March 11, 2013

The topic of the month for the mission is the Atonement. What a great time of year to celebrate this crowning event in the history of our eternal lives as we approach the Easter season. This past week I have been reflecting upon this topic greatly as I have been preparing for my lessons and for the spiritual thought I gave on ZLC. I love ZLC so much. The Spirit presided as we discussed various topics relating to our missionaries and the cities in which we are a serving. I almost didn't make it to ZLC after we left last Monday to Tyumen on a marshrutka. On our arrival into Tyumen a horrible thought came to my remembrance, "Do I have my passport?!" I immediately began to pat myself down and checking my bag. I definitely had left my passport at home in Kurgan. What a terrible mistake!! The ticket ladies for the train always double check your documents before you get on a train. I called up President R to let him in on the situation and everyone else too that needed to be informed of the situation. After doing so i remember just being full of sorrow due to the thought that I could actually miss my last ZLC and giving my spiritual thought. I was super sad. I got up the next morning early to get ready for the train and while Elder S was in the shower, got on my knees and prayed earnestly to my Heavenly Father to allow me to get on the train. 

Upon entering the train station I made a few more calls to people in the office to try and get them to give me my passport number, but they couldn't give it to me and told me that it was very unlikely for me to get to Yekaterinburg. Elder S and I then just decided to hand off the printed coupons to the lady in the booth and have her print out the tickets. She printed out the tickets for me with out asking for my passport! This was of course the first of many miracles relating to this trip. Every time that I needed to get on the train, I had no problems and the Lord softened the hearts of everyone for a reason. My only explanation is that I needed to be on that ZLC and the Lord was going to guide me every step of the way. The Lord knows each and every one of us personally and knew that I can be forgetful. In so doing I met a tiny trial of my faith and acted according to the prompting to pray not only on my way to Yekat but on the return journey as well. 

We found two new investigators this week! Such a miracle to see people interested in the Gospel and the spiritual conversations that we can have concerning the truths of the Gospel which bring light into our lives to guide us to greater and better things from our Heavenly Father. We talked to one of our investigators about the word of wisdom this past weekend and the plan God has made for us. He was happy to learn about the Plan of Salvation, but when we had to confront green tea coffee and black tea, he about lost it. he really wants to be baptized and we were straight with him, meaning we explained the qualifications for baptism. At the end he agreed to quit all these substances. The two new investigators are ready to read the Book of Mormon and we will be excited to see how they progress in the future. They are both from English Conversation Group.

The Atonement is means being "at one." Reading in the Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-20, we learn of a detailed account of the Savior's suffering for each and everyone of us. He was definitely alone during those moments of pain and sorrow. I love my brother Jesus Christ so much for so generously giving his life for the sake of mine. I will be eternally grateful to him and the opportunities that his Atonement gives me to become a better person. The Atonement is something that not only should be used once but many times, because with each application we deepen our understanding of Jesus Christ and our purpose to become perfect just as our Father in Heaven is perfect. paying close attention to the verses in this scripture we also learn that if we don't use the Atonement then we must to stand alone and suffer just as he did which suffering caused even God himself to tremble. The Atonement was performed to rescue us from sorrow and unhappiness. We should not be afraid to admit our weaknesses and changed for the better. I know that Jesus Christ is always near to lift us up out of the the depths of misery and left the pain that burdens our hearts. I love you all and I pray that we all consider the joy that comes in using the Atonement in our lives.

Love,
Elder LeFevre

March 4, 2013

Kurgan is doing great. We are dealing with some difficulties trying to help some perspective returning elders return to activity and get our investigator in the waters of baptism. He works twenty four hour shifts and we are trying to get the ward accustomed to him and on top of that check his motives for baptism. He says that he would like to find his "beloved second half" by becoming a member. Basically, I hope he understands faith is what drives us to repent and then be baptized. We are working on implementing the commandments into the lesson as we teach the fundamentals such as prayer and reading the scriptures. 

Other than our main investigator we are trying to find people to teach by our own means and that has been successful as well. This past week while leading the advanced group during English we talked about leaders and got on the subject of different types of leaders and governments. Of course, I made sure that we didn't talk about politics. It was a great topic and I got to learn a lot of Russian history in less than 45 min. English Conversation Group is going so well that yesterday we had another lady from my group come to church and she sat right behind the piano boldly to play during sacrament meeting. It was great having someone to play some music during the first hour of church, because I cannot sing solo for too long or people just give me the awkward stare. Usually, I just sing louder to bring some liveliness to the meeting. 

