deep-fired gold

Hellooo family!

Interesting Fact #25 - McDonalds in Russia is considered a nice place to take a girl out on a date too.

Well we are still in the Central area. Of course. It's been really interesting being a trainer. In fact, it's very very difficult haha. I don't have anyone to rely on with the language anymore, which is a great thing, but also a difficult thing. I feel like, though, in the past week and a half alone, I have gotten better with the language. I love the Russian Language. Yeah, it's very difficult, but I can do it. How many times? That's right. 9 times. No but really though, I love this language. What's so interesting and fun about is that EVERYTHING changes depending on the gender, case, preposition, verb, noun, etc. Everything changes. So you really have to think really hard if you want have correct grammar. I mean, you could just say it how it would be in English minus all of the spelling and grammar rules and it would still be understandable, but that's no fun, now is it?

Well, another part that has made this transfer intersting already as that we were "white-washed", a term used by missionaries. It basically means you are completely brand new in an area, and you have figure out everything on your own: investigators, members, public transit, stores, who-is-who in the cell phone. I am starting to figure things out here in Central. We actually live on the outermost island off the Neva river. Off of Vasiliostrovskaya island or something. If you look at a map, we live on the island furthest west.

So last Friday we did service inside the HERMITAGE!!!! That was the one place I was so excited to go to before the mission. It's absolutely beautiful. It is basically a Palace. HUUUGE beautiful palace. We haven't looked at the exhibits, but we plan on doing that soon, we hope. We need to get our hermitage pass from the mission office so that we can into it for free. All we do there for service really is check their tickets to see if they are ok. Occasionally we tell them to take off their backpacks and that water is not allowed inside. I got to help and translate a little bit for a few Americans from Texas and California visiting. Speaking of Americans, we were walking down Nyevski Prospect (the main busiest street in the City) and we ran into several Americans from Orem, Utah! What do you know! They gave us some Chewy bars and trailmix. They tasted like deep-fried gold.

Well on Saturday, I also went to Estonia. That was very interesting, I have to admit. You know when you're driving up the 15 and the road is terrible and bumping right up until you cross the border into Nevada? Yeah, it was kind of like that. Estonia is such a nice place. We stayed in a place called Nerva or something for 8 hours. Well, if the bank is freaking out that my card was used in Estonia, just tell them its ok. I put a few snacks and a meal there becaues I didn't have any Euros on me. Only rubles and kopecks. It was a beautiful little city though. There are two big castles there and this big Catholic church there. It's almost like good ol' Vyborg.

Well we finally scheduled some meetings after a few days of contacting in the streets because no-one could meet. We meet with a few investigators. We got a new one yesterday. He is this interesting man named Anatoli who wants to quit smoking. I have never tried to help someone stop smoking before, let alone in Russian. So we are going to be working with him to help him quit and teach him the Gospel. We have a few investigators who are from Africa that came to Russia to work. They are fun to meet with as well. Well nice people.

Well that's been my life so far here in St. Petersburg. I know I have more exciting things to come, and obviously I will be here to tell you about it. We are so close to getting a Stake here. So close. Just pray for us, and we will get it. And after we get a stake here, we can get a temple to be built here in Russia. Wouldn't that be something?


Well it looks like all my paragraphs start with the word "well". Well, that's okay.So it looks like Daniel and Megan got their mission calls eh? They be em Texans! They are going to have so much fun. Honestly. Mission work is so great. I love it.

I hope all is going well with you all. I love you all and you are all such a great strength and support for me. You are in my prayers always.

Love,
Elder Tekulve

transfer to the city!

Interesting Fact #24: St. Petersburg is one of the MOST gorgeous cities I have ever seen. Again, that could very well be an opinion, but I would like to state it as fact. 

