Well my first real transfer on my mission is finally coming up! I know that I am not going to be leaving and thank goodness because I love it here! Today the President is flying down to Kazakhstan to have a Zone Conference with us and then he is staying to see the baptisms on Saturday! It is going to be great!
So I guess a lot of people still don't understand the me being in Kazakhstan thing so let me explain... My Mission is the Moscow West Mission. It includes cities which surround Moscow, also Belarus, and also Kazakhstan. But, in Kazakhstan and Belarus we only can be in one city. So, that is why I am in Kazakhstan and not Russia.
Well the sad news of the week... Our investigators are not prepared for baptism this Saturday :( so that sucks really bad... Katya (our Golden Investigator) could not ever meet within the past two weeks so we couldn't help here progress and now she is doubting the thought of baptism because she was already baptized when she was a baby in the Russian Orthodox Church... so we really need to meet with her again as soon as we can to clear her doubts up! Luckily she already has that foundation and testimony of the Book Of Mormon so I know that it will work out in the end..
Rooslan, our other should be baptism, has stopped coming to church and never has time to meet with us either. He used to come every Sunday and then we would just pull him aside and teach him as much as we can. He is the one who usually comes to church all the time but is not a member. So we need to work really hard to get him baptized.
Nona, the grandma we teach, is doing really good! She is not ready for baptism yet but we are doing great progress with her! I feel really good about how much we are progressing with here because Elder Nutt said that before I came she had not progressed for almost seven months! She would not even look at the Book of Mormon. Now she is almost to Alma and is doing amazing! This last week we watched the movie called Journey of Faith with her.. It was amazing! The movie just goes through where Nephi and Lehi possibly could have traveled and just explain their story in really deep detail.. it is a great movie and I definitely recommend it!!
I have like ten piano students and we also have 5 english students... so it has been crazy! Our days are packed and busy! Sometimes I really get down because I was called here to preach the gospel and not teach piano and such things.. with our english students we can lead into the Gospel really easily and that is actually where a lot of gospel investigators come from. But, most of my Piano students are investigators of another companionship, already members of the ward, or just not at all interested... So I am trying to figure out how I can lessen those lessons..
There was an older couple who were here but they left last week. Their name is Shaw. Last night we got a new old couple and their name is Moore. I have not had much time to talk with them but I am hoping that maybe one of them knows how to play piano so maybe they can help me out with those lessons.. haha it was kind of funny though because Elder Nutt and I had so many lessons the past week that we accidently almost broke the Mission record! But, then we realized it was because of all of the piano lessons lol..
This week I have progressed so much in the language! I finally had an experience where I stopped someone on the street and understood everything that they said! I am learning so much every single day! Obviously somedays are better than others and I have my up days and down days but eh I am having a good time and loving every good and even bad day!
I have felt the Spirit very strongly this past week.. it is really interesting how the Spirit works. I have felt it in such a different way here than I ever have on my mission... it comes to me more as a feeling of peace and knowing that everything will be ok as long as I do all that I can... I working really hard at trying to recognize and work with the Spirit, it can be really hard to recognize sometimes tho! :) but I guess that is an eternal process!
Well I hope that life is going great back home! It is great to hear from you! I feel the effects of your prayers and thoughts everyday! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Weihing
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20,2010
Hello everyone! Everything at home sounds like it is going great! :)
Well this week was yet another great week in the service of the Lord! The first thing that happened this past week was going to the Muslim Mosque! It was so pretty and cool! I will try to send pictures if I can find them.... But just to explain a little about the Muslim beliefs, they believe in Allah, aka God, and they believe that Mohammad was his last prophet on the Earth. Mohammad claimed to have been given Holy messages from the angel Gabriel and Mohammad memorized and taught these messages to the people. They believe in a book called to Koran and they only read it in Arabic. They believe that you pray at certain times of the day and that you can only pray in the Mosque.... This was such a cool experience to be able to go here! Before we went inside the Mosque we went into this separate building where we took off our shoes and then bent down and washed our feet and washed our hands and face. You don't have to do this but hey I wanted to cultural experience! After washing off we went into the Mosque, before entering you have to take off your shoes. I think that the entire building is marble or something like that. But, inside was gorgeous! Right when you walk in is a huge empty hall where they pray. Muslims always pray facing Mecca. But, on the ground were little separate rugs where people can come and do their own prayers. When Muslims pray they go through certain kneeling motions and certain chanting motions. In the middle of the Room was a HUGE and very beautiful chandelier. It was very beautiful. There was also a ton of Arabic writing on walls and Mohammad and Allah's name written in Arabic were there too.
The most interesting part was what the Muslims call prayer I guess. When it is that certain time of the day to pray the leader of the Mosque gets on the intercom and starts chanting. You can hear it not only inside the Mosque but also outside all around the area. So he calls for everyone to come and then they all come in, line up, and he leads them in prayer. It was really interesting because I actually felt the Spirit. I was a little confused and so I asked my companion about it later. He told me the same thing happened to him the first time he went to the Mosque so he gave me an article about the Church's viewpoint on Mohammad. The article said that our Church believes that Mohammad was an inspired man of God who helped lead people of that time away from a life of worshipping idols. But, he was not a prophet! Interestingly enough it also said that if there is any link between the Muslim society and the Christian World it is through the LDS Church because our beliefs are so similar. So that answered my question. The Mosque was an amazing place and very beautiful! I took pictures and will see if I have time to send some but probably not till next week.
Anyways other than that my week has been about the same. The zone here in Kazakhstan is really working hard at trying to meet our goals of baptisms and investigators. I feel very blessed to be apart of the work here. I am finally getting organized and used to how things are run here in the field, it is much different than in the MTC!!
