Builder, Welder, Frisbee Thrower

President came on Friday and leaves tonight.  He came with a couple from Moscow and a few of the humanitarian representatives around the mission.  The purpose of his visit was to set apart the Severrookins (a senior couple from Sakhalin) for their full time missionary service.  We will be blessed to have them in our district for 2 months before they start to travel around the mission. President was pretty busy so we didn't see him a ton but we had breakfast with him today and got to talk about the branch and what is about to go on in the future.  He is a smart man, it is always good to talk to him!

We had some fun service: 

-A sister in our branch asked us to put doors back on her dresser that she took off so that she could wall paper her house.  We had marginal success at first, actually no success because it was impossible to line everything up but right when we started to get things going her son came home and and convinced her to just put them underneath his bed.  I was also confused.

- We went to see our friend Max at his warehouse and he let us use his welder!  Not really service but oh well.

-Also not service but I like how these points look.  We played Frisbee outside with a Frisbee that a member purchased in the Netherlands for us (it lights up so we could play in the dark) and after maybe 45 minutes in the cold it broke :(

We had good lessons with investigators and are expecting a lot of success in the future!  Me and Elder Lawrence feel good about he future.

Love you

Elder Wilding

PS: We climbed "лягушка" which means frog.  Pretty easy hike met by a high incline at the end, apparently it is magical.  We slide down on the way back and I felt like Indiana Jones when he jumped out of the airplane, it was so steep!

Change is in the Wind

Дорогая моя семья и друзья

It is good to write to you again!  Many exciting things and changes have taken place this week.  As for the Siberian tiger watch, none have yet been spotted, and we are starting to believe they are not out here.  I was informed last week that America celebrated Shark Week, to all those who were able to watch that consider yourselves lucky.   

A few facts were learned this week as well:

1) My hair should not be cut to 1/2 inch

2) Some German chocolate contains alcohol

3) President Zagorpodnee is an Italian at heart

4) It is possible to sneeze all your energy away

5) Hair takes a lot longer to grow back than I thought

We played some soccer with a bunch of big Russians.  By the velocity of their voice and the look on their faces you would have thought they all hated each other.  That is how they show their love for each other I guess.  After the game we met one of their brothers who lived in Illinois for a year as an exchange student.  He said when he first got there everybody thought he was and because he wasn't always smiling.  Haha completely different cultures.  We got his number and planned to go take a tour of the fire station in town with him.  Turns out it is not allowed so we didn't end up going.  

Me and Elder Hess were on splits on Tuesday.  We made it over to K's.  He has the nicest and was wearing way nice flannel.  He always has some kind of idea of how we can grow the church.  Then he pulled out his accordion and went to work!  He didn't really know how to play but we loved watching him.  

I had a cool experience while teaching a lady who wants to quit smoking and drinking.  Her name is O.  Previous to this experience I was reading about light and how people can see it in your eyes and we talked a little bit about it at zone conference.  I heard tons of stories about other missionaries having people saying that they see light in their eyes.  But that has never happened to me.  And then when we were teaching her she told us she didn't know what it was but we just have something in our eyes.  It was a big testimony builder to me that the church is true and people can see our light.

On Saturday we played soccer and my allergies overtook me and I couldn't stop sneezing the whole time.  It got so bad that my face was covered in sweat and tears.  Sweat from the soccer and tears from the allergies.   I couldn't do anything about it, it was awful.  I think i am going to get rid of my allergies when I get home even if that means I have to get a ton of shots.

As most of you have probably already heard, Russia just passed a new law that makes it illegal to talk about the gospel outside of the church building.  We received instruction from President to get as many new investigators as we can before the 20th when it becomes official law.  But besides that we don't know what we are going to do.  Me and Elder Staiger think we will go around serving people like crazy and play soccer with a ton of people and then somehow try to get them in the church so that we can talk about the gospel.  Basically my whole mission as I knew it is going to change I think.  But I am excited!  It has got to be the better path or else the Lord wouldn't have let this happen.  We'll see how this goes but until then pray for the members over here so that they can stay strong.  Russia in general could really use your prayers.

