Well. I survived a week...
Interesting Fact #7: Well, I hope I can still keep this up every week since I am in here, but here we go. The interesting fact this week is about the light for the bathroom. I'm sorry I so easily jump to talking about bathroom talk, but's it interesting. Every single place I have seen, the light for the bathroom is outside the bathroom. It's on the wall outside the door. So at any time someone can turn the light off on you...
Well yes. Like I said. I survived a week. A lot of calm talking, and a lot of quietly getting my point across. He really ain't that bad of a companion. He totally rocks in lessons, and he contacts on the street like a pro. It's just the whole sharing-an-apartment-thing with him that makes it difficult. Let's just say that I have come to really realize that I am, indeed, a clean and organized person now. Mom, remember those days where my room was a mess? I promise those days are long over. If anyone remembers the time where I dormed with Bryan Collins my first semester at BYU, they can remember that I got lazier and lazier and my side of the room became just as worst as Bryan's side and it was a disaster. That nonesense is long gone. I find that I can't manage in unorganized places. It's kind of weird but true, and also kinda funny. It always reminds me of this talk I heard in the MTC: "The Spirit doesn't dwell in messy unorganized places". I forgot who said it, but it stuck, and I always think that. I am a little Mr. Clean now, minus the shiny scalp and minus the mus-kills.
Anywho, this week has just been interesting. A weird transitional one. Just trying to get used to Elder Balabanov, and his leadership, and just trying to get a tackle on this language. I have been doing most of the phone calls, which 2 weeks I was completely unable to do. I am beginning to understand a lot better, but I am no way comfortable with the language. I have the hardest time trying to speak than I do understanding it. But such will come. It just takes time and practice, and I have been practicing a lot with Elder Balabanov. He is from some city south of Rostov, Russia, or something like that. A very very very interesting guy. Keyword: very interesting.
But all and all, I am seeing this as a time to continue developing myself. To continue making myself a better person. Yes there were times already where my head was going to steam over, but I am growing, and I am learning how to be much more patient than I already was.
Well I think the most noteable thing \this week was that the branch here had a picnic. The thing was, however, was that as soon as we met together and left, it started to rain. It didn't just rain, though. It poured. And poured.. And lightnings and thunderings and all that great stuff. It was pretty awesome. But then, it just stopped. Gone. No more. So strange. But we all got together as a branch and hung out. I had to organize a frisbee golf game. I suppose all that work at Camelot working the mini gold paid off. That was just interesting. Trying to explain that to old Russians was pretty amusing.
Another noteable thing was that our Zone Leaders came to Vyborg on exchanges. The whole city of Vyborg has two missionaries, and I am one of them. So I hardly have seen other missionaries. I go back to St. Petersburg maybe 3 times a transfer (6 weeks), but I cherish every change I get to be with other missionaries. I went on a transfer with one of them and we go contacted. He had never seen the castle, so I took him to go see it. He really enjooyed it. And then we came back and we ate ice cream. I have to admit, Russia has some really tasty sweets. If you put some cookies, waffle-things, and icecream together, you got yourself some ambrosia, right there.
Another exciting note was that our recent convert, Igor Shevchenko, moved back from Svetagorsk. He is not longer working there as a pizza chef. I mean that's bad for him. He needs to look for a nother job and jobs are very limited here. But good for us in he sense that we can meet with him more. I pray things will continue to go well for him.
On Sunday, Yana (the girl in the wheelchair) wanted us to go take her to Church. So we did. I don't think I have ever sweated that much in my life. The weather here is pretty dang hot. You don't get burned or sunburned or anything, you just start pouring out sweat. That's a 100 percent humidity for you. But it was nice to have at church. Everyone at the branch really fellowshipped her. She loves the support of the branch. I don't blame her. The Vyborg branch is amazing. Speaking of which, I was talking to the Ward Mission Leader here, and I was talking to him about past missionaries. He remembers an Elder Thomas. He also said that he was one of the only missionaries he has heard speak that good of Russian. Good job Jason.
Anywho. That's my week. I really enjoyed the pictures Katie. I am still quite confused about the first one, but I will let it slide for now. It looks like the make-yourself-look-old machine at Disneyland.
Well I love you all. I pray for you all the time.
Well, Gotta run!
All the best,
Elder Tekulve
A blog about Drew's mission. =)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tekulve Slop
Interesting Fact # 5: I have seen many babooshkas with purple hair. Not sure why, they just do.
And so I can line up with the fact numbers and the weeks, Interesting Fact # 6: - Some of the nicest places you will ever go to are in the metros. They have marble walls, floors, statues, stained glass windows, beautiful paintings, the works. It's like a museum, you can't touch anything. Not really.
That was the fastest 6 weeks of my life, which in return, was a very fast transfer period. Every 6 weeks we have transfers, where we get new areas and new companions. Well I am still here in Viborg, which I am totally happy with. This area is amazing. I really love it here, and I love the branch. That was Elder Hunt's last transfer on his mission, so right now he is probably flying over the Atlantic Ocean. That's so weird to think about. I'm sorry to say for those of you who miss me, but I am so glad I am still here serving. I really like missionary work.
