4 Days and Another P-Day можно

Salutations from Russia!

I could really get used to this early p-day thing.  Only problem is that the emails I sent to my friends on their missions (4 days ago) have not yet reached their eyes.  Therefore not many emails.  I did really good this week and wrote down what happened so that I don't forget.  But I did forget to look at that paper....  I'll try to remember.  Here goes nothing.

Might as well start out with our good friend K.  We spent a lot of time with him this week but I'll get into that later.  We went over for service hoping to chop wood but ready to do whatever.  His wood supply is at 0 but he does have quite a lot of grass that he wants to cut down and move to a central location in hopes that cows or horses or some kind of animal will come and eat it.  It started off good, we were working and doing what he wanted.  Although within minutes my allergies, reacting to the tall grass caused my eyes to water so bad that it looked like I just got dumped and was bawling.  He made a video out of the whole service project on his vimeo page and put in a clip of my crying haha.  And then on Sunday after church he wanted to talk to us about permaculture and how it would help build the church.  We went home after church to eat lunch while the other elders stayed with K there and when we got back he stayed and talked to us for 3-4 hours.  It is pretty amazing how much he can talk.  His ideas are sincere and he really wants to help grow the church but sometimes they are a little out there.  It is great Russian practice!  

We and the other elders held a part of our weekly planning session together in order to plan who has what and at what times we will be at the church respectively.  We have to move out of our apartment by Thursday of this week to the other elders apartment and are completely busy with that and they want to cut the grass at the green island (name of the field where we play soccer on sports night) so that it is actually nice and playable.  We actually bought a spin trimmer for the branch, the other elders went down to the Reenik and bought it.  Reenik stuff isn't always the most reliable but it is always the cheapest.  Within the first minutes of cutting the grass the guard  broke off and they said that holding it shakes you to the core.  Besides that it works great and the field is in the process of becoming a soccer field again and not some farmer's pasture.  

Our soccer game with those guys that came in the church never worked out.  They called us back later that night saying that something came up and they had to go to Vlad or something unexpected or something like that.  Elder Staiger talked to them on the phone and I don't really remember the reason.  They apologized and said they want to play with us again sometime this next week.  We pray that it happens!  

On  p-day I bought a couple of ties.  Mom is going to be so happy, I bought a beautiful purple one that is way Russian.  Russia has the coolest ties.  They usually aren't one piece of material or fabric but you'll have red stripes going down the middle of the tie and then near the bottom it will turn into paisley pattern, or the border with be different or it will be split down the middle.  There are so many variations that I didn't even know existed before I got here.  

Next time I write you I should know where my destiny lies (transfers) and will be out of my home for the last 4 transfers.

I love you all thanks for you examples!

Elder Wilding

From Colorado to Germany and then to Korea

Quite a busy week we just had at us, with all this transfer business (so many goodbyes and new companions), and all of our lessons miraculously lining up, we've been struggling to find time to eat!  

Spring is still in the air here in beautiful Ussuriysk!  With May showers that have continued into June (which look like they will be stretching into the coming month as well) and a light sometimes overpowering breeze, I couldn't ask for better weather!  It is going to get so bloody hot soon I am trying to enjoy it while I can.  There were a few days this week when it rained the whole day and the whole night and my new rain coat I just bought got put to the test.  Basically nobody was on the streets though so contacting was pointless.  It was nice to be in the rain though!

On Tuesday night the Nielsons (senior couple from the Novosibirsk mission) came and did a fireside in the church on the 12 step addiction program.  They are from Shelly Idaho.  Anyways they don't speak any Russian basically and needed a translator so we invited our friend S to come and help them out.  He is our investigator and isn't really interested in the gospel yet but he came to the church and did a really good job translating for them.  The next day we dropped Elder Roosa off in Artyom.   It was a blast serving with Elder Roosa!  He is a great elder who will have a lot of success on his mission.  I am going to miss serving with him. While we waited for Elder Staiger (my new comp) to arrive, we ate at "Noodle House",  really good place!  I got some noodle thing I don't remember the name of now but it was tasty.  Then he got there and we took a bus back to Ussurisyk and made it to institute.  Elder Staiger is from Germany about an hour away from Berlin.  He is a gifted soccer player and speaks Russian very well.  He speaks English completely fluent and I think we are going to get along really good!  He is a funny guy and good to work with!