Well I don't have much to say except for the weird food I have eaten.... this week I finally ate horse! It is delish.. the dish it comes in translates to five finger dish or something like that. It has noodles, horse, onions, and a bunch of weird different meat. I think mine had lamb and some arteries from some animal.. haha it was pretty good. So the homemade juice here look crazy! They bring out this picture of juice but whole fruits are still inside it.. it looks nasty but tastes quite delish. I think my next goal is to eat tongue.. or maybe try the jello that they make from fat and meat. They love fat here and prize it above all.
Our investigators are still the same as before and have not changed at all because they have not been able to meet with us which sucks. But we are going to work hard on finding new investigators this week. We still have the same baptismal dates with two investigators. I am still doing a lot of piano lessons and it is helping me learn but some of my students are better than me!!
I love it here! I love the work that I am apart of and the opportunity I have to bring souls back to our father in heaven in these the last days. I am so grateful for all of the love and support! Thank you!
Well thank you all for the love and support and I hope that you are doing great and having fun!! Remember who you are!!
ELDER WEIHING
Well this week was yet another great week in the service of the Lord! The first thing that happened this past week was going to the Muslim Mosque! It was so pretty and cool! I will try to send pictures if I can find them.... But just to explain a little about the Muslim beliefs, they believe in Allah, aka God, and they believe that Mohammad was his last prophet on the Earth. Mohammad claimed to have been given Holy messages from the angel Gabriel and Mohammad memorized and taught these messages to the people. They believe in a book called to Koran and they only read it in Arabic. They believe that you pray at certain times of the day and that you can only pray in the Mosque.... This was such a cool experience to be able to go here! Before we went inside the Mosque we went into this separate building where we took off our shoes and then bent down and washed our feet and washed our hands and face. You don't have to do this but hey I wanted to cultural experience! After washing off we went into the Mosque, before entering you have to take off your shoes. I think that the entire building is marble or something like that. But, inside was gorgeous! Right when you walk in is a huge empty hall where they pray. Muslims always pray facing Mecca. But, on the ground were little separate rugs where people can come and do their own prayers. When Muslims pray they go through certain kneeling motions and certain chanting motions. In the middle of the Room was a HUGE and very beautiful chandelier. It was very beautiful. There was also a ton of Arabic writing on walls and Mohammad and Allah's name written in Arabic were there too.
The most interesting part was what the Muslims call prayer I guess. When it is that certain time of the day to pray the leader of the Mosque gets on the intercom and starts chanting. You can hear it not only inside the Mosque but also outside all around the area. So he calls for everyone to come and then they all come in, line up, and he leads them in prayer. It was really interesting because I actually felt the Spirit. I was a little confused and so I asked my companion about it later. He told me the same thing happened to him the first time he went to the Mosque so he gave me an article about the Church's viewpoint on Mohammad. The article said that our Church believes that Mohammad was an inspired man of God who helped lead people of that time away from a life of worshipping idols. But, he was not a prophet! Interestingly enough it also said that if there is any link between the Muslim society and the Christian World it is through the LDS Church because our beliefs are so similar. So that answered my question. The Mosque was an amazing place and very beautiful! I took pictures and will see if I have time to send some but probably not till next week.
Anyways other than that my week has been about the same. The zone here in Kazakhstan is really working hard at trying to meet our goals of baptisms and investigators. I feel very blessed to be apart of the work here. I am finally getting organized and used to how things are run here in the field, it is much different than in the MTC!!
Well I don't have much to say except for the weird food I have eaten.... this week I finally ate horse! It is delish.. the dish it comes in translates to five finger dish or something like that. It has noodles, horse, onions, and a bunch of weird different meat. I think mine had lamb and some arteries from some animal.. haha it was pretty good. So the homemade juice here look crazy! They bring out this picture of juice but whole fruits are still inside it.. it looks nasty but tastes quite delish. I think my next goal is to eat tongue.. or maybe try the jello that they make from fat and meat. They love fat here and prize it above all.
Our investigators are still the same as before and have not changed at all because they have not been able to meet with us which sucks. But we are going to work hard on finding new investigators this week. We still have the same baptismal dates with two investigators. I am still doing a lot of piano lessons and it is helping me learn but some of my students are better than me!!
I love it here! I love the work that I am apart of and the opportunity I have to bring souls back to our father in heaven in these the last days. I am so grateful for all of the love and support! Thank you!
Well thank you all for the love and support and I hope that you are doing great and having fun!! Remember who you are!!
ELDER WEIHING
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Subject: Kazakhstan week-
Well thank you all again for your e mails and love and support! I would be lying if I said that it didn't make me miss home a little bit.. but hey that is a good thing because the cure for homesickness is getting out there and working your butt off :) so that is what I always do!
This week.. well not too much happened this week that I can really remember. I am still just getting used to the schedule of being in the field and stuff like that. I think I have got a hold of things pretty good now though. This is our schedule every morning, we wake up at 6:30, work out till 7, eat at 7, get ready at 7 30, Personal Study at 8, Comp study at 9, Language study at 10, and then depending on our schedule for the day we either have lessons or lunch or tract or contact all the rest of the day until about 9 and then we come home, review the day, plan tomorrow, and then go to bed. :) It's great!
