Hi Suzanne,
I just wanted to write and tell you how much we love Elder Weihing and how hard it is to let him go. He has found a place in our hearts and has made these last six months the best of our mission. He is a PERFECT missionary. I have never heard him criticize anyone, especially his companions, and he has had some hard ones. He has more patience and more compassion than any missionary we have had here and he is a wonderful zone leader. He is always positive and encouraging and lifts everyone up. He is a gentle but firm leader and has gained respect from the other missionaries as well as everyone he comes in contact with. He has been a great asset to our Branch, our District and the Moscow West Mission. We love him and we will miss him greatly but he absolutely returns with honor. Being the mother of a missionary, I know how excited you are to have him back home with you. I'm a little jealous and I look forward to the day when we are reunited with our family and our missionary son, but our lives will be forever blessed having known your son. He will be a wonderful husband, father and great Church Leader one day and we hope to be able to meet you and see him again when we get home. Thank you for raising a wonderful son and sacrificing him for two years to spread this Gospel to the people in Russia. Many lives have been touched and changed because of him. Enjoy your homecoming! And give him a great big hug and kiss for me when you see him.
Sincerely,
Sister Frost
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Homecoming
WE ARE SO EXCITED ELDER WEIHING IS COMING HOME SOON!
Elder Kenneth Weihing will be speaking the 13th of November at 9:00 a.m. Same building as his farewell. We will also have a Brunch following. Please call me if you have any questions! Kam 801-842-3693
Elder Kenneth Weihing will be speaking the 13th of November at 9:00 a.m. Same building as his farewell. We will also have a Brunch following. Please call me if you have any questions! Kam 801-842-3693
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Subject: Baptism!
Wow the baptism was crazy! So the first councilor in the branch presidency always takes care of the baptismal font. It takes about three hours to fill up and also you have to heat it up a certain way. so on Saturday morning we came to the church and went down to make sure that he filled it up and of course.... it was empty! Talk about there always being something that goes wrong during a baptism! so I called the first councilor and he realized that actually he had filled it up but had just forgotten to turn off the drain so during the night the whole font was drained! So, we had two options, postpone the baptism until Sunday morning, or start getting it filled up and start dumping buckets of water from the sink in there in hopes that we can start the baptism as much on time as possible. The only problem was that if you chose the second one then the water would not be warm, it would be freezing. So, after talking to the people who were getting baptized that decided that they couldn't wait until sunday and wanted to be baptized right now! So... we started the process of filling the font! :) in the end the baptism was only postponed 30 minutes! The baptism was so amazing! 4 baptisms in one day! Sergei (the church guard who got baptized) was so happy! His whole family was there and they of course were just bawling! His wife got up and talked about how in here Patriarchal Blessing which she got many years ago it said that her husband and grandchildren would join in the church and at that point it seemed completely impossible. But, now the day has finally come! She was so happy! there was such an amazing spirit there and a great support from the members who have also been waiting impatiently for him to get baptized!Also this last week I went to my first Russian Ballet! We went and saw Romeo and Juliet! Hmmm... what do I say about this? It was pretty cool and I am glad that I was able to have that experience. But, lets just say that I don't have any plans in the near future to go to a ballet. Haha, but it was cool to have that experience! We also just got back this morning from Moscow because I had Zone Leaders Council. While we were there we went and saw Lenin's body. At Read Square you can go see it. Haha Elder Jones was way excited! But, it really didn't turn out that cool becuase all he could say at the end was... "wow Lenin is short" That was another cool experience though.Right now the AP's are here and one of the AP's is a profession Russian Basketball Player so we went and played some ball in the church today! It was awesome! He is a baller for sure! We had some fun! Well, it is starting to get cold here.. I think it is going to be snowing soon! I love you all! Remember who you are!Elder Weihing :)
Wow the baptism was crazy! So the first councilor in the branch presidency always takes care of the baptismal font. It takes about three hours to fill up and also you have to heat it up a certain way. so on Saturday morning we came to the church and went down to make sure that he filled it up and of course.... it was empty! Talk about there always being something that goes wrong during a baptism! so I called the first councilor and he realized that actually he had filled it up but had just forgotten to turn off the drain so during the night the whole font was drained! So, we had two options, postpone the baptism until Sunday morning, or start getting it filled up and start dumping buckets of water from the sink in there in hopes that we can start the baptism as much on time as possible. The only problem was that if you chose the second one then the water would not be warm, it would be freezing. So, after talking to the people who were getting baptized that decided that they couldn't wait until sunday and wanted to be baptized right now! So... we started the process of filling the font! :) in the end the baptism was only postponed 30 minutes! The baptism was so amazing! 4 baptisms in one day! Sergei (the church guard who got baptized) was so happy! His whole family was there and they of course were just bawling! His wife got up and talked about how in here Patriarchal Blessing which she got many years ago it said that her husband and grandchildren would join in the church and at that point it seemed completely impossible. But, now the day has finally come! She was so happy! there was such an amazing spirit there and a great support from the members who have also been waiting impatiently for him to get baptized!Also this last week I went to my first Russian Ballet! We went and saw Romeo and Juliet! Hmmm... what do I say about this? It was pretty cool and I am glad that I was able to have that experience. But, lets just say that I don't have any plans in the near future to go to a ballet. Haha, but it was cool to have that experience! We also just got back this morning from Moscow because I had Zone Leaders Council. While we were there we went and saw Lenin's body. At Read Square you can go see it. Haha Elder Jones was way excited! But, it really didn't turn out that cool becuase all he could say at the end was... "wow Lenin is short" That was another cool experience though.Right now the AP's are here and one of the AP's is a profession Russian Basketball Player so we went and played some ball in the church today! It was awesome! He is a baller for sure! We had some fun! Well, it is starting to get cold here.. I think it is going to be snowing soon! I love you all! Remember who you are!Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Subject: Baptisms and Conference!
Well we finally got to watch General Conference this last Sunday! It was awesome! The talk by Callister was for every person investigating the Church around the world! Amazing! It was a great end to Consecration week. We work hard and it was awesome! We also had a fast this past week for Sergei to help him quite smoking. (this is the guard at the church who reminds me of grandpa) At the end of the fast we gave him a blessing. He is doing great! His wife is already a member and he is already talking about going to the temple with her to get sealed and about his grandchildren and how we need to start teaching them! I really don't know what has happened with him... the past elders who have taught him talked about how he is not repentant and is not sincere but while I have been teaching him I have seen nothing but humility and sincerity! He is great and I am so excited for the baptism this Saturday! There is going to be four baptisms! Today I have to go do all of the interviews for all of them so I am really excited! It is going to be a huge blessing for the branch here!We also went this week to Lipetsk again to work with the Elders there. It was great to see Anisiforov again. He is having a kind of hard time right now but he is some great ideas to explode the work in that city!Well, that is basically all of the really new news! Remember who you are and we will hear from you next week! :)Elder Weihing
Well we finally got to watch General Conference this last Sunday! It was awesome! The talk by Callister was for every person investigating the Church around the world! Amazing! It was a great end to Consecration week. We work hard and it was awesome! We also had a fast this past week for Sergei to help him quite smoking. (this is the guard at the church who reminds me of grandpa) At the end of the fast we gave him a blessing. He is doing great! His wife is already a member and he is already talking about going to the temple with her to get sealed and about his grandchildren and how we need to start teaching them! I really don't know what has happened with him... the past elders who have taught him talked about how he is not repentant and is not sincere but while I have been teaching him I have seen nothing but humility and sincerity! He is great and I am so excited for the baptism this Saturday! There is going to be four baptisms! Today I have to go do all of the interviews for all of them so I am really excited! It is going to be a huge blessing for the branch here!We also went this week to Lipetsk again to work with the Elders there. It was great to see Anisiforov again. He is having a kind of hard time right now but he is some great ideas to explode the work in that city!Well, that is basically all of the really new news! Remember who you are and we will hear from you next week! :)Elder Weihing
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Subject: CONSECRATION WEEK!
What a crazy week! This week we have been doing a thing called consecration week where we do less study and less teaching and more finding and talking! IT HAS BEEN AWESOME! We have been on the streets 5-6 hours a day just running around talking to everyone! I LOVE IT! We have met some amazing people! Another thing that we have been focusing on is tracting. Tracting is when you knock on doors aka in Russian when you go to apartment buildings and try and get in and then just tract an entire staircase of doors. Well, in our mission we really don't do much of it except for in the winter when it is FREEZING! Well guess what? Winter is coming! So, we are getting back into tracting mode! Haha Elder Jones and I have been having a lot of fun with it!This past week I had one of the more amazing experiences of my mission. In Voronezh the church building is an old theater and we have guards in the front that are always here to let people in and out. Well, out of the three guards only one is a member. The other two are married to members. Obviously the other two guards who are not members know that the church is true, how could you not being in the church all day everyday, but they are having problems taking the last step. They have been what we like to call "eternal investigators". Usually the Elders who have the other area in Voronezh teach them but a few months ago the Branch President took Elder Eliason and I to one of the guards home and we had a lesson there. This guard has not been baptized only because he cannot quit smoking. Well, at the lesson the Branch President shared grandpa's favorite scripture and all of the sudden it hit me... you have to teach him because you can help him. So, that night I called the other Elders and asked if we could teach him and of course they agreed. Well, Elder Eliason and I made a plan to teach him and everytime we tried to teach him he was busy and couldn't beause it was summer and he was always at his dacha with his wife. Time went on and to be honest I forgot about the feelings I had knowing that I had to teach him. Well, one day we were on splits with the Branch President again and we were talking about one of our investigators and just randomly the Branch President looked at me and said, "Elder Weihing I know that you only have a short time left but I feel like you can help Sergei (the guard) and get him baptized before you leave." I knew he was right and I knew exactly what I needed to talk to him about though I was scared and didn't know how he would react. Well, finally this week we were able to meet with him and the Branch President was there with us. Well, I started out by showing him a picture of grandpa and talking about what type of person grandpa was. I told him that grandpa is my best friend and that I was named after him and because of that I am the favorite grandchild. I told him how grandpa was a hard worker and was very very stubborn, but he loved his family and would do anything for them. I explained how this guard reminds me of grandpa because he is the exact same type of guy. I also explained that early on in life he had a problem with smoking and told him how he quit smoking. To be honest the guard was very excited and really wanted to know how. I told him want grandpa had told me, that grandpa made the decision that he didn't want to smoke anymore and then he got a priesthood blessing to help him quit and after that he never smoked again. All the guard could say is, "Why haven't you told me this before!?" So, we set a baptismal date with him on the 15th of October and we are fasting for him and giving him a blessing on Sunday. Grandpa is continuing to help me all the way to the very end! WHAT A MIRACLE!I know that the Church is true and I know that we have a sacred authority entrusted to us by the Lord. This Authority blesses the lives of those people whom we love. This authority is going to bless this mans life and his family forever. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Weihing :)
What a crazy week! This week we have been doing a thing called consecration week where we do less study and less teaching and more finding and talking! IT HAS BEEN AWESOME! We have been on the streets 5-6 hours a day just running around talking to everyone! I LOVE IT! We have met some amazing people! Another thing that we have been focusing on is tracting. Tracting is when you knock on doors aka in Russian when you go to apartment buildings and try and get in and then just tract an entire staircase of doors. Well, in our mission we really don't do much of it except for in the winter when it is FREEZING! Well guess what? Winter is coming! So, we are getting back into tracting mode! Haha Elder Jones and I have been having a lot of fun with it!This past week I had one of the more amazing experiences of my mission. In Voronezh the church building is an old theater and we have guards in the front that are always here to let people in and out. Well, out of the three guards only one is a member. The other two are married to members. Obviously the other two guards who are not members know that the church is true, how could you not being in the church all day everyday, but they are having problems taking the last step. They have been what we like to call "eternal investigators". Usually the Elders who have the other area in Voronezh teach them but a few months ago the Branch President took Elder Eliason and I to one of the guards home and we had a lesson there. This guard has not been baptized only because he cannot quit smoking. Well, at the lesson the Branch President shared grandpa's favorite scripture and all of the sudden it hit me... you have to teach him because you can help him. So, that night I called the other Elders and asked if we could teach him and of course they agreed. Well, Elder Eliason and I made a plan to teach him and everytime we tried to teach him he was busy and couldn't beause it was summer and he was always at his dacha with his wife. Time went on and to be honest I forgot about the feelings I had knowing that I had to teach him. Well, one day we were on splits with the Branch President again and we were talking about one of our investigators and just randomly the Branch President looked at me and said, "Elder Weihing I know that you only have a short time left but I feel like you can help Sergei (the guard) and get him baptized before you leave." I knew he was right and I knew exactly what I needed to talk to him about though I was scared and didn't know how he would react. Well, finally this week we were able to meet with him and the Branch President was there with us. Well, I started out by showing him a picture of grandpa and talking about what type of person grandpa was. I told him that grandpa is my best friend and that I was named after him and because of that I am the favorite grandchild. I told him how grandpa was a hard worker and was very very stubborn, but he loved his family and would do anything for them. I explained how this guard reminds me of grandpa because he is the exact same type of guy. I also explained that early on in life he had a problem with smoking and told him how he quit smoking. To be honest the guard was very excited and really wanted to know how. I told him want grandpa had told me, that grandpa made the decision that he didn't want to smoke anymore and then he got a priesthood blessing to help him quit and after that he never smoked again. All the guard could say is, "Why haven't you told me this before!?" So, we set a baptismal date with him on the 15th of October and we are fasting for him and giving him a blessing on Sunday. Grandpa is continuing to help me all the way to the very end! WHAT A MIRACLE!I know that the Church is true and I know that we have a sacred authority entrusted to us by the Lord. This Authority blesses the lives of those people whom we love. This authority is going to bless this mans life and his family forever. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Weihing :)
Letter from Sis. Wolley
Sept. 22, 2011
Just a little note to let you know that your son is training - again.I think he has trained more than any other missionary we've had. He ishardworking, effective, and sensitive to a new elder's needs. Weappreciate his leadership.
-Sister Woolley
Just a little note to let you know that your son is training - again.I think he has trained more than any other missionary we've had. He ishardworking, effective, and sensitive to a new elder's needs. Weappreciate his leadership.
-Sister Woolley
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Subject: Baptisms and almost baptismal dates!
Another week full of fun and miraculous missionary work!
My new comp is great! Haha it is a lot of fun to help him get used to the "life of a missionary". Full of waking up at 6 30, studying, planning, and working working and working! We are always moving around and never have time to stop! It is a great life and at the end of the day it is great to realize how many things you have gotten done in a single day! That would have never had the same effect on me at the end of an ordinary back home! Being with a greenie always reminds me of how the habbits that I now have have truly become a way of life for me and I almost don't remember what life was like without them. They are just so simple such as setting goals, but for a new missionary it is completely foreign. It makes me wonder what new things I will have to get used to when I get home? Do they a Return Missionary Training Center? THEY NEED ONE! They should teach us how to live a normal life and how to talk to and flirt with girls! Haha
Anyways this past week we had Voronezh days! It was great! They had a Jet Airplane show for the city and it was awesome! There was a lot of drunk people out that day so we had to be expecially careful and when we tried to go out and work the Senior told us to go back home and change into normal clothes because it was to dangerous. Kinda a weird first day for my new comp but I guess he better get used to weird days because missons are full of them! For example, two days ago I was just goin about the normal day missionary work stuff and I got a call that said that I have to leave and come a neighboring city to work with one Elder because his comp is going on a visa trip. haha :) you really learn how to drop everything you are doing and have planned and just go with the flow an a mission! So right now I am in another city working with the other elder. we are having a great time exploding his area up!!!
