Monday, December 6, 2010

Hello from Yaroslavl!

A crazy week like always! This week President came down to visit us. It was good to be able to chat with him and to get new suggestions from him. A day after that I left to go to Moscow because I had a Visa Trip this last weekend. It was my actual first real Visa Trip and it was insanely busy! We went to Kiev! Our plane was supposed to leave at about 8 in the morning but we ended up getting a three hour delay because there was big snowstorm outside. We planned to go to the temple in Kiev but were worried because the flight being delayed probably wouldn't allow us to do that. Fortunately, one of the missionaries who I went with used to live in Kiev and new his way around really well. So, we made it to the temple in time to do some Initiatories and had time to sit in the Celestial Room for awhile. It was the first time I have been in the temple in the field and it was amazing!!! The feeling that you get in the temple doesn't compare to anything else anywhere in the world! It is so calm and peaceful and warm. It was even cooler because I was there with a bunch of people that I came to Russia with from the MTC. It was the first time that I had seen them since we came so it was really cool to actually be able to communicate with each other in the language! Haha I was there with Elder Brown, Elder Waite, Elder White, Elder Breedlove, and with a Russian sister who was in the MTC. Also a cool thing, I was there with another kid, his name is Elder White, who I went to high school with! Small World!
Anyways, after the temple it was crazy! We were able to take a few quick photos and then one missionary with us wanted to stop by somewhere on our way to the Airport so we were in a hurry. This missionary was the one who used to live in Kiev and his name is Elder Hoffman. Great guy! Anyways, so he lived in Kiev teaching English, but while he was here he stayed with a family. The family lives close to the Airport and last time he was here he stopped by and gave them a Book of Mormon. We went back this time and they fed us and we sat and talked around for a little bit. They didn't read the Book of Mormon, but they are still an awesome family! So, that was pretty cool, but we almost missed our flight because we were over there for so long which would have been horrible! Everything worked our great though! I went back to Moscow and then headed back to Yaroslavl. I don't think I mentioned this, but this whole time traveling I was alone. Haha President Wooley trusts us a lot in this mission. I was able to leave my companion with the Senior Couple in Yaroslavl and travel to Moscow and to the office and then home again all alone. Haha I have never heard of that with any other missions in the world.
So this week is going to be a very crazy week as well! The APs are coming to work with us and then on Saturday we have a training for the Branch Presidency in Moscow. A lot of traveling!
Unfortunately, our investigators our still stuck in the same place. They are ready to be baptized, but have still not made the decision. I put their names in the temple and are hoping that that will help them get their answers!
But, we did have progress with one less active member this week. This less active member came to church for the first time while I have been here one week ago and when he came we invited him over for dinner. He came to dinner and we found out that he is very shy, humble, and quite. We had a great dinner and watched a short film about the birth of Jesus and talked about him. It was a very powerful lesson and you could tell that he was impacted by our message. We gave him a blessing and he started crying during the lesson. He told us a story about how he was living with a woman who hates the church. She made him choose between the church and her and he chose the church. He is a very humble guy! He came back to church yesterday for the second time and he gave me a pair of hand knitted shoes that he made for him. Haha it was really cool because when I paid him for the shoes he took the money and instantly paid it to fast offerings! We are going to continue to work with him. His name is Paval.
Well it is warming up a little bit here thank goodness! Today is only -10 so everything is going to be fine! Haha I was a little worries for awhile because it was really cold last week!
I hope everything is going great at home! I love you and miss you! Remember who you are!

Elder Weihing :)