Zone Conference

Last week was a super good week and full of travel. (like usual for us here in Chely) ha-ha.  Last week, we had a ton of work on our hands as Elder S and I committed three people to baptism this last week and our new investigator said he would in April. We are super excited to continuing meeting with him and his girlfriend and get them both baptized. We have four progressing investigators! We taught about the gospel of Jesus Chist and specific blessings we have seen from obeying the Word of Wisdom. It is crazy how addictions get a hold of people really stongly. As a matter of fact, we are in a internet cafe and the guy next to me is drinking, smoking and gambling. He answered the phone and said that he was busy to his wife and that he is at work. (Post Office is closed) Reminds me of the casinos in Vegas. Anyway, it was a week of good quality meetings, although we didn't get a whole bunch of meetings. 

This past week we had the oportunity to hear from Sis. and Pres. R at Zone Conference in Ufa. We left on an early morning train and picked up some SUBWAY and made our way on the train for nine hours. We arrived and the snow had been falling everyday in the month of March there. It was crazy warm compared to Chely too. We left the train station to the church building that is situated on a hill and standing out like a beacon. They sell magnets with the picture of the church building, because it is one of the more beautiful buildings in town. We talked about the Book of Mormon and what it meant to us. It was a powerful meeting of testimonies and knowledge about the Gospel. While we were there we received our own personal Books of Mormon to mark and read four times in a year. First, we are to mark all the references to Christ. Second, mark all the principles of the Gospel. Third, mark Obedience, righteousness, happiness. Fourth, personal scriptures that relate to me. I was super excited and have been keeping with that commitment. 

We came back from Ufa and set up a day full of meetings and had most of them fall through. We had a meeting before English Club and forgot the phone was on silent as we were supposed to meet with our investigator out at the bus stop. Oooops! I hope she will be able to meet with us again! They gave us some Bashkirian honey from the first meeting we were with them. It is SUPER GOOD! Not like the fake stuff in America. Speaking of stuff from America, Elder S got a package full of candy! ha-ha. We are set for a while. One of the other miracles of our week was participating in giving a member the Melchizedek Priesthood. The member is awesome! We are excited for the Mengs and we will see them here on Friday in Chely!
LOVE YOU!!
Elder LeFevre

Awesome Week !

This last week was awesome!! Elder S and I had a good time on the streets enjoying the warm weather ( about 30 degrees F) and talking to people about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One interesting thing about this last Zone Leader Council was how effective the First Vision is on the street and the amount of people that stopped to talk and listen knowing that we don't have a sales pitch for them.

I have shared the first vision with people on the street before, but for some reason it seem to work better as we were on splits with the assistants to the president this last Friday. Maybe it was better due to the fact that it has become easier to just straight up be real with everyone you meet and talk to. You may get rejection but you will not be playing games to figure out the purpose of the conversation. While me and Elder B were on splits we talked to the first man we came in contact with and he was intently listening and even stated that he had never been baptized, but wants to be baptized. We invited him to be baptized and to meet with us to talk more about our church. It was a cool experience and I was taken back after he said those words.

This past week we found three new investigators and two of them live together and are super interested in why their family members joined the church and the change that took place afterwards. One man's sister lived in Vladivostok and met the missionaries and got baptized there and then got married to a member from the Philippines and now live in Texas! CRAZY!! Now we are teaching her brother and his girlfriend. They are super cool! We are excited to see some awesome miracles. The investigator who has been meeting with missionaries for about a year has made some progress and says he will be baptized and have the date picked this next meeting and our other investigator is doing well too!

Everything was going well after the assistants left, until we got on a bus down to the Church located in the center of the city. I remembered putting my wallet in my front pocket of my coat after paying for the ride and after doing so went to pay for a Super Snickers at the gas station. I reached into my coat and realized I don't have my wallet!! NICE!! We fixed the problem quickly and reflected on the safety topic that we reviewed at Zone Leader Council about theft and robbery. Вот, Как раз! Смотрите что случилось. 

Zone Leader Council was great and we are doing well in our mission and fulfilling our purpose! This week is Zone Conference and it will be in Ufa! (a very long train ride). I will upload pictures next time with those on it! 
Love
Elder LeFevre

