Hey family!
Yes. I am still in Russia. It's so strange here but it's all so exciting. I am starting to get the hang of reading the signs and such. Still dont understanding much of what's going on, but that will come I suppose. As expected, EVERYTHING is in Russian. I am still trying my hardest to study everyday and to converse and understand as best I can. It's a crazy language. Let me not lie.
So let's see. What happened this week... Well if you can't tell, my P-Days are now on Thursdays. It's probably 2 in the morning for you or something, but its noon here. Last Friday we did service at this Babooshka's house a few miles away. We didn't know what we were to be doing, but we get there and she takes us in her car and drives us down to her dachka, or cabin thing. (everyone in Russia has a rundown cabin somewhere that they stay in the summer, called dacha). Anywho, she plopped her dog, that was basically Satan with fur, on my lap. It had a sweater vest on too, but smelt like jaundice. I knew we were in for a surprise at this service project. We get there and she wanted us to shovel the weeds and dirt around and de-weed everything in her garden. We were only supposed to be there for maybe 2 hours at max. She didn't want us to leave until it was finished, so we did that for about 5 hours or so. It was actually kind of hilarious. This babooshka is a member of the church, but kinda crazy. It was just shocking and hilarious. I had no idea what anything she said, but apparently she was railing on me for being a spoiled American. whoops. Oh by the way, you know those "myths" about bearded ladies? Yup. Those exist here. And in abundance too.
The next, to kind of redeem things, something called happened. Apparently, Elder Hunt, my companion, had been meeting with this investigator named Igor for sometime, and we met with him and he wanted to be baptized the following Saturday. It was his choice. It was kind of cool. He is this guy from Latvia who is apparently a great chef and cook. I wouldn't know. We can't eat meals at member's or investigator's houses. Apparently some elder did and he got really really sick, so it's a rule now, which is a pain, but we manage. Anywho, back to Igor (pronounced almost like eager), he seems really excited to be baptised. We are holding a service this Saturday, and he already got interviewed and everything and is ready to go. I wasn't expecting a baptism my first transfer, but here it is. It's really kind of cool. I really didn't have much to do with it, but it's awesome that I get to participate in this convert baptism my 2nd week here
Anywho, We also have this other investigator named Leonede, who is a very very humble guy. We taught him twice so far, but he called us and his sister doesn't want him to meet with us anymore. He knows that we are there to help him out and he is really appreciative of us and likes to have us over. Apparently, last week before I got there, Elder Hunt had committed him to the Word of Wisdom, and he agreed, but said that his birthday is in a few days and he has to drink on his birthday. Elder Hunt told him that it's not a good idea and that it willl only harm him if he does. He didn't listen, and then, evidently. got drunk and tried to cut off his arm.... Fortunately he was unsuccessful, so we still meet with him and help him. He is a really humble man though. After that incident it really woke him up, but it's just unfortunate that that had to happen. I know that something really good will come from meeting with him. .
So the branch here is way way solid. They have a very nice branch building too. I was way impressed. I really like the branch here, a lot. We meet with members from this branch often. When I introduced myself, everything thought I was from Finland beause of my last name. I told them I am from California and they were surprised and asked where my tan was. Good question. I dont know., Apparently there is this returned missionary here who served in Moscow but is from Viborg. He served under President Craney, who is now the 2nd counselor of my MTC branch. It was quite the coincidence. Oh another coincidence. I was looking through the area books here in Vibourg and looked at investigator reports, and i was zipping through missionary comments about a few of them, and guess who i find... Elder Thomas. I started laughing when I read his name.
It's been raining a lot here for the past couple days. I didn't have an umbrella so I had to go buy one. I went to this indoor Reneek, or market thing, to look for one. This one lady was offering a really good price for one, but it was the underwear stand. It was so awkward.
Well other than that, there isn't much more exciting stuff here. We walk all over the place and we cook and make meals everyday. We've some pretty amazing stuff. But I am just winging my recipes, but I manage.
Well family, I hope all is well with you. I love you and miss you, and I pray for you everyday. Apparently dearelders actually take about 6 weeks for me to get because I would have to go back to the mission office which is 2 hours away. So family. Email me. I want to hear what's going on! It's kinda queit out here in Viborg.
I tried to attach some pictures because this computer is not being exactly the most helpful thing in the world.
Anywho,
All is going well!
Much Love,
Elder Tekulve
No comments:
Post a Comment