Week 57 - Warm Dusty Streets and Better Borsht

Interesting Fact #57 - There is quite the eccentric group of English learners here in this area. There are a few people who live and breath the English language. We met one of them this last Saturday in our English Conversation Group. His name is Eugene and he is obsessed with the movie Taxi Driver, and just kept on asking if what he was saying was correct, and went around the room asking me what things were called. It was a hilarious hour and a half.

This week we met with Jacques finally! We actually met with him 3 times this week, and each time we really focused on something that he needs to understand; that is, the authority of the priesthood. That's his one hanger. He wants to understand and find his own testimony himself, so he wants us to call every night to talk with him and read with him. Please, and how! So last night, I called him up and I read with him from 1 Nephi 13 (where he just so conviniently left off from his personal reading) which talked about the bible and the restoration of the gospel, and the prophecy of the Book of Mormon. On the phone he seemed to really understand that the Bible is indeed missing the plan and precious truths, that the Book of Mormon so clearly teaches. He said he understands the necessity of being baptized now! I bore my testimony really quick before I had to get off the phone to get ready for bed, but we set up another meeting, this time with the only African member in our branch, who just happens to speak French. Unfortunately he is semi less active, he sometimes he comes to church. He came on Sunday and I talked with the member and he has agreed to come to the lesson with Jacques. It just so happens as well that he was also part of Jacque's faith, before his baptism. That is the ideal situation. It really is a blessing to see that the pieces of the puzzle are really falling into place. Our goal is set up a baptismal date with him this Tuesday.

We are really focusing in this mission to open our mouths everywhere you go. So you are talking to everyone, anyone, everywhere and it really is quite fun. You cannot have any excuse to be shy or hesitant. As a mission, we are keeping track of how many contacts we recieve in a day (or in other words, how many conversations with people you are having that lead into the gospel). It is necessary for missionaries to talk to at least 10 people a day between each companion. This week we did a lot of finding, and each time, the night ended on the tenth and final contact at 8:58 at night, resulting in us running back home. It's been quite fun really striving to be obedient and following council. I noticed that the more we strived to be obedient and recieve all of our contacts and more, we are blessed with that request and desire. There have been plenty of days in which we have gotten more, but the days where we have 9 each and it's 8:45 are special, incredible nights. They always end on such an awesome note, because they will always talk with you, no matter what.

Last Monday night, we talked with this man named Oleg on the street right outside the branch building. We asked if we could share a quick message with him there for 30 minutes and he agreed. He was a younger man, sells real estate, really nice. We taught about the Restoration and the role of the Book of Mormon. That was by FAR the strongest I've ever felt the Spirit on my mission. Everything that he would asked, we backed up with the Book of Mormon. He even said that he feels something really strong and he knew it was the Holy Ghost. But for whatever reason he couldn't accept the Book of Mormon. He almost feared it. So we told him, okay, turn to a random page and read a random verse. Every time he would do that, he would find this golden verse that told him the exact answer to his question. Every single time this happened. He had to get going, so we said a kneeling prayer with him and the Spirit was so strong you could cut with a knife. For whatever reason he didn't want to accept it, but he knew it was right and true. It was the weirdest thing ever, but also so amazing. I know he will come back searching for that feeling again. He knows where we are. And I know he will crave that Spirit that he felt. It's just a matter of time when he is ready to act. 

Missions are amazing. I really feel like I am an instrument in God's hands. I don't really think about it, I just go where it feels it makes most sense, and say something that makes sense to say, but looking back on it, it really is the Spirit that guides us on what to say and where to go. Its just another testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ really has been restored in these days, and that the ordiance of the Gift of the Holy Ghost is real, and it has been restored to its fullness. The priesthood to perform those ordinances has been restored. The Church is true!

I love you all. I hope to hear from you all of you soon. Again!
Love,
Elder Tekulve

Postscriptz: To all the buddies that got mission calls - Congrats Ryan Taylor!! Costa Rica is going to be a better pahlace! Kellie Julander! Tokyo, Japan!!! That's amazing! I totally guessed that one too! and Josh Chang! You're already in the MTC, but I just heard about Hong Kong. I am happy for all of you! You are all going to be amazing missionaries and instruments in the Lord's hands! That is a very yes.

Week 56 - Mission Tour with President Bennett from the Quorom of the Seventy

Interesting Fact #56 - I really should have noticed this one in the beginning, but I didn't even mention it. Russians. absolutely. love. sour. cream. And here in Russia, sour cream is actually much better. It's called Smyetana, and it's much creamier and a lot less artificial. They put in soups all the time, and on breads, and also fruits. My companion is a huge fan of smyetana.

This week was so intense! We had so much going on, but it was all awesome. To start, we had a Zone Leader Council on Monday with President Bennett from the Quorum of the Seventy/Area Presidency here in Eastern Europe. We discussed the progress of the mission, how we can improve, and essentially how to make the mission a more successful mission. The council then took this turn towards member missionary work and how to improve on that. The Spirit really directed the discussion on Monday insomuch that we ended up spending all Monday talking about that (for the most part). This week was completely planned with Missionary Conferences, District Conferences for the members, Firesides and so on. The plans completely changed as a result of our discussion on Monday. During the missionary conferences we talked about how we can better work with members, having them come contacting with us, or tracting with us, and being more present when we teach. We talked about how they can work with us during the magic hours here in St. Petersburg; 6pm to 9pm; the time where everyone is off of work.