New Translation

HELLO!! Today is another exciting day here in Chelyabinsk. Today Elder S and I are traveling to Yekaterinburg for Zone Leader Council. It has become one of my favorite things to do as a Zone Leader. I cannot wait to get on the old bus for a good 5 hour drive and arrive to good ol' cooking from Sister R and to wake up to be taught by President R. It is awesome to be a part of Zone Leader Council and maybe we will get some SUBWAY!!   This past week was super tough for us in our area. The area is super old two to three story buildings with some Soviet flats that have some cool yard decorations of tanks and the good old hammer and sickle. We were out on the streets all day and everyday talking to people about the questions of the soul in our finding techniques and how every one can know for themselves that God lives and Jesus Christ lives. We tried setting up meetings with some of our investigators, but they all fell through and we prayed just for at least one meeting everyday, whether it would be on the street or at some one's house. Asking specifically for help from our Heavenly Father we pressed forward outside talking to everyone. As we were walking one day, we passed a man on the crosswalk and something inside Elder S and me said you need to talk to that man. We ignored the prompting and thought and moved forward down the street. About two minutes later I hear, "Fellas!" We both turned around and it was that man. He knew about our church and has a sister who lives in Dallas and is a member and that he had been searching to meet with us! It was super cool, and I realized that is super important to act upon every good thought because that good thought is from God and it will lead us to only good. We had some miracles in getting good contacts on the street and at the end of each day I knew that my Heavenly Father was helping us out.   This past week we had the opportunity to help with moving furniture up and down nine flights of stairs and start to clean out the apartment in the center of the city. When the member called us to help out we didn't have time to change, so we stayed in our suits and help carry up chairs and couches. It was ridiculous! And going up those stairwells was a skill due to the uneven steps and skinny corridors. It was in general fun! Right now we are taking Center into our hands working two areas. NEWS, NEWS, NEWS! Read all about the new translation of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price in Russian. We got to hold in our hands an actual new translation of these scriptures and compare to the old hard cover books we have now. It was super cool to know I can get myself a classy pair to read too! We are all super excited about that! I love the Russian language and the people. It is super awesome being here in Chely!   Love,  Старейшина Лефивэр

Visa trip

This past week was great and exciting! I am learning a ton out here on the mission. This past week we are increasing our efforts in finding new investigators. This past week we took a ton of taxis all around the city as I went on a visa trip to Finland and back, mid-transfer training, and Elder and Sister J came to Chelyabinsk to do an audit on the branch. Oh and by the way, I am staying zone leader with Elder S and our area just got bigger. We are now in charge of another city and the center area. The crazy thing about the next two transfers is that our mission is getting smaller again, as no new elders and sisters are coming for at least two transfers. Time to step it up!! The mission is doing great and the weather is amazing!

This past week we saw some awesome miracles happen as two investigators showed up to church and loved the testimonies that were shared by the whole branch. We have also been getting street meetings and handing out books of Mormon left and right it seems. I love asking questions of the soul to everyone. It really gets them thinking and pondering on how they can answer such questions as; Do you believe God answers prayers? or If you had one question to ask God, what would that question be? Our zone rocks at finding and we are going to continue! Thursday we all stayed at the apartment on the other side of town and woke up at a whopping 02:30 am to stop by the other elders and then to the airport on the outskirts of town for our Visa trip. The only bummer was that I didn't get to visit the Helsinki temple again, but our group was fun and I got some Finnish chocolate and Elder P and I had tortilla chips and some guacamole and the milk I bought actually tasted good! Ha-ha (Russian milk is interesting. In the southern parts of my mission it is possible to buy carbonated horse milk.) Random fact, but gives you the taste of all the mixes of culture there are in the mission. Oh, and another thing to add is that we went down to the Chinese bazaar here in the north end of town for last P-day and it was cool because we were communicating with them in Russian and sometimes we had to use hand signals because they didn't understand all the Russian we spoke.

The elections were this past week and I heard it is a big deal in the bigger cities, but here in Chelyabinsk it was no problem. Now this is what Elder S and I did on the day of elections. We did translations between Elder J and the branch president and his secretaries. Everyone was hungry from the fast Sunday and the fact that the audit took a long time. Yeah, you bet our vocabulary expanded! Ha-ha.  Having them in town got me excited to help the senior couple coming to Chelyabinsk this month! We are still working with the realtor on that. The J’s were super cool and we got them the nicest hotel in the city with the French restaurant, free sauna, and breakfast on the go for the 8-hour train ride back to Ufa! They say Hi to Elder G (my bro in Alabama) and are glad to hear he liked the Russian candy! It is a small world. 

Love you all.  

Elder LeFevre

Week of the Bearcats

So Elder S and I would like to call last week, "The Week of The Bearcats," because we had to deal with many situations with money, travel, splits, looking at new apartments for the senior couple missionaries joining us soon in Chely, zone class, branch council, A BAPTISM and a trip to Yekaterinburg on our P-Day on a bumpy highway in the middle of the forest. This last week was extremely busy and we had a ton of situations that just demolished plans that we set and had to rely on back up plans the whole week and off the top of the head decisions! I

think I spent more talking on the phone this past week in Russian than I did in English. However, my companion and I are loving the responsibilities we have as Zone Leaders and the opportunity to serve the missionaries in this zone.

We have been teaching an investigator from english club this past week. who has come to church the past few weeks and sat on the first hour to listen to the talks. they have used some advise in some talks on strengthening family relationships and applied them and has seen how much it helps to do the simple things and always keep a mindset to think to thank. We will continue teaching them and hope that they will be down for a baptismal date.

This week I went on splits to conduct a baptismal interview for an investigator that got baptized this last Saturday at this super nice Sauna that me and Elder S found last Monday. I was so nervous in giving my first interview, but we talked and found out that we both liked to swim and play some video games. The interview went awesome and he has a strong faith in Christ and trying to follow the Savior. It was cool to also speak at his baptism on the subject of baptism. 

