Cool week. I can't think of a good subject.

Dorogaya Sem'ya moya, i Dorogiye Druz'ya Moi,

This past week was a great amazing week in which we saw a lot of miracles and success. We found a few new investigators and we had some great success with our current ones this week. The "Swansons" who we are working with had a cool little miracle. So we try to commit them to baptism last week, which they weren't sure. As Yulia, the wife, was reading the Book of Mormon, she read 3 Nephi 27:20. She took that to be her answer, and now both of them are commited to be baptized on March 16th, that Saturday. We taught them the Word of Wisdom, which Yulia committed to with excitement, but Sergay was a tad hesitant stating that he is not ready. But we gave them the assignment to read Mosiah 18 on their own. Sergay joked that he wants to baptized in the waters of Mormon now. We are seeing them again tonight.

We had another cool miracle happen this week. Our other investigator, Yulian (or Julian), from Moldova, agreed to a baptismal date. He has gone to church for the past month and really participating all three hours. He is already in the Book of Mosiah and he his faith is growing so much. It's way awesome. He prays all of the time now, and he is definitely our most sincere and progressing investigator. We committed him to be baptized on March 9th which he agreed to. So we are getting him prepared for that.

We had 3 other investigators at church yesterday. One of which is a woman named Chinara from Kigurzia, which is a republic next to Kazakhstan. She is awesomely Christian and was really happy to find a Church like ours here in Pskov. She recently moved here and met a member here and he invited her to chuch. We introduced her to the sisters who will be teaching her now. Another investigator that came to chuch is a young guy named Dima. We had called him Sunday morning and woke him up, and he said he won't come. He then called back 5 minutes later and changed his mind. He came and stayed all three hours, and fairly enjoyed it. He is really interested in Joseph Smith and know more about his story. We haven't had much of a chance to really teach him, but we hope to sometime this week. We also had 2 other less active brothers come to church. All around, a very fun and successful week this week.

I love it here! It is getting slightly warmer. Spring is around the corner. Russian Springs are probably the most gorgeous thing in the world.

I love you all. The Church is true! And this is the Lord's work.

Love,
Elder Tekulve

Shooting and Editing videos on the Mission! Families Galore in Pskov

Interesting Fact - I can't really think of anything right now except a Russian word that sounds funny. I don't know what the word is in English, but when you go through a parking lot and there is this lever that stops the cars from coming in and out, and when you pay for a parking pass the lever goes up and you can drive through. I don't remember the word in English, but the word in Russian is Shlagbaum, which is also a German word I am guessing.

So this week was a cool week. So I never thought that I would ever have any video projects while on the mission, but I just had an interesting video project this last week. President Clark wanted me to go back up to Peter to shoot a video of a member telling about his mother's experience during the Siege of Leningrad. I then had to edit the video for President Clark to show the Area Presidency. It was pretty frustrating because before my mission I was so used to using hi-tech equipment, cameras, microphones, and editing software, so it felt like I was trying to make arts and crafts using really small scissors. The camera I had was pretty nice but everything was still auto, so everything was out of focus, and I was using iMovie to edit which is like using Microsoft Paint to make a Photoshop project. It is possible, but painstakingly long. It ended up fairly decently given the fact that I had to get it done in a day. It is no Albert though.

However, it was still fun going back to what I loved to do but in Russia and as a missionary. The member told an incredible and heartbreaking story. I will share a litle bit with you all! So his mother was 12 during the siege, and they had accidentally lost their food card, which was the only way to get food at the time. They wrote their father who was fighting on the front that they were dying, so the father got permission to leave the frontline, kill a horse, and give them the food to eat until the next month of food cards, and then turned around and faught back in the line. I have the recording saved also on my camera in Russian. It is an amazing story.

This week, we didn't have many lessons or teaching appointments, so we did what we do best; Talk to lots of people. We had dinner with the Clark's this week which was also a bonus. And then we drove back with them back to Pskov. We took President Clark out contacting with us. It had rained in Pskov, so all of the snow is melting and there are rivers of water EVERYWHERE. Needless to say, myfeet were soaked. We had a great night of contacting. 

