New Companion

Hello everyone,

Another week flew by. This week was a pretty good week. We had two investigators at church. One just likes to be with us because he likes to speak English with us. He has already expressed that his only interest is English, but he came to church so I guess thats a start. The other was a 33 year old woman named Svetlana. One of my first days in Kaluga, we were on the streets talking to people and she came up and asked for our book and we got her number. I have been trying to keep in touch with her the whole time and finally she said she would come to church. She showed up late, but showed up all the same. After Sacrament meeting I went up and asked her how she liked it. She said she enjoyed it and then immediately told me that she was looking for a husband. She said she had been married before and her husband wasn't too good of a guy so she is looking for a religious husband this time around. She said she doesn't want anyone from the Russian Orthodox church, and she has checked out the Jehova's Witnesses and said that they were just a little crazy so we was now checking out ours. This is seriously the first thing she said to me... she's not shy at all. Just then our branch president, Dima, walked over. She leaned over to me and asked, "is he married?" I said no, she said "How old is he?" I said, 21. She looked at him and said, "Goodbye" She didn't even waste a second talking to him and asked if we have any guys in our branch who are a little older than 33 and still single. I didn't know what to think at this point. We really have nobody in our branch that she could marry and I think she realized that. I'm not so sure we'll be seeing her anytime soon, but I will invite her to learn more about our church. Kind of a weird lady.

Monday we had a meeting with these two ladies that we meet with on Mondays and Thursdays. Lately one of them has just wanted to argue everything I say to her. She is a very very proud woman and has an opinion about everything. She is probably 55 years old and has some sort of disease that her legs don't work. Maybe she has ms, I'm not sure. Anyway, we have been going through the plan of salvation with her very slowly because she always takes us off course. Anyway, she just started saying things that were just making my blood boil. I was getting upset because she was saying things like, "God doesn't need my repentance and I don't need to be sorry for things I've done. I've already done them and it's too late. When I was a kid I would do something my parents didn't like and I would look them in the eyes and say, ya I did that, so what." I was a little baffled. I said, this isn't a joke. You will not stand before God and say, Ya I did that, so what. She said no matter what, she will never bow her head to anyone, not even God and I promised her that someday, she would bow her head to God. She just laughed. After that lesson, I could only think about a scripture I had read not too long ago about people who aren't willing to enjoy the blessings of the Celestial Kindgom. She is flat out denying the blessings and path to the Celestial Kingdom just because she isn't willing to let go of pride. I think we will meet with her one more time tonight and if it is another bad lesson we will stop meeting with her and use that time to find someone elect, someone willing to enjoy the blessings of heaven.

Tuesday we couldn't find one person to meet with us. I hate it when that happens. Luckily we had bus tickets to Tula that night at 5:30 so we didn't have to contact exactly all day. We got this guy's number who is a pastor in the Baptist church. In Minsk Belarus, a large number of the members there are former baptists. A Baptist pastor was converted and brought half of his congregation with him. Who knows, maybe we can do the same with this guy! Anyway, not a whole lot happened Tuesday. Our bus ride was pretty good, except the bus reeked of exhaust, as usual. Oh well, what can it do, make my hair fall out? Tula was fun. The Elders From Razon were there. One of them, actually the zone leader right now, worked before his mission on a crab fishing boat in the Bearing Sea. Just like the ones from the T.V. show Deadliest Catch. I was asking him questions about it all night. He said it is is the closest thing his mind can imagine Hell to be like. 2 months of just brutal work. He said at one point he went over 70 something hours without sleep. He has some cool stories and he made a ton of money. He wouldn't even tell us how much, he just said, I made enough. That would be so cool.

The District meeting we had on Wednesday was really good. It was at the Moffets house and she cooked tacos for lunch. After the meeting my companion and I got on another bus and headed home. When we got home, we got a call from President Woolley. I answered and he said, Elder Geddes, you're getting a new companion. Elder Frehner and I will be heading to Moscow on Monday morning. He will go to Nizhney Novgorod and I will pick up a mini missionary from that same city. Mini missionaries if you don't know what they are, are just young members of the church from cities in our mission. President Woolley asks them if they can serve on a mini mission, usually for just a few weeks at a time. Since we have so few missionaries, President Woolley really likes to use mini missionaries to spread the work further and faster. A lot of people have been serving mini missions lately but this will be my first experience serving with him. I have seen him a couple times and always thought he was kind of a goofy kid. Today, my email from President went like this:

Dear Elder Geddes: I want you to know that I love you and have great confidence in you. Elder Lisevich will be a challenge. I do not want to sugar coat it. You will not have him for long. He is learning how to be a missionary. He already has a mission call. I want you to do your best to teach him discipline and humility. He wants to serve, but he has a few rough edges. You will have to be careful, because he is actually quite sensitive. I am hoping that Dima will really come and serve a mini-mission. I am praying that you will find someone to baptize and build the branch.

I'm not too sure what to expect. I guess knowing I will only be with him for 5 weeks I will be able to handle anything. I really want to help him learn what a mission is like. He leaves for his own mission the Eastern Russia in December. I'm sure everything will be fine. It will be a good experience for me and will help me out with my Russian. I'll miss Elder Frehner. We have gotten along pretty well. He'll have a good time in his new city.

We don't exactly have anyone making too much progress right now but we have plans to get people progressing. There are some really great people here in Kaluga, for some reason they are all just resisting the Gospel. We'll keep working hard wiht them to get them to progress. I'm doing good and feeling healthy. I can't think of anything I need. I am happy and having a good time. Thanks for all of your letters and support. I love you guys.