So I Guess I'm Famous

Dear family, friends,

We were in Vlad with the WHOLE mission and I finally got to meet everybody.  It was good to see some old companions and reminiscence about good old times.  10 volunteers gave departing testimonies and I don't know if there was a dry eye in the whole room.  Now 3 of my companions are home; Berrios, Lyman and Crabb.  Conference was so good, Elders and Sisters shared stories of miracles, baptisms and reactivation's.  There was a good feeling in the room.

I should start writing better letters considering multiple people told me that before they came in, they read my blog.  Apparently it is the first one that comes up when you search for the Russian Vladivostok Mission blogs.  I didn't even know "Many Are Called But Few Are Frozen" was the name of it, that's genius.  

We were blessed to go to the Korean temple after zone conference with about half of the mission.  I was on the flight that all the missionaries returning home were on.  I think I told them like 10 goodbyes before that just thinking that it would be the last time I saw them, but we just kept on seeing them.  

Elder Lawrence and Sister Kapralova just entered the team on Sakhalin and we are glad to have them!  Sister Kapralova is from somewhere in the west in Russia.  I have always wanted to have a Russian companion but since we don't have any Russian elders I am getting the next best thing.  And Elder Lawrence is incredible! He may be the funniest person I have ever met!  He has only been in the field for 3 months and speaks like he has been out for well over a year.  It motivates me to be better.

In the Korean airport we saw this little Asian girl maybe the age of 5 or 6 just standing by herself and Sister Kapralova wanted to see if she could talk to her.  She knew a total of 4 words "I'm sorry", "Bye" and......... "cooked meat" :).  And she was yelling those at her "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, bye bye bye, cooked meat cooked meat" haha!!! I can't even imagine what the poor girl was thinking haha.

On the plane back to Russia, I talked to a woman named Roma (a man's name in Russia) who had a tattoo in Arabic but the skill color that made me think she was from Africa.  Turns out she is from the Philippines.  Anyways she spoke perfect English and married a Russian man that she met when he was traveling in the Philippines.  Really nice lady, I got her email and gave it to the Vlad sisters, she wanted help learning Russian.

Well, that will do it this week!  It was a good one!

Love,

Elder Wilding

Дорогие семьи и друзья

Дорогие семьи и друзья,

Tell Grandpa Jo I say happy birthday.  

What a week.  Since I basically shaved my head about a month and 1/2 ago I finally had another hair cut last Monday.  They took off the sides only.  It looks much better but I still have to be patient until it grows back to where it was.  Also last Monday we have legit smores and roasted marshmallows!  One of the missionaries who served here and ended his mission about the time I was about 4 months in, came back and we had a campfire with him and some of the members!  He is Russian so I don't know how he got the marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers or the starbursts but I didn't care it was so delicious.  I think I was actually the one who enjoyed it most out of everyone haha,  Actually most of the members didn't like it and said that it was too sweet. I just felt like I was back home in the backyard roasting mellows.  Speaking of good food, watermelon season has hit Russia!  That reminds me of when I first got in country and me and Elder Lyman would buy at least one every week and absolutely love the watermelon.  They are dirt cheap at the store just across from our house.  Oh yeah, I don't think I ever said, at our new house a grocery store is right across the street an makes shopping fast.  

Vl from Angarsk called me this week haha.  He wanted me to send him pictures and was telling me how Angarsk was and everything.  Haha it was awesome!  We met with this guy this week who called at us in English when we were in Burger King.  He took us to his home and played some songs he wrote by himself.  They weren't that bad, he is pretty talented but I have been thinking of remixes to his songs this whole week.

With the new law, we cannot talk about the gospel or anything of that sort outside of the church.  The only exception is that we are allowed to teach members in their homes.  Until last week, even if we were in the church with a non-member we couldn't talk about the gospel until the person signed a paper noting that they agreed to this and that they were a follower of the church.  But that has been thrown out now and as long as we are in the church we can talk with anyone about gospel topics.  We still can't directly invite non-members to activities in the church but we can let them know what time the activity will be as long as there is no invitation extended.    Lately Elder Staiger and I have been inviting people to a store near the church and then walk with them to the church to play ping pong or some other activity.  I hope that makes sense.  If I forgot to add something or if there are still questions please let me know.