Sunday was awesome. Days like yesterday really make me not want to go home AT ALL. So we got Karl and Yulian back to church again. The Pskov Sister missionaries brought a new investigator mother with her 2 young children to church. President and Sister Clark were prepared for the family that we are working with to be there (they ended up coming after Sacrament Meeting), so they spoke a lot about families. Right as church started, a young couple walked in as well with a young baby. I thought they were members maybe coming to visit Pskov. After sacrament meeting I talked to them and it turns out I talked to them on the street and invited them to come to church last fall.. First off, I don't remember that at all, and second off, it is amazing that they came yesterday of all days when Sister and President Clark were in town. They prepared talks about families for the "Swansons", but they weren't there. Instead this other investigating family came at that day. Coincidence? Nope. It was all part of God's plan. So they took their young child to primary with the other two children. So now we have 3 families the missionaries in the branch are working with. A month ago, we had 0. We are seeing blessing after blessing as we continue to work diligently!

The "Swansons" ended up coming, so President Clark and Sister Clark and I met with them seperately and had a great meeting. We showed the Ukraine Temple Youth Celebration and talked about eternal families. It was a powerful meeting. So the branch had about 10 investigators to church. I love this little branch. What is great about it is that we are all working together. 

I really love being a missionary. I love it here. I really do. This is really the Lord's work and His hand is so evident here.

I love you all!
Love,
Elder Tekulve 

Great Week, Petersburg, German Pancakes, and Pskov's first Primary

Dearest all,

This week was great! The first half of the week went by fairly slowly, and we couldn't get a single meeting for the first 4 days. So we ended up talking to lots of people on the streets, and stopping by addresses with no one home. On Wednesday, in the afternoon, we left to Peter and got there within 4 hours which is pretty fast. Normally, it takes anywhere between 5 to 6 hours. We have discovered these smaller private buses that you can order ahead of time that go a lot faster, and they all depart from this mall right next to our apartment. And they also cost about the same. So, we had another Zone Leader Council there with President Clark. Normal, we participate over skype on those, but we needed to go into the city anyways, so we decided to kill two rabbits with one bullet, as they say in Russian (two birds with one stone). 

Our Zone Leader Council was amazing and I learned an incredible amount. We got into very interesting doctrines about obedience and The Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law. When I got into this mission, it felt like all of the missionaries made excuses and justified their disobedience by saying they live by the Spirit of the Law. We studied it all out together in our council and learned that the Spirit of the Law is the Higher Law that Jesus taught. It isn't what the law is trying to show, or the point of the law. The Spirit of the Law is living by the Letter of Law and having the Spirit with you, which would never saw to brake a law. It is giving more and not less. By justifying that you live by the Spirit of the Law you are giving much much less. It was way interesting and inspiring. We then had an awesome lunch at the Clark's and left to go back to Pskov.

We had another Zone Training Meeting, this time over skype. We had it at the Senior Couple's here in Pskov, who fed us an amazing breakfast of German Pancakes, thus the random statement of German Pancakes in the title. The Zone Training went very well. The next one will be in a month from now. So finally, we get back to Pskov and get back to work. We met with our new investigator Sasha (guy) who is a friend of a member here. He is progressing really well. The member, Masha, bore an awesome testimony about her baptism and her conversion which helped a lot. We met with a few others this past weekend.

We had three miracles this week:

1. Our investigator, Yulian, came back from Moldova after about a week or two. He called us himself and asked if there still will be church. And he came for all three hours again and loved it. We met and talked some more and he has read already into page 110 in the Book of Mormon and marking where he has got questions. He is incredibly sincere. Since our last meeting, almost a month ago, he has been praying everyday like we have told him to, and he really feels the Book of Mormon is true because he feels really good when he reads it.

2. Our investigator Family, the Lebedyevs came to church! All 6 of them! It was not easy for them to get all together and go on time. They came to the last 10 minutes of Sacrament Meeting. The wife loved Gospel Principles, which we held in the primary room so that the parents could be with the children. We haven't had a full family with little children in Pskov in years, so we kind of had no idea what to do. They then had Primary combined with Relief Society in the Nursery/Primary room. The family all loved it. Sergay had to go, so he took his wife with him, but the 16 year old daughter was thoroughly loving Young Women's and stayed with her 2 younger sisters who were playing in the Nursery with Relief Society. So, if there is any kind of problem to run into, I guess this is the best one to have. How to incorporate a family of 4 kids in the branch calling-wise... 

3. We got a call from another investigator Sergay, who is one of my favorites. About a month ago, he fell back into alcoholism, and has lost all self control. He called me to tell me hadn't drank in 24 hours and that he admits that he is an addict and lost his self control. The is the first step in the 12 step addiction recovery program that the Senior Couple runs. Sometimes it is the hardest step, to admit and recognize your addiction. He is ready to move on. So we stopped by again with the Gardiners to do the program with him last night. He told us that when he first saw Elder Gardiner (the senior missionary), he wanted to be like him. He is ten years older but looks ten years younger than Sergay. He decided he wants to change his life and fix his bad habits. It was a powerful meeting. I have never seen Sergay so humble before.

