November 26, 2012

Thanksgiving week in Kurgan was good. We went to the restaurant in the center of town that was Mexican themed. It was called Sante Fe! You better believe that if Elder LeFevre is your ZL then we will be eating spicy Mexican food for Thanksgiving. It was a great meal as the zone got together and enjoyed some English
conversation. Our zone is pretty awesome. I am not going to lie that we have some of the coolest missionaries here in Kurgan. Elder G is Elder P's new companion from the Samara Mission and it is easy to feel the new missionary fire from him as they work hard to start an area off ground zero. It was a pretty full week of meetings and then meetings falling through. The mission has really helped me use my time effectively even when it seems that there is nothing left to do.

Lately we have been contacting and looking for ways to start normal conversations with people before they think that we a Jehovah witnesses. We had great lessons with those investigators who are trying to progress in the gospel by living the commandments. Yeah it was a challenging week as we had a meeting with one lady who had first encountered the missionaries about five years ago, but said she won't get baptized but knows the Book of Mormon to be true. It required some pondering on the lesson to get her to come to church and say what she needed to do in order to obtain her answer that the church is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet. Then our other investigator who has had a hard time coming to church finally got a meeting to work out and had a good lesson about Ether 12 with him. We found out that it was his Birthday last Thursday and dropped off the rest of my Halloween candy.

We cooked up some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies near the end of the week to take to some people and to some new converts. No one was home! We then decided to go contacting around that area and spotted a lake that had frozen over with some ice fisherman. My companion and I thought that it would be cool to talk to them about ice fishing and interesting to walk across a frozen lake. So as we made our way out to the fishermen, one of them was coming our way and immediately we engaged in a conversation about the fishing and so forth. It was super awesome and we got his information and even gave him the cookies that we didn't get to drop off.

Later on Friday we found that one new investigator that we were looking for in the week. We were tracting a newer apartment complex and found a man with a family who is interested in the purpose of life! Go
figure! Cannot get better than that. We talked to him in the stairwell for forty minutes teaching him the first lesson and then set up a meeting again this next Wednesday. It is going to be interesting to get him to pray because he likes seeing the miracles he creates on his own but hasn't tried using his faith to talk to God.

I love you all and I hope football was good on Thanksgiving!!

Elder LeFevre

November 19, 2012

Guess who's back..back again. Winter is back..tell a friend!  My companion and I will be stepping on the accelerator spiritually in our efforts in the upcoming weeks before he gets on the plane back to America. It is going to be a great transfer. Just last night we had a miracle after a long day at church doing financial business and  contacting. We decided to call the potential sheet again and my companion stumbled upon a man that was contacted during the summer  that agreed to meet with us at the church that night! We definitely made the trip down back to the church as the temperature was quickly  dropping since the sun went down about 4:30 pm. I love the winter but unfortunately we arrived at the bus stop and had to wait.  He found us pacing on the ice and we quickly made our way to the church to teach the first lesson. We
found that he had read the Book of Mormon all the way through 3 Nephi and that he could tell us a nice summary of the the Joseph Smith  testimony in front of the book. I was in shock about how much knowledge was picked up after he has made only 3/4 of the way in the  Book of Mormon. We had a good meeting and he agreed to be baptized. Proves again that the Lord blesses those who stick it out and put forth faith through action. 

We got a new companionship of elders in  the city this last week and everything just started fitting into place with that as they are getting adjusted to the area that we had created  for them. Kurgan is hanging in there and we are seriously trying to get our investigators at church! "Just come to church!" The topic is gratitude for the month in the mission and we are hoping to knock the rest of the zones off their feet with our efforts.

I read a pretty awesome quote in my pamphlet that I received from Bro. Kaufman this last week about giving it all you got without showing an ounce of fear. It is a really big quote but talks about a man in the  ring fighting sweating and working hard basically to bring about achievement of that which he is trying to strive towards. The man has  no fear because if he fails while striving diligently at least he has done so daringly. That man will not be with those sad and timid souls  that knew neither victory nor defeat. Sorry if it doesn't make sense in my own words but I will be trying to memorize it after I have  translated it into Russian. In making this a reality in all that I am doing with my companion and personally we have seen the blessings of  receiving numbers off the street after the trial of our faith. we even set up a meeting the other day for tonight to meet with a lady to  discuss the first lesson with her and get her a baptismal date as
well. Why hold anything back?! As with any point in our lives I have  definitely realized the important council that has been given to us b  our beloved prophets and apostles about time. Where we spend the most  of our time is the greatest outward expression of where our heart
truly lies. I know that everything can be put into two categories. Is  this choice going to lead me to eternal happiness (life) or be lost among the counterfeits of the world. Nothing is impossible unless we  say it is. I know that to be true with all my heart. We will keep hoping upon the blessings that await us after we have done everything  necessary in our own hands. I am grateful for the many great examples that have surrounded me and are surrounding me. The Gospel is true.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder LeFevre

November 12, 2012

So this past week was great. After Email last Monday we went to the bazaar and looked at some shopka made out of raccoon and fox fur. They were really cool and not too bad of a price. Maybe today I can talk them down. Later that night I went on splits with Elder A to contact and stop by a member to announce about invitation Sunday that we had yesterday. We stopped by the member’s house and led a lesson with the kids.  From that lesson we did receive a nice little referral from her that we will be trying to get in contact with.