Well I got a new companion this transfer... He is a very... interesting individual, as I have so far have come to find out. I have been with him for about 20 hours now, and it's been an intense 20 hours, let me tell you. He is a great guy, and has a great spirit about missionary work. But when I got my transfer call on Monday and got assigned to him, it was kind of a surprise. I remember reading Elder Abbott's experience about how he got this one elder who everyone said "Ooohhh" about when he gets assigned someone. I mean, Elder Balbanov is a great great guy. Do not get me wrong. But I have come to realize that there are just some personalities, some mannerisms, and some interests that do not combine well with others. He does things his way and sometimes they just don't make any sense at all, but another elder that served with him just said to let him do what he needs to do. I will come out of this transfer being perhaps the most patient man in the world. Ladies, in 2 years, watch out.
Well with that aside, I finished my last week with Elder Hunt really well. That guy is a champ. He worked insanely hard until the very last minute. He taught me a lot of what I need to know. There will be times where I just want to rip off my head. I am well aware. But I just gotta stick through it. He helped a lot for me to realize that. When Elder Nelson came to speak to us, his wife also spoke. She basically said, "You're mission should be horrible. It should be terrible. It should be the hardest thing you have ever done." I have come to acknowledge that it will. I can't just sail through this mission expecting instant success. She wasn't saying that to intimidate us, but to encourage us rather, to, for a lack of a better term, work our butts off. I shall do just that.
Well stories from this week. Let's see: After we shopped for groceries last week, we hopped into a taxi. Taxi drivers in Russia are bit insane. No regard for lanes, direction of traffic, or many traffic laws for that matter. I feared for my life this taxi ride. It was kind of crazy. But the thing is, Taxis are essential for missionaries if they are running out of time, or, in this case, carrying 50 kilograms of groceries. (I don't remember what a pound is). I thought it was pretty funny recalling back to that experience. Just another astonishing moment experiencing the differences here in Russia.
We made some fantastic meals this week. I am quite proud. We were told this recipe for Coca Cola Chicken. Naturally, we attempt to make it. It was one of the best things I have eaten here. So delicious. It is exactly how it sounds: Chicken cooked with Coke. We made a meal that I made up called "Tekulve Slop" this week. It became one of Elder Hunt's favorites. It was my attempts to make a Shepard's Pie, but it reallly was just chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, and gravy. We also finished the week off with homemade Breakfast Burritos and a Chicken Pot Pie. We are professional chefs. No big.
Speaking of food, I had my first encounter of Missionary Food Packing. On Monday, we ate a huge batch of Tekulve Slop. Afterwards we had 3 subsequent meetings with people. Each person or family we met with fed us something. I know I told you we can't eat at members houses, but that rule was about meals. They fed us some tea and cookies and fruit salads and cakes and such. It stuffed us silly. I felt destroyed after our meetings that day, but it was still pretty funny. I can recall another time where I read Elder Abbott's email where he got destroyed by food one time. Such is life as a missionary.
We had some more success with investigators. We got a few of them to teach this week. One fellow came to family night by himself and sat for the lesson there. We are meeting with him again tonight after P-Day ends. His name is Byegeli who is from Uzbekistan. Great great man. His name translated from Russian means "To have ran". Very strange, but then again, it aint a Russian name. Things are slowly making more progress here in Viborg. It shall increase exponentially. I know it.
Well that's about it for me. Just pray that I can have some crazy solid patience this transfer. I might just need it.
I love you all,
Elder Tekulve.
And so I can line up with the fact numbers and the weeks, Interesting Fact # 6: - Some of the nicest places you will ever go to are in the metros. They have marble walls, floors, statues, stained glass windows, beautiful paintings, the works. It's like a museum, you can't touch anything. Not really.
That was the fastest 6 weeks of my life, which in return, was a very fast transfer period. Every 6 weeks we have transfers, where we get new areas and new companions. Well I am still here in Viborg, which I am totally happy with. This area is amazing. I really love it here, and I love the branch. That was Elder Hunt's last transfer on his mission, so right now he is probably flying over the Atlantic Ocean. That's so weird to think about. I'm sorry to say for those of you who miss me, but I am so glad I am still here serving. I really like missionary work.
Well I got a new companion this transfer... He is a very... interesting individual, as I have so far have come to find out. I have been with him for about 20 hours now, and it's been an intense 20 hours, let me tell you. He is a great guy, and has a great spirit about missionary work. But when I got my transfer call on Monday and got assigned to him, it was kind of a surprise. I remember reading Elder Abbott's experience about how he got this one elder who everyone said "Ooohhh" about when he gets assigned someone. I mean, Elder Balbanov is a great great guy. Do not get me wrong. But I have come to realize that there are just some personalities, some mannerisms, and some interests that do not combine well with others. He does things his way and sometimes they just don't make any sense at all, but another elder that served with him just said to let him do what he needs to do. I will come out of this transfer being perhaps the most patient man in the world. Ladies, in 2 years, watch out.
Well with that aside, I finished my last week with Elder Hunt really well. That guy is a champ. He worked insanely hard until the very last minute. He taught me a lot of what I need to know. There will be times where I just want to rip off my head. I am well aware. But I just gotta stick through it. He helped a lot for me to realize that. When Elder Nelson came to speak to us, his wife also spoke. She basically said, "You're mission should be horrible. It should be terrible. It should be the hardest thing you have ever done." I have come to acknowledge that it will. I can't just sail through this mission expecting instant success. She wasn't saying that to intimidate us, but to encourage us rather, to, for a lack of a better term, work our butts off. I shall do just that.