One member here in Kurgan,  has been helping us on meeting a lot lately before he leaves on his mission to England. We had a couple of activities due to it being his last week here with the young single adults and some nonmembers as well. This city for sure has some of the coolest young single adults. We took our dinner hour to play with them a couple rounds of 31 and UNO. By the way every city here in Russia has different rules for UNO. We even had the treat of tasting a Russian creation of overcooked and slightly under-cooked pizza with tons of sauce. I was the sloppiest eater of them all. Luckily  I did not spill on any of my clothes but had a pool of sauce on the napkins which I had laid in precaution. What can I say, eating is a dirty job sometimes. 

This past week as well, we celebrated Elder P's birthday! We got a delicious tort and had a great day giving out a couple of books of Mormon and a number. Everyday the Lord blesses us with something to be happy about and continue forward. I am a strong believer in the quote, "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to pain, and pain leads to suffering" (Yoda, Star Wars episode 5) This can relate to our spiritual growth due to the fact that we know the gospel of Jesus Christ provides a better path. So many people that I have talked to on the street in the past week have expressed to us that they are believing, but in reality they fail to see the love God has for them and in the end believe that God does not love His children.

The world and Satan are good at placing doubts, stereotypes, and fears into our lives. This of course happens often our lives, especially while trying to stive towards good and rightousness. Our pride clouds our view of the big picture creating ways to build a pavilion above us, seperating us from our Father and Heaven.(Liahona 2012 November Pres. Eyring) We can become caught up on a instance where we were offended and in due time not only do we stop our eternal progression but the progression of those around us. It is sometimes hard to overcome our pride. WE should not be left to think that we cannot overcome it. Every one of us is a leader for someone in some way and in some moment in time. God has commended us to purify ourselves (1 John 3 2-3). This process is not easy and no one said it would. Let this be our goal, to become like our Father in Heaven and strive for it continually. 

LOVE YA"LL!

Elder LeFevre

February 25, 2013

What a great week! Elder P and I had so much fun on the streets talking to people about the gospel. We even got a new investigator with a baptismal date for the 23rd of March! Truly the principle of hard work and diligence has been a great testimony to us elders here in Kurgan. We went from having a hard time getting people to attend church to having a couple of new faces every Sunday and two investigators with a baptismal date in March. Kurgan is pulling through and we have other potentials as well that may come out of the wood work. One other miracle that happened to Elder P and I was that one man came to church that we simply contacted on the street and gave him a pass along card. We are going forth with faith and not letting up on our efforts. 

This last session of English Conversation Group went quite well but all the groups have found it hard trying to get comers to be involved in the converstations that we had. The topic this last week was on families and traditions. I am the leader of the converstaional group and found it awkward some times when I would pose a question relating to relationships between members of the family or things that they like to do together. The majority of the group was silent or answered with a negative comment. I have to admit I was puzzled sometimes but we managed to keep it on topic and positive. The next session we are scheduled to talk about leaders and qualities of a good leader. I can't wait for this week to hear some CCCP stories or opinions on things! Russia's long and interesting history has intriuged me oft while on the mission and I cannot wait to learn more about it in college. 

The members are great here in Kurgan and they really do like having the missionaries around. They are all examples to me of those willing to live the gospel, and love life while doing so. I had to give the lesson in third hour this past week on the talk of "I know it. I live it. I love it" from Sister Dibb in the Genneral Conference Liahona. One of my best teaching moments this past week as the whole group was involved in the lesson and conversation. It was a great Sunday!

Love you all and have a great week!!

Elder LeFevre

February 18, 2013

I would first like to shed some light on the incident that took place in the Chelyabinsk oblast. No one was killed by the meteorite and by the blast of the factory afterwards. I consider it a major miracle that casualties were minimum. The news does a good job as always of exxagerating things that happen, especially in competing countries. I even heard and saw pieces of news reports following the incident. Basically, life moves on and some even captured an awesome video of the meteorite burning up in the atmosphere and then traveling through  the sky! I received a call from Elder M about 1100 am about the meteorite that fell about two hours before. The shock wave of course was probably big since it did knock in a lot of windows in the city, but missionary work continued despite of the fact. We didn't even fell the ground rumble or anything in the peaceful little town of Kurgan.  

