The true meaning of Christmas

This past week was amazing here in the mission, especially in Yekaterinburg, Russia! I sincerely love the people and the opportunity to be surrounded by many great examples of the members, investigators, my companions, other missionaries, and our leaders.

On our preparation day we had the opportunity to eat at the lovely McDonald’s with some of the other missionaries and spent our day at the mall. Our week was busy following that, as we met with our few progressing investigators and some members for spiritual thoughts on Christmas! It was cool talking about not only what we wanted for Christmas, (Btw it is a an Aston Martin DB9) but also what we can give in return to Jesus Christ for all he has done for us and for his example.

Spreading Christmas joy this week we took our district to stop by in actives and members to spread the cheer through caroling at people's doors. One member we stopped by was blind and we found out that her favorite hymn was Joy to the World. We sang it as best as we could and she just beamed with a bright smile and tears of joy for the fact that we thought about her to stop by and say hello. One of the greatest gifts we can give is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We can do that by looking at the bigger picture of life and as I have taken this Christmas to reflect, I found how wonderful of an opportunity it is to be serving on a mission.

Later that week, on Friday, we had Zone Conference with ourselves and two other zones. (Siberia and Perm) It was awesome to spend the day focused on the wonderful talks that were prepared by Elder S and Sister R on the true meaning of Christmas. They were followed up by a nice lunch, with plenty of food of course, and a lesson from President R on the Doctrine of Christ. I didn't think this Christmas could get better until our mission president told us that we get to watch a movie. We watched 17 Miracles, a new film about the pioneers in the Willy Handcart company. The feelings of joy and love from our Heavenly Father encompassed us at that moment and we then ended in a testimony meeting.

The following day we spent the day getting prepared for Christmas and we were privileged to have the Rusts provide Christmas Eve dinner for all the missionaries in Yekaterinburg. We got to have a good night talking about traditions and had a little time to read about Christ's birth. IT WAS SUPER COOL! Plus, Elder H made some Eggnog, which I was surprised, turned out well. It is hard to make. Sunday, we got a gift from President to take a nap and then we went to church to listen to the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional and then had a little party in our rented out church space in our building. We don't have a chapel in my area.

Snow began to fall yesterday on Christmas morning and everything is awesome white like Perm was! I will talk to some of you pretty soon and to those who don't have that opportunity, I wish you a Merry Christmas!!

LOVE ALL OF YA
Elder LeFevre

First week in Ekat

I am in Yekaterinburg!! So super exciting and really really confusing to me because all I know is Perm. I went from knowing bus routes and side streets to nothing at all and just letting Elder Y and Elder Z show me around. The day of transfers was below -20 degrees Celsius and super freezing, but no snow compared to lovely Perm. There are just big blocks of ice that cover the sidewalks and roads here and I was getting used to climbing over the big piles of snow but now my behind is trying to get used to the amount of times I have fallen while walking on the streets.

The new area is really big and I love big areas, because you just got a ton of ground to cover and therefore it doesn't become the same route everyday.

It is going really well in the new branch that I am serving in and we have a couple of progressing investigators in the area. it is amazing to me of how much sacrifice is taken to be a member and to stand for the right here in Russia. We met with one investigator who has a baptismal date for January 7th at church and right off the bat came up and talked to me about the Book of Revelations. You can imagine the thoughts I had running through my mind when he started to talk about the dragon and the war in heaven. It was funny because he related it to the USSR. I am super excited to go to work in the big city and to gain some experience as being a district leader!

I love the mission and I love Russia! Merry Christmas to everyone! 
Love Elder LeFevre

Planes, Trains and Red Square

It is my last few days in Perm! Time flies fast out here and I really don't want to leave such an awesome city, but I will be going to the big city Екатэрнбург! (Yekaterinburg), which is crazy because this past week I was on a train back to Perm to Yekaterinburg from our crazy Visa trip,  but it was super fun and I got tons of cool experiences and pictures out of it.

So last Monday was awesome as we had a FHE with a part member family and had some pretty authentic food and tons of it. We had potatoes in a sauce and carrots with tender chicken and of course lather that baby up with some sour cream! (You will not become a part of the local people if you don't like fat in, on or around the food as a nice side dish.) We talked about skiing and ice-skating, which I got to go ice-skating at an outdoor rink with the other missionaries and some members. It was totally fun!! I actually only fell three times and most of the time I was skating. Only my second time!

Tuesday morning we left on the train to Yekaterinburg for our final training for the trainers and the new missionaries. It was really good and President and Sister R taught exactly what I needed to hear! It was on how we can become good effective teachers and how these skills we learn here on the mission will help us build relationships with those around us better, and how we can apply the skills in any field of work. I love the acronym (KISS) K=Keep I=It S=Simple S=Stupid. Sister R said that President needed to change the last 'S' to "Short," so he did. But I like the first one! Ha-ha Then another is (CASH) C=Compliment A=Ask a question S=Smile H=Help. It was super good training and the free food from Sister R was really good too!