We are still seeing miracles in Voronezh! I will tell you one experience that I had this past week. so I don't know if you all remember Gary, but he is from Armenia but is basically russian. He is a boxer. He has a family of three kids and a wife. He is awesome and has such knowledge of the Gospel! Bascially he has taken any situation in life and asked himself the quesiton what would Christ do? AMAZING! So we gave him a Book of Mormon like fourt or five months ago and we have been teaching him and he has been to church a lot. Well the past few weeks he has disappeared because of work problems and family problems. Well he finally has returned! He has read the entire Book of Mormon, the Restored Truth, and Gospel Principles! He has a million questions and wants to more deeply understand our church and doctrine. Haha basically at every lesson he gets so deep and deep and just wants more... so that is what he started doing this last lesson but I cut him off and I just said... " Gary I have one question for you. You have read and studied the Book of Mormon. Do you believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God?" Well, his reaction was hilarious because it was so obvious... he just sat there and looked down and was just so silent for a minute or so and then started talking about something else and so I just stopped him and asked the same question again. "Gary do you believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God?" He sat there again for a minute and then just blurted out. "Yes of course! A man could not have made this up and come up with these names and all of these events!" Haha then I just opened to the introduction to the book of Mormon where it talks about if the book of Mormon is true then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is a prophet, and The Church is true! He read it and didn't know what to say. I invited him to get baptized on my last Saturday before I leave and he said that he will pray about it! I know that he will get an answer! He has been searching and has found the truth! He can't deny that he has a testimony!
A mission is awesome! October Liahona is all about the Book of Mormon. You should all take a copy and read it it is amazing! Well I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Another week full of fun and miraculous missionary work!
My new comp is great! Haha it is a lot of fun to help him get used to the "life of a missionary". Full of waking up at 6 30, studying, planning, and working working and working! We are always moving around and never have time to stop! It is a great life and at the end of the day it is great to realize how many things you have gotten done in a single day! That would have never had the same effect on me at the end of an ordinary back home! Being with a greenie always reminds me of how the habbits that I now have have truly become a way of life for me and I almost don't remember what life was like without them. They are just so simple such as setting goals, but for a new missionary it is completely foreign. It makes me wonder what new things I will have to get used to when I get home? Do they a Return Missionary Training Center? THEY NEED ONE! They should teach us how to live a normal life and how to talk to and flirt with girls! Haha
Anyways this past week we had Voronezh days! It was great! They had a Jet Airplane show for the city and it was awesome! There was a lot of drunk people out that day so we had to be expecially careful and when we tried to go out and work the Senior told us to go back home and change into normal clothes because it was to dangerous. Kinda a weird first day for my new comp but I guess he better get used to weird days because missons are full of them! For example, two days ago I was just goin about the normal day missionary work stuff and I got a call that said that I have to leave and come a neighboring city to work with one Elder because his comp is going on a visa trip. haha :) you really learn how to drop everything you are doing and have planned and just go with the flow an a mission! So right now I am in another city working with the other elder. we are having a great time exploding his area up!!!
We are still seeing miracles in Voronezh! I will tell you one experience that I had this past week. so I don't know if you all remember Gary, but he is from Armenia but is basically russian. He is a boxer. He has a family of three kids and a wife. He is awesome and has such knowledge of the Gospel! Bascially he has taken any situation in life and asked himself the quesiton what would Christ do? AMAZING! So we gave him a Book of Mormon like fourt or five months ago and we have been teaching him and he has been to church a lot. Well the past few weeks he has disappeared because of work problems and family problems. Well he finally has returned! He has read the entire Book of Mormon, the Restored Truth, and Gospel Principles! He has a million questions and wants to more deeply understand our church and doctrine. Haha basically at every lesson he gets so deep and deep and just wants more... so that is what he started doing this last lesson but I cut him off and I just said... " Gary I have one question for you. You have read and studied the Book of Mormon. Do you believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God?" Well, his reaction was hilarious because it was so obvious... he just sat there and looked down and was just so silent for a minute or so and then started talking about something else and so I just stopped him and asked the same question again. "Gary do you believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God?" He sat there again for a minute and then just blurted out. "Yes of course! A man could not have made this up and come up with these names and all of these events!" Haha then I just opened to the introduction to the book of Mormon where it talks about if the book of Mormon is true then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is a prophet, and The Church is true! He read it and didn't know what to say. I invited him to get baptized on my last Saturday before I leave and he said that he will pray about it! I know that he will get an answer! He has been searching and has found the truth! He can't deny that he has a testimony!
A mission is awesome! October Liahona is all about the Book of Mormon. You should all take a copy and read it it is amazing! Well I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Subject: Changes in the Mish!
Hello family and friends! So this past week there have been a few changes. Usually when we travel to Moscow we have been traveling overnight by train, but the Apostles set a new rule for our mission that there is no more overnight traveling and we have to be in our areas at night. So, to get to the Zone Conference that we had two days ago instead of taking an all night train we took a one our plane! I think that we are the only city in the mission who now takes planes to Moscow instead of a train!At Zone Conference we found out that Elder Eliason is getting transferred in a week.... TO YAROSLAVL! Lucky kid! Yaroslavl is still doing amazing and has a ton of success right now! He is lucky to be going there and will see the Forsyths! I am going to be staying here for my last transfer and I will be training again. Haha President really likes me to train! I mean the Lord really likes me to train! Sorry my bad! It will be another great experience though. I really love training and so I am really excited. I don't know my comps name, the only thing that I know is that he is from America. I know that there is one new guy who is supposed to be a GIANT! Like way tall! so I hope that I am training him because if he is way tall then he has to play ball and that means we can ball it up with our investigators fo sho! We have been going about once a week to a nearby university to play ball because we have some investigators and friends there and it is awesome! Basically the goal is to get to be way good friends with them before winter comes so that when they can't play outside anymore they will come play ball at the church with us and we can introduce them to members and such.More good news! Tonight is going to be Denis's baptism! Elder Eliason and I really worried about him and whether he would be able to get ready in time but he has done it! He is great! He has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and talking to his wife about the church everyday! He is currently having troubles coming to church everyweek because of his STUPID DACHA which he has to go take care of. But he has been coming the past couple of weeks and has been working hard to change his life! He is amazing! This is the guy who walked up to Elder Eliason and one of the AP's while they were on splits contacting and told them that he was an old investigator and wanted to start meeting with the missionaries again! MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING EVERYDAY! :) I feel so lucky and blessed to be apart of this miraculous work! God prepares people and they are being prepared in ways which are unnoticeable to us. What a testimony building experience!I love you all! Thank you for your prayers! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Hello family and friends! So this past week there have been a few changes. Usually when we travel to Moscow we have been traveling overnight by train, but the Apostles set a new rule for our mission that there is no more overnight traveling and we have to be in our areas at night. So, to get to the Zone Conference that we had two days ago instead of taking an all night train we took a one our plane! I think that we are the only city in the mission who now takes planes to Moscow instead of a train!At Zone Conference we found out that Elder Eliason is getting transferred in a week.... TO YAROSLAVL! Lucky kid! Yaroslavl is still doing amazing and has a ton of success right now! He is lucky to be going there and will see the Forsyths! I am going to be staying here for my last transfer and I will be training again. Haha President really likes me to train! I mean the Lord really likes me to train! Sorry my bad! It will be another great experience though. I really love training and so I am really excited. I don't know my comps name, the only thing that I know is that he is from America. I know that there is one new guy who is supposed to be a GIANT! Like way tall! so I hope that I am training him because if he is way tall then he has to play ball and that means we can ball it up with our investigators fo sho! We have been going about once a week to a nearby university to play ball because we have some investigators and friends there and it is awesome! Basically the goal is to get to be way good friends with them before winter comes so that when they can't play outside anymore they will come play ball at the church with us and we can introduce them to members and such.More good news! Tonight is going to be Denis's baptism! Elder Eliason and I really worried about him and whether he would be able to get ready in time but he has done it! He is great! He has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and talking to his wife about the church everyday! He is currently having troubles coming to church everyweek because of his STUPID DACHA which he has to go take care of. But he has been coming the past couple of weeks and has been working hard to change his life! He is amazing! This is the guy who walked up to Elder Eliason and one of the AP's while they were on splits contacting and told them that he was an old investigator and wanted to start meeting with the missionaries again! MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING EVERYDAY! :) I feel so lucky and blessed to be apart of this miraculous work! God prepares people and they are being prepared in ways which are unnoticeable to us. What a testimony building experience!I love you all! Thank you for your prayers! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Subject: WHERE ARE THE MIRACLES!?
Well we have some unfortunate news... last weeks miracle man has decided not to get baptized. But, we wont find out why until either tomorrow or Saturday when we will have a lesson with him. Also, all of our other investigators are out of town! Denis with a baptismal date is in Moscow, Jurabek is outside of the city somewhere, Gary has visitors from out of town... the list goes on! So... Elder Eliason and I have had a pretty boring week so far. Basically, we have been contacting A LOT! And then we went back down to Lipetsk and did some more contacting there! We are in finding mode right now and it is awesome! Basically that is all the real news that I have for all of you! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Well we have some unfortunate news... last weeks miracle man has decided not to get baptized. But, we wont find out why until either tomorrow or Saturday when we will have a lesson with him. Also, all of our other investigators are out of town! Denis with a baptismal date is in Moscow, Jurabek is outside of the city somewhere, Gary has visitors from out of town... the list goes on! So... Elder Eliason and I have had a pretty boring week so far. Basically, we have been contacting A LOT! And then we went back down to Lipetsk and did some more contacting there! We are in finding mode right now and it is awesome! Basically that is all the real news that I have for all of you! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Subject: Another Baptismal Date in V-town!
More crazy stuff! If swear we here we are always in non stop travel mode! This week I had to go to Moscow for a ZL Conference and tonight I am going back to Moscow to get on a flight in the morning to Kiev to go on my last visa trip! Then I will be back on Saturday morning to see a baptism! What a crazy week full of travel travel and a baptism!This past week we had another miracle happen (like every week of course!). We have been teaching this man named Igor who wants to learn english and also is interested in our message. He is a young doctor about 25 years old and a BALLA, aka that makes him one of my favorite investigators. Well, as we were planning our lesson for him last weekend Elder Eliason just blurted out, "We are going to challenge him to baptism today." Igor has been challenged to baptism before but has said that he is only Russian Orthodox and wont change that. But, recently he has made progress and really started to understand the importance of the Book of Mormon and God's plan for us. So, Elder Eliason had the entire thing planned out in his head and it worked out perfect! Ya Elder Eliason!!... We busted out Alma 32 and talked about faith and how we get faith... Igor completely agreed with the whole thing, we watched Elder Eliason's favorite movie from the IPOD called small and simple things about a man's conversion story from reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, and then of course we shared the scripture from Alma 37:6 about how through small and simple things great things are preformed. We talked about people having a natural desire to want to understand things deeper and deeper, but we need to realize that the path to God is simple. The way to know the truth about our church is really simple. We need to read and study the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and come to church. We then asked if he comes to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon is true what does that mean... haha of course the only thing that he could say is that he needs to get baptized! We testified and set a date that we felt was right for him! What another amazing lesson and testimony builder of the guidance of the spirit both in planning the lesson and at the lesson! Igor is amazing!I may little time left on the mish but I am not going to stop working until the last day! We have way to many amazing investigators right now! We have two baptismal dates and soon we should have a third! I gotta stay loyal to my investigators and to the Lord :) These last two transfers are going to be the best and will jam packed full of miracles! :) I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Kenneth Weihing aka The Busdriver
More crazy stuff! If swear we here we are always in non stop travel mode! This week I had to go to Moscow for a ZL Conference and tonight I am going back to Moscow to get on a flight in the morning to Kiev to go on my last visa trip! Then I will be back on Saturday morning to see a baptism! What a crazy week full of travel travel and a baptism!This past week we had another miracle happen (like every week of course!). We have been teaching this man named Igor who wants to learn english and also is interested in our message. He is a young doctor about 25 years old and a BALLA, aka that makes him one of my favorite investigators. Well, as we were planning our lesson for him last weekend Elder Eliason just blurted out, "We are going to challenge him to baptism today." Igor has been challenged to baptism before but has said that he is only Russian Orthodox and wont change that. But, recently he has made progress and really started to understand the importance of the Book of Mormon and God's plan for us. So, Elder Eliason had the entire thing planned out in his head and it worked out perfect! Ya Elder Eliason!!... We busted out Alma 32 and talked about faith and how we get faith... Igor completely agreed with the whole thing, we watched Elder Eliason's favorite movie from the IPOD called small and simple things about a man's conversion story from reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, and then of course we shared the scripture from Alma 37:6 about how through small and simple things great things are preformed. We talked about people having a natural desire to want to understand things deeper and deeper, but we need to realize that the path to God is simple. The way to know the truth about our church is really simple. We need to read and study the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and come to church. We then asked if he comes to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon is true what does that mean... haha of course the only thing that he could say is that he needs to get baptized! We testified and set a date that we felt was right for him! What another amazing lesson and testimony builder of the guidance of the spirit both in planning the lesson and at the lesson! Igor is amazing!I may little time left on the mish but I am not going to stop working until the last day! We have way to many amazing investigators right now! We have two baptismal dates and soon we should have a third! I gotta stay loyal to my investigators and to the Lord :) These last two transfers are going to be the best and will jam packed full of miracles! :) I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Kenneth Weihing aka The Busdriver
Thursday, August 11, 2011
I just got back this morning from another city (bascially I decided that I am just going to stop telling you the names of the cities because you probably don't even know them) I was there working with Elder Anisiforov. He is the new Branch President and has a lot on his shoulders! It was a pretty good time. A small branch with a lot of work to do but Anisiforov will do awesome! We also got a new missionary in our Zone this past week from Sweden. Sweet! His name is Elder Stegeby. He is a pretty cool Elder. Elder Eliason and I have been teaching a lot this past week and it has been a huge blessing! I don't have a ton of time to write this week because I had to write an article for the Mission Newspaper thing but I will send you a copy of the article that I am writing in case they don't send you the Newspaper. But, in short, we are doing great! We have one baptismal date. We should have a second one soon because Gary finished the Book of Mormon and is now praying about baptism and he will for sure get an answer! Things are basically going great and I am hoping that I get to finish my mission here in Voronezh because we have a lot of great investigators right now! We'll see though! I'll send a copy of the article but I gotta go! bye :)
A great person once said, "you gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this and I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the things you think you cannot do."
My best friend throughout my entire life has probably been my grandpa. His name is Kenneth Rone Bailey. I am his namesake (basically this marked me as the favorite grandchild from birth). He has been the greatest example and teacher for me as I have grown up. I was lucky to live only a mile away from him when I was younger and I spent as much time as I could at his and my grandma's house. We had many adventures. From doing yard work and fixing up old condos to taking a bus out to the city to look at the sites and having a root beer float. The memories of my grandpa go on and on!Unfortunately, on November 15, 2010 my grandpa passed away. At this time I was serving in Yaroslavl. This event was probably one of the hardest that I have ever gone through. I was on the other side of the world away from the people I wanted to see most and both comfort them and mourn with them. Of course with the death of my grandpa I began to reflect on everything I have learned from him and all that we have experienced together. Upon leaving my mission my grandpa was able to take my Book of Mormon and mark his favorite scriptures so that I would always remember. Throughout my mission, and especially during this trial, I often read these verses and studied them deeper and deeper to really try to understand them. The verses are Moroni 10: 32-34.These verses more than anything else have brought me comfort in trials and inspiration during times of doubt. I now have a new outlook on these verses. Verse 32 explains what has happened to me on my mission. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness... (come on a mission and rid yourself from the world)... and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength... (how can we show more love to God than by serving His children and preaching the gospel to them)... then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ... (if we do this, then God gives us grace and we see miracles!)... and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. (Now we have experienced miracles and cannot deny the power of God)I know that this is God's work. I know that when we love God with all our might, mind and strength meaning serve His children with all our might, mind and strength and forget about ourselves then we see miracles. Trials come and they go but God is always near us. He loves us and blesses us daily. I have seen these blessing and miracles in my own life and especially on my mission. The Church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Kenneth Weihing :)
A great person once said, "you gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this and I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the things you think you cannot do."
