Russian Ballet

So last week we went to a Russian Ballet!  I don't know really what to say about it besides that.  It was pretty impressive I guess haha I don't know.  I'm just glad you never enrolled me in dance mom!  I'll send some pictures because it was a cool experience!

During service this week their weren't that many people at Hari Krishna.  I think my taste buds are starting to change because I'm starting to like vegetables and fruits and even soup a whole lot more than before.  

English Practice this week was awesome!  We played Pictionary and it was way fun!  One of the women there speaks English so well she corrects me sometimes haha.  One of our investigators named Vladimir (the one who told us the whole Joseph Smith story) took us to a little river.  It was way fun!  Right when we got to the river he said "this is the place" just like Brigham Young did when they got to Utah.  Then he told us the exact date Brigham Young said that and where it was haha.  He knows so much about the church, so many little things like that haha.  The river was freezing, I put my hands in it and it's just as cold as Alaska.  The whole place reminded me exactly of Alaska.

It snowed a little bit yesterday.  They always know when the snow in coming to Angarsk because when it snows in some other place in Siberia it always comes to Angarsk just a few days later.  It's been getting colder but won't be Siberia cold until like November or December.  Nikolai is going to be baptized in 2 weeks.  We asked him who he wanted to baptize him and he kinda suggested his friend who introduced us to him but we were at Baba Nina's house (we call her Baba Nina which means Grandma Nina but that's just how it is in Russian), and she is way funny and loves the American Elders and when she heard that question she said you need to get baptized by an American, it's a better experience.  Well, we still tried to get him to choose his friend because that way it's better if they have that person who lives in the branch and not a missionary that will just leave.  He choose Elder Lyman, which is a great choice!  

It's been fun this week and I feel like I have learned a lot more Russian than I used to know!  We went to the Renik which is basically like the swap meet in Hawaii to look for a coat and stuff but when we got there most of the shops were put down because we went kinda late but I think we will go again this week just a little earlier.

I love Russia. I love you all.  Lucky to be here.

Elder Wilding

Russian Ballet

River

Elder Wilding and Elder Lyman

River

Vldamir's truck

With Elder Lyman

Russian Omelet

Hey Family!

Hey Family!

This week was fun!  A man on the street thought we were from Latvia.  Finally!  Some people are starting to think I'm Russian!  It is starting to get cold here.  We found the reenik which is the place where all the missionaries buy their stuff for winter.  I think we are going to go there this week but we will have to go during a dinner hour because it is closed every Monday.  I'll probably buy a coat, nice Russian hat, some gloves, maybe some boots (all the boots have fur on the inside!) Who knows what I'll find there but hopefully I find all that I need?

I got my first haircut in Russia this week.  Nothing different from the haircuts in America.  Except for the fact that the lady cutting my hair asked me like how I wanted my hair cut and I just said "Да" because I didn't understand her at all but somehow she got the message because she did a pretty good job.

English practice was awesome this week!  I'll send you a picture of the sign we put out on the street that is for English practice.  The Sisters were gone on a visa trip so it was just me and Elder Lyman.  We always split into 2 groups, the beginners and the advanced, but last time we had the Sisters so it was easy to split because we would have a companionship to a group.  But because they were gone I had the advanced group and Elder Lyman had the beginners.  I was a little worried that I couldn't lead the discussion because it was my first time teaching or leading without Elder Lyman right next me.  (We just separated in the same room.)  But luckily everyone in my group spoke enough English and I understood enough Russian to get the job done.  It was really fun!  Denil (one of the guys at English practice) said, "Why is your church interesting to learn about, and the church here in Russia is not?" Haha Had just showed a video and the Spirit was strong!

We are teaching another guy from English class named Vladimir.  When we were teaching him the restoration he told us the entire Joseph Smith story haha.  Some people are so prepared here!  He came to church and is reading the Book of Mormon and is an awesome investigator!  A sober man on the street told us God lives on the moon and that he planted us on this earth like carrots and cabbage.