Tuesday morning we with Elder Y left in a taxi that was actually a FORD and not a LADA to the Bokzal. We got there to catch the electric train to Yekaterinburg, but Elder Y didn't have a print out of his ticket and the lady behind the desk told us to work out the problem ourselves. We have great customer service here btw. I love it!!!  The train was scheduled to leave in five minutes. We ran across the tracks and the icy walkways to the train. Everything from that point on was a miracle. I showed the lady my ticket and she never did check Elder Young's ticket! The trip was a long hot ride for 6 1/2 hours to Yekat. Here in Russia you are never really at the right temperature you are either hot or cold throughout the year. 

We got to Zone Leader Council on time and had a great discussion on many topics and things that will change the mission for the better in the areas of our language skills and our finding activities. I was like a sponge just soaking it all up! Everything was just working out for me as well. Elder E found an apartment for the new elders that will be here soon this next Friday after training and traveling. Everyone is staying in Kurgan but we are glad and excited to receive Elders P and his new missionary who is Russian. Everyone basically in our mission is legit on every level. We came back from Yekaterinburg Wednesday midnight to catch up on some sleep but to leave on a bus to Tyumen because we would need to leave for the airport in Tyumen next morning early to make our flight to Moscow. I went on splits once again for the night to find people on the street and use the techniques that we learned at ZLC, which are great and helps with all of my communication skills. We talked to some nice people and got some numbers for the Tyumen elders to meet with.

My visa trip was short and sweet. I got some nice Karl Fazer dark chocolate with mint and I talked to a Finnish guy that was pretty awesome. I now know some Finnish...one or two words that is. Ha-ha. That language is ten times harder than anything I have seen and encountered. We came back to Tyumen Saturday morning after traveling for 24 hrs to catch up some sleep and then it was a 6 hour bus ride due to traffic coming out of Tyumen to Kurgan. We got to Kurgan and ate and stopped by our investigators that were close.

Sunday was a great day. We awoke and got ready for personal study and then went to wake up our investigator. We also went tracting that night and we might have a new investigator, who surprisingly believes in the same aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ and our church and was very knowledgeable in many things in history. It about caused a little explosion in my head. 

 

That was my crazy week and I hope to get work done here in Kurgan this week!!

LOVE YOU ALL!Elder LeFevre

November 5, 2012

So many of you have probably heard about the protests going on in Russia against the church. The "in" day only affected Yekaterinburg. We have been warned and informed on procedures that  need to be taken if we encounter such confrontations but I am serving in such a small city that it is pretty much quiet. Of course there are  the occasional forms of telling us to go back to America. But those forms are harmless. All is going better here in Kurgan, as we  have been able to talk to some very cool people as we have been continuing to tract the apartment buildings. We stopped by one lady  that we contacted through the door and she invited us in to do a lesson and feed us some Russian pizza. She is a total animal lover and  I made sure to take out the pictures of me hunting and fishing to not offend her!  She was super nice and full of charity for everything  and she even battled to help her husband for thirty years to quit drinking and it worked out. She has seen the hand of God her life and  the blessings of choosing the right in never giving up on her husband. It was a good lesson and got her interested in learning more about the  church after going over Moroni 8 with her. While we were eating, she even took our shoes which were covered in mud from the dirty weather  and cleaned them for us! She is a shining example of one who puts others before herself always.

Instead of being stuck inside like the missionaries in Yekaterinburg, we had a fun filled day on splits with the assistants. They barely  made it out of Yekaterinburg to come on down to the big town Kurgan!  We had a good time contacting people in the cold rain and had  some good success. I learned a lot about planning specific goals. That night we had a successful activity in the place of English  conversation group. About thirty people came and we did watermelon
carving, scary stories, and eating doughnuts hanging from the ceiling  without hands. It was fun! I talked to about three people about the restoration and handed out pamphlets and Books of Mormon. People were  interested in our church and who we were. I will be sure to get some
pictures to you of the activity.

We had a couple of things left over to clean up the activity and did that at the weekly cleaning.  When we came the other day to do the cleaning there was a smell of sewage throughout the building and it was gross.  i looked in the bathroom and on the floor was stagnate water that had risen from the drains in the floor. We continued to clean after  identifying to the branch president the problem that had taken place. However after doing the second floor we made our way down to the  bottom after Sis. H came up telling us that the problem had worsened and that the flood was in the kitchen the baptismal font and  in the bathrooms. We mopped it all up and left the window open to continue to air it out. We came the next day to find that it didn't  smell too bad and that we could do church. I guess that Kurgan rests upon a swamp and that most of the rivers flow upstream. Therefore in a storm or snow melt it makes sense that water was coming out of the drains. I am glad Las Vegas is dry! ha-ha

We had a good week and had the opportunity of increasing our visits with our investigator who is preparing for baptism.  We hope that he will be ready.  I love you all and I pray for you. Have a good week!!

Love,

Elder LeFevre

October 29, 2012

This past week was quite a rough start with none of our meetings working out as planned and too many cancelations for my liking. The main finding activity we decided to engage in this past week was tracting due to the drastic changes in weather here. The existing puddles are ice every morning. Everyone is preparing for winter here. We had one cool experience as we were tracting private homes up in the northern part of the small city. Not even five houses we came to a house and knocked on the door and then it started to snow pretty hard. A grandma came out to answer the door and said at first that she was'nt interested but forcing the 'puppy' eyes and talking for a little bit she let us in for tea and cookies! MMMM.. She was willing to listen to us and we taught her the first lesson. She was super nice and realized that we weren't Jehovah's witnesses and that we were sincere with our message. I hope to see this contact turn into a new investigator, as soon as we get the next meeting set up and attended.