So I got transfered! Guess where? Right into the heart of St. Petersburg. The area is called Central, which is a most apt name for such. It is absolutely beautiful. I already miss Vyborg, but this is also an amazing change. So I got transfer calls on Saturday morning from President Clark. He has given me a new responsibility. I am a trainer now. I am training a brand new missionary who has been in Russia for 3 days just like how I was 3 months ago. President Clark has given me a lot of trust and responsibility with my new position that I have been called as. I am now Senior Companion, which is nice after surviving the storm that is Elder Balabanov, last transfer. But, I am having my companion right now give a lot of input on what he thinks and what he wants to do. He is a really awesome missionary. Oh yeah, his name is Elder Pace from Fresno, California. The Californian Brigade! He is a solid kid who has a huge desire to work. I feel like I can work at my full potential with him. Needless to say, I am very excited for this transfer. Actually, I am insanely excited. 

I am just glad that last transfer was over. I didn't want to make my emails back home sound negative so I never said anything bad (not too bad at least) that happened in them. But let's just say that I don't have to deal with him ever again, and that I am unbelievably happy that I am here in the city with Elder Pace, and I can actually focus on my work, and not worry about the never-ending cleaning up projects I would have to do in the apartment, and trying with all my power to keep the companionship stable and unified. Again, like I said, I have come out being the most patient person I know, which is honestly why I think I got put with him for a transfer, so that I can be a better, more patient, more qualified, and a more hard-working missionary.

Well anywho, I am absolutely excited to be here. I live probably 20 minutes away from the Hermitage and the famous Russian Orthodox Temple that you see when you see St. Petersburg. For our service project, Elder Pace and I will be doing service inside the Hermitage, which in return they give you a volunteer pass. This pass gets you into the Hermitage and all other museums in the whole city for free. Expect gorgeous pictures soon. I am actually on a computer that is normal for once, too, so I can possibly figure out how to send pictures. Ha.

Well, I am definitely going to miss Vyborg too. I absolutely loved our ward (our branch) there. I loved our investigators there, and I loved the members there. I took a few pictures with Edward Arsyonov (who is still committed to get baptized on the 20th of August) and with some people in the branch. But at the same time, this is a new chapter of my mission, one of which I have a lot more responsibility. I know that I am going to love whoever I meet here, and whatever happens. I know what you probably thinking: How is it that Elder Tekulve is training after 2 transfers? I don't know, but my companion in the MTC, Elder Clark is too. The church has changed the whole curriculum and training program for missions so now it is a lot more specific and the training period is longer. I am going to train Elder Pace for 12 weeks now. These next two weeks are going to be awesome. And again, I know what you are probably thinking: How is that Elder Tekulve is training after 2 transfers? Can he even speak the language? I can speak enough to get by. I am not too worried about the language aspect. It will come, and the best way to learn this language is to be COMPLETELY SUBMERSED INTO IT. I have no more older companion, more experienced companion to rely on. I gotta figure it out on my own. Sounds good to me. :)

The weather here is starting to normalize too. It's actually perfect out here. It's no longer insanely hot. I had to pack all my stuff on Sunday and Monday and move down to Petersburg. We took this electric train instead because it's a lot more convenient than a bus, to be completely honest. After that we take a trollybus thing for 40 minutes. As we were unloading my luggage off the trollybus, Elder Balabanov dropped a bag, and the other bag burst open in the middle of the street. That was an interesting 20 seconds as I scrambled to pick everything up. It wasn't really his fault (kind of). I did pack the bag a bit too much. But it just was a funny little experience. Stuff like that happens all the time. Transfer days are known for broken luggage. The thing is though my suitcase is completely fine. I just had to rezip it and realign. It's totally good.

Well, seeing the date today and yesterday just really makes me think of a very important moment in time that happened 3 years ago. I miss Kyle a lot, but I know he is okay. I know he is safe and that he is loved. Heavenly Father prepared a plan for all of us and I know that he is absolutely fine. The more I study about the Plan of Salvation, the more I know that Kyle is alright, and that God loves us all. 

I will probably have more exciting things to say next week. I go on my first visa trip in a few days, so I will take a nice fun trip to Estonia. That will be excited to talk about to you guys. Well, I love you. I love you all. I also love this wonderful experience I am having here. I so far absolutely love my mission, and I am having the time of my life. I hope you are too.

