the train took off.  We were both pretty scared but the conductor told us it was the next stop.  By the time we got home, I was so tired and nasty looking ha, I hadn't shaved in almost 3 days, or showered for that matter, and I get to come home to a nasty apartment that smells like urine and sleep on a really awful bed.  Missionary life is AWESOME!!  You never know what you'll find in the morning.

 

The rest of the week has been filled with just trying to get used to the area.  It's a bit frustrating when neither of us know where we are.  I hope we figure things out fast because I really hate feeling like we are wasting time.  It's really cool being in a city with more than 2 elders.  We have another set of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior couple.  That's the best part, the senior couple has fed us already I think 4 times.  We will get to eat lunch there every week after our real district meeting and we will be having thanksgiving there.  For some reason Sister Woolley wanted us to have thanksgiving in our own cities this year.  I guess last year, President Collins shipped everyone to Moscow and had a mission thanksgiving.  Anyway, we are supposed to invite an investigator and make it a kind of pot luck thing.  It will be fun. 

 

My companion will take some getting used to.  He's very sarcastic and is having a hard time getting back into the swing of real missionary work since he has spent the last 3 months in Belarus.  I will hopefully be strong enough to bring him back, rather than adapt some of his habits.  I will be fine though and will still be able to learn a lot from him.  He speaks the language very well.  His name is Elder Traasdahl and he is from Arizona.  He goes home in April.  Neither one of us know how to cook very well so hopefully we will learn some stuff.  That would be a great thing you could send me in emails is easy recipes for stuff.  Keep an eye out for easy, tasty food and send me instructions. 

 

Have you gotten the memory card I sent you?  I really hope so.  Let me know, I sent it to the boise house.  I think that is just a bit too scary, I don't know if I'll ever do that again.  I think I will be able to email pictures from the internet place here so that will be nice.  I was getting haircuts from a place in Tula but they were weird because Russian men like to have everything short but their bangs so it just looked weird.  I gave myself a haircut with the equipment that Elder Traasdahl has and it looks really good.  I will probably just be doing that from now on.  Elder Hiatt gave me the scarf as a going away present.  I found out I won't be seeing him again before he leaves.  We are all going to be in Moscow on the 23rd I think so president didn't want to ship us all there 2 weeks before that for zone conference.  That means he'll have a main zone conference for the cities near moscow and for us loners in the far away cities, he will be coming to us.  I was a little sad I won't see Elder Hiatt again but it's okay, I'll just have to give him a call.  I will be able to grab my packages when we go up for the Christmas party so it will be perfect.  Last year, President Collins gave the missionaries a 3 day window to call home just so they could all find a good time that worked for everyone.  I'm not sure what the deal will be this year and I have no idea yet about what I am supposed to do about a calling card or whatever.  Elder Hiatt said his family found some sort of card and just called him.  I'll keep asking around and find out what works best.  You can ask around too and see if you can find some sort of international calling card.  I'll give you more details when I find out.

 

This has to be a record longest email, sorry!  But I am doing great and having a good time.  I'm still trying to figure out what it means to be a true missionary and I suppose that will be my goal for the rest of my mission.  Right now I'm not exactly feeling like I have been the most effective missionary but I'm doing what I can.  This is just one of the many challenges I will face and conquer.  I love you guys and I'm so glad you are all doing well at home so I don't have to worry too much (except about these little babies, they keep me a little worried)  Thanks for everything you do.  I love you all.

 

Elder Geddes

Pictures at last

Jess finally sent a few pictures from Russia.  This is the first babushka he met and he says she is his favorite.  The other one is a member of the branch in Tula.  Doesn't he look handsome in his new winter coat. His first transfer was this week and it was a little harder than he thought to leave, especially the members.  Here is his latest letter from today.

Hey guys,

 

Once again, I am writing from Moscow.  I got here around noon today.  Elder Hiatt and his new companion saw me to the train and said goodbye.  That means I had to ride a train from Tula to Moscow by myself!  I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of scary for me for some reason.  I didn't like being alone in Russia without a phone or anything.  Anyway, I made it to Moscow and there were two Elders waiting for me.  I take a train that leaves at 8:55 tonight and I will arrive in Veronezh at 7:55 tomorrow morning.  I am in the furthest southern city we have in Russia, Kazakstan is still further south but I'm now in the dirty south of Russia!  I'm pretty excited to be going there. 

 

It sounds like everyone is doing really well.  I'm going to try to write you all a quick note, I'm not sure I have a whole lot of time and I still need to eat something but anyway, a little about my week.  First of all, Tanya, our baptismal candidate, is a little confused.  This is a testimony builder of the power of prayer.  When Tanya started meeting with us, both Elder Hiatt and I felt like she didn't really know why she liked meeting with us, but she just felt good about it.  Well we continued to teach her more and more but she for some reason refused to pray.  That could only keep up for so long before she forgot the initial reason she was meeting with us in the first place.  I'm pretty sure Elder Hiatt will still keep meeting with her but she isn't as excited as she used to be.  Unless we pray to find out the truth, the light of Christ will only take us so far.  Remember the scripture, for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray but teacheth him that he should not pray?  It's true.  The reason he teaches men not to pray is because prayer is real and there is a real power that comes when we pray.  That was kind of disappointing but hopefully things work out.  Anyway, the rest of the week was kind of filled with member lessons and saying goodbye and stuff.  I spoke in church for the 3rd or 4th time and that went well.  I was really surprised to find out how attatched I had become to the area and to some of the members.  It was harder than I thought it would be to leave Tula, and Elder Hiatt for that matter.  Rob and Dad know exactly what I'm going through right now, I was a little surprised to read their letters about being transfered.  I had already realized that this was a chance to clean my slate, drop some bad habits, pick up some new good habits and continue to strengthen my good habits.  Elder Hiatt taught me a lot, but some of the things he taught me were things not to do.  I'm sure it will be the same with all my companions.  I am really excited to see what Elder Traasdahl has to teach me.  It will be really fun to serve with him.