Well stories from this week. Let's see: After we shopped for groceries last week, we hopped into a taxi. Taxi drivers in Russia are bit insane. No regard for lanes, direction of traffic, or many traffic laws for that matter. I feared for my life this taxi ride. It was kind of crazy. But the thing is, Taxis are essential for missionaries if they are running out of time, or, in this case, carrying 50 kilograms of groceries. (I don't remember what a pound is). I thought it was pretty funny recalling back to that experience. Just another astonishing moment experiencing the differences here in Russia.
We made some fantastic meals this week. I am quite proud. We were told this recipe for Coca Cola Chicken. Naturally, we attempt to make it. It was one of the best things I have eaten here. So delicious. It is exactly how it sounds: Chicken cooked with Coke. We made a meal that I made up called "Tekulve Slop" this week. It became one of Elder Hunt's favorites. It was my attempts to make a Shepard's Pie, but it reallly was just chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, and gravy. We also finished the week off with homemade Breakfast Burritos and a Chicken Pot Pie. We are professional chefs. No big.
Speaking of food, I had my first encounter of Missionary Food Packing. On Monday, we ate a huge batch of Tekulve Slop. Afterwards we had 3 subsequent meetings with people. Each person or family we met with fed us something. I know I told you we can't eat at members houses, but that rule was about meals. They fed us some tea and cookies and fruit salads and cakes and such. It stuffed us silly. I felt destroyed after our meetings that day, but it was still pretty funny. I can recall another time where I read Elder Abbott's email where he got destroyed by food one time. Such is life as a missionary.
We had some more success with investigators. We got a few of them to teach this week. One fellow came to family night by himself and sat for the lesson there. We are meeting with him again tonight after P-Day ends. His name is Byegeli who is from Uzbekistan. Great great man. His name translated from Russian means "To have ran". Very strange, but then again, it aint a Russian name. Things are slowly making more progress here in Viborg. It shall increase exponentially. I know it.
Well that's about it for me. Just pray that I can have some crazy solid patience this transfer. I might just need it.
I love you all,
Elder Tekulve.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
6 недель в России (6 weeks in Russia)
I lost count.
I am sorry everyone. I try everyweek to put pictures on these emails, but these computers are retarded. First off, it's Ubunto, whatever that is, and second off, it's all in Russian, so I don't understand what it means when these boxes pop up. I am not sure when I can upload pictures, to be honest. This is the only time I can, and it never seems to work.
Well... Let's see. Interesting Fact #4: Well they have scented/flavored toilet paper here. We currently have apple. And it's nice.
This week was a very interesting one. I forgot to mention last week that we were going to St. Pete this last weekend. You know why? Elder Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to us all. That was cool. That was way cool. We had a missionary conference with just us and him. He is an amazing guy. I actually do have a picture of it, and I will forward it to you right after this. But needless to say, that this is my 3rd Apostle I have heard spoke to us in the past 2 months. I am very spiritually fed to say the least, but there is still room for a whole lot more. Oh yeah, I shook his hand too. So on saturday we spoke to us, as well as the district adults here in the St. Petersburg mission. We met with a few of Elder Hunt's old investigators who he baptised. All awesome people. On friday, we had to take a bus to St. Pete, and it's a 2 hour, 100 degree F, or 37.8 C,(haha metric units... or something), miserable bus ride. I have never sweated so much in my life. Yeah, big surprise. Of all places.. Russia? We go to the Institute building in downtown St. Petersburg, which is RIGHT IN FRONT of the Fontanke River. You know what was filmed on that same street?? 007 Goldeneye. Yup. The part where James Bond bursts out of a building with a tank, knocking soldiers into the river as they scream the classic "Wilhelm Scream". Good times.
Going to the city was a big shock to me. I am so used to the quiet small town life in Vybourg, that I forgot what a busy city is like... And St. Petersburg is a big... busy.. city... It was crazy. On Sunday, Elder Nelson spoke to the whole district of St. Petersburg and explained what we need to do to form a stake here in St. Pete. A stake just got formed in Moscow, which is the first in Russia. Now it's time for St. Petersburg. I feel like we are getting really close, but there is still so much work to do. Elder Nelsen explained that we need to be "to the Rescue" (as Thomas S. Monson so simply describes) and reactivate those who have become less-active or inactive here in St. Pete. I am going to do just that, and some.
I had another sleep walking incident. I got up out of bed thinking that we were going to start weekly planning, a 2 hour planning session where we, as you might have guessed, plan out our week. But again, I was in probably 3/4's asleep, because I knew what I was doing, just a bit dilerious. So i got out of bed and go to kneel down to pray (Which I guess is a pretty cool thing to do in your sleep) but as I did so, it woke up Elder Hunt, and he judo chopped me in attempts to protect himself. He too was delirous. Anywho. So I woke up and realized it was 3 in the morning. It was strange, but definitely a lot more calm than the time where bricks were "falling" on me.
