The first Stake in Russia created

Hey everyone,

I really enjoyed talking to everyone as well, as usual it went by too fast, but this time I know I only have a while longer and I'll be able to see you guys and talk in person. Sorry I didn't write yesterday, our ap's had problems with visas and weren't able to end up coming, they called us Tuesday night and told us so we didn't have a reason to do p-day on Wednesday. Since the phone call, not a whole lot of new things have happened. We had 3 investigators at church along with a member from Almaty who was in town for the weekend. We had a record 13 people at the meeting. I can't believe it, that's more than we had in Kaluga a lot of the time, although here we have 6 missionaries as a buffer. We have some new investigators and some new contacts to work with. Things are going pretty good.

The biggest news is something I just found out a few minutes ago when I read the email from President Woolley that he sends us each week. He said that on the 5th of June, Elder Nelson will be in Moscow to create the very first steak in Russia!! Can you believe it? There will be a steak in Russia, making it eligible for a temple someday! I just can't believe it. That will be such a blessing for the saints in Russia. I really think the work will go even faster and better once there is a steak and espescially someday when there is a temple. This is a huge step forward for the Russain people. It's a bummer that I won't be able to attend the conference, all the missionaries in Russia will be able to, but we are just too far away I'm sure. I would love to be present for that but just the fact that it's happening is good enough for me. I don't know too many details about it, but it is a miracle we all dreamed about when we were in the mtc and all throughout the mission.

Monday was Victory Day. It honestly wasn't as cool here as it would have been in Russia, but they still celebrate here. There wasn't really a parade, although there was some kind of ceremony in the morning. We had a good time with permission from President to attend some of the festivities. There was a concert after the ceremony where people sang old soviet war songs and did traditional Russian and Kazakh dances. There were still quite a few veterens that were present, although I'm sure with each year there are less and less. It wasn't the most effective work day as everyone was busy celebrating and didn't want to meet with us or really spend time talking with us.

Yesterday we had our first ever English club here in Astana. I think we had about 14 people show up. Venera is an English tutor if I didn't already tell you that, so she wanted us to start this club in order to give her students a chance to practice conversational English with us. It was pretty successful and fun, and right after that we had our weekly activity night where we have a spiritual thought, some games, and some refreshments. Some of the students stayed for the activity and everyone had a good time. All three of our members were there along with the Maxwells.

We will be flying to Almaty Sunday night at I think 10:30 at night. We will probably get to the elders apartment by around 1:00 in the morning. Zone conference will be on Monday where Elder Schweitzer, the area president, will be present. I have heard him speak before, he's awesome. President Woolley said that Elder Schweitzer wants to interview us missionaries after the conference. I think that will be a neat experience. This will be my last zone conference. Usually on a missionaries last zone conference, the missionary gives his testimony. I hope President Woolley keeps up the tradition, as there will be 3 of us there for the last time.

May is flying by faster than I can believe. Before I know it, it will be my last month on my mission. I'm feeling really good. I don't feel trunky, I don't feel like I'm counting down the seconds until I leave, I feel like I see what I can do, and I know what I need to do until the end. I'm glad everyone is doing well, I will definitely keep Aunt Vicki in my prayers and hope that everything goes well with her and with Aunt Sue. I'm sure everything will work out the way it needs to. I love you all, thanks for everything.

Elder Geddes