This email is quite long! I did not realize. In other news, I am staying here in Pskov for my last transfer! This will be the longest I have been in a given area. I can't complain. This is probably my favorite area too. Well, the church is true! I am incredibly happy that I am a missionary. I honestly love these people with all of my heart.

Love,
Elder Tekulve

Busy week! And Dinner at the Gardiners

This week went incredibly fast. I am still surprised that it is already Preparation Day. We had a lot of stuff going on this week, and a lot of little funny moments.

First off, our family we are teaching! They are doing great. They are the Lebedyev's, or in English, the Swansons. Slippy, Slappy, Swanson, Samsonite. They are just an amazing family. It is pretty hilarious teaching them because there are so many different distractions and things almost going on. They've got this baby wolf puppy that is always just jumping around, a hungry cat always making weird noises, babies running around, telephones ringing, but somehow, they Spirit is still always there. They are very receptive. We had a funny Family Home Evening at their place with the Senior couple, the Gardiners. We ended up watching the Restoration film there to get the children interested a bit. And for some reason, they have this Teaching of the Presidents of Church : Lorenzo Snow book, and they have been reading it and liking it. They are probably the only investigators ever that know who Lorenzo Snow is. They probably even know more about him than me and my companion do. We had organized for them to come over for dinner at the Gardiners. The Lebedyev's absolutely love them, so it was the perfect plan. Bring them over, eat, and then teach there. But the problem was that they were 3 hours late because of all sorts of problems. So, because of our strict schedule, we ate without them but had a little miracle. We invited a member, Masha, who plays the role as the children's 2nd mom during the lessons, and this Masha ended up bringing a friend, who we then ended up teaching. So no complaints.

This week, we were basically a super team with the Gardiners. They are specialists for the 12 step program for Addiction Recovery, so we started the program with an investigator of ours who fell back into alcoholism. It was an interesting meeting with this man, because during the duration of the meeting, he got aggressively drunk. He is such a great man but just needs some help, and he wants it. He recognizes it too. We met with some other new investigators this week with the branch's help. It's really funny. I really love this branch because they are ALL so willing to help anyway they can. Even though it is really small, it is probably the most supportive branch in terms of missionary work. 

Next week is transfer week, and I can't believe it is my last one. There is a big chance I will stay in Pskov, but that is determined this next Saturday. Things are looking up here in Pskov, as investigators are progressing, the sun coming up earlier and earlier and setting later and later (but it is still pretty cold), and the branch growing. This really is a special time for me, and I am loving it so much here. I love Russians, I love the Russian language, and I love Russia.

Love,

Elder Tekulve

Talking to lots of people!

Dear Friends and Acquaintances and Families,

I do not have much time this week for a big email, but as the title states, we talked to a lot of people this week! It is pretty interesting to try to compare missionary work with something that can be summarized in just a few words. I would say that it is constantly talking to thousands of people constantly for 2 years. Now, dear reader, you may think that your mouth would get dry from excessive talking. Yeah sometimes, you're right. But whatever.

So anyway, this week a lot of our meetings didn't work, which was a bit of a bummer, but we kept on going. We met a few great new investigators this week. One of which we just found on the street. His name is Igor and we set up a meeting and he showed up! He is incredibly interested in the Book of Mormon. We tracted a new investigator named Zhenya as well who was just about to close the door, but I quoted a scripture saying that "the Glory of God is intelligence", and he for some reason let us in. We had a great short meeting and we are going to meet again this week. The next day, as we were walking back from a meeting that fell through with another investigator, we ran into a man named Dima. He had seen young guys with suits and backpacks all the time, and wasn't surprise that we stopped and talked to him. He is a great young guy who is just here working. He invited us right in and we sat and talked and taught a little bit. We got him to prayer at the end, which was kind of hilarious. It wasn't any fault of his own, but ours. We didn't really explain prayer too much, but he has got a lot of potential. Those were the great things that happened this week!

We were unable to meet with that great family from last week, but we had a cool little miracle yesterday. We had the branch president and the senior couple at Karl's place to help him out with something (we were not there). After which, they stopped by this family and they set up a Family Home Evening for tonight for all of us. So we are stopping by tonight with the Restoration DVD and some treats. I will let you know what happens.

I love being a missionary and I know that I have been called to a mission where I am greatly needed. I know these people need the gospel in their lives. I am just thankful that I am still here working in this part of the Vineyard. This Church is true, without a doubt, and this Gospel really has been restored in its fullness!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Tekulve