The year mark has come and gone

Hey everyone,

Well I have a great letter to write today. I'm glad I get to write because at first I wasn't going to. We are going to Moscow this weekend to see Elder Perry. The president doesn't want us to waste too much time so he asked us to take our pday on Saturday after the meeting that will end around 11:30. I wasn't going to want to find an internet cafe to spend my time in while I was in Moscow, no offense, but I decided to make an executive decision as a zone leader and allow my zone to have 45 minutes or so to write home because nobody was going to write home from Moscow. Anyway, I'm glad to write because I have had probably the best most miraculous week and a half ever. The story is about a woman named Ludmilla. It starts two Sundays ago on May 23. We were all in our third hour of our meetings when I got a phone call from an old grandma in the ward that we take the sacrament to. I ignored the call maybe 3 times but she just usually keeps calling back until I answer it. So finally I went out in the hall to answer the phone and as I was out there, the security guard (nonmember) came walking up the stairs with a lady and he told me she had some questions. I talked to her for about 5 or 7 minutes about our church. She said back around Christmas she was at work (she's a barber) and somebody came in and got a haircut and told her all about their church and how it saved and changed his life. She couldn't remember his name or anything but she remembered his story. She was busy with work and what not so she never found a minute to come visit us. She recently quit her job and luckily remembered the client she had had a few months back and decided since she had some time, she would come see what we are all about. I told her a little about our church and the Book of Mormon. I didn't have a copy on my since I left my bag in priesthood so I told her I would go grab my bag. I also grabbed my companion. We talked to her for another few minutes, explained the Book of Mormon and gave it to her and got her phone number. We said we would call back in a few days to meet with her. She was the one that called us a couple days later. Of course I was excited to get a contact but you never know what kind of contact it is until you meet with so I wasn't too worried about her. When she called, she was pretty upset because she had read part of the book and got to the part where Nephi kills Laban. That is a big hang up with a lot of people and I thought she wouldn't be the first investigator we have lost because of that story. Anyway, Elder Khasbiullin got her to agree to meet with us so we could discuss it a little bit. We met on my birthday, I think I told you a little about that meeting. It was kind of all over the place because she had so many questions. We were able to answer a lot of her questions and get a good meal. We said goodbye and invited her to come to church. Sure enough she was at the church building 15 minutes early. This was the weekend that President Woolley was going to be here so there was a lot of stuff that we had to do. My companion and I were translating meetings between the branch president and our mission president for most of the morning but I was able to sit with Ludmilla at sacrament meeting. She loved what she heard from the talks which were all about temple work. After that, we went to Sunday school with her and she loved what we learned about the holy ghost. We had combined priesthood and relief society and had a good lesson in which she even stood up and shared an example from her own life. After church was over, President Woolley had a fireside about the pioneers. It was about an hour and a half and Ludmilla just loved it all. She told us that she will be at any activity that our church has in the future, so we asked if we could meet with her as well and continue our lessons. We met with her the next day and taught the first half of the restoration. The lesson went well and she asked a lot of questions. We addressed the whole Nephi vs. Laban thing and completely fixed that problem. The spirit was strong but I think Satan tried to put a bump in the road because I felt like the discussion was leading to a baptismal commitment but at the time the spirit was the strongest, Ludmilla's daughter in law came home with a screaming 4 year old kid so that kind of put that out, but all in all it was a really good lesson. We asked when we could come back to continue and she said, you can come tomorrow and the next day and the day after that! So we said, okay, see you tomorrow. That brings us to yesterday. We got there and picked up the lesson where we had left off and taught the rest of the restoration. We taught in unity and with power. At first she had a bit of a hard time focusing and kept bringing up sidetracks but we handled them well and continued the lesson. As we got to the Joseph Smith story, there was a very real and powerful spirit in the room. We decided to watch the first vision from the restoration film and after that we bore testimony to her that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. She sat reverently and listened to what we had to say. We had talked about the steps in the gospel, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the holy ghost and enduring to the end. She said, well what about baptism? I was baptized as a baby but does that count? We boldly told her that, while people truly believe they are doing the right thing in being baptized, that it was only baptism by someone holding the authority of God that will save her. She asked, who has that authority then? We said, both of us have the authority to baptize. She then said, then I'll probably be baptized by one of you, right? That was such a relief. I knew she would accept the call to be baptized. We have two ladies that are being taught by the sisters who will be baptized the 19th of June and so we extended the invitation to her as well. She immediately accepted. We have another meeting with her tonight. I couldn't believe how ready she was to hear the gospel. Now I understand what it means that the Lord is preparing people for us to teach. Now I understand that there really are people out there searching for the gospel, searching for the truth not knowing where to find it. Now I know that the message of the restoration will cause people to act because they feel the truthfulness of the message. It has been a pretty awesome past couple of days.

