Monday, February 27, 2012

Week 53 - A few days being the Mission President

Interesting Fact 53 - There is a big holiday in Russia on the 23rd of February. Well that day is also a special day for this guy! The holiday in Russia is to celebrate those who protect the country; also known as Men's Day! We did it!

This was an interesting week. President Clark called as on Monday night and had a bit of interesting news. He told us that we were going to be the mission president until he gets back on Saturday. So Elder Hill and I were the Mission President. Well nothing exciting happened during the week that would have cause for a great story, besides that fact. President Clark had a President's Seminar in Instabul, Turkey. It just opened up for missionary work and there are 4 missionaries that just got there to open the place up! They are so excited and they are a huge part of the history of the Church. That's the cool story for this week, (well there are more cool stories from this week, but that's the cool big news for the Church kind of thing). 

We had a lot of meetings this week and we taught a lot. So in that sense it was a great week. Jacques is still doing awesome. He knows what he needs to do. He told us again that once he knows, he surrenders to Jesus Christ and will follow him. He just needs to find time to read everyday. He unfortunately couldn't make it to church, but he really wants us to come over to his place so he can make us some Cameroonian food. We are trying to work with to be ready around the 17th of March. This week, we met with another investigator of ours who really wants to be baptized but he has so many fears of people. He knows that he needs to be baptized, and he has a huge desire to help build up Zion by paying tithing, but he has so many steps to make to get to the point. So we sat down with him and read from Ether 12:27. The promise is to him is that when he comes to Christ, he will be shown his weaknesses, and only through humbling himself will his weaknesses become strengths. The other promise that he has is from Joshua 1:9, that the Lord will be with him (after baptism of water and the Holy Ghost) where ever he goes. Be not afraid. We then developed a plan to get him ready for March 10th. Everyday we are going to call him at 11 am to remind him to read the Book of Mormon. On Sundays, we will call him to wake him to go to church. We have set the date with him, and the work begins now. He will be baptized.

A few weeks ago, during the last transfer cycle, we had some missionaries that had to stay in the city and they did some finding here. They found one man named Yuri who we called up. He came to church yesterday with his cousin who both are really interested. They don't have any time this week to meet, except next Sunday, so they plan on coming to church again and want to meet with us. They actually had no idea what our church was or what we believed in, but they showed up, and were really interested. I hope to work with them some more!

Remember that Sergey who is the film program? So we unfortunately haven't been able to get a hold of him. We are planning to call him so more and set up some sort of meeting with him because he is still a little miracle. Things are really growing here! Its' really cool to see. Right now the mission has about 15 baptismal dates and a huge majority of them are for March. We are getting really close with Jacques, and Gennady (who we have a date with for the 10th of March) is on his way. This next month there is going to be a big mission tour from the 2nd Counselor of the Area Presidency of Eastern Europe. So we have to help out with that a little bit, along with transfers, and 6 visa trips... I Officially dubbed this next month "March Madness" in its most literal sense. I will still be an assistant and will be until the end of May. It's really interesting just being involved and responsible for everything. Its really helping me out how to plan ahead and make sure things are up to date and already figured out. I guess I have got no excuse to procrastinate anymore, which I so commonly did.

This was but another great week! I love you all. The Church is true. The ordinance of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost really is such a blessing to all of us. It's amazing to know that we have a little sidekick where ever we go. If just humble ourselves enough to listen to it, it can take us to such great heights spiritually. It can be our protector, our guide, our friend, our Comforter. The Holy Ghost is yet more proof that God does love us! Those that have taken the covenant of baptism of water and baptism of the Holy Ghost really are blessed in this life, and for eternity. I love it!

Love,
Elder Tekulve

p.s.: On my year mark, we made and ate BURRITOS! MEXICOOO

Monday, February 20, 2012

Week 52 - "Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?"

Interesting Fact #52 - I can't remember if I have already mentioned this one, but there aren't many names from men here in Russia. There are probably only 12 names they use. Granted, each name has 100s of nicknames, but the main full name is the same. The common ones you see are Alexandr, Vladimir, Igor, Sergay, Yevgeni (or Eugene), Pavel, Alexi, Yegor, Yuri, Nikolai, Ivan, etc.