I am going to buy a new suit today! I don't know what color yet but I'm think gray or blue.   Love you all,

Elder Wilding

Letter from Pres. Perkinson:

Dear Loved Ones,

As we continue to assist the Lord in his Work and Hastening, I request your assistance as follows as it relates to your support of the young and valiant volunteers from your families who are here in Far East Russia.

GOING FORWARD:

In ALL of your correspondence please refer to your sons, daughters, grandchildren, friends, nieces, nephews and cousins as a VOLUNTEER. That designation will be their full time assignment until the end of their service when they return home to you. This also applies to all of your Social Media involvement including private Blogs. Again, remember VOLUNTEER! Volunteer Service, Volunteer Efforts. They will be designated as a Volunteer so please refer to them as a Volunteer, which is different than you have referred to them to this point. Please eliminate Missionary and Proselyting from your methods of communications and posts.

Please, as I have requested before with limited success. Be only positive in your posts in social media and your communication. The Russian People are wonderful, and your sons daughters and loved ones are doing every thing possible to serve and help them in their Volunteer services.

All will be Well! The Lord is in Charge. You should all be proud of your sons and daughters. We love serving with them and love them dearly. Please encourage them to be obedient with exactness.
There is no need for fear, we will bring to pass great miracles through our faith, diligence and hard work!

Sincerely,
John William Perkinson, Vladivostok President

Happy Fourth!

Grand Greetings from Ussuriysk,

Big packed week that went faster than seems possible.  It feels like I was just writing you yesterday but it feels like I was in Korea 3 months ago.  A lot of good happened this week!  Mr. W is back!

Elder Staiger is molding me into a more refined person.  Since he claims Germany for his home country he does things very proper and right.  For one thing he is teaching all these rules about eating that I never knew about.  I probably heard them all before but never cared enough to pay any attention to them.  I now eat in a dignified manner and slower with a fork and a knife and I feel like a new person haha.  

We didn't get to go to do baptisms in the temple unfortunately.  We didn't have enough time but Korea was sick as always!  We got back and went to Zone Conference and we learned a lot about how to be better missionaries and went over the law of chastity, the law of tithing and how to make commitments.  It is always fun to be around president.

We got home late to Ussuriysk and I hit the sack as soon as I got in.  A day earlier Mr. W called us and told us he was back and wanted to meet..  We met with him and mostly got him acquainted with Elder Staiger and we talked about the Book of Mormon.  He loves it!  He reads everyday!  The only problem is that he returns to a different city in Russia in 3 days for 15 days so it will be hard to meet with him.  O our other investigator is progressing and has a baptismal date!  July 30th.  He is loving the gospel as well!

We have been really busy this past week but I have somehow forgot most of everything we have done.  Next week I will make a list in order to remember.  I hope the long list of pictures makes up for the short email.  I love you all and I'm doing great!

Elder Wilding

With Elder Roosa

 KOREA VISA TRIP

 Korea Temple

With Elder Staiger

 At Ashleys

With Elder Hess * Saying Goodbye * Elevator

 Storm

Cool building

After sports night

German Kitchen

 Trip to Borisifskia (?) forest

With Elder Roosa

 With Elder Roosa

 With Elder Roosa at the Styfoon (?) River

 

Happy Fathers Day or in Russia Ascension Day

Good Monday everyone!  I'm staying in Ussuriysk!!! Elder Roosa Is bouncing to the west like a Siberian tiger and is companions with Elder Butler who served here.  Every elder who serves here either goes to Vlad or Irkutsk, it has it has been that way ever since I arrived in the mission and even a little before.  And there are no exceptions either.  It's nuts!