My best friend throughout my entire life has probably been my grandpa. His name is Kenneth Rone Bailey. I am his namesake (basically this marked me as the favorite grandchild from birth). He has been the greatest example and teacher for me as I have grown up. I was lucky to live only a mile away from him when I was younger and I spent as much time as I could at his and my grandma's house. We had many adventures. From doing yard work and fixing up old condos to taking a bus out to the city to look at the sites and having a root beer float. The memories of my grandpa go on and on!Unfortunately, on November 15, 2010 my grandpa passed away. At this time I was serving in Yaroslavl. This event was probably one of the hardest that I have ever gone through. I was on the other side of the world away from the people I wanted to see most and both comfort them and mourn with them. Of course with the death of my grandpa I began to reflect on everything I have learned from him and all that we have experienced together. Upon leaving my mission my grandpa was able to take my Book of Mormon and mark his favorite scriptures so that I would always remember. Throughout my mission, and especially during this trial, I often read these verses and studied them deeper and deeper to really try to understand them. The verses are Moroni 10: 32-34.These verses more than anything else have brought me comfort in trials and inspiration during times of doubt. I now have a new outlook on these verses. Verse 32 explains what has happened to me on my mission. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness... (come on a mission and rid yourself from the world)... and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength... (how can we show more love to God than by serving His children and preaching the gospel to them)... then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ... (if we do this, then God gives us grace and we see miracles!)... and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. (Now we have experienced miracles and cannot deny the power of God)I know that this is God's work. I know that when we love God with all our might, mind and strength meaning serve His children with all our might, mind and strength and forget about ourselves then we see miracles. Trials come and they go but God is always near us. He loves us and blesses us daily. I have seen these blessing and miracles in my own life and especially on my mission. The Church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Kenneth Weihing :)
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Yet another crazy week! I really don't even know where to start! Last weekend I went back to Yaroslavl for yet another baptism! It was BOMB! His name is Pavel. He is fifteen year old kid and was the last person that I found in Yaroslavl right before I left! He is going to be an amazing missionary someday! I had the privilege to confirm him a member and give him the priesthood. Coming back to Yaroslavl was like coming back home. Being in a bigger branch in Voronezh and then going back to a small branch in Yaroslavl has really made me realize how different the two places are! It was so awesome to be in Yaroslavl because the branch is growing so much and they are seeing so many miracles right now! I was able to see and talk to Sasha and Serdar and Pavel and see how they are doing. It was so humbling to see everyone and talk to them all... what an amazing place!
So, when I got back from Yaroslavl my companion wasn't in Voronezh. He got sent to another city to work another missionary who was also stuck all alone. (Actually he got sent to work with Elder Anisiforov, so if you didn't put 2 and 2 together that means that both of the people I had trained were serving together) So, I was stuck to work with another missionary in Voronezh who was all alone too. His name is Elder Fish. A great guy and missionary. We had the whole city of Voronezh to ourselves for about two days! We had some SWEET lessons! I will tell you about one lesson that we had last night...
We met with a guy named Denis. This man had approached Elder Eliason and one of the AP's when they were on splits one day and said that he was a past investigator and wanted to start meeting with us again. So, we started meeting with him. We soon found out why the elders had dropped him because he really doesn't do ANY progress. He is a great guy and fun but just doesn't DO anything. So Elder Eliason and I started talking about dropping him. We just started calling him less and stuff like that. Well, last week when I was on my way to Yaroslavl I got a call from him asking why we hadn't been calling him. We talked and I decided that we should meet with him when I got back. So last night we met with him. We invited a member who knows him pretty well and we met with the member about 30 minutes before the lesson to prep him on the lesson. Well, the member told us how Denis had approached him and talked about how he was having trials and depression because of his problems. (Normally here is where people say dang that sucks but as a missionary it is like HECK YES! We have the ultimate source of healing!) So we bagged the entire lesson that we had previously planned and started from scratch. We had an amazing lesson about repentance! It was completely focused on him! It was everything that he needed to hear and you could see in on his face! We showed a short clip from one of the movies that we often watch called together forever and while we were watching it I just had this huge prompting inside me to find a date for him to prepare to get baptized so I took out my phone and prayed inside and picked a date that I felt like he could prepare for. After the movie I looked at him and asked if he could start all over from the begginning would he want to. He of course said yes and then I was able to testify about the power of the Atonement and that because of Jesus Christ we can start over through Faith in Him, Repentance, Baptism, and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and then I invited him to prepare to be baptized on the 9th of September. At first he said no but then we explained about how we know that the path will be hard but we are here to help him get ready for that day and he said yes. What an amazing experience and a huge wave of feelings and promptings of the Holy Ghost in an hours amount of time! The church is true! Jesus is the Christ! We do find peace and hope through Hisis Atonement! This is God's work and it is going forth in His glory! He is leading and guiding us, His servants, His missionaries! AMAZING! These are the experiences that make every hard day worth it! It is going to take a lot of work to help him get prepared but we are going to do everything that we can!
So Elder Eliason finally came back late last night. But, we found out that today he has to go to Moscow and then fly to Kiev because he has a visa trip so I will be stuck all by myself because the other Elder who is supposed to be working in Voronezh went to Moscow last night because he has a Greenie coming in AKA I will literally have the entire city to myself! Haha it is going to be awesome because we have a ton of lessons tonight, luckily we got them all set up with members so I wont be alone! Our mission is crazy! We have so many things to do and worry about that I don't think any mission in the world even thinks about!
I love you all! :) Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
So, when I got back from Yaroslavl my companion wasn't in Voronezh. He got sent to another city to work another missionary who was also stuck all alone. (Actually he got sent to work with Elder Anisiforov, so if you didn't put 2 and 2 together that means that both of the people I had trained were serving together) So, I was stuck to work with another missionary in Voronezh who was all alone too. His name is Elder Fish. A great guy and missionary. We had the whole city of Voronezh to ourselves for about two days! We had some SWEET lessons! I will tell you about one lesson that we had last night...
We met with a guy named Denis. This man had approached Elder Eliason and one of the AP's when they were on splits one day and said that he was a past investigator and wanted to start meeting with us again. So, we started meeting with him. We soon found out why the elders had dropped him because he really doesn't do ANY progress. He is a great guy and fun but just doesn't DO anything. So Elder Eliason and I started talking about dropping him. We just started calling him less and stuff like that. Well, last week when I was on my way to Yaroslavl I got a call from him asking why we hadn't been calling him. We talked and I decided that we should meet with him when I got back. So last night we met with him. We invited a member who knows him pretty well and we met with the member about 30 minutes before the lesson to prep him on the lesson. Well, the member told us how Denis had approached him and talked about how he was having trials and depression because of his problems. (Normally here is where people say dang that sucks but as a missionary it is like HECK YES! We have the ultimate source of healing!) So we bagged the entire lesson that we had previously planned and started from scratch. We had an amazing lesson about repentance! It was completely focused on him! It was everything that he needed to hear and you could see in on his face! We showed a short clip from one of the movies that we often watch called together forever and while we were watching it I just had this huge prompting inside me to find a date for him to prepare to get baptized so I took out my phone and prayed inside and picked a date that I felt like he could prepare for. After the movie I looked at him and asked if he could start all over from the begginning would he want to. He of course said yes and then I was able to testify about the power of the Atonement and that because of Jesus Christ we can start over through Faith in Him, Repentance, Baptism, and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and then I invited him to prepare to be baptized on the 9th of September. At first he said no but then we explained about how we know that the path will be hard but we are here to help him get ready for that day and he said yes. What an amazing experience and a huge wave of feelings and promptings of the Holy Ghost in an hours amount of time! The church is true! Jesus is the Christ! We do find peace and hope through Hisis Atonement! This is God's work and it is going forth in His glory! He is leading and guiding us, His servants, His missionaries! AMAZING! These are the experiences that make every hard day worth it! It is going to take a lot of work to help him get prepared but we are going to do everything that we can!
So Elder Eliason finally came back late last night. But, we found out that today he has to go to Moscow and then fly to Kiev because he has a visa trip so I will be stuck all by myself because the other Elder who is supposed to be working in Voronezh went to Moscow last night because he has a Greenie coming in AKA I will literally have the entire city to myself! Haha it is going to be awesome because we have a ton of lessons tonight, luckily we got them all set up with members so I wont be alone! Our mission is crazy! We have so many things to do and worry about that I don't think any mission in the world even thinks about!
I love you all! :) Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Well what another crazy week! Right now I am in Lipetsk because I went on splits with them yesterday. Here is serving Elder Bybee, my good highschool friend, and Elder Anisiforov, the missionary I trained a few transfers ago. It was a crazy day of splits! Basically, Elder Bybee is getting a transfer to Kazakhstan and has been waiting for his Kazakh visa for a few weeks and when they finally got the Kazakh visa a few days ago he got really sick and he still isn't better and can't fly to Kazakhstan when he is sick. Also, my companion Elder Eliason is sick. So, I came down here to work with Elder Anisiforov while Elder Eliason and Bybee just try and get better! Now President is having me leave Elder Eliason here for a week in Lipetsk so that he can take Elder Bybee out of here as soon as possible and Elder Bybee's replacement will come next week. So, now I have to go back to Voronezh alone and in a city where we usually have three companionships we are going to only have THREE MISSIONARIES becuase the other three missionaries are either going home or getting transferred! WOW WHAT A CRAZY TRANSFER! I don't even know if what I am explaining makes any sense! Basically if you are confused at this point... welcome to my world!!! All I know is that I am going back to Voronezh and need to figure out the whole companion thing until next Thursday when Elder Eliason comes back.
So here is the adventure for the week! So last week I am asleep at like 11 30 and I get a calm from the Sister Missionaries who live not to far away from us. They were freaking out telling me how they were locked in their apartment. Basically there is this "draft" in Russia which is called skanyak and I guess from what they said is that "skanyak" blew their door shut and the doornob doesn't work from inside the room and so they couldn't get out... basically throughout this whole explanation I am really confused and am thinking that this has to be a dream because it sounds stupid. So, they calm down and we decided to figure things out in the morning. Well, at about 6 45 in the morning they call again and so we go see what is going on. Well go over there and they come out of their balcony and start talking to us. (luckily they have a balcony from the room) We figure out that they can't get out of the room and of course the apartment is locked and they don't have the keys. Luckily, the Frosts (The senior couple in our city), live exatly above the sisters. So we wake them up and start explaining things and we figure out that there are two options... call the landlord or jump from the Frosts balcony down to the Sisters balcony... the first one seems easier right? Well, it turns out that the sisters don't have their landlords number with them in the room and neither does anyone else. So, the only option was jump down. So... who is going to do the jumping down? There is Elder Eliason, Elder Frost (way too old), or me. Well, of course I had to because I figure if I fall from the fourth floor and break my legs at least I am going home soon.. Elder Eliason has an entire mission ahead or him! So, we creat a rope out of some bed sheets, I hold on to one end, and I crawl out the window, and the lower me down to the next story down onto the sisters balcony, and I go open their door for them from the other side... WOW! Where was a camera when you needed one! It was a pretty crazy experience! But, it all worked out great :)
Now for the spiritual story of the week! Well Gary, our investigator from Armenia is doing great! He is still coming to church and he is sincerely and dilegently reading the Book of Mormon and praying about whether the church is true! He is awesome! He has so many questions and so many doubts I never know where to start with him. This is basically how the lesson went this last Sunday... The member and Gary started going deep into all of his questions and they got into this huge conversation about proofs of the Book of Mormon and why this happened and why the Brother of Jared's name isn't in the book and why there are so many wars and just all of this crazy stuff for about 30 minutes and then I finally got a word in and just asked... "Gary, what do you feel and think about when you read the Book of Mormon?" And then he just smiles and says, "the thought has come to my mind whether a man could just come up with all of this and I don't think that he could." EXACLTY WHAT WE WANT! I was able to testify to him that he has a testimony that the book is true. It is always good to have questions and search for answers.. but if doubts arise that is a question that we can always fall back on... Could a man make up such a book? NO! I was able to testily to Gary that God promises to answer his prayer, it is not a promise from us, but a promise from Him. He just smiled because he knew what I was saying was true and went right back into his deep discussion with a ton of questions. Gary has really been working hard to find the truth and I know that he will get an answer! He is amazing!
Well that is about all for this weeks adventures :) Thank you all for your love and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
So here is the adventure for the week! So last week I am asleep at like 11 30 and I get a calm from the Sister Missionaries who live not to far away from us. They were freaking out telling me how they were locked in their apartment. Basically there is this "draft" in Russia which is called skanyak and I guess from what they said is that "skanyak" blew their door shut and the doornob doesn't work from inside the room and so they couldn't get out... basically throughout this whole explanation I am really confused and am thinking that this has to be a dream because it sounds stupid. So, they calm down and we decided to figure things out in the morning. Well, at about 6 45 in the morning they call again and so we go see what is going on. Well go over there and they come out of their balcony and start talking to us. (luckily they have a balcony from the room) We figure out that they can't get out of the room and of course the apartment is locked and they don't have the keys. Luckily, the Frosts (The senior couple in our city), live exatly above the sisters. So we wake them up and start explaining things and we figure out that there are two options... call the landlord or jump from the Frosts balcony down to the Sisters balcony... the first one seems easier right? Well, it turns out that the sisters don't have their landlords number with them in the room and neither does anyone else. So, the only option was jump down. So... who is going to do the jumping down? There is Elder Eliason, Elder Frost (way too old), or me. Well, of course I had to because I figure if I fall from the fourth floor and break my legs at least I am going home soon.. Elder Eliason has an entire mission ahead or him! So, we creat a rope out of some bed sheets, I hold on to one end, and I crawl out the window, and the lower me down to the next story down onto the sisters balcony, and I go open their door for them from the other side... WOW! Where was a camera when you needed one! It was a pretty crazy experience! But, it all worked out great :)
Now for the spiritual story of the week! Well Gary, our investigator from Armenia is doing great! He is still coming to church and he is sincerely and dilegently reading the Book of Mormon and praying about whether the church is true! He is awesome! He has so many questions and so many doubts I never know where to start with him. This is basically how the lesson went this last Sunday... The member and Gary started going deep into all of his questions and they got into this huge conversation about proofs of the Book of Mormon and why this happened and why the Brother of Jared's name isn't in the book and why there are so many wars and just all of this crazy stuff for about 30 minutes and then I finally got a word in and just asked... "Gary, what do you feel and think about when you read the Book of Mormon?" And then he just smiles and says, "the thought has come to my mind whether a man could just come up with all of this and I don't think that he could." EXACLTY WHAT WE WANT! I was able to testify to him that he has a testimony that the book is true. It is always good to have questions and search for answers.. but if doubts arise that is a question that we can always fall back on... Could a man make up such a book? NO! I was able to testily to Gary that God promises to answer his prayer, it is not a promise from us, but a promise from Him. He just smiled because he knew what I was saying was true and went right back into his deep discussion with a ton of questions. Gary has really been working hard to find the truth and I know that he will get an answer! He is amazing!
Well that is about all for this weeks adventures :) Thank you all for your love and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Hey!
