We just finished a baseball game with our investigator and his little dog like Paris Hilton has. Those kind of dogs are very popular here. Anyway, we played in the rain some soccer and then taught them how to play baseball. I got a sweet couple of solid hits on the bat and luckily didn't fly into someone's window. The field
wasn't too big and we played with a tiny bat. I am having such a good time here in Yekaterinburg.
Yesterday, We went to Кыштым to visit the group of members that hold sacrament out there amongst three people. We arrived after a two hour trip in the car with the mission driver and us. the mission driver is
legit here and it was fun to spend time talking with him for most of the ride, while my companion fell asleep in the back. We arrived about an hour early to the meeting and decided to use the hour to do some sight seeing of the city or shall I say little town used for metal work in the factories there. We had the meeting with them and we blessed the sacrament and gave talks on faith, prayer and the Holy Ghost. I finished it up pretty nicely. I told everyone that I loved hot food and after church in their living room we had a filling meal of plov, salati, and torte. We drove home out of the forest covered town back to the big city Yekaterinburg. We arrived and ran to D's place to have a spiritual thought and a lesson with one of our investigators and played "Settlers of Zarahemla." (probably my new favorite board game!) We had such a good time and he brought his girlfriend to the evening, which she warmed up to us and the members really well. After that meeting we ran to meet a potential new investigator at the church.
Saturday, We awoke and went down to the park to do exercise and passed on the McDonald's. ha-ha Being here in Russia has helped me eat only fresh food and not fast food. Once we were done with studies we made salsa for lunch and then contacted on the street. Getting last minute things for the baptism, we mopped the baptismal font to prepare for the three baptisms we had this past week. I was a good turn out of
about 30 people. We interviewed the people before their baptism and made sure that everything was fine with them as their baptism was about to happen. They were smiling from ear to ear it seemed like. I love baptisms. After the baptism, we met with a man from Uzbekistan who is trying to pick up Russian, but it is super hard to teach him with the language. He brought us some Uzbekistan meat. It was interesting.
Friday, We found the apartment!! Yes!! We spent most of our week looking for an apartment. Some of the apartments we looked at were from alright to a dump! The rest of our week was quite similar to this day. in trying to get the missionaries situated with new apartments and moving to their new areas, which we will be doing this week. We had a busy week with zone class where President R presided on the meeting and it was a good lesson then ran along to that which he said. On Thursday, we barely had time to do weekly planning, looking at apartments, and did three interviews which required translations in the afternoon. It was good to see the Atonement work in front of my eyes and I know that true happiness is achieved as we develop
ourselves into our full potential everyday through his love, which is shown to us by his atonement.
Our other investigators, who are baptist met with us on Monday this last week and it turned into a battle almost. I didn't participate in bible bashing. I hate persuading people with words towards conversion, because it will never work. We love people into the gospel, not force them into it. As we are examples to others and inform them of our beliefs then respect is reached between you and success will be achieved. People see the blessings of the gospel as they see it through the members being manifested in their smiles and love towards one another. I love you all and you all have a good week!
Elder LeFevre
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
July 23, 2012
It is awesome being here in Yekat once again and being around such awesome members, investigators, and missionaries. Elder S and I have been stepping up the work here in Yekat and trying to keep this city finding investigators and having those lessons with a member present. This past week was full of things that we had to do around the whole city. All the way from taking one hour bus rides to the amazing metropolotin system they have here in Yekat. My area is being changed, along with everyone else's to accomidate the ward split that they did here this past Sunday. We met with the assistants at President's house to go over the plans on moving missionaries to their new areas and aquiring new apartments for some of the companionships.
I have been enjoying the new area and my companion and I are having a blast with the work and hanging out. My area has been the center of Yekat, and that is including the amazing monuments and parks which
provide a good place to go ride bikes on a P-day with members and investigators. That was such a fun P-day and it is hard to think that summer is half way over here in the Urals.