My life just got cooler by not having an American comp!  His name is Elder Staiger and he was born and raised in Germany.  He has been on the mission one transfer less than me and speaks good English.  It should be a outstanding transfer coming up!

I have memorized a "pushkin" poem thanks to K our Russian teacher.  He is the best poet Russia has ever known and they love him for it.  They just finished a statue of him and put it on the corner of a street named after him.  It should help us gain some respect from these people.

Mr. W is still pushing away and reading and loving the gospel like anyone could ever wish for but is in China for 1/2 a month.  That means no contact, not even phone calls until he gets back.  He is going to the church there and ask them some questions about the Book of Mormon so we pray that everything will be well with him.

I started on writing my letter home at least a month ago and still haven't got to finishing it.  The paper I choose is so huge I never realized until I got started so I need to do something so I can get it sent this week.  Also went to a dolphin show which was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  He rode the dolphins like a surfboard! And that wasn't even the coolest thing.

For my year mark we burned a white shirt.  It was one of the ones that I came in with with the way huge neck.  I was happy to get rid of it!  It was fun to burn and think about all the good times.  I really have had some good good times!  We had sushi to celebrate and it was better this time than last time I ate it so maybe one day I will come to love it.  Elder Sieboch bought me a delicious chocolate cake!

President Perkinson came to the branch on Sunday by surprise.  It is always good to talk to him.  He somehow always inspires us by just talking to us and not even saying things that I would say to get people inspired.  We are lucky to have him!

Well that's all for this week.  I am going to Korea next week on Monday so I might write a little early next week.  I only went 6 weeks ago but they are trying to get us all on the same schedule.  

Love you all, have a good week!

Elder Wilding

Some tidbits from McKay's companion's letter:

-We took a taxi ride and the driver gave us some free lighters as a promotion. We bought a million incense sticks and lit a bunch of them on fire at once to make a very nice smelling torch. We also burnt Elder Wilding's shirt on his one year mark. We didn't have a great place to do it so we went out on the balcony and put it inside of a pot. Elder Wilding kept holding onto the shirt forever and i thought he was gonna burn himself, but he was able to get it into the pot at the last minute. Overall it was nice to have a little campfire, no matter how strange the circumstances. The lighter finally ran out and I think I will avoid buying more.

-We met a guy who's job is just to spammed instagram with useless information to try and break down the site, kind of like a DDOS attack I think. I'm not sure why someone was paying him to do this but he acted like it was a completely normal job.

-We were teaching a guy and he was complaining about how many drunks there are in Russia. I tried to say "That's not just in Russia, that's in America, in the whole world" but he thought I said "America is the whole world". He got a bit offended but my buddy Elder Wilding was able to explain it before he got too mad.

Letter from his mission President and wife (with photos):
Today is Sunday, and if we were in the United States we would be celebrating "Father's Day. So Happy Father's Day to you. So today we met at the Ussuryisk Branch and enjoyed a wonderful Sacrament meeting with these great missionaries.

Elder Wilding led the music. Elder Roosa and Elder Seibach gave beautiful testimonies of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Elder Hess sang a beautiful solo, "Abide With Me 'Tis Eventide" that he had pre recorded of himself accompanying. 

We had 36 in attendance at Church. Three branch members spoke about the blessings of the Temple, Charity and the Law of Chastity. Then President Perkinson had the missionaries stand and recite the Vladivostok Mission Statement, which the branch enjoyed very much. 

Sometimes the members have a mixed emotions about transfer week, because some of their current missionaries are being transferred to other cities. Above all, the Ussuriysk Branch members are grateful for the service of these fine missionaries! 

Thank you for your support, your prayers and your testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Thank you for doing your part to share the "good word" there at home.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Perkinson

Vladivostok Russia Mission

Different Companion. Same Apartment.

Hello everyone!  Happy General Conference!  I can't wait to watch it!  General conferences out here are amazing!  

