KAZAKHSTAN Bound!!

Hey everyone,


Where do I start this weeks email?? So much has happened! I guess I'll just start from the beginning. On Tuesday night, we had English club. Pasha, Bogdon, and Anton came to it. After the club was over, they just stayed, along with a girl from the club and Elder Bressler and I just preached the gospel. We were answering questions, reading from the scriptures, testifying. It was great. The next night, we had family home evening at the branch which is usually just youth and people from English club. We play games, have treats and have a spiritual thought. Anyway, after that Pasha asked if we would have time to meet with him the next day. The zone leader and his companion came down for splits that next day so Elder Bressler and Elder Brown ended up meeting with Pasha. After the lesson, they were both really excited because they said he was just ready to be given a baptismal commitment. During the lesson, Pasha wanted to demonstrate how he has been getting answers from the Book of Mormon. He asked the question, what do I need to do in my life right now? He opened the book and read Mosiah 2:22 it says something to the effect of, all that I require of you is that you keep my commandments. Elder Brown then opened another scripture in 2 Nephi 31 that says it is a commandment from the Father to be baptized in the name of the Son. Anyway, they didn't set a date because we hadn't talked about it and he wanted me to do it. Pasha wanted to meet the very next day, so Elder Bressler and I planned out a lesson leading right up to a baptismal commitment. By the time we got to the part about baptism, he already knew what was coming. He beat us to it and said, I already know I'll be baptized, it's just a matter of when. We told him the date we had prayed about, December 4th, and he agreed. This is all just great, I was on top of the world, but the thing is, today is the day we are supposed to find out transfers. Within a week of transfers, if you get a call from President Woolley, you know what it is about. Halfway through our lesson with Pasha I got a call from President. I answered and asked if I could call back. I knew something was going to happen though. After the lesson, I called President back and he said, how was your lesson? I told him that we had just set a baptismal date with Pasha. He said, that's great! I'm so happy for you, I'm calling to tell you that you are being transferred to Kazakhstan, you need to be in Moscow Sunday night to give your passport to the office elders. In order to get a Kazakh visa, you have to get a letter of invitation, apply for the visa, do some paper work and stuff like that. I will have to fly to Kazakhstan on the 29th, next Monday, and get registered there. Once in the country, I have to wait for almost a month for the government to give me permission to preach the gospel. Pasha asked if I would baptize him, and President thinks there's a way I can be there for the baptism but it's still not for sure. I will have to return to Russia no matter what at some point, but I don't know if I will be able to make it back before the 4th. I know the right thing to do would be to have someone else baptize Pasha. It would be dangerous to delay his baptism, I wouldn't want to do that, but I really want to be there for it and I really think it would be cool to baptize him. He is someone the Lord has prepared so much! I'll tell you some of the miracles that have happened with him.

First of all, his father is dead, he died from affects of Trenobel or however you spell it, that huge nuclear problem in Ukraine. When Pasha was born, the doctors said he would be brain dead. When he was four years old, he was given supposedly 6 more months to live. He's 20 years old now, doing fine and will be baptized on the 4th. Two months ago, he didn't believe in God whatsoever. He said that one night he just woke up and had this really strong desire to pray. He has been growing little by little ever since then, until he met us and has began to grow leaps and bounds. He came to the first meeting to learn English. I told them from the start that we use religious topics to teach English. He said without even thinking about it he agreed and thought, hmm, strange. The next day he was sitting in our branch thinking, how did I get here? The next week he has given up smoking and drinking and is planning on being baptized! He has found several answers to his questions in the Book of Mormon. Last time we met with him, we taught him the word of wisdom. He looked at it and kind of didn't understand completely, he said stuff like, maybe Joseph Smith received this revelation for just certain people, and that he was going to pray about it himself to find out if it was true. We encouraged him to pray about it and ask if Joseph Smith was a prophet. At the end of the lesson, we got on our knees and he offered a short prayer asking if the revelations Joseph Smith received were true for everyone. He said Amen and grabbed a copy of the D&C and opened to section 128:5 it says something to the affect of, you may think these things are very particular, but it is an order set by the Lord to bring to pass his will or something like that. Anyway, he said, oh, okay, I guess that's my answer. The good thing about Pasha is that when he feels like he gets an answer, he accepts it as an answer. The next day, yesterday, he was at church and said, if you would have told me 2 weeks ago that I would be sitting here today, having given up smoking and drinking, I wouldn't believe you for a second. He says that he has never felt so good in all his life. He says every day this feeling just gets stronger and stronger. He's awesome and is just a happy guy. He and our branch president have already struck it off really well and are good friends. I told him I was leaving and he opened up the D&C again and read, many are called but few are chosen. He said, I guess it's just part of your calling, part of your mission. He was sad but he understood. I just really hope I will be there for his baptism, dressed in white right along with Pasha.

I have mixed feelings about everything because I have always kind of wanted to go to Kazakhstan to serve so of course I am excited about that. I have been in Kaluga for around 4 months and it has absolutely flown by. I was ready for another couple months there. I was also ready for Christmas with Elder Bressler. We have had so much fun together, a lot of laughs and a lot of miracles. Both of us were so excited for Christmas together, and we were both so excited to baptize Pasha and his friends. My replacement will be an Elder from Latvia. He goes home in a couple of transfers but he has some slight mental problems and wouldn't be called exactly the strongest missionary. Of course he's a great guy and I'm going to be praying for him because I know he can do whatever needs to be done in Kaluga. Elder Bressler will have to be strong and be a leader and I know he can do that, but it won't be easy. They have a lot of work and there is a lot of potential. I was a little nervous when President told me who would be coming in my place, but I know the Lord's will gets done, we are just tools in his hands.

I also don't know exactly if I'll make it back to Russia before the end of my mission, besides the small amount of time while I wait for my visa. I know I'll come back before I go home and everything but that will probably be just for a day or so. Do I need to buy the last few souvenirs I need? I'm not sure. I know I'll come home with a bunch of Kazakh souvenirs, that's for sure. Oh ya, my companion will be Elder Kruglyak. He's Russian and he only has 2 more transfers. I hope he is ready to work til the end. He's a good guy, I know him pretty well already.

Anyway, that's about all about me. It's really cold here today, did I tell you I'm in Moscow? We came last night and will just be spending our pday here. Anyway, there is snow here and it is pretty chilly. It sounds like the family is doing pretty well. I'm glad Dad was able to serve so long as Pro Tem, it will be good for him to take a break from that. Liz's family sounds like they are doing great and I didn't even know it was the twins birthday! Those little twirps are going to be driving by the time I get home for all I know. Anyway, things are going really good. We are having a branch dinner for Thanksgiving, I really hope everyone is able to bring the stuff they are assigned so it ends up being a good night. I'm having a great time and really seeing the hand of the Lord in the work right now. Thanks for everything, I love you guys.

Elder Geddes