Living off food storage

So this past week was quite different from the usual. We had the opportunity to participate in service and we were living off our food storage waiting for MSF! ha-ha (noodles, rice, noodles w/ketchup) You know all the good stuff. Mmmmm add a lil salt to spice things up. All the elders of the zone had exhausted their funds too and none of us wanted to go into personal, so we were toughing it out and we did get fed at member's houses. We helped move all the furniture and belongings from the southern end of Perm to the northern branch building, due the other building being renovated. President said it was going to take only four hours starting from 10 am to 2pm. WRONG! Took the whole day and more loads than we thought. It was fun and we got to play a bit of ping-pong while waiting for the load to come. On the way there in the electric trolley I was sitting in my seat when an undercover cop came over and tapped on my shoulder and said, "билет ваш!" (your ticket!) Took some time to register in my brain then it made sense, he was about to throw me out. ha-ha But no worries crises adverted, except for the guy ahead of me he literally got kicked out. So, while we were waiting at the southern branch building, Elder J and me went to the Vivat to see if we had obtained our funds from the Church and hey we did!! So we decided to celebrate with COKE, Super Snickers, and waffles.

So this past week was just like work in a way and hanging out with the guys from work. Lately, we have been trying to work with referrals, which we have received in the past or new ones. Not to much success in numbers, but we have been trying to hit our goals and surprisingly we have been almost exact every week. We have been meeting with some in-actives and one is a little out there. One of them we have been trying to get to sacrament and we got the branch to help us out on that! Whew but be careful for what you wish for! Last couple of visits the person told us that they converse with Michael the archangel and that Satan is bound. So this person shared some of this with everyone this past fast Sunday during testimony meeting. We were sitting there and I can only pick out a few words but I got the 'jist' and they spoke to the moon too!! Ha-ha-ha Eventful!

I am excited that today is P-day, well just for the whole week and President Bennett is going to be here in Perm for zone conference and interviews! I get to meet with a member of the quorum of the seventy! SWEET!! Today we are going souvenir hunting for Elder Fife before he leaves the country at the market and it may be a good chance to look for some pants due to the washer messing up my last pair of slacks! I have been told I am living in the dumpiest apartment of the mission so down the road it can only get better ha-ha-ha-ha. We also plan to look at music, ADIDAS, and stop inside a Proveslavnic Church and buy a couple of Russian dolls. It will be interesting, because then I will be able to see the icons and the shops inside the church. However, on most P-days we meet up at KFC or SUBWAY and play basketball, and I have only taken a nap once! So...yep our p-days are short due to transportation time. Love you all and hope you guys have a successful school year.

I almost forgot to talk about an amazing miracle in my eyes that I got to see this past week. We were teaching English Club, when a new guy comes in and sits with us. He was invited by his friend, who is a sweet member of the church here in Perm. My companion and I teach the advanced group here in Perm and he was able to speak a little bit of English just about the amount I can in Russian. So we got on the topic of history and science. My two favorite subjects! He is an astrophysics scientist in perm. So I showed interest in his job and asked more about Einstein's theories and we began to speak Russian, but I understood most of it due to the scientific theories and expressions in the equations are universal. It was really cool! We connected on the same level of interest and he wants to show me his theories and explain it through a model on his laptop this next week. ha-ha He even invited us to go lap swimming with him, but it was a bummer to say we couldn't I miss swimming. Plus we got to the point where we began to speak on informal 'you,' so it was LEGIT!! I believe it is necessary that as missionaries, we need to express interest in other people's lives and interests to create a level of trust and friendship. Once, this is established it is only a matter of time where they will say something, which you can connect to the gospel. Listening, listening, listening is the biggest form of respect, care, and interest you can give anyone and then they will show to same respect when you share something that is close to you, such as the gospel.

Love you all,
Elder LeFevre