I finally have a companion! His name is Elder Khusainoff and he is amazing! He is a great teacher, hard worker, obedient, amazing example and leader... aka a fantastic missionary! I really think that we are going to get a lot done working together! We learned new teaching methods at Zone Conference this past week when President was here and we are really looking to apply them to our everyday missionary work. It is going to have an amazing affect on the work!
The next big thing that happened this week is Larissa decided to get baptized! She came to church on Sunday when President Wooley was there and spoke and after church we had a lesson, committed her to baptism again, and she agreed to be baptized this coming Saturday! She prayed and felt that it was right. We are working to get her baptized so soon because the dedication of the Kiev Temple is going to be this Sunday and we want her to be able to attend. So, we have been going over to her house to finish teaching the lessons to her before Saturday. We will finish up tomorrow and she will be all ready. Yesterday we were at her house and after the lesson we talked with her a little bit about how we met. She recited to us this story... Larissa said that less than a year ago she started feeling like her church, Grace, didn't really offer everything. She felt like she wasn't getting enough knowledge and that they didn't have everything to offer. They wanted her to serve in the church but she turned it down. One day she prayed earnestly to God and asked Him to give her more knowledge and open up opportunities for her. Shortly after that she met Elder Malanin and I on the street. She said that normally she doesn't stop and talk to people and especially to missionaries. She says that often the Jehova's Witnesses will try and talk to her and she wont talk to them. But, for some reason unknown to her, she stopped and talked to us. We had a good conversation about God and after that we started meeting at the church. Soon after that she came to church and she explained how she felt when she came to church for the first time. She said that when she was talking to everyone in our church she just felt like she knew everyone there from somewhere. She said that she really couldn't explain what she felt... just that she knew the people and members there. In short, she really felt that our meeting was not an accident and that it was an answer to her prayer less than a year ago. Larissa is amazing! This was a great testimony builder for me. To be able to be apart of an answer from God brings nothing but joy. People are searching for truth. They are asking for devine help. They are confused. This is an amazing blessing and opportunity to find those people and be representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. This experience in nothing short of a miracle.
The work is going great! Our investigators are doing good. Yesterday we met with an new man his name is Bakhtyar. He was the body building champion of Kazakhstan three times and in the Asian Olympic Games got a silver medal. He is huge! But, he is interested in the Book of Mormon and wants to bring his fourteen year old son to do english and learn about the Book of Mormon too. Nona still wont get baptized even though she believes in the Book of Mormon and in Joseph Smith being a prophet. Semon is working a lot and it is hard to meet with him. Alla is leaving with the members this week to go dance for the Temple Cultural night thing in Kiev. Ulan is doing good. We watched a short clip about Jesus Christ and he said that he felt something during our discussion and watching of the film. I told him that it was the Holy Ghost and that that feeling can be with him always through baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Khusainoff are really striving to get baptisms and find people right now because this is the end of his mission and it will be the end of my service in Kazakhstan soon. It is weird to think that I have almost been on my mission one year and am still in my first area haha.. but I love it!
Well it sounds like everyone back home is doing great! I love you all! Thanks for the support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Wow another crazy week in Kazakhstan! I get yet another new companion today, but this time it will be a permanent companion finally! His name is Elder Husaynof.. weird name.. and he is Elder Nutt's companion right now and is an AP. So.. he is going to bring a lot of help and good to the work here in Kazakhstan! I am really excited to work with him! He is a Russian who speaks perfect English and is an amazing missionary! He is going to help so much! But, his being my new companion makes my current companion, Elder Zarahov, the new AP which is really strange because he is a mini missionary and not even a real missionary in our mission. But, he will do good.
Well the visa problems are continuing. A missionary left from Kazakhstan because he couldn't figure out his visa in time.. the country is causing a lot of problems for us right now! So.. basically who knows how long I will be in Kazakhstan because I have never had problems with my visa! Maybe they will just have to make a new Kazakhstan mission here :)
President Wooley gave all missionaries the new commitment to give out ten Book of Mormon's a week and we have been working hard on that.. it is tough! Last week we got half way with five.. haha and then yesterday we had a day where we gave three.. missionary work is a crazy roller coaster!