Monday, we were coming back from a meeting and talking when we saw a young mom and her little boy carrying groceries underneath the underpass. Elder S spotted them ahead and we decided to go and help them. They allowed us to give them a hand and we talked to both of them on the way to there house. It was cool. She thanked us for the small service of carrying their groceries which were for the vacation that they were planning to do the next day. She then invited us to come anytime and to call her and she would like to know more about the church and who we are. It was one of the best contacts of the week.
This area is awesome for contacting and I get excited to do contacting. Another instance we had was on the same street coming from president's house and we stopped a younger man our age and got on a
good discussion on the need for faith and abut the Book of Mormon. It was great to talk to him and it was going well, until one man came up to the side of us and butted into the conversation. (We had to hold
ourselves back from telling him that this was an AB conversation) I told Elder S to continue the converstion with the other man, while I would take on the man that wanted to talk about strategy and war tactics of Russia.
The rest of the week went by really fast after we ran around and picked up supplies for the missionaries for zone class and meeting with new investigators. We found some cool guys around our age. One is
from Uzbekistan and the other is from Kurgan. The man from Uzbekistan doesn't speak Russian too well, but enough to get an idea of what we are saying. He is Muslim, and therefore we are taking smaller steps
with him and trying to answer his question about why there are so many religions. The other man is interested in taking the lessons and learning more,but we will meet with him as much as he can and extend a baptismal commitment as he continues. We just want to try and get him to as many activities as possible. However, we have two new branch presidents in the city and new branches. It may be a while until they get organized and we can get coordinating with them on activities. Our area also changed and we are now only a fourth of center and the area around the church building. I am super excited to start up again in a brand new area and
get some awesome investigators.
Zone Class went well as we talked about accountability with all the missionaries and even did a little of a lunch for our zone, where everyone brought goods to add to the potluck there. We made interesting graphs which were shown to us by a member who actually served in this mission three years ago and is now the branch president. One represented the zone's new investigators, the next was other lessons, then member present lessons, then church attendance, and baptisms. It was interesting to see the graphs in similarity and
to see that the more member present lessons we have the more there are at church and the more people accept a baptismal date to be baptized.
It was a great week and wee ended off with splits with the Elders in the northern part of the city and enjoyed the day with the new Elder K. That was one busy day even though I didn't have to worry about phone calls and tasks that you sometimes get as a zone leader. One guy that I contacted came up to us and tried to argue and so forth. I looked at Elder K and told the man that we wish him luck and that our testimonies will remain strong. So many things in this world really try to attack who you are as a child of God in order to bring
you down to misery and among the mist of darkness which blinds us from seeing the truth in front of us. This church is true!!
Yesterday after a busy church meeting, which I got to bless the sacrament, we went over to dinner at D's place and played a quick game, shared a spiritual thought on patience and had amazing soup and rice. We had a good time and laughed our socks off enjoying every minute of it. It is good to be here in Yekat!
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Elder LeFevre
I have been enjoying the new area and my companion and I are having a blast with the work and hanging out. My area has been the center of Yekat, and that is including the amazing monuments and parks which
provide a good place to go ride bikes on a P-day with members and investigators. That was such a fun P-day and it is hard to think that summer is half way over here in the Urals.
Monday, we were coming back from a meeting and talking when we saw a young mom and her little boy carrying groceries underneath the underpass. Elder S spotted them ahead and we decided to go and help them. They allowed us to give them a hand and we talked to both of them on the way to there house. It was cool. She thanked us for the small service of carrying their groceries which were for the vacation that they were planning to do the next day. She then invited us to come anytime and to call her and she would like to know more about the church and who we are. It was one of the best contacts of the week.
This area is awesome for contacting and I get excited to do contacting. Another instance we had was on the same street coming from president's house and we stopped a younger man our age and got on a
good discussion on the need for faith and abut the Book of Mormon. It was great to talk to him and it was going well, until one man came up to the side of us and butted into the conversation. (We had to hold
ourselves back from telling him that this was an AB conversation) I told Elder S to continue the converstion with the other man, while I would take on the man that wanted to talk about strategy and war tactics of Russia.
