Shaurma and a Taxi, plus Boris

Dear Dad, Mom bros and everybody else,

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

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

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

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

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

Love,

Elder Wilding

Doing splits with my hometown boy Elder Bodily

Russia

Dinner

 

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 

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

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