 

I did get my debit card and that probably wasn't a mischarge.  We can only take off so much money at a time then it spits out our card and we do it again.  I probably took out a thousand rubles, got my card then took out a thousand more.  My winter coat is awesome, I will be sending some pictures so you can see it.  The lady in the picture is one of the first Bobushkas I met and definitely my favorite so far.  She is awesome.  Her name is Sister Zina-Ida (like ee-da) 

 

Anyway, that's about all the news I have.  I'm glad everyone is doing so well.  I bet you just can't wait for these babies right mom?  Although I bet you are happy to wait if that gives them more time to be healthy.  Well take care everyone, I love you and I will write you next week from Veronezh.

 

Love, Elder Geddes

Transfers

Halloween was especially fun this year because we had all the grandkids there but a little sad because Jess was not. He always loved halloween and all the festivities associated with it. I am posting some pictures of our celebration to show how much fun we had and for Jess to see when his mission is over and I publish this post for him.

Hey everyone,

It seems like a few people forgot to write, namely Liz and Emily. Thats not good since I wonder all week whether or not I have some new nieces or not. I hope everything is okay, but don't forget to write me next week and fill me in on what's going on. Anyway, I'll take care of the business first. I bought a palto, I don't think that is a Russian word but it's just a really nice overcoat. It's got nice thick wool with a fur liner inside. It cost 4900 rubles but it's really nice and actually it's the cheapest one I found. I already have my had, I wear a kepka, one of those old man hats from the newsies. I think I pull it off quite nicely. If I find a computer I can send pictures from, I'll show you. I have gloves and maybe a scarf to buy is all. I have been using Elder Hiatt's extra scarf lately but I am going to probably buy one soon. My debit card wasn't there when I was in Moscow, hopefully I get it this weekend when the senior couple comes to Tula. If not, I will be in Moscow again next Thursday on my way to my new area in Veronezh! I am being transfered and I'm assuming Thursday will be the day I move so if I don't send a letter on Thursday, I probably will Friday so don't worry. My new companion will be Elder Trasdaahl. I don't know too much about him but Elder Hiatt says he is a hard worker so I'm not too worried. Neither one of us have served in Veronezh before so we will both be new to the area. I am a little nervous to get a new companion and a new area but I am excited for all the opportunities this will bring. Veronezh has one of the strongest branches in the mission. They actually have two right now but it is in the process of being combined into one big one. They have aaronic priesthood, young women, and even a choir! It will almost be like being in a real ward. We will have 3 hours of church every week instead of 2 and I most likely won't have any callings in the branch. I will just be a real regular missionary. I'm really excited.

So, it seems like everyone had a lot of fun this past week! I was glad to hear all the funny stories and see all the pictures. Everyone looked great in their costumes. Halloween for us wasn't too interesting. I did draw a picture of a ghost, a pumpkin, and a witch on the board for English club that night, but nobody really cared. I bet you just loved having everyone over for a while right mom? That would have been a lot of fun.

This week has gone by really fast, as usual. On Monday, we got to go to Kaluga to do splits with Elder Vernon and Player. I love working with Elder Player. We are already such good friends from the mtc, and we both still have our greenie fires burning. Both of us have old companions who can be less than enthusiastic from time to time. Elder Player actually really wanted to be transfered but he didn't get it. Anyway, it was really fun and we did a good job of talking with everyone. They couldn't find any lessons for us so we street contacted and knocked doors for about 6 hours. It was tiring but so much fun. It's awesome to be able to talk to people and actually have them understand us and have a conversation with us. We talked with one lady for probably over 20 minutes. We are progressing and learning every day. After we got back from Kaluga, we for some reason had a lot of our lessons cancel on us for the rest of the week. It wasn't too good, but there are still a few days left this week that we can get some good lessons in. Tanya, our baptismal candidate was one of the ones who canceled a few meetings. She once again didn't make it to church on Sunday. I honestly don't really know how I feel about her. Sometimes I get a sinking suspiscion she just likes meeting with two American guys. She tells us she hasn't smoked since last week when we tore up her cigarettes but I'm still just not sure how well she is progressing. I have one more week here to get a few more lessons with her and hopefully help her receive a testimony. Something strange, one night the phone started ringing at 3 in the morning. I jumped up to go grab it but they had hung up before I got there. I layed in bed for a few minutes worried that someone needed our help and we missed their call and then the phone rang again. I jumped up and ran to get it. I said hello and it was Tanya! She asked me what we were doing and I said uh... we were sleeping, why are you calling. I think she had the wrong number though because once she realized who it was, she said a bunch of stuff that I couldn't understand on a good day, let alone at 3 in the morning then hung up. It was really strange. Anyway, we'll keep working with her this week, and Elder Hiatt and his new companion will continue working with her and hopefully help her get to the water.

I have kind of a funny story from English club last night. There is this one Vietnamese guy named Thien who comes. He is a student here in Tula. Last night, he said (insert broken English with a vietnamese accent) "Elder Geddes, I read a book about how to make women laugh" I said, "Oh yeah? How was it?" He said, "Well, I took action, but the first women I met, I make them cry" I said, "How did that happen?" He said, "Well, my joke were so long and boring, they began to cry." I was laughing pretty hard, almost crying myself. Thien is a great guy, I'll miss him. I got my picture taken with some of the members of my club. Hopefully the rest come this Saturday so I can see them again.