And then afterwards, after we talked about that some more, some more ideas came up, and we made a concrete plan to work with members and then on Saturday, President Clark and President Bennett helped train them all in Preisthood and Auxilary training meetings. The members are fired up to work with us, and the missionaries are more than willing to work with the members, because we all know that the key to missionary work is working with members. We have already got out contacting with some members and went out with other members to visit less actives and really have the church grow here in St. Petersburg Russia. I am so glad that I have that oppurtunity to participate in this! This is exactly what the mission and Church needs here --- Unity! 

Well, on Tuesday and Wednesday we had two mission conferences, 2 visa trips, and a bunch of other stuff going on. Some pretty intense couple of days. All of our plans of who would have go on an exchange with who, and pretty much organizing missionaries alltogether more or less fell through completely, and it was a lot of quick thinking and replanning. It was actually quite hilarious by the end of it. After Wednesday night, I probably had the best night of sleep ever. It was wonderful haha. OH! An awesome little/big miracle happened in the middle of it; we organized contacting activities in between the morning half of conference and lunch where missionaries would, as you guessed it, go out contacting in the streets. We only had time for maybe 20 minutes of contacting because of making sure everything was set in order before lunch. But, we found a little lady named Alla and her neighbor Vaciliy out walking in the streets. We started talking to them and they both were incredibly eager to meet, insomuch that we met the next day. We talked to them about the Restoration, which they accepted so well, and agreed to be baptized on the 15th of May. The work starts now with them. 

Unfortunately Gennadiy, that one fellow we were working with really didn't work it. He won't keep committments, he won't read, and doesn't want to change, essentially, to prepare for baptism. He really is not ready for baptism so we stepped it down with him. 

We couldn't meet with Jacques at all this last week because his schedule completely changed and he is incredibly busy now. I have been talking to him everyday and he really wants to meet but he has a hard time finding time to meet. He really appreciates us calling him everyday and really caring for him. He told us he is going through a depression and really wants to meet up again. I know that once he accepts the gospel into his life, and live it until the end, he can given so much strength during trials and hardships. I think we all can attest to that. Something about the Gospel just gives us so much strength when we are in such a dire need of it. Why is that? Because it's true. Because it's the Gospel of Jesus Christ,. Jesus Christ being the one died for us so that he can know how to succor each and everyone of us. He knows us, he knows exactly what we go through, because He felt it Himself.

So we had an amazing District Conference last night. I don't have much time to talk, but we completely FILLED the chapel and cultural hall with people. It was amazing!! There over 500 people there this conference, which is absolutely outstanding here. We are making so many big steps towards a stake, and it's so amazing to observe. The members here are so incredibly strong and faithful, and incredibly excited to become a stake. There were more people here at this conference then there was when Elder Nelson from the Twelve came down. It was incredible. 

I gotta get going! I don't have much time, but the church is true! 

Love,

Elder Tekulve 

Week 55 kind of - The Beginning of March Madness!

Interesting Fact # 55 - Ikea exists in Russia.

Well I just about emailed you only a few days ago. We have to take our preperation day today because Monday we will not have anytime to do so. Neither on Tuesday.. Or Wednesday. So therefore, here I am!

This week was pretty intense. After Monday, it felt like everything took off at 100 miles per hour. Or should I say 160 Kilometers per hour? Anywho, after my last email on Monday we went over to Jacques' who lives in this dorm hostel place. He prepared this spicy peanut Cameroonian fish and rice dish for us. It was absolutely amazing. Apparently it's a pretty common dish there. They have this canned peanut butter stuff that they use frequently I guess. It sounds so good right now. Anyway, we talk to him about Fasting after the meal and it turns out he already has a huge testimony about fasting. He fasts about once a month as well and understands how necessary it is. So that was pretty cool. It was Elder Hill's last meeting with him, so Jacques gave us some gifts; some ceremonial African clothing. We took some pictures! Unfortunately I didn't prepare my camera to upload them today (which reminds me. It's impossible for me to find some sort of USB for my camera here). Anywho. Just imagine the most colorful celebration in a long shirt made from some sort of polyster or something. I was way excited that I just got something awesome haha.

On Tuesday, we picked new missionaries! They are all just good-jobbers (The is no word in Russia for "good-job" only "good-jobber") I took an Elder Davis for his first time through the Metro. It was way cool for him. I remember my first trip through the metro. It more or less exploded my head. I am sure it did the same for him in a good way haha. He was really excited to be here in this mission. He is going to an excellent missionary here. There were 2 new elders (one from Moscow) and 4 new sisters (2 from the U.S. and 2 from Russia). It was quite the trip picking them up. Afterwards, because of the sake of time, we had to go straight back and have them fill out some new paperwork (always the funnest thing today after 24 hours on a plane) and then we sat down and ate. Dinner was, of course, amazing.