Later that night we all stayed at the Assistant's place to wake up for our visa trip at 4am in the morning! Nikolai came and picked us all up in the mission van and took us to the Yekaterinburg airport to start the journey to Finland and this time we had 14 of us traveling on one trip. Elder P and I got grouped with the group that we got called to train, so it was cool getting to know everyone. We landed in Moscow and met all the other missionaries who were going with us and realized that we had just over six hours until our next flight left for Helsinki. So what would you do in this situation?! GO TO RED SQUARE of course! Ha-ha We hopped on the train from the airport downtown to the 8th wonder in the world, the metro system in Moscow. Yeah this place was really huge and it felt like I was Neo from the Matrix with the mass amount of levels of subway cars zooming this way and that way. We found the exit and walked up onto the streets and I was automatically stunned by the sight I saw. It was really beautiful and clean and really tall Christmas trees, statues, sweet buildings, and the Kremlin. We then began our way to the Kremlin to see Lenin's body, which was guarded like a bank! We decided not to look however because they required that we take off our backpacks and stuff and place them in the cashier office and pay, so maybe next time. It was super cool and we saw them light the everlasting flame too! By the way I saw a movie poster for Mission Impossible Protocol Phantom (Ghost) so when you all go see the movie you can think to yourself, "Elder Kyle LeFevre was there!"

We made our way back to the airport and then hit up the TGI Fridays in the airport to have a good American BBQ cheeseburger! MMMMmmm so good! According to the flight schedule we were not going to be able to make the session in the Helsinki temple, but were going to do baptisms instead until we encountered a problem with the passports in the temple. We entered into the temple to receive our second passport, but only three people had passports waiting for them, while eleven others did not. Those lucky three were Elder Y, Elder P, and myself. I called up Elder B to discuss the situation and they devised that we were going to stay there until Saturday. This was Wednesday night. So we got to do an English session and walk through the temple until the Temple Pres. came up to us and told me that those who have passports will be leaving that night on a flight through St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg. We got to the airport and awaited instructions from the travel secretary for our ticket information to see if we even got the tickets to leave in the first place. We waited until 7:30 and I got a call to GET ON THAT FLIGHT! We ran and got our tickets printed then went through security and then made it in time for the gate! Ha-ha. I was playing the song "It's the final Countdown" in my head during these moments. So ten minutes to reach a flight is possible. 

The rest of the trip went smoothly into Yekaterinburg and then it was strait to the train station to catch the ride to Perm. Behold, there was yet going to be another problem as we reached the station. Elder R had two tickets in his name in order to buy the whole Kype and we needed to change one of the tickets in order for me to get on the train with them. The lady told us that it would cost another 700 rubles to change then she will put it into the system that the spot was open and then anyone could take it, not allowing us to ride back to Perm. She said that we could talk to the conductor about it, which basically was a NO. Never give up and never surrender! We went to the platform with our entire luggage and my packages for Christmas. (Thanks for them btw!) The conductor was telling us the same excuse as the lady behind the counter until he said there was a "decision." Elder Z and R asked what the decision was. He replied, "1 ruble." (add three zeros onto that)

Well, all in all I made it to Perm and had a great day with Elder Z as my companion. We got a bucket of KFC and headed to the apartment, which was locked and I realized I didn't have the keys because Elder H had them in Finland! Ha-ha. I am forgetful. We got that problem fixed and continued with missionary work and helped the other Elders move to their new apartment. My week was fun filled, action packed, and suspenseful! Now in two days I will be in Yekaterinburg as a District Leader, plus the area I hear is legit and Elder Y is the bomb and will be my companion!

LOVE YOU ALL! 

Elder LeFevre

Up all night

This last week in Perm was great in just keeping up the work and making plans happening in order to achieve goals which we had set for the week. I know all I talk is about goals, because that is what makes up most of a missionary's life. We had a great week with some success from our investigators who have now been coming to church. One investigator is a psychologist and a student in the biggest institute in Perm and she is super awesome. We asked her if she will get baptized and she said that she wasn't ready, but when the answer comes then she will definitely do it. She is reading in 2 Nephi, so it is extremely difficult to read and it brings up a ton of interesting questions. For example, "Why could God have a son like Lucifer?!" ha-ha.  Elder H and I were taken back the question.u I got to go on splits with Elder R on Tuesday and it was super fun and a good experience. We taught a member who lived in his area in a private house that was big enough for one person, but he had both him and his wife and 20 dogs living with them! Yeah imagine that! Elder R had all the dogs crawling all over him, wanting to be petted, while I on the other hand got tons of hair all over me as well and puppies biting my toes! It was an interesting lesson to teach, but it was a good one and we got a sweet referral from him! The day was turning out to go as planned and we retired to bed around 10:30 until Elder R got woken up by a phone call from the Elders in the southern part of the city after midnight! We had to go help them until 4 am in the morning! Ha-ha. I lost a ton of sleep but we were allowed to catch up on it all! Elder B had kidney dust and all is well with him. It was a lifetime experience seeing a socialized Russian hospital.   After our exciting experience we ended spits and continued with work the next day. We were out on the street a ton this last week and we got the opportunity to get some Russian army issue thermals (You know the blue/white stripe under shirts in the movies.) After we hit our goal to get a meeting on the street and then we got to eat some amazing Subway. This week is the last week in the transfer and we are going to Yekaterinburg tomorrow for training then, we are going on our visa trip to beautiful Finland! Definitely going to pick up some chocolate! Love you all and thanks for the gifts! Elder LeFevre