Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Hello Everyone!

Wow! I can't believe that it has already been one year! Time really has flown by and now I am even more nervous because I know this next year is going to be going by faster than the first! I am so grateful for the experiences that I have had in this short year and especially for the things that I have learned. I really feel like I am a completely different person. It is amazing how much you can change in such a short time... before it was all about being with friends and laying back and relaxing. Now, I have concrete goals and barely get a time to rest. This has even caused my thinking process to completely change. How can I help this person? What are we going to be doing next? What should I ask this person? What should we teach? How can I become more like Christ? Should I turn left or right? What does this member need or this investigator need? Is this breaking a rule? What principle of the gospel does that relate to? How do I translate that into Russian? LIFE IS NOW FULL OF QUESTIONS! I have never thought like this in my entire life! I love it! Especially when I get answers to my questions! I love my mission!! :) Now one has been blessed more than I have!

Elder Smith and I had some good successful work this week. We found out that Irina, the investigator made for Elder Smith to teach, has already finished reading the Book of Mormon! She just has a few habits to get rid of and we have some things to teach her and I think that she will be ready for baptism. We also started teaching a family of four yesterday. They are amazing! That is one of my goals on my mission, to baptize a family, and I really am praying about this family! They are amazing! I will tell you about our lesson with them later in this letter. We have an investigator who has been coming for a very long time. He probably knows the Book of Mormon better than I do and the history of the Church better than anyone in Yaroslavl, but he has still not been baptized. His excuses include getting an answer from God about some questions or that he has service in the Catholic Church right now and he needs to wait until that is done. Honestly, I think it is because he drinks and smokes and doesn't know how to quit. But, he has been an eternal investigator and I am tired of eternal investigators after Nona so I am going to work my butt of with him! These people know that things are true but they refuse to take the one step that will bring them more happiness than they know... not understandable to me!! Elder Smith is a crazy guy! I am going to have some crazy stories to tell you about him when we get home! He is just.... funny!! We have been working hard and getting this city and Branch alive! But, all we can do is work and have faith that God will work with the hearts of these people through us! The work is amazing!!

Well, here is the story for the week! So, these is this couple by the name of Vladimir and Irina who sometimes come to church. Interestingly enough, Elder Malanin found them, my companion in Kazakhstan whose brother died. But, the only reason that they come to church, when they do, is because their kids love our church and always want to come here. They are members of another church here in Russia, I forgot what it is called. While I have been here in Yaroslavl they never came to church. Buy, finally last Sunday they came and I was able to really befriend them pretty well and set up a family home evening with them for last night. So, last night we went over to there house. We started out by playing "Don't Eat Pete", which even my companion had never heard of. In short, everyone loved it because it is full of candy and good stuff like that. We also made them cookies which we ate after the lesson. The lesson was great! We talked about the Plan of Salvation! They have been coming for long enough that of course they knew it pretty well, but they had tons of questions about it that they had never asked! We were able to answer most of their questions and even give them proofs from the Bible, which they believe in, to back up the plan. Then Vladimir told us his conversion story to his church that they are apart of right now. He said he was living in another city in Russia and he had been praying and praying so hard to find the truth and he didn't know what to do. Then, one day he was just walking on the street and someone random person just grabbed his shoulder and dragged him into a church to hear a discussion that was going on. He went in and was very interested in the discussion, he took that as a sign from God. Then he asked, "Why would God give me that answer and not lead me to your Church?" What do you say to a question like that? I had had this happen many more times on my mission and honestly speaking I have wondered the same thing myself. If people are honestly asking and seeking for truth why does God lead them somewhere else? It is a legit question! But, I just said the first thing that came to my mind.. "maybe you weren't ready. God gives a little here and a little there to help us grow. Maybe he was preparing you for this message. It is a like giving a new born baby meat... you can't do that. You have to give them milk and then slowly prepare them for more foods." He took that as a really legit answer and really started pondering and thinking about it. I could tell it really helped him and I know that if they will pray, like we committed them to do, they will know that this is what God has been preparing them for! It was a great lesson and the spirit was so strong! We could have spent hours just sitting there and talking about the Plan of Salvation and answering their questions!

Well I love you all! Thank you for the love and support! Remember who you are!

Elder Weihing :)

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hello from Yaraslovl!

Well first and most important... it is getting dang cold here and fast! I can't imagine what winter is going to be like when there is snow on the ground! It has been raining a few times everyday and that coldness plus the rain has caused some cautions in the work. When people have to switch from the warm to the cold here in Russia it is like a Holiday.. they kinda of just take a few days off and don't do anything, that has made contacting a lot of fun! Only drunks have been on the street lately and experiences with them are a little less than miraculous!

