We Testified

A little snow

Hey there! I had to eat my words this morning when we woke up and there was no snow on the ground. I could have sworn last week when it snowed that the snow would last until May... it already melted ha ha. It has been surprisingly warm and I am grateful. :) We didn't do anything for Halloween and that was a bit sad but we are going to be putting together Thanksgiving parties and Christmas events so hopefully this holiday season will be filled with the spirit of giving… and lots and lots of cookies :)  On Halloween we just contacted and walked around.  I didn't even see anybody dressed up! Weird. So I remember last year we did Daylight Savings time in Nakhodka. This year we didn't do it though. I don't know what the proper procedure is. Maybe we just screwed up last year haha.

I think its so crazy that Tyler is home so quick! I am going to be home soon you know. I took a look at my little calendar that I have and I totally forgot to cross off any of the days of October as they happened. I just looked down and boom! October was gone. Now it is November. Soon it will be December and then it is Skype time. January is the start of 2016 and it feels like I just started 2015! That will be my 6 month mark. It is weird to be with Elder Tracy because I feel like there’s so much that I still don't know, and there’s so much to do here that it is a bit overwhelming.  I love it! Never a boring day!

Ha Ha.  You can't make this stuff up.

I had a small experience with being prepared this week. We had set up a lesson with some guy who was kinda crazy but pretty nice too. The first time we met with him he wanted to talk about weed and all these super abstract things. Elder Protopopov and I did the best we could fielding his random and elaborate questions and then we did what we did best. We TESTIFIED. It was great with Elder Protopopov because we both understood what was going on and we both were prepared. We knew where we wanted to lead the discussion and didn't get sidetracked by silly hypothetical questions. It was a great lesson. We set up another lesson and this time it was going to be with Elder Tracy. I warned him about how he was kinda weird and the guy said that he was bringing his girlfriend to our meeting. She was... hmmm.. how do I say this tactfully...? She is a perfect match for him;) haha They are like PB and J. Anyways, we prepared and wrote down our "plan of attack" on our whiteboard and studied the Word of Wisdom in depth, and prepared some examples from our personal lives and even looked up facts about Buddhists and what they believe. We also found statistics about the Church's Humanitarian efforts. By the way, if you haven't taken a look at what the Church does in its worldwide humanitarian efforts I would highly reccomend that you go look:) https://www.lds.org/topics/humanitarian-service/church?lang=eng

Anyways, we prepared for this lesson extensively and they never even showed up! We were a little disappointed but that’s okay because the next day a different Hare Krishna guy walked in and he had some strong Buddhist beliefs. We were able to relate to him and talk and he became a new investigator. Yeah! - Isaiah 55:8-9 Be prepared and the Lord will guide you to those who are ready.

Thank you for the package! I am excited to get that! We will all be going to Vlad in December for a big conference, hopefully I can pick it up then.

Russian Wheelchair Ramp....good luck, you will need it.

The Picnic was good and I am also glad that Elder Lukenga liked me well enough. He is such a fun guy! Do you know what he is up to nowadays?

I got some new boots, they ended up not being the ones that I planned on getting. These are leather and they are pretty warm. Hopefully they will treat me well this winter.  I am excited to experience REAL cold. Last year wasn't too bad without boots. I wasn't complaining. This year I think the winter will be easy. I am getting more adjusted to it, Elder Tracy has told me a couple times that he was cold when I thought the weather was fine. I guess I am becoming cold blooded. 

We don't have anyone who is close to baptism. We have 3 investigators. One is a Hare Krishna guy. The other is an English Professor. The third one is a film maker who has been investigating for 14 years. They are all nice but not quite ready to be baptized. The Hare Krishna guy believes in anything and everything. He believes in Muhammad and Jesus and Krishna and all the Indian goddesses and avatars and even though they are preach a different Gospel, they are all correct in his mind. I am still working on that one. That is a big problem here where people believe that every road leads to Heaven. It is very difficult to help people understand that there is only one truth and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  To clarify about the baptism last week it wasn't MY baptism or OUR baptism. It was the sisters baptism - but we all helped :) I am glad to hear though that Zade and Josh and the others are doing good things :) Michael sent me a letter last week I will forward it to you. I email him every other week maybe .Maybe once every 3 weeks.

I think my new ponderize scripture is going to be 2 Nephi 2:13

How do you like my snazzy Russian Boy Scout Uniform.  Sweet.  :)

I don't have a whole lot of time to keep writing but I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember to stay happy when things get rough. Remember that your smile in hard times will be very wonderful for others to see. Others will thank you for your joy and light and you will help them through their trials! Don't be selfish and don't keep your smile to yourself.  Share it.

I love you, thanks for your support and letters! I read this talk this morning. Hope you like it:) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/fathers-and-sons-a-remarkable-relationship?lang=eng

Love,

Ryan