So actually we got time to write home because we just got back into town! So now I can tell you the story of what happened! So our district here in Voronezh got permission to go help some missionaries in a nearby city because it is a small city where the missionary work is really not doing so great. The city is called Lipetsk. Actually, Elder Anisiforov my old comp that I trained just got called there to be the branch president. Anyways so we went down there and just had a huge crazy hard working day! It was crazy! We left in the morning and when we got there we just went crazy talking to people and preaching in parks and singing hymns at the parks and passing out Book of Mormons and just went all out! It was awesome! Also Elder Bybee my good friend from highschool is serving there. It was bomb! We had a great day and got a lot done... though I felt like I was babysitting a lot of the time because there was 11 missionaries and I was basically the oldest one there... but all in all it worked out great! So we decided to stay down there for P Day and spend some time and so that is what we did. We play sports and had some fun and we also rode a roller coaster. So what you have to understand about Roller Coasters in Russia is that they are just found at some random local park. so you can just be walking through a park and then just see a random roller coaster. But, the roller coasters are what we would consider to be for children. But, we found the ship roller coaster that swings up and down so we went on it. Haha it was pretty dang fun. When we got off a huge camera crew approached us and asked if they could interview us. So we got interviewed for TV and they asked us how Russian Roller Coasters compares to American Roller Coasters.... ya I had no idea what to say because you don't want to offend them but you don't want to lie so the only thing I could say way that the park is really pretty and it was fun... but the roller coasters here are what we consider roller coasters for children in America...... Ya bascially I am hoping that they didn't get offend by that statement! Well overall it has been a really fun week! We have been working hard and finding A LOT! Well Remember who you are and I love you!
Elder Weihing :)
PS -I almost forgot. So there is a sister missionary in our mission named Sister Francom or something like that in English and she is definately from Monticello Utah! Talk about a small world eh! So I don't know if you can find some connection there but I am bascially guessing that we are related! Just for a little FYI :)
So actually we got time to write home because we just got back into town! So now I can tell you the story of what happened! So our district here in Voronezh got permission to go help some missionaries in a nearby city because it is a small city where the missionary work is really not doing so great. The city is called Lipetsk. Actually, Elder Anisiforov my old comp that I trained just got called there to be the branch president. Anyways so we went down there and just had a huge crazy hard working day! It was crazy! We left in the morning and when we got there we just went crazy talking to people and preaching in parks and singing hymns at the parks and passing out Book of Mormons and just went all out! It was awesome! Also Elder Bybee my good friend from highschool is serving there. It was bomb! We had a great day and got a lot done... though I felt like I was babysitting a lot of the time because there was 11 missionaries and I was basically the oldest one there... but all in all it worked out great! So we decided to stay down there for P Day and spend some time and so that is what we did. We play sports and had some fun and we also rode a roller coaster. So what you have to understand about Roller Coasters in Russia is that they are just found at some random local park. so you can just be walking through a park and then just see a random roller coaster. But, the roller coasters are what we would consider to be for children. But, we found the ship roller coaster that swings up and down so we went on it. Haha it was pretty dang fun. When we got off a huge camera crew approached us and asked if they could interview us. So we got interviewed for TV and they asked us how Russian Roller Coasters compares to American Roller Coasters.... ya I had no idea what to say because you don't want to offend them but you don't want to lie so the only thing I could say way that the park is really pretty and it was fun... but the roller coasters here are what we consider roller coasters for children in America...... Ya bascially I am hoping that they didn't get offend by that statement! Well overall it has been a really fun week! We have been working hard and finding A LOT! Well Remember who you are and I love you!
Elder Weihing :)
PS -I almost forgot. So there is a sister missionary in our mission named Sister Francom or something like that in English and she is definately from Monticello Utah! Talk about a small world eh! So I don't know if you can find some connection there but I am bascially guessing that we are related! Just for a little FYI :)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Hey unfortunately I don't have time to really write you guys this week because we traveled to another city to help the elders there so sorry I will write next week! Love you all! Remember who you are! The mission is great and is going by way too fast!
Elder Weihing
Elder Weihing
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Well if you remember last weeks letter you remember how I was talking about how we were using so much time on contacting because all of our investigators and a lot of the members are gone! And I talked a lot about how ineffective contacting is because we do it for hours on end and it is a really hard time of the year to get contacts... well this past week we have been working a lot more effective! We used a lot of time with our Zone. We would just get a huge sign of the Book of Mormon that we have in the branch, go to a park with our whole District, set the sign up and then just split up and go crazy talking to people about the Book of Mormon! It was awesome! Working with your Zone makes the work a lot more fun and in the end a lot more successful! So, we are coming up with new ideas and working hard!This week I also had to go to Zone Leaders Conference in Moscow so I was there all day yesterday. I guess while I was there they had a very eventful day here in Vornoezh! We have this young kid named Misha that we are trying to teach and they finally got to meet with him... kind of! They met him in front of a library and when they got there he was there with a few friends and some old guy. Basically.. what they ended up doing was going on a tour of Voronezh with the old guy! They went to all these temples and historical places and even went and took pictures with the Russian Orthodox Priests and the whole time the missionaries were just exhausted and were trying to leave. But, at the end after they left they found out from one of the Russian Missionaries that the old guy who was showing them around is the President of Russia's right hand man in Voronezh!Strange week! But, not too much has changed! We are working hard! I love you all and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
We had another great week! Igor got baptized on Saturday! It was great! It was the first time that I saw a baptism in the river... AWESOME! Elder Eliason and I bought him a white shirt and tie and he came to church the next day in it.. wow Igor has come a long way! He is amazing! So just in case if you haven't figured something out about the gospel and life in general I am going to explain a principle of the gospel that we all have seen in our lives! I like to call it From Awesome to not so awesome in like 5 seconds! The principle goes like this... things are going ok and they get better and better and better and then you see an awesome miracles and something amazing happens... and then BOOM! God gives you the test of diligence and humility as everything just starts going completely wrong! This is basically what has been happening the past few weeks! Two weeks ago we had one of the best weeks on my mission full of so many amazing lessons and miracles and then we went to a baptism this past week... and then suddenly NOTHING! So in Russia there is a huge problem with missionary work in the summer... it is called DACHAS!! A dacha is like a little summer home and everyone goes there to get away from the city! Basically... thanks to DACHAS... a lot of our investigators are gone! So after Igor's baptism we are back to finding mode! We have been contacting so much this past week and it is basically the least effective thing in the world! But, members are all at their dachas too so there is not much to pick from...For example, from Sunday to Tuesday we probably a total of 10 hours of just walking around in the city talking to people because we had nothing else to do. Even worse.. out of those hours guess how many contacts we got? 1! And it was a guy that we met right in front of our house lol! But, we met a lot of really cool Satanists and drunk 15 year olds and high old men with crutches and drunk old men who like to speak with us in englsih, french, spanish... basically every language except for RUSSIAN! In short.. this week has seriously been full of so many hilarious events.. the problem is that they happened in Russian and if I repeat it in English it just isn't as funny... sorry!So after these two or three days of contacting nonstop we decided that we needed to come up with something new so we went singing on the street with our district.. that also wasn't very successful and we even had a guy run by us waving around his cross going crazy and Elder Tanner and I just sat there and waved and smiled! Haha it was great! Despite all of these things... the church is still true! That is what makes things so amazing! Throughout all of these crazy things Elder Eliason and I have not lost our good attitude and we have even had a lot of fun! That is what the gospel is all about... God helps us overcome all of our trials and difficulties. He doesn't give us anything that we can't handle. We get strength through Him and His Son Jesus Christ. Pray for me and my companion so that we can get some new investigators! I love you all! Remember who you are!
:)Elder Weihing
:)Elder Weihing
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Subject: A baptism in the River!
Family and Friends-
Well what a great week again! We are going to have a baptism on Saturday! Igor from Uzbekistan is going to get baptized! I have to say Igor from Uzbekistan because that makes it sound a lot cooler since actually the church is not even aloud to be in Uzbekistan but we are baptizing a guy from there! Actually, to be honest his real name is not even Igor.. his real name is Ilhom but Russians can't pronounce that so he goes by Igor. The baptism is going to be awesome though! We are also having a branch picnic on that day so we are going to baptize him in the river and then go into the woods nearby and have a picnic! Awesome!We were really worried about Igor understanding the gospel considering the fact that he doesn't speak perfect Russian and neither do we... but his progress has been amazing! He has gone from not even knowing who Christ is to the knowledge that he is our Savior and Redeemer and all in such a short amount of time! A month ago he had no idea how to pray and now it is just a natural thing and you can tell it every time he prays at our lessons! He is an amazing guy and the gospel is already blessing his life! What a miracle to be able to see someones life change and their faith in Jesus Christ grow. Words cannot explain what a blessing and privilege it is to be a missionary and representative of our Lord Jesus Christ.Well I love you all and hope that you are having a great week! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Family and Friends-
Well what a great week again! We are going to have a baptism on Saturday! Igor from Uzbekistan is going to get baptized! I have to say Igor from Uzbekistan because that makes it sound a lot cooler since actually the church is not even aloud to be in Uzbekistan but we are baptizing a guy from there! Actually, to be honest his real name is not even Igor.. his real name is Ilhom but Russians can't pronounce that so he goes by Igor. The baptism is going to be awesome though! We are also having a branch picnic on that day so we are going to baptize him in the river and then go into the woods nearby and have a picnic! Awesome!We were really worried about Igor understanding the gospel considering the fact that he doesn't speak perfect Russian and neither do we... but his progress has been amazing! He has gone from not even knowing who Christ is to the knowledge that he is our Savior and Redeemer and all in such a short amount of time! A month ago he had no idea how to pray and now it is just a natural thing and you can tell it every time he prays at our lessons! He is an amazing guy and the gospel is already blessing his life! What a miracle to be able to see someones life change and their faith in Jesus Christ grow. Words cannot explain what a blessing and privilege it is to be a missionary and representative of our Lord Jesus Christ.Well I love you all and hope that you are having a great week! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, June 23,2011
What a week! Yesterday one of the Elder from Voronezh went home, which is really weird for me because he was probably one of my best friends on the mish, his name is Elder Harrison from Oklahoma. So, now Elder Eliason and I are with his companion waiting for his new companion to get here. It is pretty dang awesome because he is Ukranian haha. Elder Eliason and I are doing some work out here in Voronezh! We really have some awesome investigators right now! Igor is still set for baptism on July 2, we have a new young guy name Misha who just showed up last week and he already wants to be a missionary, we have Dennis who has a whole family and he is trying to set up a time to let us do family night at their house, and we have Gary who has a million questions but last time I talked to him he said, "The path to God is strait and narrow and I am searching for that path" GREAT! We would love to help you find that path Gary!I had a pretty awesome experience on the street yesterday night. Let me start out by telling you that Russian maps and configuration of their cities is basically... dumb. It makes completely no sense! Yesterday we were looking for a street called Minskaya so the we could visit a member. Well, I found it on the map and we got there and started searching for the home. Well, come to find out there is more than one Minskaya and we just happened to be at the wrong one.. of course! So I had to call up the member and tell him sorry because we weren't going to make it and while I was on the phone I saw one of our old investigators whose number I lost start approaching! His name is Edward and he is Buddhist. He came to church one Sunday and then we never saw him again. So we started talking and he told me that when he came to our church he understood that he was higher than religion. He started explaining God being some energy force and how he answers our prayers through the people that we worship so if we believe in Jesus Christ then he answers us through him but if we believe in Buddha then he answers us through him. He explained that our church was good for 95% of the people in the world, but for him it gives him limits which he doesn't need because he is higher than us and understands this "Energy Force" better than we do. Well, we could have reacted a lot of different ways... laughing, mocking him, getting offended, just saying that he was wrong, arguing with him, really all of these ideas went through my head because what he was saying sounded so absurd! But I took a long pause to think and then I asked the question, "Are you sincerely ready with all of your heart to do what God or this energy force tells you?" He said yes and I could tell that he was sincere. I asked if he had a Book of Mormon and he said yes. So I gave him a commitment to read 3 Nephi 11, ponder, pray to God in the name of Christ with a sincere heart to act on the answer you get, and then really focus on the feelings and thoughts that he gets. He promised to do it. The spirit was really strong at that moment and I was glad I reacted the way that I did. So basically I have been nonstop praying about it hoping that he gets an answer!:) Just another small experience but one that is helping my testimony to grow! What a privilege I have to be a servant of the Lord! Everything is going better than I ever expected! This is the work of God and he leads and guides us to where we need to be and when we need to be there so that those of His lost children can find us, so that we can show faith and open our mouths, so that we can spread the Gospel and find those who are chosen. The Church is true and I know that with all of my soul. Thank you all for you love and prayers! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Hey Everyone! A lot of crazy and really weird stuff has happened this week!
Elder Eliason and I have been really worried about Igor because he has a desire to get baptized, but we are not sure why. He has a good friend in the branch and at first we thought he wanted to get baptized just for his friend. It is so tough to teach this guy because he is from Uzbekistan and does not speak Russian very well. He has such a lack of gospel knowledge that he does know who Christ is.... (ya I bet you thought that was impossible) and he has never heard of Adam and Eve! Wow start about having to start from the very beginning! So, while Elder Eliason and I were thinking about how to best teach him we came up with the idea (with help from the Spirit of course) to just load him up with all of our pamphlets and books and movies about Christ and the Restoration so that he could study a lot on his own outside of our lessons. Well.. when we went to our lesson before we even started teaching Igor started testifying to us about Christ and his Atonement and how thanks to Christ we can all repent and be baptized for Salvation! What an amazing Spirit! He has been reading and study everyday and has watched the Restoration movie 5 time (that is his favorite movie) and Finding Faith in Christ 3 times. He is doing great!
Now for the weird experience of the week... So last night we get home and are getting ready for bed when I get a call from a member. This member started out by telling me that the Spirit told her that she needed to call me and explain to me her problems... well before I could say much she just went right into a crazy story. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the exact problems that were going on but there was some pretty stressful stuff going on with her family and another member and how he was causing problems in their life and how they didn't want to talk to the branch president about it... (since me being a 21 year old missionary from America who barely knows Russian is going to be able to help)... but that is not even the weirdest part! Then she started going into another part of the story where she got really stressed out and wanted to give up in life and on God and on the Church and at that moment when that happened she got possessed by a demon! She said that she was screaming in a demon voice and had crazy strength and her husband came home and they got in a fight as he was trying to cast the demon out of her and some crazy stuff went down to where she was throwing him across the apartment and then at some point he was able to finally cast the demon out! She said she had been resting all day from the experience and started studying the scriptures when the Spirit told her to call and talk to me about all of this and get advise... the only advise I could give was that I don't have the proper keys and that she needs to talk to the Branch President and President Wooley and then I bore my testimony to her of the love of God and that was that.... WOW! Definitely not something that I was expecting to deal with this week!
WOW THE THINGS THAT YOU EXPERIENCE ON YOUR MISSION! GOTTA LOVE IT! :) Well I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Elder Eliason and I have been really worried about Igor because he has a desire to get baptized, but we are not sure why. He has a good friend in the branch and at first we thought he wanted to get baptized just for his friend. It is so tough to teach this guy because he is from Uzbekistan and does not speak Russian very well. He has such a lack of gospel knowledge that he does know who Christ is.... (ya I bet you thought that was impossible) and he has never heard of Adam and Eve! Wow start about having to start from the very beginning! So, while Elder Eliason and I were thinking about how to best teach him we came up with the idea (with help from the Spirit of course) to just load him up with all of our pamphlets and books and movies about Christ and the Restoration so that he could study a lot on his own outside of our lessons. Well.. when we went to our lesson before we even started teaching Igor started testifying to us about Christ and his Atonement and how thanks to Christ we can all repent and be baptized for Salvation! What an amazing Spirit! He has been reading and study everyday and has watched the Restoration movie 5 time (that is his favorite movie) and Finding Faith in Christ 3 times. He is doing great!
