I am not too surprised that it looks
like snow is coming. It is cold here. J
I remember in Nakhodka, I got there the
first week of October and we didn't have snow yet and I am hoping that it waits that long here, too. As soon as the snow starts, it won’t go away until May.
It is a real problem in my opinion. In Nakhodka they had poor street work. The snow piled up and only late into winter did they
start cleaning the roads and sidewalks. Hopefully it will be a bit different
here in Irkutsk.
When I was a Zone leader I think we had
8 missionaries in our zone. But at the Zone Conference there were 21 people.
Haha I am glad that we are getting more people here working.
Of course I am happy that we have more
missionaries working here but I had a worry this past week. I realized that the
branches are dependent on us and it is not good at all. We need to help the
branches but more than just help them by setting up chairs and stuff, we need
to help them stand on their own two feet. I think that is the key to giving
them real help. It brings me back to the old Chinese proverb: Give a man a fish
and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a
lifetime.
Right now we are just giving the
Irkutsk branch fishes, but we need to buy them a really pretty fishing pole and
give it to them. That will be better in the long run. This week one of our
church leaders asked if we could get some bread and bring it to the church for
sacrament. We said of course we could help but that it would be better for him
to give the responsibility to a member instead of missionaries. His reply hit
me like a ton of bricks. He replied "The members already are coming to
church. You expect them to buy bread too? That is just too much". After picking my jaw off the floor we went and
got some bread. I was a bit upset that one of our church leaders had this kind
of attitude about church attendance and I really shouldn't have let it bug me. I realized that he was doing what he thought
was the norm. Normally at churches here people just come and take the sacrament
and go home and that is that. Our LDS church is different. We expect a lot from
our members and I can't get upset at our members here if we haven't taught them this
principle yet. I thought also about the talk by Elder Uchtdorf from a few
conferences ago. It is titled "Come, join with us". Give it a quick
read if you haven't already.
Thanks for the advice on setting goals, I will try
and incorporate that into our upcoming district meetings and work. We worked on
that a little bit this past week, which goals we have and what we each need to
do in order to make these goals work out. It was good but I think we get quickly
discouraged when no matter how much we try to help the members, they leave
church 2 minutes after taking the sacrament. That happened this week. We
blessed and passed the sacrament and before the first talk was over there were
about 5 people who had already left. After the first talk some lady got a call
on her phone, she answered it without getting out of her seat and she wasn't
speaking quietly. She then said "No I am not busy" and stood up and
squeezed out of the row and walked into the hall to finish her conversation the
whole time just chatting on the phone. Just before that a member was making big
hand gestures waving at someone across the room and doing the super loud
"Whisper" thing trying to get this persons attention. She was
whispering but in reality it was louder than if she would’ve just spoken
normally. She wanted that person to turn the AC off. The person turned off the
AC and a few minutes later this lady stood up and changed seats anyways. I
don't know it bugged me a little bit. After church we were trying to have a
missionary meeting and in the hallway there were kids running around slamming
into walls and screaming and it was bugging me too because the parents were
doing nothing about it.
It hit me that this branch is still relatively new
and I need to be more tolerant when they make mistakes because they don't
understand yet. I am sure that is how Jesus felt sometimes when teaching his
Apostles. They didn't understand everything completely but getting upset
doesn't help. It only helps if we show them a good example and teach them
correct principles so that they can learn to work independent of missionary
help. I hope you have a good week and thanks for showing me the book "How
to Win Friends and Influence People" all those years ago :)
Yesterday we had a great day, we met
with one of our members whom we haven't seen in a long time. He is studying to
become a doctor, and he is already getting his hands in there practicing a
little bit. He is 20 and he is pretty cool. We also went to visit a member who hasn't been
coming to church for a few years. We invited him to come to our Open House day
at church on Wednesday and he invited us in. Turns out he is a way cool guy!
His name is B and he was one of the
original members here in Irkutsk when the church first opened up here over 10
years ago. He has a sweet mustache too haha You can't see his lips when he speaks, his
mustache just dances when he speaks haha. He said probably 15 times during our meeting
"My American Friend" in English - he is a pretty cool guy :)
I am a fearless world traveler! I have
found myself able to sleep about anywhere. I have slept on trains, on planes,
on busses and I even fell asleep on a lesson or two back in Nakhodka when I
didn't understand what was going on and the member just wanted to talk and talk
and talk. I can sleep sitting up, or laying down, or with a book in my hands, or
even without anyone noticing J
Haha I haven't had any sleep problems
and I am very thankful for that. Then again, sometimes I fall asleep when all I
want to do is stay awake. I don't really have any control over that and I wish
I did.
Anyways, I am glad to hear that all is
well at home! Keep up the good work and remember...Be a missionary always and
when necessary use words.
I love you
Elder Gardner
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