On a better note one man that Elder S and I found and started teaching finally got baptized this last Saturday! It just goes to prove that nothing is stopping the work of the Lord from moving forth. We with my companion are trying super hard to find investigators and this week ran into a couple of miracles from our labors. One man came to church and stayed all three hours soaking in every piece of information and wanting to know more about the church. This week we hope to get a meeting to work out with him.

English Conversational Group had its debut this last Thursday and despite the fact that it was Valentine's Day ( aka Hallmark holiday) we had a great turnout and for once everything ran extremely smooth in my conversation with the attendees. Elder P was doing great missionary work answering questions that people had about our church. We even have a a couple of them attending institute with the rest of the members. Now we will be working on getting them to church and teaching them the lessons. We were so excited that we had 36 people show up to the sign of day of English  Our finding efforts were not in vain of course and we learned a lot from organizing this new English conversation group. I am looking forward to the next English conversation that we will be having on Thursday. Perhaps, we will see further interest in people who come. We had fourteen people write down on the sign up sheet that they were interested in learning more about the church.  

Love,

Elder LeFevre

February 11, 2013

It is difficult moving out of apartments and into new ones. It always comes down to the point that you will be making several trips carrying heavy loads up and down several flights of stairs. From last Monday to Wednesday we got everything packed in between meetings and contacting. It was extremely funny to announce the details on zone training meeting about how the move was going to take place. It seemed like I was debriefing a squad of soldiers. The sisters had six bags, we had six bags and the other elders were leaving on a train to Yekaterinburg early in the morning. We ordered two taxis and stuffed them with our bags and then carried them up to the ninth floor quickly to switch spots with the sisters. We moved in to the new apartment that Wednesday and the other elders met them to help with their bags at the train station  After we got situated we got to work calling through everyone in our area book to give us a good idea on our brand new area. Unfortunately no meeting worked out with anyone that was in the area book and instead went contacting with great enthusiasm and excitement to start fresh. This next week we hope to get fourteen new numbers out of our own finding efforts. With the weather warming up, we found it fun and enjoyable to be out and taking our time to talk to people in between meetings with members and less active members. Because in the winter you just get used to the fact that the position that you face was in when you left will be in the same position when you return home. 

We are so excited to knock this transfer out of the park with effort and hard work to bring souls to Christ everyday  The Lord keeps his promises always. Remember to be the light on the hill by serving with your heart mind and strength. By simply acting and applying what we learn the Lord blesses us with the guidance of the Holy ghost in deed and in thought. I have been trying hard to focus about doing good and finding ways to serve someone everyday. This goal has helped me find many little ways to show my respect and love for others. We have been trying to find ways in the branch to do this as well and have seen that it is good to shovel snow or vacuum a room or two. The branch is doing extremely well and seems to be growing in experience. 

English Conversation Group is starting tomorrow at in order to sign people up for courses and inform them about the program that will be taking place. Before that begins we are planning to do a rehearsal to practice our parts in order to make transitions smooth and professional  WE are extremely looking forward to the new program and have had success in getting in touch with people that have been contacted in the past five weeks. We are expecting around sixty people to be there to sign up. We even got a meeting set up with one of the contacts after the sign up hour! Everything is going great here in Kurgan, Russia. We will be working hard to make this week great and full of potential to set up the rest of the transfer with some baptismal dates. 

Love you all!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK! 

Elder LeFevre

February 4, 2013

I am super tired!! Last week was the end of the transfer and it was due time for me to do some traveling! We started out on my epic journey across eastern Europe on Tuesday at 5 pm heading to Tyumen and finally getting back to Kurgan on Saturday at 6 pm. 
(Note from mom: Kyle traveled to ZLC on Tuesday through Thursday, then on Friday morning got a a plane to Finland for his 24 hour Visa Trip, flying back to Tyumen from Finland and then on a 5 hour bus ride to Kurgan)

The topic of the mission in the month of February is patience. Kind of ironic when the topics that are determined by President R  fit extremely well with what is going on in the work here in Kurgan. Elder P and I have been going out and knocking on doors constantly when we have free time at night and contacting during the day in between meetings. Among these many conversations that take place in our everyday activity as missionaries, many ask how people react to our message. I can say people react differently on a wide scale of responses that may seem funny or may even seem damaging to one's faith if you so let it. 