With transfers comes change.  And 2 of the members of our district left. Elders Memmott and Crabb.  And to celebrate the great time we had this past 6 weeks, we went bowling.  We bought 2 lanes.  And then the 4 of us just kept on switching back from lane to lane and I think by the end we got in something like 5 games in in a hour.  After bowling we went to dinner at the nice restaurant "Skaska".  I got a pork steak.  Pretty Good.  The place was fancy.  We ordered off of iPads.  I felt like a state missionary for a second haha.  I thought it would be cooler than it was.  I think I just prefer a regular menu.  Then to end the night 3 people in our branch had birthdays all on the same day.  And 2 of them were exactly the same age.  What are the chances?  We had a family night/party for them.  

Russian practice has now moved to 10 am.  And it is now at our teacher's house.  She got a new job and she doesn't have that much time so we will be doing that form now on.  

It rained!  Twice!  It was beautiful.  I hear it rains in Ussuriysk a lot.  Unfortunately one of the days Elder Roosa forgot his coat and got a little wet because it was coming down hard.  век живи век учись (Live and Learn).  That is one of my favorite Russian phrases.  I think my all time favorite though is как нельзя лучше which means "couldn't be better". I found out that Russian Easter is on May 1.  I get 2!

Me and Elder Crabb took a bus to Vladivostok.  And then slept in Elder Lyman's apartment there.  Then we woke up the next morning and there was just something different in the air.  The new elders had arrived.  We took a bus and then walked up the hill to President's house.  We arrived to the smiling faces of President and Sister Perkinson as well as Elder Bacon (not Kevin), Baugh, and Roosa.  They all looked about a 100 percent different the picture we saw of them.  We had a little conference and Sister Perkinson made us an amazing breakfast!  It was so good.  Then we talked and had a discussion from about 9:30 to 1:30.  I learned a lot even though it was for the new missionaries.  Then right after that we made our way to district meeting in Vlad.  On the way there we were contacting and I was shocked Elder Roosa knows Russian fantastically.  He speaks so much better than I did when I first got out of the MTC.  I couldn't understand anything and everyone thought I was speaking English to them when I was speaking in Russian.  But that isn't a problem for him.  I am lucky to be training such a great Elder!  He is from Parker, Colorado.  Loves to ski and actually worked at a little place called Aspen as a lift worker.  I really like him.  I have been blessed with great companions my whole mission.

On Saturday we met with Sister P.  And we planned to talk about preparing for general conference and asking questions but the spirit took it a different way and we ended up talking about miracles and her conversion story.  She said that she was working in this little store when two boys in white shirts and nametags came in and needed to buy something but were in a hurry.  She was interested because you don't see that everyday so she told them to stop and she wanted to talk.  But they were on their way somewhere and didn't have the time so they got her number.  Later they called her and said let's meet.  At that time she didn't really want to but she did anyways.  They met in a bus station and did the first lesson.  When they got to the first vision she said the elder pulled out the photo of Joseph Smith and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and she was drawn to it.  See didn't know why.  And when he related the first vision to her in Joseph's words she said that her heart burned so hot inside of her.  And she was scared and told them that she had to go because she didn't understand it and thought that maybe it was hypnotizing or some magic thing and she was scared because she had never felt like that before.  And she left.  Lucky the Elders were persistent and got to meet with her again and to make a long story short...she was baptized.  It was a very powerful lesson.  I shared the miracle of E.  (He got baptized the same time as Eg).  And how when me and Elder Lyman found him he hated life and had nothing and was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day.  But now that he has the gospel he loves life and has a job and a phone and he told us, "Ever since I have been meeting with you I just don't want to smoke."  He met with Elders for a week and in that time he went down from 2 packs a day to only 2 a day.  And now he has finally quit.  Conversion is a miracle and watching it in someone's life is truly amazing!

I love it out here!  Thanks for all the letters!  They mean a lot!  I love you!

Elder Wilding

Sister Perkinson sent us these photos and a letter (at bottom).

