Traveling through Russia

Hey everyone,

 

Wow, what a strange week I had!  Last week I wrote from Moscow.  One of the office elders there made the french toast by the way.  One of the toppings we had to put on was this kind of sweet and sour salsa.  It wasn't too bad.  Anyway, I stayed there until around five when one of the senior couple elders drove me and a native sister to the train station.  We were going to meet my companion there but they said if he didn't make it to just get on the train and go.  It took about 3 hours to get to the train station so we had less than an hour to find our train and everything.  The sister said she was going to go find out and had me watch the bags.  She was gone for about 20 minutes and I had no idea where she was.  So I was staning in the middle of a crowed train station with 4 suitcases and my train was leaving in just over a half an hour.  I usually don't get too stressed out but I was feeling it a little bit at this point.  Finally the sister comes back and we get a call saying my companion is there and waiting.  We go outside and find him by our train and got on with just over 15 minutes to spare.  It was a nice train, somehow the AP's messed up and bought us the nicest tickets.  Me and my companion had a small room with two small beds to ourselves.  I slept okay and woke up and we were almost to Veronezh.  The other elders in the city met us at the station and took us to our new house.  The problem is, the elders who we replaced had a situation with their landlord so they had been kicked out.  They needed to find a place pretty fast so the apartment we got stuck with is a one day find.  It is pretty junky.  We are searching for a nicer one that is closer to the branch.  I hope we find one soon!  Maybe they have these things in Austria but I had never heard of or seen one before.  It is basically a water heater but it is a small box on the wall of your shower.  It has two levers, one to open a valve and one to turn on the gas.  It has a small slot for you to put a match in to light it.  The water has to be running for it to work and so you have to light it every time you get in the shower.  You just have to be careful when adjusting the levers to not let too much gas out.  The fact that my left hand has no hair on it anymore should give you the idea that it isn't easy to get used to.  Also, sometimes the water is weird so there is no pressure at all.  That means you can only flush the toilet once every 45 minutes or so, so just hope both of us don't have to go to the bathroom at around the same time or the second guy doesn't get to flush.  Anyway, we want to get out.  So we arrived Friday morning, and the first thing you have to do when you move is get registered or you will be deported.  While trying to do this, we found out that my companion couldn't be registered because they hadn't done the right things for him when he came out of Belarus (his last area).  They told us we were not to leave the house, but we had to anyway.  They really don't want you to do missionary work if you aren't registered because it isn't unheard of to get the cops called on you.  Anyway, we didn't get a whole lot done for the whole weekend.  They figured out he would have to come with me and my group to Ukraine when we went to renew our visas.  So we got him a ticket with us and kind of had to bum around for a couple days.  Sunday was cool, we had church start at 1:00 and we got to meet a lot of the members of our branch.  It was so awesome to go to a priesthood meeting where the room was filled with guys all wearing jackets and ties!  The branch president is really awesome and a great president.  So church was good and we had to head to the train station right after to catch a not so desirable train to Moscow.  It left at around 5 and got to Moscow at 4:30.  We didn't get the Lux like we did from moscow here but it still wasn't bad.  It was a private room with 4 beds in it and there were three of us.  We just talked and had some fun until bedtime.  They came around and woke us up at 3:30 for some reason.  We got to the metro in Moscow at about 4:45 and had to wait until 5:30 until it opened.  Once it opened we went to the stop and met the rest of our group.  It was so crazy trying to get 9 of us on the same bus to the airport!  People go nuts when the bus gets there so we didn't make the first bus but the second bus pulled up and some crazy stuff happened.  I was near the front of the line, if you could call it a line.  When the bus pulled up I found myself being squeezed so tight by the people around me that I could niether move nor breathe.  All of a sudden I feel myself being lifted off the ground and moving toward the bus.  The next time my feet touched the ground was when they hit the first step of the bus.  I had the money to get tickets for our group but my companion was closer to the window.  I handed him my wallet and continued being forced to move.  The last I saw him, he was plastered against the ticket window with a 1000 ruble bill in hand.  It was so crazy!  The bus ride was way long and we knew for sure we would miss our flight to Ukraine.  We finally get to the airport and are running around like crazy.  Somehow, the people were so nice to us and rushed us through security and got us on the plane.  It's about an hour and twenty minute flight to Ukraine, and they still gave us sandwiches and drinks!  We had about 2 hours in the Ukraine airport so we went outside and got a dessert at a small cafe diner thing near the airport.  We got on a plane back to Russia and got more sandwiches.  Someone was brave enough to ask for another sandwich so almost all of us ended up having 3 sandwiches and 2 glasses of juice.  Once we got back to the office in Moscow, we ate some delicious food made by the same elder who made the french toast.  We headed back to the train station and this time got on the least desireable train ever.  There are no private rooms, just beds.  Picture about a hundred people all just sprawled out on the train beds, snoring, breathing, making other weird noises, it was so weird!  The only reason I was able to sleep at all was because I had been up since 3:30 the morning before.  I got woken up by my companion who told me to hurry and get ready because the train had stopped at what we thought was our stop.  I start grabbing all my stuff and just as I was tieing my shoes, the train took off.  We were both pretty scared but the conductor told us it was the next stop.  By the time we got home, I was so tired and nasty looking ha, I hadn't shaved in almost 3 days, or showered for that matter, and I get to come home to a nasty apartment that smells like urine and sleep on a really awful bed.  Missionary life is AWESOME!!  You never know what you'll find in the morning.

