No More Plastic Pictures (happy mom, sad Elder)

great pictures! skyping was pretty fun.
i forgot to get a family picture with all of you on the computer screen and me, maybe next time. I suppose you already know everything. i guess i will change the setting on my camera now, so except some uninteresting photos in the future. I started reading the infinite atonement and i am impressed to strengthen my testimony of the atonement, as it is the most important docrine of the gospel. this is one of the things that i have learned so far on my mission as well as many others. i have also learned that the miracles never cease here in moscow. this last week was probably the best week i have yet seen on my mission, full of spiritual meetings and helping new investigators to recieve truth in their lives. I have been blessed. there are so many wonderful people here and i hope to help as many as i can. I am grateful this Christmas for the atonement and for incredible parents who teach me about it. I am also grateful for a somewhat stable mind. enjoy these pictures, as they are the last "plastic looking" ones you will recieve.
I love you guys and thank you for all good things that you do. if there is anything i can send you let me know. thanks. and as for the comment about delaney being the most gifted of us, i meant it.
love elder Paul

Skype!!!

We got to skpe with Mitchell for an hour and a half this morning! Best part of Christmas for all of us!

Happy Christmas

This week a few new missionaries came in, three russian sisters and 2 elders, but the one elder is from england and he is still there for his visa. his name is elder potter, go figurte. elder ablett's birthday is today, so thats awesome. mine will be here in 2 months, thats next transfer! holy cow the time is flying. we are really getting into the Christmas spirit right now. Excited about gifting our investigators and favorite members and zone members. i love the Christmas Spirit. I will hopefully see you guys on skype in a few days, what time? 7 ? yeah and get on even an hour aqand a half early just in case we swap timers but that probably wont happen. heres some more pictures.
and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!
love elder paul

Some Pictures! Mitchell decided that he likes the poster setting on his camera which makes him look like plastic. We hope that he still likes this feature in 50 years : )

Stoked and Trying to Pump Up the Work

This past week in our district there were a bunchh going on visa trips and it turned out that we were in a threesome with elder roberts. in order to work our area more effectively, we called up vitaly donosov and asked him to come on a split for the day. in short, i got to spend the whole day doing missionary work with Vitaly!! it was one of the greatest days of my mission. we met with a member and an investigator and also went contacting. Vitaly got way stoked when we were contacting. it was really fun and i really wish i could serve with a russian. He is going to be a great missionary.
Elder Palmer and i are really trying to pump up the work in our area and get others stoked about it too. i realize statistics are not the most important things, but they track progress and success, and right now we are really focusing on picking up the stats and when other missionaries see that it is possible, they will hopefully strive for higher statistics and work harder. the mission could really do with a good charge up right about now.
we are today having a get together at the packards cuz its their last week. and there are a few transfers in our district too.
lots of other good stuff hapening with the work but im out of time. talk to you soon. capture the Christmas spirit in your hearts and in your lives always.
Love Elder Paul

Meditation

So life couldnt be better. we are seeing great success and our zone is doing great work. Our zone is coming up on a few baptisms here on christmas eve, i hope they dont fall through, thats been a big problem lately. also, we have met with a guy from burma lately named Mo and he is a way cool guy, buddist and the nicest guy. buddism is really interesting to me. he has agreed to read the Book. also other great success. Roman who is ready to be baptised still needs to come to church. he is a great guy with incredible self defence knife moves. if you live in the republic of dagistan you have to be able to protect yourself, or you die.
We ate at TGI fridays the other night with Mo and had a grand time. on sunday i participated in 2 baby blessings. one of them vitaly gave for his sisters baby and it was the first time his sister was at church in 6 years, way cool. things are unfolding before my eyes and everything makes perfect sense, my studies have enlightened me and i am moving on to level 2-meditation. just kidding, but seriously. meditation for buddists is like prayer for us...but entirely different. there is a capsule in the middle of my brain where i store energy and in order to refill it i must perform at least stage 2 meditation, most likely stage 4.

Love,
Elder Paul

Diggin the Short Hair

As far as the pictures are concerned, i have no computer capabilities and i am afraid you might have to wait a couple more weeks before i hit up a different internet cafe. so i cut my hair really short again, like i did las year christmas time.i am starting to like it more and more and i wonder why i never cut my hair this short back home...i can almost hear your voice in my ear telling me how good my hair looks short and that i should cut it. wow is it only a few weeks until the phone call? time really does fly, and its been i while, i would still eat those fish sticks though. this week we met with Diego and his wife at the walkers and had a great meal and lesson. He has known the church for 10 years and she accepted a book of mormon in russian. they would be perfect in the church. We met with a young guy named Misha who loves his family. its awesome to see people who have such a great relationship with their family, that is getting more and more rare it seems.

as i continue to study the scriptures and share my testimony with others, my testimony is strengthened and one of the things that that helps with is prioritising. the stronger our testimony the easier it is to prioritise and schedule everything that we do in our lives. i see a direct relationship to this. I believe that the scriptures are answers to our questions, and when we read them we will not only find answers, but questions that we didnt realize we had. Never don't study the scriptures.
I love you all and i am grateful for the support that you give me. keep being great.
lOVE eLDER Paul