Hmm.. food.. ya it is still pretty nasty. But I am getting more and more used to it because that is all that we have to eat so I have to deal with it! My comp and I made borsch this week.. eeehhhh it's ok lol pretty much what it is is a ton of shredded beats, carrots, and cabbage in water... lol and then you add any spices you can find and add sour cream. Lol it is good but not amazing! Today we are going to the Muslim Mosque and eating at a muslim restaraunt so I know I will eat something crazy like horse or this jello that they make that is made of fat and meat.. haha it's going to be intense! I didn't really eat anything too strange yet this week because we didn't eat at anyones house.
Our main investigators right now are Nona, Rooslan, and Katya. Katya is our golden investigator and we are going to be teaching her the Word of Wisdom pretty soon.. The word of wisdom is difficult for people here because everyone drinks coffee and tea! But, she will work through it because she has already gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and her prayers are always answered, she always feels the Spirit so strong. So, she will work through it I know that for sure. Nona is a grandma who is very difficult. But We are working very hard on her and pushing her toward baptism. She will not pray about anything especially the Book of Mormon until she has read a lot of it. We made a deal with her and she agreed to it that she will pray as soon as she reaches Alma, and she is already through First Nephi. She has been an eternal investigator for about a year but I am gonna work my butt off to get her baptized! Rooslan is basically a member of the church. He comes almost everyweek but he works so much that we have not been able to have time to teach him the lessons yet. He wants to be baptized but has to wait til he has learned all of the lessons. But we are going to get him baptized very soon too. We also found a new investigator this week his name is oscar and he wants to meet with us everyday to read the book of mormon! so now if he will just show up everyday than that shouldn't be too hard lol but we will see...
I am having a lot of fun teaching piano. Haha I can barely play and read notes but to everyone here I am amazing! It is funny, we have a lot of fun and I get a lot of lessons out of my piano students so that is cool too.
The language. That is about as far as I can go with that! I am getting a little bit more everyday I think! I still can't speak very well but I am finally getting used to the accent a lot more and starting to understand a lot more. Russian is a beast! But, I have been working with the advice KJ gave me to just rely on the Lord and just talk to people even though number one I can understand to barely speak to them and number two I can't talk about that gospel. But, whenever I have done that it has almost always ended well with us giving them a Book of Mormon and getting their phone number or something like that. ( I can't talk about the gospel yet but my companion can so that makes it not too bad or difficult I guess)
Well I am having a great time! I will have some cool stories next week about the Muslim Mosque! I am probably gonna buy some cool things there! :) I love you all and thank you for the support!!
Love,
Elder Weihing
Well thank you all again for your e mails and love and support! I would be lying if I said that it didn't make me miss home a little bit.. but hey that is a good thing because the cure for homesickness is getting out there and working your butt off :) so that is what I always do!
This week.. well not too much happened this week that I can really remember. I am still just getting used to the schedule of being in the field and stuff like that. I think I have got a hold of things pretty good now though. This is our schedule every morning, we wake up at 6:30, work out till 7, eat at 7, get ready at 7 30, Personal Study at 8, Comp study at 9, Language study at 10, and then depending on our schedule for the day we either have lessons or lunch or tract or contact all the rest of the day until about 9 and then we come home, review the day, plan tomorrow, and then go to bed. :) It's great!
Hmm.. food.. ya it is still pretty nasty. But I am getting more and more used to it because that is all that we have to eat so I have to deal with it! My comp and I made borsch this week.. eeehhhh it's ok lol pretty much what it is is a ton of shredded beats, carrots, and cabbage in water... lol and then you add any spices you can find and add sour cream. Lol it is good but not amazing! Today we are going to the Muslim Mosque and eating at a muslim restaraunt so I know I will eat something crazy like horse or this jello that they make that is made of fat and meat.. haha it's going to be intense! I didn't really eat anything too strange yet this week because we didn't eat at anyones house.
Our main investigators right now are Nona, Rooslan, and Katya. Katya is our golden investigator and we are going to be teaching her the Word of Wisdom pretty soon.. The word of wisdom is difficult for people here because everyone drinks coffee and tea! But, she will work through it because she has already gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and her prayers are always answered, she always feels the Spirit so strong. So, she will work through it I know that for sure. Nona is a grandma who is very difficult. But We are working very hard on her and pushing her toward baptism. She will not pray about anything especially the Book of Mormon until she has read a lot of it. We made a deal with her and she agreed to it that she will pray as soon as she reaches Alma, and she is already through First Nephi. She has been an eternal investigator for about a year but I am gonna work my butt off to get her baptized! Rooslan is basically a member of the church. He comes almost everyweek but he works so much that we have not been able to have time to teach him the lessons yet. He wants to be baptized but has to wait til he has learned all of the lessons. But we are going to get him baptized very soon too. We also found a new investigator this week his name is oscar and he wants to meet with us everyday to read the book of mormon! so now if he will just show up everyday than that shouldn't be too hard lol but we will see...
I am having a lot of fun teaching piano. Haha I can barely play and read notes but to everyone here I am amazing! It is funny, we have a lot of fun and I get a lot of lessons out of my piano students so that is cool too.
The language. That is about as far as I can go with that! I am getting a little bit more everyday I think! I still can't speak very well but I am finally getting used to the accent a lot more and starting to understand a lot more. Russian is a beast! But, I have been working with the advice KJ gave me to just rely on the Lord and just talk to people even though number one I can understand to barely speak to them and number two I can't talk about that gospel. But, whenever I have done that it has almost always ended well with us giving them a Book of Mormon and getting their phone number or something like that. ( I can't talk about the gospel yet but my companion can so that makes it not too bad or difficult I guess)
Well I am having a great time! I will have some cool stories next week about the Muslim Mosque! I am probably gonna buy some cool things there! :) I love you all and thank you for the support!!
