Thursday, July 9, 2015

New Mission President


It was a good week this week:) I flew to Vlad Wednesday morning at 3 am and worked there all day with the Assistants to the President. On Thursday we had MLC and got to witness first-hand the leadership style of President Perkinson. Interesting:) Very different. We flew back at 4 am on Friday morning and I might have another trip this week to Ulan-Ude to do a training for the missionaries there. It isn't set in stone though.

President Perkinson is a great guy. He is full of love and shows it more than President Brinton. Maybe that’s because that is his style, or maybe because he is sleep deprived and it was his first day in Russia when we met haha. We will find out in a few weeks which it was. President Brinton always promised us blessings if we were obedient and did what was expected of us as missionaries. We focused on what we were allowed to do, and what we weren't allowed to do. When President Perkinson got here, he talked about how he didn't think that is the best way to go about it. We had some questions about what was allowed and what things we shouldn't do. President Perkinson brought all the questions back to doctrine. We shouldn't worry about all the little minute details. If we are doing what we should and working hard then we won’t worry about all the little tiny details and we won’t be worrying over every little dot on the page. This doesn't mean that we are throwing the rules out of the window. We have the scriptures, we have the Missionary Handbook to help guide us, we know what we should do and what we shouldn't do. He says if we make a little mistake and wake up 10 minutes late, he isn't bringing the hammer down on us. We know when we should get up and that mistake will be between us and the Lord. This leadership style is different. I think it will work out really well :) 

I am jealous of the time you got to spend with the family over the 4th of July! I hope everyone is doing all right:) I am glad to hear that dad went and talked to the missionary he saw standing alone in Hawaii. I love talking with people. Especially when they just come up to me! It is just a pleasant little thing and definitely makes me smile every time someone wants to talk to me! Oh yeah! I met a member this week :) He came up and sat on a bench next to where we were talking with our friend Charles from Ghana. The man just came and listened for a little bit and then started to talk to us. Turns out he is from Novosibirsk and was just passing through. Pretty cool! He was a way cool guy too. 

This week there was a baby blessing in church and it was super cute! It was my first one in Russian that I got to see. It is way cool to think that there is a family here in Irkutsk where the kids are getting to be raised in the gospel :) I have seen how the Church has blessed our family so much and I am so grateful for that strong influence in our lives. I love you all:)

Stay Frosty! 

Elder Gardner

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