I think that is all the exciting news from this week. Next week I will probably be writing you from Veronezh. Oh ya, if I don't even get my debit card next Thursday when I am in Moscow, I will be in Moscow again the next week because it's about time for my first visa trip to Kiev. What a crazy mission I am in! A lot goes on around here. Tell everyone hello for me, especially if you all get together for Thanksgiving. Let me know what happens with that. Also, Mom, you forgot to let me know if the emails I'm sending you to forward to other people are working. I really need to know. If they aren't working, have Rob or someone figure out why so I can communicate with other people as well as with you. I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for everything! I love you.

Elder Geddes

How to make a missionary homesick

Its hard to know what to tell your missionary while they are on their mission.  You go between not wanting to say too much about what's going on at home and keeping him informed about what's going on at home.  I hate to make him homesick but I know he loves hearing about the family.  I guess I will continue to keep him informed and he will get a little tougher as the time goes on.  He has always loved it when the family gets together and hopefully always will.  We really missed him last week when Anthony was baptized and he had to miss it.  It made it a little more special though since that is what his mission is all about.  I am including some pictures he sent home last week that are really quite beautiful and really show what a lot of Russia looks like.

Hey everyone,

 

I'll admit it, I got a tiny bit homesick reading about all the festivities.  It sounds like it was a lot of fun and a special occasion.  I would have loved to be there to join in the fun.  It seems like it definitely kept you all busy this past week.  Busy weeks go by way way fast thats for sure.  So the furnace went out huh?  They just don't make 'em like they used to do they.  Don't worry, it can only keep up this way for a while, until you've replaced everything, then you should be set for a couple of years. 

 

Well, I am writing this letter from the mission office.  I am stuck here all day while Elder Hiatt is in Ukraine renewing his visa.  This week has gone by so fast.  We had a busy couple of days with missionary work, lessons and what not then we were excited for mission conference yesterday.  I love mission conference because we get to come to Moscow and we always learn a lot.  This one was extra exciting because Elder Hiatt had a visa trip the next day which meant we got to stay in Moscow the whole rest of the day and the night.  The conference was really helpful and full of ideas how we can improve.  I like to get to know all the other missionaries better and plus we get pizza hut for lunch and Sister Woolley gives us all a jar of peanut butter.  We still have some peanut butter but we now have more.  After the conference, Elder Hiatt, Elder Worthington and I got to kind of do whatever we wanted.  We weren't even in our mission boundaries so it's not like we could do work.  We decided to go to Red Square and get some pictures.  We also went to the main temple of all Russian Orthodoxism.  It was closed for some reason but I definitely need to go back there before I go home.  We went to a mass that was going on in the temple right on Red Square so I got to see what goes on.  First of all, I have no idea where they get the ideas for how their service is supposed to go.  It's a very flashy kind of service that is actually broadcast over microphones so you can hear it without even being in there.  It seems a bit like they are really trying to impress people.  We got covered in insense as the bishop guy walked around swinging his little golden insense thing.  It smelled pretty good though, I'm not gonna lie.  It smelled like Christmas tree hunting if you can believe it.  Anyway, it's funny to think of how on earth they came to the conclusion that this is how church should be led.  We went through the mall there on Red Square.  Supposedly it is one of the most expensive malls in the world.  It was kind of neat.  After we were done having fun and it was time to go home, we went to the AP's apartment to sleep.  I spent some time with the AP's just talking and getting to know them, all in Russian!  They are great examples because they are supposed to speak pretty much only Russian and they do.  I am in a sort of slump with the language.  Satan has figured out a tool to slow me down and that is fear.  For a while, everything I would say to people would get this reaction like "why is this kid slaughtering our language?"  One guy even asked me to please speak to him in Russian!!  I know he knew what language I was speaking but some people are really intolerant of accents around here.  It's kind of funny now but at the time it just ticked me off.  Anyway, after a while of this going on, I got a little more timid and shy about speaking.  Now, I understand so much but I don't speak well, I feel like.  I can understand almost 100% of a missionary conversation.  I understand a lot of what other people are saying but when I try to speak, I just can't seem to do it.  I told Elder Hiatt that I'm just plain not practicing enough.  We speak way too much english and now after staying a night with the AP's, I know I can speak Russian, even in the apartment.  I have a new motivation to speak more so I can catch up.  I am happy with how much I am understanding but that doesn't help much if I can't speak back to the people.  Anyway, it was so much fun staying at their apartment because they share the apartment with two office elders who are really cool and fun.  The AP's wanted to take a nap before they got going with stuff so I tagged along with the office elders here to the office.  Elder Hiatt will be gone until aound 6 or so.  Just enough time for us to catch a Marshutka home to Tula. 

 

Some news about our baptismal candidate Tanya.  She has brought two of her friends to lessons with her, one seems more interested than the other but we view both of them as potential investigators.  We're almost sure she won't be ready by the 14th just because first of all, she hasn't come to church yet.  She keeps saying she will but she doesn't.  The reason she hasn't been coming is not a good reason either.  She things 10:00 is too early to be there on her day off.  If she doesn't get baptised just because she's not willing to get out of bed in the morning, I won't be too happy.  Also, we found out she smokes.  She's only about 20 years old and she's already tried to quit a few times.  We have called her every night for the last 4 nights since we found out and asked if she smoked and so far so good.  We are hoping to help her quit that.  We haven't gotten any other baptismal dates yet but we have had some trouble getting a hold of some of the people we have a chance with. 