Love,
Elder Weihing
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Subject: First Real Week In Kazakhstan!
Well I have to start out by saying thank you all so much for the letters! They honestly help me so much and make me want to get out there and work that much harder! They make me miss home, but they give me more inspiration as well! so thank you so much!!
I have a lot to talk about but I will start out by just telling you about how things go here in Kazakhstan..
Kazak people look chinese, Ancestors are from Turkey, and speak both Kazak and Russian. They are much more receptive than Russian people, but their culture is crazy. In Kazakhstan the weather is about like Utah, I love it compared to Russia and feel blessed to be serving here during the winter!! Whenever we go in anyones home, including our own, we always take off our shoes. Places is Kazakhstan and Russia are all apartments, there are millions and are stacked very high! Lol yes mom there are sidewalks.. most places at least. The only american restaurant that I have found here is a Pizza Hut and it is actually pretty good. I have not seen many local restaurant place but we did eat at one last night that we found. But, at the restaurant we were pumped because it said they had milkshakes so we ordered one.. milkshakes are literally just that.. milk with whip cream lol. Disappointing. The apartments are a lot like in Russia, they were built in the WW2 era and look like they are about to fall over! But inside the house is quite nice, Elder Nutt and I have the nicest shower and we usually always have warm water.
Here is a little background church wise of where I am at. The church has been present here for about ten years but the missionaries have only been aloud in for about eight years. A family named the Pipers pretty much started the Church growth here, they moved here and people could just tell that they were different and wanted to know why.. so now we have a large Branch here! I think there are about 140 members but active members we have 50. INTERESTING FACT: I just found this out but Kazakhstan and the area where I am at right now is the single area in which the Church and missionaries are present where the prominent religion in Muslim!! Where I am at right now is the bridge leading into Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and countries like that! I feel so blessed to be apart of that! I am one of 50 missionaries in the world who have gotten this special experience!! Talk about pressure eh... Muslims are hard to teach because Muslim is a culture not a religion, most don't even really know what they believe.. they just know that they are Kazak so they are Muslim. NOT COOL!
Now I have to talk about the crazy food here! The national dish is Horse Meat and the national drink is Horse Milk. I have not eaten horse meat but I hear it is good, but horse milk is like sour milk! NASTY! Kazaks descend from Nomads so they treasure the fat of the meat.. it is customary to give they head of the celebration whenever you are eating all the meat with the most fat.. nasty again. Elder Nutt and I ate at our Landladies house the other night and I couldn't handle it.. They love to drink this drink we call gas water which is strait carbonation, but you cannot refuse food when it is put in front of you so you have to eat it. When we ate there they would not stop feeding us!! We ate pelini which is noodles stuffed with meat, which is good, these tortilla things which they say they eat to praise allah, bread, weird soup, apples, kiwis, pickled peppers or something like that, and then this casserole salad thing which was so nasty that I almost threw up all over my plate.. it have some purple bluish stuff on top with raw fish and eggs and weird potato things and a ton of mayonnaise.. it was just weird and nasty! Then you had to wash it down with the nasty gas water! Kazaks and Russians love mayonnaise and sour cream!! THEY EAT IT ON EVERYTHING! It is also customary whenever you go to someones house they have to feed you.. aka I would like to avoid going to homes for anything at all!! Mostly we just teach investigators at the branch building.
Tracting in Kazakhstan and Russia is funny I think. You picture tracting and walking to homes and knocking on doors.. well there are no homes only apartments.. I have only gone tracting once but this is how is goes. To get into apartments you have to have a key to the entrance, a code, or you can call an apartment on the little keypad. So how we tract is we just go up to the keypad and type in an apartment number and just call and talk to as many people as we can to see if they want to hear our message lol it is easy! But it is rarely effective here... everyone once an awhile it works though. So that is tracting in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Alright now I will just talk about things that we did this past week. To start out the week one of the elder's investigators was murdered.. he was beaten and stabbed 10 times.. so the police came looking for us to question us because they found our number in his cell phone. That was kind of crazy but everything is fine no worries :) I am safe! They just had to go to court and answer questions and everything was worked out just fine. We taught a lot of lessons this week and I will talk about our investigators later. That is our goal as a mission is to just schedule lesson after lesson and just keep teaching. Church was great! Kazakhstan is much larger than Kalooga is! It is still small compared to Utah obviously, but being here has just made me realize how much I took for granted back home. I don't think any of us really realize how blessed we are to live in the country we do and to be apart of such an amazing church! This has been the biggest eye opener for me out in the field.. we are spoiled and people dream and pray every night just to have a chance to visit where we live!! Last night was a very interesting and cool experience! today is the Russian Orthodox Christmas.. so we got permission from the President to go to Midnight Mass and the Orthodox Temple last night! It was crazy! The building is beautiful! The service was insane... there are no seats, you stand and just watch as priests and crazy people just walk around up front and chant and swing their incense around. It is weird because the language that they speak in the chants and the words all over the walls in the temples almost no one understands anymore.. it is really really ancient Russian. People repeat phrases and prayers and chants when they don't even know what they are saying!! It was just a crazy and interesting experience! Everyone was chanting and bowing their heads and doing the little cross thing on their chests.. lol it was so packed and just funny. They also pass around a little things where people can pay money and then the money goes to the leader of that temple or church or whatever. These experiences just strengthen my testimony even more! Our Church truly is the one true church on the face of the Earth and at it's head stands Jesus Christ leading us and directing us. We know the truth, that is such a significant statement that I don't think I will ever look at the same again. This is the true Church.
