Last Monday night I left for the airport
and the other elders took me there. I went through security and after that I
was on my own for 6 hours or so. It was
weird being by myself. It has been a
long time since that has happened. J I could just walk on over to the vending
machine at the airport and I didn't have to ask anyone to watch me or come with
me. I felt like I didn't know what to do. I could walk wherever I wanted. Nobody cared.
I could go to the bathroom and take as long as I wanted because I didn't have
anyone waiting for me. Ha ha. Super
strange.
Anyways, I flew to Khabarovsk and met
the missionaries and from there flew to Vlad. I worked in Artyom for a few
hours and get yelled at a couple times and then went on out to Korea :) Artyom is a small city and there are a ton of Jehovah
Witnesses. People think that we are "J-Dubs" and get upset - but that’s
okay we met a couple really nice people too. Upon arriving in Korea we booked
it on over to the temple and made it in time to go shopping at the distribution
center. I bought a pocket size set of scriptures for myself and some tie tacks
for members in Irkutsk. Then we had a
chance to go do some work in the temple and it was super cool. My first time in almost a year! I miss the
temple, it is such a peaceful place to be. After that we got some Micky-D's and
went to bed. We didn't know it but there was a guy in the temple who is Russian
and he was staying at the temple for a whole month before going back to
Khabarovsk. He knew a few of the Elders who were with us and it was a cool
little reunion for them.
On the trip back from Korea to Irkutsk
I stopped in Khabarovsk again and spent a day there working. We met a wonderful
lady on the bus from the airport to their apartment and we got to talk with her
about her baby. It was the cutest baby I have seen in a long time. She loved talking and laughing haha. Anyways
I finally got back to Irkutsk on Thursday at midnight. On Friday during the day we worked. Then Friday
night we went to the train station and hopped on a train headed to Ulan-Ude. We
got there 8 hours later at 7 am and spent the day there working with the Elders.
Super fun. I had a chance to meet one of
their investigators who LOVES American Football. He had a Giants jersey, hat,
and a real helmet too. We played some catch and he seems like a super cool guy.
We always seem to find the coolest people in Ulan-Ude. Anyways, we took a train
back late on Saturday night and got to Irkutsk at 7 AM Sunday morning. We went
home, showered, studied and then went to church to have a ward council meeting.
This week was definitely not a boring week. J
I had a wonderful opportunity to Skype
with President Perkinson last week. We
also had on the line a member of the mission presidency who is Russian. We talked about how to help one of the
members in a different city with his debt problems and I could just tell that
President Perkinson was in the zone. Financing and business issues are his
bread and butter. It was cool to see him think it all through in his head and
it was great how we all counseled together to come to a conclusion that was
right for the situation. We as missionaries were there to translate for the 2
of them. It was a bit challenging but fun. How do you say "Captial
Expenditure" in Russian? haha
On a lighter note, I finally got a
package sent off to you! I have been trying to do it for a while now and finally
did it. J I wish
I could pat myself on the back for being timely and quick... but I originally
planned to send that package 2 months ago. haha.
Speaking of Korea though, I hadn't
thought about it but you are right! I am really accustomed to the Korean
airport, I know all the landmarks that you see when looking out the window of
the bus and all the bus stops on the way to the temple:) It seems like second
nature - weird. I have not seen the northern lights yet, although I haven't
been looking for them. Maybe I will keep my eyes out. We might not be north
enough since we are pretty close to Mongolia.
There is no news about our investigators here in Irkutsk but hopefully next week I will have something to say :)
Oh yeah by the way, President Perkinson
is flying out this Saturday for a Zone Conference. We will have a leadership
meeting that starts at 9 am and then after that the regular meeting starts and
we won’t end until 5 pm. I like the way he runs his meetings because he centers
them on the principle of a "Council". Everyone adds what they think
is important and it is a lot more interesting than having someone stand up and
talk to us for 8 hours.
I have been a little bit sick for the
past few days. I have a slight cough but I am eating lots of hot soup (I.E.
Ramen) and drinks with Vitamins (Nesquick chocolate milk) so I should be
healthy really soon. I hope you all have a wonderful week and stay happy, safe
and healthy :)
I love you a lot and I am thankful for
your great example to me!
Elder Gardner
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