There were a million and a half changes this last transfer. I think there were only 1 or 2 companionships staying in their assigned areas. Like I said earlier, I got a new companion! Elder Loskutov. He is a great companion too. One of the hardest working elders in this mission, which is always a good thing. He honestly speaks very little English, and he has a more difficult to understand accent in Russia, so communication is slow haha. We have done a lot of planning since Wednesday because we got two big Conferences with President Bennett from the Seventy and a Zone Leader Council with President Bennett as well. We are doing a lot of making sure our plans are exact. He's definitely not used to all this planning so far. 

We also had two more visa trips for elders having to stay here at our place. There was one this morning as well. So it's been kind of like a hotel  at our place. So it's been fun. Oh we also had some departing missionaries, one of which was the last assistant (not elder Hill. His old companion), which is definitely a big blow for the mission. He was a fantastic missionary. Our neighbors also had to go home! They are a Senior Couple from New Mexico. The husband, Elder Hazlewood is exactly the kind of old guy I want to be in my life. One of the biggest champs in the world.

That's pretty much the news since last time. March Madness is still going on! In colleges around th U.S., and also here in the Russia St. Petersburg Mission. It's kind of funny when you think about it. People always make life to seem like this stressful ball of decisions, worries, stress, and confusion. Yes in this life, we need to make important decisions, but I am learning to not stress out about things. Yeah we all have responsibilities but its a lot harder to stress about it and still do it. That's something I am still figuring out I think haha.In times of hardship, you need to lift, inspire, and bless! 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Tekulve

Week 54 - Teaching People and Russian Elections

Interesting Fact #54 - I have been told before my mission to make sure to try Chinese food here. Elder Hill and I just ate out a few hours ago at this restaurant near our apartment. I think Russian Chinese Food is a lot of more oily than I am used to. So it's oily! Interesting!

This week was an interesting one. To be honest, I can't really remember what has happened this past week. It seems like a lot happened/it all happened incredibly fast. I guess this is the cool news. The new Russian translation came out of the Book of Mormon. It's now out on a triple combo, leatherback awesomeness, which I have already ordered. It's surprising how differently the two translations are now. The new translation is I think 99 percent changed. It's now translated straight from the English translation, rather than trying to sound older Russian. The original Russian translation was done in the 60s and you can sometimes find small mistakes. You are probably thinking what translation of the Bible do we use? We use the Russian Orthodox canonized translation which is in even older Russian and it can be so hard to understand sometimes. 

Last night were the elections for the President of Russia so we had to come in a little early in case something happened. So that's the big thing that happened this week in Russia. I still don't know who won, but I guess I will find out really soon.

Jacques is doing awesome! We had an amazing lesson with him and read with him about Lehi's vision and related it to him on the iron rod. We did everything we can to encourage him to read everyday and he has, indeed, been reading! He has a lot of amazing insights and he really is on the path to know if it is true or not. It's amazing to part of the process of learning the true restored gospel. This is really one of the most important paths he will ever take in his life, and it's up to us for him to understand and find his answer. It's pretty intense if you think about it that way. We are meeting Jacques again tonight in his dorm. He really wants to feed us Cameroonian food. Apparently it's ridiculously spicy, so I am in for a treat, I suppose. I found out that the church isn't in Cameroon yet, but the Church is ever growing in Nigeria, the neighboring country. Jacques is our miracle investigator!

So Elder Hill is leaving Center and going to Gatchina. I am getting a new companion on Wednesday who is from one of the Russian islands just right north of Japan! He really doesn't know too much English and I really think I will get a lot of really solid Russian practice with him, sharing an apartment and all. He will be the Junior Assistant. But it's goign to be really fun. He is way awesome, humble elder. He is the one that had the plank of wood fall on his head 3 months and had to go to the Hospital. He has since completely recovered but suffered a minor concussion, and has had a slight personality change. He now is perhaps the funniest Elder in the whole mission. It's so great haha

What else happened today... Oh, we helped President Clark do transfer calls this Saturday and he fed us some German Pancakes! Those were awesome. But basically this week is absolutely crazy. 6 missionaries finishing their missions on Wednesday. Two more visa trips. (We just had one today), and then a conference next Tuesday and Wednesday, plus a council for the Zone Leaders on Monday. Which reminds me, I won't be having my preperation day next Monday. It will probably be this Saturday. So just to let you know! 

I am really glad and grateful to hear that mom's surgery went well. It's but another answer to my prayers. I have been praying that there will be no problems with surgery since I've known about it, and it appears to me that's exactly what happened. God answers prayers. He will perform his miracles to those that truly seek it and have the faith that they will happen. Prayer is such a powerful tool for our benefit. It's like a magic lamp but more  warm and more sincere, and it's unlimited and free. 

That's it for this week! I love you all. I love reading all the emails and everything. To some of my buddies reading this on that so-called blog I hear so much about, a departing senior couple who are going home this Wednesday said they will mail some letters when they get home, so expect them soon! (They are also our next door neighbors and they are some of best people on this Earth. I am going to miss the Hazlewoods!)

Love,

Elder Tekulve