After that awesome experience, We went to attend institute with the branch members and investigators. This last lesson was actually pretty good as we all stayed on task!  We left the church that night to go home and that is when it hit me that i didnt have the cellphone, but i thought my companion had it. Turns out that he thought the same. We ended up using the phone of the next door neighbor to call President R to let him know that we were home. We even went back to look for it the next morning. We didn't find anything. It was a nightmare in short. I was trying to just workout the problem with our register and the office. Now, we have a super nice phone that is way better that the last. So on the bright side a new slate and a little teasing from everyone. But whatever, I see it as a thing that was needed to be done since he old phone was old indeed. Plus that gave us the opportunity to contact in center while the sisters were in Yekaterinburg for the week at Sister's Conference.  

We stopped by some old investigators and one of them needed some service. He was living off of tea and stale bread. We went out with him to talk and buy him some food for the next week. It felt good to help him out. Plus, we had the opportunity to talk about Metallica and ACDC. He loves american rock music. He was telling us about the history of Russia a bit as well. He stated that they didn't have any music like rock or anything until the fall of the iron curtain. Still, only then they had european music.

This week we plan to run the cool little english club/activity with the branch for Halloween and some Nevada Day celebration. We plan to carve some watermelons and eat some doughnuts hanging from a string. I hope that we will have a huge turnout. We are kind of on our own doing this activity, but no sweat I am the party master!! Kurgan is one of the most legit places that I have served in many aspects. The branch president has so much spark of enthusiasm for the missionary work here. We are just simply serving the Lord here together. For all those that are coming to the Yekaterinburg Mission, you will love it and enjoy the amount of service that you can accomplish here. Plus Russian is just plain out cool.

Love,

Elder LeFevre

October 22, 2012

First full week in Kurgan!! It has been raining and causing the bottom of my pants to become muddy. We met with many of our investigators here in our area and today we are planning to go play some soccer while the weather is not too cold. This week was focused upon many service opportunities which arose from simply stopping by the homes of investigators in less actives. One story that I would like to share with you this week occurred at the end of last Monday. We went by an investigator's house and found his friend outside sitting on a bench a little intoxicated. He was super nice to talk to and was mostly there. He exclaimed that he wasn't baptized and that he didn't want to hear about our religion. During this conversation, his friend with the baptismal date came out to greet us and to say that he couldn't meet with us due to how busy he was. In his explanation he described many things which he needed to have completed before the winter and that he was behind. One of the things that stood out to us on his "to do" list was to stack the large amount of wood up into the shack behind his house. We told him that we would definitely like to help him and that we would come by Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon to help him prepare for winter. We came by on Tuesday and began to stack wood for him without him knowing until the continuous loud barking of the dog aroused his attention to look outside. He came out and greeted us and said that he would be out to help in a little bit. We came out and helped us and was glad that we took to our word. We did the same thing o Wednesday and finished the big pile of stacking wood. It brought a big smile to this man's face. He and his friend were very grateful for what we did. They offered anything to repay us back in someway from offering us cigarettes to heating up the banya in the back for us to sit in. We declined the offers and stated that the only thing we wanted to do was share our message of the restored gospel with him and his family. They were taken back and as we were finishing up the service they repeatedly came up to us wanting to know if we could baptize people. Yes of course we do! They also asked how much does it cost, because the church here requires that you pay for an ordinance to be done. We shared a verse to help encourage each other to quit smoking and drinking and then everyone took turns saying a prayer in their own words.  We also met with our progressing investigator who has a baptismal date for November. 

We had some finding time as always and decided to venture the top of our area to do some actual tracting not in the apartment buildings but at the private homes. At first it seemed like we were skeptical towards the idea but it was only about four doors until a lady from across the street poked her head out to see who was causing everyone's dog in the neighborhood to bark. She was super nice and she invited us in to listen more to our message. We met the members of the family as well. We taught the first lesson. This Sunday I was asked to give a talk in the branch upon the subject of family in the plan of our Heavenly Father focused upon marrying someone of your own faith. I was surprised that I could talk on that subject for twenty minutes. Trying to push the finding efforts here. I think in doing so we will be able to grow our relationships with the members in the branch as we set meetings allowing members to preside. 
Love you all
Elder LeFevre

October 15, 2012

Hello from the big village of Kurgan!! That seems to be a famous joke that is told about this small city only two hours from the border of Kazakhstan. The city is spread along the flat landscape of the Siberian tundra. About every day we walk through areas that consist only of private homes, dirt roads, goats, old Russian cars, dogs. I have been getting used to watching where I step to not land in mud or anything that is worse.

I had to make a twenty hour travel to Yekaterinburg and back this past week for Zone Leader Council. We arrived late Monday night, around midnight to President's home to grab a quick bite and go to bed. The next day was yet again another ZLC which was great and full of opportunities to learn from each other and from the Holy Ghost. We discussed the need to be exactly obedient to the white hand book and the rules of the Area Presidency. We even discussed how we needed to keep the rule of companions sight and sound literally in our apartments too. I need to be 100% obedient in order to qualify for all the blessings which wait for me. We left Tuesday night and arrived midnight in Tyumen to grab the remaining hours of sleep that we had left until Elder E and I had to go back to Kurgan by midday in order to prepare the arrival of President R and the Area doctor to look at the clinics here and the services they provide. 