 

The rest of the week has been filled with just trying to get used to the area.  It's a bit frustrating when neither of us know where we are.  I hope we figure things out fast because I really hate feeling like we are wasting time.  It's really cool being in a city with more than 2 elders.  We have another set of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior couple.  That's the best part, the senior couple has fed us already I think 4 times.  We will get to eat lunch there every week after our real district meeting and we will be having thanksgiving there.  For some reason Sister Woolley wanted us to have thanksgiving in our own cities this year.  I guess last year, President Collins shipped everyone to Moscow and had a mission thanksgiving.  Anyway, we are supposed to invite an investigator and make it a kind of pot luck thing.  It will be fun. 

 

My companion will take some getting used to.  He's very sarcastic and is having a hard time getting back into the swing of real missionary work since he has spent the last 3 months in Belarus.  I will hopefully be strong enough to bring him back, rather than adapt some of his habits.  I will be fine though and will still be able to learn a lot from him.  He speaks the language very well.  His name is Elder Traasdahl and he is from Arizona.  He goes home in April.  Neither one of us know how to cook very well so hopefully we will learn some stuff.  That would be a great thing you could send me in emails is easy recipes for stuff.  Keep an eye out for easy, tasty food and send me instructions. 

 

Have you gotten the memory card I sent you?  I really hope so.  Let me know, I sent it to the boise house.  I think that is just a bit too scary, I don't know if I'll ever do that again.  I think I will be able to email pictures from the internet place here so that will be nice.  I was getting haircuts from a place in Tula but they were weird because Russian men like to have everything short but their bangs so it just looked weird.  I gave myself a haircut with the equipment that Elder Traasdahl has and it looks really good.  I will probably just be doing that from now on.  Elder Hiatt gave me the scarf as a going away present.  I found out I won't be seeing him again before he leaves.  We are all going to be in Moscow on the 23rd I think so president didn't want to ship us all there 2 weeks before that for zone conference.  That means he'll have a main zone conference for the cities near moscow and for us loners in the far away cities, he will be coming to us.  I was a little sad I won't see Elder Hiatt again but it's okay, I'll just have to give him a call.  I will be able to grab my packages when we go up for the Christmas party so it will be perfect.  Last year, President Collins gave the missionaries a 3 day window to call home just so they could all find a good time that worked for everyone.  I'm not sure what the deal will be this year and I have no idea yet about what I am supposed to do about a calling card or whatever.  Elder Hiatt said his family found some sort of card and just called him.  I'll keep asking around and find out what works best.  You can ask around too and see if you can find some sort of international calling card.  I'll give you more details when I find out.

 

This has to be a record longest email, sorry!  But I am doing great and having a good time.  I'm still trying to figure out what it means to be a true missionary and I suppose that will be my goal for the rest of my mission.  Right now I'm not exactly feeling like I have been the most effective missionary but I'm doing what I can.  This is just one of the many challenges I will face and conquer.  I love you guys and I'm so glad you are all doing well at home so I don't have to worry too much (except about these little babies, they keep me a little worried)  Thanks for everything you do.  I love you all.

 

Elder Geddes

Pictures at last

Jess finally sent a few pictures from Russia.  This is the first babushka he met and he says she is his favorite.  The other one is a member of the branch in Tula.  Doesn't he look handsome in his new winter coat. His first transfer was this week and it was a little harder than he thought to leave, especially the members.  Here is his latest letter from today.