Well Christmas here lasts a month I swear! First e celebrate American Christmas, then New Years, then Russian Christmas on the 7th, and next come Kazak Christmas on like the 14th I think. Maybe we will get to go to the mosque on that one! :) that would be awesome!
Now the language.. ya it is not easy! I can understand missionaries but can only pick out word and phrases of native speakers. It is tough! And now I am trying to learn some Kazak as well as russian because Kazak people really open up to you and love you when you are trying to learn their language1 so, I am trying and working hard but I need your prayers and any ideas on the best way to study the language! My new Comp is great! He is amazing with the language! So I am just trying to get tips from him.. I still can't talk about the gospel yet so that is limiting me to talk to people too because that is what I know in this language!!
Now our investigators.. Katrena is our golden investigator and we are planning on baptizing her and the end of this month when President comes to visit. Nona is an old grandma who grew up in Soviet times and was forced her whole like to be atheist, so this gospel is really difficult for her to accept. Can you imagine growing up your whole life being forced to be one way and now all of the sudden in your old age having the freedom to find out for yourself.. So now she is just confused and doesn't know what to do because she wants concrete proof that this is the truth. She is tough! Those are our main investigators that I want to talk about, we have many others who we are teaching english, the piano, and which are members but need help with some problems. So we are always teaching! and with our piano and english investigators we are trying to lead them into the gospel slowly!!
Well that was my week and is my life now! Thank you all for your support! I love you and miss you so much! Remember who you are and remember how lucky you are! :)
Well I have to start out by saying thank you all so much for the letters! They honestly help me so much and make me want to get out there and work that much harder! They make me miss home, but they give me more inspiration as well! so thank you so much!!
I have a lot to talk about but I will start out by just telling you about how things go here in Kazakhstan..
Kazak people look chinese, Ancestors are from Turkey, and speak both Kazak and Russian. They are much more receptive than Russian people, but their culture is crazy. In Kazakhstan the weather is about like Utah, I love it compared to Russia and feel blessed to be serving here during the winter!! Whenever we go in anyones home, including our own, we always take off our shoes. Places is Kazakhstan and Russia are all apartments, there are millions and are stacked very high! Lol yes mom there are sidewalks.. most places at least. The only american restaurant that I have found here is a Pizza Hut and it is actually pretty good. I have not seen many local restaurant place but we did eat at one last night that we found. But, at the restaurant we were pumped because it said they had milkshakes so we ordered one.. milkshakes are literally just that.. milk with whip cream lol. Disappointing. The apartments are a lot like in Russia, they were built in the WW2 era and look like they are about to fall over! But inside the house is quite nice, Elder Nutt and I have the nicest shower and we usually always have warm water.
Here is a little background church wise of where I am at. The church has been present here for about ten years but the missionaries have only been aloud in for about eight years. A family named the Pipers pretty much started the Church growth here, they moved here and people could just tell that they were different and wanted to know why.. so now we have a large Branch here! I think there are about 140 members but active members we have 50. INTERESTING FACT: I just found this out but Kazakhstan and the area where I am at right now is the single area in which the Church and missionaries are present where the prominent religion in Muslim!! Where I am at right now is the bridge leading into Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and countries like that! I feel so blessed to be apart of that! I am one of 50 missionaries in the world who have gotten this special experience!! Talk about pressure eh... Muslims are hard to teach because Muslim is a culture not a religion, most don't even really know what they believe.. they just know that they are Kazak so they are Muslim. NOT COOL!
Now I have to talk about the crazy food here! The national dish is Horse Meat and the national drink is Horse Milk. I have not eaten horse meat but I hear it is good, but horse milk is like sour milk! NASTY! Kazaks descend from Nomads so they treasure the fat of the meat.. it is customary to give they head of the celebration whenever you are eating all the meat with the most fat.. nasty again. Elder Nutt and I ate at our Landladies house the other night and I couldn't handle it.. They love to drink this drink we call gas water which is strait carbonation, but you cannot refuse food when it is put in front of you so you have to eat it. When we ate there they would not stop feeding us!! We ate pelini which is noodles stuffed with meat, which is good, these tortilla things which they say they eat to praise allah, bread, weird soup, apples, kiwis, pickled peppers or something like that, and then this casserole salad thing which was so nasty that I almost threw up all over my plate.. it have some purple bluish stuff on top with raw fish and eggs and weird potato things and a ton of mayonnaise.. it was just weird and nasty! Then you had to wash it down with the nasty gas water! Kazaks and Russians love mayonnaise and sour cream!! THEY EAT IT ON EVERYTHING! It is also customary whenever you go to someones house they have to feed you.. aka I would like to avoid going to homes for anything at all!! Mostly we just teach investigators at the branch building.