Wednesday evening we stopped by a recent convert and a baptismal candidate who called us up my first week and stated that she didn't want to be baptized. We went to her private home and sat on a couple of logs in her yard. We began to teach the lesson until we heard a car pull up and a little kid came running in the gate asking us to carry a few things into the yard from outside the gate. It was the member's oldest son and his wasted wife. They came in and let us say we felt the need to stay and support the member from the drunk wife who at one time threw a brick through the window of the house. Everything was fine and we even taught the dad the first lesson and answered his questions on the book of Mormon and about our church. That night I felt down deep inside the pain for the little boy who is growing up amongst examples that aren't the best of the best. I know that there is great responsibility for parents to raise their children and I am eternally grateful for my wonderful parents and their examples that have allowed me to make the right choices and avoid pain and suffering that can come from inexperienced decisions towards sin. I love you mom and dad!! After this encounter it seemed that we were being guided by the Lord to discover more about our investigators and the problems they face to fix. We ran into our investigator on the street who was drunk after the elders a while back taught him the Word of Wisdom. He was with his girlfriend who was drunk too and was excited to see real Americans. we gave her a Book of Mormon and invited them on a lesson together later in the week, when they are not under the influence.

Thursday, we spent the day mostly with President R and the Area doctor stopping by several reputable clinics, including the world famous one located in my area. Doctor Illiazarov apparently during the nineties made a brace that corrects some of the most complicated deformations of the body due to the bone structure. This device requires pins to be driven into the bone and then like braces on your teeth adjusted to straighten or lengthen the bone. So if any of you are feeling short come on down to Kurgan and I will be your translator and in a few months you can be as tall as Shaq! 

That evening we had a successful English Club. After English Club, a usual visitor was distressed about the situation her family was in moving that night into another room in the apartment building by the next morning. We were glad to accept the call of service and duty. We went into an older apartment complex and thank goodness this apartment was on the first floor. We moved out a heavy couch, arm chair, closet and table to the garbage in darkness. The pieces of furniture were falling apart and were wet and dirty. The mom was super grateful towards us and I bet it was weird to see a couple of guys in white shirts covered in filth helping this family out while everyone stood watching. President R was also quite baffled at the sight of us later that night.

Friday, we had Zone training after we had lunch together at the local restaurant here. I had a cow tongue salad with mayonnaise, mors, and pizza. It was a pretty good Italian restaurant. We had a good class relating all the information that was given to us from ZLC and had a good lesson on fighting against the feelings of fear, disappointment, and laziness. All of which are from the adversary. Our investigator whom we have committed to be baptized is considering the invitation but needs to act upon the answer that he has already received of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. 

Conference was great!! I enjoyed Pres. Eyring's talk during Priesthood especially and invite those who have not watched conference to do so! Go with an open heart and willing mind to learn. I promise you will be enlightened to change something for the better. LOVE YOU ALL!

October 1, 2012

This past week was a definite challenge to see all of our investigators and how they are progressing. We invited people to be baptized and to attend church as well. We have about three investigators that we wanted to accept baptismal commitments, but instead are all thinking about the decision right now as we speak. We met with one of our investigator's last night at D's place and had dinner. He is doing way better and seems that we are in the good graces of his girlfriend again! YEAH! It is difficult, however, to find out what exactly to teach him. He has been taught many of the lessons already, but President R spent some time with me and my companion over to a new member this past weekend about inviting our investigators parents in on the discussions. A lot of things happened this past week while going about doing the Lord's work.

This past Wednesday, I went on splits with Elder H in Uralmash.  We had good time out in the rain stopping by less active members of the church and being successful with a few that opened the doors to us!! That area has a ton of potential to work with part member families it seems. As we were walking we stopped some pretty interesting people. The first man that we stopped was a guy named J, that is a weird name by the way in Russian. He had no pupil in his
right eye and had a hard time focusing his gaze upon us as we talked with him about the purpose of life. He was super cool. He had a problem with his eye sight to the point where he can only see heat signatures! We found one of the X-MEN!! We ended up inviting him to a meeting and one other promising man that we met on the street later that afternoon. We were walking in an older part of the city with apartment buildings that were built during the second world war when a Gothic man came walking up and We both said hello to him. He was super excited for the fact that we stopped to talk to him. He was a strong believer in his orthodox faith and blessed us as we left along our way to have a few meetings at the church with some investigators. I learned a lot from Elder H as he testified boldly promising people blessings in the time of our contacting. We also learned that you cannot start making doubts abut a person on the street before you talk to them because that is putting limitations on the Lord. It was a good learning experience for me and we had a great time.