O is progressing fast!  He always comes to the church, he probably checks the church door 30 times a day or something because whenever we are there he comes in.  It is way convenient because we don't have to call him for a lesson, he just shows up!  Mr. W is still in China but we believe he is still reading everyday and praying.

Yesterday night a weird thing happened.  We met a 14 year old kid from Canada.  He was visiting his grandparents and spoke both English and Russian perfectly.  He was just chilling in the play ground with all these other Russian boys when he talked to us.  

It is nice not having companions form Utah haha. Elder Roosa was from Colorado and now I've got Germany.  Everybody just assumes we are all from Utah (90% of the time true) and when you have a comp from somewhere else they are always surprised.  

We have been in a trio for the past half week with Elder Hess.  He has trouble sleeping sometimes and on Thursday he made blini in the middle of the night due to the fact that he couldn't sleep and when we woke up in the morning we  looked in the fridge and there they were haha!  They were so good!  

Love you all!  Have week!  

Elder Wilding

PS:  I am going to Korea today in like 5 hours!  They are opening the baptismal font specifically for the missionaries!

Year Mark Pending: 5 Days

Dear my fantastic family and my good friends,

If I had forgotten that my year mark is almost here, mom definitely reminded me by sending me a lot of hump day camel pictures haha.  It is almost here and it is incredibly weird.  I don't feel like it has been that long, not even close, maybe a few months and that's all.  But I look back and I guess it has been almost a year.  I have had many fun times, happy times, sad times, home-sick times, laughing times and of course spiritual times.  It is true what they told me, when I look back at the first year I only remember the good times.  I'm glad I decided to serve and to be among these wonderful people in Russia.  I'm grateful for all the things I've learned and all the things that have happened which have changed the person I am.  I know it has made me a much better person to serve.  It is amazing how much we receive when we serve.  Almost always it seems to be more than what we give.

The reason I am writing a little later than normal is because we just climbed a mountain with our good pal S!  He is a investigator who told us he knows this forest and he wanted to take us to it.  It was awesome!  We got some good pictures even!  We hiked to the top through this forest!  It was awesome to be in nature! I miss camping so much!  The air was fresh and it wasn't too hot.  We found a tiny river bed and climbed down that and then went to the biggest river in Ussuriysk and sat down and relaxed.  The river reminded me of Alaska when we go and fish in our waders.  The water was low and there was a little rock beach in the middle.

An interesting thing happened on Tuesday.  I met a computer spammer.  He said he spams Instagram and takes everything he uses from America. He was a kind of a weird dude.  Also we had splits and me and Elder Hess were together.  For lunch we decided to have Burger King.  It was good. I haven't had fast food in a while and that was normal, but later that day we met with our taxi driver friend who we befriended not too long ago.  After talking for a little he says, "Let's go to Burger King". We didn't want to but we did anyways. Our cashier worker had tattoos everywhere and maybe the strangest tattoo I have ever seen.  His lower left arm from his wrist to his elbow was just black. The whole thing was black covered in ink.  Anyways to make a long story short, I order two sandwiches and he gave me three and now I never want to eat Burger King again. I felt like throwing up.

I almost forgot, last Monday we made real Borsch with Sister R!  It was delicious and tasty and we loaded it with mayo!  The Russians know how to eat!  We just got some thunder today and it was wonderful!  Thanks again for all you do and for your example and for the support.  I love what I am doing and I love all of you!

Elder Wilding

Shaurma and a Taxi, plus Boris

Dear Dad, Mom bros and everybody else,

It has probably been our most effective week together.  Lessons were lining up and we were having fun having a good time living life in Russia preaching the gospel teaching new investigators, even eating some apple pie. I love being out here!  Russia has been good to us this last week!  And also how could I forget I even got some wood!