 

That seems to be about all the news for this week.  Things are going great and I have a new desire to be a better missionary.  The trick is to keep the desire alive.  I love you all and thank you for all your love and support.  Thanks for everything!

 

Elder Geddes

 

Our Trip to Russia

Bob and I travelled to Russia the first of this month as I stated in a previous post and I wanted to post a few pictures from the trip.  Bob hasn't downloaded them yet so I am posting a few that a friend took for us so you can see a little of the culture right now and I will post more as we get them downloaded.

We had a really nice dinner this night and the entertainment that followed was pretty fun
Russian Musicians, they were quite lively!
The dancers were so colorful and energetic, sometimes a little too energetic.  One of the legislators at our table got kicked as a leg flew by a little too close.

The swords were a little intimidating as they threw them around through the air within inches of some of our heads.  I was sure glad when they put them away.

Hopefully there will be more soon.  We had a good time and it was fun seeing a new culture.  We really do have it good here in America though.  It's pretty hard to beat.

News from Russia

Hey there,

 

We had an awesome week this week.  A lot of great things happened, including me getting a package.  That was so great, thanks for that.  We have been feasting on all the goodies yet still trying to eat them slow so they last.  It's almost Anthony's big day huh?  I still can't believe it.  I wish I were there, that whole thing will be so much fun.  Make sure to tell everyone hello for me that I haven't talked to.  Speaking of which, do you think you could get Garetts and Matts emails?  It would probably be easier to get Matt's and then I can get Garetts from him.  I haven't heard from either of them since I got here.  I liked the pictures from Russia, that looked pretty cool.  I want to go to something like that sometime.  I love the mustache Dad, how did you convince mom to let you do that?  Hopefully everyone is feeling good and healthy for the festivities, it's just not fun to be sick.

 

Well, this week was a lot of fun.  I forgot to tell you about it last week but Elder Nelson from the 12 was coming here to a city in our mission to dedicate a branch building there.  It's actually the city I almost got transferred to.  Anyway, we got to go to it and so did the elders from Kaluga, one of the cities in our zone.  They came to our apartment the night before and stayed which was awesome because that was the night I got my package and Elder Player got a package as well.  We put all our treats on the couch and took pictures of it.  His package had stuff like taco seasoning, enchilada sauce mix and peanut butter.  He actually gave us a packet of taco and enchilada stuff which was really awesome.  We get plenty of peanut butter because Sister Woolley gives us all a jar of it every zone conference.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun that night.  The next morning, one of the senior couples picked us up in the presidents car and drove us to Veronizh which was about 5 1/2 hours away.  The ride was long but we were all so excited it wasn't too bad.  We got there and went to the branch building which was so awesome.  It used to be an old theatre that was just sitting empty so the church bought it and has fixed it up so nice.  It is so huge and such an awesome building.  It has a basketball court in it and a room with a ping pong table.  I played two games of ping pong and am currently undefeated as a missionary.  I hope to keep that status throughout my mission.  We were supposed to have a missionary meeting with Elder Nelson but we found out that it was so foggy in Moscow, their plane wouldn't take off so President had his driver drive them all.  We had an improvised missionary meeting with one of the senior couples leading it.  When President and his wife finally arrived along with Elder Nelson and President Paul, our area president, we were able to have an extra hour and a half with them.  Elder Nelson was so cool!  He had to be completely exhausted.  He had gotten to Russia maybe a day or two earlier and he hadn't had any food the whole day, not to mention the 6 hour car ride they had but he still had the energy to stand and teach us for almost an hour.  We got to shake his hand first then he said, I'm here to help you but I can't do that unless I know what you need.  He let us ask any questions we wanted.  Only two questions got asked, one of them by me.  One elder asked about being bold and how to do that without being overbearing.  I asked how to more fully focus on the work and be more receptive to spiritual promptings.  Between the two, he taught us from the scriptures for almost an hour.  It was so amazing.  There were only about 16 missionaries there and we were sitting in a small room with an apostle, just talking!  It was the most amazing thing ever.  Elder Nelson brought such a warm and peaceful spirit with him, you couldn't help but know for sure he was an apostle of the Lord.  After that, we ate an amazing meal cooked by one of the sisters in the branch.  We had to hurry and eat because the dedication was supposed to start at 6:30.  The dedication itself was really awesome.  The room was packed full of Russian members of the church.  I couldn't believe it.  They have youth, they have priesthood holders, they have young men and womens programs.  It was like stepping back into a real ward.  Our ward has no youth but the baby of the branch president.  It was really motivating and impressive.  We heard talks from President and Sister Woolley, President Powell then Elder Nelson.  He told us that his son served there and was actually one of the missionaries who opened up the city of Veronizh!  That's pretty cool.  He finished up and read the dedicatory prayer.  After he read it, someone read it in Russian because Elder Nelson had had the mission president of his son translate the prayer!  After the prayer, Elder Nelson stood up and as his translator stood up as well, he told him to sit down.  Elder Nelson stood at the pulpit and bore a powerful testimony all in Russian.  It was so impressive and I know it meant the world to the members there.  It was really touching.  We all were really impressed and motivated to work hard.  We got back in the car after one last handshake with Elder Nelson and we headed home.  We didn't get back until 2:00 in the morning but it was so worth it.