Our new member's son is investigating the church right now at the age  of fourteen. We went with President R to meet with him and his dad. The son loves cross country skiing and cross country running according to this he has a billion medals and awards. He is a pretty awesome kid. We sat down and shared some banana bread with everyone and started to discuss the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was super strong as the dad testified and as we pertained the lesson to him by comparing Jesus Christ to our coach in running the race of life. He was not read to answer our commitment to be baptized but said he will think about it. President was a good help on that lesson as well! (He is super awesome!) After the lesson V wanted to show us his new pet. He pulled out what looked like a small porcupine but was a hedgehog from his garden. It really had sharp spikes and he let the little creature curl up into a ball and held it with his hands. It was a sight to see. Later on the hedgehog escaped and ran into the corner but the house cat got a little too curious and got a bit hurt as well from the sharp spikes. Man that thing can growl too!!

We received transfer calls this past weekend as well and it looks like  I may need to pull out my winter gear early this year as I go to Siberia to serve in Kurgan!! I am super excited. Back in a smaller town with only two companionship's. You can't get more epic than that, and neither can the weather out there. I will be serving with Elder E and will be the zone leader with Elder Y in Tyumen. I cannot wait to experience that , which the Lord has in store for me there. Love you all and be sure to enjoy the warm weather!!

Love,
Elder LeFevre

Sept 24, 2012

It seems that you always come across one of those kind of weeks every transfer. Everything was tough from getting out of bed in almost pitch black light outside to meetings canceling then rescheduling. However, we went about doing our best and meeting the goals that we set last planning session. We have been keeping at double digit meetings for all the weeks in this transfer and it feels awesome! The Lord is definitely blessing us as we go out and do our duty.

One of the miracles happened last Monday night after we talked to a man in the transport van and set a meeting with him to discussion about gospel. He wanted to meet at the bus stop and from there we went right across the street and taught him the first lesson after we chowed down a sandwich. He was interested in why we devoted so much of our life to be on a mission and if we can help him instill the
good goals and desires that drive us into the kids that he teaches about goals and so forth. We were super excited to here this and agreed to do it free of charge. This then about took  him back in shock at the fact that we basically share our testimonies for free. He regathered his thoughts and made it a point to read the book of Mormon and learn more about our church. We are going to extend the baptismal date for sure. Another one of our recent new investigators met with us last week and we extended him the baptismal commitment and explained the the blessings of doing so. He was not thinking that we would remember to ask him about it again after he gave us the response that he needed to think about it. He explained that he need to tell a few of his clergy members about the decision if he feels that it is right to change religions. He felt responsible to let them know.  I called him the other day and I relied on the Spirit to guide my thoughts in what to say and to do to help him. I shared a few scriptures about weaknesses being made strong through Jesus Christ and how the Atonement covers EVERYTHING!! We are trying to keep in touch be giving him something to read and follow up on it. This experiences and many like it have given me insight on how we can help many people around us more than just physically, but mentally and spiritually.

Contacting had to be the funnest thing as usual!  I love to talk to people and see what conversations you can get into. We had a very successful day the other day as we went contacting for a four hour
period and got two numbers. We even walked and talked longer than twenty minutes along the street after the initial contact and conversation. This man was from the village out side Chelyabinsk and
only knew that the Russian Orthodox church was existent. Crazy to think about being caught up inside that bubble!

We actually got another meeting with our long time investigator, stuck in the crossroads, he is trying to make time to meet us and to think about baptism, which may lead into the result of him making a
few big decisions!! We talked about the blessing of the gospel with our testimonies and share a few verses form King Benjamin and talked about the need to enter int a covenant with God to receive the blessings and help needed to overcome in the end of ends the trials and obstacles of life which beat upon us from day to day. I relayed much to our lessons this week through my studies on the Atonement of our Savior and how that is such a key principle in understanding who we are and what we need to do in order to bless our life and the lives of others as we go about living the teachings of the Savior in our lives. I am super excited for this week and to get one baptismal date, PLEASE! I would be so happy! I already am happy but ten times more happy!  Love you all and keep safe! (Virtual hug!)
Elder LeFevre

Sept 17, 2012

Epic week came about us this last week here in the Yekaterinburg Zone!

After our chores and internet we went straight back home to get changed out to play some football in the rain. We invited members and non members to come to the activity but only us and one of the other companionship's showed up. We ended up throwing the ball around and having a ton of college orientation groups come over and asking about who we were. Just by our appearance we stand out as Americans it seems. on the way there I was holding a football in my hands and a man turned to me and asked if I played rugby. I told him the only time I played rugby was on my knees with friends back home in high school. He laughed and was puzzled and recognized the slight American accent that I have. This guy was golden. We had a short conversation on the ride to the grove in the middle of the city about the church and then swapped numbers. The Lord puts many opportunities in our path when we obey with exactness. It was a good day and we ended it with a meeting with the man that wants to quit smoking but have decided to drop him as an investigator due to his behavior on lessons and not keeping any commitments that we give him. Unfortunately we had to conclude to such actions but there are many prepared souls out there to talk to.

