October 29, 2012

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

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

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

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

Love,

Elder LeFevre

October 22, 2012

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

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

October 15, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 1, 2012

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

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

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

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

Love,
Elder LeFevre

Sept 24, 2012

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

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

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

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

Sept 17, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

Sept 10, 2012

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

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

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

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

Elder LeFevre