The rest of the week went by really fast after we ran around and picked up supplies for the missionaries for zone class and meeting with new investigators. We found some cool guys around our age. One is
from Uzbekistan and the other is from Kurgan. The man from Uzbekistan doesn't speak Russian too well, but enough to get an idea of what we are saying. He is Muslim, and therefore we are taking smaller steps
with him and trying to answer his question about why there are so many religions. The other man is interested in taking the lessons and learning more,but we will meet with him as much as he can and extend a baptismal commitment as he continues. We just want to try and get him to as many activities as possible. However, we have two new branch presidents in the city and new branches. It may be a while until they get organized and we can get coordinating with them on activities. Our area also changed and we are now only a fourth of center and the area around the church building. I am super excited to start up again in a brand new area and
get some awesome investigators.
Zone Class went well as we talked about accountability with all the missionaries and even did a little of a lunch for our zone, where everyone brought goods to add to the potluck there. We made interesting graphs which were shown to us by a member who actually served in this mission three years ago and is now the branch president. One represented the zone's new investigators, the next was other lessons, then member present lessons, then church attendance, and baptisms. It was interesting to see the graphs in similarity and
to see that the more member present lessons we have the more there are at church and the more people accept a baptismal date to be baptized.
It was a great week and wee ended off with splits with the Elders in the northern part of the city and enjoyed the day with the new Elder K. That was one busy day even though I didn't have to worry about phone calls and tasks that you sometimes get as a zone leader. One guy that I contacted came up to us and tried to argue and so forth. I looked at Elder K and told the man that we wish him luck and that our testimonies will remain strong. So many things in this world really try to attack who you are as a child of God in order to bring
you down to misery and among the mist of darkness which blinds us from seeing the truth in front of us. This church is true!!
Yesterday after a busy church meeting, which I got to bless the sacrament, we went over to dinner at D's place and played a quick game, shared a spiritual thought on patience and had amazing soup and rice. We had a good time and laughed our socks off enjoying every minute of it. It is good to be here in Yekat!
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Elder LeFevre
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
July 9, 2012
There was a baptism at a lake this past week in Chely!! Our investigator was baptized and everything went well, even though it almost all fell through. We had a lot to do before and during the baptism, especially since it was on a lake! Yeah, the first time I have ever seen it done at a lake in my life and let alone plan for one. We had Zone Leader Council last P-day and decided to go down to the trading center in town to get Elder B a sweet Giorgio Armani bag like mine, but bigger. We met the M's there a little late and got them bags in order to make a bus ride to Yekaterinburg to get trained up on the addiction recovery program that they want to start here in Russia. However, it is not promised that this program will be implemented while I am here on my mission. They are taking it nice and slow. We left the M's early afternoon to Yekat after haircuts and enjoyed the humid air. We enjoyed our time amongst the other leaders in the mission and had a good talk on unity amongst ourselves and the goal for the mission to receive 91 baptisms by the end of the year. I always enjoy being amongst the R's and being taught by the Spirit. Every day on my mission has had a lesson included within it to teach me something new about life or the gospel.
We got back from our council in Yekat late in the night, but on the way at the bus stop talked to a nice guy about the gospel and for once didn't get into an argument on the topic, if Jesus Christ was the Son of God or not. Wednesday we were back and continuing the work here in CHTZ by leading my last Zone Class in Chelyabinsk. We set goals to get six referrals as we go and offer assistance to the leaders in the branch and inviting them over to the M's to have dinner and contact the referrals. Lately, I have been focusing on getting to become close with the members in anywhere that I serve to show the care I have, in action and the trust they can put in missionaries. Being a zone leader has taught me so much in how to take the principles of communication, love, and service into action in my everyday responsibilities as a missionary and for after my mission. I am very grateful for having served in Chely amongst great missionaries, members, and a great senior couple. I am going to miss them all.