After Institute we played "Book of Mormon bingo".  On the bingo card is Book of Mormon characters names.  I put the names in google translate trying to be more efficient becasue it takes me a long time to type in Russian because I haven't memorized where the letters on the keyboard are.  I thought google would have translated them over exactly how they were in the Book of Mormon for some reason but I was so wrong.  Hagoth the viking ship builder in the Book of Mormon got translated over as Xagoth.  All it changed was the h to an x.  "G" isn't even a Russian letter.  Wherever they pulled out his name they just said viking haha.

The spin trimmer was taken by President Zag and that which was broken is now fixed!  The blade on the end that was no where near the center is now centered which stops the problem that we had where it shakes until your hands bleed.  We cut for a couple of hours at the "green island" and got a good chunk of the field cut down to size.  It only died once on us and it was somewhat of a miracle.  If I haven't said it before I will say it now, at least one person gets married in Ussuriysk or at least that is what it seems like.  They put flowers and ribbons on their cars and drive around the city honking as they drive past you.  Anyways we had brought a soccer ball with us and we see a woman in a wedding dress and a small group of people with her.  They come over and ask if they can use our ball for their wedding pictures (he was in the goal and the bride pretended to kick the ball).  We happily told them yes. If only I would have brought my camera with me I would have had some great pictures.  Their friend afterwards said that he plays basketball more than soccer and Elder Staiger told him I was from America and play basketball too and the guy freaked out when he heard we spoke English and that I was from America - he loved it.  He started talking to us in English that he learned in school and invited us over to his house as guests!  And throughout the rest of the night he kept on calling us haha.

Well, I hope that feels you in on what happened. Looking forward to another good week!  Hopefully we can find some more service.  If anyone has any suggestions on what we could do I would love to hear them.  Zone Conference is next week and Elder Martino of the 70 comes.  He replaced Kl as the 1st counselor for our region.

Much Love

Elder Wilding

I'm a Volunteer

Привет Привет Привет!

It is so good to write home again.  Having a normal workday on Monday was the weirdest feeling ever.  And not writing until today got us all mixed up.  Therefore I am happy to end the confusion.  

My new suit is........... BLUE!  She is beautiful,  I had to get the legs tailored a little shorter because apparently my legs don't agree with my arms.  I was hoping to grow a few inches out here but for as much as i can tell it is not happening.  This transfer has gone faster than any one I have ever experienced.  It feels like I have been with Elder Staiger for 1 day tops.  As of now the prophecy that the last year goes immensely faster is being fulfilled.  We have to move out of the apartment that I have called home for 5+ months.  7 new sisters come in (or 6 I don't know) and they get our apartment and we get to go live with the other elders in their apartment in Slabada.  The changes are to a much smaller apartment and about 20 more minutes away from the church.  But that is a small sacrifice to make to be able to live with 4 elders again.  It is a blast!

Mr. W.  I am so blessed to be able to teach him.  He loves the gospel and reminds me of why I am out here and that I truly do bring glorious news of happiness.  He believes and is happy.  Every time I talk to him he says something in his Chinese accent in broken English very profound and simple about the gospel and I can't help but laugh and smile.  The gospel is joy and he understands that.

We had splits again in Vlad.  I was with Elder Grey and Elder Memmott.  We met with a kid who knows English and can hear any song and then play it on the guitar or piano right after or that is how it seemed.  The next day multiple districts came up to Vlad for a joint district meeting where we talked about the new law and what we could do and what we couldn't do.  We are going to be spending more time in the church now.  Yesterday me and Elder Staiger started to organize the library while we waited to see if anyone would come in.  It was such a mess and we are still not finished.  3 guys came in and we played ping pong with them because for 2 weeks we can't talk about the gospel with anyone besides members.  That is of course unless they sign a paper stating that they are a "follower" interested in learning more about our church.  We set up a soccer game with them on Friday.