So to start off this past week we had a good P-day when I cut Elder Hess's hair.  I think I did a pretty good job!  Then after that we had family night and played Yahtzee card style and the ward enjoyed it and B came who showed up on church the day before and he loved the game and then we had an awesome lesson with B after with Sister P!  

On Tuesday we went to service at K's and cut a ton of wood!  And then headed down to Vlad to be on splits with the APs.  We slept there and had a really good time with them!  The next day I was with my hometown missionary Elder Bodily and we had a great day where I finally got a Bible in Russian, got some more stuff out of storage and had a lesson with a girl named H who is progressing great! I ate two Shaurma's and was in heaven. I traded my tie to Elder Gray for his.  We then went home on a way nice bus for like an hour and a half.  Buses are super fun!  The next day we had district meeting and painted a room in a kindergarten school place!  I got paint all over my hands trying to paint behind this coat rack type thing. Then we met again with B and found out that he works everyday besides Monday through Friday so it will be hard for him to come to church again.  But it was still a good lesson! Our taxi driver was cool on the way over and he gave us his number and we met with him the next day and he brought his girlfriend.  He isn't super interested in the gospel right now but he is really nice.  He took us to a hill over the town and we overlooked Ussuriysk.

On Saturday we had sports night and I got to throw around a football which is something I haven't done for a long time.  It was great!  We played soccer and again I tried to cross it and it went in the goal!

Then on Sunday we went over to S's and he made us a homemade apple pie!  And we met with this guy who came in the church whose name is O.

Love,

Elder Wilding

Doing splits with my hometown boy Elder Bodily

Russia

Dinner

 

Grand Week

Dear всe,

Grand week it has been!  I got burnt pretty bad at our branch picnic but now it is turning into a way nice tan.  I cut so much wood this week!!!!!!  And went on splits with Elder Sieboch. The weather keeps on being nice and we even went to sleep to a rain storm last night with thunder and lightning!  It was wonderful!

Last Monday after finishing up with the weekly email service we went to a Russian Orthodox temple or a храм.  We had to change out of our missionary clothes into our street clothes.  They were having some kind of service when we went in.  Three men singing praises and a few people in there.  The priests kept on coming out and reading the scriptures but singing them!  It was really cool!  They have beautiful voices and the art in there is very interesting.  All the women have to cover their head with a towel or something when they go in but other than that most of the people in there besides the priests were just wearing normal clothes. 

We met with Mr. W our Chinese investigator who is trying to learn English about everyday this week until Friday when he had to go back to renew his visa.  He is starting to believe in God and he loves to study the gospel!  We go through the restoration pamphlet with him in English and he studies it before our lessons and then we go over it with him and after he has us quiz him to see if he understands!  Since we knew he was going to be leaving soon we gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese.  If is a really really slow process to teach him so we hadn't even got to the Book of Mormon.  When we gave it to him he said, "No I don't want it I need to study the gospel" haha!  And then we explained what it was and he said he would read and pray everyday!  His prayers get better and better every time we meet with him.  His prayers are very simple but so very sincere.  He is amazing!  It is so sad that his visa had to run out and now he is going to be gone for a month.  

On Sunday we had a man named B attend.  He said we called him but I don't remember it.  He wants to become a member of the church he said and he really liked sacrament meeting.  When I was talking to him I learned that he has 3 sisters.  All of them are doctors haha.  And one of them lives in Australia and has forgotten many Russian words he says.  He speaks faster than anyone I have ever talked to but I am excited for the challenge!  We are going to meet with him tonight after family home evening.

Like I already said in the introduction, I chopped so much wood at C's!  I don't know what was up but I was on fire and was one swing splitting almost everything!  It is a day to be remembered!