Our other investigator was to be baptized as well, but is still working on overcoming smoking. We are still trying to help him become clean from smoking, and I am confident that the elders here will have him baptized next transfer. The other investigator, who is like my good friend on church meetings had a meeting with us for the last time on Saturday before the baptism. He is picking up gospel principles before we even tell him in the lesson to lead to the next point. There is so much potential in this area in Chely and I have loved every minute of it.
After splits on Friday with the Assistants, we made our last few calls to invite people to come and whoever said they could be there to help carry people in their car to the lake after a certain point in the road. There was a good showing of 32 people on the baptism and it was cool to see our investigator be baptized in the lake there. It was of course crowded with people on the shore near us on both sides, but they mainly watched in amazement as we performed the ordinance. We had a victory dinner of brownies, juice, and later Subway in the week.
Tonight, we will be attending a big family home evening in our area and I will be saying goodbye to some of the members there as I go to Yekaterinburg to be a Zone Leader with Elder S. I am so excited to be serving with Elder S in the center of the big city. I love the Lord, the people and my mission! I love you all!
We got back from our council in Yekat late in the night, but on the way at the bus stop talked to a nice guy about the gospel and for once didn't get into an argument on the topic, if Jesus Christ was the Son of God or not. Wednesday we were back and continuing the work here in CHTZ by leading my last Zone Class in Chelyabinsk. We set goals to get six referrals as we go and offer assistance to the leaders in the branch and inviting them over to the M's to have dinner and contact the referrals. Lately, I have been focusing on getting to become close with the members in anywhere that I serve to show the care I have, in action and the trust they can put in missionaries. Being a zone leader has taught me so much in how to take the principles of communication, love, and service into action in my everyday responsibilities as a missionary and for after my mission. I am very grateful for having served in Chely amongst great missionaries, members, and a great senior couple. I am going to miss them all.
Our other investigator was to be baptized as well, but is still working on overcoming smoking. We are still trying to help him become clean from smoking, and I am confident that the elders here will have him baptized next transfer. The other investigator, who is like my good friend on church meetings had a meeting with us for the last time on Saturday before the baptism. He is picking up gospel principles before we even tell him in the lesson to lead to the next point. There is so much potential in this area in Chely and I have loved every minute of it.
After splits on Friday with the Assistants, we made our last few calls to invite people to come and whoever said they could be there to help carry people in their car to the lake after a certain point in the road. There was a good showing of 32 people on the baptism and it was cool to see our investigator be baptized in the lake there. It was of course crowded with people on the shore near us on both sides, but they mainly watched in amazement as we performed the ordinance. We had a victory dinner of brownies, juice, and later Subway in the week.
Tonight, we will be attending a big family home evening in our area and I will be saying goodbye to some of the members there as I go to Yekaterinburg to be a Zone Leader with Elder S. I am so excited to be serving with Elder S in the center of the big city. I love the Lord, the people and my mission! I love you all!
Elder LeFevre
Sunday, July 8, 2012
July 2, 2012
This Saturday, there will also be the baptism of our other investigator on the lake here in Chelyabinsk. We are super excited to see these men get baptized to help build the priesthood here and the church. It just puts a big smile on my face to see such miracles happen after months of hard continous work. Our other investigator who is eighteen left to go work on the railroad this past week for two months and it was sad seeing him for the last time in a while. He has become our close friend here in Chelyabinsk and it was fun hanging out and playing basketball and talking about the UFC with him. Now, I am on the search for a new investigator to talk UFC with me.
With two of our investigators getting baptized in this coming week, we have been trying to get more people on the escelator towards baptism here in Chelyabinsk. I don't know if I will be transferred or not. I hope not, because the people here have been the best especially since I can hold conversations with people.
