Week 66 - Transfer planning, meetings, out of the blue baptism, and frozen Spanish lean cuisines

Interesting Fact 66 - When you order a pizza, you have to pay for the box.

So this was an interesting week. I just barely emailed everyone about last week because of my tardiness of my preperation day. We didn't have much of a preperation day, as it was filled with planning and coordination meetings with President Clark and office staff. On thursday, we had meetings from 8 in the morning until about 2. I swear, I feel like a CPO or something. Whatever that means. The transfer is about to end, which basically means planning, meetings, conferences, planning, planning, and meetings up until about the week after transfers. We are getting 4 new elders, one of which was post-poned due to visa problems, but are sending him on time anyway without a MTC experience. He is flying in straight from Ukraine tomorrow. I can't believe it is another transfer. I am still staying an Assistant. My 5th transfer.. I am not sure how much longer I have got here. I can't believe I have been here since the beginning of December of last year. I will for sure be here until July 10th or so. I will be getting a new companion! An Elder Rasmussen, with whom of which I have been many an exchange. He more or less is my twin, minus the looking the same part. I am really excited to be serving with him. My current companion will be transferred to be the "MTC President" for the new missionary out in Kaliningrad (the area you have to fly in a plane to). So a lot of last week, after Wenesday, was planning and figuring out who will serve with you. There aren't many changes in this transfer, considering the fact of the medium sized number of new missionaries. My previous companion, Elder Hill, is finishing his mission on Wednesday, and he will sure be missed. 

We had a small short exchange with some zone leaders and we went a met an investigator that I had found in January named Mark. He is an awesome young man, but his ability to pay attention is rather low. My temporary companion, who I was with that day, and I practiced so that we can teach him and have him pay attention. As soon as we started, it was a battle keeping him focused. At one point he stood up to check the tea in the other room, but for the most part he was focused. He is a funny young man who is definitely one of the nicer more hospital men I've met. It's pretty interesting. We found him in our area a long time ago, but he lived in another area, but now he lives back in the area where we found him. Can't complain. 

So the other companionship of elders in my branch had been working with a young man named Artyom. He wanted to get baptized more than anything. However, given the current circumstance, he would have to wait a week to be confirmed because he schedule. So he got permission for that, and he just jumped to get baptized. They scheduled for this last saturday, and everything was going perfect. He had his interview he was just golden and so set to be baptized on Saturday at 6:00 pm. About 5:30 he called the missionaries and told them that his parents were against him joining the church and they couldn't do it. He met with the missionaries outside the branch and talked for a few hours about it. Knowing my companion had the same kind of situation when converted, I had Elder Loskutov talk to him and then I grabbed a missionary to go find new investigators. It was already around 6:50 and he was supposed to be baptized already and everyone was completely doubting. A senior couple missionary began to drain the font and everything. I went back to the font and it wasn't drained yet, because he turned on the water on accident. So I turned off the drain and the water so it stayed thinking "just maybe." We went back out for an hour and got a phone call around 8:30. I answered thinking, "Ok I have your companion. I will give him back and we will call it a day", but instead they told me that Artyom wanted to get baptized. So we got the permission from President Clark to baptize him, and he was baptized at 8:45 pm Saturday, the 26th of May. I had to preside at the baptism because no one could come besides some missionaries and a senior couple. It was the shortest but such a wonderful baptismal service and he was absolutely glowing and felt so good about himself. The thing is he has to wait until the 3rd to be confirmed. I am praying for him and the missionaries that they can continue to work with him everyday to prepare for that. I view it a miracle that I didn't end up draining the font. 

One of the greatest things this week is the return of a view inactives. Ehmin, who I talked about a little bit before, who is a professional painter, and another man who hadn't been to church in 10 years. President Clark and Elder Grow from the Seventy talked to him last week, and he came to church and he is preparing to go back to the temple and is making steps to return into full activity into the church. Ehmin is preparing to recieve the Melchezideck Priesthood and is also taking very important but such wonderful steps in his life. I am so grateful to be able to help and support him too, as I would with any other investigator. Another inactive has been coming back and is also preparing to recieve the Melchezideck Priesthood in a week or two or so. This work here really is taking off as more and more missionaries are baptizing new converters, and more and more inactives are coming back into activity in the church and receiving the blessings from God and full membership. This church is true, and this work is the work of the Lord.

Oh and to help clarify the last part of the title: I ate a frozen spanish lean cuisine, and it was great.

Jacques is doing awesome. He is learning still how to get to church. He got on the wrong trams and got completely lost, but he made it to church looking like the stud that he is with his shirt and tie. 