Love,

Elder Tekulve

"doing what cats do best, I suppose"

Interesting Fact #23: Russia has some very interesting flavors of chips. They have Lay's here, with a wide variety of flavors. Well for starters, they have Original, of course. They also got Sour Cream and Onion. A common standby. Then they have sour cream and mushrooms? Okay. Not bad. A little strange, but not bad... Then they have Shishkabob flavored chips... Ok. Alright.... Then they have Bacon flavor Lay's...Kinda odd..... And then the Grand Mal Flavor to top it all.... They have, get this.. get this... Crab flavored chips! I have not dared to try them. Oh and I almost forgot, they also have Cavier flavored Lay's. I think the favorite flavor here is Bacon. People love their bacon flavored chips.

Week 23. Week 23. Week 23. A few very notable things happened. Actually plenty. Some funny, some great. Well last weekend, on Friday, to be exact, we took a trip back to St. Petersburg. Instead of the typical hot busride, we took an electric train this time. It was nice and comfortable and much faster. We get there to meet our new mission president, President Clark, who might I add, is an incredible guy. Guess where he's from? Midway, Utah. The same city where the Zumatt is located at. He has 2 kids on missions right now as well. One of them is in Zimbabwe. But President Clark is a really awesome guy. He is very fired up on getting a stake here in this mission. He knows only 2 weeks worth of MTC Russian, so that is his weakness, but he is a very inspired individual. I can tell he is really going to take this mission to a whole new direction where a lot of success will come. 

So we take the train back thinking it will be just as comfortable. Nope. It was absolutely packed. We forgot that it was rush hour in Pete and also the weekend so everyone and their mothers were leaving Petersburg. There were no real sits left so we sat in the median part in the train between the carts. I wish it was outside where there was air flow, but it was sealed tight. Again, I just never thought it was ever this hot in a country where it's known to be so cold hahaha. I just remember the man standing next to us was literally pouring sweat onto the ground. To be honest, I am actually really used to being hot all the time. I've grown accustomed to it. I welcome it. 

This week, actually, they turned off our hot water. It will be off for the next three weeks. So I have been taking ice cold showers for the past few days. I love it. It feels excellent. My companion can't stand it so he heats up some water in a pan and bathes a little bit with that. I just remember what you, Dad, were telling me what Bishop Clayton once said about me that I have a "Come as it may" attitude about everything. It's true. Hot water is off for 3 weeks. Oh well. Won't stop me.

Well the awesome thing about this week is that we a got a baptismal date set up with one of our investigators. His name is Edward Arsyonov and he is the husband of this part member family. I'm sure I spoke a lot about him already, but he wants to get baptized! We really didn't say anything about baptism, and he told us he wanted to get baptized on the 20th of August. He is a solid investigator who really understands really well. He has questions, yes so does everyone, even members, but he understands a LOT. So that was the really exciting part of this week. I may or may not be here for the baptism. It depends on if I am staying in Vyborg next week. I can't believe that it's already transfers again. I will be getting a new companion next Wednesday, but I am not entirely sure if I will be leaving or staying here in Vyborg. To be honest. I love this place, and I would hate to leave it. But if I am needed elsewhere, I will go.

Well because I seem to talk about the foods that I make every week, I will talk about the foodstuffs I crafted this week. Well yes, I made borsh, and it was way good! It's kind of a strange recipe, but i did it well. It tasted pretty dang good. I also made this other Russian Cabbage soup called Shshee, (pronounced just She). It's actually like a sourkraut soup. And I was really surprised that it, too, tasted great. It's an easy recipe too. I am a big fan of Russian food. Huge fan, in fact. It's amazing.

Well things are great here. I hope things are just lovely back in the States. Did Zoey ever come home? That little sneaky cat. Speaking of cats. There are cats all over here in Vyborg. Just sitting around, doing what cats do best, I suppose. But at any rate, I love you all and I hope you are all doing great. You're in my prayers everyday.

Love,
Elder Tekulve