New city new challenges

Hey everyone,

I am in my new city, Kaluga. It is a small city with only around 300,000 people I think. My last city had over a million. My new branch had 18 people come last Sunday, that's including my mission president, his wife, two office elders, me and my companion... my last branch averaged about 75. There have been 2 baptisms here in the last year, one of which is a mildly crazy grandma. I was in Veronezh for 8 months and saw 5 baptisms. My last companion was Russian and taught me so much about the language, my new companion has been here for three months and doesn't speak much at all. The comparisons are many. If a missionary in my mission found out he was going to serve in Kaluga, the first reaction is AWWWW MAN!!! I say bring it on. Once I get used to the city a little bit, we will get some serious work done. I'm not sure how but we will. If the Lord has people prepared in Veronezh to hear the gospel, he should have a few people here in Kaluga as well. I just need to try my hardest to work smart and effective. I feel like my companion and I are up to the challenge. We have around 50 members or so here in Kaluga. There are a lot of inactives. The branch president is a 21 year old guy named Dima. He's a bit immature but for the most part, he's a pretty good guy and takes his calling seriously. His first counsilor is a 24 year old guy named Andre. He's pretty cool, kind of quiet. He actually lives about an hour out of Kaluga and takes the bus in every week. It is likely that I will be the second counsilor which will be interesting. I have spent about a week here and there have already been a few days where we had nothing to do but contact. It's the hottest summer in Russia for the past 130 years, we were on the streets for around 5 hours just talking to people. Part of the reason is that my companion is still really green and doesn't really know who to meet with in emergency situations such as these, but I'm trying really hard to get to know the members so I can be more of a senior companion. It's hard right now because I pretty much just have to follow my companion Elder Frehner around all day. I don't even really know where we live! I bought myself a small pocket map of Kaluga so I will be working on that problem. I'm sure the first week is always a struggle. I have been thinking a lot about how a small branch grows. We had a lesson with a member who was baptized a little over a year ago. She said when she saw our branch for the first time she just thought it was kind of a joke, not anything serious. It's true, when people walk in to our meeting and see just a handful of people, it's hard to keep them interested. Kaluga is a very very Russian Orthodox city. There are over 30 Othodox churches in our small city. Therefore, it is very hard to talk to people on the streets. The only thing that keeps coming to my mind is the part member families. There are a few spouses, a few children, and even the branch president's mom we could somehow work with. I just don't know how. If they have been a part member family all this time, what could I do to change their minds? I just feel like reactivating people and trying to work with the part member families will be the only thing worth doing here in Kaluga. I don't know how long I will be here, but that will be my focus this whole time.

My companion's name is Elder Frehner. He is from St. George. He is a pretty cool kid. He wants me to speak to him in Russian all the time because he really wants to learn the language. He's struggling with it as of now, but we all struggled with it at that age. I am now realizing how much I grew in the language serving with Elder Khasbiullin. I am trying to speak a lot of Russian with my companion but it is sometimes a little harder than it seems. It's just not natural first of all for two Americans to be speaking a different language to each other. Second of all, I have to translate a lot of what I say anyway, so sometimes I just don't like it, but I do like that he has a desire to speak the language. That's probably most important. On Sunday, President Woolley and Sister Woolley spoke in sacrament meeting here. I was the translator for both of their talks. It was pretty cool. I was pretty nervous at first and started off a bit shaky, but after I calmed down I feel like I did a pretty good job. I love this language and will tell you for the first time, I'm speaking Russian! Every once in a while I finish talking to someone and realize the things we were talking about and I just have to smile. Last night I had a conversation with our landlady about our contracts, a leaky faucet, how to properly clean the shower and some other stuff. Conversations like that just make me feel like I'm not just learning missionary vocabulary but I am actually learning the Russian language. It's pretty fun.

We had a lesson with a super old couple in the branch the other day. We had been outside contacting a lot and I was super tired. We had a lesson planned specifically for Elder Frehner to practice teaching some principles so I was trying to let him do as much talking as he could. It was super hot in the apartment, and as usual when I get too hot, I fall right to sleep. I fell asleep as we were talking about the atonement. When I woke up, the grandma was showing my companion some x-ray pictures of the bullet that is still to this day lodged in her husbands back. I thought it was so funny, I fall asleep for 2 minutes and the lesson goes to that.

I have been waking up the past few nights just soaking wet with sweat. It is so hot!! My pillow and the blanket that I sleep on are just wet and nasty. I definitely have learned to sweat on my mission. It gets this hot every once in a while, but the thing about this summer is that it has been non stop heat for a couple months now. It is supposed to break next week and cool down a bit, I sure hope it does. This kind of heat just drains my energy fast.

