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