It is so interesting to me how the Lord works. I always tell those missionaries in my zone that we need to work hard through the dry spells because the floods are coming. I know that the Lord wants to see if we will continue to work even when we have no real progressing investigators. He wants us to be worthy and ready to accept those who he has prepared himself. We have all been working hard. Nobody has given up, nobody has a poor attitude, nobody is lacking in faith. We have had a dry spell since the 6th of March when Inna and Sergey were baptized. We worked through the dry spell and now, on the 19th of June, 3 people will be baptized. Monday, my companion and I conducted splits with the elders in Lipitsk. I worked with Elder Guynn, my mtc companion. We were talking about our missions and he was telling me about one of his companions who had quite a bit of success. I asked how he would find these people and he just told me, the Lord just led people to him. He said this elder was a very good teacher and was so good at helping people understand. He said what he learned from that elder was that sometimes, the best way to find people is to be worthy and prepared for the Lord to lead those people to you. That is exactly what has happened here.

Anyway, zone conference was pretty cool too. My training went well and it just so happens that it was a lot about having the faith to find. I got to have another interview with president and he expressed his thanks to me for doing a good job. I really can feel his love and appreciation for us as missionaries. His mission is so big that he just can't get everywhere and do everything he needs to do sometimes so he has to rely on others a lot. I'm glad he can rely on me. Also, he was very impressed with my language abilities. He has never really seen much of what I can do but as I got to translate for his meeting with the branch president he was able to see that I really am learning this language. That made me feel pretty good. Tomorrow we will be getting on a train to Moscow. Our meeting starts at 9:30 and we all need to be there by 9 to shake hands with Elder Perry. I wonder if he remembers meeting Rob and me, I'm sure he does, right? ha, The meeting ends at around 11:30 and we will have lunch. After that, it is straight to the market! I'm looking to come back from Moscow with about a million new ties. Rumor is that there is an awesome market where all the elders buy ties. I hope we find it. Then we will get back on a train that night and be home in time for church the next day. We were going to get to stay in Moscow and go to the Sunday meeting with Elder Perry as well but President decided not to have us do that. That's okay, I'm sure he will fill us all in.

Anyway, that is about all that has been going on. I was thinking about what I was doing a year ago. I remember being pretty nervous, not even really tasting my last meal at home (a&w) or sleeping much that night (on the couch, since I wasn't allowed to mess up the beds) I remember that next day being so crazy, finally realizing that night that I would be gone for 2 years. One year has passed and I just can't believe it. It doesn't seem possible that it has been a year. I have learned so much but it feels like I'll never learn enough. I know I will be able to enjoy the second year of my mission even more than my first.

Thanks for the letters, you all have done an awesome job of writing me faithfully for a whole year! I love you guys and am glad you are all doing well. Unless I'm mistaking, I have no clue about this Colorado trip. Maybe I just skimmed over it or maybe you forgot to tell me. Or maybe I just blocked that one out because it sounds like so much fun. Anyway, have a good week. I love you guys.

Love Elder Geddes