Now for the weird experience of the week... So last night we get home and are getting ready for bed when I get a call from a member. This member started out by telling me that the Spirit told her that she needed to call me and explain to me her problems... well before I could say much she just went right into a crazy story. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the exact problems that were going on but there was some pretty stressful stuff going on with her family and another member and how he was causing problems in their life and how they didn't want to talk to the branch president about it... (since me being a 21 year old missionary from America who barely knows Russian is going to be able to help)... but that is not even the weirdest part! Then she started going into another part of the story where she got really stressed out and wanted to give up in life and on God and on the Church and at that moment when that happened she got possessed by a demon! She said that she was screaming in a demon voice and had crazy strength and her husband came home and they got in a fight as he was trying to cast the demon out of her and some crazy stuff went down to where she was throwing him across the apartment and then at some point he was able to finally cast the demon out! She said she had been resting all day from the experience and started studying the scriptures when the Spirit told her to call and talk to me about all of this and get advise... the only advise I could give was that I don't have the proper keys and that she needs to talk to the Branch President and President Wooley and then I bore my testimony to her of the love of God and that was that.... WOW! Definitely not something that I was expecting to deal with this week!
WOW THE THINGS THAT YOU EXPERIENCE ON YOUR MISSION! GOTTA LOVE IT! :) Well I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Subject: Voronezh!
Another great week! Well Igor is still progressing well towards baptism! We have been teaching him a lot in the past week and he has an amazing desire and amount of faith! His baptismal date is set for the 18th of June, but I don't know if that will work out because though he knows the church is true and wants to be baptized he does not know all of the doctrine and completely understand it because he doesn't really speak and understand Russian very well. He is a great guy and will get baptized, but we just need more time to prepare him so that he understands everything! He already has friends in the branch so he has a fan club and some support!
We have other really great investigators that we are teaching. Two families, one older man from Armenia, one local doctor, a members younger brother, and a new man who we found from Africa who speaks French. Haha it is weird the people that you meet and teach on your mission! I never thought I would be in Russia teaching a person from Uzbekistan and Armenia and and African who speaks French! God really does lead us to those people whom he has prepared!
Well I don't really have too much more to say just that this work is great and I am having a blast! Russia is awesome and this work is awesome! Thanks for the letters and prayers! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Another great week! Well Igor is still progressing well towards baptism! We have been teaching him a lot in the past week and he has an amazing desire and amount of faith! His baptismal date is set for the 18th of June, but I don't know if that will work out because though he knows the church is true and wants to be baptized he does not know all of the doctrine and completely understand it because he doesn't really speak and understand Russian very well. He is a great guy and will get baptized, but we just need more time to prepare him so that he understands everything! He already has friends in the branch so he has a fan club and some support!
We have other really great investigators that we are teaching. Two families, one older man from Armenia, one local doctor, a members younger brother, and a new man who we found from Africa who speaks French. Haha it is weird the people that you meet and teach on your mission! I never thought I would be in Russia teaching a person from Uzbekistan and Armenia and and African who speaks French! God really does lead us to those people whom he has prepared!
Well I don't really have too much more to say just that this work is great and I am having a blast! Russia is awesome and this work is awesome! Thanks for the letters and prayers! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Subject: Life in Voronesh!
Well things have finally calmed down from all of the traveling! Elder Eliason and I have been working miracles like it is no bodies business! We have one baptismal date with a man named Igor from Uzbekistan and more coming up!
This last Sunday was an amazing day! It all started on Sunday A less active lady who is here as a student from Africa came to church and we happen to be her home teachers and were able to set up an appointment for later that day. (This lady is awesome! Her dad got the church started in her country and now they have a huge stake there) Well, she lives in the dorms and so when we go there she has to meet us at the door and the security takes our passports while we meet and talk with her. So when we get to her dorm we have to call her to have her met us at the door. Well, it turned out that we could not get a hold of her! We called and called and called and everytime the operator would just say that the phone is blocked or unavailable. So we decided to just contact around the building while we wait for a little bit longer and then head back to the branch for our next meeting. There was a moment when a guy was walking away from us and we ran him down and he immediately new we were American. He ended up being a professor at the school and speaks better english than I do!! He is even part of the American Mathematical Societ! I have no idea what that is or what it mean but obviously he is a genius! We had a great conversation with him and were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and give him a copy and he was very interested. So, we were pretty glad that we didn't completely waste our time in that area because we got a really good contact. So, we headed back to the branch. At this next lesson we were planning just to help a young couple with English. Well, it turned out that the husband barely knows english and the wife knows it great. So we started talking with the wife and then the husband just throws out all of these amazing questions! What is the Word of Wisdom? How do you pray? How do you know that God answers your prayers? What does it feel like to get an answer? What is the Book of Mormon? In short, the lesson turned very quick from practicing english to an intense gospel lesson! It is an amazing feeling to come away from a lesson knowing that God has prepared people and that is exactly what I felt at this point! They are an amazing young couple. Well, at this point it was time to go home so we started heading home pretty well pleased with what we happened but disappointed that we couldn't meet with the lady from Africa. Then we got a call from the lady and she was like where did you guys go? Why didn't you come? So we explained and she said that it didn't make sense that her phone would do that because she was sitting there waiting for us to call! (Basically at this point we took the not phone working as a sign that we had to contact and get the awesome contact that we got) but that is not all we found out from the lady that she needed us to come over and give her a blessing. She had come to church that day and when she left she said that she felt like she was forgetting something. Then she realized when she got home that she needed a blessing because she was going to be leaving to go to Moscow way late that same night when it is dangerous especially for strangers and then she realized that we were coming and could give her a blessing. So at this point we took it as another sign that God was trying to tell us that we need to help her and meet with her so we got permission to be home late and went to her house, gave a great blessing, and then came back home! What a day! throughout that day and I think throughout everyday many small things happen that we disregard or don't notice, but in reality God is leading and guiding us. He is blessing us and giving us the opportunity to bless his other children. We just have to recognize and act. This is what a felt and realized on that day. It was a great day full of man small and simple miracles and these small and simple miracles happen everyday and that is what makes a mission so amazing because for some reason you have the time to take a step back and look at how God is guiding your every step.
I love you all! Have a great week and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Well things have finally calmed down from all of the traveling! Elder Eliason and I have been working miracles like it is no bodies business! We have one baptismal date with a man named Igor from Uzbekistan and more coming up!
This last Sunday was an amazing day! It all started on Sunday A less active lady who is here as a student from Africa came to church and we happen to be her home teachers and were able to set up an appointment for later that day. (This lady is awesome! Her dad got the church started in her country and now they have a huge stake there) Well, she lives in the dorms and so when we go there she has to meet us at the door and the security takes our passports while we meet and talk with her. So when we get to her dorm we have to call her to have her met us at the door. Well, it turned out that we could not get a hold of her! We called and called and called and everytime the operator would just say that the phone is blocked or unavailable. So we decided to just contact around the building while we wait for a little bit longer and then head back to the branch for our next meeting. There was a moment when a guy was walking away from us and we ran him down and he immediately new we were American. He ended up being a professor at the school and speaks better english than I do!! He is even part of the American Mathematical Societ! I have no idea what that is or what it mean but obviously he is a genius! We had a great conversation with him and were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and give him a copy and he was very interested. So, we were pretty glad that we didn't completely waste our time in that area because we got a really good contact. So, we headed back to the branch. At this next lesson we were planning just to help a young couple with English. Well, it turned out that the husband barely knows english and the wife knows it great. So we started talking with the wife and then the husband just throws out all of these amazing questions! What is the Word of Wisdom? How do you pray? How do you know that God answers your prayers? What does it feel like to get an answer? What is the Book of Mormon? In short, the lesson turned very quick from practicing english to an intense gospel lesson! It is an amazing feeling to come away from a lesson knowing that God has prepared people and that is exactly what I felt at this point! They are an amazing young couple. Well, at this point it was time to go home so we started heading home pretty well pleased with what we happened but disappointed that we couldn't meet with the lady from Africa. Then we got a call from the lady and she was like where did you guys go? Why didn't you come? So we explained and she said that it didn't make sense that her phone would do that because she was sitting there waiting for us to call! (Basically at this point we took the not phone working as a sign that we had to contact and get the awesome contact that we got) but that is not all we found out from the lady that she needed us to come over and give her a blessing. She had come to church that day and when she left she said that she felt like she was forgetting something. Then she realized when she got home that she needed a blessing because she was going to be leaving to go to Moscow way late that same night when it is dangerous especially for strangers and then she realized that we were coming and could give her a blessing. So at this point we took it as another sign that God was trying to tell us that we need to help her and meet with her so we got permission to be home late and went to her house, gave a great blessing, and then came back home! What a day! throughout that day and I think throughout everyday many small things happen that we disregard or don't notice, but in reality God is leading and guiding us. He is blessing us and giving us the opportunity to bless his other children. We just have to recognize and act. This is what a felt and realized on that day. It was a great day full of man small and simple miracles and these small and simple miracles happen everyday and that is what makes a mission so amazing because for some reason you have the time to take a step back and look at how God is guiding your every step.
I love you all! Have a great week and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Friday, May 27, 2011
Subject: Long Time No Talk!
Well, I finally found time to e-mail you! Sorry it has been so long, I was in Moscow and then this last p-day I was in Kiev on a Visa Trip. Wow! A lot has happened!
First of all Kiev was amazing! We BARELY made it to the temple session on time! It is a long story how that happened... Elder Brown and Waite and I landed it Kiev and we had about two hours or so to get to the temple so we were no too worried about getting there on time. So we started searching for a taxi and there was one guy (like the head of all the taxis) from Kiev helping us, but no one wanted to take us because the temple is so far away! Well, he finally found us a taxi and we started driving out there. We started talking to the driver and soon we found out the he had no idea who the guy was (aka the leader guy of all the taxis helping us) and the guy just told him to take us to Kiev and not to the temple! That is only about half way to the temple and we still had to pay the full price to the temple! Well, we didn't have time to argue about what happened so we had to give him all of the money, get out, and take the Metro as close to the temple as we could get and then take another taxi the rest of the way! Well, thank goodness the next taxi driver was the man! He was weaving in and out of traffic like I used to before my mission and we got there right as the session was about to start! God really blessed us because I swear it was impossible to get there in time!! The temple was an amazing experience! It is a very beautiful temple and we ended up seeing a lot of the missionaries in the temple that we served with in the MTC so that was crazy!
The week before this past p-day we were in Moscow. It was a good time! We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and got permission from president to use our p-day in Moscow on Thursday so we went everywhere! It was awesome! We went to the Moscow Hard Rock Cafe, and had Duncan Donuts, and we went to the WW2 Museum which is gorgeous! It Is huge! We went to the market and I bought some sweet ties for 3 dollars each and I also bought some pretty sweet Shapkas which are those huge russian hats! I also found out that there is a guy in Moscow or somewhere that makes the little doll things that you guys want but he paints all of the modern day prophets from Joseph Smith and on on there! Sweet huh! So I ordered some of those for myself :)
Well we have a lot of awesome work right now in Voronesh! We are finally done with all of our traveling for a while and now we can relax and focus a lot more on the work and our investigators! We set a baptismal date with a friend of a member two days ago. He is from Uzbekistan and his name is Igor. He is awesome! He is going to get baptized in about a month. We are also going to try and set a baptismal date with a brother of a member, and his name is Losha, this week :) We have found a lot of new people and now we are excited to teach them! It is summer and people are out and happy and now is the time to find and teach and baptize! By the way I also found out when I was in Moscow that my coming home date probably got pushed back about one week or so so that is awesome! I think now I will be coming home sometime in the beginning of November! Oh and if you all don't know they are finally organizing a stake in Moscow! Elder Nelson is coming to Moscow in about a week or so to do it... so you know what that means! Mabye soon there will be a temple!!
Well I love you all! thanks for the love and support and all of the letters! It is great to hear from you all! :) Have a great week!
Elder Weihing
Well, I finally found time to e-mail you! Sorry it has been so long, I was in Moscow and then this last p-day I was in Kiev on a Visa Trip. Wow! A lot has happened!
First of all Kiev was amazing! We BARELY made it to the temple session on time! It is a long story how that happened... Elder Brown and Waite and I landed it Kiev and we had about two hours or so to get to the temple so we were no too worried about getting there on time. So we started searching for a taxi and there was one guy (like the head of all the taxis) from Kiev helping us, but no one wanted to take us because the temple is so far away! Well, he finally found us a taxi and we started driving out there. We started talking to the driver and soon we found out the he had no idea who the guy was (aka the leader guy of all the taxis helping us) and the guy just told him to take us to Kiev and not to the temple! That is only about half way to the temple and we still had to pay the full price to the temple! Well, we didn't have time to argue about what happened so we had to give him all of the money, get out, and take the Metro as close to the temple as we could get and then take another taxi the rest of the way! Well, thank goodness the next taxi driver was the man! He was weaving in and out of traffic like I used to before my mission and we got there right as the session was about to start! God really blessed us because I swear it was impossible to get there in time!! The temple was an amazing experience! It is a very beautiful temple and we ended up seeing a lot of the missionaries in the temple that we served with in the MTC so that was crazy!
The week before this past p-day we were in Moscow. It was a good time! We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and got permission from president to use our p-day in Moscow on Thursday so we went everywhere! It was awesome! We went to the Moscow Hard Rock Cafe, and had Duncan Donuts, and we went to the WW2 Museum which is gorgeous! It Is huge! We went to the market and I bought some sweet ties for 3 dollars each and I also bought some pretty sweet Shapkas which are those huge russian hats! I also found out that there is a guy in Moscow or somewhere that makes the little doll things that you guys want but he paints all of the modern day prophets from Joseph Smith and on on there! Sweet huh! So I ordered some of those for myself :)
Well we have a lot of awesome work right now in Voronesh! We are finally done with all of our traveling for a while and now we can relax and focus a lot more on the work and our investigators! We set a baptismal date with a friend of a member two days ago. He is from Uzbekistan and his name is Igor. He is awesome! He is going to get baptized in about a month. We are also going to try and set a baptismal date with a brother of a member, and his name is Losha, this week :) We have found a lot of new people and now we are excited to teach them! It is summer and people are out and happy and now is the time to find and teach and baptize! By the way I also found out when I was in Moscow that my coming home date probably got pushed back about one week or so so that is awesome! I think now I will be coming home sometime in the beginning of November! Oh and if you all don't know they are finally organizing a stake in Moscow! Elder Nelson is coming to Moscow in about a week or so to do it... so you know what that means! Mabye soon there will be a temple!!
Well I love you all! thanks for the love and support and all of the letters! It is great to hear from you all! :) Have a great week!
Elder Weihing
Thursday, May 12, 2011
We had a great Mother's Day conversation. The amazing part is the ability to Skype and have a 5 way conversation with Elder Kenneth, (Moscow) Elder Jordan, (England) KJ, (Phoenix) Richelle, (Herriman:in hospital) and with us, (Herriman). The big news was the boys got to see Richelle's new baby! (Kellan) Below is Kenneth's letter! We apprecaite all your support and prayers! May you all be blessed as we have been by having Son's who are serving! We love you all!
---Kam and Suzanne
Subject: A new companion!
Well it was great to see you all on Mother's Day! Was so excited to see Kellan! He is definitely a cutie! It was great to see the family and talk to everyone. I am so grateful for your love and support and all that you do for me.
Well I really don't have any time to write this week because we got home from Moscow this morning at eleven and we have SO MUCH to do this P-day to get my companion registered in the city so that they don't kick him out! So let you tell me about my companion. His name is Elder Eliason and he is from Lariamie Wyoming! He is awesome! We are gonna do some work up in here in Voronesh! It was sad to see Elder Borodin go home, but I know that he was ready. He was a great missionary and a good example.
This past week was also the 9th of May! Victory Day! This is a huge day in Russia! It is like the 4th of July in America! It was crazy! There were parades and we watched fireworks and watched a lot of small shows that they put on on the street. A crazy day where we were not aloud to wear our nametags and contact because a lot of people were drunk!!!