This past week we have been trying to fill up our potential investigator sheets with names and contacting them to find new investigators. One man we have been calling called us up while we were looking at one of the many lakes that surround Chelyabinsk to hold the baptism. He told Elder B and I that he wanted to meet as soon as possible that day to talk more. We figured we could fit him into our schedule that day and immediately went to stop by him and teach him a lesson. We showed up to the door of the staircase and called him. he came down and met us outside and invited us up to his apartment. He spoke some english and held a little conversation with us in English at the beginning. We stepped into the apartment and he turns to us and asked if we wanted something to eat or if we wanted to drink with him. Not thinking too much about the last part of the offer we stepped in and sat on his couch in his bedroom. he sat at the computer desk across from us. At first when we met with him outside, he had a distinct smell on his breath which didn't remind me of beer or whisky. It was something totally different, but I had smelt it before especially with an older investigator in my old area in Perm. We sat down and then we started to talk about hobbies, family, and etc. Then he turns in his seat and pulls out a big bottle of vodka and a shot glass and turned to us and offered some. I thought, "Darn!!" Then he started to light a cigarette after we explained to him that we dont smoke or drink and obey the law of chasity completely. We immediately got up and explained that we got to go and that we can only teach him if he is sober. He was a bit sad that we had to leave and then turned to both of us and said , "It is a Russian tradition to wish good luck to their guests and to kiss them on the cheek three times." Elder B and I just looked at each other and I said to him that we dont do that kind of thing. We both stood up and then the man shook our hands and then my face. Well, I got those pecks on the cheek and so did my companion. We left that meeting whiping our faces with cleaning towelettes and decided that it is best to have meetings with that man at the church.
One of the many miracles that happened this week was when we stopped by a contact whom we received off the street from a seventeen year old kid for the third time, hoping to get another way to contact him. His stepdad has been drunk for the past few stop bys and has yelled at us that the bible is enough and they don't need to learn more about our church. The son on the other hand is super interested and wants to learn more. It can be sad to see people in such situations. We left him our invitation and our number to call back. we started heading down the elevator and down the stairs and then there was a familiar face of a man whom I had seen in the area quite often. He stopped us and asked why we are here in white shirts and ties. We told him about our purpose here as missionaries and gave him the first vision on the street and talked about how he was baptized when he was young but lately is starting to question if their is a God. It was a perfect contact and I knew the Lord had prepared this man to talk to him about the church and our testimonies. He was super interested and we walked down to the bus stop talking about our favorite rock groups like Metallica and so forth. He plays the electric guitar and is in a band. he stated that he had seen us wlking around for sometime and has always wanted to stop us and ask who we were, but never did. He told us he saw us in the grocery store at the big mall across the street from us and then it dawned on me that he was the kid that weighed our fruit every week! haha Hey, I know that it is important to be representatives and followers of Christ at all times and in all places because you make an effect on people and the way they look at the church. This man had such respect for us and may be down to here more about the church.
We got our fan to work the other day finally after having trouble getting off one piece of the fan to place the blades. We went without a fan for a week about and decided we needed to take back the fan that we just bought at the store near us and get a different fan. I thought that $14 for the fan was cheap and maybe this was the problem. So we walked up the guy behing the customer service desk and explained that we cannot get the peice off. He calls in help and a man comes up to the desk and begins to twist the peice and unscrews it in two seconds. We tried getting that peice to come off everynight with knives and even a hammer and this guy just walks on over to us and laughs and asks "What's the problem." Blonde MOMENT! Elder B and I just collected the box of fan parts and got out of their as soon as possible, laughing every step on the way back home. My shoes are getting worn out super fast and I am about to switch into the other pair I have. Especially, this past week we went to four lakes trying to find a place that will not be busy to hold a baptism somewhere that is not deep and easy access. Of course, we found one spot in the last place on ur list to look that wasn't crowded and was easily accessible by car. Doing the work of the Lord is a joy everyday and I am loving every moment on the mission. Best decision I have made by far. I love you all and you all have great week.
