Elder Patnum and I are now back in Kazakhstan. We got back yesterday early in the morning and we are happy to be here! Being in Russia, even for just a short time, has made me realized how blessed I am to really serve here. The people are much more open and kind when compared to Russians. But, being in Russia also gave me new confidence with my Russian because I realized that I could understand and communicate with them, maybe even better than with Kazaks. I think that is maybe because my companion is Russian so I am really getting used to the Russian accent. The Elders in Smolensk are struggling with investigators and finding people to teach so we really buckled down and worked hard to find people while we were there. It was very hot and humid but it was very successful and in one day we were able to give out 8 Books of Mormon and get 12 contacts! Haha-ps that is a lot for Russia! The whole week ended up being really successful! Also I was able to work with and see Elder Bybee from high school so that was a great experience.
There is one particular event that I really enjoyed there. In Russia they have an English Club where a big group of people come and you teach english and then do a spiritual thought. (In Kazakhstan we always do individual english practice) But, Elder Patnum and I were able to teach one of the lessons to the more advanced english speakers. We talked to them about stereotypes and started a discussion about it. We went through and talked about what a stereotype is and then started listing off stereotypes of Russians from our point of view and then stereotypes of Americans from their point of view... I was really scared that this might start an argument or fight but everything ended up great. We were all able to laugh at all of the stereotypes of each other such as Americans being loud and Russians all being huge muscly giants with deep voices. In the end we talked about how we shouldn't judge each other and were able to share personal experiences with judging people and bear strong testimony. It was a very strong and spiritual lesson. After the lesson we found out that a long time less active member attended who has been inactive for years and hasn't come to church, After the lesson he talked about how he felt the spirit again for the first time in a long time and realized how much he missed that feeling and promised to come back to church. It was just a small experience, but made me realized the importance of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost. It is definitely the small and simple things that make great things come to pass... who knows what we can do today that will change the life of someone tomorrow!
Well, now that I am back in Kazakhstan Elder Malanin and I are getting back down to business, He goes home in less than a month and I really want to find a baptism for him before he leaves! Right now we are working on Katya's brother. I really am hoping that Katya's baptism had a strong effect on her brother. I know that he has started to open up a lot more and I know that if we can get him baptized it will be just that much easier for the whole family to do the same thing. So, that is where most of our focus is going right now.
Thank you all for the love and support and I hope that everything is going great back home! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
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