The whole mission is finding, teaching and baptizing! I love Chelyabinsk and the members here are awesome in fellowshipping others quickly. The investigator who was baptized got invited to a party at the church where one of the members is a DJ and they put on some awesome beats during our Zone Class. (I appreciated it. haha) We like to call ourselves the "Dark Horse" of the mission as we go out there and put all our efforts to serve everyone around us. I am loving the mission. LOVE YALL!

Elder LeFevre

Feb 20, 2012

This past week was great for Elder S and I with trying to re-spawn the investigator pool here in our area. The weather has been extremely warm!! (If you call 9 F warm) Plus, the sun is now up at 9:00 am! I definitely have lost my tan. (BUMMER)
This week Elder S and me are preparing to find a pool in order to hold a baptism for an investigator this Saturday and the search continues. We were looking last week and found a pool and got in and looked around and asked to see the smaller kid pool, which would be better to do a baptism. The security guard led us to view it and he stated that it was up to the ladies at the administrator desk to allow the baptism to happen and that he was interested in our church. He was a pretty cool guy and then he said that if they would not let us we can ask the local church to hold it for us! Ha-ha NOPE! Do not want to do that. When we asked the lady why we wanted to use the smaller pool she said that it was absolutely forbidden! So therefore the search continues.

This past week we got three new investigators off the streets and some of them are starting to progress really well.  There are some really interesting people that come to our English club here and one man was a member of the Israeli army and lived around Jerusalem. He has a ton of crazy stories about the conflicts in that area of the world and how he came across his faith in God. Super Awesome!

I have come to love the new city and the zone here in Chelyabinsk. We are having a baptism here soon and there is a ton to do, as always being a zone leader, so we instituted a P-Day Eve celebration yesterday. The craziest meal I have ever made! We made two (11 egg) omelets with bell peppers, onions, and chicken. Then we made a pound of hash browns and some country gravy to go on top of it all off!! Ha-ha. The Super, duper protein breakfast. Then later that night we had some shakes from the canned pears that Elder S got in a package, which turned out great! No, I did not eat it all, too much food.

I appreciate the letters and support and the packages!! Y'all rock.

Love Elder LeFevre

Loving Chely

HELLO! :)

I am loving Chelyabinsk and the new atmosphere of the people and the culture here. It is interesting to find that each city that I have been too has its own feel and identity. Elder S and I are doing great, even though this past week was a tough week due to all the "grunt" work that we had to accomplish in order to set up our new apartment and our area.

Being in the zone leader position has really had me evaluate on how I act and set an example. This past week, we have faced some communication obstacles and the week started off with us trying to solve the landline phone connection with our landlady. I was on the phone with our register and I understood the list of directions that she had given to be a totally different route than she had wanted us to take. That day we had to go to the supermarket across from us to buy a pan, pot, new cell phone, and other miscellaneous items. Yeah, it was a headache. But no worries, we found a Subway along the journey to ease it all! Ha-ha. Plus, we got some work done by contacting people for help and to talk about English Club or the Gospel. We were looking around for some batteries to replace in the phone to make it work, until we saw no success as we had been walking and carrying things back to the apartment. Then our register called and asked if we called the land lady back. She found out that we had spent some time looking for these batteries and the conversation got heated. I misunderstood the directions and it turned out that we went on a true "snipe hunt." Ha-h-aha. It was funny.

Our investigators are showing some progress, as we turned to stop focusing on the problems and took the approach of teaching the lessons and getting him to pray. He is not the one to talk much, but at the end of the meeting he gave the prayer and said a very sincere thoughtful prayer. Elder S and I were super happy for him! We also have been visiting an investigator who is ready to be baptized, but just won't do it!! Aghhhh.  He said that in order to be baptized he needed to be perfect from that point onward. It was a great lesson on how we are not expected to be perfect but to progress and through Jesus Christ we can be perfect, because he lifts us to be higher!

The second snipe hunt was the meeting that we had set for last Monday to meet a new investigator and it turned out that we were invited to watch American football practice in an inside track and field building. Ha-ha. It was cool to see them run practice there as Elder S was telling me in depth the plays and skills that they worked on when he played in high school. It was awesome to learn about football a bit more even though I was in the middle of Russia.(Never thought I'd be doing that.) ha-ha.

English club has been shooting up the roof in attendance since I have come into the city and we did an awesome spiritual thought on the Apostasy and the restoration. I got to recite the first vision in front of twenty Russians, who actually understood and liked our thought! 

Things in the mission are going great and the new area and city are awesome! President came to Chelyabinsk yesterday and I was pulled left and right to translate! I love translating! I have made it so far and I am pushing forward in becoming better every day. I appreciate the love, support, the letters, the peanut butter, hot tamales, hot sauce, and the hand warmers I got. Ha-ha. They work well.

Peace out from the sickest zone and enjoy the warmth there in America!
Love ya'll
Elder LeFevre