Love, Elder LeFevre
This past week we have been trying to fill up our potential investigator sheets with names and contacting them to find new investigators. One man we have been calling called us up while we were looking at one of the many lakes that surround Chelyabinsk to hold the baptism. He told Elder B and I that he wanted to meet as soon as possible that day to talk more. We figured we could fit him into our schedule that day and immediately went to stop by him and teach him a lesson. We showed up to the door of the staircase and called him. he came down and met us outside and invited us up to his apartment. He spoke some english and held a little conversation with us in English at the beginning. We stepped into the apartment and he turns to us and asked if we wanted something to eat or if we wanted to drink with him. Not thinking too much about the last part of the offer we stepped in and sat on his couch in his bedroom. he sat at the computer desk across from us. At first when we met with him outside, he had a distinct smell on his breath which didn't remind me of beer or whisky. It was something totally different, but I had smelt it before especially with an older investigator in my old area in Perm. We sat down and then we started to talk about hobbies, family, and etc. Then he turns in his seat and pulls out a big bottle of vodka and a shot glass and turned to us and offered some. I thought, "Darn!!" Then he started to light a cigarette after we explained to him that we dont smoke or drink and obey the law of chasity completely. We immediately got up and explained that we got to go and that we can only teach him if he is sober. He was a bit sad that we had to leave and then turned to both of us and said , "It is a Russian tradition to wish good luck to their guests and to kiss them on the cheek three times." Elder B and I just looked at each other and I said to him that we dont do that kind of thing. We both stood up and then the man shook our hands and then my face. Well, I got those pecks on the cheek and so did my companion. We left that meeting whiping our faces with cleaning towelettes and decided that it is best to have meetings with that man at the church.
One of the many miracles that happened this week was when we stopped by a contact whom we received off the street from a seventeen year old kid for the third time, hoping to get another way to contact him. His stepdad has been drunk for the past few stop bys and has yelled at us that the bible is enough and they don't need to learn more about our church. The son on the other hand is super interested and wants to learn more. It can be sad to see people in such situations. We left him our invitation and our number to call back. we started heading down the elevator and down the stairs and then there was a familiar face of a man whom I had seen in the area quite often. He stopped us and asked why we are here in white shirts and ties. We told him about our purpose here as missionaries and gave him the first vision on the street and talked about how he was baptized when he was young but lately is starting to question if their is a God. It was a perfect contact and I knew the Lord had prepared this man to talk to him about the church and our testimonies. He was super interested and we walked down to the bus stop talking about our favorite rock groups like Metallica and so forth. He plays the electric guitar and is in a band. he stated that he had seen us wlking around for sometime and has always wanted to stop us and ask who we were, but never did. He told us he saw us in the grocery store at the big mall across the street from us and then it dawned on me that he was the kid that weighed our fruit every week! haha Hey, I know that it is important to be representatives and followers of Christ at all times and in all places because you make an effect on people and the way they look at the church. This man had such respect for us and may be down to here more about the church.
We got our fan to work the other day finally after having trouble getting off one piece of the fan to place the blades. We went without a fan for a week about and decided we needed to take back the fan that we just bought at the store near us and get a different fan. I thought that $14 for the fan was cheap and maybe this was the problem. So we walked up the guy behing the customer service desk and explained that we cannot get the peice off. He calls in help and a man comes up to the desk and begins to twist the peice and unscrews it in two seconds. We tried getting that peice to come off everynight with knives and even a hammer and this guy just walks on over to us and laughs and asks "What's the problem." Blonde MOMENT! Elder B and I just collected the box of fan parts and got out of their as soon as possible, laughing every step on the way back home. My shoes are getting worn out super fast and I am about to switch into the other pair I have. Especially, this past week we went to four lakes trying to find a place that will not be busy to hold a baptism somewhere that is not deep and easy access. Of course, we found one spot in the last place on ur list to look that wasn't crowded and was easily accessible by car. Doing the work of the Lord is a joy everyday and I am loving every moment on the mission. Best decision I have made by far. I love you all and you all have great week.
Love, Elder LeFevre
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