Investigators... Well Nona is still moving along. She is reading the Book of Mormon and knows it is a true book. She still doesn't want to get baptized because she doesn't see a need to. We are working to help her gain a testimony about a living prophet. Haha basically small steps with her, but she is progressing! Alash is slowly falling away unfortunately because he cannot believe in the book of Mormon. He can't believe in a living prophet or in Joseph Smith. His argument is a scripture in Matt from the Bible that uses the wording.. "All of the prophet until John..." or something to that extent. He is a great guy and has an amazing belief in Christ. He has just seen so many crazy miracles through his church and says he can't believe in ours. But, we are still working with him. We tried to set a baptismal date with Larissa and her daughter this week, she doesn't understand why her baptism in her church doesn't count and is in the process of praying about it. She is doing great and I know that she will receive an answer to get baptized! Besides, haha she comes to church every week and last week asked where she could pay tithing! Other than all of those investigators we have a ton of new potential investigators which we have found through the new commitment given to us by president! I have great hope for those people!
Well the mission is going great! The last bit has been insane, but the work is still going forward! This experience has really helped me gain a testimony of the Holy Ghost... He is the work. He is what we strive for on our lessons. He is the true converter. Without Him and divine help and inspiration there is no way that I could have juggled so many investigators and so many things without a companion.. I have received so much help from on High!
Well I hope that everything is going great home in the US! Thanks for the love and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Well the visa problems are continuing. A missionary left from Kazakhstan because he couldn't figure out his visa in time.. the country is causing a lot of problems for us right now! So.. basically who knows how long I will be in Kazakhstan because I have never had problems with my visa! Maybe they will just have to make a new Kazakhstan mission here :)
President Wooley gave all missionaries the new commitment to give out ten Book of Mormon's a week and we have been working hard on that.. it is tough! Last week we got half way with five.. haha and then yesterday we had a day where we gave three.. missionary work is a crazy roller coaster!
Investigators... Well Nona is still moving along. She is reading the Book of Mormon and knows it is a true book. She still doesn't want to get baptized because she doesn't see a need to. We are working to help her gain a testimony about a living prophet. Haha basically small steps with her, but she is progressing! Alash is slowly falling away unfortunately because he cannot believe in the book of Mormon. He can't believe in a living prophet or in Joseph Smith. His argument is a scripture in Matt from the Bible that uses the wording.. "All of the prophet until John..." or something to that extent. He is a great guy and has an amazing belief in Christ. He has just seen so many crazy miracles through his church and says he can't believe in ours. But, we are still working with him. We tried to set a baptismal date with Larissa and her daughter this week, she doesn't understand why her baptism in her church doesn't count and is in the process of praying about it. She is doing great and I know that she will receive an answer to get baptized! Besides, haha she comes to church every week and last week asked where she could pay tithing! Other than all of those investigators we have a ton of new potential investigators which we have found through the new commitment given to us by president! I have great hope for those people!
Well the mission is going great! The last bit has been insane, but the work is still going forward! This experience has really helped me gain a testimony of the Holy Ghost... He is the work. He is what we strive for on our lessons. He is the true converter. Without Him and divine help and inspiration there is no way that I could have juggled so many investigators and so many things without a companion.. I have received so much help from on High!
Well I hope that everything is going great home in the US! Thanks for the love and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Hello everyone!
Another unsteady week in kazakhstan! We have so many things going on I can barely keep track of them. We are fixing up the church building right now so that is causing a problem with our meetings and with all the upcoming activities. I have a ton of progressing investigators who are really close to baptism. I am working with my new temporary companion to get things all organized and back in track! And on top of that a lot of the missionaries here in kazakhstan are having problems with their visa's so some of them have to go back to Russia!
Last Sunday we had a family at church. It is the family of Alash. He is a great guy and i really hope that we can get him baptized. He says that he receives new revelation every time that he meets with us. He loves the plan of Salvation and the opportunity that his ancestors have to accept the gospel after this life. but, he believes in everything is the problem. He can't believe in just one prophet and he doesn't understand the Great Apostasy. He said that he went to a big meeting with his family where he himself witnessed a man call upon the Holy Ghost and started healing people in the audience! He is a great guy, we just have to help him along the path to conversion.
