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 :)