Training meeting with Pres. Perkinson

With Elder Roosa (new comp)

With Elder Lyman

Dear Brother and Sister Wilding,
It is always good to report on what has been going on in our mission. We sent home seven missionaries and received three new Elders straight from the MTC yesterday. Today we invited three Elders to come to the Mission Home for breakfast and a few hours of training prior to sending them out on the streets to actually start their mission.

We are grateful for their training service today!

I think they are ready to hit the streets! 

Thank you for your prayers in behalf of this mission! We love your son and we feel grateful for the many hours of 

at home preparation for this time in his life. The gospel is true and changes lives for good! 

Warmly,
Sister Verna Rae Perkinson
Vladivostok Russia 

Week 37? I don't even know...

Hello my beloved family and friends!

Where to start.  I guess where I left off.  So after emailing you all last Monday we as a district went bowling.  I personally prefer the curve approach and was able to get a strike or 2 with that approach but mostly gutter-balls.  It was fun though.  It is 1000 rubles for a lane for an hour.  It pretty cheap when you separate it between 4 people.

We again taught Vo this week.  He was a little sick so he had so trouble reading.  But at the end of the lesson he prayed after some persuasion.  He is still progressing along but couldn't make it on Sunday because his condition worsened I guess.

And V.  We had a baptismal date for him in 2 weeks.  And as Satan always does when people have baptismal dates he made his life go crazy.  We retaught him the restoration and had a great powerful lesson and he told us that he knew it was true.  And as a branch we watched the face to face with Elder Holland and he came (everyone said the translation was bad) and we thought everything was good.  But on Sunday we were walking home to have dinner and we saw him on the street and started to talk to him.  He told us that we couldn't meet anymore.  He said his parents told him that we were a cult and if he meets with us again than he is no longer their son.  So that was sad but he still believes it and we pray that one day his parents hearts will be softened.

We got a new investigator named E.  He only has one eye.  He isn't too interested in the gospel but he comes to English practice and game night.  He is a good guy.  He has been through a lot.

Oh yeah, Elder Lyman called me this past week and told me that Egor was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And Elder De Sandre baptized him!  It was so amazing to hear that!  He is the best and so special!  It so cool  to see that a person that I found entered the waters of baptism.  It is amazing to be a instrument in the hands of the Lord.  I hope so much that I will have the opportunity to make it back to Angarsk one day and talk to him again.  The work works!

At K's for our weekly service activity we rolled seeds mixed in dirt into little balls so that when he throws them on his field that the birds won't eat them.  And we chopped wood for him.  I really like chopping wood.  It is so satisfying!  I will send a picture of his hut thing that he calls a Mormon center haha.  He also made a oven out of bricks and mud and whatever he could find.

We called Va.  He lives in the coldest city on earth, at least that is what I hear.  He lives in Ya-kootsk.  We usually call him about once a week and meet with him over the phone.  He is trying to do missionary work down there.  I love him!  We were teaching a lesson and then Elder Crabb passed me the phone and I started to talk and he yelled "wilding hello" I couldn't help but laugh a little considering he doesn't know English.  Who knows, maybe one day we will get to go visit him or get a branch organized down there.

Spent quite a lot of time at a doctor's office.  We went following Presidents direction of finding someone who has the profession we want to become.  Well, we went to the building and waited for the surgeon but he was really busy and had no time to talk with us so we have to go back another time.  I didn't mind waiting though, the chairs in that place were so soft.  I could have sat there forever.

This gospel is becoming so much more of me now.  It helps me see what is really important and I know that this work which we are engaged in is true.  Whenever doubt or confusion hit me I always go back to the Book of Mormon.  It's true.  It's the word of God.  No man could write such a book except he be inspired of God.  It is just too much for a man to do by himself.  But he did have God's help and he translated it in such a short period of time.  But without that book.  Without that evidence, I don't know if I would still be a member of this church.  I always go back to it and it is such a source of comfort and power.  I love the Book of Mormon and know that it is truly God's words. How lucky I am to have an hour every single day  to study it's teachings and ponder it's words.  I know it's true.