A member of the branch is going on a mission!  We helped him fill out his papers.  It was kinda cool filling out his papers with him because it reminded me of when I did it.  Ruselan is back!  He has been working everyday for the past 6 weeks or so, so we could never meet.  But he's back and ready to meet!

Nikiolai is going to get baptized in 2-3 weeks!  We just got some things we have to work out with him.  He's great and is reading and praying!

Love you all!

Elder Wilding

English Class Sign

Russian Building

Conference

I forgot my book this week where I write down everything that happened during the week but hopefully I can remember some.

We watched general conference this week!  That was incredible!  Those talks were so inspired!  The 3 new apostles are awesome!  I was really impressed with how humble they all were.  In Elder Renlund's talk he talked about how he has done nothing in his life to get him there.  That's how I feel.  I didn't do anything in my life that made it so that I would get called to Russia.  The Lord called me and he needs his work done his way.  I also loved how Elder Renlund talked how if we really want charity we need to look at everyone through the eyes of their parents, even Heavenly Father.  Also Elder Hale's talk was one of my favorites!  I want my future wife to watch Elder Hale's talk and Elder Nelson's talk haha.

We had an awesome English practice this week!  It was a miracle how many people showed up!  We weren't expecting too many but I think like 8-12 people came!  And about half of them were really good at English and half of them basically knew nothing.  We had the advanced group and the Sisters had the beginners.  One of the guys in our group was so interested in us.  He couldn't believe that we left our homes and our families for 2 years for Russia.  We told him we came because we know our church is true!  He thought it was so awesome and we are going to try and schedule a meeting with him so that we can teach him!  Also another miracle.  We were just on the street contacting and stopped a guy and started talking to him and he started talking to us back in English which is always cool because I can actually understand what they are saying!  He is an English teacher named Igor!  He says he met with the missionaries before and has a Book of Mormon.  He said he reads it from time to time and said, "It is interesting how Christ would appear to the people in America also, not just interesting for the Americans but for the whole world."  It was so cool!  He already believes everything, we just need to meet with him.  Russians a lot of the time don't answer their phones though.  We saw him on the street and invited him to come to general conference.  And he asked if we have living day prophets and apostles.  We told him yes.  I was expecting him to say that all of that was done away with in Christ's time but he was like good, the Bible says that's how the church should be run!  He is so golden!

It isn't cold yet.  It snowed once but now it is warm and I'm in a short sleeve.  I will try to find a coat!  I accidentally said goodbye to a guy on the street instead of saying hello.  I yelled "das vidana" at him instead of "zdrasvootiye" and he looked at me with a weird face and said "das vidana" right back at me haha.  

It looks like I will be training in 6 weeks!  Scary!  Hope I learn enough Russian by that time!  Or else I feel bad for whoever I'm training!

This week has been awesome!  Love it here!

Love, Elder Wilding

My District

Apartment

My bed

Conference BABY!!!!

My District

It Snowed

I can't believe Mitch, Derek and Tyler got called to the same mission, that's crazy!

We went to a food stand this week called были.  It is amazing!  It has huge pancakes that they roll up like burritos and fill with chocolate or caramel!  Tastes like heaven!  Also, I have been listening to a lot of Bruce R. McConkie talks.  That man is a genius.  Also I have been trying to get down the Restoration in under 2 min. so that I can share with people on the street.  Memorizing is so huge in learning a language!

On Oct. 1st it snowed all day.  A little boy threw a snowball at us haha, but just because he asked us if we wanted to have a snowball fight with him and we couldn't because we were heading somewhere so Elder Lyman just told him to throw it at us.  The little kid was so happy haha!  But the next day all of the snow melted.  And now it is way hot again.  The weather is so weird right now.  Some days I go out with 2 coats and then the next day with only a short sleeve white shirt.  Probably will go and buy my winter coat sometime soon.  The only problem is the Reenik (the place you go to buy) is closed on Mondays and that's when P-day is.  We might have to go during a dinner hour or something.