This week was Chili week. We made a great batch of chili this week, added with Cornbread, Chili Dogs, and Navajo Tacos. It was amazing. Cooking is not too bad afterall. Well it never was. Cooking is great.
I think the most notable thing that happened this week was our service day, in terms of an incident that really just touched me. Well to start, it was kind of comical. We start our service at the Vybourg Castle (google search some images of it. It's way awesome!) and we get there, and there really wasn't much to do. So they gave us kitchen knives to weed to the cobblestone pavement.. I have never done that one before, that's for sure. Well after, we were about 15 later than scheduled, but we normally walk this palsy girl in a wheelchair named Yanna. She normally calls us a day before to tell us to walk her the next day. She didn't call us, and we tried calling her a few times and her phone was out of service. So we stood outside debating what to do. I felt really strongly to just go and see if she is there to walk her. Granted, we were both starving, and Chili dogs sounded amazing at the time. But we decided to go up there and see if she was there and to see if she was alright. She was there so we got her ready to go walk with us. Her mother is a worthless person, mind you. But we carried her in her wheelchair downstairs and we get outside. She immediately just starts crying because her mother is just a careless person to her. She needed that walk on Tuesday. She needed that little escape from home. We walked her around and did some shopping for her and it really just made her day, which then made our day. I completely forgot I was starving afterwards, but it really felt good to help her out. It's true, when you are in service with your fellow man, your are in service with your God.
Then yesterday, we had a few meetings with investigators. But during one of them, (which were at the branch building here) Igor, the one who just got baptized, came by. He hasn't been to church since because he moved to Svetagorsk, a city an hour away from here to work. He came by, so I went on splits with a member here and I taught him about the Priesthood while Elder Hunt taught a lesson with the investigator. THe Priesthood lesson went really well and we committed him to receive the priesthood. Igor really understands everything and he seems way excited about everything. I didn't even mention temples but he wants to go through in a year from now. He understands family history and seems to really want to participate. Elder Hunt's lesson, on the other hand, didn't go too well. The guy was just confused on who we are. But other than that, this week was fantastic.
I hope everything is going well with you guys. I pray about all of you all the time! I love you all.
Love,
Elder Tekulve
P.s.: it's now cold and stormy. Weather here is more bipolar than Provo, which I didn't think was possible.
P.s.s.: Russian is a hard language.
I am sorry everyone. I try everyweek to put pictures on these emails, but these computers are retarded. First off, it's Ubunto, whatever that is, and second off, it's all in Russian, so I don't understand what it means when these boxes pop up. I am not sure when I can upload pictures, to be honest. This is the only time I can, and it never seems to work.
Well... Let's see. Interesting Fact #4: Well they have scented/flavored toilet paper here. We currently have apple. And it's nice.
( Russian apple scented toilet paper Googled)
This week was a very interesting one. I forgot to mention last week that we were going to St. Pete this last weekend. You know why? Elder Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to us all. That was cool. That was way cool. We had a missionary conference with just us and him. He is an amazing guy. I actually do have a picture of it, and I will forward it to you right after this. But needless to say, that this is my 3rd Apostle I have heard spoke to us in the past 2 months. I am very spiritually fed to say the least, but there is still room for a whole lot more. Oh yeah, I shook his hand too. So on saturday we spoke to us, as well as the district adults here in the St. Petersburg mission. We met with a few of Elder Hunt's old investigators who he baptised. All awesome people. On friday, we had to take a bus to St. Pete, and it's a 2 hour, 100 degree F, or 37.8 C,(haha metric units... or something), miserable bus ride. I have never sweated so much in my life. Yeah, big surprise. Of all places.. Russia? We go to the Institute building in downtown St. Petersburg, which is RIGHT IN FRONT of the Fontanke River. You know what was filmed on that same street?? 007 Goldeneye. Yup. The part where James Bond bursts out of a building with a tank, knocking soldiers into the river as they scream the classic "Wilhelm Scream". Good times.
(Fontanka River Googled)
Going to the city was a big shock to me. I am so used to the quiet small town life in Vybourg, that I forgot what a busy city is like... And St. Petersburg is a big... busy.. city... It was crazy. On Sunday, Elder Nelson spoke to the whole district of St. Petersburg and explained what we need to do to form a stake here in St. Pete. A stake just got formed in Moscow, which is the first in Russia. Now it's time for St. Petersburg. I feel like we are getting really close, but there is still so much work to do. Elder Nelsen explained that we need to be "to the Rescue" (as Thomas S. Monson so simply describes) and reactivate those who have become less-active or inactive here in St. Pete. I am going to do just that, and some.
(Group photo with Russell M. Nelson)
This week was Chili week. We made a great batch of chili this week, added with Cornbread, Chili Dogs, and Navajo Tacos. It was amazing. Cooking is not too bad afterall. Well it never was. Cooking is great.
