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 :)
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