I didn't get to watch conference yet.  We get it this week.  I'm way excited!  The branch watches it in Russian together and the missionaries watch it in English and all the missionaries bring a ton of treats!  Can't wait!  Our baptism didn't happen this week because he had to work.  It's so sad.  They work like all the time but still make no money.  That is why baptisms haven't been happening.  People are just always working.  We plan to have him baptized in 2 weeks now.  I really think this one will happen!

I was reading in the teachings of the Prophet's book.  Heber J. Grants.  He talked in it about never being discouraged.  He used Nephi as an example.  Nephi never got discouraged.  When his brothers went and tried to get the plates of brass and failed twice, he didn't murmur but just went and did and relied on the Lord.  And throughout his whole life he is always trusting in the Lord and never murmuring and never getting discouraged.  I want to be like that.  Never be discouraged.    

Also in Nephi, I find it way cool when it talks about when Nephi broke his bow.  He broke his bow and his brothers murmured, even his father the prophet murmured.  What did Nephi do, did he get discouraged?  Did he just stop and complain to God.  No he went and made a bow out of a tree.  Then what is most interesting, he went to his father and asked where he should go hunt.  It was pretty clear that Nephi was supposed to take over after Lehi.  Lehi was old and now was his perfect time to control.  But he didn't. 

"If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is.  But if you treat as if he were what he could be and ought to be, he will become what he ought to be." - Goethe

That is exactly what Nephi did.  He knew what his father should have been and instead of treating him as someone who complained against God, he treated him as his father the prophet who receives inspiration from God.  And that principle applies to all aspects of life.  That is how I am going to start treating my investigators.  As if they kept the commitments we extended to them and in other ways.

I finally had something at a member house I didn't like.  Fish soup.  I ate it though.  I thought I would never get fed by members on my mission but it has happened quite a bit in Angarsk.

I was in a lesson and trying to say, "No person could write the Book of Mormon without God" but what I said is, "No person could read the Book of Mormon without God".   The guy looked at me way weird haha.  But my Russian is getting a ton better!

We made a cool goal.  For every 3 hours we are on the streets contacting, we want one number.  Our first time doing it we didn't have a number 2:40 in but we saw a man on a bench and sat and talked with him and at 2:50 we got one!

I love it here!  Good job mom on qualifying for Boston!

Elder Wilding

It snowed

Cool castle

The moon

Elder Lyman's 20th birthday breakfast

100 Days Plus

What a week!  So fun!

I think you saw the pictures of the hammock we made!  IT'S AWESOME!  

We had a lesson with a man named Denil this week and he has been taking the missionary lessons for a long time and we read a chapter with him in the Book of Mormon.  Mosiah 4.  After reading the chapter he said I have now come to the conclusion that we were created by aliens.  Haha what?  Then he drew that whole plan of salvation or at least what he thinks.  Then he also said that he believes that the universe is God and we got created by atoms rubbing together.  To be honest he has no idea what he believes.  He was vacationing in Thailand for the past month or so and that is why we haven't met with him till now.  Everyone in Russia goes and vacations in Thailand it seems.  

We got home and I had just started to take some of my clothes off and get ready to prepare and eat dinner, when Elder Lyman got a phone call from an investigator saying that they wanted to meet.  We had the rest of our day planned out so the only time to meet would be during our dinner hour.  We agreed to meet instead of eat.  Had an awesome lesson with him and then went to the other lessons we had planned.  The Lord always provides for those in his service.  At our last appointment the lady we were teaching fed us.  Even little things like just getting a meal because we chose to skip a meal, the Lord is always with us to provide tender mercies and even mighty miracles.

A patriarch is coming to our mission in November and since this branch is so new, nobody has their patriarchal blessings.  They are all way excited! 

Elder Lyman told me something that his stake president told him before he left on him mission that I really like, "If you're not having fun you're doing something wrong."  For some reason I feel like I sent this last week.  If I did, I'm sorry.  I really like that though.

Nikolai is going to be baptized this Saturday!  YEAH!!!!  He lives with 2 members and that is the best environment for an investigator to be in.  He accepts everything great and says he will live it.   His baptism is going to be awesome!  We have fasted for him and pray for him a lot!  He has been incredibly prepared by the Lord!