Hey guys,

 

Once again, I am writing from Moscow.  I got here around noon today.  Elder Hiatt and his new companion saw me to the train and said goodbye.  That means I had to ride a train from Tula to Moscow by myself!  I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of scary for me for some reason.  I didn't like being alone in Russia without a phone or anything.  Anyway, I made it to Moscow and there were two Elders waiting for me.  I take a train that leaves at 8:55 tonight and I will arrive in Veronezh at 7:55 tomorrow morning.  I am in the furthest southern city we have in Russia, Kazakstan is still further south but I'm now in the dirty south of Russia!  I'm pretty excited to be going there. 

 

It sounds like everyone is doing really well.  I'm going to try to write you all a quick note, I'm not sure I have a whole lot of time and I still need to eat something but anyway, a little about my week.  First of all, Tanya, our baptismal candidate, is a little confused.  This is a testimony builder of the power of prayer.  When Tanya started meeting with us, both Elder Hiatt and I felt like she didn't really know why she liked meeting with us, but she just felt good about it.  Well we continued to teach her more and more but she for some reason refused to pray.  That could only keep up for so long before she forgot the initial reason she was meeting with us in the first place.  I'm pretty sure Elder Hiatt will still keep meeting with her but she isn't as excited as she used to be.  Unless we pray to find out the truth, the light of Christ will only take us so far.  Remember the scripture, for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray but teacheth him that he should not pray?  It's true.  The reason he teaches men not to pray is because prayer is real and there is a real power that comes when we pray.  That was kind of disappointing but hopefully things work out.  Anyway, the rest of the week was kind of filled with member lessons and saying goodbye and stuff.  I spoke in church for the 3rd or 4th time and that went well.  I was really surprised to find out how attatched I had become to the area and to some of the members.  It was harder than I thought it would be to leave Tula, and Elder Hiatt for that matter.  Rob and Dad know exactly what I'm going through right now, I was a little surprised to read their letters about being transfered.  I had already realized that this was a chance to clean my slate, drop some bad habits, pick up some new good habits and continue to strengthen my good habits.  Elder Hiatt taught me a lot, but some of the things he taught me were things not to do.  I'm sure it will be the same with all my companions.  I am really excited to see what Elder Traasdahl has to teach me.  It will be really fun to serve with him.

 

I did get my debit card and that probably wasn't a mischarge.  We can only take off so much money at a time then it spits out our card and we do it again.  I probably took out a thousand rubles, got my card then took out a thousand more.  My winter coat is awesome, I will be sending some pictures so you can see it.  The lady in the picture is one of the first Bobushkas I met and definitely my favorite so far.  She is awesome.  Her name is Sister Zina-Ida (like ee-da) 

 

Anyway, that's about all the news I have.  I'm glad everyone is doing so well.  I bet you just can't wait for these babies right mom?  Although I bet you are happy to wait if that gives them more time to be healthy.  Well take care everyone, I love you and I will write you next week from Veronezh.

 

Love, Elder Geddes

Transfers

Halloween was especially fun this year because we had all the grandkids there but a little sad because Jess was not. He always loved halloween and all the festivities associated with it. I am posting some pictures of our celebration to show how much fun we had and for Jess to see when his mission is over and I publish this post for him.

Hey everyone,

It seems like a few people forgot to write, namely Liz and Emily. Thats not good since I wonder all week whether or not I have some new nieces or not. I hope everything is okay, but don't forget to write me next week and fill me in on what's going on. Anyway, I'll take care of the business first. I bought a palto, I don't think that is a Russian word but it's just a really nice overcoat. It's got nice thick wool with a fur liner inside. It cost 4900 rubles but it's really nice and actually it's the cheapest one I found. I already have my had, I wear a kepka, one of those old man hats from the newsies. I think I pull it off quite nicely. If I find a computer I can send pictures from, I'll show you. I have gloves and maybe a scarf to buy is all. I have been using Elder Hiatt's extra scarf lately but I am going to probably buy one soon. My debit card wasn't there when I was in Moscow, hopefully I get it this weekend when the senior couple comes to Tula. If not, I will be in Moscow again next Thursday on my way to my new area in Veronezh! I am being transfered and I'm assuming Thursday will be the day I move so if I don't send a letter on Thursday, I probably will Friday so don't worry. My new companion will be Elder Trasdaahl. I don't know too much about him but Elder Hiatt says he is a hard worker so I'm not too worried. Neither one of us have served in Veronezh before so we will both be new to the area. I am a little nervous to get a new companion and a new area but I am excited for all the opportunities this will bring. Veronezh has one of the strongest branches in the mission. They actually have two right now but it is in the process of being combined into one big one. They have aaronic priesthood, young women, and even a choir! It will almost be like being in a real ward. We will have 3 hours of church every week instead of 2 and I most likely won't have any callings in the branch. I will just be a real regular missionary. I'm really excited.