I have learned so much while serving the Lord here in Russia. One attribute that has been a continuing work in progress is ability to be patient on many levels. It may require you being patient with your companion, investigator, branch, leaders, and most of all with yourself. This next transfer we will be essentially starting with a new slate as the sisters are moving out of the city and we will be taking their place on Wednesday. The cool thing is that we know most the members in Kurgan and it will only require us to strengthen that relationship. In due time we will be working diligently and continue being obedient to the Lord and our Mission President. We have been doing well in all aspects of the work and I am only happy to be doing missionary work.

One thing that I have learned with patience is the fact that it does not require us to be passive. In fact, being passive is not being patient. We had such a great discussion on extending baptismal dates with the rest of the zone leaders this past week and the need to be bold and be confident in the Lord, our companion and ourselves. "The Lord does not translate one's good hopes and desires and intentions into works. Each one of us must do that for himself." - Pres. Spencer W. Kimball Rise up and stand for what you know is right. Do not accept anything less than the standard the Lord has set. This applies to how we choose to live our lives and not being bold and loving enough to challenge someone to reach their potential. One general authority explained, " I am convinced that we most times restrict others from joining the church." (Elder Alvin A dyer) We need to continue driving towards the goal, whether that be on the mission field or after. Enduring to the end doesn't mean that you went to the temple and all is "fine and dandy." It means living it and following our Savior every step of the way.

I know this to be true. I know that sometimes we fall short of what we are striving for, only to grow from that experience and by having patience we can repent and continue on the right path. I love you all and know that you can overcome anything with the Lord on your side.

Love,
Elder LeFevre

January 28, 2013

This past week we spent a lot of time on the street in looking for people to attend English Conversation Group, which will be starting on the 12th and 14th of Feb. It is going to be a great program and we are all looking forward to it and preparing for it. Together with the elders we will be running through role plays to make sure to get everything right. Lately I have been teaching the zone on being straight with your investigators and with the members that you visit. Clear communication is always the perfect remedy to prevent any misunderstandings in any relationship. In practicing and applying this principle, we have been able to get our meetings down to the required time of 44 and out the door. Our lessons and success are also getting better. 

Our investigators have been showing their real point of view as we have been straight with them as well by stating that our purpose is to bring people closer to Christ through baptism. Some of our new investigators became disinterested and the story is the same in all the companionship's  We are working hard, however, and are looking forward to see the dawn as we find ourselves in the darkness. We met with less actives and people that we contacted during trackting this past week. Trackting has been decent. Yesterday we got kicked out of four stairwells. One guy even escorted us out. We had one great miracle as a priesthood holder that we have been stopping by for awhile came to church twice. He even went to the temple ten years ago and has not been since. Lately we have been talking a lot about family history and he is really into it. I told him about my experiences with Family Search with my grandpa in preparing names for the temple. He is now super excited and will probably become the branch family historian leader. It is super awesome!!

In the future Elder P and I will be moving to a new area here in Kurgan. That is after I am done with all this travel this next week. Love you all and stay warm in Utah! I haven't fallen once this winter yet! 

Love Elder LeFevre

January 21, 2013

What a great week in Kurgan! We did a ton of finding and it worked out for us like always. We got two new investigators this past week meeting with a family that was placed on the potential list and planning to make tacos with them this weekend. It is going to be a 'kick'!! The zone is doing great work here in Kurgan and I believe that we are all working hard and obedient. Nothing can stand in our way nor are we placing limits upon the Lord. Anytime that we have we are talking to people and knocking upon doors. We had many first lessons with people this week as we have been knocking on doors.

Last night was one of the craziest little encounters I have had in a while being here in Kurgan. We decided to go to a microarea here and talk to all the people that live there. When we go half way down the staircase we ran into a shirtless guy with tattoos filled with symbols of Nazi Germany. His head was shaved and imediately we got the feeling that this guy was a white supremisist. At first he thought we were Jehova's witnesses but we assured him that we weren't and in the end he was convinced that we are cool and that we are true christians. Our assumptions were correct however in his feelings towards other nationalities.

The weather has been jumping up and down constantly and we are still enjoying skiing on the bottom of our shoes from appointment to appointment. I love Russia! People are very hospitable and have been open to listening to our testimonies lately. We are working now on how to get them closer to baptisms witha specific date. The zone has been doing well in our goals for referrals and dates. Our dates however lately have been canceling on us. We are currently at 8 referrals for the month out of 12! Keep praying for us and I love you all. Thanks for sending an email Derek. Good luck on all your missions!

