Transfer Week (so soon?)

The first transfer, I can't believe Jess has been in Russia long enough to already get a transfer. I was hoping he would be able to stay with his trainer a little longer but the Lord and his mission president know better than me obviously. This letter was a little easier to read than the last two but until he writes and tells me he is completly better I will be a little stressed. Maybe it's not him that needs to strengthen his faith through this trial, it might be me. I guess I better get on the stick and figure it out.

Hey everyone,

Well, I just spent about 40 minutes writing an email which was erased because myldsmail is junk. I am going to start using my gmail to send mail. You can still send mail to myldsmail or send it here if you want. Sorry but I can't rewrite everything. I'll just tell you the important stuff. First of all, one thing I could use is a book of American stamps so I can send letters through the pouch. Also, Elder Hiatt says if you really want to, you can buy some kind of religious stickers and put them on the package but I know Elder Guynn just recently got two big packages and they didn't have a scratch on them so I really don't think you have to be too worried. I can't wait for you to come to Russia. I hear St. Petersburg is awesome. I haven't gotten any more emails from Bryan Tuttle or a package. Did he say anything to Shauna when I wrote him back?

Anyway, about my week. We had some success trying a new program called the Book of Mormon lending program. I think it was started in Brazil and how it works is you tell the people you have a book that is very special. You say you can let them borrow it for maybe three or four days and then you will come back. We glued in a paper with some basic questions and where to find the answers in the book. We have three appointments tonight to see how the people did. I am really excited about that. That was basically the work for the week, now I'll tell you about yesterday. Yesterday was Elder Hiatt's birthday. We had some good times and some bad. We got to have a district meeting with the sisters and the elders from Kaluga. That was really fun and afterwards, we ate a cake that the Russian sister had made. The cake is called miracle and I have no doubt in my mind of why it is called that. It was so good! We also ate some of this cake that this strange guy with scars on his face and half of one hand missing bought us. I told the full story of the guy in the email I wrote the first time that got erased but I just don't think I have the strength to tell it again, ha, sorry. Anyway, after the meeting we ate lunch at a pretty nice place. This is where we got the bad news. This week is transfers. President Woolley called us up and told me that I am being transferred to a city called Veronish. I felt horrible because he told me the main reason for the transfer was my health. I do not want to be a burden to President Woolley. I guess Veronish has a bit better health care than Tula. The thing is, I don't need health care. All my tests came back completely normal. I almost wish they would have found something just so they could say, take this and it will go away. Now it is up to faith and trust. Who knows, maybe this is happening to me just so I could get transferred to Veronish. My new companion will be Elder Khusainoff. He is a native Russian. I know he speaks perfect English, but I hear he will only be speaking Russian to me. I'm a bit nervous. I know it will help but it will be really tough. I also felt bad because Elder Hiatt was really disappointed. He said I have been one of his favorite companions. We really do get along great and both of us really expected to be together for a while. The Lord gets people where they need to be though so I just need to be patient and try to show as much faith as I can. After lunch and stuff I asked Elder Hiatt to give me a blessing. He gave me such a powerful blessing, I have no fear that this will effect my mission. I will get over this and soon. Veronish will be fun I guess. They have two branches there with lots of members. The branch building is an old Theatre so it is really big and really beautiful. Both me and Elder Khusainoff will be new to the area so it will be a tough transition for both of us. The only bad part is that I will really never get any actual mail because I will be way down south and have really no contact with the office as far as mail goes. email will be all I get until the zone conferences we have. Anyway, I really do feel good during the day, just at night and in the mornings my stomach seems to be out of control. Although, after the blessing I got, I had no problem that whole night, and now it after noon and I have only gone to the bathroom once today. I have full faith in the power of the priesthood. I'm trying not to ask why this is happening to me, rather I am just trying to be patient and continue to work hard. I have seen amazing things happen through faith and through the power of the priesthood, now it's my turn to have the miracle happen to me. Don't worry about me, I feel healthy and I feel like I will be over this soon. I want nothing more than to be able to focus 100% on the work and the Lord will bless me so I can do that.

That's the news from the week. Today we are going to the place where Lev Tolstoy was born. It will be awesome because the place is an orchard meadow type thing and the leaves are changing here. We have been wearing the jackets we bought last week almost every day. People here say this will be one of the last warm weeks and then it will start getting cold. Next week I will be looking for some winter stuff. I will let you know how much the stuff costs. I am so glad everyone seems to be doing so good. Thanks for all your prayers, love and support. I love you all!

Elder Jess W Geddes