So yeah it was the big of ol' day of birth for me. It was a usual day for me. Although! The night before, because we had elders from Petrozavodsk staying at our apartment, another elder made me a cake, and it was actually way good, seeing how it was missionary made. I was impressed quite much so. It was this cinnamon apple cake with a yogurt frosting or something. Delish. So I guess I will explain what I did on Friday to start out. So we had an exchange with the elders from Petrozavodsk and I went with an Elder Larsen from West Bountiful. We met with a less active named Fike here in Shuvalovo who has 9 cats and speaks perfect English. He kind of reminds me of a Russian Sam Adams back in the Soviet times after the stories he told us. He also gave me some sort of card thing for my birthday. He was a cool man. Joined the church 5 or so years ago, but his health sometimes prevents him from going to church, which is unfortunate. Also given the fact that it takes an hour + to get to church on the metro. Shuvalovo is quite far from the branch building. We then met with our investigator named Pasha who is an evolutionist. We gave him a Book of Mormon, which he really wanted to read. We explained to him that science is here for us to explain how God works, not to disprove God and try to prove his inexistance. And if Science "proves" something false, it just means that we don't know yet, and that we haven't figured out how it works. He seemed really interested in that. He told us he will read and wants to meet back. Good day. Oh and thanks for all of the birthday emails!! Loved it!
So we also had Zone Conference this week. I was in charge of training the missionaries how to contact more effectively so that you can receive contact information, and then being able to call them or come in contact with them so that you can then meet with them. It was actually pretty cool. My companion gave a really awesome spiritual thought about how we need to work together and have faith to acheive our goals, like Nephi when he was commanded to build a ship. He didn't ask why he had to, but asked "how".
Well, in missionary work, there is a lot of different ways to find investigators. One of which is in the area books, or the records that missionaries have kept about past investigators. I found one from about 15 years ago named Igor Chukolov. I called him up and he was really excited and happy that we had called. It had been a long time, and he told us to call in 20 minutes. I called back and I talked to his son named Sasha. Sasha explaind that he has been in a spiritual low for a while and wanted to meet with us. We set up a meeting on Saturday evening with him at his hostel and it was a fantastic meeting. He bought some herbal tea and we sat down and talked. We gave him a Book of Mormon as well. He wants to meet back really soon. He is a very very sincere man and was very interested. He wrote down some notes of what we talked about. He is from Kiev, Ukriane so my companion and him really hit it off. My companion is from Odessa, Ukraine, which is like the San Diego of Ukraine. He was the miracle of this week, I guess you can say. I am really excited to continue working with Sasha.
I have to admit, that weeks are flying by. It felt like 5 minutes ago I was sitting at the computer writing my last week's email. It's really kind of scaring me. I am almost at my 9 month mark in a few days. These 9 months have been the fastest of my life. I still have so much to do and so little time to do it in! It really goes to show how time is absolutely nothing. In the grand spectrum of my life, this time I have on my mission is so incredibly short. Well I wanted to end this email with a few words that I know that God has a plan for us. Time to him is nothing, and only we measure time. But it's what we make of our time here on Earth that determines our eternity. God has a perfect plan, and we just need to follow that path, however hard or inconvenient at times it may be, that's the only way to be with him again.
I love you all, and I hope you have a great Thanksgivin'
Love,
Elder Tekulve
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