This week was an awesome week. We had a lot of time to do missionary work in our areas because we didn't have a 101 things to do in the office or some other assistant stuff. First off, we met with Jacques a few more times this week. He is such an awesome guy! He just absolutely loves the Book of Mormon too. On Tuesday, we were teaching him, and it got to a point where he just was consumed right there and wouldn't stop reading. He just absolutely loves it. We invited him to be baptized, and he told us when he knows that this is the true, he will! We are aiming to get him baptized on March 3rd, but it is pretty soon from now. He has been searching for truth, and he really has been prepared to hear it. He came to church yesterday as well! We met with at the metro stop and walked with him to church, which is like a 10 minute or so walk. He got way into the hymns which was just so awesome to see/hear. He wanted to stay for the whole thing, but had to leave before Priesthood because he teaches French to a young lady somewhere in the city. He is our golden investigator right now. 

This Saturday, the sister missionaries in our district had a baptism! We went to it with a few of our investigators. It was of this sweet little old lady named Nina who had met the missionaries 2 years ago or so. She was just so happy after her baptism. Yesterday she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! The mission had a few other baptisms this last Saturday, one ofwhich was Vyborg! It was a son of one of the members there who the current missionaries had been working with. He is this little guy named Sergey who is handicapped, but is the coolest little guy. He had never been baptized when he was 8 because he was afriad of the water at the time, but apparently his baptism was awesome. I wish I could have been there.

Unfortunately, we met with one of our investigators for the last time, named Igor. His schedule is changing and kind of doesn't want to meet with us anymore, so we had a strong last meeting with him. We bore our testimonies and in the end, he will always remember us. He is studying to become a Russian Orthodox Priest, but he will always know those Mormons are not so crazy afterall haha. I think it's important for him to know that we are indeed a Christian church built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and his Ministry and Gospel.

We had some awesome finding experiences this week. On Saturday, we were stuck in the center of the city until 6 because we couldn't use the metro at the time. So we were walking to a place to grab a bite to eat and two young men came up to us and told us they wanted to come to church the next day. We said of course. We gave them an invitation with our address on it and they had to skadaddle. The next day, they both came! It turns out, that one of them is a member from another city in Siberia, and is down visiting. He is staying with his friend, Pasha (which is short for Pavel), who isn't a member. Pasha really liked church and wants to meet with us! We are meeting them tonight to go to FHE for Young Single Adults. We are praying that we can keep on meeting with and teach him.

Do you remember that one man who we talked to about the church all because I asked him where he bought his hat? I called him up and he really doesn't want to meet with us right now, but I asked him if I could give him a Book of Mormon as a gift and he gladly accepted. He really really wanted it. So he stopped by the church building and I ran down to give him one. I got his business card and his last name is Tyopliy, which means warm in Russian. He really is a warm friendly guy.

Oh and then! Last night was quite the cool experience. We went out signboarding on the main street in the city with those questions on the title "Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?", and we got a lot of people to come up and talk to us. One of which is this other young man named Sergay (1 of many here in Russia). He had been pondering those questions for a long time and he never understood what the purpose was of life. I gave him the low-down of the Plan of Salvation right there in the crazy cold wind. My mouth felt frozen, but I could speak just fine without any problems. It was really cool to experience. But the cooler thing is that he wants to meet with us this thursday. He is studying film as well here in the city and he is 21. He walked with us back to the metro and gave him a quick lesson on the Restoration, which he just was in awe. We gave him a Book of Mormon which he really wants to read.

 So. Yes. Miracles are happening all over the mission, including with us. We are seeing places that were once considered "dead" areas thrive with investigators and baptismal dates. It's awesome to be in a position to see that happening. It's really inspiring, to be honest. It makes me think though that God is really a God of Miracles. Miracles never ceased with Christ's death. They still continue. We see them all around us. God continues to bless all of his children.

I hope next time I will have some time to upload some more pictures. I got lots. A year's worth of pictures.