Tracting in Kazakhstan and Russia is funny I think. You picture tracting and walking to homes and knocking on doors.. well there are no homes only apartments.. I have only gone tracting once but this is how is goes. To get into apartments you have to have a key to the entrance, a code, or you can call an apartment on the little keypad. So how we tract is we just go up to the keypad and type in an apartment number and just call and talk to as many people as we can to see if they want to hear our message lol it is easy! But it is rarely effective here... everyone once an awhile it works though. So that is tracting in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Alright now I will just talk about things that we did this past week. To start out the week one of the elder's investigators was murdered.. he was beaten and stabbed 10 times.. so the police came looking for us to question us because they found our number in his cell phone. That was kind of crazy but everything is fine no worries :) I am safe! They just had to go to court and answer questions and everything was worked out just fine. We taught a lot of lessons this week and I will talk about our investigators later. That is our goal as a mission is to just schedule lesson after lesson and just keep teaching. Church was great! Kazakhstan is much larger than Kalooga is! It is still small compared to Utah obviously, but being here has just made me realize how much I took for granted back home. I don't think any of us really realize how blessed we are to live in the country we do and to be apart of such an amazing church! This has been the biggest eye opener for me out in the field.. we are spoiled and people dream and pray every night just to have a chance to visit where we live!! Last night was a very interesting and cool experience! today is the Russian Orthodox Christmas.. so we got permission from the President to go to Midnight Mass and the Orthodox Temple last night! It was crazy! The building is beautiful! The service was insane... there are no seats, you stand and just watch as priests and crazy people just walk around up front and chant and swing their incense around. It is weird because the language that they speak in the chants and the words all over the walls in the temples almost no one understands anymore.. it is really really ancient Russian. People repeat phrases and prayers and chants when they don't even know what they are saying!! It was just a crazy and interesting experience! Everyone was chanting and bowing their heads and doing the little cross thing on their chests.. lol it was so packed and just funny. They also pass around a little things where people can pay money and then the money goes to the leader of that temple or church or whatever. These experiences just strengthen my testimony even more! Our Church truly is the one true church on the face of the Earth and at it's head stands Jesus Christ leading us and directing us. We know the truth, that is such a significant statement that I don't think I will ever look at the same again. This is the true Church.
Well Christmas here lasts a month I swear! First e celebrate American Christmas, then New Years, then Russian Christmas on the 7th, and next come Kazak Christmas on like the 14th I think. Maybe we will get to go to the mosque on that one! :) that would be awesome!
Now the language.. ya it is not easy! I can understand missionaries but can only pick out word and phrases of native speakers. It is tough! And now I am trying to learn some Kazak as well as russian because Kazak people really open up to you and love you when you are trying to learn their language1 so, I am trying and working hard but I need your prayers and any ideas on the best way to study the language! My new Comp is great! He is amazing with the language! So I am just trying to get tips from him.. I still can't talk about the gospel yet so that is limiting me to talk to people too because that is what I know in this language!!
Now our investigators.. Katrena is our golden investigator and we are planning on baptizing her and the end of this month when President comes to visit. Nona is an old grandma who grew up in Soviet times and was forced her whole like to be atheist, so this gospel is really difficult for her to accept. Can you imagine growing up your whole life being forced to be one way and now all of the sudden in your old age having the freedom to find out for yourself.. So now she is just confused and doesn't know what to do because she wants concrete proof that this is the truth. She is tough! Those are our main investigators that I want to talk about, we have many others who we are teaching english, the piano, and which are members but need help with some problems. So we are always teaching! and with our piano and english investigators we are trying to lead them into the gospel slowly!!
Well that was my week and is my life now! Thank you all for your support! I love you and miss you so much! Remember who you are and remember how lucky you are! :)
Saturday, January 2, 2010
I realized that I forgot to talk about my new companion. He is from Idaho. His name is Elder Nutt. We are doing great. He is a lacrosse player. He is a really hard worker and a great missionary. He said that it is great that I am here because it really helps with investigators to get new ideas. So we are doing great trying to think of new ideas. We have a grandma investigator who is an eternal investigator. She has been looking into the church for about a year so we are trying to think of how we can push her along. She just wants proof that this is the only true church. She also is scared to feel the spirit. Every time our lessons get spiritual she changes the subject. It is really tough but we are going to start getting a lot more bold with our commitments and what we say because we need to push her along. Elder Nutt said that Elder Uckdhorf came here and said that when grandmas in Russia wont push along to just keep teaching them and they will get them taken care of after this life. well... I think we need to make that a last resort! It is time to make some bold steps and say things that otherwise might be rude... :) We will see how that goes.
Anyways Kazakhstan is great! I am having so much fun here! things are just so different! During the new year I really missed the family and everything but that is ok I knew that was going to happen. Sorry that everything is so everywhere. I just haven't written in so long I am trying to figure out what you still need to hear and what you would want to hear. I will start getting a lot more organized though-no worries. How is everyone doing? How was new years? How is everything? I love you all and thank you for the support. Pray for me to learn this language and to have success out here!
Anyways Kazakhstan is great! I am having so much fun here! things are just so different! During the new year I really missed the family and everything but that is ok I knew that was going to happen. Sorry that everything is so everywhere. I just haven't written in so long I am trying to figure out what you still need to hear and what you would want to hear. I will start getting a lot more organized though-no worries. How is everyone doing? How was new years? How is everything? I love you all and thank you for the support. Pray for me to learn this language and to have success out here!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Fam and Friends,
I am sorry that it has been forever but things have been crazy here!
Well I have a lot to tell you about but I will start with the more interesting things which I know you want to hear aka the Russia culture stuff. Well I am in Kazakhstan right now in a town called Almaty. I forgot you haven't heard what happened since I have been in russia so I will just start from the beginning. We flew from Salt Lake to New York, then from New York to Moscow. When we got to Moscow I could already tell how different things were, in American airports everything is loud and people are loud but in Russia everywhere is completely quiet. No one talks. It is crazy! So we got to the Airport and then my mission president picked us up and drove us to his house. In the car on the way he told Elder Brown and I that we were going to be asigned to serve in Kazakhstan, we were really excited because he said this was one of the most successful places in our Mission as far a baptisms go. But, to get to Kazakhstan we would have to sign up for another passport to Kazakhstan, wait about anotheк week to recieve that, and then fly on another four hour fight there. So to not waste any time my Mission President, President Wooley, sent us to Kalooga to help the Elder's out over there while we waited.