We had another missionary have to go home early because of a death in the family. We had a Russian elder serving here with only 2 weeks left on his mission when his brother got in a car accident and was killed. He went home that day. He has a younger brother who just started his mission. His older brother that was killed wasn't a member, neither is the mother. The father died about 9 years ago. I can't understand why that stuff has to happen. He only had two weeks left. I'm sure that is just so hard to deal with. Once again, please be safe everyone! I still have quite a while to go, so just be careful.

Anyway, that's about all that's going on here these days. Each day from here on out will get better, as I get more and more used to the city. I really hope I can make a difference here in Kaluga. I'm trying to show faith and work hard. The rest is up to the Lord. Thanks for the letters, I love you guys.

Elder Geddes

Transfers

Hey everyone,

So Irina already spilled the beans. I am going to Kaluga. Kaluga is a very small city. The branch averages about 12-15 people a week and will be very similar to Tula. My companion will be Elder Frehner. He has been in Russia for about 3 months now so he is still pretty new. Elder Cecil, my last companion will be serving in Tula as the Zone leader. Me and my companion will be the only elders in Kaluga so there will be plenty of work to do. It will be nice to be a little closer to Moscow but I will miss the night trains, they are always pretty fun. I will miss this city and the members here. Irina has been my best friend since about my second week here in Veronezh. She is 32 years old and is just a nice person. I really like her a lot. Yesterday we had our last meeting with Ludmilla before I left. Both of us shed some tears and she told me to tell you thanks, mom, for sending me here and raising me like you did. She told me she'll never forget me and that she will always hold a special spot in her heart for me. She is pretty awesome. She gave me and Elder Cecil both some neat souvenirs. I sent a package home yesterday to the boise house. It has two martroshki stacking dolls, some clothes and that hairy shawl that Ludmilla gave to mom for her birthday. I have no idea how long it will take to get there but I just hope everything gets there in good shape. The big doll I got for myself for when I have a house someday but I think you guys can just put it up somewhere in your house until that day. The smaller one is for you guys to keep forever. The awesome ussr jacket needs to be hung up or something so it will be in good shape when I get home. For some reason there was a red spot on the sleeve when I got it so if you notice that, see if you can clean it.

Anyway, this week I can say will be a week I will never forget, for a few reasons. It has been great though. We have been meeting with all the members I wanted to meet with before I left and almost all of them have fed me. Last night we had a meeting with a lady named Alla. She fed us chicken, mashed potatoes and this cucumber tomato salad. Right after that we went to a meeting with the ward mission leader, a young married guy who served a mission in California. He and his wife had prepared us dinner as well. They brought us out chicken, mashed potatoes, and amazingly enough, a cucumber tomato salad. It was pretty funny.

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty scared to leave. I still have a little bit of packing to do and then I will get on a train at 4:30. Tomorrow I will spend most of the day in Moscow helping other people who are getting transfered get from train stations and bus stations to the office with all their luggage. My new companion has a visa trip tomorrow so I will be just waiting around for him. I actually get to go to dinner with President. There is one sister missionary who is finishing her mission tomorrow and I get to go to her farewell dinner. That should be pretty cool.

I don't have a whole lot to write about this week. It's been one of the more challenging weeks I've ever had, and that I'll ever have I hope. I am excited to move and just start from scratch kind of. Transfers give you the chance to drop some bad habits and develop some good ones. I always have things I need to work on and I will be using this transfer as a chance to grow. You guys didn't say anything about my invite to Russia at the end of my misison, is that a no? Or are you still thinking about it. Let me know what you guys think

Sorry this is such a short letter but I've kind of got a lot on my mind right now. I'll write a better letter next week from good old Kaluga!! Thanks for everything. Love you guys.

Elder Geddes

A letter from a Russian friend

We received this lovely letter from a women in Voronezh where Jess has been serving. It sure is nice to hear from the people Jess is serving in Russia, it was a very thoughtful thing and we really appreciated it.

Hello! Your son said, that I should write to his mom J I'm a little scary, because I've never written letters in English, and I always shy to do that .So it’s gonna be a very short one. First of all, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Irina and I live in Voronezh.I am a member of the church here.I guess you heard about this city from your son.Well, I just wanna write that elder Geddes is an excellent missionary here. He is a good example of serving the Lord.He’s really really awesome, kind and I can only say good things about him.. And he already speaks in Russian fluently. Ever since he came here, he has had great success. I would say he speaks Russian as if he has been living here a lot more than 1 year. And many people love him as a friend, teacher and missionary !! Today our missionaries( who had a transfer) bore their testimonies at sacrament meeting. We have 2 Sisters and 2 Elders leaving us. So Elder Geddes was one of them . It always so wonderful to feel the power of the Spirit, when you hear testimonies . It also strengthens my testimony .He will be leaving soon to Kaluga (on Thursday at about 4 p.m.). But don’t worry about him! He have faith and strong testimony and ready to work hard there and bring a message of God to people around!!!! I think they are lucky to get such a missionary, as elder Geddes! And I’m glad that he served in Voronezh and I have an opportunity to meet him!!! So be proud of your son! J I hope all is good for you! So I ended my small letter!
Irina

Grandkids

"I said stop bugging me, mom, Lacey's bugging me"



"What! I was just sitting here"

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"I said, there's something in your ear"



"I just know there is something in your ear"



"Okay, I think I got it"

Trip to Russia???