I think the most notable thing that happened this week was our service day, in terms of an incident that really just touched me. Well to start, it was kind of comical. We start our service at the Vybourg Castle (google search some images of it. It's way awesome!) and we get there, and there really wasn't much to do. So they gave us kitchen knives to weed to the cobblestone pavement.. I have never done that one before, that's for sure. Well after, we were about 15 later than scheduled, but we normally walk this palsy girl in a wheelchair named Yanna. She normally calls us a day before to tell us to walk her the next day. She didn't call us, and we tried calling her a few times and her phone was out of service. So we stood outside debating what to do. I felt really strongly to just go and see if she is there to walk her. Granted, we were both starving, and Chili dogs sounded amazing at the time. But we decided to go up there and see if she was there and to see if she was alright. She was there so we got her ready to go walk with us. Her mother is a worthless person, mind you. But we carried her in her wheelchair downstairs and we get outside. She immediately just starts crying because her mother is just a careless person to her. She needed that walk on Tuesday. She needed that little escape from home. We walked her around and did some shopping for her and it really just made her day, which then made our day. I completely forgot I was starving afterwards, but it really felt good to help her out. It's true, when you are in service with your fellow man, your are in service with your God.
Then yesterday, we had a few meetings with investigators. But during one of them, (which were at the branch building here) Igor, the one who just got baptized, came by. He hasn't been to church since because he moved to Svetagorsk, a city an hour away from here to work. He came by, so I went on splits with a member here and I taught him about the Priesthood while Elder Hunt taught a lesson with the investigator. THe Priesthood lesson went really well and we committed him to receive the priesthood. Igor really understands everything and he seems way excited about everything. I didn't even mention temples but he wants to go through in a year from now. He understands family history and seems to really want to participate. Elder Hunt's lesson, on the other hand, didn't go too well. The guy was just confused on who we are. But other than that, this week was fantastic.
I hope everything is going well with you guys. I pray about all of you all the time! I love you all.
Love,
Elder Tekulve
P.s.: it's now cold and stormy. Weather here is more bipolar than Provo, which I didn't think was possible.
P.s.s.: Russian is a hard language.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Week 5 in Russia
Alright. Interesting Fact about Russia #3: 3 out of every 4 males have mullets. Needless to say, some people are stuck in a decade that I wish I grew up in. I guess I could have fit in during the days I sported me a mullet. Good times.
Well last week started exactly where I left off. I left the computer last thursday to go buy groceries. We go to this store called Carousel, but spelt in Russian so the R is rolled and it's great. But anyway, it's the Russian equivalent to a Walmart. It's pretty nice. However, there are on some occasions, usually in the aisle where they sell shirts and ties, it smells like fish. That's just a minor inconvenience, as they say. I bought some cheetos last week because they sold them. I was really exciting to eat them too, because Cheetos are just fantastic. Turns out Cheetos are different too. They kind of taste like those Cheeseballs we got last year for Lake Powell, which Zerrick Russon ended up eating most of. It was just a surprise that's all.
Most of what I talk about is just the summary of each day. I bring my planner with me so I can remember what happened this week, so forgive me if each paragraph seems to be a random thought. So last saturday, it was apparently Elder Hunt's 2 year anniversary since he has been out here in Russia. There is this famous park in Vybourg where we wanted to go and contact in. The problem was, it was pretty far away. So we mapped the fastest route to get there, and this "route" was a literal walk through the woods. It was awesome. We walked down this street that kind of paralleled the Gulf of Finland, and the apartments kept on getting nicer and nicer, until eventually it turned into houses. Like really nice houses. I haven't seen A house let alone nice houses since I have been here. But the road that led to the park was closed and there was a sign which told us to go around through this path. That path was straight through the woods. It was absolutely beautiful. Honestly. And then after we get through there, we end up in this park. It was something from a dream. In the distance is this white castle on this big hill, a few obelisks standing around. We were just in awe. We didn't expect the park to be like this. We were looking around and we also saw this big southern-plantation-esque building far off in the distance. We were just shocked. And to make it even more dreamlike, we could hear a saxophone belting out soft jazz riffs somewhere. That, too, was completely unexpected. We walked a little further and found a wedding that was going on. We walked around alittle bit more in this park and found another memorial site thing where I took a picture in front of. There, there were a bunch of artists sitting there painting. That "adventure" made little, if any sense, at all. Again, I am not sure if I dreamt that, or if that was real.
This Sunday, two investigators came to church this week. That was way exciting. The same Anton came from last week when I had to teach the childrens, and another lady named Katya. Both of them stayed for the 2nd hour as well. We are trying to work with Anton so that he can overcome a few problems he has, but all in all, he is a great guy. Really nice too, and very receptive. We only have a few investigators here, because more than 3/4 of them left, because in Russia, they got things got Dachas, or summer cabins. Kind of annoying at times. We got a new investigator this week named Byegali. He is from Uzbekistan and he is also one of the nicest guys I have ever met. We met him in the street and he has since been meeting with us.
We have another investigator named Vladimir, who is the same one I talked about who can't see well. Well, he didn't listen to the CD, because he thought it was a DVD, and couldn't watch it. We talked to him some more, and found something that really really interested him, and that was family history. He shared a lot of stories (that I couldn't quite understand. At all actually) about his relatives in Ukraine.
The fellow we baptized a few weeks ago, Igor, has only come to church once because of his work schedule. We are trying to meet with him to talk to him about receiving the Aaronic Priesthood, but he is never around in Vybourg. He got a job in Sveta-Gorsk, which is a city north west of here, near Finland. He only comes down a few days every other week or so. We couldn't get the chance to meet with him this week, but we are trying not to lose him. He is a fantastic guy too.
