Interesting Fact #36 - The interesting thing of the week this week is that Finnish diary products are abosolutely amazing. There is this brand called Valio, and everything they make is absolutely amazing; their milk, yogurt, cheese, sour cream, all so good. I think Valio milk often times can top the good ol' Westwood blue cap milk we would used to get. Russian milk unfortunately has some interesting tastes. I tried it, judged it, and realized Fins know how to make milk. Thank goodness Finland is just next door.
This week was an interesting one. We did a lot of finding and contacting this week and we saw a few awesome miracles. On Wednesday, we were supposed to meet with a less active we had heard about named Dima. He called an hour or 2 before our lesson and cancelled it. So we gathered up some less active addresses nearby and decided to just go and try to find where these people went. I hadn't no idea who they were. We had no information about them, except their addresses and phone numbers. We decided to stop by the home of the Suvorov brothers, Andre and Anton. We get their and ring through the domaphone (this microphone you talk through to talk to people in apartments. They can open the outside door to let you in, and then you go up to their floor and such). A man answered and we asked him if Anton or Andre were there. He told us they weren't here anymore but told us to come in. Of course! So we get up to his apartment and we sit down to talk. His name was Alexander and that he was the father of the two sons who are in the church, Andre and Anton. He explained to us that he respected the church a lot so he got his two sons baptized in it about 15+ years ago. He gave us the information where they lived and their phone numbers for them. He also gave us this giant satellite photo book of St. Petersburg to use for our finding efforts and such. He was such a nice man. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him we are going to come back and share a message of the Restoration. He has unfortunately been out of town, but told us to pick a day with him and he will plan around it. I talked to the two sons and Andre was really excited that I called and wants to go to church next week. It was just way out of the blue. Our investigator work has dropped in the past couple weeks and we were really working hard in finding new investigators, and then we get handed Alexander. It was just amazing.
And then on Saturday evening, we decided to go tracting for the first time! There was a rule that we couldnt go tracting here in this mission, but it got repealed and so we tried it out for the first time. It's a lot more difficult here because there aren't any houses, they are all apartments. So it would really only involve you dialing random numbers on a domaphone and talk to them through that. There was one moment, someone from outside opened the door and let us in. So we went to a random floor on the elevator. I just pressed the 14th floor button and up we went. Turned the left and there were 5 doors. I just felt like the one on the left was the right one. Knocked and a lady named Nina answered, and it just so happened to be her birthday that day too. We talked to her about the Gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon, as well. She had told us that she is interested in all Christian churches and faiths, and that she has been looking for the truth. She asked us "why my door out of all of the doors in this whole apartment complex?". I explained to her that it just felt right to go to this one. Unfortunately she didn't want to give us her phone number, but I pray that she calls us back. Just imagine, it's your birthday, and these two missionaries stop by and give you a book and tell you it's the truth your looking for. My mind would have exploded.
To be honest, those are the two things that happened this week that were awesome. We didn't have too many lessons or appointments this week, which was kind of a bust, but these two things came out of it. So no complaints there. We are still teaching our good ol' pal, George. He came to church as well and was 30 minutes early before any of the branch was there, which was awesome to see. We are still trying to work him towards baptism. One day! One Day!
I am not sure if I told you about Sergey, this 19 year old we found on the street a few weeks ago. We had to hand him off to another set of missionaries because he lived in another part of town. But I get a call on Friday night from Elder Clark saying that he has a baptismal date on the 19th of November! A pretty good birthday present, I would say.
This past week, my testimony about the Holy Ghost and the guidance it gives has strengthened greatly. I know it works through you in very silent means. You might not even notice it. I didn't really have this big hoo-rah feeling that the Holy Ghost is showing me exactly where to go. I just went, and chose. For Alexander, we went and and did not even noticing. For Nina, I clicked the 14th floor without second though, and picked that door on the left without much forethought either. The Holy Ghost can really work through when you don't even realize it. That's my little spiritual thought of the week, I guess. But I love you all. You are in my prayers all the time.
Love,
Elder Tekulve
No comments:
Post a Comment