Yesterday while on our way to a lesson, this little boy about 5 years old came running toward us screaming as if someone was chasing him.  He ran right past us and kept on going until he was out of sight.  Haha no one ever came chasing him, he was just running and screaming.  Earlier in the week we had a picnic near a big blue lake.  We roasted shishkabobs.  They were marinated to perfection!  And we had more than enough!  We had a really good time relaxing near the water skipping rocks and playing soccer.  President Z even took a swim and grabbed the soccer ball when it got kicked in the water.

On Tuesday night Ussirysk might as well had been called America.  We met more people who speak English than I have ever met in my life.  P and his brother A, we just met outside the church and Peter spoke perfect with no accent at all.  I had to keep on questioning if it was Taylor or not because they were twins.  But I guess that isn't anything new.  Coach Funk, Uncle Scott and Taylor that covers about 60% of Russia's population.

Love you all!  Thanks for all the love and strength given to me through you letters and prayers!  

Elder Wilding

Dear family and friends,

I've got my salmon colored tie on with a red pen in my shirt pocket and am ready to write this thing.

To increase my effectiveness in the mornings and nights I made a schedule of all the things I would do in that set time and set the time of how long they would all take and I planned it out perfectly.  They first test that came was the next morning when I woke up and completely didn't follow the schedule at all.  Well at least I tried but by the second day it is as if I never made one.  Planning is fun and easy, but doing that is much harder.  

This week started with me seeing the beautiful streak of lightning across the sky.  Marking my first lightning seeing in the large kingdom of Russia and also the quickest rain storm in all of history.  It was awesome! I just had told Sister P the day earlier that I wished it would thunder and lightning here because it never does and then was blessed with that.  But it did end amazingly quick.  We went out with our heaviest coats and then regretted the decision 5 minutes later.  We played basketball again with Ev and his friend from China came this time.  A, our neighbor, and the other Elder's investigator is going to a boat show in Vlad soon.  Apparently there are going to be boats from all around the world.

We had an outstanding lesson with G.  I met him with Elder Crabb but it has been hard meeting with him so this was our first official lesson with him.  We taught the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was great! Sister P was on it and she really helped us out so much.  That lesson was completely changed by the fact that she was there.  Members are so great!  We had some good conversations with people on the streets in the short time we were able to be on the streets.  I saw a girl that looked just like a girl I went to high school with just a little more Russian.  

At C's house we didn't get to do any service because he took us around his green fields and showed us this little pond and this big tree that we all climbed on.  Unfortunately we had to leave a little early because we had lessons to go to.  He just got a fresh load of logs just waiting to be cut.  Next week!

Sports Night began this last week.  We planned on having a ton of people show but we ended up only having about 8.  But that was ok because me and Elder Sieboch went and played soccer with Muslims from many different countries who spoke many different dialects.  I don't know about he others, but one of them spoke 7 languages including English.  He was from Kazakhstan.  They were pretty good and some were wearing Real Madrid jerseys.  I had the ball one time and tried to do a cross to my fellow team mates for them to head it in but the ball just ended up going through the goal instead haha!  

Church was good.  A couple of our speakers showed up late.  So you know what that means.  Yep you guessed it that means that the missionaries get to speak.  Elder Hess got up first and gave a talk on humility.  I thought I was safe because I was the farthest Elder away from the stand and that distance gave me comfort.  But after Elder Hess's remarks we sang a hymn and I am the branch's conductor.  So I come up and conduct the song and then on the way back to my seat I see that it would be difficult to make it back so I sit on one of the empty chairs on the 2nd row.  Big mistake.  Elder Hess then gets up and announces that I would be the next speaker.  I had about 3 seconds from the time I found out I was to speak and the actual speaking part.  I decided to speak on service.  It went a lot better than expected and I think I took about 10 minutes or so.  I was amazed how most of the Russian seems to come out.  So all in all it was a great experience.  I was actually thinking the other day that something like this hasn't happened to me on my mission yet and then it happened.

Me and Elder Roosa were taking the trash out of the church and on our way to the trash can we heard and saw this little red thing hit the ground.  Somebody threw a strawberry at us and failed to hit their target.  We looked up and saw somebody draw away from the window.  Me and Elder Roosa both wish that it would have hit us and that it would have been more than one strawberry, but what do you do?

