Hello everyone! It's been a pretty good week in this part of the vineyard! Lots of fun stuff happened.
On Tuesday, some guy took us out to lunch. He used to go to the English club that they had here (but not anymore). He's not actually interested in the Church, he just wanted to practice his English. He knows though, that we have to give a little lesson/spiritual thought anyways. That was kinda nice. My first trip to a Russian restaraunt! And a free lunch. Pretty cool. Then that same night we were walking down the street and some old guy comes up to us and just starts talking. Some missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon a while ago and he read it and loves it and knows that its true and just tells how we're doing such a good thing (quite the opposite from what most other people have said to us around here haha). He was super nice, we asked if we could meet and he said no. He said this book is all I need, I don't need to come to church or anything. Just reading the book is enough. Elder Eady and I were both kinda like "uhhh... did you understand what you were reading, cause if you did, you'd know that it requires more than just reading it." We didn't say that, but that's kinda what I was thinking haha. Super nice guy though.
Then that night we get a call from the Ilin's (the family that emailed you mom) and they ask us to come over the next morning and give Brother Ilin a blessing cause he was sick. We went over and he asked me to do the second part! Scary! My first transfer and I already had to give a blessing in Russian. Neat opportunity. He didn't die, so that's good.
We are starting to have problems with one of our members though. He's 27 and has a wife and new baby. Super nice guy, but last Sunday night when we visited them as we were leaving he told us that he wasn't going to come to church anymore. I can't say I was totally surprised as we could kinda tell there were some things going on with him. We talked to him then later in the week went and talked with him for about 2 hours. We tried to do some spiritual lesson, but he wasn't having it. Rough. His wife is super strong and they both know that they're headed for divorce soon. He also told us that he's started to have some word of wisdom problems and a result of his stress (family problems, health problems, he doesn't have a job, etc). Poor guy. We talked with the Branch President about it to find out what he wants us to be doing. Kinda feel like a real missionary now, working with the branch president to help strengthen members. Fun stuff but sad situation. Hopefully he'll turn around, just being super selfish right now.
Then on the bus back from his house I sit next to this guy that we met like my first week. He was waaayy too excited about church and wanted us to take him to the branch building right then. I couldn't understand anything he was saying cause he talks so fast and sounds like he has something in his mouth. Eady and I both got a weird feeling about it the first time we met, so we made up some excuse and got away from him. We thought he wanted to rob us cause he kept asking us for money for a taxi and also called one of his friends and talked about us to him, but we couldn't quite figure out what he was saying. It was pretty shady. Anyways, now they day before I saw him on the bus this week, we ran into him with him "girlfriend" or something. He talked to us, had us write down his number cause he wanted to meet and what not. Then on the bus he was talking to us again, he got off with us at our stop and we kept talking. He was asking what rank we were in the church or something and how long it takes to become a "Старейшина" cause he really wanted to be one. Then some girl walked by, he totally changed subjects and offered us both prostitutes. First for a price then for free. He said he had 20 we could pick from(apparently this is what he does for work). We were both like "What?!?" We tried to explain to him our thoughts on that. Then he offered us to go get some vodka and coke with him (not coca cola). We also explained our thoughts on that. Then he left and told us to call him cause he was interested in the church. The whole situation was just weird. Then randomly he was at the post office the next day when we were there. We've run into him like 5 times now since that first night. It just keeps getting weirder.
Now back onto a lighter note! We were in the city center again this week! SO BEAUTIFUL! I saw that cathedral that comes up on google when you image search St Petersburg. Very pretty. Just the whole city was beautiful. While there, a group of american girls came up to us so excited. They were there with a bigger group, but they were obviously members (no one else gets excited about seeing missionaries on the street). They staying in Moscow teaching English, but we just in St. Pete for a weekend trip. Kinda fun to run into them.
Then last of all, my language was put to the test yet again this week as I was asked by Brother Ilin (the sunday school teacher) to teach Sunday school this week. So I did that. Apparently it went pretty well. Kinda intimidating though to have to teach a class in Russian my 5th week here. I must be learning it pretty well. Last night while contacting some guy actually asked me to repeat something that Elder Eady had said because he didn't understand him, but he could understand me. A nice indirect compliment, but I felt bad for my trainer.
Overall it was a good week. Lots of exciting things happened. But through all this I've again been impressed with how much the scriptures can really help us in our lives. I've found some really good verses this week that have really helped me. Read everyday! Just do it! It's worth it. You can go back and read or watch (probably read) Richard G. Scott's General Conference talk from Oct 2011 "The Power of Scripture" or something like that. I suggest you read it because if you watch it, you may fall asleep. It's a really good talk, he just gives it in such a boring way. Anyways. Go over it and start being more diligent about your scripture study. I promise they will help you!!
I hope you all had a great week too! Until next week (where you'll get to hear about zone conference with the area president and St Petersburg's first stake conference!! Those will be Wednesday/Saturday and Sunday respectively).