 

We had another meeting with Tanya, our baptismal candidate.  She seems to be doing fine and we are still hoping for the 14th.  We are also meeting with a member tonight to talk about how we can get the branch involved in re-activating a lot of people.  I hope we are able to get something figured out.

 

One more good story about what's been going on lately.  Our washing machine broke down about a week and a half ago.  We have been trying to get the sisters old washing machine from their apartment since they left.  In the process, we uncovered a real crime!  The old landlord of the sisters has a daughter that just got married to a real punk.  I guess the guy stole the keys to the empty apartment and changed the locks.  This is true because we have the old keys and they don't work.  He refuses to give his father in law the keys and refuses to give up the washing machine.  He is trying to force the poor guy into giving the apartment to him and the guys daughter so they can rent it out.  The landlord is one of the nicest guys in the world and actually has a desire to get baptized.  Literally the week after he told us he wanted to be baptized, all this stuff happened.  You would think Satan doesn't want him to be baptized or something huh?  He doesn't want to cause a family dispute so he offered straight up to buy us a new washing machine.  We weren't sure about the whole situation so we talked to president and he said Let him!  Then he said we should pay for half because honestly the guy doesn't have a whole lot of money.  I feel really bad for him but there isn't a whole lot he can do right now.  He was so ashamed and embarrassed to tell us, I felt pretty bad.  Anyway, we have been washing our garments in the shower at night and putting them on the radiator until morning.  It isn't fun and I want a washing machine, we have been doing this for a week and a half!  Ha, oh well, we are getting the new machine right after we finish writing then probably spending the rest of the day doing laundry.  It will be so nice to have real clean garments.  I just don't think shampoo does the same thing as a good wash.

 

Well that's about all that has been going on around here.  We have zone conference next week.  We will be there a day early because Elder Hiatt has a visa trip.  I'm not sure what they do with the companion, I might just end up hanging out in the office all day, we'll see.  Then the next week we will travel to Kaluga to go on splits with those elders.  We are almost as busy as you guys! I will try to send some pictures home next week.  President Woolley will be emailing us a group photo of us with Elder Nelson.  Thanks for everything!  I love you.

 

Elder Geddes

 

All is well in Russia

Okay, this week has been just plain great.  First of all, I haven't had a stomach problem in a little over a week.  Things are "working themselves out" quite nicely with my guts if you know what I mean!  That just makes everything 10 times better.  I'm happier, more focused and just an all around better missionary without that problem.  Also, I got to watch conference. It was so good.  It was by far the most meaningful conference I have seen and heard.  It was pretty intense since we would watch one session then pretty much start the next one but it was so good.  I think I finally realized that the men and women who speak are really called of God and have a special message for us.  I loved hearing the talk that mentioned Russia.  That made us all feel really proud to be here and made us all want to work even harder.  I loved Elder Hollands talk!  That was powerful.  All I have to say is I feel bad for Elder Cook for having to follow that talk, but he did good to.  I can't wait to get the conference ensign.  I wish we each got our own but it's one per companionship so we'll just have to fight over it.  The only hard part about the conference weekend was that not too many members showed up.  Only 3 people showed up for Saturday and only two stayed for both sessions.  There were about 9 on Sunday, but once again, only a few stayed for the whole thing.  Elder Hiatt and I really want to do something to strengthen the branch.  The big thing is that we need to help our branch president extend callings to everyone.  I think if they had some sort of responsibility in the branch they would be more active.  We'll see though. 

 

On Monday, Elder Hiatt and I got to travel to Rezon to conduct splits with those elders there.  It's about a 4 hour bus ride or so but I got a little sleep since we left pretty early so it wasn't too bad.  Splits are always fun since the two other cities in our zone each have an elder from my mtc district.  Elder Guynn is in Rezon so I get to be companions with him again once a transfer.  It's fun to work as two greenies and find out what we can do.  We taught a lesson and then took care of some branch stuff since he is the new branch secratary just like me.  It was cool because I was able to help him fill out the paper, I knew what to say to the post office lady to send the money, and I was able to help out a little with some of the other paperwork.  The next day we had lunch at McDonalds since they don't have one here in Tula and got back on the bus to head home.  This is where one of the funnest/coolest things ever happened.  The bus stops two times on the way, each for just a few minutes so people can stand up, get a drink, go to the bathroom or whatever.  The bus driver told us we would be at this one stop for about 20 minutes.  Elder Hiatt had to go to the bathroom and he refused to use the one at the bus stop. (a hole cut in the concrete floor...)  We decided to walk a ways down this road to find a nice covering of trees for him.  As we were walking back to the bus, we see our bus pulling away from the stop.  We had left our bags on the bus and also, we were still over an hour away from Tula.  We start running and I thought for sure the bus would stop for a second and we would be able to catch it but it didn't.  It just pulled right out and started driving.  I kicked it in gear and started running faster than I think I have ever ran.  I jumped over a huge puddle and even had to jump in an even bigger puddle and just when I thought this was going to work, the bus sped up and drove away.  I couldn't believe it, I thought for sure I had just lost my scriptures and my backpack.  We decided the only thing we could do was try to flag someone down and have them drive us up ahead of the bus so we could stop the bus.  We turn around and there are two taxis right behind us.  They had seen us running and knew what was going on.  We spoke with the first taxi and he said Don't use me, this guy behind me has a faster car!  So we hurried to the taxi behind him and the guy already had the doors open for us.  We jumped in and he said Where was the bus headed!  I yelled TULA and Elder Hiatt said STRAIGHT AHEAD and this guy stepped on it.  It was like it was his personal mission to get us on our bus!  We were going so fast, passing people left and right.  It better than any ride at disneyland or anywhere else, it was awesome.  Finally we see our bus and the guy starts going even faster.  We catch up to it and he honks at the bus and sticks his hand out to wave him down.  We jumped out and Elder Hiatt gave the man 200 rubles, not bad for 5 minutes of driving.  When we got on the bus all the old babushkas were laughing and saying, Wow, we thought we left you guys, or Don't you know we only stop for a few minutes?  We were both really out of breath, we were pretty muddy from the puddles, but we were sure glad to be back on the bus.  It was awesome.