At home in our kitchen the stove that we have is an elements stove which means it doesn't have an open flame, it's like Grandpa and Grandma Jo's.  Well Saturday morning that element stove top became a fire burning stove.  I woke up and went and threw some eggs on the frying pan and made way nice eggs  I took the pan off the stove to wash it and I hear the sound of a flame.  I look behind me and the stove top is on fire.  The flame is about as tall as 2 or 3 pencils stacked on each other.  Luckily, it went out super quick but I was prepared, I got a wet rag and threw it over the stove.  Elder Roosa made french fries the night before and I didn't even realize that there was still oil all over the stove.  Crisis averted.  

Last story, my allergies have been going off like never before on my mission.  I sneezed probably 200 times in one day or more and it was awful.  At game night a sister in the ward asked if she could help me.  I wasn't sure what to expect but said yes.  She put her hand on my shoulder and starred at me in the eyes and as I started to walk away after a little bit, she took her and off and said that soon I would be better.  Haha it has been a pretty crazy week!

Love,

Elder Wilding

Service at C's

My study socks - my study face

Eternal Flame, Circus, Russia,  ?

I taped the brethren on the wall and the 1st presidency on the TV

Temple at night

Love It Here

My dear family and friends,

How great is it that I can be here in Russia!  It is absolutely wonderful!  I am so lucky to get called here

To start I have good and bad news,  We played basketball with week! But the bad news is that I am incredibly out of shape.  I was running around about as fast as I could go for the first 10 minutes and then after that my body seemed to shut down.  But the basketball was really fun nevertheless!  We had to pay 80 rubles to play and we played with me and Elder Hess and Elder Sieboch on my team vs Elder Roosa and Evgenni and Vlastik.  They were actually pretty good.  We are going to play again tomorrow!  This whole game was a wake up call for me.  I have committed to eat so much healthier and drink water like there's no tomorrow!  So I need to know what I could eat that is really healthy!

In our weekly English practice we asked for what people want for upcoming English practice.  We got a few answers but the best one was from our friend Mr. Eugene who asked if we would base an English practice on "The History of Kitchens" haha!  And then another person who knows English pretty well said this way weird complicated sentence of big words jumbled together to show off his English.  Good thing we didn't make any promises that we would do the things they suggested or we would be in trouble.

V has been sick and no meetings with him.  Egor our new investigator came to game night and picked up UNO faster than any Russian I've ever seen.  That may sound weird but it takes a while for them to pick it up.  

I thought I would get out of planting potatoes this year because I am about as far away from the garden as I could be.  But the job followed me here, at C's we planted his huge field full of potatoes.  He is going to have the greatest harvest!

Elder Hess's visa came to an end so he jumped on a plane to Korea and we had a trio for a little bit with Elder Sieboch.  Being with more elders is always loads of fun!  We went over to Casha's from English and he fed us apple pie!

We really haven't had any time on the street this week.  It's really good but when I feel like a missionary the most is when I am street contacting and when our schedule is full with meeting people and going to meetings, which is the ideal.  It sometimes feels like we aren't working as hard.  Of course, it's great what were doing it just feels like that.

We had 4 less actives at church yesterday!  For 2 of them all we did was call and for the other we meet with her and her grandson.  It takes only an invitation sometimes to get people back.

In studies I am reading the New Testament about Christ and his ministry and my goal is to finish the whole thing.  

I didn't keep good notes this week of what happened but next week I will!

Love you!  Thanks for the support and love!

Elder Wilding

РОССИЯ

Welcome to the world of Chum Chum

The famous Ashley's

Korea from the air

KOREA

Streets of Korea

Korean Temple Grounds

Korean Temple

 Korean Temple and Temple Grounds

 

President's Visit

Dear home,

This week flew by.  I guess that is nothing new.  President and Sister Perkinson came this week!  They interviewed all of us and Sister Perkinson brought cookies and other treats which were delicious!