Happy Thanksgiving from Elder Paul

Daily Miracles

Dear Mom and others. Tell Jeff Harbach how much i love and appreciate him. His example greatly influences my actions. He is an angel. also, really great news that i faioled to mention last week for whatever reason, Vitaly got his mission call and he is going to saint petersburg!! we were there to see him open it and after i congratulated and he thanked me for helping him that time a year ago and that that helped him to make the decision to serve a mission. Words can not describe the joy that i feel. He is one of my favorite people here in moscow. So this week has been crazy. I wish i had more time to write but i dont. we got a new investigator this week and he is agnostic, awesome kid who speaks great english and on tuesday we are meeting with diego and his wife again. I have very little time cuz the landlady is coming to get rent at noon and my time is running out. also we had zone conference this week and it was a sucess and it was on companionship unity. i have a lot to tell you, miracles are happening daily and I am continually more and more grateful for my saviour Jesus Christ. I love the scriptures.
Love Elder Paul

New Companion and Gettin Cold

So my new companion, elder Palmer, is from Layton Utah, for those of you who are unfamiliar, it is just north of salt lake city. He is a really nice guy and has been on his mission for 9 months now. He has two brothers and two sisters if i can remeber correctly and his older brother served in brasil. I am his third companion. he was actually in the MTC with elder Foster if that gives you a better idea. I am excited to serve with him and already we are seeing great things happening.
Vitaly Donosov should be getting his mission call any week now, so heads up for that. I love that guy. I recently realized that quite soon i will have been going to rechnoy branch for an entire year. I dont think i will ever get out of the central building, but thats okay because i love it there.
This past week we had one new investigator and next week we have a lot of potential. About two weeks ago we were singing at rechnoy vokzal metro station with elder hamp and roberts. after that we had 15 minutes so we went on a split and went contacti9ng in the park. we talked to a man named mihail and invited him to church and he said he would come when he has time. I called him a week ago and he appologized for not being at church and he wanted to meet with us. He just seemes more promising than the usual contaccts and i will let you know how it goes when we meet with him this week.
we have been singing contacting as a district lately and it proves to be effective. Its getting very cold though. already -8celc.
today was a parade on red square and we with district members went down to it and somehow, unintentionally i swear, surpassed security near st. basils. we got some great pictures of tanks and stuff and all of these pictures i can not yet send you because i an technologically un advanced.
Well guys, The work is moving forward and it is getting more and more obvious that patience is the most important Christlike Attribute for me right now. People just need to repent im sick of them just loafin around doin nothin with their lives.
Love you guys!
Elder Paul

7 - 12 - 2012 (execution date)

Hey, so i realized that last week i failed to wish zanna a happy birthday, so hope you had a good birthday. You are getting reall really old.
Your story about the disrespectful kids at the sacrament meeting has distraughtened me. Its really sad what is happening with the youth of the world today and what will happen to the next generation because of them. I see it a lot here in Moscow. Parents do not know how to raise their children and they become losers at such a young age. I see really young kids drinking and smoking all the time and i think that if the law wasnt the way that it is in the US, that it would be just the same there. Satan is doing his job really well. At least we already know hes gonna lose, but that cant keep us from fighting our hardest.
This week a few significant things happened. We found out our transfers that will be in effect as of thursday at 13oclock Russian Standard Time. I will be staying in this area as zone leader with elder Palmer. Elder Palmer has spent his whole mission in Z-grad and has most recently been training and district leading. I am really excited to serve with him and to remain in this area and see people progress, probably for the next two transfers. I will let you know more about elder Palmer next week after i get to know him better.
Other big news, i asked President when my execution date is (only not in those words) and i will end on july 12 2012. The end is within view and i really wish it wasnt. It is scary to think that it will all be over within the time that it takes a baby to be born. In a way it is good because i know that i need to work harder, as in a race, when the finish line is within sight, you sprint.
A funny thing happened on the metro this week. I was sitting on the middle of a bench and the metro was full of people. A healthy sized man was sitting opposite of me and he say my tag. he started freaking out and asking me if i knew what it meant and how pal means fall and saying "God Fell!" I leaned forward to explain it to him but when he kept freaking out i decided not to bother with him. I told him that i didnt want to argue. he said "what you cant argue?" and i sat back in my seat and smiled. he pointed me out to the whole metro cart and everyone, hearing the guy freaking out, stared at me for a good time. all the time Elder White was standing behind the guy laughing. I would have laughed but i figured the guy would have reacted negatively to that. On one of the stops he got out with his friend (who seemed somewhat emarassed of him) and right after that the lady next to me started asking about my tag and another older lady came over and was interested as well. Elder White talked to the babushka while i talked to the other lady, who said that she would love to come to english club. Its funny how when people oppose us they dont realize that most of the time they are actually helping us.
I dont have too much more time, but i think thats most of what i wanted to say. Our investigators are progressing, and, as always, we are making a greater push to find new investigators. I love you all and wish you a happy halloween. I almost forgot it was Halloween.
You Know, Love,
Elder Paul