So Elder Brown and I went on a Bus alone to Kalooga without knowing how to communicate or find out how to get there.We got there.....eventually. Kalooga is a fairly large town but it has only a small Branch of about ten members.
In Kalooga we just worked hard and contacted. Contacting is when you just walk around on the streets and try and pass out Books of Mormon and get people's numbers so that you can teach them. It was really wierd at first but eh.. I am a master now! Russian's are kind of jerks and just walk by and rarely stop when we try to stop them. And the grandma's are the worst, but are the funniest too because they speak a different dialect of Russin that is impossible to understand. But we worked hard in Kalooga for about a week and had Christmas, the members in Kalooga were so nice and gave elder Brown and I some presents. We also go to drink tea for the first time. In Russia tea is very popular so members drink non cafinated kinds of tea.. it's nasty. It was a really humbling experiences because almost all Russian's are poor.
In Kalooga one day I was contacting and ran into a man who wanted to know more because we were English. So we got his number and set up a lesson with him that night. Elder Harrison and I went to the lesson becuase we are the ones who found him. This would be my first lesson in Russia. Golden! We taught this man the first lesson which talks about the restoration of the Church and the First Vision! He was so excited and felt the spirit so strong that he wanted to know more. We gave him a book of Mormon and challenged him to read it. Elder Harrison told me that he was Golden and he's pretty sure that experience right there will lead him to baptism. It was an amazing experience. In Kalooga we didn't really have any other lessons. But that was all I needed.
So after a few days Elder Brown and I recieved our passports to Kazakhstan so we took busses and the metro to Moscow to fly out to Kazakhstan. At this point Elder Brown and I were tired of living out of a suitcase, tired of each other, tired of not being settled where we were supposed to serve, and just plain tired because we had jet lag because in russia it is ten hours ahead and we didn't get any sleep on the plane. So it was a rough time...
But we headed on our way to kazakhstan but our flight got delayed a few hours because there was a snow storm and so that sucked. But we finally flew to kazakhstan which is eleven hours ahead of American time. When we landed we had a little bit of jet lag again but not as much as before. In Kazakhstan we are not aloud to bring up the gospel and talk about or even wear our badges for two weeks. In about two weeks we can start talking and teaching. So, we just chill with our companions and listen to them. It is tough because we have already been waiting three months to get to this point to teach and we still can't teach for two weeks. Right when I got to Kazakhstan I was really tired but me and my comp had a lesson so we went to the lesson and I just listened. I could not start out my stay in Kazakhstan any better, Elder Nutt ( my comp) had only taught this lady one lesson. We started the lesson by asking if she had prayed to find out if the Book of Mormon was true and if our Church was true and wether Joseph Smith really did see God and Jesus Christ. She is what we call a Golden Contact, she read the BOM and prayed and recieved an answer. She testified to us that when she prayed she felt like her whole body was on fire and there was no way she could deny what God was making her feel. She knew it was true! Aka now all we have to do is teach her the lessons and commandment and she will be baptized! golden! My very first lesson in Kazakhstan! Here name is Kahteeya.
So in Kazakhstan we celebrated New Years. In Russia and Kazakhstan New Years is the largest holiday. So missionaries are not really aloud to be outside because everyone is drunk and partying. so we went to members house. they are English and are living here for a few years. We got to stay up and watch movies all nigh like Up and Incredibles and a few others. It was pretty fun becuase those are the only movies that we get to watch for one year! Then we stayed up and got to watch the fireworks outside. Here nothing is illegal, people were going crazy and the streets light off every kind of firework that you can think of! That went on until about 3 in the Morning it was insane and soo pretty!! Close to my favorite new years experience!
So in Kazakhstan the missionaries get Ipod touches. That is pretty much one of the coolest things. But people are not supposed to know because it is kind of an experiment so maybe you shouldn't pass it along. They say that they are really helpful because they have movies, music, and photos on them that help with all the lessons. And we can't download new things or else it just get's erased immediately. Also each companionship gets a cell phone.
Well I finally made myself go out and by a Russian coat and scarf. So now I have all that gear. I am beginning to really like scarves and jackets-they are really stylish here. My jacket was only 30 bucks in American money! In Kazak money that is 5000 Tengie. The markets where you get things here are all outside and are crazy! they are like the swap meet in Arizona but bigger and crazier! they have everything there! they even sell a ton of food there.. but I don't think we buy it from there cause it is nasty! I know that I will be eating a lot of crazy food soon because we have some lessons planned and in russia it is a culture thing that they always feed you.. so we will see how that goes!
Also, I have been called as the piano teacher here in Kazakhtan. We are trying to find new ways to get investigators and that is one of them. so now I teach piano. It's a blast!
In Kazakhstan the lights go off all the time. that is why it has taken me so long to write back because we have not had power when we want to write. so Sorry!!
Well I don't know what else there is to tell you but I love you all! Thank you for the love and supporrt! Ask me any questions that you can think of. I love you and remember who you are!
I am sorry that it has been forever but things have been crazy here!
Well I have a lot to tell you about but I will start with the more interesting things which I know you want to hear aka the Russia culture stuff. Well I am in Kazakhstan right now in a town called Almaty. I forgot you haven't heard what happened since I have been in russia so I will just start from the beginning. We flew from Salt Lake to New York, then from New York to Moscow. When we got to Moscow I could already tell how different things were, in American airports everything is loud and people are loud but in Russia everywhere is completely quiet. No one talks. It is crazy! So we got to the Airport and then my mission president picked us up and drove us to his house. In the car on the way he told Elder Brown and I that we were going to be asigned to serve in Kazakhstan, we were really excited because he said this was one of the most successful places in our Mission as far a baptisms go. But, to get to Kazakhstan we would have to sign up for another passport to Kazakhstan, wait about anotheк week to recieve that, and then fly on another four hour fight there. So to not waste any time my Mission President, President Wooley, sent us to Kalooga to help the Elder's out over there while we waited.