We had quite the trip to Moscow and back! Haha we missed our train back to Voronesh so we had to buy new tickets for a later train. We had quite an adventure getting back into town!! But things are going good and I am excited to get to work with my new comp! We are gonna do awesome1
Before I go I just want to share a small experience with you all. Elder Borodin and I were on a bus and I saw this guy staring at me and so of course we started talking. To be honest at first he was not very nice at all!! He was of course very skeptical and was wondering why some american was here and didn't hide the fact that he doesn't believe that God exists. But, we talked the entire bus ride and very soon his attitude changed. By the end of the conversation it had changed from, "you stupid american god doesn't exist" to "you know what I am really glad that you started talking to me because you have changed my mood around. I am really happy right now where as before I was really sad." It was just a small experience, but it was the kind of thing that missionaries look for everyday. We are here to help people feel God's love and to lift peoples spirit and I felt it and saw it when talking to this guy. This gospel is true. This is God's work. We have a calling to help his children and through small and simple things we are reaching our goal!
I love you all! Thank you for all that you do! Remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
---Kam and Suzanne
Subject: A new companion!
Well it was great to see you all on Mother's Day! Was so excited to see Kellan! He is definitely a cutie! It was great to see the family and talk to everyone. I am so grateful for your love and support and all that you do for me.
Well I really don't have any time to write this week because we got home from Moscow this morning at eleven and we have SO MUCH to do this P-day to get my companion registered in the city so that they don't kick him out! So let you tell me about my companion. His name is Elder Eliason and he is from Lariamie Wyoming! He is awesome! We are gonna do some work up in here in Voronesh! It was sad to see Elder Borodin go home, but I know that he was ready. He was a great missionary and a good example.
This past week was also the 9th of May! Victory Day! This is a huge day in Russia! It is like the 4th of July in America! It was crazy! There were parades and we watched fireworks and watched a lot of small shows that they put on on the street. A crazy day where we were not aloud to wear our nametags and contact because a lot of people were drunk!!!
We had quite the trip to Moscow and back! Haha we missed our train back to Voronesh so we had to buy new tickets for a later train. We had quite an adventure getting back into town!! But things are going good and I am excited to get to work with my new comp! We are gonna do awesome1
Before I go I just want to share a small experience with you all. Elder Borodin and I were on a bus and I saw this guy staring at me and so of course we started talking. To be honest at first he was not very nice at all!! He was of course very skeptical and was wondering why some american was here and didn't hide the fact that he doesn't believe that God exists. But, we talked the entire bus ride and very soon his attitude changed. By the end of the conversation it had changed from, "you stupid american god doesn't exist" to "you know what I am really glad that you started talking to me because you have changed my mood around. I am really happy right now where as before I was really sad." It was just a small experience, but it was the kind of thing that missionaries look for everyday. We are here to help people feel God's love and to lift peoples spirit and I felt it and saw it when talking to this guy. This gospel is true. This is God's work. We have a calling to help his children and through small and simple things we are reaching our goal!
I love you all! Thank you for all that you do! Remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Subject: More Baptisms and It Is a Small World!!!
Hello Family and Friends!
What another amazing week! Pavel was baptized on Saturday! Ya three baptisms in two weeks... at this rate we will be catching up with Brazil in no time! I felt really honored to have the opportunity to baptize him. The service was very spiritual! There are two amazing clips that you have to watch that we watched after the baptism... The Reflections of Christ, and Come See the Light! Wow! TALK ABOUT AMAZING! Pavel is doing amazing and he had a really great experience with the Holy Ghost the other day that I think is worth sharing. He was getting ready to walk out the door and come to the church for a meeting with us and he went to his car and realized he forgot his keys. He said that has never happened before. He went back inside and he found his keys and started going out the door and the keys just fell out of his hands and dropped on the floor and then he heard a voice tell him to not drive today. It is just a small experience and who knows what would have happened if he didn't listen to the voice.. but I thought that was a very impressing experience considering he just got baptized on Saturday! Pavel is amazing and was prepared to receive the gospel! He even told us an experience when he met missionaries in another city that he lived and while talking to them he realized that our church was too good and that he didn't deserve to become a member of such an amazing church. Haha it is so interesting how things work out!!
Now... IT IS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL! Elder Borodin and I were teaching an amazing member here. Her name is Sister Kyznetsova. Well I found out that her daughters live in Utah. Then she said that her oldest daughter lived in Herriman and then moved somewhere else. I said that is where I am from and she was really surprised! She explained that she has been there about 3 times in the past 5 years. She started asking what street I live on and I said that I live across from the "Prayer House" aka the church building. She said that is where her daughter lived! Her daughter and son in law is Craig a Elena and I forgot their last name but... I saw I picture and now I totally who they are! They were in our ward but moved a few years ago!! She started talking about Bishop Briggs and how when she was at our ward everyone was so nice and Bishop Briggs came and saw her after church and all this crazy stuff and I was just in awe and didn't know what to say... so I said the next thing that came to my mind, "I probably bless the sacrament that you took that Sunday!" Overall it was a really interesting experience and now I have found my favorite members of the church here in Voronezh... or so I thought...
So there is this old, stubborn, hardworking, loving man in our branch here named Boris... I hope that you already understand where I am going with this... He is grandpas twin! We went over and helped him move firewood and almost everything he did reminded me of grandpa! He had all of the work organized and set up with all of the tools and special carrying devices (which I am pretty sure he made by himself) and he would show us how we should do it and then let us try and then just say no no no let me show you how it is done right. IT WAS JUST A SIMPLE TASK OF MOVING FIREWOOD! Hahaha I felt like I was home working with grandpa again! All I could do everytime he said we weren't doing things right and he wanted to show us how to do it was about grandpa and all of the many working experiences with him. It just brought a smile to my face haha. So.. maybe Boris will be my favorite member :)
This past week we also had Zone Conference. President Wooley came to Voronezh to change the Branch President and his councilors so we had the conference here. We found out the departure date of my companion and he is leaving for sure on the tenth and that same day I will be getting another Greenie! So.. looks like I am going to be training again. but this time the kid is from America not from Ukraine! I think his name is Elder Eliason but I don't remember for sure. I am pumped! It is going to be so awesome! Greenies bring so much Spirit and Enthusiasm to the work!
Well, I guess that I will see you on skype Sunday night! Jordan said that he is skyping for 45 minutes so maybe I will call around 9:30 Utah time so that I can see him for about 15 min! Well you are all awesome! I love you! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Hello Family and Friends!
What another amazing week! Pavel was baptized on Saturday! Ya three baptisms in two weeks... at this rate we will be catching up with Brazil in no time! I felt really honored to have the opportunity to baptize him. The service was very spiritual! There are two amazing clips that you have to watch that we watched after the baptism... The Reflections of Christ, and Come See the Light! Wow! TALK ABOUT AMAZING! Pavel is doing amazing and he had a really great experience with the Holy Ghost the other day that I think is worth sharing. He was getting ready to walk out the door and come to the church for a meeting with us and he went to his car and realized he forgot his keys. He said that has never happened before. He went back inside and he found his keys and started going out the door and the keys just fell out of his hands and dropped on the floor and then he heard a voice tell him to not drive today. It is just a small experience and who knows what would have happened if he didn't listen to the voice.. but I thought that was a very impressing experience considering he just got baptized on Saturday! Pavel is amazing and was prepared to receive the gospel! He even told us an experience when he met missionaries in another city that he lived and while talking to them he realized that our church was too good and that he didn't deserve to become a member of such an amazing church. Haha it is so interesting how things work out!!
Now... IT IS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL! Elder Borodin and I were teaching an amazing member here. Her name is Sister Kyznetsova. Well I found out that her daughters live in Utah. Then she said that her oldest daughter lived in Herriman and then moved somewhere else. I said that is where I am from and she was really surprised! She explained that she has been there about 3 times in the past 5 years. She started asking what street I live on and I said that I live across from the "Prayer House" aka the church building. She said that is where her daughter lived! Her daughter and son in law is Craig a Elena and I forgot their last name but... I saw I picture and now I totally who they are! They were in our ward but moved a few years ago!! She started talking about Bishop Briggs and how when she was at our ward everyone was so nice and Bishop Briggs came and saw her after church and all this crazy stuff and I was just in awe and didn't know what to say... so I said the next thing that came to my mind, "I probably bless the sacrament that you took that Sunday!" Overall it was a really interesting experience and now I have found my favorite members of the church here in Voronezh... or so I thought...
So there is this old, stubborn, hardworking, loving man in our branch here named Boris... I hope that you already understand where I am going with this... He is grandpas twin! We went over and helped him move firewood and almost everything he did reminded me of grandpa! He had all of the work organized and set up with all of the tools and special carrying devices (which I am pretty sure he made by himself) and he would show us how we should do it and then let us try and then just say no no no let me show you how it is done right. IT WAS JUST A SIMPLE TASK OF MOVING FIREWOOD! Hahaha I felt like I was home working with grandpa again! All I could do everytime he said we weren't doing things right and he wanted to show us how to do it was about grandpa and all of the many working experiences with him. It just brought a smile to my face haha. So.. maybe Boris will be my favorite member :)
This past week we also had Zone Conference. President Wooley came to Voronezh to change the Branch President and his councilors so we had the conference here. We found out the departure date of my companion and he is leaving for sure on the tenth and that same day I will be getting another Greenie! So.. looks like I am going to be training again. but this time the kid is from America not from Ukraine! I think his name is Elder Eliason but I don't remember for sure. I am pumped! It is going to be so awesome! Greenies bring so much Spirit and Enthusiasm to the work!
Well, I guess that I will see you on skype Sunday night! Jordan said that he is skyping for 45 minutes so maybe I will call around 9:30 Utah time so that I can see him for about 15 min! Well you are all awesome! I love you! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Subject: A Baptism down and more the come!
Well! The big news... we traveled to Yaroslavl this past week and Sasha did get baptized! Finally! After his fourth baptismal date! Nothing short of a miracle! The Elders there rented a pool and there were two baptisms there (haha after the baptism the pool was still open so some of the members and the people that got baptized stayed to swim). The second person was a lady from Africa named Grace and one of our less actives was able to baptize her so that was even more amazing to see! The even better news is that there will definately be one more baptism coming up in Yaroslavl, Sergei (or as we call him short guy who has read the Bible and Koran, all the names are the same here so just saying Sergei brings up to many people!). That is not all of the baptisms, on Saturday is going to be yet another baptism but it will be here in Voronesh! Our Golden Investigator Pavel is going to get baptized!
So... to talk about Golden People who have been prepared for the Gospel! Pavel is about as close as it gets! Met him on the street, he called us, he came to english club and then to church, he had an amazing experience and church where the spirit was so strong, we taught him all of the lessons within two weeks, he accepted everything, and now he wants to get everything as soon as he can! He wants to get baptized, get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, get the priesthood, and he even is planning on the going to the temple as soon as he is able to! We had an amazing lesson about temples yesterday where he told us about his ancestors and how he really wants to do there work.. he told a story about his grandpa dying which obviously about made me bust out into tears.. the spirit was so strong I can't even explain the feeling! Just a peace and a silence! Usually Pavel is such a talker but he was quite the whole time and just was on the edge of his chair ready to hear what was coming next! He said that he wants to drive out the Kiev next week and do baptisms for the dead!! He is just amazing! I have not met anyone on my entire mission as prepared as Pavel has been!
The past two days have really been interesting! Elder Borodin and I have been meeting with missionaries and pastors from other churches! The day before yesterday we met with a missionary from the Russian Orthodox Church... man was the frustrating! He has the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon. He had one question... how do you know that your answer that this is true was from God and not from the Devil... well is answer to that I was prompted to go the D&C 9 where Oliver Cowdery is being counciled on prayer... before we could even get through with one answer he had 100 more questions and would not give as an opportunity to answer any of them.. to say the least I was not very impressed because he strategy was not to teach by the spirit but to teach by proof and control...
Then yesterday we met with a pastor from another church (sorry I do not know how it translates in English) basically they believe in a very interesting way in the Gift of Tongue... this is the process... in groups one of them prays in Russian and all of the others around that person start jabbering.... and this is what they believe to be the Gift of Tongues. So here we have the main person pronouncing the prayers... and about fifty other people going crazy raising their hands up and chanting in "a different language" which they themselves don't understand. This meeting was focused on the Book of Mormon and Joseph. We very clearly and boldly preached our message and told them how to know whether it was true. Then the pastor started asking how many moms I had and asked if we knew that Joseph Smith was mentally ill. Haha... yet another interesting experience! Although... the choir sang very beautifully :)
The weather is finally getting warm here! It is time to take off the jacket and the let the white shirt and tie and name tag shine! People are definately going to know who we are without a mistake!! We have a great and a marvelous work that we are doing! It is great! I love you all! Thank you for the prayers and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Well! The big news... we traveled to Yaroslavl this past week and Sasha did get baptized! Finally! After his fourth baptismal date! Nothing short of a miracle! The Elders there rented a pool and there were two baptisms there (haha after the baptism the pool was still open so some of the members and the people that got baptized stayed to swim). The second person was a lady from Africa named Grace and one of our less actives was able to baptize her so that was even more amazing to see! The even better news is that there will definately be one more baptism coming up in Yaroslavl, Sergei (or as we call him short guy who has read the Bible and Koran, all the names are the same here so just saying Sergei brings up to many people!). That is not all of the baptisms, on Saturday is going to be yet another baptism but it will be here in Voronesh! Our Golden Investigator Pavel is going to get baptized!
So... to talk about Golden People who have been prepared for the Gospel! Pavel is about as close as it gets! Met him on the street, he called us, he came to english club and then to church, he had an amazing experience and church where the spirit was so strong, we taught him all of the lessons within two weeks, he accepted everything, and now he wants to get everything as soon as he can! He wants to get baptized, get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, get the priesthood, and he even is planning on the going to the temple as soon as he is able to! We had an amazing lesson about temples yesterday where he told us about his ancestors and how he really wants to do there work.. he told a story about his grandpa dying which obviously about made me bust out into tears.. the spirit was so strong I can't even explain the feeling! Just a peace and a silence! Usually Pavel is such a talker but he was quite the whole time and just was on the edge of his chair ready to hear what was coming next! He said that he wants to drive out the Kiev next week and do baptisms for the dead!! He is just amazing! I have not met anyone on my entire mission as prepared as Pavel has been!
The past two days have really been interesting! Elder Borodin and I have been meeting with missionaries and pastors from other churches! The day before yesterday we met with a missionary from the Russian Orthodox Church... man was the frustrating! He has the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon. He had one question... how do you know that your answer that this is true was from God and not from the Devil... well is answer to that I was prompted to go the D&C 9 where Oliver Cowdery is being counciled on prayer... before we could even get through with one answer he had 100 more questions and would not give as an opportunity to answer any of them.. to say the least I was not very impressed because he strategy was not to teach by the spirit but to teach by proof and control...
Then yesterday we met with a pastor from another church (sorry I do not know how it translates in English) basically they believe in a very interesting way in the Gift of Tongue... this is the process... in groups one of them prays in Russian and all of the others around that person start jabbering.... and this is what they believe to be the Gift of Tongues. So here we have the main person pronouncing the prayers... and about fifty other people going crazy raising their hands up and chanting in "a different language" which they themselves don't understand. This meeting was focused on the Book of Mormon and Joseph. We very clearly and boldly preached our message and told them how to know whether it was true. Then the pastor started asking how many moms I had and asked if we knew that Joseph Smith was mentally ill. Haha... yet another interesting experience! Although... the choir sang very beautifully :)
The weather is finally getting warm here! It is time to take off the jacket and the let the white shirt and tie and name tag shine! People are definately going to know who we are without a mistake!! We have a great and a marvelous work that we are doing! It is great! I love you all! Thank you for the prayers and support! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Subject: Baptisms and No Baptisms... or maybe baptisms?