Last Monday after we emailed you we went to the store called Moscow and did this ride type thing.  It was basically a roller coaster only it couldn't move forward or side to side, only rotate and go upside down and do flips.  It would have cost at least 15-20 dollars in America.  But in good old Russia, only 200 rubles, which is barely over 3 dollars.  That is one of the nice things about having a trainee, the things about Russia that make it unique and awesome I often forget about because that is just how it is, but Elder Roosa is constantly surprised by how cheap everything is haha.  I sometimes get annoyed when something is a little more that I think it should be but compared to the price in America it is a steal of a lifetime.  Grocery shopping will probably never be the same for me when I get home.  ладно.

Serving at K's is the best!  We get to chop wood for service!  I don't know if it is because I have been out here 10 months or what it is, but I absolutely love cutting wood!  And now that the weather is so nice, service is even more amazing!  He is from Malodovia and he spoke a little of his native tongue for us.  Cool language.

We keep on calling S and his phone keeps on making the beeping noise that we have no idea what it means.  We are afraid that because he is a sailor that he got called out to sea.  He was progressing so fast and wanted to follow the right path to God so badly.  We have no idea what happened.

Spring is here and the town knows it!  They are getting fountains set up and painting the city pretty colors and doing repairs on broken stuff.  And the weather is amazing with a little breeze and cool temperature!  I know it won't last long so I am trying to savor it while I still can!

We FINALLY watched General conference!  It was inspiring.  The talks were all great and I was really impressed with the choir this year.  For whatever session that the Logan choir sang, I saw a few people I know -  that was cool!  We watched the Saturday sessions in a different room in English but on Sunday we watched it in Russian with the members.  I could hear enough of the hushed English and understood enough of the Russian that I was able to get most of what they said out of it.  But conference truly is amazing on your mission!

Learned a truth while planning for an event.  We were planning for game night and in the past it has been good but we didn't ever get that many people so we tried to make it better.  The truth I learned is that a little extra work can make a huge difference.  We planned for it just a little longer and better and game night was way better than before.  The little things make the biggest difference.

Like I said at the top, President and his wife came and visited our branch.  They interviewed all of us and that was so cool.  He is so wise and I love talking to him!  He told me and the others to try to get a more natural approach to people and maybe not always go with the gospel approach, but just talk to people and ask them about them and try and get them to ask us why we are here instead of that being the first thing we say.  Me and Elder Roosa are going to start trying to find basketball courts to play at in the summer!  Russians are so bad at basketball so we should be fine.

That's it for this week.  I don't know if not a lot happened or if I just forgot everything but like I said this week flew.

I love you all!

Elder Wilding

 

(Pictures from President's visit - letter at bottom)

Elder's Wilding, Seibach, Hess, Artyom, Roosa, Branch President Zagarodny and President Perkinson

What the weather did to my umbrella

Dacha land

My way nice sweater

Statue  - - - Our view

Dacha land

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Letter from President and Sister Perkinson:
Dear Brother and Sister Wilding,

It has been a lovely day in Ussuryisk today! We were able to drive up from Vladivostok, which is about a couple of hours away, to visit the Branch. We want to report that we found the Branch in good hands! 

Ussuryisk is a wonderful town because it seems to be very family oriented with schools and play grounds all around the town. That is also true of the Ussuryisk Branch members who understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and honestly do their best to live it!

Today our Sacrament Meeting was the rebroadcast of the 186th General Conference. Saturday's session was rebroadcasted yesterday. We had 23 members in attendance including our wonderful missionaries! The members provided lunch for everyone!

It was a spiritual feast indeed! At lunch we asked some of the members to tell us what was their favorite part about what they had heard. Some of the sisters scrambled to find their notes and read their favorite parts to the rest of us! It is wonderful to recognize their desire to continue on this path of righteous living by following the guidance and council from our living prophets and apostles! 

We are grateful for your son and the time and talents that he is sharing here in Ussuryisk! Thank you for your many prayers in behalf of all of the missionaries around the world, and especially for your prayers in behalf of our Vladivostok Mission. 

