Interesting Fact #22: So far, the graffiti that I have seen here has been really nice and pleasant. Most of it isn't the typical graffiti. A lot of them just say "Я люблю тебя" which just means "I love you". Pretty interesting, I think.
Well Week 22. The weeks feel like they are flying by. Really.
Last thursday I went through the Hermitage!! (Of Vyborg... haha). It doesn't compare at all to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, supposedly. They were having this really interesting Middle Eastern Art exhibit. They had a lot of interesting artifacts from a looong time ago. It was pretty cool. Apparently when you serve in the center of the City, you do service once a week in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg. I can't wait. Oh, and they give this volunteer pass, which gets you into the Hermitage for free, along with all other tourist attractions anywhere in the country.
I am starting to forget what's been going on, to be honest. Weeks are blending together. On tuesday, we had this crazy huge thunder shower. It went from super bright and shiny in the morning, and by night it was pouring and thunderin' and lightnin' it up. I don't think I have been seen it so dark outside so far while I've been here. The days are actually getting shorter, supposedly, but I still have yet to see night. Probably in 2 months or so it will be normal, and then in 4 months, it will be completely abnormal when the sun rises at 11 and sets at 3. We got both extremes here.
Well things are going really good with Igor Shevchenko, the fellow we baptized two months ago. He is permantly here in Vyborg. He got the Aaronic Priesthood a few weeks ago, and we wants to meet once a week or so. He is a very strong guy, spiritually. I am very impressed with him. He went to Latvia (because he is Latvian) to visit friends and family, and he was talking to his friend who wanted him to go and get baptized in her church. He told us he responded that he got baptised recently into the LDS Church and apparently his friend exploded on him calling him a devil and all sorts of friendly words. The funny thing is about this story, as Igor was telling it, he was laughing quite hard. He explained, "yeah, and so then I just kind of walked away". But to have someone who just got baptized who laughs at that kind of situation is awesome. I was fearing that would discourage him. Nope. Not Igor. He's a champ.
We had a lot of meetings yesterday, which is good. We met with that one babooshka, whom of which I spent a picture of. She wanted us to go and buy her a new phone and groceries. And so we did. She is a sweet old lady, but is confined to a wheel chair and stuck on the third floor apartment. Afterwards, we went down south for maybe 20 minutes to a small little village. I forgot what it's called, but it's basically just a village lined with Dacha's (small summer cottages). We had a few families in our ward that live there, both of which are awesome families. One family, The Cummings, (Surprise! English last name!) live in a very small 2 room (no bedrooms. Just 2 rooms. Kitchen, and a living room) cottage. The father of the family, Brother Cummings, is in the U.S. right now because they thought he had cancer, but apparently not. I just feel so bad for the circumstances some people live under. All we can we do as missionaries is to support them and help them feel God's love for them. They have two little kids, one is 4, and the other is 2. They understand English and Russian, so it makes it pretty funny to talk to them. It's a nice combination of Englussian. We did a small little lesson about the story of Ammon and how he had the strength of God.
We then met with the Dimitriev's who live right next door. They are an amazing family. We shared the same lesson with them, but we had everyone take turns reading. We have this small kids Book of Mormon comic book thing and we sent it around. There are two little 8 year olds, a 10 year old, and a 13 year old. So it felt befitting. Well because a lot of the strange rules have been removed from the previous mission president, President Neuenshwander, we can eat at member's houses. (We still probably shouldn't eat mushrooms. Strange things are afoot in the russian mushroom). But anywho, they fed us dinner. It was amazing. This Russian fish dish thing, with noodles and this Russian Salad. (Russian Salad's usually consist of cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes and maybe some sour cream. Its so good). It was most choice.
Speaking of food, I also made Borsh last night. I haven't eaten it yet though, so we'll see what happens next week! haha
Well I just want to leave with all of you reading this silly email/blog post/whatever this is with a nice little spiritual thought. The one thing I have learned so far this transfer is Patience. I have never been so patient in my life. And to be honest, I've never needed patience so much in my life. I just wanted to share with you all that patience is not just a virtue, but it's also a vital Christlike attribute we should all strive to have. So be patient! If there is a little bit of traffic, don't worry! Always know that you will get through it, and it doesn't necesarily matter how long it takes. Just be patient.
Well I love you all, and I pray for each and everyone of you.
Elder Tekulve
No comments:
Post a Comment