Hey everyone,

We had a pretty good week this week. I did splits with the other elders here and yesterday we all went to Lipitsk to try and help them out a bit. At first it was a big nightmare. We had to do it yesterday because there was supposed to be a baptism on Saturday so yesterday was the only day we could do it. It was really really hot outside and there were next to no people on the streets. We had thought up a few activities we could do, but the elders and sisters in Lipitsk didn't think about where we should do the activities. We all went to one spot, there wasn't any people there, so we went to a different place, nobody was there, finally after a couple hours of kind of doing nothing, I was getting a bit panicked thinking we all had just wasted an entire day. We made some decisions and all just grabbed some Books of Mormon and split up into companionships and just started going around the streets talking with everyone. The people weren't coming to us so we went to them. By the end of the night, we had gotten about 9 or so contacts and given out probably as many Books of Mormon. It ended up being somewhat successful and if anything, I think it helped by just mixing things up a bit and giving us all a change of pace. I hope something ends up working out because of it.

I have one thing I need to ask about that I've been thinking about all week. We had a lesson with Ludmilla this week and we were talking about something and she asked a question that we answered, we find that out in the temple. She said, "So I have to wait until next June to find out?" It hit me that she will be planning on going to the temple in June of next year. Every missionary goes home either a couple weeks early, or a couple weeks late. I did the math and realized that if I got to stay a couple weeks late, I would go home sometime around the 23rd of June, almost one year to the day after I baptized Ludmilla. How cool would it be to go through the temple with her? The only way I could do that though is if you guys came and picked me up... will you be ready to come back to Russian next year? I have it all figured out, you could fly in to Moscow, we would spend a couple of days there seeing everything, then take an overnight train to Veronezh and meet up with Ludmilla. After that we could take another overnight train to Kiev and go to the temple with Ludmilla. From Kiev we could fly to St. Petersburg and see the sights there, I figure I'm right here, I have to see St. Pete's. And from there we fly home. It's your choice and you still have a long time to think about it, but I think it would be pretty neat. At the beginning of my mission I really didn't want you to come pick me up, just because I thought it would be so cool to go home with my district and ride down the escalator with my fist raised in the air and see my whole family there waiting, but this would be really cool too. The Lowry's went to Japan for the same reason, got to go through the temple with there son and someone in the branch there and also just got to see some neat stuff, see how their son lived and what he did for two years. I think it would be pretty cool for you guys to see what I have been doing, and see Russia for real, and not just a tourist city. I always thought I would want to go home the early transfer and be home for my 21 birthday but if I have the chance to go through the temple with Ludmilla, I would take it in a heartbeat. Think about it and let me know what you think. I know it would probably be kind of expensive and you guys were just here last year but I just think it would be a once in a life time experience. Ludmilla has asked about you guys a lot actually. The other day we had a lesson and she just stopped and said, Elder Geddes, how tall is your mom? I told her and asked why, she said, oh, I just think I'll meet her someday and was just interested to know how tall she was, ha, funny lady. She gave you a birthday gift this week so I could send it home in time for your birthday mom. It's in fact a shawl made from that nasty gray hair stuff that I told you they make socks out of! I'm sure you'll love it! She said they're really warm and nice to just wrap up in and sit by the fire. My companion said it is actually a really nice gift and that we should really appreciate it. His mom wears them all the time (granted his mom is closer to 70 years old) anyway, I'll be sending it home soon. Her friend Alexander just left on a month long vacation which was a bummer for us. He has already heard the first 3 lessons, read all the reading assignments we have given him and told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He'll get back in mid August and will get baptized I'm sure.

Once again I have to say I don't know transfers. They promised that they would be giving them to us today but I'm not exactly sure when. I was hoping to have them by the time I wrote in case I get transfered. That means that next week there is a good chance if I get transfered that I will be either writing home from Moscow or some other city, or not writing at all on Thursday. So, mom, in case I don't get to write next Thursday, I promise I will write as soon as I get a chance so don't worry about calling President Woolley if I don't write! Ha, who knows maybe I'll be writing next week from good old Veronezh.

Anyway, I think that might be everything for this week. President did write us and say this is a big transfer and that lots of us are going to have new comps or new cities. We'll see who that applies to.

