A Gamechange in Pskov, Zone Conference and the Pink Bus

Interesting Fact - I learned that there is a certain type of fly in the city/area of Petrozovodsk (7 hours north of St. Petersburg) that bites people during the summer. It doesn't just bite people, it actually takes a big chunk of skin out of said victim and flies away. Apparently you will fill a sting and look at current wound to see blood. Don't worry, because it didn't happen to me. I am much far away from this monsterous creature. 

The most memorable part of this week was that there was a BIG change in the Pskov branch this weekend. Since it is a mission branch and doesn't belong to a stake or district, President Clark acts as the Stake President for this branch. So he came this last weekend and I was his companion for most of the day. We met with actives and mostly inactives all around Pskov. I was his little translator like the good ol' days when I was in St. Pete. He called a new Branch President who is still fresh from his mission from which he got back last December. His name is Ilya Karzharskiy and he is a champ. Ilya and President Clark got together and gave callings to ALL members who met with and others he didn't. There were two inactive men, Anatoly and Dmitri that haven't been active for years. They have showed up to church every once in a while, but they are inactive still. We met with those two men and committed them to receive a calling. They both came to chruch, both accepted callings, and are ready to serve and come back. The Dmitri man was more of a miracle in my opinion. He had been angry with the church, was in a rut in his life, inactive, unhappy, and then President Clark and I knock on his door. He wasn't expecting either of us to stop by, but he left us in, and his heart was softened. He said he would come back and accept a calling. It was way amazing to see and to participate in. The more miracle of the story is that at that time, we were supposed to meet with two other people but they had cancelled, so instead, I had the idea to try to stop by via SURPRISE attack. And it worked. The next Sunday, President Clark ordained and set apart 20+ callings. Now our little branch is a more functioning branch! It was amazing. We had about 27 people come this week. The amazing part, was when I translating at the podium for President Clark to release the current Branch President, the Spirit was so strong. It confirmed to me and everyone in that room that the Branch President had served faithfully and honorably and that his sacrifice in his service was accepted. It was one of the more amazing moments that I have seen on my mission where the Spirit was strong.

We had Zone Conference this week. It is nice not having to organize every little detail of those conferences and worrying about the travel of other missionaries and organizing where they will stay and go and so on. So I got to be a normal missionary for once during a Zone Conference! It was great and I got really fired up. That night we got back and talked to a lot of great prepared people all over St. Petersburg. I forgot how awesome that city is. There are so many people; millions of prepared people. We just got of find them!  Oh to add, the bus which we took this last week was a bright bright pink. By destiny, the same bus we drove into St. Petersburg, drove us back to Pskov 2 days after that. 

I love being a missionary. I love Russia. I love this language, and I love these people. This Church is true and this really is the Lord's work. 

I love you all! Until next week!

Love,

Elder Tekulve

P.s. Shout out to the HAYLE HAM who got called to DONETSK UKRAINE! Поздравляем!!!! Я рад за Тебя! И за твоё желание служить Господу! Seriously! I have a Russian buddy now! If you be reading this, you will soon realize that Russian is an amazing language, that these people are amazing, and that is where you are supposed to be!!