So first of all I have to tell you new news that I just found out because we have a rule in our mission that I was unaware of in the past (sorry mom and dad you are going to be working a little bit more because of this rule) I need to be writing friends through you, mom and dad, and receiving letters from my friends through you, mom and dad. So From now on I will be writing everything to you and then you can send it to my friends and that all of my wonderful friends who are amazing and supporting me are going to have to write back to my parents and then my parents will send it to me.. haha a long process, but oh well :)
Now... what do I mean by baptisms and no baptisms... well I got a really interesting call from Elder Forsyth last night. Sasha, the baptism that is supposed to happen this Saturday, is on the run again!!! Haha this is his fourth baptismal date! Although, this is the closest that he has ever gotten to it! So... Elder Forsyth started explaining to me the situation of how he came to General Conference last week (ya we only had General Conference last week) and then left without saying goodbye which was weird. Then the Elders were able to set up a time for the intereview and then he didn't come and they set up another time for him and then he didn't come and now they can't get a hold of him! So... basically this whole conversation I am sitting there and half of me is not surprised because hey this has happened to us two or three times already with him and the other half is just thinking what the DUCE is going on here! So this lead me to think that obviously the baptism is not going down like we wanted.. and then Elder Forsyth gets on facebook and starts reading Sasha's messages to his friends where he is talking about how his life is going to change on the 23rd of April and he is going to be a new person in the Lord... and his friends were asking questions and he was explaining how he was going to change... and these were recent messages. So... what do I think now? Baptism or No baptism? That is the question... and no one knows the answer except Sasha whom we cannot get in contact with!!
So on the other side of Russia in Voronesh we have some good news!! We are seeing a lot of miracles here! We have one baptismal date with an great investigators whose name is Pavel! ***** The latest news about Sasha! I just got a call from Elder Forsyth and I guess Sasha is going to get baptized!?!? He wrote to all of his friends yesterday on facebook that He is going to change because he is going to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! So.. now I guess that means that he is going to get baptized... we just still can't get a hold of him on the phone and he hasn't been interviewed but from what he says on facebook he is still on for the baptism!!***** Anyways, Pavel is awesome! To be honest when we set the baptismal date with him we were not planning on it.. we just want to talk about the difference between spiritual and mental understanding and the spirit was just so strong! He talked about his feelings when he meets with us and comes to church and the joy and peace that he feels with us and with the members! Before this moment all he talked about was how he understood everything and how it made sense, but he never explained his feelings. So when he started explaining his feelings we were able to testify of the Holy Ghost and then commit him to baptism and he accepted!!! But... that is not all... a few days ago he brought his friends to us who is also interested in learning about our church and this friend has a family!! Biggity biggity boo ya!! Our lesson went amazing with the friend, his name is Gyorgi or in englsih George, and we have a second lesson with him today! Pavel is preaching the gospel to all of his friends and wants us to meet two more of his friends! That is how the church grows right there! Nothing is better than friends inviting friends because there is instant support! We really had so many amazing lessons this past week with so many amazing people and the members here came and supported us and participated on the lessons... but I can't tell you all of the experiences that would take way too long!
So.. just a little more information if you didn't know this past week was NEW YEARS in Cambodia! Happy New Years for CAMBODIA! We have two less actives that Elder Borodin, my new companion, and I found from Cambodia and they invited us to a New Years Party this past week. It was hilarious! (To be honest KJ I felt like I was in Japan because everyone looked Japanese and they were all Karyoke-ing it up!) They had some interesting food and weird singing and dancing haha but it was awesome and we were able to meet a lot of awesome people there!
Well, a lot has been happening! I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
So first of all I have to tell you new news that I just found out because we have a rule in our mission that I was unaware of in the past (sorry mom and dad you are going to be working a little bit more because of this rule) I need to be writing friends through you, mom and dad, and receiving letters from my friends through you, mom and dad. So From now on I will be writing everything to you and then you can send it to my friends and that all of my wonderful friends who are amazing and supporting me are going to have to write back to my parents and then my parents will send it to me.. haha a long process, but oh well :)
Now... what do I mean by baptisms and no baptisms... well I got a really interesting call from Elder Forsyth last night. Sasha, the baptism that is supposed to happen this Saturday, is on the run again!!! Haha this is his fourth baptismal date! Although, this is the closest that he has ever gotten to it! So... Elder Forsyth started explaining to me the situation of how he came to General Conference last week (ya we only had General Conference last week) and then left without saying goodbye which was weird. Then the Elders were able to set up a time for the intereview and then he didn't come and they set up another time for him and then he didn't come and now they can't get a hold of him! So... basically this whole conversation I am sitting there and half of me is not surprised because hey this has happened to us two or three times already with him and the other half is just thinking what the DUCE is going on here! So this lead me to think that obviously the baptism is not going down like we wanted.. and then Elder Forsyth gets on facebook and starts reading Sasha's messages to his friends where he is talking about how his life is going to change on the 23rd of April and he is going to be a new person in the Lord... and his friends were asking questions and he was explaining how he was going to change... and these were recent messages. So... what do I think now? Baptism or No baptism? That is the question... and no one knows the answer except Sasha whom we cannot get in contact with!!
So on the other side of Russia in Voronesh we have some good news!! We are seeing a lot of miracles here! We have one baptismal date with an great investigators whose name is Pavel! ***** The latest news about Sasha! I just got a call from Elder Forsyth and I guess Sasha is going to get baptized!?!? He wrote to all of his friends yesterday on facebook that He is going to change because he is going to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! So.. now I guess that means that he is going to get baptized... we just still can't get a hold of him on the phone and he hasn't been interviewed but from what he says on facebook he is still on for the baptism!!***** Anyways, Pavel is awesome! To be honest when we set the baptismal date with him we were not planning on it.. we just want to talk about the difference between spiritual and mental understanding and the spirit was just so strong! He talked about his feelings when he meets with us and comes to church and the joy and peace that he feels with us and with the members! Before this moment all he talked about was how he understood everything and how it made sense, but he never explained his feelings. So when he started explaining his feelings we were able to testify of the Holy Ghost and then commit him to baptism and he accepted!!! But... that is not all... a few days ago he brought his friends to us who is also interested in learning about our church and this friend has a family!! Biggity biggity boo ya!! Our lesson went amazing with the friend, his name is Gyorgi or in englsih George, and we have a second lesson with him today! Pavel is preaching the gospel to all of his friends and wants us to meet two more of his friends! That is how the church grows right there! Nothing is better than friends inviting friends because there is instant support! We really had so many amazing lessons this past week with so many amazing people and the members here came and supported us and participated on the lessons... but I can't tell you all of the experiences that would take way too long!
So.. just a little more information if you didn't know this past week was NEW YEARS in Cambodia! Happy New Years for CAMBODIA! We have two less actives that Elder Borodin, my new companion, and I found from Cambodia and they invited us to a New Years Party this past week. It was hilarious! (To be honest KJ I felt like I was in Japan because everyone looked Japanese and they were all Karyoke-ing it up!) They had some interesting food and weird singing and dancing haha but it was awesome and we were able to meet a lot of awesome people there!
Well, a lot has been happening! I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Hello Hello!
Well! I made it to Voronesh! It is a very beautiful city and much warmer than it was in Yaroslavl! The branch building here is huge! It is probably bigger than any of the branch buildings in america! (I'll send pictures of it someday) It is an old Theater! They have a basketball and volleyball court inside, which is definately a first on my mission! So, that mean that every morning we wake up a little bit earlier (at 600 instead of 630) to go play ball! It is awesome! There are a lot of branch members here and it has been the first time in a long time where the missionaries haven't had to carry the conversation in priesthood and sunday school.. I just had to listen! Wow! But... to be honest.. I do still miss Yaroslavl. I am excited to be here and have to change to see and preform miracles here in this amazing city which already has a great foundation, but there are a lot of miracles going on right now in Yaroslavl and there I thrust in my sickle with all my might and I am excited to see the rewards that we will see from it...
Speaking of which... I got a great call from the Forsyths and the Elders in Yaroslavl a few days ago! One of the guys that we were teaching, Sergei (the guy who died twice but was brought back to life) has decided to be baptized! He also wants to talk to his family about it and we will see if they will join him! He is going to be baptized on the 23 of April and Alex is going to be baptized too and Grace is going to be baptized too! So, that means that maybe we will have 4 or 5 baptisms in Yaroslavl on the 23rd! Wow! President already gave me permission to go back and see them so that is awesome! Yarsoslavl has seen one baptism in the past year... and now in one day they might have 5! What a miracle!
Here in Voronesh we have three good investigators. Losha, Paval, and Tooral. I don't know too much about them yet since I have only been here for a week, but two of them might be baptized soon. As I get to know them all I will keep you updated. I know that Tooral is from Turkey, Losha is a recent converts brother, and Paval is a computer program designer.
My first day here there was a huge picnic for all of the priesthood holders and all of our investigators came. It was pretty fun, we ate hotdogs and played volleyball (kinda), and we played a game called Mafia that russians love to play. (I'll teach you someday it is a fun game) When we were leaving one of our investigators got his car stuck in the mud so we all got out and had to push him out of the mud. Haha it was pretty fun! I will send you pictures of it someday lol :)
My companion is awesome! He is going to be going home in about 5 weeks, so I will be getting a new companion soon. But, we are going to rock this city while he is still here! Miracles happen as we excercise our faith and work with all our heart might mind and soul and that is what I am planning on doing! We are both experienced elders now and we have no excuse! Things are going to be awesome!
I hope that you are all doing awesome! Remember who you are! I love you all!
Elder Weihing
Well! I made it to Voronesh! It is a very beautiful city and much warmer than it was in Yaroslavl! The branch building here is huge! It is probably bigger than any of the branch buildings in america! (I'll send pictures of it someday) It is an old Theater! They have a basketball and volleyball court inside, which is definately a first on my mission! So, that mean that every morning we wake up a little bit earlier (at 600 instead of 630) to go play ball! It is awesome! There are a lot of branch members here and it has been the first time in a long time where the missionaries haven't had to carry the conversation in priesthood and sunday school.. I just had to listen! Wow! But... to be honest.. I do still miss Yaroslavl. I am excited to be here and have to change to see and preform miracles here in this amazing city which already has a great foundation, but there are a lot of miracles going on right now in Yaroslavl and there I thrust in my sickle with all my might and I am excited to see the rewards that we will see from it...
Speaking of which... I got a great call from the Forsyths and the Elders in Yaroslavl a few days ago! One of the guys that we were teaching, Sergei (the guy who died twice but was brought back to life) has decided to be baptized! He also wants to talk to his family about it and we will see if they will join him! He is going to be baptized on the 23 of April and Alex is going to be baptized too and Grace is going to be baptized too! So, that means that maybe we will have 4 or 5 baptisms in Yaroslavl on the 23rd! Wow! President already gave me permission to go back and see them so that is awesome! Yarsoslavl has seen one baptism in the past year... and now in one day they might have 5! What a miracle!
Here in Voronesh we have three good investigators. Losha, Paval, and Tooral. I don't know too much about them yet since I have only been here for a week, but two of them might be baptized soon. As I get to know them all I will keep you updated. I know that Tooral is from Turkey, Losha is a recent converts brother, and Paval is a computer program designer.
My first day here there was a huge picnic for all of the priesthood holders and all of our investigators came. It was pretty fun, we ate hotdogs and played volleyball (kinda), and we played a game called Mafia that russians love to play. (I'll teach you someday it is a fun game) When we were leaving one of our investigators got his car stuck in the mud so we all got out and had to push him out of the mud. Haha it was pretty fun! I will send you pictures of it someday lol :)
My companion is awesome! He is going to be going home in about 5 weeks, so I will be getting a new companion soon. But, we are going to rock this city while he is still here! Miracles happen as we excercise our faith and work with all our heart might mind and soul and that is what I am planning on doing! We are both experienced elders now and we have no excuse! Things are going to be awesome!
I hope that you are all doing awesome! Remember who you are! I love you all!
Elder Weihing
Monday, March 21, 2011
Everyone! I hope everything is going great back home! Everything is great here! We have been traveling a lot like always, we went to Moscow and Tver and then this week we are headed back to Moscow for Zone Conference. The weather is just wierd.. I don't know whether it is winter or spring, but I did hear birds chirping this morning so that is never a bad sign!
Now our investigators! We have a lot of really great investigators still! We have Alex, Slava, Sergei, Sasha, Aleksei, and Dennis. Alex is going through a really rough time right now... Satan really does not want him to get baptized! Unfortunately, he is not going to make it for baptism on the 26th like we planned with him. He has been having a lot of money problems and that has brought a lot of stress for him. It happens everytime! Right after making a decision to get baptized something huge happens and people either take a step back or work right on through the obstacle! I have seen it every single time on my mission when we have made it to the point of baptism with someone... it has done nothing but strengthen my testimony of Satan and his existence. He does everything he can to distract these people or make them forget what has happened! It really is amazing to me!
Slava is doing good. We talked to him about answers and what he is expecting to get. He said that he believes in the Bible and if he reads and compares the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Book of Mormon to the Bible and finds nothing against the Bible then that means that they are scripture and our church is true. Haha he is so funny! But anyways, he has read the Book of Mormon twice and has thirty sections left in the Doctrine and Covenants and everything is going great so far! I know that he will get baptized in the end!
Sasha left the Catholic Church. He has been talking to us a lot lately about temptation, but for some reason he would never tell us exactly the problems and temptations that he is facing. Well, this past week we found a lot more! We found out that after he recieved an answer that the Church is true he left the Catholic Church and then everything went downhill! He got sick, his girlfriend got sick, his grandma didn't understand why he had to get rebaptized in our church... it all was just really confusing for him! So now he sees how hard Satan is working on him and he doesn't know what to do! Well, we are just trying to support him right now and pray for him. He will make it through!
Aleksei and Dennis are friends. We usually teach them english, but last time they came to the lesson and said that they didn't want to do english all they wanted was to talk about spiritual things! Well... we definitely weren't going to say no to that one! It was a great lesson! We talked about the Book of Mormon and Prophets and Prayer and basically a little bit of everything because they have so many questions! At the end of the lesson Dennis prayed for the first time in his entire life! He was so scared because he thought that he had to memorize the prayer, but it ended up great and the spirit was so strong! These people are amazing and we are seeing little miracles everyday as we work hard and are obedient!
Well my mission is great! I am going to try and work harder than ever to be more obedient and a more effective missionary! I know that God will bless me and bless this work. Yaroslavl is almost shrinking because so many members are planning on moving away so I only pray that we can replace these people with strong active leaders who have been prepared for this Gospel! I love you all! I am grateful for your love and support and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Now our investigators! We have a lot of really great investigators still! We have Alex, Slava, Sergei, Sasha, Aleksei, and Dennis. Alex is going through a really rough time right now... Satan really does not want him to get baptized! Unfortunately, he is not going to make it for baptism on the 26th like we planned with him. He has been having a lot of money problems and that has brought a lot of stress for him. It happens everytime! Right after making a decision to get baptized something huge happens and people either take a step back or work right on through the obstacle! I have seen it every single time on my mission when we have made it to the point of baptism with someone... it has done nothing but strengthen my testimony of Satan and his existence. He does everything he can to distract these people or make them forget what has happened! It really is amazing to me!
Slava is doing good. We talked to him about answers and what he is expecting to get. He said that he believes in the Bible and if he reads and compares the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Book of Mormon to the Bible and finds nothing against the Bible then that means that they are scripture and our church is true. Haha he is so funny! But anyways, he has read the Book of Mormon twice and has thirty sections left in the Doctrine and Covenants and everything is going great so far! I know that he will get baptized in the end!
Sasha left the Catholic Church. He has been talking to us a lot lately about temptation, but for some reason he would never tell us exactly the problems and temptations that he is facing. Well, this past week we found a lot more! We found out that after he recieved an answer that the Church is true he left the Catholic Church and then everything went downhill! He got sick, his girlfriend got sick, his grandma didn't understand why he had to get rebaptized in our church... it all was just really confusing for him! So now he sees how hard Satan is working on him and he doesn't know what to do! Well, we are just trying to support him right now and pray for him. He will make it through!
