No more taco bed !

Well I am sure some of you have been looking at the weather reports of Perm, Russia and I will confirm the constant snowfall and the cold temperatures are for real! I get to wear my 'sick' warm Russian coat that I got from the Chinese Market here in the center of the city. I have only slipped once, I admit, and I didn't fall really too bad. I caught myself therefore all is well.

This past week was one of good news for us in our area and we have seen some success from our hard labors and trudging along in the snow. It is extremely beautiful weather and country. We have been helping a ton of people outside with little things of service and talking to some nice people in general. We had the opportunity to go on splits with the assistants to President R last Thursday and I got to do some work with Elder L. We had a good time and we handed out quite substantial amount of Book of Mormons to people on the street and got to extend the baptismal commitment to an eternal investigator again and trying to pull him in from his fears of being baptized.

So this week was good for us and we were expecting to not receive a call from President Rust this past week, because we thought we would be safe from not moving anywhere. Boy, were we wrong. I will be serving with Elder H in the center of the city in a better apartment! Ha-ha. Sorry, Elder A and Elder Z get to inherit the taco beds! Ha-ha. I am going to miss all the cool families and members up there and I am leaving at a time where we just got a awesome investigator from English Club, but this is where I am suppose to go so it will be awesome and there are more Subways. Ha-ha.

Love You all!
Elder LeFevre

Masha the dog

Good Morning!! From Russia with love!

This week was a tough week in proselyting efforts in our area, as the weather is beginning to change and almost having a dog eat us! Ha-ha. Don't have a heart attack now, the dog was tied up! Ha-ha

It was great going around and stopping by people's houses in order to "Boo!" them with some "no bake" cookies! Members loved the treats and we got to have a couple of meetings with some members that haven’t been to church in years! One of the members we had the privilege of getting to know is from China, born and raised, and now has lived in Russia due to work for twenty years and speaks perfect Russian. He has a частный дом (private house) with a super nice sauna and three floors of space. This made my week, because I got to see some legit swords and guns!! He likes the outdoors and it reminded me of Uncle Carl or dad watching the outdoor channel. He is super rich, but sort of against coming to church. почему (why)?! Because the members teach out of the gospel principles book and not out of the scriptures. Plus he told Elder A and I that we were on missions to learn from different cultures and decide how we want to raise our kids. 

Patience is a virtue and we show love when we listen, so I did and Elder A slept! hahaha He said his head hurt from the Russian. We got another meeting set up with him this next week, and I hope to find out why he doesn't come to church. After the meeting, I happened to spot his new Mercedes eclass and make a comment. He then proceeded to give us a ride back to our apartment and it was ten times better than the smelly bus!! Smelt like fresh leather interior!

Later in the week, we had a visit with an investigator and got to meet Masha, the dog, again and Elder A got to meet him for the first time! Ha-ha.  My companion was scared to death and so was I after seeing the dog for the third time! We had a good lesson and I extended a baptismal commitment to him and he accepted and now it is just a matter of getting him to quit smoking, drinking, and drinking coffee.

I really love it here in Russia и Я очень рад иметь такая возможность быть здесь. Я вас люблю. наш искупитель, Иисус Христос жив. (and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to be here. I love you. our redeemer, Jesus Christ is alive)

из Россия с любовбю Старейшина ЛеФивэр
(From Russia with Love, Elder LeFevre)

IT IS FREEZING !

IT IS FREEZING! Last week we made our way on to Ekat to participate in a leadership-training meeting and it was quite good. Elder A and I stayed at the Assistant's apartment on some nice comfortable beds to wake up in the morning and have an amazing breakfast supplied by Sister R! THE BOMB! It was great to see everyone from around the mission and see how everyone is doing and how the investigators are doing and if someone has a new tie. It is weird because I talk about nothing but missionary work and the subject of ties intrigues me! Ha-ha-ha  And also how our favorite song is not the new one out from Eminem, but a church hymn. Anyway, I got to ride in a train for seven hours there and back, like in Harry Potter! It was extremely cool, but man it got scorching hot in there because they started using the heaters like full blast here and it is cold outside, but inside you just start to shed off all the clothing you can! Ha-ha

Unfortunately, we had to drop an investigator from English club this past week. It was not cool at all to do that, but she dumped us for the most part, because she was convinced on giving the Book of Mormon back to us and she wouldn't continue to read, because she had no desire. AGhhhhh… Agency is just something I want to throw out the window sometimes, but there are people out there that choose not to do the right and you cannot force them to do anything or else you are actually pushing them farther away.

So, with that we decided to continue to be creative and look for ways to find some investigators for our area to teach. We came to the conclusion of 'booing' people with treats like we do back home and challenge members to pass along the fun to neighbors, friends and in-actives. In doing so, we came across a referral and he showed up to church. "Ka Ching" It is sweet, then we did a taco night at a member's home and the member's brother was there and he came to church too. He shared with us his struggle with smoking that started at the age of 13 and how he has only been able to go with out a cigarette for 3 days max. For once in a long time in a conversation have I been stumped with what to say. I couldn't relate, because I have never experienced, nor never will I smoke. I could tell he was stressed out about it and we told him that we really want to help him overcome his addiction through five easy steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week was great and I performed 4 blessings this past week, which was scary!!  God has blessed me and our companionship greatly this past week.
"Never give up and never surrender."-Galaxy Quest (good movie) ha-ha

Love you all! Я вас люблю.