So, it seems like everyone had a lot of fun this past week! I was glad to hear all the funny stories and see all the pictures. Everyone looked great in their costumes. Halloween for us wasn't too interesting. I did draw a picture of a ghost, a pumpkin, and a witch on the board for English club that night, but nobody really cared. I bet you just loved having everyone over for a while right mom? That would have been a lot of fun.

This week has gone by really fast, as usual. On Monday, we got to go to Kaluga to do splits with Elder Vernon and Player. I love working with Elder Player. We are already such good friends from the mtc, and we both still have our greenie fires burning. Both of us have old companions who can be less than enthusiastic from time to time. Elder Player actually really wanted to be transfered but he didn't get it. Anyway, it was really fun and we did a good job of talking with everyone. They couldn't find any lessons for us so we street contacted and knocked doors for about 6 hours. It was tiring but so much fun. It's awesome to be able to talk to people and actually have them understand us and have a conversation with us. We talked with one lady for probably over 20 minutes. We are progressing and learning every day. After we got back from Kaluga, we for some reason had a lot of our lessons cancel on us for the rest of the week. It wasn't too good, but there are still a few days left this week that we can get some good lessons in. Tanya, our baptismal candidate was one of the ones who canceled a few meetings. She once again didn't make it to church on Sunday. I honestly don't really know how I feel about her. Sometimes I get a sinking suspiscion she just likes meeting with two American guys. She tells us she hasn't smoked since last week when we tore up her cigarettes but I'm still just not sure how well she is progressing. I have one more week here to get a few more lessons with her and hopefully help her receive a testimony. Something strange, one night the phone started ringing at 3 in the morning. I jumped up to go grab it but they had hung up before I got there. I layed in bed for a few minutes worried that someone needed our help and we missed their call and then the phone rang again. I jumped up and ran to get it. I said hello and it was Tanya! She asked me what we were doing and I said uh... we were sleeping, why are you calling. I think she had the wrong number though because once she realized who it was, she said a bunch of stuff that I couldn't understand on a good day, let alone at 3 in the morning then hung up. It was really strange. Anyway, we'll keep working with her this week, and Elder Hiatt and his new companion will continue working with her and hopefully help her get to the water.

I have kind of a funny story from English club last night. There is this one Vietnamese guy named Thien who comes. He is a student here in Tula. Last night, he said (insert broken English with a vietnamese accent) "Elder Geddes, I read a book about how to make women laugh" I said, "Oh yeah? How was it?" He said, "Well, I took action, but the first women I met, I make them cry" I said, "How did that happen?" He said, "Well, my joke were so long and boring, they began to cry." I was laughing pretty hard, almost crying myself. Thien is a great guy, I'll miss him. I got my picture taken with some of the members of my club. Hopefully the rest come this Saturday so I can see them again.

I think that is all the exciting news from this week. Next week I will probably be writing you from Veronezh. Oh ya, if I don't even get my debit card next Thursday when I am in Moscow, I will be in Moscow again the next week because it's about time for my first visa trip to Kiev. What a crazy mission I am in! A lot goes on around here. Tell everyone hello for me, especially if you all get together for Thanksgiving. Let me know what happens with that. Also, Mom, you forgot to let me know if the emails I'm sending you to forward to other people are working. I really need to know. If they aren't working, have Rob or someone figure out why so I can communicate with other people as well as with you. I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for everything! I love you.

Elder Geddes

How to make a missionary homesick

Its hard to know what to tell your missionary while they are on their mission.  You go between not wanting to say too much about what's going on at home and keeping him informed about what's going on at home.  I hate to make him homesick but I know he loves hearing about the family.  I guess I will continue to keep him informed and he will get a little tougher as the time goes on.  He has always loved it when the family gets together and hopefully always will.  We really missed him last week when Anthony was baptized and he had to miss it.  It made it a little more special though since that is what his mission is all about.  I am including some pictures he sent home last week that are really quite beautiful and really show what a lot of Russia looks like.

Hey everyone,

 

I'll admit it, I got a tiny bit homesick reading about all the festivities.  It sounds like it was a lot of fun and a special occasion.  I would have loved to be there to join in the fun.  It seems like it definitely kept you all busy this past week.  Busy weeks go by way way fast thats for sure.  So the furnace went out huh?  They just don't make 'em like they used to do they.  Don't worry, it can only keep up this way for a while, until you've replaced everything, then you should be set for a couple of years. 