Love,

Elder LeFevre

January 14, 2013

I am just praying that the weather stays in the negative mid twenties here in Kurgan. The zone is doing great as we are striving to find new investigators and setting baptismal dates with them. It has been a testing period for all the companionships here as we have set baptismal dates and meetings but many fall through in the end. The elders in the center of the city have two baptismal dates that are looking not as concrete aw they once did. They ,like us, have been experincing difficulties in keeping in contact with investigators. We are keeping our spirits up, however, not considering the dissapointments by strengthening our member-missionary relationships. 

This past week, I conducted zone training succesfully. The whole zone was edified by the training, role plays and spiritual thought that were shared. It was great to get through all the information due to the smart idea I had of making my own agenda similar to the one that we have at ZLC and sending that to everyone before hand. We all came prepared to learn from eachother and from the Spirit. I couldn't ask for a better zone! Everyone is working hard. 

Elder P and I, have been meeting and strengthing the members in our area and have been working with recently found or former investigators. One man from the formers has been showing interest and we met with a family this past week that is willing to make tacos and have a lesson before hand. We will be looking forward to doing that this week and seeing the progress that comes from it. In January we started to clock in contacting hours for the new english converstion group that we will be leading in February. We have to collect about ten or more contacts specifically pertaining to the new group. 

I am enjoying everyday here in beautiful Russia! I am so greatful everyday to do work, have fun and live the gospel to its fullest! I love you all and appreciate the love and support you all give! I am also praying for you and would like to let you know that all the trials you are facing or may face is a chance to become stronger. Look and rely upon the Lord, working and striving to accomplish everything that is good and virtuous and he will provide the extra strength you need to rise above the darkness, trials, and hardships you face! It is all due to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his love for everyone of us. Don't forget that! MAY THE FORCE (SPIRIT) BE WITH YOU!! 

Love,

Elder LeFevre

January 7, 2013

This past week was great in celebrating the New Year and saying goodbye to the old one. We ate at SUBWAY here in Kurgan and finished the rest of our needed activities before the "lock down."  (We had to stay in from New Years Eve to morning of Jan 2). We went to bed at the designated time and woke up at 11:30 pm to the sound of the non stop fireworks exploding outside our window. After that we couldn't get to sleep until 5 am in the morning due to the thumping and pounding of the neighbors' sub-woofer and singing!! We were super tired the next day as we did a two hour workout according to the Chuck Norris Plan that we made. 

It was pretty awesome and interesting week for our area and for me being in Yekaterinburg for a couple of days. Elder P and I are having a blast and enjoying how much fun we are having in doing the Lord's work here. We had a few meeting set up to where we almost had a couple of new investigators but unfortunately they canceled and couldn't meet with us while I was in Yekaterinburg. Elder S and I caught the elektrishka to Yekaterinburg Wednesday and arrived to be edified by the training that was presented to us for the benefit of our zone. I absolutely love ZLC's. I feel honored every time I am there on the council communicating with the leaders of the mission and being taught by the Spirit so strongly. We talked about the ways we can work effectively in the cold weather as it approaches the coldest month of the year, February. It seems that everyone is having "trackting fever" in the mission and there have been great success coming out of that. In our zone we have two baptismal dates as of now. The first would be from the elders in center, and then the sisters set one the other day! They are both strong investigators and I am sure we will see them enter into the waters of baptism. We haven't been able to meet with any of our other investigators that had baptismal dates or the ones that we found this past week but we hope this week they will turn up. 

On the ride back from ZLC we were getting some dinner at McDonalds across from the bokzal and were suprised to see all of our great friends from Yekaterinburg and Perm! It was great to see you all!! We had a great turnout at church this past week since everyone was in for the holidays. Lately so many opportunities to serve the members and others has been showing up and it has been great to use our priesthood to bless the lives of others. The mission is great and this week should also be a great one. Love you all and good look with work, school and hunting!!

Love,

Elder LeFevre

December 31, 2012

Kurgan is enjoying the warm weather and everyone is preparing for the holidays. This last week on Saturday we had our ward party for the celebration of all the holidays. It was nice to see so many people come for the activity and to meet investigators and members. We played a few games and enjoyed the presentation and activities. We have some the best youth here in Kurgan. Always fun to spend time with them. 