 

The week gets even better with last night.  We had a lesson with an investigator we got from the sisters, although Elder Player and I found her on the streets about a month ago.  We had decided we were going to commit her to baptism.  When we finally got to the part of the lesson where we were going to do it, I was really nervous and just praying she would know how important it is and accept.  Elder Hiatt invited her to be baptised and she was a little confused with the question or how Elder Hiatt said it or something so he had to repeat himself.  When he did that she said, Oh, okay, ya ya.  We figured she was still a little confused and were both kind of like... uh... you will?  and she said Ya, I will.  We couldn't believe it!  I was so happy, I couldn't stop smiling.  We set a goal for November 14th.  Happy birthday dad!  She still has a lot to learn, and we really want to make sure she understands exactly what needs to happen and exactly what she is about to do.  We will work really hard to help her understand this and have her ready by the 14th.  I am really hoping she is because I'm not sure if I'll get to stay in Tula next transfer or what and the transfer ends on the 15th.  But if she's not ready, we won't rush it.  I am pretty excited.  We have two more ladies we are ready to commit next time we meet with them and also a guy that we will be talking to tonight that wants to be baptised.  When the blessings come, they come in bulk!  Thats why we always have to be patient when we seem to be in a drought. 

 

Anyway, that's pretty much our week.  Today we have to get the washing machine out of the sisters old apartment and haul it across town to ours because ours broke this week.  It will be an interesting experience, hopefully it won't be so bad though.  I'm glad you two seem to have had lots of fun and interesting experiences in Russia.  Hopefully you got some cool pictures and some cool souveniers.  Way to go for sharing the gospel with all those people.  We learned in our last mission conference that a lot of times all we are doing is preparing people for the day they are ready to accept the gospel.  Every time we share our testimony or our knowledge of the gospel, we are helping people get a little closer to becoming the elect of God.  Keep it up.  Oh ya, I can't believe you couldn't eat the Borsh!  I have had a bowl, it's downright tasty!  Did you put the sour cream in it?  That's just unbelievable.  Honestly, I haven't really eaten one thing that I haven't liked here.  I did have one rogue pastry that wasn't my favorite which was wierd because I have been extremely lucky at picking out delicious pastries.  Let's just say what looked like strawberry jam was just some sort of sick spicy sort of undescribable substance.  Anyway, other than that, I really have liked what I have eaten.  For the most part we cook for ourselves or eat at a restaraunt but we have been fed a few times.  It got cold enough to turn on the radiators.  Everyone says they day they turn on the radiators is the day it starts getting warm again and thats exactly what happened.  Now, our radiators are going full blast but it has been pretty warm outside.  Our apartment is stinkin hot!  I haven't bought my winter stuff yet, every time we plan on it, something comes up.  Should I just use my credit card to pull money off after this month until you can get me a new debit card?  If not, I'll probably have to just pull a bunch of money off before the end of the month so I have some personal money.  Let me know what I should do.  Well I think that's all I have.  I can't wait to get the packages!  The work is going well, I'm still struggling to learn Russian but it's coming along.  I love it here and I love being a missionary.  There is a lot I could do to improve but I'm working hard and doing my best.  I love you guys!  Thanks for everything.

 

Elder Geddes

October 3, 2009

(This is out of order, mom asked me to change it so it would be in order, but it got too complicated with her being a contributor and me, so this is a couple weeks ago....Liz)

Hello everyone,

First of all, I am still in Tula and I found out last night that I will be here for one more transfer! I don't know if I explained it well last week but President hadn't exactly made up his mind. I was going to go to Veronizh on the 9th but we got the good news last night. Most likely at the end of this transfer I will be somewhere else though. I'll tell you more about that later though.

How is everyone doing? It sounds like things are going great there. It is getting really cold here but no snow yet. I was happy to hear that Soda beat Russia to the snow. Today I hope to get a Kepka, one of those hats they wear on the newsies. Pretty much the only people who wear them are old men and missionaries but I will be one of those missionaries that wears it. Also, I will be buying some sweaters today. I'm not ready to buy my real coat and that stuff, but I'm working my way there.