Oh ya, what's in Calgary? Try to find the missionaries and say hello to Elder Rudd for me! I can't believe you guys got to go on the field at Fenway, that would be so awesome! I want to go to a baseball game when I get home somehow, maybe next time we go to Disneyland we can go to an Angels game. Anyway, I'm glad you are doing good. Thanks for everything, let me know what you guys think about my idea for next year. Love you all.

Elder Geddes

Missionary enthusiasum

Hey everyone,

I won't find out anything about transfers for a little while longer, so we'll see. There would be some upsides to staying another transfer here, and it would also be fun to go somewhere else. We'll see what happens. One of the upsides is the friend that Ludmilla has brought to church. His name is Alexander and he is a doctor and a medical school professor. He's probably in his 50's and is really really smart. He's one of those people who is almost too smart so it's kind of hard to understand him sometimes but I think he will get baptized sometime in the near future. Ludmilla told us about him and said that since she brought him to church, he has learned as much as he could possibly learn on his own about our church. He told her that he likes it all and wants it to be part of his life. Yesterday we had our first meeting with him and it was really good. Ludmilla is a champ and she will be an awesome asset to our branch here in Veronezh. She is already friends with all the members, she has a calling as a teacher for enrichment night, and is just loving everything about the church.

Well we had a pretty good week. Zone conference was awesome, we had President Powell, or Paul or however you spell it, I'm not sure. Anyway, he is in the area presidency over our mission but he will be released at the end of this month. This was his last appearance at a missionary meeting and he did such a good job. He talked about what to do when we extend a baptismal committment and people say no. He really inspired and motivated everyone to try some different things and work a bit harder. After conference was over, we went back to red square and took some pictures and just had some fun. There were about 10 of us or more, and it was a lot of fun. We actually ran into a mormon family from Utah on red square, it was pretty funny. The train rides were both pretty fun as usual. We got back Saturday morning, got all cleaned up and then went to a baptism. The sisters had a 17 year old girl get baptized. Her older brother who was just baptized back in October got to baptize her. After that, we had another picnic out in the woods. It was a lot of fun and every companionship had at least one investigator there. I picked up a bunch of bottles people had just thrown around and filled them up with water and set up a bowling alley in the woods. It was fun for a while then people ended up just grabbing the bottles and having a water fight, which was also fun.

I had Elder Guynn and Anderson from Lipitsk come to Veronezh Sunday night and we did splits here in our area on Monday. It was very successful and a lot of fun. Sunday night, we grabbed a chalk board out of the branch building and wrote some stuff on it about the Book of Mormon then all went out and stood on the streets and talked with people and tried to give out books. It is always so much easier to work hard and do a good job when you are having fun doing it. It was pretty successful and we have some ideas of how to improve it for next time. Maybe it will be something we do once a week or so. Tuesday was a pretty normal day and then on Wednesday we had planned a movie night. We showed the movie Testaments and invited members and told them all to invite friends. We had about 30 people show up, 15 of which were non members. Ludmilla brought two friends, Alexander and a 28 year old guy named Dima. Dima speaks English really well and said that for now he is just interested in English, but we'll see if we can't start working with him and show him the gospel. Anyway, the movie night was a big success too. We have some pretty creative people in our district and I think we are just realizing the key to working smart and hard at the same time. In a few days, we will all be going to Lipitsk to give them a little boost. We will spend a day there doing a lot of different finding activities. We will do street contacting, we will sing in the park, we want to get a sign and talk about the Book of Mormon like we did here, and whatever else we can think of to try to get them some good contacts and give them an energy boost. It should be lots of fun.

Last p-day, I bought myself a sweet Russia shirt, a ussr jumpsuit, and a cheap Russia soccer jersey. They are sweet and I got them all for pretty good deals at the market. Today we might just go and see some sights and take pictures and stuff. That's always fun. I have been having some problems with one of the sisters here in my zone. She is impossible to make happy and it really bothers me. She can be down right rude to me sometimes, even when I am just trying to be nice and help. It is starting to get a little frustrating but I'm just trying to always be the bigger person and continue to be nice. She's a native sister and she's just one of those people who has an attitude problem.

We didn't have to pay for his tooth with our own funds, although we could have afforded it with how cheap it was. He has had to go back to the dentist a couple times and he just got an x-ray and found out that he still has 3 more wisdom teeth that will need to come out someday. He doesn't want to do it right now, I wonder if he'll just wait until they cause problems or what. Poor guy. When we buy tickets, it's with straight cash, just like with all purchases here in Russia. I had over 40,000 rubles in my hands. It was pretty sweet, but a pain in the butt to get out of the atm. You can usually only take out about 5-7 thousand at a time, depending on the atm.

Well, that's about all that is going on here. I'm glad to hear everyone had a good 4th of July. Just like last year it was just like any other day for me. I can't wait until I can go to the Soda Springs parade again, I love the festivities in good ol' Soda. Anyway, thanks everyone for writing. Have fun in Boston Mom and Dad. Love you guys.

Elder Geddes