Spring in Russia

Hey everyone,


Well, spring has come to us here in Veronezh. The snow is pretty much gone and yesterday was probably around the high 60's I would say. Maybe it just seemed like that because we walked a couple miles with our jackets and backpacks. We were trying to hunt down some inactive members in our branch. We walked forever and searched forever for this one building and when we found the address, the apartment that we have listed doesn't even exist. So either our list is wrong or that building has been changed and we never got an updated address. Luckily there was another apartment we were searching for not too far from that one because it seriously took forever to find the first one. I was already a bit discouraged that we had spent that much time and the place doesn't exist that I was just hoping and praying that the other one was home or at least that we could find him. Our list has a wrong phone number for him which is why we had to find him. I called his apartment number on the apartment phone thing, I'm not sure what they are called in English but I remember Megan and Mica had one on their building in NY. Anyway, a cranky old lady answered and I asked for the guy and she wasn't cooperating but she told me he wasn't home and quickly hung up. I was pretty mad because we weren't about to come back to that area any time soon so I didn't want to leave without at least getting his number so I called her again and explained that we lived really far away and that we just wanted his number. She compromised and had me give her my number. I figured that she would never pass the message but a few minutes later my phone rang and it was the guy. So now we know where he's at, and we will be meeting with him someday soon. He has been inactive long enough that he didn't even know where the church was anymore. We also found another inactive guy and had a meeting with him. I'm not sure how we'll help him come back to church, he's a bit weird. He's 29 and had us meet him at a small diner. He bought us a small salad with an orange juice which was cool. Anyway, he wants us to email this former missionary because he thinks the government reads his emails. He wants us to eventually mail him this binder with all these weird pictures in it. I swear, the people we meet with as missionaries. I guess I can email the guy if it will help this inactive trust me and come back to church but I'm just not sure how much he wants to come to church. He is like so many other people here in Russia who joined the church, was really excited and faithful for a little over a year and then just completely quit coming. I'm not sure if people get burnt out or what but they are the people the bible talks about when Jesus gives the parable of the seeds. I think its the ones that land on rocky ground so they start to grow but their roots don't take and then the sun burns them up. They just don't have a testimony that will get them through. It's hard to work with these people because they just don't see the point. Oh well, it's our job and we'll keep trying.


I got kind of sick this past week with just a cold. I think my body's reaction to any kind of sickness now is just to go back to the diahrrea. Have you ever heard of seasonal diahhrea? Elder Khusainov said he had a stomach ulser and now he gets seasonal stomach problems. Weird huh. The diahrrea is already going away a bit and hasn't been near as bad of a problem as it was in the past so don't worry, I was just wondering about the seasonal problems if anyone has heard of that.


I was pretty surprised to hear about the bombings. Every time I heard about stuff like that back home it wasn't such a big deal, it's a lot harder to worry about a place on the other side of the earth. But now I'm here and every once in a while I use the metro. I guess I just don't understand how someone could decide to do something like that. What did any of those people in that metro do to them? It doesn't make sense to me. I'm not exactly scared but it was a little bit of a reality check. Don't worry about it though. Just know that I'm safe and that the Lord truly looks out for his people.


I am still getting the hang of things being the man in charge. This week has been our first real week together and we have been doing fine. We have gotten some good contacts on the street, we have taught some good lessons, and we have tracked down some less/inactives. Those were my goals coming into this so I'm happy. Although not everything is going perfect of course. We still haven't been able to meet with any of the contacts we have gotten, and sometimes people who agree to meet with us stand us up. All very common problems but all the same it's not fun. I was thinking a lot about things like that lately and got a really good answer from the Book of Mormon. I finished it again a couple days ago (which means I reached another goal, we all had the goal to start the Book of Mormon over at the new year and finish it before May!) and I started it over again. As I was reading about Nephi getting the plates I realized that it wasn't until his third try that he succeeded. He had the faith to know that God will prepare a way for him to accomplish the things he commands and so when they failed the first time, he just came up with a different plan, even when they failed the second time he never gave up. Finally the third time the Lord prepared the way. There will always be opposition in all things we do, especially here on a mission (2 Nephi 2:11). God tries the patience and faith of his people (Mosiah 23:21 I think) and we are expected to excercise faith and continue to work hard to obey and fulfill the commandments of God, even when we fail the first and second times. I'm going to keep calling the contacts we get until we either find out that they will never go anywhere or until the Lord opens up the way for us to meet with them. I know not everyone is ready to receive the gospel here but there are people who are.


I'm sure you guys are excited as ever for your trip to Iowa to spend some time there. That will be fun. Anyway, thanks for writing and supporting me. I love you guys, I hope you all have a good week. Oh ya, I got your package mom, thanks, the animal crackers only lasted a couple days, they're my favorite. I really like those juice things too. That hard drive seems really cool, I forgot to bring it today but I can't wait to start filling it up. Anyway, talk to you next week, have fun with conference. We get to watch it next week and I can't wait.


Elder Geddes