Nona is still progressing and finally told me that she believes that the book of mormon is holy scripture. But, of course she still wont be baptized! :)
Semon is finally progressing. We are really good friends with him now and we just need to move in and teach him while he is staying open to our discussions. He finally accepted a Book of Mormon.
Alla is progressing and finally reading the Book of mormon.
The work is going along even though there is a lot more stress and craziness! Sorry time is short and i don't have time to tell experience this week but i love you all! Thanks for the love and support and remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
Another unsteady week in kazakhstan! We have so many things going on I can barely keep track of them. We are fixing up the church building right now so that is causing a problem with our meetings and with all the upcoming activities. I have a ton of progressing investigators who are really close to baptism. I am working with my new temporary companion to get things all organized and back in track! And on top of that a lot of the missionaries here in kazakhstan are having problems with their visa's so some of them have to go back to Russia!
Last Sunday we had a family at church. It is the family of Alash. He is a great guy and i really hope that we can get him baptized. He says that he receives new revelation every time that he meets with us. He loves the plan of Salvation and the opportunity that his ancestors have to accept the gospel after this life. but, he believes in everything is the problem. He can't believe in just one prophet and he doesn't understand the Great Apostasy. He said that he went to a big meeting with his family where he himself witnessed a man call upon the Holy Ghost and started healing people in the audience! He is a great guy, we just have to help him along the path to conversion.
Nona is still progressing and finally told me that she believes that the book of mormon is holy scripture. But, of course she still wont be baptized! :)
Semon is finally progressing. We are really good friends with him now and we just need to move in and teach him while he is staying open to our discussions. He finally accepted a Book of Mormon.
Alla is progressing and finally reading the Book of mormon.
The work is going along even though there is a lot more stress and craziness! Sorry time is short and i don't have time to tell experience this week but i love you all! Thanks for the love and support and remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Well another great week! I have switched companions about three times now and I just got switched with a new companion again last night. It has been crazy and busy! I hope that next week I will get my permanent companion but I don't really know what will happen for sure. My companions name, for the time being at least, is Elder Zakharov. He is a very enthusiastic guy from Moscow and will bring new ideas to the work.
Elder Malanin sent me a letter and said that his family is doing better. Times are still hard for them, but they are constantly getting better. Continue to pray for him and especially for his family. They are great people!
Our investigators are doing great! The troubles and the fast for missionary work has brought new success! Last week we had five investigators at church. Two of them were a couple who walked in just to see the meeting. Elder Malanin talked to them on the street and invited them to church and they came. They both seem very interested. The husband is excited to have our help in getting him to stop smoking. Another lady named Larissa has a small daughter and is very interested in the Plan of Salvation and Baptisms for the Dead. She has almost already read the Book of Mormon and has only had it for about a month. Alash is a great guy from another church called New Life. He is very interested in the plan of Salvation and how we believe in life after death. I am also working really hard with Katya's brother, Semon. I am trying to get him to open up. If he can get baptized I think his parents will really take an interest in our church.
We have so much potential right now! I am so grateful to be apart of this great and marvelous work! I am so grateful to be serving here in Almaty. I hope and pray that I can be guided by the spirit so that I know what approach to take with these investigators and help them reach the goal of baptism. They are great people!
My experience this week actually deals with what happened throughout the period of a few days. When I was serving with Abel, the mini missionary here from Almaty, service was not the easiest. He is a seventeen year old kid so it is easy to understand why he doesn't have that desire and is thinking about other things at the moment, plus he is working in his home city! I have gained a deeper testimony of prayer because of this experience in serving with him. Whenever I didn't know what to do with him or I felt bad because we weren't working as hard as we could I just got down on my knees and prayed. I really feel like Heavenly Father helped us to make progress with our investigators more this week than compared to last week even though it seemed like we weren't working as hard. With mini missionaries like Abel you don't want to work them to hard because then they will lose their desire to serve. I wasn't going to be the missionary who cut down his desire to serve the Lord. I am so grateful for prayer and the opportunity we have to go to the Lord about all of our worries and griefs. He is a great source of comfort and guidance and I really felt that this past week as things just kept and keep getting crazier and crazier. This is a great opportunity for me to learn humility and flexibility!