 

Well, I am writing this letter from the mission office.  I am stuck here all day while Elder Hiatt is in Ukraine renewing his visa.  This week has gone by so fast.  We had a busy couple of days with missionary work, lessons and what not then we were excited for mission conference yesterday.  I love mission conference because we get to come to Moscow and we always learn a lot.  This one was extra exciting because Elder Hiatt had a visa trip the next day which meant we got to stay in Moscow the whole rest of the day and the night.  The conference was really helpful and full of ideas how we can improve.  I like to get to know all the other missionaries better and plus we get pizza hut for lunch and Sister Woolley gives us all a jar of peanut butter.  We still have some peanut butter but we now have more.  After the conference, Elder Hiatt, Elder Worthington and I got to kind of do whatever we wanted.  We weren't even in our mission boundaries so it's not like we could do work.  We decided to go to Red Square and get some pictures.  We also went to the main temple of all Russian Orthodoxism.  It was closed for some reason but I definitely need to go back there before I go home.  We went to a mass that was going on in the temple right on Red Square so I got to see what goes on.  First of all, I have no idea where they get the ideas for how their service is supposed to go.  It's a very flashy kind of service that is actually broadcast over microphones so you can hear it without even being in there.  It seems a bit like they are really trying to impress people.  We got covered in insense as the bishop guy walked around swinging his little golden insense thing.  It smelled pretty good though, I'm not gonna lie.  It smelled like Christmas tree hunting if you can believe it.  Anyway, it's funny to think of how on earth they came to the conclusion that this is how church should be led.  We went through the mall there on Red Square.  Supposedly it is one of the most expensive malls in the world.  It was kind of neat.  After we were done having fun and it was time to go home, we went to the AP's apartment to sleep.  I spent some time with the AP's just talking and getting to know them, all in Russian!  They are great examples because they are supposed to speak pretty much only Russian and they do.  I am in a sort of slump with the language.  Satan has figured out a tool to slow me down and that is fear.  For a while, everything I would say to people would get this reaction like "why is this kid slaughtering our language?"  One guy even asked me to please speak to him in Russian!!  I know he knew what language I was speaking but some people are really intolerant of accents around here.  It's kind of funny now but at the time it just ticked me off.  Anyway, after a while of this going on, I got a little more timid and shy about speaking.  Now, I understand so much but I don't speak well, I feel like.  I can understand almost 100% of a missionary conversation.  I understand a lot of what other people are saying but when I try to speak, I just can't seem to do it.  I told Elder Hiatt that I'm just plain not practicing enough.  We speak way too much english and now after staying a night with the AP's, I know I can speak Russian, even in the apartment.  I have a new motivation to speak more so I can catch up.  I am happy with how much I am understanding but that doesn't help much if I can't speak back to the people.  Anyway, it was so much fun staying at their apartment because they share the apartment with two office elders who are really cool and fun.  The AP's wanted to take a nap before they got going with stuff so I tagged along with the office elders here to the office.  Elder Hiatt will be gone until aound 6 or so.  Just enough time for us to catch a Marshutka home to Tula. 

 

Some news about our baptismal candidate Tanya.  She has brought two of her friends to lessons with her, one seems more interested than the other but we view both of them as potential investigators.  We're almost sure she won't be ready by the 14th just because first of all, she hasn't come to church yet.  She keeps saying she will but she doesn't.  The reason she hasn't been coming is not a good reason either.  She things 10:00 is too early to be there on her day off.  If she doesn't get baptised just because she's not willing to get out of bed in the morning, I won't be too happy.  Also, we found out she smokes.  She's only about 20 years old and she's already tried to quit a few times.  We have called her every night for the last 4 nights since we found out and asked if she smoked and so far so good.  We are hoping to help her quit that.  We haven't gotten any other baptismal dates yet but we have had some trouble getting a hold of some of the people we have a chance with. 

 

That seems to be about all the news for this week.  Things are going great and I have a new desire to be a better missionary.  The trick is to keep the desire alive.  I love you all and thank you for all your love and support.  Thanks for everything!

 

Elder Geddes

 

Our Trip to Russia

Bob and I travelled to Russia the first of this month as I stated in a previous post and I wanted to post a few pictures from the trip.  Bob hasn't downloaded them yet so I am posting a few that a friend took for us so you can see a little of the culture right now and I will post more as we get them downloaded.

We had a really nice dinner this night and the entertainment that followed was pretty fun
Russian Musicians, they were quite lively!
The dancers were so colorful and energetic, sometimes a little too energetic.  One of the legislators at our table got kicked as a leg flew by a little too close.

The swords were a little intimidating as they threw them around through the air within inches of some of our heads.  I was sure glad when they put them away.

Hopefully there will be more soon.  We had a good time and it was fun seeing a new culture.  We really do have it good here in America though.  It's pretty hard to beat.