Elder Smith and I went to Smolenks and worked with the Elders there. It was great to see Elder Bybee! But, I went on splits with his companion, Elder Hasbulen. Haha Elder Hasbulen is a semi pro basketball player here in Russia. In short, our day of service together was BALLIN! I really feel like this Zone that I am apart of is the best Zone in our mission. We have amazing dedicated missionaries. President Wooley gave us a commitment to give out 10 Books of Mormon a week and every single companionship in our Zone did that last week. We are the BOMB!

Elder Smith and I are still in finding mode! We are trying to show our faith by searching and hunting and at the same time keep up the Branch. We are trying to get to the core of the problem with the branch president and see what we can do. We are working to organize activities such as a sports day, family home evening, english club, and maybe a random food night where we can get together with investigators and members just for fun. We have good ideas for Yaroslavl!

Elder Smith and I also went to a school this week to help kids with English (our investigator is the teacher). It was awesome! Irina, our investigator, explained that it was these childrens first time ever seeing an American. Haha they were about 13 years old. They were all so scared!! It was so funny for me to see. We had to sing the National Anthem for them, which didn't go over so great. Overall, it was a fun experience though.

We also helped a member family move yesterday. I know that we have moved quite a few times, but here moving is so much worse! This family moved from an apartment on the seventh floor without elevators to an apartment on the fourth floor without elevators! It was a good workout!

The week has been pretty slow and it is finally getting cold! Pray for me and my companion to find those whom the Lord has chosen and prepared to find our message! Pray for the branch and especially for the Branch President, President Vanaev! I love you all! Remember who you are! :)

Elder Weihing

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Subject: Hello Family and Friends!

Elder Smith and I have not even been in the city for a week and we already have to leave! Today we are headed out to Smolensk to do splits we the Elder's there. It is a huge waste of time but we have to do it! It will be a whole day trip there, we will work with them tomorrow, and then we will travel all night Friday to get back on Saturday and work here. I am just starting to understand what they meant when they told me that this zone is the most spread out in our mission! But, I am excited to work in Smolensk because I will see my good old friend Elder Bybee! That will be fun. :)

Well I went to church last Sunday and it seems like they called me to be the 2nd Councilor in the Branch Presidency. Haha they didn't even really asked me and kind of just called me to that position. There is a lot of work to do in the Branch! They young people are awesome and actually help us out on almost every aspect of the work, We basically have a member on every lesson and that is ideal! But, other than the young people the branch is falling apart because it seems like there are some hard feelings about the Branch President. Haha I have found out that even adults can be little children and get offended about the dumbest things... so offended that they leave the church! I hope we can figure out ways to get them back!

Right now we are in hardcore finding mode. We don't have many solid investigators. The weather isn't helping us much because it is getting cold and starting to rain and probably snow soon.. but it is time to show some faith and get to work! We worked hard this week and gave a lot of Books of Mormon and got a lot of contacts and so I hope we can just keep it up when we get back from Smolensk!

I have on experience that I want to share this week but to understand it you have to understand my companion... but, before I explain my companion I have to tell you that I love him and that he is amazing because it is going to seem like I am insulting him even though I really am not. Elder Smith is a small town kid from Vernal, Utah who has been sheltered his whole life. He is shorter than me and about twice my size. He has had a rough mission because he came out weighing about 300 lbs and had to deal with a lot of mean companions and mean russians. He dealt with trunky companions who didn't do anything but watch movies or sit at home all day. He has had a lot to deal with! So this all had quite the toll on his Russian. He doesn't speak the best Russian. Elder Smith is very talkative and hilarious. He has a hard time staying on subject and our lessons really do not make sense a lot of the time to me and I think to our Investigators. But, Our investigators love him! He has put up with a lot and will be going home in less than six months... anyways that is my companion. He is an amazing guy and I love serving with him! He has helped me gain so much joy in this work!

So now the experience... this experience helped my testimony grow on how there are certain missionaries chosen for certain people! We have this investigators named Irina. She is an older lady and speaks ok english. She has met with the elders for awhile and hasn't really talked about the gospel with them. Well, Elder Smith and I decided that it was time and she came to church. After church she had a ton of questions so we set up a meeting to talk about the questions she had. At the meeting she had crazy questions about God and life and death and everything... the lesson was crazy! We ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation and part of the Restoration and about prayer and faith and who is God and it was just all over the place!!! Elder Smith was just teaching everywhere, going in and out of English and Russian, and honestly speaking to me it was not understandable at all... I was so confused! But I went with it anyways just to see where things would go. Our investigator loved it! She got very interested and started asking more and more questions and promised to come to church again and even to pray about baptism! The spirit was so strong! When Elder Smith and I got home we were so hyper that we couldn't even go to bed. Haha it was amazing... I can't even fully explain the experience! All I know is that that investigators was chosen for Elder Smith and no one else could have opened her up! It doesn't matter the crazy attributes that we have, those crazy attributes are what can open certain people up and get them thinking and pondering. This is exactly what happened in this situation. This Church is true! Our callings are from God and there are people out there specifically for us!