We stopped by investigators and members to share a Christmas message and even spent time on the streets during -34C weather to find investigators. We had a couple of awesome miracles this past week happen to us in our hard efforts in serving the Lord. When we were out on the streets contacting we talked to this man who at first wasn't interested but with a few questions that were exchanged in our conversation, he became intrigued. We didn't write down his number our his address, but I asked him for referral of someone that would be interested and he gladly gave us a name. We planned later that night to stop by her and contact the referral given to us after we were finished with our meeting in the center of town. We found her and she was not interested at all. My companion and I  decided knock on all the doors in the stairwell. In just about three doors we came upon the fellow that we talked to earlier that day. We came in and got to know each other and drank tea and taught the Restoration to him. He accepted and we will be meeting with him this Friday!! His wife is getting out of the hospital this week and we will have the opportunity to meet with both of them. 

Another miracle was a while we were trackting we ran into this bus driver that we see quite oft in the city here. He knew us and we spent forty minutes teaching him the Restoration and getting a return appointment for this upcoming week. It is looking really good for our area at this moment and we are not going to let up. This week however is full of travel for me again as I leave for Yekaterinburg this Thursday in the morning for ZLC and then come back Friday on that good ol' elektrishka. I am excited maybe we will get to talk to a couple of cool lads on the way again that will be willing to speak that is. 

Thanks for the cookies! Those are going to good use as we stop by and hand people goodies and wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! Love you all and Good luck to all y'all going to school in a few days.(Derek) BYU ROCKS!

Love Elder LeFevre

December 24, 2012

It was a hectic week, starting with our day on Monday on the the elektrishka ride to Yekaterinburg on Monday morning. I had to carry some pretty heavy luggage this past week in -37 C due to the early departuring trains and late trains that were taken for transfers. It is all good though, because it is going towards the goal that my new companion and I have in becoming Chuck Norris in seven steps or less! We have found that in any small ways we can find to keep ourselves warm, whether it be boosting the metabolism or making hot chocolate helps. 

This week began with a great conversation on the elektrishka with a man from Shadrinsk. We talked to him for five hours! Everything from the aweful news in Conneticut to the gospel. I know that he left that train knowing that at least we weren't a sect or weird. He promised to look at the mormon site according to the pass along card we gave. After dropping off Elder E, I went on splits with the office elders  for two days until I could unite with my new companion, Elder P on Wednesday. I even got to spend the day in the office and experience an office meeting. It was completely different side of the work in that office. Seemed like everyone was focused upon fulfilling the tasks that had been given to them and making deadlines, while I was folding papers and eating candy. It was great being around the elders there and the M's again. We even made this epic meal where each one of us ended up eating 500 grams of Pelmeni. Yeah, that is a lot of food! It gave me enough energy for the rest of that day and the next as we went tracting and looking at some great new apartments for the office/assistants.  

Wednesday afternoon came around then it was off to K again. The end of the week was tough because it has been a while since I was the one in the companionship that knew the city and about everyone. I have been filling in the spaces for my companion as we have been tracting and and contacting. We received some good potentials and even a return appointment, but that fell through yesterday for us. It definately has been tough in finding like always but we all know that nothing is meant to be easy but really a trial of our faith. Our companionship is going well and has set some goals to become like Chuck Norris and be 100% obedient to all the rules. We have set specific goals and are now trying to rely on the Lord as we do his will. I love the mission and you all have a Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!

Love Elder LeFevre

December 17, 2012

WOW!! It is super cold in K and it is ten times more cold than it was last year. One guy told me last year that after -25 C it doesn't matter, but now I am thinking that it was not true. When Elder E and I left for Yekat this morning to drop him off at President's house it read -37 C in the taxi. No worries though it is not too bad just little icicles form on the eyelids, nose hairs, and on the fur lining of your coat. This last week overall was pretty tough to find new investigators. We went out to talk to people as the sun was at the highest point in the sky and no one stopped. We will be inventing new ways to find some people.

We met with some of Elder E's favorite investigators this last week and had great lessons with all of them. We had great successful meetings with some of our less active members. I went on an amazing split with Elder G this past week on Tuesday and we had the greatest time sharing our testimonies with everyone that we met that day and there was not one meeting that day that didn't end without the investigator or member seriously pondering upon the message that was shared. I love testifying and having this calling every week makes me realize how much God cares about his children.

Great things are going on in K. Everyone is doing miraculous work with the members and we are seeing everyone here following the voice of the Holy Ghost in their missionary work. Elder P and I will also be doing the same in finding those that have been prepared by the Lord. Christmas is coming up and the branch is putting on a celebration this Saturday for everyone and we hope that this will be a good success in seeing unfamiliar faces. We are so excited for our goals that we set in K and are looking forward to the accomplishment of them. I love you all and I will be looking forward to talking to you next week! KEEP WARM!!

