You Could Say That It's Cold

Good Day Everyone!

It has been another successful and fun week.  I'm so glad I am still in Angarsk.  The language it still a struggle but it is coming!  Thanks everyone for the letters, it is a delight to read them all!

This week we had some sick elders.  On Monday Elder De Sandre got sick.  On Tuesday Elder Sumner got sick.  And on Wednesday Elder Lyman got sick.  Luckily, actually by the grace and mercy of God I was spared from the sickness.  Just like I was in the MTC when everyone got sick who was in my room.  Heavenly Father has truly blessed me with good health like I was promised.  It's a huge testimony builder for me and a miracle.  Even with everyone sick I only had to stay in on Monday.  That was okay though because it was only for 3 hours that we would have been proselyting and I got a lot of Russian studies in.  I went out with Elder Lyman on Tuesday and it just like the old days.  On Wednesday Elder De Sandre was healthy again so we went out when the other elders recovered.  Everyone is healthy now and going to work.

I don't know it was kinda weird this week we talked with so many Jehovah Witnesses.  I have been surprised by how many I have met in Russia.  We were walking home with a member and I asked them if they have fallen this winter and it was like magic, right when I said that the member fell haha.  

The temperature dial right before we left the house was between -38 and -39.  When I go out my shopka and scarf just freeze up way bad and I'll try to take a picture and send it next week because it is pretty cool looking.  About every time I go out this week my eye lashes have froze.  It is a really cool feeling.  But right when we go inside everything melts.  My guess is that it got -40 Celsius in the night and that is actually -40 Fahrenheit as well.  It's good though.  I can say I know what cold is.  But honestly when we layer up we are perfectly warm.  We just have to go in stores or others places every once in while.

We had a really good lesson with Egor this week.  He came to the church and we simply read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and bore our testimony of the truthfulness and expounded on the chapter a little bit.  He told us he would read everyday.  He is a really special guy going through some hard things right now and could use the good news of the gospel.  We are lucky to be teaching him.

OK, I know I said this last week but I am actually going to send a ton of pictures this week!

I love this mission of mine!

Love Elder Wilding

Your son at Lake Baikal

Welcome to the throne

Hotel in Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Beautiful Blue Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Beautiful blue Lake Baikal and my way nice hat

Lake Baikal

Me just loving Baikal

Me and Elder Lyman at Lake Baikal

Just a taste of what it gets like getting gains in the frozen tundra

In center or в центр

In center or в центр

Approaching Santa's ice sleigh reindeer from the front and frozen trees

Tell Bryce I say, "peace"...

New Years

Our way nice set up

Nesting dolls

Christmas Deliveries

Hello everyone!

This week was really fun and we had a lot more lessons then we usually do so we weren't on the streets so much which was nice!  I got your package!  Thank you it was really great!  It was so cool to get all that stuff from you!  Also please tell the Swalwells and Hilmans thank you from me for sending me a package!  

It is about -36 right now so you would think that my allergies would be under control because everything that I could be possibly allergic to is frozen.  Wrong.  My allergies have been going nuts this week.  Worse than it has been in a long time.  But the Lord has been there when I needed Him and when I gave my talk in church I didn't sneeze once and also during district meeting I didn't.  

We have been delivering our pictures of Jesus to the members for Christmas and it is really amazing to see the the look on their face when they open it up and realize that it is Christ, the Savior.  I love delivering it to them.  But one of the members we gave it to was a little too zealous and put it up on his wall as fast as he could without securing it properly and it fell to the ground with a  big bang.  Luckily the frame didn't break or the glass and all there was was a little dent.  That was a miracle in itself.  The only bad part of the lesson was after it when he insisted on giving us something to drink.  He only had green tea (which he thought was OK but we told him it wasn't and he said he would get fruit tea from now on) and we told him we wouldn't drink it, so he grabbed these two little milk cartons out of his fridge and gave them to us.  That milk was either sour or poisonous or something because it was completely awful.  But I somehow managed to get it all down but when Elder De Sandre drank it he thought it was just as bad as I did but he made the mistake of drinking the cup of boiling water that was on the table.  I felt bad for him but it was funny what he said when he just kind of yelled, "oh that's hot" haha.  He had a woman over at his house when we came and she was on the lesson and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it!  She also said she would come to church but didn't this Sunday because she was sick.

We bought some orange juice this week.  I missed that stuff so much.  I used to drink so much of that stuff back at home.  We bought 3 containers of it and it wasn't long before they were all gone.  

I think I said in my last letter how I lost a lot of my stuff.  Well, I found a lot of it this week!  Thank goodness, I was starting to think I was cursed.  