Thank you all for the love and support. You are all great and your letters truly inspirit me! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
Elder Malanin sent me a letter and said that his family is doing better. Times are still hard for them, but they are constantly getting better. Continue to pray for him and especially for his family. They are great people!
Our investigators are doing great! The troubles and the fast for missionary work has brought new success! Last week we had five investigators at church. Two of them were a couple who walked in just to see the meeting. Elder Malanin talked to them on the street and invited them to church and they came. They both seem very interested. The husband is excited to have our help in getting him to stop smoking. Another lady named Larissa has a small daughter and is very interested in the Plan of Salvation and Baptisms for the Dead. She has almost already read the Book of Mormon and has only had it for about a month. Alash is a great guy from another church called New Life. He is very interested in the plan of Salvation and how we believe in life after death. I am also working really hard with Katya's brother, Semon. I am trying to get him to open up. If he can get baptized I think his parents will really take an interest in our church.
We have so much potential right now! I am so grateful to be apart of this great and marvelous work! I am so grateful to be serving here in Almaty. I hope and pray that I can be guided by the spirit so that I know what approach to take with these investigators and help them reach the goal of baptism. They are great people!
My experience this week actually deals with what happened throughout the period of a few days. When I was serving with Abel, the mini missionary here from Almaty, service was not the easiest. He is a seventeen year old kid so it is easy to understand why he doesn't have that desire and is thinking about other things at the moment, plus he is working in his home city! I have gained a deeper testimony of prayer because of this experience in serving with him. Whenever I didn't know what to do with him or I felt bad because we weren't working as hard as we could I just got down on my knees and prayed. I really feel like Heavenly Father helped us to make progress with our investigators more this week than compared to last week even though it seemed like we weren't working as hard. With mini missionaries like Abel you don't want to work them to hard because then they will lose their desire to serve. I wasn't going to be the missionary who cut down his desire to serve the Lord. I am so grateful for prayer and the opportunity we have to go to the Lord about all of our worries and griefs. He is a great source of comfort and guidance and I really felt that this past week as things just kept and keep getting crazier and crazier. This is a great opportunity for me to learn humility and flexibility!
Thank you all for the love and support. You are all great and your letters truly inspirit me! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
This week has definitely been the craziest week of my mission so far! I just got back to Almaty and was getting used to the work here again and trying to figure out where our investigators are in the conversion process and then everything changed with one text message.. Elder Malanin got a text message from his mom telling him that his older brother died in a car crash. So, that night Elder Malanin when home to support his family because him and his younger brother are the only members in their family. It was a huge surprise! Elder Malanin dealt with the information very calmly, I can't believe how well he took the news. He has such a strong will. Please keep him and especially his family in your prayers! They have a had a very rough life as it is and your prayers would really be appreciated!
Right now I am working with a local 16 year old member of the church named Abel. Everything is crazy and so unorganized right now! Right now there is a lot of stress in the work because we are not having a lot of success. Today we are having a fast as a Zone so that we can get inspiration on how to help our investigators progress and also find new investigators. In all complete honesty I don't even know where to begin to get everything back in order with all of our investigators. I am hoping this fast will help.
Russian is going good. I am still progressing and studying hard. It is getting easier and easier all the time.
Thanks for the love and the support. Remember who you are.
Elder Weihing :)
Right now I am working with a local 16 year old member of the church named Abel. Everything is crazy and so unorganized right now! Right now there is a lot of stress in the work because we are not having a lot of success. Today we are having a fast as a Zone so that we can get inspiration on how to help our investigators progress and also find new investigators. In all complete honesty I don't even know where to begin to get everything back in order with all of our investigators. I am hoping this fast will help.
Russian is going good. I am still progressing and studying hard. It is getting easier and easier all the time.
Thanks for the love and the support. Remember who you are.
Elder Weihing :)
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