Elder LeFevre

Contacting, conference & moving

Hi Everyone !

The weather has been staying warm and sunrise and set is throwing us off. Me and Elder A wake up and look at each other from across the room and go, "Hmmm... that didn't take long!" hahaha

Our week has been busy with several cool things and experiences. We have been out on the street quite often and talking with everyone! When I mean everyone, I mean everyone. I have ran into quite a few interesting people this past week and one was on the bus on the way home. I entered the bus and saw an open seat and immediately took it and said hello to the man next to me as we began to go again. The man looked over at me and turned his baseball cap sideways and engaged me into the conversation with him. The man was totally wasted and the smell of alcohol was rich in the air, which proceeded to come out of his mouth. He said, “OH You are beautiful servants of the Lord, and I want to help you guys out!" I thought to myself, "Well, I'd be more happy to help you!" haha   So I told him where I was from (excluding Las Vegas) and why we were there. He proceeded to hug me and sing and quiz me on my Russian and speak German as well. Yep, my head was having a hard time translating. He got off the same stop as us and asked if we needed help or if we wanted to drink with him. I replied with a kind "no thanks and that he should call." We left across the street and he gave us thumbs up and said he would call. Good news is that he called and was interested in having a meeting at the church now that he is sober haha.

Elder A and I have been having a couple of tough weeks in the fact that our investigator right now has been taught two lessons and has gone to General Conference, but she thinks that there is nothing special about our church! HOW!!??   We have set another meeting with her after English club and I hope that she will see that the Book of Mormon is true; that we have a prophet and that the Holy Ghost is real!

Conference was amazing and I loved President Monson's talks!! It was different having conference with just the missionaries but fun, especially if you watch it being dubbed in Russian. (No worries we had English, my brain only took so much of the Russian) We had Mountain Dew, cookies, and bananas to go with the program.

So now I got to explain myself for not emailing yesterday. We had service at 9am yesterday and were assured we would be back at 1pm in the afternoon, but we got back from the "old country" at 6pm in the afternoon from moving furniture! I think that this is the number one service project in the church. haha   I got to ride in the front on the way back and talk about cars with the driver and President A, which was awesome and I got to listen to some Russian remix of Linkin Park all the way back haha. We came back and ate KFC with the other missionaries and then we went to bowl at a fancy Russian hotel! It was cool!

Love ya all !

Elder LeFevre

6 month mark

So what a fun filled week here in Perm!! Me and Elder A set the goal to talk to ten people individually everyday, hand out 4 Books of Mormon and receive eight new numbers a week. We did it! Meetings with members and in-actives have been tough, but we strive to get street meetings as much as possible! This past week we had 12 meetings and that was a ton of work trying to set up all those meetings, and now I know how hard Elder F and Elder H tried to get meetings set up! I have been getting better at carrying a conversation on the phone and setting up meetings with people, so I hope our weeks will become more filled with teaching opportunities.

Last Monday we went down to center of Perm and met up with the other elders to go on the hunt for PB! (800g) for 400 rubles. They weren’t open and then we went looking around and contacting among the streets and shopped for kepkas. The rest of the week we pursued our goals on the street and made some pretty sweet contacts. We met with an investigator and his nearly 16-year-old cat in his shanty apartment and the look on Elder A's face was priceless.

One area we were contacting in we contacted a guy who looks like Michael Moore ha-ha He came up to us and asked me if I knew Joel. I stated that it is a book in the bible and he was a prophet. The guy nodded his head and said what the heck is it!?  He then began to yell at us and call us liars and hooligan’s. I thought that it would be the last time I would see this guy but NO, we were walking and contacting the same area and then I turned to Elder A and said,"Awww, bleeen!" Sure enough the guy remembered us and ran up to me again and asked if I now knew. Of course I knew! Then he said, "That’s All" and started going off yelling to everyone about the second coming. I LIVE FOR THOSE MOMENTS!! hahaha

This past week we had two new investigators in our area and we are preparing to teach them the 2nd lesson! ha-ha YA SON! DO WORK! They are a little quiet and at times but they were good experiences for my companion and I. We come in every night super duper tired and wake up the same way! ha-ha It is funny at 8:00 am we have personal study and I will look across the table and my companion's head is bobbing his head up and down! ha-ha

We don't do English club regularly now because we switch with the other elders from time to time. Which is cool because we then don't have to go the church out of our area for 45 min. Reminds me this past Thursday, when we had a meeting at the church then a meeting in another town which is and hour away from the church. We left the church at 7:30 pm get there at 8:30 and it started to pour and the streets here are really bad and there are floods everywhere! My companion and I ran thru the rain with our umbrellas stepping in flooded streets due to the lack of lights and tried to make our meeting. Well, It didn’t work out for us and then we had to catch a bus back to our house! It can get frustrating, but just imagine the missionaries running through mini floods, and of course we turned a lot of heads and got shouts from old grandmas from windows! "BOYS COVER UP!" "AMERICANS!" hahaha

This week was eventful and I hope to help out my greenie as much as possible and it definitely has been a learning experience for us both this past week!

PS: If you send a letter through dearelder.com then a return address would be sweet because there is no return address unless you type it in the letter, then I can write back.

Love ya’ll and thanks for all of your support!

Elder LeFevre