We delivered another Christ picture to another member and while we were there they showed us a pictures of their wedding.  I think I now understand why pictures of ancestors or just old pictures looked like they were always mad or not satisfied.  I think in America and other places we have figured out how to smile.  But in Russia some people are still figuring it out.  They did a lot of the same poses that most wedding couples do but they just weren't smiling and it looks kinda funny.  I think that is where the stereotype comes from that Russians don't smile.  Because these people are always going and laughing and smiling.  But just not for a picture.  

I have so many pictures I need to send home so I will end it here.

I love you all

Elder Wilding  

Baikal

Wow it is already time to write again!  

We went to Baikal today.  It is a beautiful place there.  I drank the water right out of the massive lake.  The water was so clear.  Baikal is so huge!  It looks just like the ocean.  If only we had fishing poles.  After looking at the lake and taking pictures we went to the main reneek and I bought a nesting doll for you mom (it's purple) and a few other things.  We also ate плов which is like fried rice and chicken and pork and also шашлыки which is like a shish kabob.  The food was good then we hopped on a taxi back to Irkutsk and from there a bus back to Angarsk.  It was fun and I would definitely want to go again but it is in total four hours of travel so it isn't something you want to do every p-day.  

I almost forgot, this week was New Years. HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!  The Russians love it so much.  It is their favorite holiday.  it is basically Christmas for them.  They still have Christmas but it isn't as anticipated for as New Years.  When we went out on New Years the streets were basically empty, I guess everybody partied a little too hard the night before.  Seriously it was odd how few people were on the streets, we took a tramby and we were the only ones on it and they are usually loaded.  It was still fun to be what you could of called a ghost town.  We had to go in at 5 pm.  We did weekly planning in that time instead of doing it on Friday.  And then we played ping pong the rest of the time.  Somebody sent Elder Lyman a mini ping pong net and a ball and two small paddles.  So naturally we moved our kitchen table into the living room and had tournaments of ping pong.  You need to send me one of those mom!  The whole time we played we could hear fireworks outside and could see a few.  It is actually kind of funny because they celebrate for about 10 days.  It starts on New Years and ends a little after Christmas (Jan 7th).  So we will be out contacting and fireworks will be going off behind you or in front of you.  It is so fun!  I wish it was like this all the time!

The struggle this week is that I have been losing stuff like crazy.  I lost my book that I have been keeping for 19 weeks about what happens in the week so right now I am having trouble remembering.  i also lost a hacky sack Elder De Sandres  mom gave to me for Christmas and just yesterday I lost my planner.  It was a good time to lose it I guess though because we were on our last day but this is just getting out of hand (literally!). 

It has been getting warmer and we have been on the streets a lot so that is a blessing.  The transfer ended this week and all four of us elders are staying here in Angarsk but the sisters are both out of here but are staying together and going to Khabarovsk I think.  I get to train Elder De Sandre for 6 more weeks which I am excited for.  Oh I just remembered something!  Last night when we were calling the sisters like we do every night they didn't pick up and their phone was native stupen.  So me and Elder Lyman figured that we would run over to their place to just make sure everything was OK.  We ran there and once we got there this police car pulled up with his lights on and asked what we were doing and Elder Lyman told him we were checking on our friends.  They asked for our documents and we gave them to them and everything worked out, they thought it was a little strange that we were running at 10:30 at night but everything was fine.  We called the sisters through the door phone but it was just ringing and nobody was answering.  Then the sisters called us and said that somebody was outside of their door calling their room haha.  They could see us through their window but thought that we were somebody different.  We told them it was us and they were so glad because they were so scared before they knew.  Haha that was the first time I have had a police even talk to me my whole mission.  They were really good guys though.

Well sorry I can't really remember much else that happened but I am going to buy another notebook so that I will next time.  Tell Weston поздравляю for me.

I love you all!

Elder Wilding

Good Week in Russia, Bad Week in America

Dear family and friends,

It was really great to talk to you on Christmas!  It was something that I really took for granted before.  My Christmas was great and fun!  The weather is starting to warm up here a little bit.  Had a good English practice : Christmas Edition.

We set an baptismal date for Egor this week and if all goes well Yuri will get baptized tomorrow.  Elder Lyman and Sumner are teaching him right now but me and Elder Lyman found him and it is great to see him progress in his faith.  He had to come to church this Sunday if he wanted to get baptized.  We were all worried when sacrament started without Yuri.  But we just placed it in the hands of the Lord and he showed up!   It was a miracle!

Me and Elder Sumner were on splits this week and had an outstanding day.  I swear the streets were prepared for us because of how many people we were able to talk to and share our message and receive their numbers.  I wasn't really sure how it was going to go at first but it was one of the best contacting days I have had on my whole mission!