For service this tuesday, it was pretty awesome. Well the later part. Apparently at the castle, the toilets are necessarily working too well right now, so we had to go to the lake and get buckets of water and fill up these barrels in the bathrooms. I didn't quite understand why, I just did. Well afterwards, we had a lot of time left, and they let you just walk around the castle. Well at the Vybourg castle they have this pretty big tower, so we go up there and the view was magnificent. Oh man. It was beautiful. I took a lot of pictures up there, and I messed around with the tilt-shift capability with my camera. When I get to a better computer sometime, I will upload all these pictures, but for right now I cannot. Go search Vybourg Castle in google or something. You will see why it was way cool. We also went into the museum there at the castle and they had a lot of WW2 stuff there. Apparently Vybourg got pretty messed up during WW2 and there were a lot of war artifacts there and war stories at the museum. It was way interesting. They have obviously since reconstructed the city, but it was so strange to see these old pictures of some of the places here in Vybourg just demolished.
Well that's what happened this week. I love you all, family. I pray that you will continue to get blessed. Stay awesome and stay strong.
Love your son,
your little brother,
your grandson,
your friend (for those reading that cool blog that my sister is taking care of)
Elder Tekulve
p.s.: It's really hot here.
P.s.s: I succesfully made apple jam. And it was great.
Well last week started exactly where I left off. I left the computer last thursday to go buy groceries. We go to this store called Carousel, but spelt in Russian so the R is rolled and it's great. But anyway, it's the Russian equivalent to a Walmart. It's pretty nice. However, there are on some occasions, usually in the aisle where they sell shirts and ties, it smells like fish. That's just a minor inconvenience, as they say. I bought some cheetos last week because they sold them. I was really exciting to eat them too, because Cheetos are just fantastic. Turns out Cheetos are different too. They kind of taste like those Cheeseballs we got last year for Lake Powell, which Zerrick Russon ended up eating most of. It was just a surprise that's all.
Most of what I talk about is just the summary of each day. I bring my planner with me so I can remember what happened this week, so forgive me if each paragraph seems to be a random thought. So last saturday, it was apparently Elder Hunt's 2 year anniversary since he has been out here in Russia. There is this famous park in Vybourg where we wanted to go and contact in. The problem was, it was pretty far away. So we mapped the fastest route to get there, and this "route" was a literal walk through the woods. It was awesome. We walked down this street that kind of paralleled the Gulf of Finland, and the apartments kept on getting nicer and nicer, until eventually it turned into houses. Like really nice houses. I haven't seen A house let alone nice houses since I have been here. But the road that led to the park was closed and there was a sign which told us to go around through this path. That path was straight through the woods. It was absolutely beautiful. Honestly. And then after we get through there, we end up in this park. It was something from a dream. In the distance is this white castle on this big hill, a few obelisks standing around. We were just in awe. We didn't expect the park to be like this. We were looking around and we also saw this big southern-plantation-esque building far off in the distance. We were just shocked. And to make it even more dreamlike, we could hear a saxophone belting out soft jazz riffs somewhere. That, too, was completely unexpected. We walked a little further and found a wedding that was going on. We walked around alittle bit more in this park and found another memorial site thing where I took a picture in front of. There, there were a bunch of artists sitting there painting. That "adventure" made little, if any sense, at all. Again, I am not sure if I dreamt that, or if that was real.
This Sunday, two investigators came to church this week. That was way exciting. The same Anton came from last week when I had to teach the childrens, and another lady named Katya. Both of them stayed for the 2nd hour as well. We are trying to work with Anton so that he can overcome a few problems he has, but all in all, he is a great guy. Really nice too, and very receptive. We only have a few investigators here, because more than 3/4 of them left, because in Russia, they got things got Dachas, or summer cabins. Kind of annoying at times. We got a new investigator this week named Byegali. He is from Uzbekistan and he is also one of the nicest guys I have ever met. We met him in the street and he has since been meeting with us.
We have another investigator named Vladimir, who is the same one I talked about who can't see well. Well, he didn't listen to the CD, because he thought it was a DVD, and couldn't watch it. We talked to him some more, and found something that really really interested him, and that was family history. He shared a lot of stories (that I couldn't quite understand. At all actually) about his relatives in Ukraine.
The fellow we baptized a few weeks ago, Igor, has only come to church once because of his work schedule. We are trying to meet with him to talk to him about receiving the Aaronic Priesthood, but he is never around in Vybourg. He got a job in Sveta-Gorsk, which is a city north west of here, near Finland. He only comes down a few days every other week or so. We couldn't get the chance to meet with him this week, but we are trying not to lose him. He is a fantastic guy too.
For service this tuesday, it was pretty awesome. Well the later part. Apparently at the castle, the toilets are necessarily working too well right now, so we had to go to the lake and get buckets of water and fill up these barrels in the bathrooms. I didn't quite understand why, I just did. Well afterwards, we had a lot of time left, and they let you just walk around the castle. Well at the Vybourg castle they have this pretty big tower, so we go up there and the view was magnificent. Oh man. It was beautiful. I took a lot of pictures up there, and I messed around with the tilt-shift capability with my camera. When I get to a better computer sometime, I will upload all these pictures, but for right now I cannot. Go search Vybourg Castle in google or something. You will see why it was way cool. We also went into the museum there at the castle and they had a lot of WW2 stuff there. Apparently Vybourg got pretty messed up during WW2 and there were a lot of war artifacts there and war stories at the museum. It was way interesting. They have obviously since reconstructed the city, but it was so strange to see these old pictures of some of the places here in Vybourg just demolished.