Well I love you all,
Love,
Elder Tekulve

Friday, February 17, 2012

how to send packages and letters to drew

Hello Parents—

We have had a rash of packages from America being sent to missionaries using the wrong address. The Russian post will not deliver packages sent to the Malookhtinsky address. Instead, they park them at random post offices all over St. Petersburg and send us a notice to come and pick them up. The notices are not always delivered immediately. If the missionary does not show up at that post office within two weeks and personally show them his passport along with the notice, the package is returned to the United States. Sometimes it is impossible for a missionary to get to that random post office within the time limit. Some of the post offices are very far away and difficult to find. It is very frustrating for the missionaries and it eats up their entire Preparation Day. Plus you often have to wait in line at a Russian Post Office for 2 hours. (The post office is also where many bills are paid and other government business is conducted. It is crazy sometimes.) One elder just told me he informed all his family he would cut off their heads if they sent anymore packages to the Malookhtinsky address!

Our driver goes twice a week to our post office box and picks up all the mail. Do not think it is faster to send mail directly to the Malookhtinsky address. The missionaries do NOT come into the office every day. They don’t even always come in every week. The ones not serving in the city center only get here every few weeks, and sometimes only at transfer time. We do our best to get their mail delivered to them as circumstances permit.

So…   for the sake of simplicity, when sending things through the US Post Office,

USE ONLY THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS FOR PACKAGES AND LETTERS!


Russia St. Petersburg 190000
a/я 122              [this is like saying PO Box 122. The small A “a”  and the backwards R “я” are important]
CRO The Church of Jesus Christ of LDS in Russia
*Missionary name* [Do not include Elder of Sister]                  

Russia
_________________________________________

Notice that I put “Russia” again a line or two below the regular address. I now suggest doing this if your post office freaks out at the address because it is backwards from the way Americans do an address. Russians read the top line first, Americans read the bottom line first. If you stick Russia on the bottom, separate from the address, it should aid the American postal workers to get the package to Russia. Once here, the Russians understand the address perfectly.

Please send this address to all your family and friends who might want to send a package to your missionary. Tell them to throw out the other address. Your missionary will be very grateful!!

Thank you,

Monday, February 13, 2012

Week 51 for reals - Zone Conference Week and Jacques

Interesting Fact #51.2 - This is a very important cultural fact here in Russia. After you enter into a home, you have to take off your shoes at the door. So often you will see a big pile of shoes near the door. Quite frankly, it makes perfect sense, and I don't understand why we don't do that in the U.S. The bottom of shoes are disgusting. Especially when they are covered in mud and ice.

I am going to try to send pictures this week, so hopefully it won't take too long so I can write. They are small lil' guys, but they will suffice.

Well, this week was Zone Conference week. Holy smokes was it intense. We had 3 zone conferences back to back from Tuesday to Thursday. So we had to organize and cater food to be brought than to do the usual Papa Johns pizza. We found a member in one of the branches who was apparently a professional and just couldn't find any work. I am glad to say that he was, indeed, a professional. Some of the tastiest Russian food I've ever had. But on Monday, he was running late and the Zone Leaders for the zone got sick and couldn't make it to conference, so we had to run around like chickens with our heads slightly cut off, but still remain calm. We got everything figured out, and then lunch was way late. We rearranged our plans and made everything work out. We then had to transport all of the food from the mission home (where it was made) and then to the branch building, which prooved slightly intense. Carrying a huge pot of soup for 20 minutes is pretty intense, especially doing it 3 times. 

But nonetheless, things worked out and we somehow managed to do 3 zone conferences for all three zones here in this mission. I felt like it went really well. We also had our own little spot to teach and present something. President Clark wanted us to teach about the Blessings of Obedience. He had a lot of fun with it. We did some demonstrations about different situations that could come up between companionships that could prevent us from being 100% obedient. As we were planning, we thought of Biff and George Mcfly and what would it be like if they were companions. So, with that thought in our heads, we went with it for a while and decided to put it in a demonstation of us two being those two characters. I was Elder Biff, and Elder Hill was Elder Mcfly. I was the "rebel", and he was the insecure, nonpersistant Mcfly. It was a lot of fun, but it got the point across. We focused our presentation how obedience really gives us freedom, most of all. Sometimes we think that obeying guidance, obeying rules, or obeying commandments or laws gives us less freedom. But in the long run, they give us more opportunities to chose; to exercise our agency. I guess the common man would think that the Word of Wisdom is the greatest inhibitor of freedom, but when he finds himself in some sort of addiction, he would have to think otherwise. 