News from Russia

Hey there,

 

We had an awesome week this week.  A lot of great things happened, including me getting a package.  That was so great, thanks for that.  We have been feasting on all the goodies yet still trying to eat them slow so they last.  It's almost Anthony's big day huh?  I still can't believe it.  I wish I were there, that whole thing will be so much fun.  Make sure to tell everyone hello for me that I haven't talked to.  Speaking of which, do you think you could get Garetts and Matts emails?  It would probably be easier to get Matt's and then I can get Garetts from him.  I haven't heard from either of them since I got here.  I liked the pictures from Russia, that looked pretty cool.  I want to go to something like that sometime.  I love the mustache Dad, how did you convince mom to let you do that?  Hopefully everyone is feeling good and healthy for the festivities, it's just not fun to be sick.

 

Well, this week was a lot of fun.  I forgot to tell you about it last week but Elder Nelson from the 12 was coming here to a city in our mission to dedicate a branch building there.  It's actually the city I almost got transferred to.  Anyway, we got to go to it and so did the elders from Kaluga, one of the cities in our zone.  They came to our apartment the night before and stayed which was awesome because that was the night I got my package and Elder Player got a package as well.  We put all our treats on the couch and took pictures of it.  His package had stuff like taco seasoning, enchilada sauce mix and peanut butter.  He actually gave us a packet of taco and enchilada stuff which was really awesome.  We get plenty of peanut butter because Sister Woolley gives us all a jar of it every zone conference.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun that night.  The next morning, one of the senior couples picked us up in the presidents car and drove us to Veronizh which was about 5 1/2 hours away.  The ride was long but we were all so excited it wasn't too bad.  We got there and went to the branch building which was so awesome.  It used to be an old theatre that was just sitting empty so the church bought it and has fixed it up so nice.  It is so huge and such an awesome building.  It has a basketball court in it and a room with a ping pong table.  I played two games of ping pong and am currently undefeated as a missionary.  I hope to keep that status throughout my mission.  We were supposed to have a missionary meeting with Elder Nelson but we found out that it was so foggy in Moscow, their plane wouldn't take off so President had his driver drive them all.  We had an improvised missionary meeting with one of the senior couples leading it.  When President and his wife finally arrived along with Elder Nelson and President Paul, our area president, we were able to have an extra hour and a half with them.  Elder Nelson was so cool!  He had to be completely exhausted.  He had gotten to Russia maybe a day or two earlier and he hadn't had any food the whole day, not to mention the 6 hour car ride they had but he still had the energy to stand and teach us for almost an hour.  We got to shake his hand first then he said, I'm here to help you but I can't do that unless I know what you need.  He let us ask any questions we wanted.  Only two questions got asked, one of them by me.  One elder asked about being bold and how to do that without being overbearing.  I asked how to more fully focus on the work and be more receptive to spiritual promptings.  Between the two, he taught us from the scriptures for almost an hour.  It was so amazing.  There were only about 16 missionaries there and we were sitting in a small room with an apostle, just talking!  It was the most amazing thing ever.  Elder Nelson brought such a warm and peaceful spirit with him, you couldn't help but know for sure he was an apostle of the Lord.  After that, we ate an amazing meal cooked by one of the sisters in the branch.  We had to hurry and eat because the dedication was supposed to start at 6:30.  The dedication itself was really awesome.  The room was packed full of Russian members of the church.  I couldn't believe it.  They have youth, they have priesthood holders, they have young men and womens programs.  It was like stepping back into a real ward.  Our ward has no youth but the baby of the branch president.  It was really motivating and impressive.  We heard talks from President and Sister Woolley, President Powell then Elder Nelson.  He told us that his son served there and was actually one of the missionaries who opened up the city of Veronizh!  That's pretty cool.  He finished up and read the dedicatory prayer.  After he read it, someone read it in Russian because Elder Nelson had had the mission president of his son translate the prayer!  After the prayer, Elder Nelson stood up and as his translator stood up as well, he told him to sit down.  Elder Nelson stood at the pulpit and bore a powerful testimony all in Russian.  It was so impressive and I know it meant the world to the members there.  It was really touching.  We all were really impressed and motivated to work hard.  We got back in the car after one last handshake with Elder Nelson and we headed home.  We didn't get back until 2:00 in the morning but it was so worth it.

 

We had another meeting with Tanya, our baptismal candidate.  She seems to be doing fine and we are still hoping for the 14th.  We are also meeting with a member tonight to talk about how we can get the branch involved in re-activating a lot of people.  I hope we are able to get something figured out.