We got a call from a new member to meet with his friend a second time this past week and teach him the Restoration in full. he kept his reading assignment and prays often due to his current faith. He is a really neat guy who at one time taught physics in the college around his house and has been searching for truth for a long time. It was a tough lesson after he contradicted a few of our principles that we were teaching and I felt like the referee between everyone in that room who were trying to take shots at each others faith. We quickly ended that meeting and went contacting. Lately, we have been talking to a ton of people during our contacting "power hours" and have received many blessing from that. We called up and down lists about everyday this week in order to get return appointments with them. Later that night we went on a fun little excursion to the town about an hour outside the city and there met with a member and his son who is now also a new investigator at us. The dad who was baptized this last June is really good at scaring me and on the lesson I did not feel confident but he is a really genuine member and awesome. I forgot to say the famous line at the end of our lesson, "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He just about died laughing because he said that it was not allowed to forget such a simple phrase. Our relationship is ten times better now! ha-ha

This day had to be the funnest day of my week. I went on splits with Elder P in for the day. We had fun the whole day just doing the Lord's work and stopping by less actives was super hilarious. We were coming upon this big apartment building's entrance and there stood a pretty girl at the door who took a look at us and allowed us in. We ran inside and into to the elevator double checking the information on the ward list. Once we reached the floor we came to the outer door which led to the individual apartments and rang the door bell. We awaited for someone to come out and greet us.
There was commotion on the other side and at the same moment the girl was opening the door the elevator door opened up to our left and out came the girl. Apparently the stop by was that girl and
her friend who lived there as well. We just were sweating and communicated with them as fast as possible and set the return appointment.  As the day came to a close our meetings had canceled on us and we took a look at our goals to have three meetings and knew that despite the rain we needed to go out and go contacting like crazy! So we did. My hands were freezing and we were soaking wet. You should have seen us buying treats for tea and everyone just looking at two joyful missionaries who gave out three books of Mormon in an hour. Accomplishment!

The rest of the week was fantastic! We met with President to talk about transfers and make area changes yet again to meet the qualifications of Yekat to meet its full potential. I am sorry this is short but we got a ton to do today and many more stories I can tell but I got time after my mission to tell a bunch to you all. I love you all and have a great week.

Sept 10, 2012

It is preperation day yet again!? This just proves that your mission goes by way too fast! The end of this last week has been great in going out and representing the Lord in every way possible. When the Spirit is burning within you, nothing can stop you from sharing your testimony. One of the things I have started to change is getting up at 5:45 to get in extra language study and doing the P90x program at 6:30am in the morning as well. Today was only the first day of changing up my routine but I believe that I will get a hold of it soon enough. haha Making changes and perfecting ourselves requires us to grow spiritually, mentally, and physically in order to reach your full potential. 

We have been teaching one man here in Yekaterinburg for the past few weeks in order to get him ready to be baptized this upcoming Saturday. He has not smoked for about a week and wants to be baptized. Now we are just getting him to understand the ordinance within itself and grasp the concept of 'enduring to the end.' The theme of "enduring to the end," has rung within my thoughts for the past few days after I sent my last email full of vigor and enthusiasm for the work that I am participating in. I realized that maybe we need to do some muscle confusions for the natural man inside us in order to allow the light of the gospel grow within us. We have many opportunites to do so in our lives through scriptures study and prayer we can find the methods to align ourselves with the will of God. This takes quite a bit of humility and requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Of course, this does not mean you are weak or passive, but that we are good listeners and learners. We need to be teachable in order to hear the still small voice from the Holy Ghost teestify to us of things that we need to do. Everyday here in the mission field I get many promptings to do something good. By listening to that prompting, I have been talking to wonderful people on the streets, at meetings and on trasnport. I haven't allowed anything to hold me back. The man with his baptismal date coming up has recognized the need to be baptized, but it will mean nothing to him if he is not willing to continue to live by the commandments and teachings of our Savior.

I don't have enough fingers to count the times that my companion and I have had to state our purpose as missionaries to investigators. Doing so as quickly as possible opens up the doors to revelation for that person and to us in order to teach him needed principles. That is why it has been hard for a few people in our teaching pool to progress. Another investigator is going through a tough time in his life . Pray for him please! That was a testament to me that alcohol is really stupid and that was the cause of all of it. Him and his girlfriend consider us as friends and we are trying to get him to understand the need to be baptized with authority from God in order to receive repentance. We are baptized unto repentance! 

I want to bear testimony that God loves every one of you. No matter the pain, sorrow, or guilt that we feel; we need to realize that it can be taken all away thanks to the EVERLASTING ATONEMENT! What a great gift. We must understand it and apply it to be on the path to receive all the blessings that our Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of us! Love you all.

Elder LeFevre

Sept 5, 2012

I feel so full of the Spirit everyday here in Russia. It doesn't matter where we are, we can always feel the love that comes from our Heavenly Father as we obey his voice. I have been learning about obedience every day of my mission it seems and how big of a law it is in the eternal aspect of things. After leaving Chelyabinsk, it has taken me a while to get a grasp upon where I am at in my mission and how I am anticipating in this amazing work. I love the calling that I have and the responsibility it brings as I stretch myself beyond measure to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible when exercising faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. This past week was the second week of this transfer and an opportunity to get a good start on accomplishing the goal that was set in our mission of 91 baptisms by the end of this year. As of now we have 52 baptisms to go and four months left. I found myself in the "rut" of things this last transfer and have been praying to receive answers on my prayers of what I need to do in order to keep developing talents in the language, teaching, and leadership qualities. Many things have changed in my attitude toward the work and in my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Many events in the past week were catalysts in the process of this mighty "change of heart" inside me and it started with bringing some light into my understanding.