Well, that was my experience for the week I hope you all liked it! I hope you all have a great week! I love you! Remember who you are!

Elder Weihing

Letter from President Wooley

Mission President’s Letter
September 2, 2010

Dear Elders and Sisters,

Last week we completed all the training for the new Preach My Gospel training materials we received from the Missionary Department. A few of you have sent me emails indicating that the role-playing has been helpful, and that you have using some of the techniques discussed such as asking inspired questions and listening carefully to what the investigator is saying. I hope and pray that this training will be a great blessing to all of you.

Last month there were 8 convert baptisms in the mission. A few of those were the direct result of the missionaries being more bold in inviting people to be baptized. This is the highest number since last February, when there were also 8. Remember that baptism is only just a step along the way in the conversion process. Many of these new members have only a small understanding of the Gospel and of how their lives will change over the coming years. It is very important that you work with these new converts and continue to teach them. Do all that you can to help them be integrated into their branch. Now that the Kiev Temple is open, we will be encouraging them to go to the temple soon in order to do baptisms for the dead.

The dedication of the Kiev temple was a great blessing to the saints. We had over 120 people from our mission attend the actual dedication in Kiev. In addition we estimate that another 220 people attended the dedication at chapels in Russia and Kazakhstan. We are hoping that the saints will now start going to the temple in greater numbers and with greater dedication.

During the second week of September our mission will be having a mission tour with Elder Larry Lawrence and his wife. We will be traveling to Belarus, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, and Almaty. We will be having zone conferences where most of the training will be done by Elder Lawrence. This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to tour our mission with a General Authority. I am anxious to show them what great missionaries we have.

Sister Woolley has asked that in preparation for the zone conferences, each of you, for your talk, prepare and practice a short (TWO MINUTES AT MOST!) object lesson presentation using a “liken” structure as suggested by President Boyd K. Packer: ____________ is like ___________ because……. Example: Repentance is like soap because………
Do this for one of the first principles of the gospel: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. No comparison is perfect. But think carefully about the object lesson. For instance, some people have compared sin to making holes in a piece of wood or immorality to a mishandled rose or a “licked” cupcake. These comparisons are doctrinally incorrect because after repentance, the atonement makes up completely any holes or lack of appeal of roses, or cupcakes.

To me, the greatest blessing of being a mission president is to associate with you Elders and Sisters. I am constantly amazed at your testimony, strength, enthusiasm, willingness to do hard thinks, love for your companion and the people, and hard work. The lessons you are learning right now will stay with your for a life-time. You are and will be greatly blessed by the Lord for your sacrifice and diligence. I have great faith in you!!!

Much Love,

President Woolley

Friday, September 17, 2010

Subject: Finally in Russia!

Finally in Mother Russia! Well, it has been crazy like always! I got to Yaroslavl on Monday night, we worked in Yaroslavl on Tuesday (which was mainly working with my passport and registration in the city), then Wednesday we woke up really early and left for Moscow where we had a Zone Leaders Council from the Area 70 President Lawrence, and then on Thursday (yesterday) was Zone Conference in Moscow by Elder Lawrence and his wife, and we just got back into town late last night! Crazy nights of no sleep on the train and airplane and nonstop traveling! Russia is a blast! :)

Zone Conference was amazing! We talked about the real future of missionary work, through the members and less actives. We all new that was the best way to do missionary work, but it just took an Area 70 to tell us to get us to start doing it! He also talked about a five step process of exercising faith that I really liked. 1) Have a righteous desire 2)Plead your case with the Lord 3) Bargain with the Lord 4) Expect trials and set backs and 5) DO WORK! I can't wait to start applying these principle to missionary work and to my own personal goals and see what happens. Sister Lawrence is a Scripture Scholar and she had a very interesting talk about The Children of Israel and what it really means to be apart of it. I never really thought about it, embarrassingly enough, but not everyone on the Earth is a Child of Israel, there are the Gentiles! To be apart of these chosen people shows that we were defenders of the faith before this life and it means we are apart of a select few. In fact, we are the best of the best of Gods children! why? God has created many many planets even before he created ours. He has many many children besides those on this planet. And yet, this planet is the most evil and wicked! Why? Because Satan, The Dark Angel, was sent here who is the father of all evil. We are so evil that we even killed our own creator! But, to have the most evil people means that you also have to send the most righteous! We are the front lines and are the most righteous! It was a very inspiring thing for me to think about, that we are part of the brightest of God's Children. We are the chosen ones and were chosen from the beginning because of our faith. Haha sorry I didn't mean to go on preaching and stuff.. it was just really cool realization for me.:)

So, now me and my companion are back in Yaroslavl and can get to work1 My companion is great, he is a fun loving missionary which will make service in a two man city much easier! He has a good desire to work and I feel like we can get a lot done together. Haha I really wish you guys could meet him because he is just crazy and so random, he literally never stops talking and has an endless list of stories to tell. He is from He is from Vernal, Utah and was a sheltered child and is now free so things are fun and crazy!

