Well all it's transfer time again and guess what?... I'm going to Peterhof (look it up on google images - I think it's only like the biggest tourist attraction in Russia)!!!!!! I've heard such good things about it there (and I was there on a split once my first transfer). Appartently the branch is absolutely tiny but one of the strongest cause the members there are so amazing. I'm so excited to meet them all.
This week we had a fun little activity at the branch put on by the young adults of the branch and they day before I called this guy who was a former investigator but just kinda disappeared, and invited him and he came!!! And he loved it! It was so cool and so much fun!! Then in church yesterday they made me speak cause I am leaving and lots of people came up and told me how they were sad that I'm leaving which was really nice, but I was a little surprised cause I LOVE the members in this ward, but never really had super strong relationships with anyone in this ward yet. Anyways, it was nice. I was actually really surprised to be leaving Nevsky. I love this area and hope I can come back here again. President likes to do a lot of interesting things with the transfer board. This transfer there are a lot of people going to areas that they've already served in and lots of people who are being paired as companions for a second time hahha. It really is a huge surprise transfer call. Keeps things interesting.
Last night we went and stopped by this member who has just recently gone less active (like my first sunday in this area he was crying as he bore his testimony about the temple), but he got a new job and got super stressed and started smoking again and drinking. He is never home, always working. This is the 3rd time we've ever been able to catch him. But when we got there he was like "guys now's not a good time" and I'm pretty sure he said he was drinking (but he wasn't drunk). Anyways, my companion really has a way with people and we just stood in the doorway and talked to him for like half an hour. My heart was just breaking for this guy. He has a relatively young family (2 daughters at home) and work hs gone bad (they've stopped paying him) and he just bought this new car that he now has to make payments on and he is still smoking and drinking and it's just so sad. He started crying as he was talking to us and he said that he has just messed up his whole life and he knows it and he knows there is only one thing that will help him. He said he is planning on coming to church next week and gave us an actual time that we can come back and meet with him and his family. It was just so sad. But, there are a couple of lessons that I learned from this:
1st: Satan knows how to tempt us and pull us away from church (in this case it was a new job that paid really well but required him to work on Sundays)
2nd: like I read somewhere for personal study the other day (somewhere in Alma I think) Satan does not support those who follow him. This man was just kinda pulled away and then had the rug pulled out from underneath him and is just kinda left with a huge mess.
3rd: There is only 1 way out and we must be humble enough to accept it and do what we know we have to.
4th: No one is immune to this. This man as the Elders quorum president and one who helped the missionaries all the time on lessons and seemed to be the strongest member of the ward.
It was so interesting talking with him he talked about all these spiritual experiences that he had had in the past and all the times he had felt the spirit so strong and almost felt like he was walking with God. He said then you get to this point where everything seems ruined and you remember those feelings and experiences and realize that they are very real feelings and very real connections with God that you had because sometimes you might not recognize it when everything is good, but when everything seems lost, you feel that lack and realize how real those feelings were. LIstening to him, I could feel so much how much god loves him and is waiting for him to come back and is absolutely there 100% of the way to help us make the journey completely. I love this man so much and I'm just sad that I am leaving in 2 days and won't be here to see him progress again..
Sorry that was really long but I have to tell you this really hilarious thing that happened this week too. My companion and I went to visit this less active who likes to teach us and help us with our Russian. Obvously my companion doesn't really need any help, but we just went anyways and he talked with this guy about how to learn English (my companion just cannot get English and this less active knows English really well) so long story short, this guy told my comp. that if after living with americans for a year and he still can't speak English, he just will never learn and might as well not try. He suggested he might be able to a different one. So My companion has been on a search to find "his language" and needless to say I have taken it upon myself to teach him German the past few days:) and he is just loving it haha oh I'm so happy:)
Anyways, have a great week!
Elder Robison
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