Somehow we managed to do a lot of work in our area this week, among the zone conferences and people staying at our place, and so on. We taught a lot of people this week, which was awesome! Do you remember how we said that we found a man from Africa named Shaq? Well, I was wrong. I didn't hear correctly. His name is actually Jacques, and he speaks French. Makes sense. But we met with him this week. He is a miracle... Absolulte miracle. When we met with him, he was telling us his story about religion. He has been religious his whole life, but it wasn't until recently he started questioning. He starting trying to find the truth. He had been praying that God would show him an answer. The next day, his colleagues from school were talking about Mormons. He told us that he had this burning desire to learn about who these "Mormons" were, because he had never heard of them. The day he heard about us, we found him in the metro. Before we met with him, we raced to the mission library to see if they had any French Books of Mormon. They had 1 left. Another miracle. We gave it to him and he was really excited to have one. The other awesome thing is that he indeed lives in our proselyting area too!!! Usually, when we find people, it turns out they live in another area. I am so excited for him. He is an answer to our prayers, and we are an answer to his. 

We also met with Mark again! He lives in another Elders' area, but he also is a golden investigator. We did an exchange meeting where we joint taught him. It was one of the most spiritually guided lessons ever. I just felt like everything was led by the Spirit. It was an amazing meeting. We invited him to be baptized, but he said he will definitely think about it. He is 22 and is studying here. One of the nicest men in this city. I know awesome things are in store him. 

Every 5 or so months, there are a group of American English teachers that come to St. Petersburg, most of which are Mormon. They come and teach English to the children here. It's this program thing called ILP or something. But yesterday, they asked us to come over to eat dinner! One of the very few times we have ever been invited to dinner haha. But they made us some awesome Alfredo and BROWNIES! I haven't had those in almost a year. Holy smokes. It's almost been a year. I can't really imagine that. But anyway, there is a guy in the group named Mark and he seems like a stud. We've got a lot of the same interests. We shared a spiritual thought about building a stake here, and they are in. They are going to help, anyway they know how, even if they don't speak a word of Russian. Afterwards, we gave a few of them some blessings. It was an awesome Sunday. We had some investigators come to church. 

A good week in general.

Now to explain each picture!!


1. Me in front of this huge frozen lake in Petrozavodsk. Posing.


2. As well. Jumping.


3. Elder Hill and I made sushi.


4. Us screaming "WASABI!!!"

5. Giorgiy! One of my favorite investigators that I found when I served on that island. I love that man.


6. Russian Orthodox temple in a city called Syestredsk.


7. The Lady Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky. One of the coolest sights here.


8. Spas during a mild winter. Right now those canals are completely frozen.


9. The Winter Palace, where them Anastasias danced.


10. My awesome Russian haircut. My neck was so chaved from it. 

Gotta go! I love you all. The church is true! God is still a God of Miracles!

Love,
Elder Tekulve

P.S.: Don't worry about that lake picture. I was on the shore still. I promise!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

pics of Drewly

Since Drew NEVER sends us pictures I found some on Elder Larsen's mission blog.




North Zone Conference Nov. 2011

Week 51 - My week ticker might be off a week. In fact it should be. But! A Week of Miracles and Frozen Lakes!

Interesting Fact #51 - Train sleep is the best kind of sleep. The two nights I had on the train this week and last week I slept like a baby. I think it's all the rocking it does. Just reminds me of the good ol' days when I spent most of my time in a crib eating pretzels and oreos and chipping my teeth on counter tops. 

