Pskov - The land of miracles and 43 Churches!

Interesting Fact - In every bigger city in Russia, there will be something called the "Eternal Flame". They are monuments to World War 2. They are always very solemn but beautiful monuments. There is always a flame that is going all day, every day at that monument. I have seen the Pskovian, St. Pete, and Petrozavodskian eternal flames. In all actuality, the day that the War ended for them was a more wonderful day. Russia suffered the most losses out of anyone.

My first week out of St. Petersburg! I am quite happy. I was there almost a year in a big city full of hustle and bussle. Seriously, people are always on the clock there and running to and fro. And I get here and people have all the time in the world and it's great haha. I really loved St. Petersburg, but this is a whole new adventure I guess you can say. Pskov is 5 hours south of St. Pete and it is one of the oldest Russian cities. So therefore, it has around 40 something really old Russian Orthodox churches. There is a Kremlin there too from hundreds of years ago. Actualy, our apartment is right next to it and I can see it right outside of my window. It's way gorgeous here. It's been colder because it has rained every single day so far. I had to buy my 7th umbrella on my mission the other day to accomodate for the rain here. For whatever reason, St. Petersburg ranks second in windiest city, and also first in rainy city. Those two don't mix too well. 

My companion, Elder Berret is a champ! He just got of the MTC and is just way excited and enthusiastic about the week. He has an allergy to the sun and so he has to wear a big cowboy hat and gloves so the sun won't effect him. I really respect him because despite of his disability, he is out on a mission to preach the gospel, of which he knows is true. We basically came into nothing. There is another set of Elders here, and so we are opening the second area here in Pskov, which was opened last winter. So we inherited some former investigators and 1 current investigator. But basically, we are starting from scratch here. People love to talk here and it's awesome. We have a lot of potential investigators, and 4 new investigators so far. 3 of which were from tracting. We tracted into a man named Alexandr. He let us in and we taught about the Plan of Salvation a little bit. His wife is in the hospital with Tuburculosis and he has having a difficult time coping with it. The Spirit was incredibly strong as we talked about Christ and how he can give us so much hope in life. I also explained to him that the Lord has blessed us with the power to give priesthood blessings to heal the sick and afflicted and explained the time when Mom had Cancer and through blessings and prayers, she went from a less than a 10 percent survival rate, to living 12 years later writing her son letters and sending him packages of peanut butter and socks. He was just incredibly touched by our message and we are stopping by again tonight. Soon after we tracting into an older man named Ivan Ivanovich. One of the funniest old men I have ever met. He let us right now, without question. He was shirtless but with suspenders, and he was quite incredibly large. He was just so happy to have company, and we shared our message about the Book of Mormon. He wanted me to sign it because I was American, so I wrote my testimony in it and signed it. It was really just nice to meet him. His wife had passed away a few years ago, and so did his son, so he is fairly lonely, but was happy to see us. We are stopping by againg tonight. He is quite warm and welcoming. It made me realize I really love Russians. I love Russia, and I love this language. I just absolutely love these people and I know this message is of great worth  "and especially unto my people. For I ^bpray continually for them by day, and mine ^ceyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry" (2 Nephi 33:3).

I had another moment of just absolutely loving Russia this past Saturday. The other missionaries baptized an amazing man named Byachislav in the river. The group that attended were 3 babooshkas and a few members from the branch. It was just an incredible baptismal service and it made me realize that I really love this land. It was pouring rain on the way to the river, but as soon as the baptism was getting ready, the clouds parted, and sun shone, and my companion threw on his cowboy hat. The 3 babooshkas were just a complete riot, just being the awesome babooshki that they were. And then Elder Albee went and baptised Byachislav and he is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love this work, and I love this land. I love being a missionary.That is about all for this week. Pskov is awesome. I love it this city!

Love,

Elder Tekulve