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