Warmly,

President and Sister Perkinson

Vladivostok Russia Mission

Walking On Rain

Good Morning everyone!!!  It is exactly 12:14 over here in far east Russia and the heavens are open pouring down rain as well as blessings.  I got my nice Renick sweater on, everything is good!

As well as my sweater I bought a Panther's hat.  Who would have thought that I would find that here?  Not me.  Right when I saw it, I lunged right over to the cashier and bargained for the hat.  I seriously got it for about 3-5 dollars.  It was a steal.  All the people from China run the Renick down here.  And some of them speak less Russian than me.  All they know is numbers and да.  But they seem to make a decent living because they all have the newest iPhone.  

Speaking of the weather, the umbrella I was sent out here with had it's first test.  I was out for maybe 10 minutes and the wind and rain destroyed it.  The wind first caught it up from underneath the clothes and broke the little wire parts but before long the "solid" main pole snapped in half.  But I like the rain so I probably wouldn't have used it anyway.  Russia:1  Umbrella:0

I was able to watch the first session of conference.  We downloaded on the church computer and transferred the file onto a flash and watched it at home.  I was really impressed with all the talks.  Especially the talk given by Elder Hallstorm.  When he read the words from the 7th verse of How Firm a Foundation, the spirit of God entered my soul so strongly and lasted until he finished the lyrics so that I could never deny what I felt.  It was an amazing experience of which I immediately wrote about it in my journal.  I was taught the more you value what the Lord gives you the more you will be given.

And as for investigators,  S:  He came into our lesson and said that he had been memorizing scriptures haha!  He acts on things we don't even invite him to do.  He didn't come to church last week and he told us that his faucet broke and was spraying water all over the place right around the time of church. He told us he thought it was the devil keeping him from coming. We told him he was right and that since he has a baptismal date Satan would try his best to keep him from it. He is so wonderful!  We taught him the word of wisdom which he basically already follows and also tithing and fasting.  He committed to follow both!  

V:  He is changing!  When were at his house in earlier lessons it was sometimes hard to breath because he never showered.  But he showered now and cleaned up his place and was wearing nice clothes I had never seen him wear.  The gospel is amazing what it does to people.

We went less active finding and went clear down to a place that could be called Pakistan.  It looked just like what I would image Pakistan looks like.  There were even people that are most likely from Pakistan who lived there.  It was a strange place.  But it was fun!

Please tell Brother Swalwell and Sister Hillman thanks for the package!  It was so great to receive it!  It means a lot!

During language study Baba A called us (she is the lady that we take the sacrament to her house) and said we needed to help her fix her TV remote because it was broken.  We went over there and all I had to do was put the same batteries that were in the remote in again and everything worked.  Then she had us sit down and told us everything about her life.

On Saturday night Elder Hess called and told me that the following morning I would be giving a talk.  Haha missions.  I wasn't stressed or concerned at all though.  I don't know why.  I was able to do it too without any sweat.  It was cool.  Everything went well.  It is probably because I prayed first.

Sister P is going to the temple in Korea this week so we have been helping her on family search find her ancestors to do.  It is amazing that even these people in Russia can find and go do the saving ordinances for their ancestors.  She is so excited for the temple!  It takes great sacrifice for them to go.  But that doesn't discourage them in the slightest.  It only makes the temple more sweet.  Their examples are amazing.

So yesterday on our way home.  Three Asian's yelled at us in English.  They wanted to find Burger King.  They didn't speak any Russian.  I gladly showed them the way and on the way down I talked to one of them.  He spoke English fluently.  He was from Seoul and was on vacation here.  He said he loves Russia and that it is very beautiful and now he plans on learning Russian because he liked it so much.  It was cool to talk to him.

Well, that does it for this week.  I hope you all have a good week and attend the temple.  