 

One more good story about what's been going on lately.  Our washing machine broke down about a week and a half ago.  We have been trying to get the sisters old washing machine from their apartment since they left.  In the process, we uncovered a real crime!  The old landlord of the sisters has a daughter that just got married to a real punk.  I guess the guy stole the keys to the empty apartment and changed the locks.  This is true because we have the old keys and they don't work.  He refuses to give his father in law the keys and refuses to give up the washing machine.  He is trying to force the poor guy into giving the apartment to him and the guys daughter so they can rent it out.  The landlord is one of the nicest guys in the world and actually has a desire to get baptized.  Literally the week after he told us he wanted to be baptized, all this stuff happened.  You would think Satan doesn't want him to be baptized or something huh?  He doesn't want to cause a family dispute so he offered straight up to buy us a new washing machine.  We weren't sure about the whole situation so we talked to president and he said Let him!  Then he said we should pay for half because honestly the guy doesn't have a whole lot of money.  I feel really bad for him but there isn't a whole lot he can do right now.  He was so ashamed and embarrassed to tell us, I felt pretty bad.  Anyway, we have been washing our garments in the shower at night and putting them on the radiator until morning.  It isn't fun and I want a washing machine, we have been doing this for a week and a half!  Ha, oh well, we are getting the new machine right after we finish writing then probably spending the rest of the day doing laundry.  It will be so nice to have real clean garments.  I just don't think shampoo does the same thing as a good wash.

 

Well that's about all that has been going on around here.  We have zone conference next week.  We will be there a day early because Elder Hiatt has a visa trip.  I'm not sure what they do with the companion, I might just end up hanging out in the office all day, we'll see.  Then the next week we will travel to Kaluga to go on splits with those elders.  We are almost as busy as you guys! I will try to send some pictures home next week.  President Woolley will be emailing us a group photo of us with Elder Nelson.  Thanks for everything!  I love you.

 

Elder Geddes

 

All is well in Russia

Okay, this week has been just plain great.  First of all, I haven't had a stomach problem in a little over a week.  Things are "working themselves out" quite nicely with my guts if you know what I mean!  That just makes everything 10 times better.  I'm happier, more focused and just an all around better missionary without that problem.  Also, I got to watch conference. It was so good.  It was by far the most meaningful conference I have seen and heard.  It was pretty intense since we would watch one session then pretty much start the next one but it was so good.  I think I finally realized that the men and women who speak are really called of God and have a special message for us.  I loved hearing the talk that mentioned Russia.  That made us all feel really proud to be here and made us all want to work even harder.  I loved Elder Hollands talk!  That was powerful.  All I have to say is I feel bad for Elder Cook for having to follow that talk, but he did good to.  I can't wait to get the conference ensign.  I wish we each got our own but it's one per companionship so we'll just have to fight over it.  The only hard part about the conference weekend was that not too many members showed up.  Only 3 people showed up for Saturday and only two stayed for both sessions.  There were about 9 on Sunday, but once again, only a few stayed for the whole thing.  Elder Hiatt and I really want to do something to strengthen the branch.  The big thing is that we need to help our branch president extend callings to everyone.  I think if they had some sort of responsibility in the branch they would be more active.  We'll see though. 

 