My Russian is really improving!  It was like a light switch!  I was just studying one day and for some reason cases just starting making a ton of sense to me!  The gift of tongues is real!  I can speak way better now!  Especially in prayers!  I like learning the language a lot more now because I can understand why it is the way it is!

In Russia it is considered bad luck if you whistle indoors.  We were at this grandma's house with the sisters and one of the sisters just has a habit for whistling.  She did it and the grandma smacked her fork so hard down on her plate that it almost broke!  She got so mad at her haha!  Then a little while later she whistled again on accident and she got even more mad haha!  She said you won't be doing that once all your money is gone and no one will want to marry you haha.   She really doesn't like it.

All in all another fantastic week in Russia!!!  Great place!  Blessed to be able to serve here!

I love you all 

Elder Wilding 

VLAD AT NIGHT

VLAD DURING THE DAY

View from the mission home in Vladivostok

KOREAN AIRPORT

ANGARSK

IRKUTSK

Whoa!  And, check out the billboard.

We made a hammock!

My study place (he always had an organized desk!)

Our plan of salvation and our crazy investigator's plan

Hari Krishna (doing service)

View from our apartment

Bank haha???

Forest

Me and Elder Lyman

People do this when they get married I think

xpam (temple)

 

Russia, I Can't Believe I Have Been Here For a Month

Woah so this week flew by!  

Hit my month mark in the beautiful land of Russia!  A week full of miracles.  We also had my first zone conference.

I had borche for the first time!  We went over to Slavas and taught him a lesson and his wife fed us borche!  Borche is delicious!  I never have been one to like soup but I like borche.  I also had another first.  I took the lead in a lesson!  It was on Adam and Eve and how we can't truly understand the atonement unless we understand our fate without Christ.  Elder Holland gave a great talk about it in last general conference.  I can't wait for general conference!  Elder Lyman is telling me it is so much better on your mission.  We watch it a week after you guys will because of some reason that I don't know.  They are doing something new now President Perkinson was saying, we are partaking of the sacrament and then watching conference instead of just skipping it that week.  In zone conference for a portion of it we watched a leadership meeting that happens before conference and in it Elder Holland said that the sacrament is the most personal ordinance we do in the church because it is the only one we repeat for ourselves.

I learned soooo much during zone conference!  A lot about the prophet Joseph Smith and how we need to teach about what makes us different than any other church and focus on the Book of Mormon.  But the main focus was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy and making it a delight.  That is what the 1st presidency and the quorum of the 12 apostles have been focusing on this year.  If we keep the Sabbath Day holy our faith will increase.   We met a man on the streets who was talking to us and asking why in all American movies everyone uses Apple products, he was cool though and we tried to get his phone number but he said he lost his phone.  When me and Elder Lyman contact it seems to go by fast.  He told me a quote his stake president told him before he left.  If you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong.  That is so true.  Yeah missions are hard and discouraging sometimes but you can always have fun and love them! 

 I'm blessed to be in Angarsk right now!  Ruselan is still working and can't be baptized yet but we taught a guy named Nikolai yesterday the Restoration.  He has already been to church twice but we could never find time to meet with him.  He is friends with one of the members and lives with him and really wants to be baptized.  He will be baptized 12 days from today!  God is preparing people like crazy here in Angarsk!  That was one miracle but the other big one was that we were sitting in church after and talking to president and the members (President Perkinson came to Angarsk Branch for church) and a family walks in.  A man, a woman and a child.  It was a family!  That's just what this branch needs!  The man is from Mexico and has served a mission, he speaks no Russian at all but speaks English and Spanish.  His wife also served a mission and used to live in Angarsk.  She speaks a ton of languages like Russian, English, Spanish, French and who knows what else.  They moved here like 2 days ago and thought church was at 1:30.  It is amazing that they came!  This branch needs strong members like them.  Sealed in the temple and he worked at the Mexico MTC for a long time.  My only question is why would they move to Angarsk haha?  God works in mysterious ways!