Thanks everyone for all the letters and the support.  They make a difference.

Love Elder Wilding

 Bowling

 K's thing

 His oven ↓

Elder Kacher

Hello once again to everyone.  The ice that lines the sidewalks is starting to melt and the weather is quite pleasant.  I remember when I first got in the country sweating and being so hot.  And then it got so cold.  But as for right now the weather is perfect!

We got a new investigator named A.  He doesn't believe in God but says he doesn't have proof that there is no God so he is open to what we teach.  He loves fishing and loved the pictures of the salmon and halibut in my picture book.  We found him in the area book and called him and found out he lives in the building that our church is in.  The area book is magic.  It has so many good people just waiting for us to call.  I look forward to teaching him!

We meet with Vlad again this week.  He is the investigator whose parents are super against the church but mostly just Americans.  He told us he was going to come to the conference we had on Sunday with Elder Kacher of the 70.  But then he texted us that morning and said his mom wouldn't let him.  But we will keep working with him.

BVolodia continues to progress!  It is a miracle to see his heart change.  Lessons are so much different know.  They just feel different.  He is reading Book of Mormon and praying.  Before he maybe got a verse and a half of the Book of Mormon and then says that he is tired and can't read any more and usually completely rejects the invitation to pray.  But since we haven't given up on him he is changing.  As Elder Crabb says "If we keep bringing the spirit and let him experience it, that is what is going to make the difference", or something along those lines.  And it is true.

 So this conference was pretty interesting.  All the members in this zone, that is members from Artyrom, Ussuriysk, Nahodka, came on buses to Vlad. Nahodka is about 4 hours away.  Anyways the Vlad sacrament room was packed.  All the missionaries had to stand out in the hall because of all the members.  The purpose of the conference was to hear Elder Kacher of the area presidency and the 70 speak.  He doesn't speak Russian so there was a translator.  Saturday was our conference with him.  He has an amazing story.  He is a convert at the age of 19.  He was born somewhere in the eastern states and when he graduated from high school he hopped on a plane to Austria to ski.  When he was there he had a strong feeling that he should go home.  He did and then had a feeling that he should go live with his friend who lives in Utah.  When he got there he was baptized.  A year after that he served a mission in Tahiti.  

He is a really great man.  He discussed many topics with us on how we need to make sure our investigators actually repent and about how we should be using the Book of Mormon more and many other things but the thing that the spirit taught me was that the gospel is love.  Everything that is done in the gospel is out of love.  It really hit me hard.  I always knew that but it just hit me harder this time.

The reason Elder Kacher came to our mission is because they are going to organize a district in the west.  That is one of the necessary steps before a mission can be organized.  And they are having a big conference in Ulan Ude.  And I heard that Egor is going to get baptized down there during the conference!  That is a miracle!  Right around the time I left he was starting to progress and then Elder Lyman told me after a lesson he asked if he could get baptized.  I pray and hope that all will go well with him.  I love him so much!

This week was another learning experience.  Now it is just time to apply what I learned.

 Everyone have a great week!

Love

Elder Wilding

At the Zoo

Zone Conference

ZONE CONFERENCE

 Dear Brother and Sister Wilding

We have been blessed this week to be edified by President and Sister Kacher, General Authority of the church and Area Presidency of our mission. 

We have been encouraged to be urgent and use time wisely! We have been instructed to increase our ability to be led by the Spirit! We were reminded to teach Repentance and Baptize Converts, those truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We were asked to have faith in Jesus Christ to overcome any mindsets that we may have. We were asked to learn to seek answers to questions of the soul thru the Book of Mormon and then teach this in our missionary work. We were asked to teach repentance as a blessing in our lives and that the atonement is for all people, no matter their past. We were asked to really work with less actives and seek to be led by the spirit.