This last week was a really awesome week. Last P-Day, we went to яснан поляна (yasnaya polyana in case it doesn't come through) the place where Tolstoy was born. I think I told you that. But it was so beautiful! The leaves are changing, there were so many trees and a small lake on his property. It was awesome to be in a peaceful nature setting and just enjoy the fresh air. I even bought a small souvenier, a little wooden plate with a painting of the scenery. It's something I'll have hanging on my wall when I have a house. I was pretty excited about that. That pretty much took up our whole p-day. The rest of the week was just good. We met a few people who I think are elect and ready to hear the gospel. One night, a couple nights ago, Elder Hiatt and I were about to go into a building and knock on some doors. For some reason I really felt like I didn't want to work and I would rather just take a seat somewhere and do nothing. I thought for a minute about that and realized something good must be waiting in this building and Satan wants me to be lazy and not work. I told Elder Hiatt that and we began calling apartments trying to get in. Every apartment building has stairwells. Each stairwell has it's own door with something called a Dom-a-phone. We have to call apartments and ask permission to come in and speak with people. Anyway, after I told Elder Hiatt this, he called an apartment and a guy answered and asked what we wanted to do. When Elder Hiatt told him he said sure, come talk to me first. I thought this must be what was waiting here! We went and talked to the guy. He was way muslim and ended up just wanting to argue with us. Elder Hiatt was sort of letting himself get a bit frustrated. We talked to the guy for probably over a half an hour. Finally the subject changed, we were able to make friends with the guy, then we said goodbye. Elder Hiatt was a bit flustered and just wanted to leave the place. We do what we call power hours here where at least one hour a day is set aside for knocking doors. He said, lets just go, our power hour is almost over anyway. I was a bit frustrated as well at the fact that Elder Hiatt was letting anger be involved in a discussion about the gospel. I told him we should stay and knock on a few more doors and that the purpose of a power hour isn't to spend an hour knocking on doors but to try and find someone special. Also I kind of got after him for letting himself get mad while talking to the guy. I could tell he was just cussing me out in his mind, which he later admitted to doing, but we stayed. We went to a different floor and the first door we knocked on was a younger woman with a small family. She had met with missionaries about 10 years ago but she had since moved and had kids and just lost contact with us. She seemed happy to see us, gave us her information and we will be meeting with her soon. After that, Elder Hiatt couldn't stop talking about it. He said it was a miracle and that he just wanted to leave the place and do other stuff. We were both sort of re-energized by the experience and we can't wait to meet with her. Also, the next day we met a guy who had the same situation. He had met with missionaries before but lost contact. We lent him a Book of Mormon and will meet with him soon as well. Last night at our English club, we had a Vietnamese grad student come. He speaks pretty good English and he immediately began asking questions about our church. We technically aren't allowed to talk about church in English club so I told him I would talk to him after. Well after the class, I talked to him and asked if he would be interested in meeting with us. He said he would and that he wants to learn all about our church. He even asked when we meet if we would be able to bring him some sort of book or some sort of study material so he could get familiar with our church. I said "You want a book? I think we could arrange that." We will try to get him one in Vietnamese so he understands it better. His name is Thien and I feel really good about him. To make things even better, I'm not sure if I told you or not, but the sisters got taken out of Tula. One finished her mission and the other got transfered to Belarus. That means we get to take over their investigators! They have a few pretty solid ones that we are excited about.

So after all this success, I really really didn't want to leave Tula but I had kind of accepted the fact that I would be gone next week. Well at about 10:40 we got a phone call from the AP's. They told us we would be together for one more transfer! I couldn't believe it. We are both really excited that we will be together and about the work that will be done. We have a lot going for us right now and it is easy to see the hand of the Lord in all that we are doing.

That means that I will get your package in a nice, timely fashion. So don't worry about that. Just send it to the mission home. I am jealous that you all will be watching conference this weekend but don't worry, we get to watch it next week, IN ENGLISH!! I can't wait for that. We have been listening to talks from older conferences. We have one conference on tape and one on cd so we have gotten to listen to some good stuff.

I can't wait for you to come to Russia and see this place. It's great. You'll get to hear the language, which I've come to find out is a beautiful language... when spoken by natives. You'll love it.

Thanks for all of your prayers and faith. I'm not worried in the least. The Lord wants me to be here and will prepare a way for me to not only be here but to be able to be here with an eye single to his glory. I have been studying a lot about faith this past couple weeks. We show our faith by obedience and hard work. What better place to show both of those than here on a mission? There are so many opportunities to be blessed as a missionary. I am striving to strengthen my faith every day so that I won't have to be afraid or in doubt. In the bible dictionary under faith it says the the Lord has shown his characteristics such as love, knowledge, power, in their fullness so that the mind of man can accept him and not be afraid or doubt. He has shown us that he is capable of incredible things. He did that so that we can fully trust that he can do incredible things in our lives. I read the story about Christ sleeping on the ship and the disciples wondering "carest not that we perish?" I think we receive trials in our lives that sometimes are pretty difficult. Sometimes we don't think we can handle them and we just want the Lord to take them away. I think the hardest tests are tests of patience and faith. Of course we would want the Lord to heal us right away when we feel sick, but that sometimes isn't the case. We have to have faith as long as it takes. Our lives work on the Lords time. I know the disciples tried to hold out as long as they could before the woke Christ, it says the ship was full of water and in other accounts, covered in waves. I wonder if they had held out just a little longer, knowing that the Son of Man was asleep on that very ship, if things would have worked out. I'll hold out as long as it takes, knowing that the Son of Man is with me and that he won't let me drown. I know that the Lord is mindful of us. If we just look, we will find more blessings and more love given to us in our lives than we even realize.

Thanks again for everything, I am so blessed to have such a strong family helping me every step of the way here on my mission. I love you all.

Elder Geddes

So close yet so far

Bob and I spent the last week in St. Petersburg Russia and got a little taste of what Jess is experiencing. It was a good experience but I love the USA. It was so hard being so close to where Jess is and not being able to go see him. Everyone thought we were crazy to not go visit but we knew it was the best way. We felt some of the frustration Jess is feeling at learning the language. Bob kept saying, "poor Jess, how can you learn a language like this, you can't even sound it out." What we forgot is that the Lord wants him to learn it so he will, plain and simple. There is so much history there, most of it pretty sordid and sad, but histroy none the less. It is like stepping back in time when you look at the buildings but stepping forward when you see all the fashionable women and men there. St. Petersburg is a little more like that than some of the other areas of Russia but I was amazed at the contrast. You still see the babushkas ( the older generation of Russian women) so there was a stark contrast there as well. It was fun to see but I am not sure it was worth the 27 hours of travel we had to endure to see it. I now have a greater appreciation for Jess and what he is going through. This will be a life changing event in his life in more ways than one. Here is his latest letter which we received while there.