Well I appreciate the letters and prayers! Thanks for everything! I love you! Remember who you are! All of my letters and packages should go to Moscow now, so I will have to find the address and then I will e-mail it to you! :)

Elder Weihing

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wow! I am so pumped for Jordan right now! That is so cool that he is headed off to Birmingham, England! Of course he is going to England, who is surprised by that call? It is going to be such a good experience for him and the call just fits him. Good job bro I am so proud of you! Keep up the good work & ALWAYS REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE! Now is when it gets a little bit tougher, but I know that you are strong and can do it! :)
Well this week I have some news too. I got my first transfer! Haha I have been on my mission almost one year and I am just getting my first transfer. I am going to be leaving Kazakhstan probably on Monday if they can get my Russian Visa figured out and I will be working in a city called Yaraslovl with an Elder Smith. It is only a two man smaller city but has a branch of around 25 members. I really am sad to leave Kazakhstan right now because we have a lot of really good potential and Elder Khusainov and I have been kicking some butt... but if that is where the Lord wants me then that is where I will go. Elder Khusainov and I will have two baptismal dates soon so that is a downer that I am going to miss those baptisms, but oh well. Actually, I was not supposed to get transfered because the transfer was last week, but then President called me and said that he was changing transfers again and that he needed me to leave. He knew that I didn't want to leave and tried to spice it up by telling me that I was going to be a Zone Leader together with Elder Smith and that soon Yaraslovl will be celebrating their 1000th year anniversary as a city. That is all cool, but I will still miss Kazakhstan. On the plus side, it will be a good opportunity to finally get away from my Greenie City and start over. Anyways, GOODBYE KAZAKHSTAN! :( HELLO YARASLOVL :)
We also had the opportunity to attend the first wedding in Kazakhstan since the branch has been started. It was really cool and kind of awkward at the same time.... it doesn't really feel right to be at a wedding on you mission! It was a lot of fun though! The missionaries even preformed at little rap session of Families Can Be Together Forever! Haha it was really fun. There was tons of food and even more people! I have pictures and I will try to send them!
Other than all of that news everything is still the same. Preaching, Teaching, and Searching! The work is great and it is moving along. I hope that I can bring the fire from Kazakhstan to Yaraslovl! :)
Well I love you all! Thanks for the love and support! Remember who you are!

Elder Weihing

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Hey! This week has been great! Larissa had her baptism and everything went fine. Haha we had a few problems at the service such as the two speakers not showing up and the baptizer being late which caused Larissa to get even more nervous than she already was, but she still went through with it and it was a great experience! I was able to have the opportunity of confirming her a member and giving her the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very special experience for me. I was very nervous, but it is amazing the peace and comfort that God offers during these special ordinances. I really feel like Larissa's conversion had very little to do with the missionaries. All we really did is find her, give her a Book of Mormon, and invite her to church. Everything else that she did and found was according to her own desire and recognition of the Holy Ghost. She is going to be a very strong member and a blessing to ths branch in Almaty!
We also have started teaching Ulan again. He really wants to learn Russian and about that gospel so we are helping him as much and as often as possible. His problem is that he likes faith. I have started to see his faith grow little by little and now I am beginning to see him act on his faith. It is an amazing blessing to be apart of that process of building someones faith. He expressed his desire to us to quit smoking and live the Word of Wisdom but he said it is going to be really hard. He knows his habits are not healthy. So, this week he committed to stop drinking coffee and then little by little we can help him stop smoking and drinking. I think the hardest thing for him will be smoking. But, if we can help him and if he will continue to grow his faith then he can do it, with the help of the Lord of course.
Nona is still reading the Book of Mormon. She is so difficult! She wont do anything that is not her own idea! She told us that if we want to keep inviting her to be baptized then she will stop coming. She believes in the Book of Mormon and in almost all of our teachings... but she just doesn't understand what that means!!
This week was the dedication of the Kiev Temple! It was amazing to watch! The young adults from our ward were able to fly there and take part in the dance and cultural night. It was very exciting! The temple is beautiful and is going to bless the life of millions! It just made me realize that someday there is going to be a temple is Russia and also in Kazakhstan! That will be a really special day for me!
Well my companion and I are working hard out here! I can't believe that my year mark is coming up in one month.. wow! Time is flying by! This work has been an amazing blessing for me in my life and I have already learned and grown so much, and I still have a year left to continue! :) Thank you for the love and support! I love you all! Remember who you are!

Elder Weihing