Hey everyone,
Summer seems to be on its way, it is probably in the high 50's or low 60's right now for some reason! We had a pretty cold day the other day but for the most part, it hasn't been too bad at all. Don't worry about my shoes, we still have plenty of time before I can't wear them anymore, it's dry outside so my feet are dry as well. Also, you can't see the damage really unless you look, so as long as I don't look like I found the shoes in a garbage can they're fine with me. Some missionaries like to wear their shoes until you can pretty much see their toes hanging out the end and the heel hanging out the other end. Mine still look pretty descent.
That's really scary about Doug, I hope they find out what is wrong and that it is something they can fix easily. I'm glad to hear that Grandma and Grandpa are doing pretty good though, is their little dog still running around all over the place? How is Daryl and his family? And Ken and Shauna? How is your side of the family doing, mom?
Well I guess I'll get right to the good stuff. This week has been a week of miracles. We were asked to fast at the beginning of this month to find new investigators. When an entire mission fasts for one reason, the Lord answers. We reported 4 new investigators this week.
Miracle 1: Elder Bressler and I are walking one night on the way to take sacrament to an old grandma in our branch. We walk past a couple of kids and I hear one kid say to the other, "No, I don't drink vodka, and I never will" something to that affect. We walked a little bit more and I told Elder Bressler what I heard and we both agreed that we should go talk to him. We decided to go for an english contact, see if he would be interested in practicing English. That often works with the youth here. We told him that we were here as missionaries and that part of our service was helping people with English. He was interested in that then he asked us to tell him a little about our church. We told him a little, got his number then left. He came to English club on Tuesday. After the club was over, we played the Restoration film for anyone who wanted to stay. Two girls stayed and this kid, I'll tell you his name later. Anyway, he said thanks and left after the movie. We decided to call him and meet with him on Saturday. We were there a few minutes before the meeting was supposed to start and he called and asked if he could bring some friends. We said of course and he showed up with two friends. He is 21, his friends, Anton and Pasha, are 17 and 20. Anyway, they said they were there to get some practice with English. I told them that's great and then reminded them that we are missionaries and that the way we help people with English is we talk about gospel topics in English. They agreed and so we began to talk about family. They are all pretty new with English so they didn't know enough to have a real conversation or anything so we were pretty much just teaching them family words and how to create sentances. After thirty minutes we said, okay we have done 30 minutes of English, now we want to do 30 minutes of gospel, in Russian. They all agreed and we began to teach them about the Book of Mormon. They are all interested in church, all took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said they would read. They had lots of questions for us and made a few points that line up exactly with our teachings. We invited them to church the next day and they all came, and they even brought a girl with them. They stayed for all three hours and even when we told them that our last hour was going to be in a seperate room, they just abandoned the girl to the relief society and came with us to priesthood. They participated, answered questions and shared their thoughts and concerns. It was all really great. Towards the end, Pasha started talking about the Book of Mormon a little bit. He said, 'Yesterday we tried the book, it works pretty simply actually. We would just ask it a question, open it up, and the first thing our eyes found was a great answer to the question." I was really surprised to hear that from a 20 year old kid who for the first time in his life held the book. He even shared with us one of the answers he found. He said he did it 7 times in a row and it worked every time. Pasha and the our contact said it worked for them as well. I thought it was pretty funny but at the same time a miracle. I warned them that that technique won't work every time and that sometimes God wants us to work a little harder to get answers and they all agreed. We will be meeting with them as soon as possible, hopefully tonight if we can but if not tonight then tomorrow. The kid that we first came in contact is named Bogdan (as in boat with a g and dan as in dawn) The reason I felt like that was significant was that Bog in Russian means God and Dan or dawn means given. So his name pretty much means God given. Cool huh? It seems like they smoke so that will be an obstacle, but they are already developing a testimony of the Book of Mormon. This group of three friends would provide our small branch with such a breath of fresh air, it would be incredible. We need preisthood more than anything! If we could get these guys baptized we would be in good hands for the future. I can't wait to continue working with them.
Miracle 2: One night, Elder Bressler and I didn't have any lessons and its never too much fun to do street contacting in the dark so we decided to do some mining in the area book, all the work of missionaries from the past. We found some pages and called a few people. One of the ones we called was a young guy named Ivan. He agreed to meet with us. I had actually met with him once before a couple months ago. He wasn't too interested in becoming a member or anything but he listened to us and asked questions so I thought, why not. Anyway, when we met him, we waited for him on the street. I saw him coming with another kid with him. He brought his 20 year old friend Gleb with him. He said hello to us and said this is my friend Gleb, he's really interested in learning about the Mormons. We started walking and talking, Elder Bressler with Ivan and I was talking with Gleb. Gleb had read some good things about us on the internet which is always good. He said he had learned a little bit about us and ever since has just been wishing he could find out more. He said when his friend Ivan called and said he had a meeting set up with Mormon missionaries he just began to burn he said. He was so excited. I started telling him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy. I started telling him about Joseph Smith and the first vision and he said he had already read about it. He also smokes and asked if he could smoke while we were talking. I asked him not to and then explained that we don't smoke or drink in our church. He was so happy and said he has wanted to quit smoking for the longest time because he knows its bad but he just hasn't been able to do it yet. He had a problem come up and wasn't able to make it to church, but we have a meeting set up with him on Wednesday. He wanted to come to church but he couldn't this time. He promised to come next week.
In one week we were able to get 4 young men as investigators, good investigators. Fasting works. I can't wait to find out the results of the rest of the mission. We are going to be working really hard to get these guys baptized. Keep these young boys in your prayers because we all know that Kaluga needs them.
Speaking of Kaluga, I just can not believe I have been here already almost 4 months. That is the craziest thing ever. When I heard I was getting transfered here, I wasn't exactly too happy. Now, I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else on earth. Kaluga is just a nice place to be as a missionary. Lots and lots of work needs to be done, sometimes we have days where we couldn't get one person to meet with us, but at the same time, I just love this city. Of course Veronezh is at the top of my list but Kaluga is a close 2nd place. I'm glad I am content with my city. It's sometimes overwhelming to be one of two missionaries in a city of over 400,000, but at the end of the day you are really able to see the tender mercies of the Lord and see that we are truly blessed to be here.
I am sending my Christmas package home today, I am sending it to Megan's house so that when Mom and Dad come home from Iowa they will be able to bring everyone else's stuff with them. I couldn't decide which ties will go to which guys, maybe you won't like them, but I do know that the black one is Dad's. He'll like that one, it is pretty slick looking. Anyway, I'm also sending home some cheap soccer jersey's I got clear back at the beginning of my mission, mostly I'm just sending them home to protect the other stuff I'm sending so just put them with the other clothes and stuff I have sent. Maybe you could send me a little inventory of things I have sent home for myself so I don't buy any doubles and so I don't forget to buy anything cool. I'm sending some candy as well, share it with the kids but make sure that some of it gets over to Alex. I don't think the babies can eat it though, ha.
There are still things I am going to need to buy here in the next little while, I'm shopping for good deals and trying to spend as little money as possible but I will be spending some more, just so you know. I was able to take money off my card just fine, the machine must have just had a problem that one time.
I think that's about all I can think of. I hope you guys all have a fun Thanksgiving. I am really missing Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorites. Remember that I have been first in line for the past about 16 years? Now who is in front? This will be their last year because next year, I will resume my spot! Anyway, thanks for everything. I love you all!
Elder Geddes
Grandpa's new toy
12 years ago
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