Aleksei and Dennis are friends. We usually teach them english, but last time they came to the lesson and said that they didn't want to do english all they wanted was to talk about spiritual things! Well... we definitely weren't going to say no to that one! It was a great lesson! We talked about the Book of Mormon and Prophets and Prayer and basically a little bit of everything because they have so many questions! At the end of the lesson Dennis prayed for the first time in his entire life! He was so scared because he thought that he had to memorize the prayer, but it ended up great and the spirit was so strong! These people are amazing and we are seeing little miracles everyday as we work hard and are obedient!
Well my mission is great! I am going to try and work harder than ever to be more obedient and a more effective missionary! I know that God will bless me and bless this work. Yaroslavl is almost shrinking because so many members are planning on moving away so I only pray that we can replace these people with strong active leaders who have been prepared for this Gospel! I love you all! I am grateful for your love and support and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Monday, March 14, 2011
Hello From Yaro
Well I am sorry to say but yet again I do not have time to write! Haha we are leaving town again today to travel to Moscow and then to Tver to work with other Elders and I have to have a few baptismal interviews with their investigators there. So.. we have a lot to do today and no time to do it! P-Day is supposed to be a time when you kinda rest and all of that stuff... but there is always too many things to do and too many places to go to rest.. but hey did I come on a mission to have P-Day or to work???
My Birthday was awesome this past week! The Forsyths made me breakfast and gave me a few little presents. One of the Sisters here, Sister Naluvkina, has been going crazy with oragami for some reason and she has been trying to teach me so on my birthday I opened a present from her of about 100 little oragami horses that I helped her fold earlier this week. Haha people give strange presents sometimes but it was hilarious! They also got me a stuffed camel, his name is Marcel. They said that it is because I love Kazakhstan! I had a great time! Other than that we had a normal day like everyday on the mission :) we contacted and taught people. The night of my birthday we happened to have a branch activity and that was pretty fun. It was an activity to celebrate Womens Day! They have a huge holiday here in Russia on March 8th for women. No one works and you always have to give presents and congradulate every woman you see!! It was a great opportunity for contacting :) good approach! "Happy Holiday! I wish you joy, good furtune, and good health! Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?" Haha it was awesome!
This week we also went to a play! It was really cool! The theater that we went to is the first theater that was every built in Russia! The play was.. interesting! Haha to be honest it was really hard to understand because it was kinda like a futuristic play and everyone had either high alien voices or deep machine voices! But, it was still awesome! My first real play in Russia!
The work is going great, despite all of the traveling that we are doing, but I am kinda frustrated because our investigators are either not getting answers to their prayers or they are not understanding the answers that they are getting! We now have three investigators who are amazing and are sincerely searching for truth. We have Slava, Alex, and Sergei. They are reading the Book of Mormon and some of them even the Doctrine and Covenants. They are praying. But, they are not getting or understanding what they are getting! We traveled to Ribinsk, which is a city where Slava lives, and had a great discussion with him! At the end of the lesson we all got down on our knees and Slava prayed about the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. The spirit was strong! But, he said that he didn't feel anything! The prayer was so sincere and now I am just confused on how he didn't feel it?? These people are all great! Everyone of them has been a miracle for me! What do we have to do to help them take that last step and show a little faith!? Alex looked at me the other day after one of our lessons and said, "Elder Weihing, getting an answer to my prayer about the Book of Mormon is the breaking point." Such sincerity! I am just amazing at these people and how they want to find out what God wants them to do! They are searching his will!
On Saturday we went down as a District and with one other member of the church. We found a gazibo type thing and we got around in a circle and everyone of us said a prayer for the city. It was a kind of like a blessing on the city to rebuke Satan and ask for divine help. The prayers were amazing! The Spirit was so strong! We even recorded the prayers so that the branch would have them on record! I know that God heard our prayers as we asked him to bless our investigators, bless this city, strengthen this branch, and inspire the missionaries and disciples of Christ who are searching for His chosen sons and daughters. God heard us and now we just have to do our part and show the faith! This is Gods work and he will bless us as we work hard! The field is white and now we just have to harvest it! We are the hunters and we needs to take advantage of every opportunity to share this eternal message with our borthers and sisters seeking!
The Work is going on! The Church is true! My mission is amazing and getting better everyday! Miracles are on their way and maybe even already here! I love you all and am grateful for your love and prayers on my behalf! Thank you for everything and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Well I am sorry to say but yet again I do not have time to write! Haha we are leaving town again today to travel to Moscow and then to Tver to work with other Elders and I have to have a few baptismal interviews with their investigators there. So.. we have a lot to do today and no time to do it! P-Day is supposed to be a time when you kinda rest and all of that stuff... but there is always too many things to do and too many places to go to rest.. but hey did I come on a mission to have P-Day or to work???
My Birthday was awesome this past week! The Forsyths made me breakfast and gave me a few little presents. One of the Sisters here, Sister Naluvkina, has been going crazy with oragami for some reason and she has been trying to teach me so on my birthday I opened a present from her of about 100 little oragami horses that I helped her fold earlier this week. Haha people give strange presents sometimes but it was hilarious! They also got me a stuffed camel, his name is Marcel. They said that it is because I love Kazakhstan! I had a great time! Other than that we had a normal day like everyday on the mission :) we contacted and taught people. The night of my birthday we happened to have a branch activity and that was pretty fun. It was an activity to celebrate Womens Day! They have a huge holiday here in Russia on March 8th for women. No one works and you always have to give presents and congradulate every woman you see!! It was a great opportunity for contacting :) good approach! "Happy Holiday! I wish you joy, good furtune, and good health! Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?" Haha it was awesome!
This week we also went to a play! It was really cool! The theater that we went to is the first theater that was every built in Russia! The play was.. interesting! Haha to be honest it was really hard to understand because it was kinda like a futuristic play and everyone had either high alien voices or deep machine voices! But, it was still awesome! My first real play in Russia!
The work is going great, despite all of the traveling that we are doing, but I am kinda frustrated because our investigators are either not getting answers to their prayers or they are not understanding the answers that they are getting! We now have three investigators who are amazing and are sincerely searching for truth. We have Slava, Alex, and Sergei. They are reading the Book of Mormon and some of them even the Doctrine and Covenants. They are praying. But, they are not getting or understanding what they are getting! We traveled to Ribinsk, which is a city where Slava lives, and had a great discussion with him! At the end of the lesson we all got down on our knees and Slava prayed about the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. The spirit was strong! But, he said that he didn't feel anything! The prayer was so sincere and now I am just confused on how he didn't feel it?? These people are all great! Everyone of them has been a miracle for me! What do we have to do to help them take that last step and show a little faith!? Alex looked at me the other day after one of our lessons and said, "Elder Weihing, getting an answer to my prayer about the Book of Mormon is the breaking point." Such sincerity! I am just amazing at these people and how they want to find out what God wants them to do! They are searching his will!
On Saturday we went down as a District and with one other member of the church. We found a gazibo type thing and we got around in a circle and everyone of us said a prayer for the city. It was a kind of like a blessing on the city to rebuke Satan and ask for divine help. The prayers were amazing! The Spirit was so strong! We even recorded the prayers so that the branch would have them on record! I know that God heard our prayers as we asked him to bless our investigators, bless this city, strengthen this branch, and inspire the missionaries and disciples of Christ who are searching for His chosen sons and daughters. God heard us and now we just have to do our part and show the faith! This is Gods work and he will bless us as we work hard! The field is white and now we just have to harvest it! We are the hunters and we needs to take advantage of every opportunity to share this eternal message with our borthers and sisters seeking!
The Work is going on! The Church is true! My mission is amazing and getting better everyday! Miracles are on their way and maybe even already here! I love you all and am grateful for your love and prayers on my behalf! Thank you for everything and remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Hello everyone!
well I don't have a lot of time to write home this week because we have a lot of things going on right now! We are at the Forsyths right now and we have a less active member and an investigator over and we are getting together to make Plov! Plov is a dish with rice, onions, carrots, garlic, and meat! It is bomb! Maybe I will try and learn how to make it so that I can make it for you when I get home!
This week has been crazy! Last week after I got done writing home my companion started writing home and found out from his mom that the army called him and are calling him to go serve! In Russia and Ukraine they have to serve in the army and you get out of it by going to school. Well, my companion left school to come here and so they called him to the army! So now we are trying to figure out all of these problems so that we can keep him and not send him home! Pray for him and for the churchs lawyers! Well, then we went to Moscow, I went to Kiev with Elder Brown and Elder Waite, we were in Kiev for two hours and then we flew back, and then me and Elder Anisiforov headed out to Smolensk to work with them, and then we headed home and got home Thrusday! Crazy! A lot of traveling and no sleep! At first it was easy for me to sleep on trains, but for some reason it has gotten a lot harder which does not make sense to me!
We also deep cleaned the branch and our apartments to get ready for the blessing that we are going to be giving on the city this Saturday! It is giong to be awesome! I am so excited and know that missionary work is just going to explode after the blessing! This is such an amazing time to be here and be on a mission and be in this country and city! Things are not always easy and we get a lot of rejection, but :) you get used to the rejection and life and the work goes on!
Things are going great! The weather is getting better! the sun is coming out!
Welll, sorry but I have to run! I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
well I don't have a lot of time to write home this week because we have a lot of things going on right now! We are at the Forsyths right now and we have a less active member and an investigator over and we are getting together to make Plov! Plov is a dish with rice, onions, carrots, garlic, and meat! It is bomb! Maybe I will try and learn how to make it so that I can make it for you when I get home!
This week has been crazy! Last week after I got done writing home my companion started writing home and found out from his mom that the army called him and are calling him to go serve! In Russia and Ukraine they have to serve in the army and you get out of it by going to school. Well, my companion left school to come here and so they called him to the army! So now we are trying to figure out all of these problems so that we can keep him and not send him home! Pray for him and for the churchs lawyers! Well, then we went to Moscow, I went to Kiev with Elder Brown and Elder Waite, we were in Kiev for two hours and then we flew back, and then me and Elder Anisiforov headed out to Smolensk to work with them, and then we headed home and got home Thrusday! Crazy! A lot of traveling and no sleep! At first it was easy for me to sleep on trains, but for some reason it has gotten a lot harder which does not make sense to me!
We also deep cleaned the branch and our apartments to get ready for the blessing that we are going to be giving on the city this Saturday! It is giong to be awesome! I am so excited and know that missionary work is just going to explode after the blessing! This is such an amazing time to be here and be on a mission and be in this country and city! Things are not always easy and we get a lot of rejection, but :) you get used to the rejection and life and the work goes on!
Things are going great! The weather is getting better! the sun is coming out!
Welll, sorry but I have to run! I love you all! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
Monday, February 28, 2011
Hello Family and Friends!
This week has been great like always of course! The weather is picking up and I feel spring coming! This past week we saw two really amazing miracles!
The first one happened while I was in Moscow at a leadership training and my companion stayed behind to get some work done. My companion worked with with the Senior Couple Elder and Sister Forsyth. Well, a few weeks ago we found this guy named Sergei and we gave him a Book of Mormon and within a couple of weeks he read the whole thing. (This is the man who has died and been brought back to life two times) Well they were able to meet with him while I was gone. I guess the lesson just went amazing!! I guess Elder Forsyth told his conversion story and Elder Forsyth later explained to me that he could feel that Sergei was feeling the spirit very strong. Well two days ago we called him up to see how he was doing and he was so excited to hear from us! He could not thank us enough and just kept talking about how much he appreciated me and Elder Forsyth for opening up our souls to him and because of that he wants to open up his soul to us. He said that he could just feel how passionate we are about this work and this gospel and wants to know more about it! Anyways the guys is great! And better than that he has a few kids and a wife! So, we are really excited about him!
The second miracle of course happened again with Alex like always! He is amazing! This time we talked about the brother of Jared and getting answers to prayers. He has not yet received his answer about the Book of Mormon but continues to read and pray. Well we asked how he expects to get an answer. He said that he expects it through feelings and pure knowledge... he said that he expects something profound and unmistakable.We talked about the brother of Jared and how he had questions to the Lord as well but the Lord required a little bit more from him to get the answer, he wanted him to figure it out and then come to him with the solution. You could really see his body language change as he started to feel the spirit and connect with what we were talking about. So, we asked him if he would commit to being baptized on the 26th of March and go the Lord in prayer with a sincere heart willing to be baptized on that date and see what he says. Well, he agreed! So right now we have a baptism set for the 26th of March and we are pumped about it!!
This week is going to be another crazy week! I am going to Kiev tomorrow to renew my visa and then we will be in Smolensk on splits. We are working hard in our mission on a goal to baptize 31 by 31 and so it is crunch time in this last month! Aka I like to call this week MARCH MADNESS! This week is going to be "Crazy Hard Working Week" and we hare going to cut back all of our studies and eating time and even lessons to focus on finding new and chosen people out there! so it is going to be an awesome week full of miracles with contacting and tracting! Biggity biggity booyaa!!
Well the work is going great and we are reallly trying to flip this city which has seen only one baptism in the past year upside down!! I love you all and I am grateful for all that you do! Jesus loves you :) Remember who you are :) and the Church is true!
Elder Weihing
This week has been great like always of course! The weather is picking up and I feel spring coming! This past week we saw two really amazing miracles!
The first one happened while I was in Moscow at a leadership training and my companion stayed behind to get some work done. My companion worked with with the Senior Couple Elder and Sister Forsyth. Well, a few weeks ago we found this guy named Sergei and we gave him a Book of Mormon and within a couple of weeks he read the whole thing. (This is the man who has died and been brought back to life two times) Well they were able to meet with him while I was gone. I guess the lesson just went amazing!! I guess Elder Forsyth told his conversion story and Elder Forsyth later explained to me that he could feel that Sergei was feeling the spirit very strong. Well two days ago we called him up to see how he was doing and he was so excited to hear from us! He could not thank us enough and just kept talking about how much he appreciated me and Elder Forsyth for opening up our souls to him and because of that he wants to open up his soul to us. He said that he could just feel how passionate we are about this work and this gospel and wants to know more about it! Anyways the guys is great! And better than that he has a few kids and a wife! So, we are really excited about him!
The second miracle of course happened again with Alex like always! He is amazing! This time we talked about the brother of Jared and getting answers to prayers. He has not yet received his answer about the Book of Mormon but continues to read and pray. Well we asked how he expects to get an answer. He said that he expects it through feelings and pure knowledge... he said that he expects something profound and unmistakable.We talked about the brother of Jared and how he had questions to the Lord as well but the Lord required a little bit more from him to get the answer, he wanted him to figure it out and then come to him with the solution. You could really see his body language change as he started to feel the spirit and connect with what we were talking about. So, we asked him if he would commit to being baptized on the 26th of March and go the Lord in prayer with a sincere heart willing to be baptized on that date and see what he says. Well, he agreed! So right now we have a baptism set for the 26th of March and we are pumped about it!!
This week is going to be another crazy week! I am going to Kiev tomorrow to renew my visa and then we will be in Smolensk on splits. We are working hard in our mission on a goal to baptize 31 by 31 and so it is crunch time in this last month! Aka I like to call this week MARCH MADNESS! This week is going to be "Crazy Hard Working Week" and we hare going to cut back all of our studies and eating time and even lessons to focus on finding new and chosen people out there! so it is going to be an awesome week full of miracles with contacting and tracting! Biggity biggity booyaa!!
Well the work is going great and we are reallly trying to flip this city which has seen only one baptism in the past year upside down!! I love you all and I am grateful for all that you do! Jesus loves you :) Remember who you are :) and the Church is true!
Elder Weihing
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