Turning 20 W/year mark right behind

Hey everyone,

First of all, I just wanted to tell you a little bit about how awesome my companion is. I never would have admitted it, but I was a little more tired than I thought when I got him as a companion. I still have a strong desire to do this work but I noticed I had forgotten some of the little things they teach us in the mtc. No matter how hungry we are or tired we are, my companion always wants to try to visit one more less active or talk to a couple more people on the streets. He is an awesome example to me and has helped me rekindle my fire. That being said, this was a hard week! A very good week but a very week. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm nearing my one year mark or what, but this past week, I had a few different times where I felt like I have done the same exact thing every day for the past year and I have a whole year to go. I think this is exactly why I was blessed to have a greenie as I hit my year mark. I'm not saying I'm discouraged or burnt out or anything, I'm just saying, missions are hard. Anyone who has ever served a mission could probably say that there were days on the mission that you just thought you couldn't take it anymore. You just have to keep going and almost always at the end of the day you look back and realize you had a pretty awesome day. We have had a bunch of lessons already this week, mostly with members but still, they have been some good lessons. I am going to focus my second year on becoming an excellent teacher. Right now I'm not sure how I would rate myself as a teacher, but I hope to become one of the best. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel, I can't remember who it is by, but it says something like the best teacher is someone who can take things that might be hard to understand and teach it in a way that a child could understand. That's what I want to do.

I realized today that I forgot to write about the 9th of May. It's a huge holiday in Russia to celebrate the day Russia fought off Germany I think. Anyway, they throw a huge parade and everyone celebrates like crazy. I wasn't too impressed with the parade though. We got there a little late and had bad spots to stand. The parade isn't like ours at home either. We all gathered around Lenin square in the center of town and watched soldiers march and tanks and stuff drive around a bit. It would have been cooler if I could have seen anything that was going on. I'll send some pictures of it. Finally towards the end we had worked our way to a spot where we could see a bit better. It was pretty cool, just not what I expected.

I am making a lot of progress with my Russian I feel like. It's really nice to have a companion that speaks perfect Russian and good enough English to help me out. I like to think that I speak as good of Russian as he speaks English, although he has been studying English for a lot longer than I have studied Russian so of course he knows probably more words than me but he still makes mistakes. The other day we were talking and he said something about his jelley button, I had just taught him the word for belly button not too long before that, ha, it was pretty funny. Speaking of the word belly button, in Russian, the word is пуп pronounced poop, haha. Anyway, I am really falling in love with the Russian language. It is so rich and deep. There are a million different ways to say pretty much everything and each different way has it's own special meaning that can add that much more to what you are trying to say. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet, but I am going to keep working on Russian forever so I can master it someday.

Zone conference got postponed until next week. Elder Manzhos or something like that, will be coming next week to Veronezh with President Woolley. I think he is from the area 70. It will be really cool. Then the week after that we will be going to Moscow to see Elder Perry speak. There will be a missionary meeting Saturday morning and something else on Sunday. I'm not sure exactly what will happen but the rumor is that we will be staying overnight in Moscow so we can go to the meeting on Sunday as well. That would be pretty cool.

Well nothing extremely exciting happened this week, just a lot of hard work. I really wonder if I'll get transfered this transfer or if I'll stay in Veronezh for another. Honestly, I'm ready for a change of scenery. I would be fine to stay here for maybe one more transfer but I would also be okay with a move. We'll probably find out in a couple weeks what's going to happen.

So Justin Bagshaw got home huh? Is he the first from that group? There is still Jayde Kowallis, Tony Brown, Rick Berg, I think a few others right? Has he changed at all, other than the eyebrows? What's Caleb doing these days? I can't believe Garett is getting married today! You need to call him sometime if you get the chance and tell him hello for me. That's cool that the whole family was able to be in the temple. Is Katie going to go on a mission or what?

My package is still unopened. I'll admit, there is a tear in the box and I saw a bag of macaroni that I feel like could be a hamburger helper. I also saw animal crackers and what appeared to be a rice crispy treat. I have been tempted to open it so many times but I'm almost there so I figure I can just wait it out. I couldn't help but peek into the tear though. The Lowry's found an opportunity for a service project so the morning of my birthday we will be chiseling out a concrete base of an old fence from who knows how long ago. It should be pretty fun. We got to do service yesterday for that same old guy. My blisters just went away and we got to do it all over again. I was smart enough to ask for a glove this time. Remember how I said we chop the wood? He has a head of an old ax that we just pound into the logs with a sledge hammer. It's pretty fun and I have gotten pretty deadly with a hammer. Well, I busted his ax head, oops. He was pretty unhappy but he had a few other wedges for us to use so we were able to get the work done.

That is pretty funny about the dog. I don't understand what goes through his mind sometimes. He has a little bit of an attitude problem probably. At least he only ate the credit cards and not the cash, right?

Anyway, I'm doing good and I'm glad you all are too. Thanks for the letters, I always love hearing how you are all doing. I'm working hard and trying my best to serve the people here. Next time I write home, I'll be 20 years old! Love you guys.

Love, Elder Geddes