Hello everyone,
Well, as usual, time goes by faster every day. I have now been on a mission for over 4 months and I can't hardly believe it. I hope I am growing and learning enough to keep up with how fast time flies. It sounds like you all are busy and happy and that everything is going great. I'm glad you all liked conference, I get to watch it in English on Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait.

I'm glad you and dad are liking Russia, it is a lot different than home but it is a great place. Just ignore the not so good stuff about it because remember, there are some not so good stuff everywhere in the world. By the way, the alphabet is easier to sound out than English haha, it's still really really hard to read because the words are so stinkin big. Reading is something I really want to get good at because some missionaries don't get very good at it and it's a shame. I knew you would love how people drive around here. I hope you get a chance to ride in a Marshutka. They are the vans you've probably seen around. They usually have a number in the window. Those guys know how to drive. They can be taking your money, giving you change, passing someone in between a bus and another car and change the radio station pretty much all at the same time. It's incredible and sometimes a bit scary. I have actually gotten a few souveniers. I think I told you about the plate thing but I'm not sure if I told you about my coin collection. I decided I would like to collect some coins, some soviet ones and some modern ones. They have a coin similar to the state quarters we have. There are 64 different ones for different cities and different events. I mentioned this to one of the guys in our English club and told him I would trade him my state quarters for some of his coins. I had 14 state quarters to give him and he brought me a ton of awesome coins. I told him you like coins, dad, and last night he brought me about 15 more coins and said he wanted to explain what each coin was so I could explain to you when I got home. He's a really cool guy. So now I have some soviet coins, some post soviet coins that aren't in use and some modern coins. Also, a member in our branch gave Elder Hiatt and me an old soviet one ruble coin. I am pretty excited about it. As for you guys, make sure you get a few ties! I love them and have bought 5 since I got here. They are really nice. I'm sure you won't really get to just go wander around by yourself since you don't know the language but try to get your guides to take you on a marshutka and to a reenick if they haven't already. As for the package, send it to the office. I'm not sure if you have already put the address on it or not but for future reference, the international p.o. box is the best place to send packages I found out. I guess it's just a bit faster or something but either way will be fine. Make sure you remember all the stuff you see and do so you can tell me about it, I hear St. Pete's is amazing. By the way, are you sure it was a greek orthodox church? Or was it a Russian orthodox church? I've been waiting all week to find out how you like it here so don't forget a thing, okay?

This week was good, maybe a little frustrating but overall pretty good. With the Book of Mormon lending thing we have been doing, we have had a lot of people accept the book. The problem is that most of them have just been giving it back. We have two ladies that are actually reading it, but we haven't been able to sit down with them and have a real lesson. Over all, I really like this program and I have high hopes for it. Something a little frustrating about the work here is that the members aren't always very cooperative with things. We have started trying to build up an institute program here where on Fridays the members and also non members can meet together and study the scriptures. The teacher is a stud! His name is Sergei and he has been a member for about 5 months or something. We actually made him an Elder last Sunday! We got permission from President Woolley because he really does understand a lot. He loves the gospel. Anyway, he is the teacher but the problem is, nobody is coming. Our branch president doesn't even come to things. Last week it was the teacher, the missionaries, and two girls we are teaching. Last night, we had a branch activity where we watched The Other Side of Heaven. The only member to show up was Sergei. We had lots of people there though because we invited our English club members. Also, the same two girls who we have been teaching came as well. After it was over, we talked with Thien, the Vietnamese guy I met a while ago, I can't remember if I told you about him. He hasn't forgotten that we promised to get him a Book of Mormon in Vietnamese and neither have we. Once he gets that book we will be able to really start teaching him about it. I have high hopes for him. Also after the meeting, a guy named Akram asked if he could have a Book of Mormon. He also asked if we have any other books that teach about our church doctrine. We gave him a gospel doctrines book and set up a meeting for this weekend! He has been coming to English club lately and has just recently started becoming pretty interested in our church. I can't wait to meet with him. We also have one lady that we inherited from the sisters who is completely ready for baptism. She is just too scared. Satan knows she is about to make an amazing choice in her life and has started throwing things in her path to block her. We are just trying to get her to realize that and to realize that once she makes this choice her life will be blessed more than she knows. So overall, the work is going pretty well. There is always room for improvement but I'm excited. We just really need to work on getting the branch more involved. The problem is that nobody really has a calling in the branch. The missionaries have done everything for quite a while. We just got another Elder with Sergei, the other Elders in the branch aren't currently worthy for callings which is a big problem. We just need to keep working with all of them to help them out.

Today is going to be kind of a practical p-day. We have to do some work around the apartment like paint the windows for some reason. Our landlord has a few requests like that for us so we will be doing that and just getting groceries and stuff, it will still be fun though. Plus it's always nice to just relax for a bit. I have felt really good. My stomach is becoming less and less of a problem every day and boy am I grateful! That's cool that Tanner is going to Chile, he'll do good there. Also, I'm glad Melissa is getting married, that's really cool. Any other news with people I know?

Well, that's about all I've got for this week, thanks for all your letters and thanks for all your prayers and support. I love you guys!