(Vybourg Castle Googled)
Well that's what happened this week. I love you all, family. I pray that you will continue to get blessed. Stay awesome and stay strong.
Love your son,
your little brother,
your grandson,
your friend (for those reading that cool blog that my sister is taking care of)
Elder Tekulve
p.s.: It's really hot here.
P.s.s: I succesfully made apple jam. And it was great.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Week 4 in Russia
Hey family!
So this week went by incredibly fast it feels like. It was a little Mr. Speedy Gonzalez, as they say. I don't have too much time to write this week because I am going to respond to a few of your emails I got! Thanks by the way for those. First off, interesting fact of the week.
Interesting Fact # 2 - People here love to have paintings painted on the side of their car. They are always way ridiculous and always involve some sort of epic animal. I saw some CRV with this polar bear screaming into the friscalating dusklight. The best one yet was this Bloodhound poised in front of the Roman Colloseum. Oh yeah, there were lightning bolts all around the painting too. It was one of the coolest things ever. Who thinks of something like that? Oh ok, Bloodhound dog. Check. Roman Colloseum. Check. Don't forget the lightning. Oh, got it. Check. Interesting combination right there.
Let's see. This week, this week, this week... We had a hike with our branch this last Saturday. They said that we were going to the mountains. I kind of looked around to see that there were none. We hiked maybe .01 of a mile from the branch to this little hill. I suppose that's a mountain to them. There we chopped a lot of wood to make a fire. The thing was that it was all really wet. It's pretty wet here when it rains. I suppose that's a consistant fact that comes whenever it rains, no matter the location. We made a little campfire succesfully and roasted Сосиски (Russian hot dogs) over the fire. I never thought it was possible to make hot dogs faker, but they somehow did it. They actually were pretty good, in my opinion. They are a lot smaller than American hot dogs and they shrink loads when you cook them. It wasn't half bad! We also had this cucumber salad, which was pretty good too.
Sunday was pretty cool. We get there and we had 3 investigators show up to Sacrament meeting. One of them was the husband of this part member family that we are working with. The other was this boy named Слава (or Slava) who has been staying with this family in the branch, well he came too. He is a cool little kid. He's got a mullet too. This lady came as well that the members have been working with. We were supposed to teach the primary on Sunday a lesson of missionary work (go figure, right?) and right before it started, we get a phone call from someone we contacted on the street. We exchanged numbers and he called to see what we called for. Naturally, we told him we were at church and wanted him to come. "I will be there in 20 minutes", says Anton. Sure enough he shows up. But because of our previous engagement to teach primary, we had to go on splits because Anton didn't really know anything about our faith. Elder Hunt and the Branch Mission Leader sit down with him and teach him about the Restoration. He seem to accept everything really well and wanted to meet back again, which is a good sign. Meanwhile... I was left to teach the primary with this 18 year old kid named Shyenya. He doesn't know too much English.. So I was trying to teach primary children... in Russian... 3 weeks into my mission. It was so crazy but so hilarious. It was difficult trying to voice my thoughts while keeping their attention. I had them draw a lot of things, the typical thing to do with kids. I asked them to draw what would be the best gift to give to God. This kid named Nikolai Cummings (His dad is American, and he unintentionally speaks Englussian. English +Russian) drew a robot and a lego. He is also 4 years old. There was this other kid who kept on drawing плохые помадоры, or bad/evil tomatoes. Both things were hilariously awesome.
Afterwords, we had a Missionary Service Day with the branch. A few of us all went out to less actives to give them a Liahona. First person we get to is this guy named Igor who was baptized a while ago and wanted our help. He has been inactive for a while and was really receptive when we got there. He invited us in and we shared a few spirtual thoughts that would help him out. We are meeting with him again tomorrow.
The weather has been so bipolar here. It's perhaps more bipolar than Provo, which I didn't think was possible. It was really hot yesterday, it's perfect today, and 3 days ago it was pouring rain. I haven't quite figured it out yet, no will I ever. We met with one of our investigators, Vladimir, who has a hard time seeing. He says his vision is really bad so he can't read the Book of Mormon. He works as a security guard at the neighboring school (yeah, I still haven't figured that one out too well either, but I suppose it doesn't really matter). We had the idea to give him a General Conference Talk on a CD (translated of course) for him to listen. He sometimes works 24 hours at a time. What better spend that time than to be spiritually fed? We thought so too. We are going to meet with him again soon to see what he thinks.
Some of the families here are so great. We try to meet with members from the branch often so we can support them. We are trying to work with all of the families and encourage them to do missionary work here in Vybourg. This is Elder Hunt's last transfer here in Russia, and I most likely will be staying in Vybourg another transfer after this. He wants me to be well acquainted with the branch here so that we can still progress their missionary efforts.