Love Elder LeFevre

December 10, 2012

Hey thanks for the all the Christmas packages!! I am trying to wait until Christmas to read the letters at least because that is basically all I want for Christmas is to hear from all of you! This past week was filled with traveling for me. Last week we were in T on splits in order to go to ZLC and leave our companions to work in that area there for a couple of days before heading back to Yekat for Zone Conference. ZLC was great. We had a great discussion on the new mission goals for the next year. We had set these goals a month ago as a council and laid out the plan in achieving them. We set the goal for 84 baptisms and 12 instances of real growth in the branches. President and his leaders of the mission discussed our role in passing information clear and simple to our missionaries. I am excited to start running into the new year with baptismal dates and potential baptisms for the first month in January. Yesterday we set goals for our zone at the end of all of our church meetings and duties. We are striving for five baptismal dates at the end of this month and one baptism in the month of December. We have such a great zone and they all have great patience with me as their leader.

After ZLC, we came into T then went on a bus to K. We had the rest of the evening to proselyte and meet with our investigators. The only meeting that worked out that night was with a member, who is striving to hold to the rod and endure by preparing to receive the Melkezidic Priesthood in the next year. Meetings with recent converts and less active members were all that came about this last week.  We bore testimony about the power of involving God in our decisions to receive guidance and warnings to keep us in the right and in safety.

This past week I had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder W in Yekat before Zone Conference. We met with one member who was super nice to us and just wanted to feed us non stop but we got out of there just in time and enjoyed some kompot, pereshki, and shi with the C's. It was great to see everyone there in Yekat. I got to see the M's, former companions and we were taught by the R's. It was a very spiritual week learning about the Holy Ghost and how we receive
revelation and the need to act accordingly. I appreciated it a lot. This week will be good week without the traveling and the warm weather of -36 C. Love you all and stay warm!!

Elder LeFevre

December 3, 2012

Yes, no week of crazy traveling around the mission but at the start of this next week we will have like two days in our area. This week contains ZLC and Zone Conference in Yekaterinburg. I am excited for these meetings because you get to see everyone and talk about who got baptized! Most of all I am excited to be taught from President R and Sister R. I love them so much. They are plain awesome. 

Speaking about how awesome the mission is, our last week was great! Last Monday we finished off the P-day going to the treat stand that is on the bottom floor of our apartment complex. We got these waffles wrapped around skyshyonka or sweetened condensed milk. It helps put on the fat for the -28 C
temperatures that we have been having lately! I was reminded of the last winter quickly as I took a breath through my nose and instantly felt the flesh stick for a couple of seconds. It definitely is colder this winter than last. We met with our progressing investigator twice this week and taught him. Finding has turned towards the more interesting side due to the cold temperatures and the little breeze that Kurgan gets as it sits upon the hill in the middle of the frozen tundra. We like to do "POWER HOUR" and contact people using the questions of the soul and have engaged in some quite good conversations. Now more than ever we have been tracting in order to find investigators and it has helped us
twice in doing so. On one the return appointments, however, didn't work out this week with our new investigator that we counted last week. We did get into a home this last week of a man who was super nice to us and actually lived according to his beliefs 100%. He in the end didn't want to listen to our message, but we made a friend!

This last week we also had a good meeting with the recent convert. We had
a good lesson with him upon the priesthood and what he needs to do in
receiving the priesthood. It was like a flash back to when Bishop Pullan was preparing me. Now I am on the other side of things. It is super cool helping others become closer to Christ. I also had to make the trip to T this last Thursday to do a baptismal interview with a lady who got baptized this last Saturday! I love doing baptismal interviews. I had all the questions memorized and I saw the difference
as I was allowed to be more engaged in the conversation we were having and allowing the Spirit to preside with a stronger influence. The new language program is great and I have been memorizing things like crazy and using the verses and paragraphs I know in my own speech and grammar. The lady I interviewed was from Mongolia. Her son and daughter were separated from her and for many years thought that they would never find each other again. However in the end her son who now lives in America found her and introduced her to the church. She gave the missionaries a call and the rest was history. Such a great week and now I get the chance to soak up the Spirit more as I will be present
on several more meetings.

Love,

Elder LeFevre

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