с любовью
Старейшина Робисон
On Tuesday, some guy took us out to lunch. He used to go to the English club that they had here (but not anymore). He's not actually interested in the Church, he just wanted to practice his English. He knows though, that we have to give a little lesson/spiritual thought anyways. That was kinda nice. My first trip to a Russian restaraunt! And a free lunch. Pretty cool. Then that same night we were walking down the street and some old guy comes up to us and just starts talking. Some missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon a while ago and he read it and loves it and knows that its true and just tells how we're doing such a good thing (quite the opposite from what most other people have said to us around here haha). He was super nice, we asked if we could meet and he said no. He said this book is all I need, I don't need to come to church or anything. Just reading the book is enough. Elder Eady and I were both kinda like "uhhh... did you understand what you were reading, cause if you did, you'd know that it requires more than just reading it." We didn't say that, but that's kinda what I was thinking haha. Super nice guy though.
Then that night we get a call from the Ilin's (the family that emailed you mom) and they ask us to come over the next morning and give Brother Ilin a blessing cause he was sick. We went over and he asked me to do the second part! Scary! My first transfer and I already had to give a blessing in Russian. Neat opportunity. He didn't die, so that's good.
We are starting to have problems with one of our members though. He's 27 and has a wife and new baby. Super nice guy, but last Sunday night when we visited them as we were leaving he told us that he wasn't going to come to church anymore. I can't say I was totally surprised as we could kinda tell there were some things going on with him. We talked to him then later in the week went and talked with him for about 2 hours. We tried to do some spiritual lesson, but he wasn't having it. Rough. His wife is super strong and they both know that they're headed for divorce soon. He also told us that he's started to have some word of wisdom problems and a result of his stress (family problems, health problems, he doesn't have a job, etc). Poor guy. We talked with the Branch President about it to find out what he wants us to be doing. Kinda feel like a real missionary now, working with the branch president to help strengthen members. Fun stuff but sad situation. Hopefully he'll turn around, just being super selfish right now.
Then on the bus back from his house I sit next to this guy that we met like my first week. He was waaayy too excited about church and wanted us to take him to the branch building right then. I couldn't understand anything he was saying cause he talks so fast and sounds like he has something in his mouth. Eady and I both got a weird feeling about it the first time we met, so we made up some excuse and got away from him. We thought he wanted to rob us cause he kept asking us for money for a taxi and also called one of his friends and talked about us to him, but we couldn't quite figure out what he was saying. It was pretty shady. Anyways, now they day before I saw him on the bus this week, we ran into him with him "girlfriend" or something. He talked to us, had us write down his number cause he wanted to meet and what not. Then on the bus he was talking to us again, he got off with us at our stop and we kept talking. He was asking what rank we were in the church or something and how long it takes to become a "Старейшина" cause he really wanted to be one. Then some girl walked by, he totally changed subjects and offered us both prostitutes. First for a price then for free. He said he had 20 we could pick from(apparently this is what he does for work). We were both like "What?!?" We tried to explain to him our thoughts on that. Then he offered us to go get some vodka and coke with him (not coca cola). We also explained our thoughts on that. Then he left and told us to call him cause he was interested in the church. The whole situation was just weird. Then randomly he was at the post office the next day when we were there. We've run into him like 5 times now since that first night. It just keeps getting weirder.
Now back onto a lighter note! We were in the city center again this week! SO BEAUTIFUL! I saw that cathedral that comes up on google when you image search St Petersburg. Very pretty. Just the whole city was beautiful. While there, a group of american girls came up to us so excited. They were there with a bigger group, but they were obviously members (no one else gets excited about seeing missionaries on the street). They staying in Moscow teaching English, but we just in St. Pete for a weekend trip. Kinda fun to run into them.
Then last of all, my language was put to the test yet again this week as I was asked by Brother Ilin (the sunday school teacher) to teach Sunday school this week. So I did that. Apparently it went pretty well. Kinda intimidating though to have to teach a class in Russian my 5th week here. I must be learning it pretty well. Last night while contacting some guy actually asked me to repeat something that Elder Eady had said because he didn't understand him, but he could understand me. A nice indirect compliment, but I felt bad for my trainer.
Overall it was a good week. Lots of exciting things happened. But through all this I've again been impressed with how much the scriptures can really help us in our lives. I've found some really good verses this week that have really helped me. Read everyday! Just do it! It's worth it. You can go back and read or watch (probably read) Richard G. Scott's General Conference talk from Oct 2011 "The Power of Scripture" or something like that. I suggest you read it because if you watch it, you may fall asleep. It's a really good talk, he just gives it in such a boring way. Anyways. Go over it and start being more diligent about your scripture study. I promise they will help you!!
I hope you all had a great week too! Until next week (where you'll get to hear about zone conference with the area president and St Petersburg's first stake conference!! Those will be Wednesday/Saturday and Sunday respectively).
с любовью
Старейшина Робисон
No comments:
Post a Comment