This past week my companion and I having been working to get ten new investigators and two baptisms by the end of this transfer, however realized that we can do things better and have been aligning ourselves to live everything exactly obedient. I remember the three points of advice Uncle Clark gave to me after being set apart was, "OBEDIENCE, OBEDIENCE, OBEDIENCE!" The great thing about this advice is that it has a very eternal role and is first law in heaven. My companion and I are far from perfect, but we got a hold of ourselves and realized that every lesson we had in the past transfer could have been better and they could have been closer to baptism. Every meeting this past week has focused upon helping them keep their commitments and coming closer to baptism or dropped in order to find the elect. There are plenty of people to talk to. As the week approached to an end we had the privilege of meeting President and Sister Lawrence from the area presidency on Sunday 2nd of September at a special district conference. Chelyabinsk took a bus ride early that morning to come to the meeting at ten in the morning which consisted only of new members and investigators. The room was full. It was great to see the two investigators who had received baptism in my time of teaching them there and being reunited with smiles and words of gratitude. I cannot express the feeling of joy and love I felt as I saw one of them get the Melcesidic Priesthood and to know that the recent member is passing the sacrament. These are testaments to me of hard work, faith and obedience. These three principles are in our mission scripture and I assure you that I will be incorporating them every day of my life. The influence of the Holy Ghost was strengthened in those meetings listening to words of wisdom and truth from the Comforter. Little did I know that this was the beginning in order to prepare me to receive my answer to my prayers recently about, How can I keep myself progressing and become the man that I want to become at the end of my mission?"

Monday morning I came prepared to discuss on Zone Leader Council the goal of 91 baptisms with Pres. and Sister Rust, Pres. and Sis. Lawrence and all my brethren. Once we finished business, we opened discussion with President Lawrence suggesting many topics that we wanted to receive council and answers on in order to train and help our missionaries. We had many topics on the board and Elder B picked the first topic of discussion with 91 baptisms. It is the third quarter in a football game for us and we needed the help of our Heavenly Father to guide us through this. We all gathered on our knees and prayed to receive inspiration on how to accomplish this goal before the end of the year. We devised a four step system in which we will bring the powers of heaven to accomplish the task ahead. 1) Prayer/Fasting- This Friday, every missionary will fast in our mission to seek inspiration to find the 91, things which we can improve in obedience, and our personal sacrifice to the Lord in order to achieve all of our goals. 2) The sacrifice- I am a firm believer in personal sacrifice in order to grow, learn and achieve. I have many things in my mind right now which I can give up or do better and I am excited in finding out what the Lord wants me to do. 3) GO BOLD and do not put limitations on the Lord- I will be exercising faith in fulfilling my promises and living the higher law. Satan cannot bind my tongue! 4) I will participate in three baptisms by the end of the year. So be expecting pictures!! :) The Spirit was very strong and it was indescribable as we ended feeling the flame with in us burn with light of knowledge and truth to spread to our missionaries and to people everywhere. I had an interview with one of the coolest members of the Quorum of the Seventy and of course our awesome Mission President. They both inspire me very much to be the best I can and to internalize everything I learn here on my mission.

Tuesday, was an amazing Zone Conference with the pleasure of President Lawrence and Sis Lawrence presiding. We were taught by Sis. Lawrence on the subject of our calling and about our lineage. She knows the scriptures really well and can tell you any reference to back up her comments and lessons. My mind was melting with how much information I was given regarding the scriptures and our calling as missionaries. The Spirit was presiding the whole meeting and before we went down to lunch we were asked to present the idea and revelation received from our Zone Leader Council to the missionaries in our zone. Elder S and I just wanted to put on Braveheart paint and yell and grunt like men. Elder S led the presentation with the details and his testimony, and then we went down the line confirming what we received is true and we will be committed to the work. My hand clenched in a fist as I was shaking with so much love and excitement for everyone that I would come into contact with. The mission came on board with us and yesterday was an amazing start to a new slate as we all make changes in repentance and sacrifice to bring the blessings of heaven upon us in this mission. I don’t ask you all to join in the fastbecause that is against the rules, but I ask that you keep praying for me as I pray for every one of you! I love you all and the amazing influence you have had in my life. Help us pray for miracles in achieving our goal of 91 baptisms because I want you to be involved in my work. Your prayers are a great strength to me and to all the missionaries here. Good luck with school and know that obedience is the key to freedom.

Love Elder LeFevre

August 27, 2012

This past week was buckling down to get the job done and have fun while doing so. This past Monday, was super fun. Elder S and I decided to go play some american football out in the grove here in the city to attract some people to play with us. We started out there about five in the afternoon with just the missionaries and a few members playing with us to make a total of 8 people. After about a half of an hour, we invited some body builders that are there every monday. At first, they said no but during a break for some water they came over to us and started to talk with us. One of them spoke english and wanted to learn how to play football. We invited two of them into our group to join and play. In the end we had the whole group of bodybuilders trying to play a weird game of rugby/footbal mix. It was super fun!! 

Tuesday rolled around and we met with some old investigators that may be showing some progress now that we had given them a break and others are falling off the map due to no progress. Then later last week we invited our awesome friends in the ward to play some card games with our investigators form the park and gave them a tour of the church and the first lesson. It was turning out to be a good week and these two guys that we found are legit.

This past week was just lined up with fun activities and having a good time doing the work of the Lord as always! :) We had a picnic with our investigator. It was totally fun and we had a cool rainbow appear too. We bought a ton of food and filled up on KBAC and juice while playing games. We visited a member's house on friday and taught a lesson and helped organize everything after the fridge broke there. It was just in time to stop by. We even taught alesson to a nonmember who was there visiting. 

