Zone Leader

Hey everyone,

Well the big news for this week is that I will be getting on a train Tuesday night to go to moscow where I will pick up my new greenie. I still don't know his name because he is a Russian and so President didn't know how to pronounce his name. Of the six new elders coming into our mission there was one Russian and I get the chance to train him. President called me and told me I will be training and then told me that I will be the zone leader here in Veronezh. I felt pretty humble right there thinking I am not up to the challenge but then I felt really good that President, and more importantly, the Lord, would trust me with two huge responsibilities like this. I have the awesome chance to help an elder get started on his mission. I know at least for me, that my first couple of transfers have had a huge impact on my mission so far. I will do my best to help this new elder get off to a good start. President told me that this elder gave up a professional basketball career to serve a mission. I'm not sure what professional basketball is like here in Russia but it sounds like this guy has his head on straight. President also said that he comes from a member family and has been a member for a number of years. He is supposedly a very friendly and outgoing elder which will be good. I can't wait to learn from him and hopefully teach him a thing or two along the way. Our zone is receiving 2 new elders who will be serving in Lipitsk, the city about 2 hours from Veronezh. They took Elders out of Belarus which is kind of a bummer because I'm not sure I'll have a chance to serve there now but that's okay. Lipitsk needed the Elders more than Belarus. The Elders aren't even allowed to use their priesthood there but they sure can in Lipitsk. They pulled elders out of Lipitsk a few transfers ago and have had only sisters there up until now. The branch is small and struggling there and will be grateful to have two more priesthood holders joining the ranks. My companion is moving over to the other area here in Veronezh to serve with his mtc companion, Elder Tanner. Sister Corbett will be training an American sister and there will be two Russian sisters in Lipitsk. I will be relying on the Lord as much as possible to try to be a good leader and example to all the members of our zone. Our zone will be incredibly young, not one Elder over a year out. I think Sister Corbett has been out for a little over a year but still, we will have two greenies, me and two other elders from my mtc district and two elders who were with me in the mtc one transfer behind. We will have to trust each other and rely on one another to help the zone be as successful as possible.

Yesterday we moved into a new apartment. The apartment is really big, three rooms! It was completely empty when we found it but the lady agreed to furnish it with the things we asked for. Yesterday we found as we moved in, a small fridge, an old beat up table, a bed with a nasty mattress on it and a new washing machine. There will still be a few more pieces of furniture coming but as of now, it still echoes. Last night was our first night there. I had to repair the toilet last night and the shower this morning. There are still some leaks in the shower but the important thing is the toilet flushes now. Also there was no hot water this morning and there supposedly won't be for a few more days. Yesterday we didn't have hot water in our old apartment either so we just filled up everything we could to boil water in it and we showered from a bucket. This morning we just took the cold, it's too much of a hassle to boil the water, plus we didn't have a bucket there. The best part about the new apartment is that it is right behind the branch. That will be cool.

Some other cool things that happened this week. A while back Elder Cecil and I thought we had gotten a golden contact. He was really excited about the Book of Mormon, asked for a copy then gave us his number and the number of his friend who he said would also be interested. Every time we called him he would say that he and a few of his friends were really interested and would love to meet with us but we just couldn't find the right time. Finally after calling him for a couple weeks, we got a time worked out and a place to meet. We waited on the bus stop they told us and then they called and said, "we are almost there, there's three of us" Then I thought he said, "One of us is black" I said okay, and we were on the lookout for three guys, one of them a black guy. Much to our surprise three guys show up, one of them wasn't black, he was just IN black. Sure enough, it was three guys, one of them a Russian Orthodox Priest. I tried to be cool and stuff but they knew we had both just peed a little. Anyway, they took us to this special building next to one of the temples. They really just wanted to talk and find out a little more about us and what we believe. They were all three some of the nicest guys in the world and one of them will probably be coming to our english club tomorrow. They said that when they found out we were Americans they really wanted to meet with us since all the Russian Mormons they had ever met just wanted to argue. They said right off the bat that we don't want to argue, we just want to learn. They of course didn't agree with some stuff we said but all in all we made friends with Father Yevgenny and his two assistants. They want to meet again sometime and even said they would take us for a tour of one of the temples here in Veronezh that he works at. Just for your information, I have heard that this temple is the 3rd or 4th most important one in Russia. It's way big and really cool looking. I'll send you some pictures of it. I thought that was a cool experience.

One other thing that happened that wasn't exactly as funny, we went up to this inactive guys house and knocked on his door. He has been having struggles in life with the word of wisdom but had been doing really well for a long time and had actually been coming to meetings and stuff lately. This time he let us in and we asked how he had been doing and he said, bad. When we asked him why he just said, I drank vodka again. When we got into his room, there were 4 empty bottles of Vodka. I think he was either still a bit drunk or just hung over. He had spent most of his monthy 5 thousand rubles on vodka and cigarrettes and had been smoking and drinking for the past few days. We talked to him for a while and he asked for a blessing so I gave him a blessing and I'm pretty sure he fell asleep during the blessing. Anyway, I said, let's get this cleaned up. So he gave me a bag to put all the bottles in and showed me to the kitchen where there were a couple more bottles and tons of cigarrette butts. I found one pack almost full of cigarrettes. He quickly grabbed those and told me they were his friends. I told him that his friend could buy some more but that I wanted to take them from his house so that it wasn't a temptation. He hid them but Elder Cecil saw where so he grabbed them and we said we had to go. Before we could get out he realized we had taken the cigarrettes. I had to play keep away with a 60+ year old man. He started by lying and saying they were for a friend, when that didn't work he changed to threatening to just go outside and beg for more. When that didn't work he tried to compromise and ask for just one saying that he would quit smoking after that one. It was interesting that addiction caused this man to act exactly like a small child trying to get something he couldn't have. Addiction is a powerful thing and it is more clear to me now than ever that it can and will destroy lives.

The Wray side of the family sounds like they are doing really well. I have been meaning to ask how Tanner has been doing for the longest time I just have always forgotten to ask. That's really cool that he's getting married, tell him congratulations and tell Dillon congratulations as well, that is so awesome. It sounds like everyone in the family is getting ready for some big changes.

Thanks for sending parts of my letters to Bro. H. I'm sure I wasn't always the greatest seminary student but I really did learn a lot from him. Tell him thanks for me for all the stuff he taught me.

Well, next week I'll have good news for you since I'll actually know my new companions name. I'm excited for everything that is happening here. I'm going to be working hard and will need your prayers and support to help me do a good job with the stuff I've been asked to do. I love you guys and am so glad I have such and awesome family. Good luck this week, I'll talk to you soon.

Elder Geddes