Met another man on the street and taught him a lesson in the church.  He was walking and I started talking to him and then Elder Lyman came in and asked him if he had time now we could teach him.  We taught him and scheduled a baptismal date.  He said he had no family in Angarsk and no job and was wandering the streets looking for something.  He found it!  He said he would come to church if he could but he didn't know what the next day or even the next hour.  Sad when peoples life is like that.

I am still loving Russia and trying to learn this language.  It's definitely not easy but also definitely possible!

I love you all!

Elder Wilding

Subway for lunch!

Sister Perkinson wrote about McKay:  This is one Happy Elder Missionary! A Happy missionary is a missionary that is choosing to work hard and enjoys the results of his labor!

The West Zone

Dear Sister Wilding,

Today has been filled with many blessings from Our Heavenly Father as he has inspired and has given many promptings for our West Zone Missionaries in Zone Conference! 

The Lord has a mighty work that He is depending on all of us to carry forth! It is an awesome responsibility! We have been blessed by each of the missionaries individual testimonies! In our Zone Conference we have focused on how to "teach in the Savior's Way", "teach the Book of Mormon as the Keystone" and the convincing "power of the Restoration"! We are visiting the new branches and helping train the auxiliaries, and sharing the importance of "Reverence and Preparation for the Sacrament". It being an ordinance that we renew for ourselves weekly! 

This is one Happy Elder Missionary! A Happy missionary is a missionary that is choosing to work hard and enjoys the results of his labor!

In preparation for our Subway lunch! What a great group! We feel truly blessed to be serving with these fine "Armies of Helaman"!

Thank you again for your love and support and your prayers in behalf of our Vladivostok Mission! We love your son!

Sincerely,
President and Sister Perkinson

Vladivostok Russia

I've Been Here For Almost a Month!

I can't really figure out pictures sorry!  But hopefully I'll figure it out eventually.  Fun week!  Last P-Day we went to a Pravaslavni temple.  They are big and there is absolutely no place to sit.  There are a lot of cool paintings inside but they wouldn't allow us to take pictures inside.  I got a lot of cool pictures of the outside though!  We made salsa this week!  Sadly it seems that all of our appointments have been falling through but so is missionary work I guess.

We meet a man named V'larry on the street the other day.  He is an atheist but agreed to talk with us more and seemed like a really great guy.  Hopefully we will be able to meet with him this week because we couldn't meet with him this past week.  We found him in Center.  Basically every Russian town (or at least the ones I have been in) has a place called Center where all the stores are and other important buildings and where the most people are.  We go there a lot to contact.  We take buses a whole lot but also walk a ton because we are trying to not spend a ton on buses.  The buses we take to Irkutsk are about 80 rubles a person (I think the ruble is at 68 for every American dollar) and it is about an hour long ride but we get reimbursed for the long ones.  They are pretty fun to ride!

I now know how to ask for referrals!  And they actually understand me!  It's really exciting when the people actually understand me!  Especially when I say a whole statement!  My average day is wake up at 6:30. Workout/shower/eat breakfast.  Then 3 hours of study and sometimes an extra hour because of training.  Then we eat lunch.  After that we hit the streets and either teach or contact til usually 5.  Eat dinner than go contact and teach again until 9.  Then planning and that's my average day.  On Tuesday we have service which is usually Hari Krishna.  Monday and Wednesday are institute which is taught by a member that we sometimes participate in.  Friday is game night! And Saturday is sports night!

Ruselan wasn't baptized.  He got a new job that makes him work from 7-10 everyday with no days off.  We have to push back his baptismal date probably about a month until they finish with the project they are working on.  It's sad but he says he reads the Book of Mormon every time he has a chance so we are we still really excited for his baptism to happen!

I was thinking about how my mission is the biggest mission in the world and I am as faraway as possible from the mission home.  That means that me and Elder Lyman are the farthest missionaries away from the mission home in any mission in the whole world!  Crazy that I am in Siberia right now!  I hope I get to stay in Angarsk for the winter but who knows how it will all work out.  We have zone conference this week and I'm excited for that!

Love,

Elder Wilding  

PS sorry I didn't send this earlier, in an attempt to send pictures it somehow closed my email and wouldn't let me log back in.