Love

Elder Wilding

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 

Happy Easter

Dear everyone,  

This week was awesome!  It started off by me buying a way stylish hat from a store nearby.  I don't know how to describe it other then by a movie I have never seen but all the other missionaries call it this.  A "newsies" hat.  Or like a golfing hat.  It is great.  So many people wear them down here.  I got a gray one to match my suit.  Apparently it makes me look English though.  We went back to the hospital this week to try to speak with the doctor.  And when his nurse was talking to him she said that two English men want to talk to him haha.  We went in to see him and he asked us what we wanted to know and stuff.  But we were only planning on setting an appointment so that we could come back later with planned written down questions but he wanted it now so I asked how he became a doctor and he said something like 6 years of school and then something online and then he told us that until I was studying that anything he told me would be of no use to me because I wouldn't be using it and then we left.  Even though it didn't go how we planned, we learned something.  You have to go with prepared questions or they will kick you out.  We are going to try a different hospital next week.  

While going through the area book we came to a mans name and this is what it said "АКОП" but the last letter was written to look like n. And we thought it might possibly be the singer.  So I called him and said "Hello, is Akon there" haha.  Turns out his name is A_ _ _ and he is mostly from yzbakistan or something because that is not a Russian name.  There are a lot of people like that here.

Lesson with V_ _ _ _ _ _ was pretty good.  We said that God was his Heavenly Father which he kinda struggles with understanding.  And he also prayed!  But the shocker is when he arrived to church for sacrament meeting!  He came right after the sacrament was administered but he still came!  This is huge - he has never come before!  Elder Crabb called him and told him it was his last Sunday in this city.  Speaking of that we got transfers this week.  Elder Crabb is going to Vlad to be with Elder Lyman and I am staying in Ussuriyisk and will be training again.  My new Trainee's name is Elder Roosa.  I know nothing about him besides the picture that I have seen on the transfer paper.  He looks like a great guy though.  I am excited to train again but this came as a huge surprise.  I thought for sure me and Elder Crabb were going to be together another 6.  I am going to miss him.  I have been immensely blessed with great companions on my whole mission.  Training is fun but the fact that I will be the one with the most Russian is always a little daunting.  But I have learned that the Lord qualifies those he calls.  A promise that I am the uttermost thankful for.  I couldn't have made it this far without that promise.  God is good.  Elder Roosa arrives is a few days and I will take a bus down to Vlad with Elder Crabb and then he will go on his visa trip and I will spend a day or two in Artyom with Elder Gardner until Elder Roosa arrives and then I think we are going to get a ride back in a van.  Logistics for this mission are crazy.  I don't know how they do it.  

On our weekly service this week for Brother Constantine.  The other elders found 3,200 rubles on the ground in the middle of the street.  They picked it up figuring it was ours and then came and did service and then after when they realized that it wasn't ours we didn't know what to do.  So we prayed that God would inspire or give us revelation to whose money it was.  After the prayer we still didn't know, so then we knocked on doors.  We went door to door asking if anyone had lost money.  We didn't want to do this at first because we figured that everyone would just say yes and then try to guess the amount but to my surprise and pleasure everyone was honest and actually tried to help us find the right person.  It might have just been because we were four Americans in a tiny little farm land place but the word got around and people started popping out of their houses to come watch us.  We went to this Asian lady's house and rang the bell and she came out and said that she lost nothing.  So we headed back out to the street when she comes running out of the house with her son and asks how much we found and we said we wouldn't tell her and then she said was it 3,200?  And we were surprised and said yes and gave her the money.  It turns out her grandson was walking home and it fell out of his pocket.  It was a miracle for God to answer our prayer that fast and directing us where to go.  Then after on the way home we all stopped and had a prayer of gratitude for the help.

Thank you so much for the birthday package it was awesome!  Somehow I manged to wait until my birthday to open the presents.  I love the presents!  Also Sister Perkinson called me and wished me happy birthday which was so nice!  I had a great birthday.  I didn't really do anything but Elder Crabb gave me a jar of peanut butter which was much better than a cake!

Thanks for all the letters and support.  I love serving out here!  

Love,

Elder Wilding

My birthday presents

My way nice hat and birthday Panther pajamas and socks

Our way nice meal

Tiger of Ussuriysk

My district