This week was a wonderful week. I love this Church, I love the Lord, and I love all of you who are taking the time to read this, even if at times its boring, or interesting, or strange. Thank for your support and prayers for my behalf, and for the behalf of the work of the Lord in the world. It really is the stone carved out of the mountain with no hands, and it continues to roll, and will continue to roll down the mountain, until it has encompassed the whole Earth. (Daniel 2:31-45)

I love you all! The church is true.

Love,

Elder Tekulve

P.S. - Russian Yogurt is one of the best ideas since the the toaster oven. I have been quite the fan of yogurt since I have been here.

Week 65 - Jacques' Baptism, Conferences, Meetings, Planning, Stuff, etc.

Interesting Fact 65 # So there is a belief/custom not to smile in pictures here. To smile means you are not wise, wise means you are respected. Therefore, you do not smile. That's why people think I am so strange.

Jacques got baptized!!!!!!! It took a lot of work, but it was awesome. The week leading to his baptism, I saw such a change in him, which I was so proud of. Nothing mattered to him. He wanted more than ANYTHING to be baptized. That is a true sign of conversion. That's a true sign of repentance. The service went very well. We had only members participate in the service, and had members baptize and confirm. That's how it should work. Brother Kirrill Ananich baptized Jacques, who played an awesome role in helping him find his own conversion through prayer. His confirmation was kind of stressful in the beginning. I told him we would meet him at the branch building 10 minutes before, but he understood the metro. So he raced on over to the branch and sat down just before the opening prayer. If he had been a minute late, we would have had to postpone the confirmation  until next Sunday. But Yegor Sotnikov, a new member, and a recently ordained melchezideck priesthood holder, confirmed and we joined in. It was wonderful and the Spirit was so intense when he received it. That day he then received the Aaronic Priesthood. It was one of the best days on my mission.

We had a guest in the city this weekend, an Elder C. Scott Grow from the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. We had yet another mission tour. The second one in 2 months. So we had a special Zone Leader meeting on Saturday, of which we had to leave early for Jacques' baptism. Oh yeah. He presided at his baptism too. It's not everyday that a General Authority presides at a convert baptism, but he did for Jacques'. It was way awesome to have him there. It really strengthened Jacques' testimony about the truthfulness of the church. On Monday and Tuesday, we had 2 Mission Conferences with him as well that we had been planning and organizing all last week. I learned so much on how I can improve my effectiveness as a missionary. There is so much I can do with planning, setting goals, working with members, and so many things I can do to improve. I learned an incredibly amount. Needless to say, all that information wore me completely out on Monday. I have never been so drained of energy before just from sitting and listening. But it was great. Elder Grow really has been called by a prophet to help lead this Church. 

This last week was probably one of the best weeks on my mission. There was just so much going on. We had a lot of new investigators, old investigators coming to us to meet, an exchange with the zone leaders, a devotional with Elder Grow, to which our investigators came, had awesome finding experiences by finding prepared people, fulfilling our standards of excellence, and just opening our mouths and talking to people. I absolutely love being a missionary. It's kind of funny looking back how I was coming into the field. It's more than a year here in Russia, but yet it feels like a few weeks. But I have learned so much, and I am continuing to grow and learn. 

Well time for pictures!

1 - Jacques before his baptism with Brother Kirrill

2 - Jacques with Elder Hill and I after his baptism

3 - Jacques with Elder Hill and I three months ago

4 - Elder Brennan Tekulve in a new missionary training book

6 - A view out my window one winter day. 

I have no time and i know I may have swapped one of those pictures. And i dont know how to count.

I love you all and the church is true!!!

Love,

Elder Tekulve

Week 64 - Jacques is ready! Our 10 minute stay in Vyborg

Interesting Fact # 64 - Tapichki! People are a big fan of indoor slippers and wearing sandals inside. It's really weird for people to walk around barefoot inside a home. They always offer little slippers (tapichki) or sandals. I like it. I think it's great.

This week, we really saw an amazing miracle occur. Upon working and teaching our investigator, Jacques, for months, we met with him this week and he is completely 100% ready and willing to be baptized! We set up a new baptismal date with him on the 19th this Saturday. President Clark went with us to the meeting, and it was awesome. He had a few concerns and questions, but we answered them all, and now he is completely 100 % set on being baptized now. He is making arrangements with work to make sure he can make it to his baptism and confirmation. He wants so badly to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We taught him some of he remaining commandments like the Law of Chastity, and Tithing, and he is accepted it all and ready to go. I never seen someone so excited as he is. And the great thing is that I am right there with him.