I called Vl who me and Elder Lyman taught in Angarsk haha... he is super funny.  He always yells when he gets excited "OOOH OOOH" haha.  He knows some English but usually a word or two and then the rest is all in Russian. In Angarsk I could not understand anything he was saying but when I called him it all was clear.  But that's not saying much because I knew like no Russian when I first got in country it feels like.

We found a big set up poster of Joseph Smith while cleaning out the library.  We put it out in the front where people can see him when they pass by the church.  I'll send a picture of me by it!  

I love you all and am very grateful for all you do!  If you have any questions or more stuff you want me to include in my email just let me know.

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 

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

Hello my beloved family and friends!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Elder Wilding

 Bowling

 K's thing

 His oven ↓

President's Visit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you all!

Love Elder Wilding

It was -40 Fahrenheit this week. Wait, I mean -40 degrees Celsius. Wait, they are exactly the same temperature!!!

We finally made it!  This week we reached the magical number of -40 where the Fahrenheit (farengate in Russian) and Celsius meet.  To celebrate we boiled water and threw it out our window and unsuspecting victims.  I just joking, it actually evaporated right before our eyes and was mind boggling.  

My zipper on my boot broke this week. Good thing I am in Russia where they have pemonts (repairs) on every corner,  I just took my boot in and they fixed it for way cheap and finished it pretty fast.  The same thing happened with my bag except it was my strap that broke and I took it in and they fixed the broken side and re-enforced the other side without more charge.  I love this place!  

We visit the R family this week.  They have kind of a interesting story.  So Brother R is a Mexican and was born and raised there and Sister R is Russian and she was born and raised there.  They met online and she flew to Mexico and they got married there.  They lived there for a couple of years and then they decided to move back to the hometown of Sister R.  I bet that situation could only be said of this family in all of history.  Anyways they are so cool and were definitely sent back to Russia because God needed them here.  They both served missions and want to help us missionaries so bad!  They have so many good ideas and it is a miracle they are here.  We really need them!

Some of the Russian's here are too tough.  It was -30 the other day and we talked to this girl who was only in a super small coat, jeans and normal shoes.  No shopka, not even a beanie.  No gloves, no boots.  We asked her if she was cold and she said no.  It is definitely a different breed.  It is kinda funny.  A lot of Russian's will lie to us and tell us it isn't cold when it is in the high negatives.  But then when we want to talk to them on the street they will say it is much too cold to talk right now.  They're good people though.

The few days I was without my boots I was basically skiing everywhere.  One time I grabbed onto Elder Lyman's shoulders and he ran and I glided the whole time and drifted when he turned corners.

The others Elders are teaching a guy that me and Elder Lyman found when we were companions but then he just kind of dropped off.  I think I talked about a little bit last letter.  He has been meeting with them everyday now.  He has nothing but he clothes on his back.  He is so cool.  He said before he met the missionaries he was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day.  Then in one week he was down to 3 cigarettes a day.  Then yesterday he told us that he was thinking about it last night and he said he is done smoking completely.  It is amazing was Heavenly Father can do with someone when they are in the depths of humility with a willing heart.  It also strengthened my testimony of no effort wasted.  When me and Elder Lyman taught him, after the second lesson he stopped picking up his phone.  We could have considered that time wasted meeting with him.  But it wasn't.  He showed up at the church last Sunday because he felt something when he was with us.  And also because he had nowhere else to turn but we were able to see that even though it didn't pan out the way we wanted it to the first time we started meeting with him.  God has a perfect plan for everything and it just wasn't the right time for him.  We are praying that this time is.

It was a really good week and made even better by the fact that my Panthers are in the super bowl.  It is so amazing.  I can only imagine what it would be like if I was home.  But I have been thinking.  This time out here in this frozen land when I get to serve with these people is much more worth it than being home to watch my Panthers win their first super bowl.  I wouldn't change my decision to serve my mission or change my mission to another year or another time even if I could.    What is really important is made so much clearer to me out here.  There is not so much stuff to blur my vision.   I wouldn't go back and change it for anything.

That being said, I am still going watch all the game when I get home but that can wait.

I had a really good week.

I love and miss all of you

Elder Wilding

мне холодно

Frost

PROOF

 (If you look close enough you can see his eyelashes are frozen.)

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

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!