Friday was zone class with the new zone and we got some fire in this zone thanks to all the great missionaries we have. I am excited to see the activities that we have planned work out and get the branch involved on it as well. Things are moving forward here in Yekateringburg and we set a baptismal date with an investigator. I love you all.

Love Elder LeFevre

August 20, 2012

This last week had to be one of the hardest for me and my companion. We only came out with six meetings this last week. We started off this last week having "Capture the Flag" and ultimate frisbee in the park with members and the senior couple last Monday for FHE. Unfortunately, no investigators came to our activity but some members and recent converts did! We had a good time and I came out victorious with the flag in my hand after both games!

Tuesday, We took the day contacting and then went down to D's house to have our dinner hour and helped him pack to get the train station on time in order to go to the young single adults conference in Krasnoyarsk. We all met up at the train station and handed off his bags to the people on the train and met up with some of my favorite people in the mission that were going to the conference as well. It was great to see everyone form Chelyabinsk and Perm. I love both of those cities!! The mission in general is full of cool young single adults. After wards, we were going to head down to a little town outside the city to visit a family there, but the meeting didn't work out and instead went out to eat at the japenese restaurant with some members and Elder and Sister C. We ended up doing the spiritual thought with them. It was super good and I enjoyed the free herbal tea they brought to us complimentary and the hot towels with fresh mint on them! It was awesome. It is cool serving in Asia/Russia! 

Wednesday, was my visa trip and I left early in the morning with half of our group because we get the direct flight to Helsinki since we live in Yekaterinburg. I actually went to two endowment sessions and we had time to relax a bit and I memorized all the articles of faith in Russian. We also got to stop in TGI FRIDAYS for a good old coconut milkshake! You got to try one they are great. We came back Thursday morning at six and I went to bed quickly until about eleven o clock in the middle of the day. We made some amazing Plov and did weekly planning and Zone class planning all day it seemed like. It reminded me of the MTC! 

Saturday was the day of the city celebration for Yekaterinburg and we were aloud to be outside and be amongst the crowds talking to people. It was fun being there and we met up with one of our investigators with his girlfriend. We played a quick game and had a thought and left to the church to have four meetings with our investigators. They all fell through unfortunately and we had a good coordination meeting with our branch mission leader. He talked about the miracles that happened on his mission in Novosabirsk when they decided to live by the white handbook completely. So lately, I have been going though the white handbook and writing things down that I could do better. 

We had one new investigator this week and he showed up at church! That was the biggest miracle and yesterday the Lord blessed us with a meeting at an inactive's house. We decided to stop by and it worked out!! I love you all and may the force be with you! aka the Holy Ghost!

Love,
Elder LeFevre

August 13, 2012

It was definitely a week of turning around for the whole zone and us as we hit our highest mark of meetings the whole transfer. We have spent a lot of time on the streets talking to people and asking them the questions of the soul. I really love contacting and am glad to talk to everyone on the streets.

We like to throw out new ideas every week in order to get the zone excited and the work moving forward here in the Yekaterinburg Mission. One of the biggest highlights of this last week was the contacting blitz that my companion and I put together for the zone. (The Amazing Race) We had the senior couple, Elder and Sister C, and us standing at the check points contacting as the companionship's went to destinations completing tasks in collecting numbers and names for the awesome Elders in another area of the city.  It turned out well as some companionship's got invited to teach a lesson in a home even! I had extra money on my MSF card and treated everyone for a ice cream cone in our zone and shared a spiritual thought on unity and us being a team. After that experience I felt the trust that Heavenly Father and President R have in me as a leader of the zone here in Yekaterinburg. The activity left smiles on everyone's' faces in seeing the accomplishments they made and overall loved the change up.

This past week however, has been tough because of the fact that we are trying to build our investigator pool up in this new area and trying to get to know people in this branch. It is tedious work, but we are continuing to be diligent in our efforts and complying to the rules and being obedient with exactness. The best view about what I do every week is the fact that it is all fun and by living the gospel and the rules everything works out. Missionary work should not be stressful and looked at as a job. In reality it is not a mind set that will be forgotten after the mission but a life style of representing what you believe and answering questions through your personal testimony of the truth. I have had fun this transfer and that includes the time in Chelyabinsk as well. I am glad to be apart of building the kingdom on this side of the world!

In the struggle for new investigators and adjusting to new apartments and transports, we have been blessed by our efforts from street contacting. We have some promising people on our list of names and have a list of people in the branch to go visit. I love the members here and the relationship that I have built with them. We have fun every week seeing many members and their nonmember friends on our weekly capture the flag activities and on lesson's at member's houses. We are laying the foundation for the future of our area. We have been celebrating our successes with tacos and listening to good old EFY music! ha-ha.. Oh and I learned how to make stuffed peppers last week. We made our own after having some at a member's house and they were the bomb! I am not just saying that as a hungry missionary, but in reality.

We had three member present meetings yesterday at D's house and played a quick game of Settlers of Zarahemla! I almost won. D won even while he was taking a little nap during the game! Next time it is my time to win! ha-ha.. We are having a great time in here and trying to stay out of the rain from time to time. ha-ha.. Seems that the Russian fall might come earlier this year!

Love you all and have a good last few weeks of summer until school starts!
Elder LeFevre