On Monday, Elder Hiatt and I got to travel to Rezon to conduct splits with those elders there.  It's about a 4 hour bus ride or so but I got a little sleep since we left pretty early so it wasn't too bad.  Splits are always fun since the two other cities in our zone each have an elder from my mtc district.  Elder Guynn is in Rezon so I get to be companions with him again once a transfer.  It's fun to work as two greenies and find out what we can do.  We taught a lesson and then took care of some branch stuff since he is the new branch secratary just like me.  It was cool because I was able to help him fill out the paper, I knew what to say to the post office lady to send the money, and I was able to help out a little with some of the other paperwork.  The next day we had lunch at McDonalds since they don't have one here in Tula and got back on the bus to head home.  This is where one of the funnest/coolest things ever happened.  The bus stops two times on the way, each for just a few minutes so people can stand up, get a drink, go to the bathroom or whatever.  The bus driver told us we would be at this one stop for about 20 minutes.  Elder Hiatt had to go to the bathroom and he refused to use the one at the bus stop. (a hole cut in the concrete floor...)  We decided to walk a ways down this road to find a nice covering of trees for him.  As we were walking back to the bus, we see our bus pulling away from the stop.  We had left our bags on the bus and also, we were still over an hour away from Tula.  We start running and I thought for sure the bus would stop for a second and we would be able to catch it but it didn't.  It just pulled right out and started driving.  I kicked it in gear and started running faster than I think I have ever ran.  I jumped over a huge puddle and even had to jump in an even bigger puddle and just when I thought this was going to work, the bus sped up and drove away.  I couldn't believe it, I thought for sure I had just lost my scriptures and my backpack.  We decided the only thing we could do was try to flag someone down and have them drive us up ahead of the bus so we could stop the bus.  We turn around and there are two taxis right behind us.  They had seen us running and knew what was going on.  We spoke with the first taxi and he said Don't use me, this guy behind me has a faster car!  So we hurried to the taxi behind him and the guy already had the doors open for us.  We jumped in and he said Where was the bus headed!  I yelled TULA and Elder Hiatt said STRAIGHT AHEAD and this guy stepped on it.  It was like it was his personal mission to get us on our bus!  We were going so fast, passing people left and right.  It better than any ride at disneyland or anywhere else, it was awesome.  Finally we see our bus and the guy starts going even faster.  We catch up to it and he honks at the bus and sticks his hand out to wave him down.  We jumped out and Elder Hiatt gave the man 200 rubles, not bad for 5 minutes of driving.  When we got on the bus all the old babushkas were laughing and saying, Wow, we thought we left you guys, or Don't you know we only stop for a few minutes?  We were both really out of breath, we were pretty muddy from the puddles, but we were sure glad to be back on the bus.  It was awesome.

 

The week gets even better with last night.  We had a lesson with an investigator we got from the sisters, although Elder Player and I found her on the streets about a month ago.  We had decided we were going to commit her to baptism.  When we finally got to the part of the lesson where we were going to do it, I was really nervous and just praying she would know how important it is and accept.  Elder Hiatt invited her to be baptised and she was a little confused with the question or how Elder Hiatt said it or something so he had to repeat himself.  When he did that she said, Oh, okay, ya ya.  We figured she was still a little confused and were both kind of like... uh... you will?  and she said Ya, I will.  We couldn't believe it!  I was so happy, I couldn't stop smiling.  We set a goal for November 14th.  Happy birthday dad!  She still has a lot to learn, and we really want to make sure she understands exactly what needs to happen and exactly what she is about to do.  We will work really hard to help her understand this and have her ready by the 14th.  I am really hoping she is because I'm not sure if I'll get to stay in Tula next transfer or what and the transfer ends on the 15th.  But if she's not ready, we won't rush it.  I am pretty excited.  We have two more ladies we are ready to commit next time we meet with them and also a guy that we will be talking to tonight that wants to be baptised.  When the blessings come, they come in bulk!  Thats why we always have to be patient when we seem to be in a drought. 

 

Anyway, that's pretty much our week.  Today we have to get the washing machine out of the sisters old apartment and haul it across town to ours because ours broke this week.  It will be an interesting experience, hopefully it won't be so bad though.  I'm glad you two seem to have had lots of fun and interesting experiences in Russia.  Hopefully you got some cool pictures and some cool souveniers.  Way to go for sharing the gospel with all those people.  We learned in our last mission conference that a lot of times all we are doing is preparing people for the day they are ready to accept the gospel.  Every time we share our testimony or our knowledge of the gospel, we are helping people get a little closer to becoming the elect of God.  Keep it up.  Oh ya, I can't believe you couldn't eat the Borsh!  I have had a bowl, it's downright tasty!  Did you put the sour cream in it?  That's just unbelievable.  Honestly, I haven't really eaten one thing that I haven't liked here.  I did have one rogue pastry that wasn't my favorite which was wierd because I have been extremely lucky at picking out delicious pastries.  Let's just say what looked like strawberry jam was just some sort of sick spicy sort of undescribable substance.  Anyway, other than that, I really have liked what I have eaten.  For the most part we cook for ourselves or eat at a restaraunt but we have been fed a few times.  It got cold enough to turn on the radiators.  Everyone says they day they turn on the radiators is the day it starts getting warm again and thats exactly what happened.  Now, our radiators are going full blast but it has been pretty warm outside.  Our apartment is stinkin hot!  I haven't bought my winter stuff yet, every time we plan on it, something comes up.  Should I just use my credit card to pull money off after this month until you can get me a new debit card?  If not, I'll probably have to just pull a bunch of money off before the end of the month so I have some personal money.  Let me know what I should do.  Well I think that's all I have.  I can't wait to get the packages!  The work is going well, I'm still struggling to learn Russian but it's coming along.  I love it here and I love being a missionary.  There is a lot I could do to improve but I'm working hard and doing my best.  I love you guys!  Thanks for everything.

 

Elder Geddes