So Elder Brown and I went on a Bus alone to Kalooga without knowing how to communicate or find out how to get there.We got there.....eventually. Kalooga is a fairly large town but it has only a small Branch of about ten members.
In Kalooga we just worked hard and contacted. Contacting is when you just walk around on the streets and try and pass out Books of Mormon and get people's numbers so that you can teach them. It was really wierd at first but eh.. I am a master now! Russian's are kind of jerks and just walk by and rarely stop when we try to stop them. And the grandma's are the worst, but are the funniest too because they speak a different dialect of Russin that is impossible to understand. But we worked hard in Kalooga for about a week and had Christmas, the members in Kalooga were so nice and gave elder Brown and I some presents. We also go to drink tea for the first time. In Russia tea is very popular so members drink non cafinated kinds of tea.. it's nasty. It was a really humbling experiences because almost all Russian's are poor.
In Kalooga one day I was contacting and ran into a man who wanted to know more because we were English. So we got his number and set up a lesson with him that night. Elder Harrison and I went to the lesson becuase we are the ones who found him. This would be my first lesson in Russia. Golden! We taught this man the first lesson which talks about the restoration of the Church and the First Vision! He was so excited and felt the spirit so strong that he wanted to know more. We gave him a book of Mormon and challenged him to read it. Elder Harrison told me that he was Golden and he's pretty sure that experience right there will lead him to baptism. It was an amazing experience. In Kalooga we didn't really have any other lessons. But that was all I needed.
So after a few days Elder Brown and I recieved our passports to Kazakhstan so we took busses and the metro to Moscow to fly out to Kazakhstan. At this point Elder Brown and I were tired of living out of a suitcase, tired of each other, tired of not being settled where we were supposed to serve, and just plain tired because we had jet lag because in russia it is ten hours ahead and we didn't get any sleep on the plane. So it was a rough time...
But we headed on our way to kazakhstan but our flight got delayed a few hours because there was a snow storm and so that sucked. But we finally flew to kazakhstan which is eleven hours ahead of American time. When we landed we had a little bit of jet lag again but not as much as before. In Kazakhstan we are not aloud to bring up the gospel and talk about or even wear our badges for two weeks. In about two weeks we can start talking and teaching. So, we just chill with our companions and listen to them. It is tough because we have already been waiting three months to get to this point to teach and we still can't teach for two weeks. Right when I got to Kazakhstan I was really tired but me and my comp had a lesson so we went to the lesson and I just listened. I could not start out my stay in Kazakhstan any better, Elder Nutt ( my comp) had only taught this lady one lesson. We started the lesson by asking if she had prayed to find out if the Book of Mormon was true and if our Church was true and wether Joseph Smith really did see God and Jesus Christ. She is what we call a Golden Contact, she read the BOM and prayed and recieved an answer. She testified to us that when she prayed she felt like her whole body was on fire and there was no way she could deny what God was making her feel. She knew it was true! Aka now all we have to do is teach her the lessons and commandment and she will be baptized! golden! My very first lesson in Kazakhstan! Here name is Kahteeya.
So in Kazakhstan we celebrated New Years. In Russia and Kazakhstan New Years is the largest holiday. So missionaries are not really aloud to be outside because everyone is drunk and partying. so we went to members house. they are English and are living here for a few years. We got to stay up and watch movies all nigh like Up and Incredibles and a few others. It was pretty fun becuase those are the only movies that we get to watch for one year! Then we stayed up and got to watch the fireworks outside. Here nothing is illegal, people were going crazy and the streets light off every kind of firework that you can think of! That went on until about 3 in the Morning it was insane and soo pretty!! Close to my favorite new years experience!
So in Kazakhstan the missionaries get Ipod touches. That is pretty much one of the coolest things. But people are not supposed to know because it is kind of an experiment so maybe you shouldn't pass it along. They say that they are really helpful because they have movies, music, and photos on them that help with all the lessons. And we can't download new things or else it just get's erased immediately. Also each companionship gets a cell phone.
Well I finally made myself go out and by a Russian coat and scarf. So now I have all that gear. I am beginning to really like scarves and jackets-they are really stylish here. My jacket was only 30 bucks in American money! In Kazak money that is 5000 Tengie. The markets where you get things here are all outside and are crazy! they are like the swap meet in Arizona but bigger and crazier! they have everything there! they even sell a ton of food there.. but I don't think we buy it from there cause it is nasty! I know that I will be eating a lot of crazy food soon because we have some lessons planned and in russia it is a culture thing that they always feed you.. so we will see how that goes!
Also, I have been called as the piano teacher here in Kazakhtan. We are trying to find new ways to get investigators and that is one of them. so now I teach piano. It's a blast!
In Kazakhstan the lights go off all the time. that is why it has taken me so long to write back because we have not had power when we want to write. so Sorry!!
Well I don't know what else there is to tell you but I love you all! Thank you for the love and supporrt! Ask me any questions that you can think of. I love you and remember who you are!
Talking to Elder Weihing
We were so blessed to hear from Kenneth at the airport a couple days before Christmas (on his way to Russia from the MTC)
and then also on Christmas day! It was wonderful to hear from him. He sounds so great! So happy and humble. He spoke really fast and also spoke a little in Russian for us. He sounds like a native. (well, maybe not native....but really good!)
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