Vladivostok Russia Mission Statement

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. (3 Nephi 5:13)

We are a Preach My Gospel Mission!

We live by consecration.

We sow exact obedience.

We grow mighty faith.

We harvest precious souls.

We expect and facilitate daily miracles.

We talk with everyone.

We find with faith.

We teach repentance and baptize converts. 

We are happy, dignified and hard working!

We Love God and show charity for all His children.

We are the Vladivostok Russia Missionaries!

We have a desire to live the Mission Statement that we recite daily in our studies and when we gather in District meetings and Zone Conferences.

We love sharing the gospel with your son and we are grateful for your prayers in behalf of our Vladivostok Missionaries!

Gratefully,

President and Sister Perkinson

Vladivostok Russia Mission

President's Visit

Hello everyone.  I am fresh from the hair-cutters and feel amazing.

Lepa brought her kids to family night and really really liked it.  She won in Uno!  And one of her daughters brought a friend.  They both have the same name of Hastiya which is very common for that to happen in Russia because there are only a certain number of names.  Anyways Hastiya's (the friend) mom kept on calling Lepa and making sure everything was OK.  Lepa eventually told her that she should just come down and see for herself and that everything was great.  It was awesome to see investigators inviting their friends!  Unfortunately we haven't been able to meet with Lepa or her friend since that night and we were actually worried that we lost her because she wasn't answering but she answered two nights ago and said that she has been in Vlad and has been very busy (she is a taxi driver) but would come to church.  She never came to church but for some reason I feel like everything will eventually work out with her and that she will find the peace she is searching for in our message.

We found another golden investigator out of our area book.  Those things are magic.  His name is Vlad and he is 19.  We called him up and simply asked him if he wanted to play ping pong.  President's letter this week was focused on using normal ways to get to meet people and show that we genuinely care about them and then share our message with them.  He talked about how if we looked at the members that have lasted and have done more than just the ordinance of baptism and then never come to church again.  But the active older members were all found through those means and very few were found through contacting.  So we tried doing the natural approach and when he got there we started playing and could see that he wasn't really into the ping pong so we decided to have a normal lesson.  We sat down and prayed and then found out some things about him.  He believes that this church is true!  He believes it all and is so ready!  There is only one down side.  His parents are way against him joining the church and even meeting with us.  He actually told us that he had to lie to his parents just so that he could come and meet with us.  So we are going to try and work more with him and find some way to help with his parents.  But he is an awesome kid.

I learned this week that when we receive revelation that we may not even know it till far after the fact.  When I got to our apartment in Ussuriysk it was really dirty.  The past couple of days I have been cleaning up most of it.  President Perkinson called us Saturday night and said that tomorrow he would be coming in the morning and checking our apartment and then would also be in sacrament meeting.  If we hadn't been cleaning our apartment for the couple of days before that we would have been doomed.  But it was already clean and we didn't have to worry!  

The AP's came down and spent a day with us!  Elder Lyman and Elder Cluff came.  It was really good to see Elder Lyman again and really good to serve with him again.  And also Elder Cluff. I spent about a week or so with him when I was in Vlad.  We went over to Vlodiyas house who is our crazy investigator who always grabs us and stuff.  He is a funny guy.  We went with Elder Clufff because he was in this city before and had taught him before.  The lesson was pretty good and then at the end of it as we always do we asked him to pray.  He usually won't answer our question or says that he will just listen to our prayers and try everything he can to not pray.  But this time Cluff said it was his last time he would ever see him and he was a little more calm than usual and he actually prayed!! Missionaries have been meeting with him for I think a year now and he never did before.  It was a miracle! 

I received the package you sent when President came.  Thank you so much I will try my best to not open the wrapped presents until the 22, we'll see. :)  And tell Daisy Steed thanks for the letter she sent me!  