My Christmas was awesome!  We were hoping and praying that we could do some service on Christmas.  We couldn't find anything and just planned to contact and do what we always do.  But while we were planning Egor called us and asked us to help him with a pemont (repair) on a wall in his house.  When we arrived I saw chunks of broken wall scattered all over the floor and Egor with a dumbbell in his hand smashing the wall.  It was quite a site and he told us in broken English,  "This is man work".  We ended up throwing the broken wall out of his window that is 2 stories up.  It was fun.

On Christmas Eve we bought a ton of Twixes and some brownie mix and made Twix brownies.  I will send some pictures it was a glorious creation and it tasted so good except the Twixes got a little burnt.  We also watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas that I found in Vlad and brought it here and wrapped it up and put it under our Christmas tree like a present.  It was great to watch and feel the true meaning of Christmas.

The weather has been pretty cold but it has started to warm up.  I think the coldest it got was -35.  I just about got frost bite but it was cool feeling a cold that I have never felt before in my whole life.  The nice thing about the cold is that you can just keep on putting clothes to get warm but with the heat you can only take off so much.

The reason my email say bad week in America is because the Panthers lost.  Dang it.  I thought they were going to have the perfect season.  At least we have the Superbowl we can still win.

Sorry this letter is so short!  I'll try to do better!  I am having a great time out here!  I love it!  I wish everyone a happy new year!

Elder Wilding

Siberia

For you Mom

Our Stockings

Thy son

Twix Brownies

Cooking

Thine son

Korea

Korean Temple

*From Elder Wilding's mom:
The Skype that almost didn't happen.

After waiting for almost two hours from the set time to Skype on Christmas Day we received this email :

Dear Parents,

Living here in Russia is an amazing opportunity, each new day brings a new experience and challenges. Today in the USA its Christmas, the magic is all around you.  Your missionary has been looking forward to this day for a long time, that once or twice a year experience to “Phone Home” however the internet here is not as reliable as we would like, and today unfortunately has been one of those days.

If you are receiving this email it’s because your missionary has called us, Elder and/or Sister Anderson and they have been disappointed and frustrated in trying to reach you! We are very sorry for this inconvenience. They Love You! They are Safe! And believe me when I say they wish they could be “Home for the Holidays”. But they are serving the Lord and today Christmas Day they will be acting as a servant of Christ, sharing the gospel with those who need them EVEN more than you do.

Wishing you and your family,

Merry Christmas!

Elder & Sister Anderson

For and in behalf of,

Elder Wilding

We were pretty let down but decided to be positive and pray that he was not feeling worse than we were since he is the one so far away from home.  Then we received this email about an hour later: 
Hello this is Elder Lyman from Angarsk. We've been having some problems. We Your sons will be calling from skype in about an hour to 2 hours.

 He looked SO great and sounded even better!  He is happy and immersed in the Lord's work!  We couldn't be prouder of this boy!  Best Christmas present ever!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

What an opportunity it is to celebrate the birth of our Redeemer!  Without Christ we wouldn't have this holiday.  We should all strive to remember the true meaning and give thanks to our Heavenly Father for giving his only begotten son who died for us.  Who made it possible for us to live again with him. Who suffered indescribable pain and suffering for each of us.  He was perfect and his friends betrayed him.  How wonderful his birth and magnificent his life.  How horrible his death, but how glorious his resurrection!  He satisfied the demands of justice and gives out unending mercy.  How much we all owe him but how little we can pay.  But he accepts it and pays the rest. In our weaknesses he makes us strong.  I am grateful beyond words for him and for what he has done for us. The little baby boy born in Bethlehem.   

This week was really good.  We were on the streets a lot and it was pretty cold but I'm in Russia so everything is fine.  I think that a lot.  You are in Russia.  It blows my mind every time.  On our way to Hari Krishna this week (we always take a bus there) our bus stop came and I told Elder De Sandre a little late that it was ours and it was our time to get off.  So I got off and looked back at the bus and there I saw elder De Sandre pushing through people and he got right in front of the doors just about to step out, then all of a sudden the doors shut and the bus took off down the road.  I started laughing so hard.  Haha, I was with the other Elders because we both went and we were all dying laughing.  We see down the road a ways where the buses next stop was Eler De Sandre jump out of the bus and start running to us.  He told us that right when the doors shut he yelled "блын" which means pancake in Russia but they use it as dang it (we were only speaking Russian) and he tried to push the button that tells the bus driver to stop but it wasn't working he said.  He is a good guy and he thought it was really funny too.

Elder De Sandre's mom sent with him stockings for him and his future companion (me) so we went out and bought treats to stuff in the stockings.  Besides that and the tree that is going to be our Christmas here.  Oh yeah and we bought presents for each other too.  He was saying when he first got here that he was sad that he left his knife at home because it would be so useful here, so I bought him a way nice knife from spetnaz (military store) I think he will love it.