I had another little night terror again this week. This time it was on the train. I thought the train was turning a corner and the train wagons were crunching into each other. I thought the wall, again, was falling on top of me and I couldn't do anything. So I got up in a flight of terror and  yelled, "NO!! STOP!!". Needless to say, my companion had a good kick out of it. Other than that, I still had the best sleep I have had on my mission.

Last monday, after I sent my letters to you, we walked around downtown Petrozavodsk, which, by the way, is a beautiful little city. It's right next to this large lake and it was COMPLETELY frozen. We all took pictures in front of it. I have to send them to you. I unfortunately didn't bring my camera. In fact. I don't even have a cord to plug into my camera to the computer. I must have forgotten it or something. No worries. I can buy one here at some computer store. But they are great pictures nonetheless.

Well February is here. The coldest month! And indeed it is. We got back to Petersburg thinking that we can actually start working in our area, and we found that upon our arrival, more work got stacked up to do. In fact, we have three zone conferences to plan for tomorrow. But among all of our crazy work, we still managed to find time to call all of the people we have found through our efforts in the past month. I think there are about 20 something names. We haven't called all of them yet, but we set up some meetings this week with new investigators! Hurray! We found out that one of them lives in the other branch area, so we are going to hand them off to another set of elders. He was a really nice guy who called us this last Sunday. We talked to him a few weeks ago while doing a survey and he was very very interested and wanted to hear more. He lives in some dorms and he invited us over. Probably one of the most hospitable guys ever. Gave us a bunch of chocolate and herbal tea stuff, and just was so excited that we came over. He is 22 and just way awesome. At times you can tell he has got some intense ADD, but he has one of the biggest hearts. Unfortunately we are going to have to hand him over, but I know he will be taught in good hands. 

The other man we met with was someone we found a few weeks ago as well. Right after internet one time, we found this man right outside the library who was really interested in talking. He invited us over and we talked for a while. The tough thing is that we got scheduling conflicts at times to try to meet with him, but we will move with him soon.

We have been trying really hard this week to Open Our Mouths. To never hesitate talking to somebody. It's something that's really uncomfortable,  but we have been seeing so much success from it. It's not something that's a problem on the streets. It's almost natural to start talking to somebody on the streets, but on transport. It's probably one of the most intense things ever. This friday, I sat next to a man on the metro and just simply asked him where he bought his hat. We got talking for a while about the city and he asked what I am doing here. I told him that we are here as missionaries and to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I invited him to come to church and I found he lives 2 minutes away from the branch and he promised to come. Yesterday, we got a call during Sacrament meeting and sure enough, it was him! He came late, but he stayed the last two hours and really enjoyed it. The branch really welcomed him today and it was awesome. Miracles in just talking to people! 

We also had one of the biggest turn outs in our attendance to Sacrament meeting in a long long time. Somewhere around 120 or something came today, which is an incredible amount. I feel like we are incredibly close to becoming a stake. There is a new energy here with President Clark and both the branches and the missionaries are changing for the better. It's really incredible to see. Speaking of new energy, right now in Vyborg, my old area, it's EXPLODING in success right now. The missionaries there are really doing amazing work there with the branch. There are apparently 4 baptismal candidates, and about 7 investigators coming to church, which is the current highest right now in the mission. We are seeing a lot of miracles in "dead" areas as well. People are coming out of the wood work to meet with the missionaries. I am really glad that I am here right now in this mission in this momentous time. It's really a special thing.

In terms of our culinary experimentations, you won't believe what Elder Hill and I made... We made sushi with crab, cucumber, and avacado! It was so nice not to eat some basic chicken dish that missionaries so often make. We also had some shake and bake packets so we made some chicken nuggets, but we blurred the two words together to make Chi'inNah'ets! 

Well we are quite busy again this next week. We have a zone conference tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday to plan out for, along with organizing missionaries to stay in the city and stuff. Wish me luck! Well, I love you all. As always.

Gotta go!
Love,
Elder Tekulve

P.S. "Put your little hand in mine, there aint mountain we can't climb..." "Don't forget your booties because it's COOOLD out there".... Happy Groundhog's Day...
P.S.S. I didnt really proof-read