We went over to President Zagooroni's house last night and read a chapter of the Book of Mormon in English with him.  Well, he actually came and picked us up and we thought we were going to his son's house who is a less active member.  But what he actually said to us is that we will go over to his son's old house which is now his and read.  Haha he speaks too fast.  Something I have noticed about most of the Branch President's that I have met so far is that they are very classy dressing men.  And always really funny.  They are all great guys!

Well that's all I can remember from this past week.  I forgot my book where I write down what happened.  But I think I got most of it.

I love you all!

Love Elder Wilding

Week 3 of Training

Hello everyone and С Рождестом

This week has been another fun one!  So yes mom, I did buy that shopka from the old AP.  I was with him when he bought it off the Renik and he let me wear it because I had nothing and I was cold.  I don't know it just kinda grew on me and now I am so glad I bought it.  Speaking of AP's we have none.  I heard we are the only mission in the world like that.  I think president was sick of people aspiring to be called to leadership positions so he got rid of them.  We still have all the other things though, just not AP's.  It is basically the same without them I think.  Who knows how long we will be without them.  Doesn't really matter I guess.  I like how president does things.  I am really lucky to be called to this mission at this time.  President Perkinson is huge on goal setting and accomplishing the goals we have set and that is something I have always wanted to be good at.  I know he will have a huge impact on my life.

One of the fun things about training is planning.  I underestimated the amount of time it took us to get to the church from the Krishna Kitchen so we had to run.  It doesn't matter how cold outside it is.  When you have a huge coat on and start moving, it gets really hot.  But I am learning a lot.  I have a really big desire to get better at this language so for the next few weeks, at least until Christmas, or probably after, me and Elder De Sandre will only be speaking in Russian.  Except for our hour of companion study and after 9:30.  I have realized that the only way I am going to make any real improvement in Russian is if I speak it almost all the time.  This next few weeks will be interesting but I need to do this hard thing now so that I can better help these people.

I bought my boots on the Renik this past week!  I got a steal for them.  Well, first off the guys keep on bringing me the wrong size of shoe so they already wasted a lot of time with me.  He put the boots on my feet and asked for 3500 rubles.  I told him I could only go 2000.  After a lot of negotiating and me attempting to leave, I got them for 2000.  They are big and have fur lining the whole inside.  I love them because now I can walk anywhere I want without getting cold feet or wet socks.  I have heard from older missionaries that Angarsk has the best Renik.  The only catch is that it is closed on Mondays.  We have to go during dinner hours if we ever want to buy something there.  The Renik is indoors and it is HUGE.  It seems like a football stadium when we walk in because the building is huge and is domed shaped.  

The living situation I am in is very fortunate.  I live with Elder De Sandre and Lyman and Sumner.  All 3 are great guys and it is a blast to live with them.  I think I said this already but Elder Sumner and Elder Lyman went to high school together and now he is training him.  I wonder if that will happen for me?  That would be cool.

We went to an investigator's house last night.  His name is G and he is the first person Elder De Sandre and I talked to when we got back to Angarsk.  We miraculously found his house because all the buildings look the same and are covered in snow and it was night time.  We got there and were greeted by his family.  He lives with his mother, his wife and his daughter.  He is from Armenia.  They brought out apples and this Russian candy and tried really hard to get us to take coffee and tea but we resisted.  We started teaching him the first lesson and how our message can help him in his life.  We had him read the first vision.  It was very amazing when he was reading Prophet Joseph's account.  He got to the part that reads, "This is my beloved son, hear him"  When he got there he got all quiet and read it really slowly, then paused and read it again.  It was amazing to see the power of those words and how much they touched him.  The Restoration really happened.  I know the prophet Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw.  This is Christ's restored gospel.  I know it.

It is good to read all of your letters!  On the 17th it will be my 6 month mark.  Where has the time gone?  I am grateful to be here.  I love you all!  

Elder Wilding

 Merry Christmas

My boots

Ice sculptures holding up signs

 Ice Sculptures