Week 34 - General Conference Weekend!

Interesting Fact #34 - You know street performers in the U.S.? What are the more common ones? Guitarists and stuff? Probably. Well the most common street performers, and by that I mean those who play in the street for donations to earn some sort of living, are Accordian players. They are usually 50 or 60 year old men playing away Russian lullubyes. I really enjoy seeing them. I will just hear some great accordian tune travelling through the cold wind. One of the best players is in this underground crosswalk by the metro stop. The acoustics are just amazing. Almost Lake-Powell-fire-dance-in-a-cave worthy.

Well this week was General Conference for us. I absolutely love general conference and I can not wait for the next one in 6 months. So what they did here in St. Petersburg, was that they had the Chapel opened up to play the Russian General Conference which had been recorded from the week prior, and then English was in the relief society room. Yeah it was a week delay for us, but if we tried to watch live, it wouldn't have started until 10 at night... Yeah, no. This way, we got to watch all of the sessions. Well all of the talks were absolutely amazing, might I add. One of my favorites was Dieter F. Uchtdorfs in the Saturday Morning session explaining that compared to God, we are nothing, but we are EVERYTHING to God. There are times where we think we are forgotten, inadequiate, or even discouraged, but always remember that God loves you more than you can even fathom. He has created everything for the benefit of US. All the stars, all of the mountains (yes, and that includes Half Dome), for US, because to him, we are aboslutely everything to him. We are all his sons and daughters, and that's something that should NEVER be forgotten. 

Also, if you watched the Sunday Afternoon session, the ST. PETERSBURG RUSSIA mission was mentioned by Elder Nelson. He explained when he came to our district conference this year, he called up Sister Efimova up to the pulpit to bear her testimony. She, right now, works in the Mission Office and is in charge for all of the housing for the missionaries, and I often talk to her about housing stuff. Well her and her husband were the first mission presidents to be called from Russia. Shortly after their return home, Brother Efimov passed away, but Sister Efimova's testimony is the strongest I have seen here in Russia. She is a wonderful woman. 

So how about them new temples huh? Provo 2.0, as everything has been calling it. I am really excited for that temple being built. And how about them Paris, France temple plans?! That's very exciting. I know that with the stake now in Moscow, it's only a matter of time until they announce the plans for a Moscow temple. And I know that once we get a stake here in St. Petersburg, we will have a temple here in no time. The members here are so strong. 

This week, all the missionaries in our mission went on a fast for the success of our mission. Our goal is to get 30 baptisms until the end of the year, and I fasted so that I can contribute to that 30. We are all praying and working so hard to find people that have been prepared by the Lord. We need to find more people to teach, and that means more finding. We have been planning differently and more with the Spirit so that we can be successful as a mission, so that we can get a Stake here. That is our immediate goal here. It will happen. And I know it. 

We are still working with our friend George, who came to general conference yesterday! He only stayed for the first half of the first sunday session, but I am glad he stayed during the talk about The Book of Mormon. That was a powerful talk. Well when we met with him, he had read and kept his commitments and had questions to ask us from his reading. We had him read 2 Nephi 31, and he had a lot of questions about the Holy Ghost. We gladly answered him. We are going to be meeting with him soon to see how is doing! I love that guy. Oh yeah, we also taught him the Word of Wisdom. He already lived it, more or less. He rarely drank a cup of coffee once in a blue moon, and that was it. Didn't smoke, drink, drink black tea, so we committed him to give up coffee and he was set. I was so excited to find that out from him. I pray for the best for him.

Well that was the work for me. Going to general conference this weekend and also fasting for our missionary work here has really incraesed my tesitmony that this church is true. It is Kingdom of God here in Earth and it is growing. I am contributing, as a part of my priesthood duty, to help grow this Kingdom. What a priveledge it is. I love you all, and you are all in my prayers constantly.

Love,

Elder Tekulve