That day when we met with Jacques, we had to go to Vyborg that day for my companion to fix his registration or something. Basically had to drive there 3 hours, stay there for 10 minutes, and then a 3 drive back in a hot steamy bus. I remember those Vyborg days. I can't believe that was a year ago.. We were running late, and we had made arrangements with President Clark and a Senior missionary to go on splits with us so that we can cover more than one appointment. We some how made it from the furthest metro station away from the city to the center in the city in less than 20 minutes, which never happens. We got really lucky/blessed that day. Nonetheless, we made to our meetings in time. 

We officially organized, and set up skype calls home! and it worked! I was really surprised myself. But we had over half of the mission come in to make skype calls to their mothers this mother's day, myself included. We couldn't get the other half to use skype because of the sheer distance they live from the city. There were a few problems, but nothing that we couldn't fix. Since Decemember, I have really learned how to make last minute corrections and fixes to problems/make last minute changes to plans. Something always arises and the plans never work out the way you want them to. I guess you can say that it is pretty fun always having to be on your feet and thinking of some fixeroos. Well it was awesome speaking/seeing my parents! 

We did a lot of pretty good finding this week, with some fairly good results. It's a really interesting concept: Open Your Mouth. Everywhere you go, open your mouth and preach by the way. That's how we found Jacques. We went in the metro, and he was there. We asked him if he spoke English and we started talking from there. And now, this Saturday, he will be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

That's it for last week. This week we are having another mission tour which we have to be a part of, and then 2 more mission conferences that we have been organizing. Luckily this month isn't and won't be like March. Although, June is coming up with the billion visa trips to organize plus another Mission Conference with Elder Christopherson from the Twelve. Well that will be cool and fun!

The Church is true! 

Love,
Elder Tekulve

Week 63 - Jacques and Skype crazies

Interestin' Fact #63 - You really got only two types of cars here. 1, the wondrous jelopy, and 2, the super expensive sports car. It's really rare to see a "middle-class" car, whatever that may be. You still see a lot big, old soviet army trucks driving along. Oh, and washing a car is not just a once a week, or once every other week kind of thing. It's an everyday thing here (if you want your car looking clean). 

This week, we really focused on helping Jacques find his testimony. His baptismal date is on the 12th of May, and we are working incredbily hard for him to be ready by that date. It's really hard for him to come to church because he works Fridays and Saturday nights from 8 pm to 10 am in the morning, all night. But he was determined to come this Sunday. He had worked Saturday night from 8 pm - 10 am, and then had work again at 5 pm to teach someone French, and then he worked again from 8 pm - 10 am Sunday night as well. He knows that if he really wants to find an answer and his own testimony about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the fullness of times, he needs to really seek and do all the commitments that we give him. He was determined to come on Sunday, and he came! He was dead tired not having slept in a few days, and slept a little during Sacrament, of which I tried to keep him awake via loud coughing and shuffling my legs. But he absolutely loved Sunday School and it did an awesome job getting him to understand the purpose of the restored Priesthood. With Jacques, I have been calling him every night to talk with him and help him find his answers. Jacques really is a special guy, and he is so incredibly close to being baptized. We had an incredble lesson with him with a member in our branch named Kirrel Aninich. It really helped him understand a lot of things. The Spirit was incredibly strong. I am just praying that he will baptized by the 12th, but if not by the end of this month. I remember the day after we found him, we thought his name was Shaq. Close ha

This week, I did a lot of organizing for the Skype calls for the mission. It's really interesting how many things we have done differently or new here in this Mission with President Clark. It's been awesome working with him and helping this mission grow and it really is an awesome experience seeing the effects of our efforts to lift and inspire the mission. Granted it's pretty difficult balancing assistant responsiblities and missionary work here in our area, but the Lord blesses us anyway. We have been seeing a lot of success in small doses in our area. The mission is seeing a lot of success all over the place. Some of the quote-on-quote "dry" areas, which I fail to believe is true, are baptizing a lot. Why? Because of a change of attitude, heart, desire, and their obedience to the work and to the Lord.

That's pretty much it for this week. We were invited to go to this presentation for a kind of emergency prepardness thing in the Office on Saturday. It basically turned into a sale pitch at the end, which was absolutely hilarious. One of the funny highlights of the week. It somehow went from Emergency Prepardness to what to do before an ambulance comes, to "here is this cool product, let's buy it!". 

Anywho! We had a good week this. This is really the work of the Lord. This is His harvest. And for this mission, the harvest is just about ready to collect our sheafs. I love you all! The Chuch is true! 

Love,

Elder Tekulve