Like I was saying about Hari Krishna, we go there and serve but there are also people who are a part of their religion who help serve.  A few weeks ago we met one of those people there and he asked for our number so we could talk about religion and stuff.  We met with him this week and he said he is looking for truth and we taught him the first lesson with Slava.  I didn't really do anything besides call Slava and him because when we started teaching it was basically just Slava and him talking to each other.  The lesson was good and he came to game night, and this game night we watched the first presidency Christmas devotional.  He watched it and I didn't get to catch him after it was over to ask how he liked it because he had to get home but I loved it and hope he did to.  He was showing us pictures on his phone of his friend who is an Olympic champion.  That was pretty cool.  

I should be seeing you before I write again so until then I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  

I love you all!

Elder Wilding

Me and Elder De Sandre in Siberia

A Christmas tree at festival (store)

The Frozen Tundra

My way nice meal

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

 

I Am Finally Back Home!

It is so good to be back home in Angarsk.  I had a phenomenal time in Vlad but there is just something about Angarsk.  I had a good reunion on Sunday with all the church members. I am starting to understand a lot more!  It is still pretty hard for me to say what I want but that will come.  I have a few lessons now where I was the oldest one and they all went better than expected.  The Lord definitely qualifies those he calls.

We had our conference this week with the whole mission, and like I said before that is a pretty incredible accomplishment because of how spaced out we all are.  I heard the flight form Vlad to Angarsk is the equivalent of flying from Florida to Washington.    

Before Elder Klebingat came, the Elders had a little priesthood meeting with President while the sisters did the same thing with Sister Perkinson.  In it he talked about respecting women and how what we do on our mission will greatly affect the kind of person we will become.  He also touched on how ever since he got this call to be mission president in far east Russia he has had a strong feeling that the work we do here regarding the Asian population  - that comes and visits or comes and works but then fly back to China or other places that have not the gospel -  will be the building blocks of getting the gospel into those countries and places that don't have it yet.

While contacting on the streets of Vladivostok we were talking with the guy who spoke very good English.  I told him I was from Utah and he said, "Oh Utah jazz, very good team".  I asked him if he knew who Andrei Kirilenko was (a lot of Russians do).  He yelled excited yes and that I looked at him.  I didn't say this but all I could think was, if you think I look like him, you should see my brother Taylor.

During the mission conference with Elder Klebingat, he walked in the door and we all stood up.  Right when he walked in and we got to look at him, you could just tell he is called of God.  He has am article in this months Ensign about when he was first converted.  He is so smart.  He knows the scriptures like the back of his hand.  Someone would ask a question and he would think for a second and put his finger to his head and blurt out this verse in the scriptures and ask us to look it up.  The verses would always answer the question or help make the point he was trying to make.  He told us his way for memorizing.  He first got numbers 0-9 on a paper.  He would write down what ever number represents.  For 1 maybe it is a tree or for 3 maybe the Godhead.  Just anything that makes you think of that number, it doesn't have to be gospel related.  And then he makes a story out of the the numbers that correspond to the verse.  Here was his example: The verse was D&C 84:57 and the verse is about the Book of Mormon and why we should use it.  Here is how he remembers it.  He imagines a Stake Center were he gave a talk on the Book of Mormon.  Inside the stake center he imagines a roller coaster in the middle of the room (represents 8) and then he pictures a car on that roller coaster driving on it (represents 4 (4 wheels))  and then he imagines a hand coming from the ceiling and flicking the car off the roller coaster because they weren't reading the Book of Mormon (represents 5 (5 fingers in a hand)) then he imagines the car flying through the air and the 7 dwarfs running over and catching the car (7).  And whenever he hears the word Book of Mormon and not using it, that story plays in his head and he knows where to find it.  He doesn't memorize the entire verse.  He memorizes the thought and where it is found.  He said when doing it he imagines the colors of everything and the speed of the car.  Simply a ton of details and he tries to make it super weird. He said the more weird the story is the better you will remember it. I started doing it and  for my number 1 I think of Cam Newton.  My 2,  I think of missionaries or Frodo and Sam.  He said it should be personal of what you think of when you think of those numbers.  And that every number should have a least 3 different things.  Like for 1, Cam Newton, a tree and an arrow.  I have tried it and it really works.  It is also really fun! 

This week has been great ! I love all of you. 

Elder Wilding

Snow in Vlad

Vlad

Statue in Vlad

The ocean

The ocean

Street of Vlad

Zone Conference

Zone Conference

From the plane

Elder DeSandre

Our Christmas tree with homemade ornaments