Well that's the week so far. Things seem to be going well back at home. I forgot Memorial Day existed. We got Victory Day here and a bunch of other random holidays. New Year's is HUGE here and it's not on Jan 1st, but missionaries have to stay home all day. Too many drunky drunk drunks on the street. Anywho. Keep eating some good American Grub, because you got some good stuff there. Keep being awesome family, and I love you all.
Love,
Elder Tekulve
P.S.: I cannot upload pictures. The computers here are slower than molasses. I will try to get them to you as soon as I can!!
So this week went by incredibly fast it feels like. It was a little Mr. Speedy Gonzalez, as they say. I don't have too much time to write this week because I am going to respond to a few of your emails I got! Thanks by the way for those. First off, interesting fact of the week.
Interesting Fact # 2 - People here love to have paintings painted on the side of their car. They are always way ridiculous and always involve some sort of epic animal. I saw some CRV with this polar bear screaming into the friscalating dusklight. The best one yet was this Bloodhound poised in front of the Roman Colloseum. Oh yeah, there were lightning bolts all around the painting too. It was one of the coolest things ever. Who thinks of something like that? Oh ok, Bloodhound dog. Check. Roman Colloseum. Check. Don't forget the lightning. Oh, got it. Check. Interesting combination right there.
Let's see. This week, this week, this week... We had a hike with our branch this last Saturday. They said that we were going to the mountains. I kind of looked around to see that there were none. We hiked maybe .01 of a mile from the branch to this little hill. I suppose that's a mountain to them. There we chopped a lot of wood to make a fire. The thing was that it was all really wet. It's pretty wet here when it rains. I suppose that's a consistant fact that comes whenever it rains, no matter the location. We made a little campfire succesfully and roasted Сосиски (Russian hot dogs) over the fire. I never thought it was possible to make hot dogs faker, but they somehow did it. They actually were pretty good, in my opinion. They are a lot smaller than American hot dogs and they shrink loads when you cook them. It wasn't half bad! We also had this cucumber salad, which was pretty good too.
Sunday was pretty cool. We get there and we had 3 investigators show up to Sacrament meeting. One of them was the husband of this part member family that we are working with. The other was this boy named Слава (or Slava) who has been staying with this family in the branch, well he came too. He is a cool little kid. He's got a mullet too. This lady came as well that the members have been working with. We were supposed to teach the primary on Sunday a lesson of missionary work (go figure, right?) and right before it started, we get a phone call from someone we contacted on the street. We exchanged numbers and he called to see what we called for. Naturally, we told him we were at church and wanted him to come. "I will be there in 20 minutes", says Anton. Sure enough he shows up. But because of our previous engagement to teach primary, we had to go on splits because Anton didn't really know anything about our faith. Elder Hunt and the Branch Mission Leader sit down with him and teach him about the Restoration. He seem to accept everything really well and wanted to meet back again, which is a good sign. Meanwhile... I was left to teach the primary with this 18 year old kid named Shyenya. He doesn't know too much English.. So I was trying to teach primary children... in Russian... 3 weeks into my mission. It was so crazy but so hilarious. It was difficult trying to voice my thoughts while keeping their attention. I had them draw a lot of things, the typical thing to do with kids. I asked them to draw what would be the best gift to give to God. This kid named Nikolai Cummings (His dad is American, and he unintentionally speaks Englussian. English +Russian) drew a robot and a lego. He is also 4 years old. There was this other kid who kept on drawing плохые помадоры, or bad/evil tomatoes. Both things were hilariously awesome.
Afterwords, we had a Missionary Service Day with the branch. A few of us all went out to less actives to give them a Liahona. First person we get to is this guy named Igor who was baptized a while ago and wanted our help. He has been inactive for a while and was really receptive when we got there. He invited us in and we shared a few spirtual thoughts that would help him out. We are meeting with him again tomorrow.
The weather has been so bipolar here. It's perhaps more bipolar than Provo, which I didn't think was possible. It was really hot yesterday, it's perfect today, and 3 days ago it was pouring rain. I haven't quite figured it out yet, no will I ever. We met with one of our investigators, Vladimir, who has a hard time seeing. He says his vision is really bad so he can't read the Book of Mormon. He works as a security guard at the neighboring school (yeah, I still haven't figured that one out too well either, but I suppose it doesn't really matter). We had the idea to give him a General Conference Talk on a CD (translated of course) for him to listen. He sometimes works 24 hours at a time. What better spend that time than to be spiritually fed? We thought so too. We are going to meet with him again soon to see what he thinks.
Some of the families here are so great. We try to meet with members from the branch often so we can support them. We are trying to work with all of the families and encourage them to do missionary work here in Vybourg. This is Elder Hunt's last transfer here in Russia, and I most likely will be staying in Vybourg another transfer after this. He wants me to be well acquainted with the branch here so that we can still progress their missionary efforts.
Well that's the week so far. Things seem to be going well back at home. I forgot Memorial Day existed. We got Victory Day here and a bunch of other random holidays. New Year's is HUGE here and it's not on Jan 1st, but missionaries have to stay home all day. Too many drunky drunk drunks on the street. Anywho. Keep eating some good American Grub, because you got some good stuff there. Keep being awesome family, and I love you all.
Love,
Elder Tekulve
P.S.: I cannot upload pictures. The computers here are slower than molasses. I will try to get them to you as soon as I can!!
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