Member Missionaries

Dear Family and Friends,
So in the past five days we have been working hard, one think we tried doing the other day for a few hours with our district members was singing hymns outside the metro. i cant sing very well, so i just contacted. Pretty much everyone was friendly except for a matushka, a nun lady from the russian orthodox church, i started to walk up to her ans she said, you better not walk here. and then she flipped out on me and said that i was jehovas witness. i told her that we werent and then she said that we dont have a patriarch and then i told her that we did and then she went on again about how we were jehovas witness and how she hated our guts. but its all good, cuz i talked to this family who was way loving it, and although i didnt get their number, they have a bunch of information about the church. seed has been planted.
So singing might be happening more often, cuz we have some good singers in our district.
When we were on our way to singing, we bumped into someone who i had met 4 transfers ago in arbatski. his name is diego and he is from italy and he has a russian wife. we bumped into him and his wife, whom i had never met, and they are the happiest couple in the world. He had known the missionaries in italy since he was 19 but never got baptised, was caught up on a few things, but he loved the activities of the church and he always went to sports day and stuff. we will hopefully meet with them in the coming week and maybe even make italian pizza with them!
President Sorenson's Daughter and her family are in town and on saturday their grandson was baptised and we went to the baptism with maxim and he enjoyed it. Yesterday we had 4 investigators at church, so that was really good. One of them is kinda muslim and he is the captain of a ship. he enjoyed church and said he would come again. The ward is doing a really good job at bringing their friends to church and doing missionary work, its nuts, ive never seen it so good. Two sundays in a row now there have been two or three nonmember friends in attendance. If we are ever going to get a temple here, member missionary work is going to have to explode, and from what i can tell it is doing just that.
This week we helped a member take all of her possessions to a train station across town. there were three of us and 6 of the heaviest bags you can imagine, it was exhausting and i am still sore.
I am at 72 push ups right now, and i have been really hungry lately.
So the reason for the money spending is i got Michael and Sterling and Michaels Mom, and you guys some little christmas presents, the only thing im worried about is the cost to send it out. we will see what happens, but i think i might...be getting better at budgeting my money..well im working on it.
Still dont know about transfers in a week and a half, and i still dont know about my release date, im trying not to think about it, but as the late Elder Nielson warned me, It really does end. Its really all about taking it day by day and giving each day your all, and the same applies for life, because it really does end, and we have such a limited time. Our charge is to help as many people as we can feel and act upon the love of Christ and recieve the blessings that our Father is so willing to give us.
I love you guys way mega a lot and think about and pray for you daily.
Love, Elder Paul

A video clip of Mitch that found! Enjoy!

A Russian Shapka for Elder Paul

And before i forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to mom and delaney! how old are you anyway, like 50? and delaney is what now, 13?
happyiest of birthdays from russia. buy yourself a bag of jet puffed marshmallows from me.
love you bye
BIG NEWS Pday is now on monday so i will be writing you again in a few days. I made a necessary purchase today, i got a real russian shapka. also this morning i did 70 push-ups without stopping. If im not mistaken, those are the two requsites to being a man.
Twosday we went on a split and i was in my old area with elder hamp, my district leader. we had a wonderful time. in the meantime, elder white and the Elder Roberts met with Maxim and he has been praying and accepted to follow the WOW for some time to see how it works. Its nice to have a progressing investigator.
Sister Sorenson had a birthday yesterday and we had a mission conference. She is a wonderful woman and President Sorenson is just as kind and loving. I am so glad to have them as my Mission President for my whole mission.
In other news, i recieved you package with my jeans thank you much, and i got a package from the wonderful Sister Watterson! she is the nicest lady in the world, and she sure knows how to send a package. I got her i little something special today that i will hopefully send to her on monday. I love the Mike and Mitch play list, its fantastic! Tell her how much i love her and how grateful i am to her and her son who is my best friend.
I got some stuff for you too, i will try to send it next week.
The work i9s going on here, and allthough it is difficult, miracles do not cease. You guys are the greatest. I dont feel as inclined to write as much this week becouse i will write on monday, but enjoy these pictures for now. This is the hat i got, and the elder next to me is elder michael Roberts and he is a true saint. sorry the pictures blurry some random guy took it.
Love you all. Elder Paul

Another Week in Russia!

First of all, Happy Birthday Katrina! and second, thank you for the last package i got with the wart remover, it has proved to be a nasty business, but its about time i end it. As far as the family picture, i usually carry around a regular size but wallet size would be nice too.
My favorite thing about being a missionary is seeing people that you grow to love accept the Gospel and in doing so, change their lives. One great thing that happened this week is Maxim prayed for the first time. He is probably the most progressing investigator i have ever had and i love that guy. He has a great optimism and I can see him being a fantastic member. We met with him with the Walkers, a senior couple here, thay are wonderful, and talked about prayer and commitments. he came to general conference and enjoyed it. General Conference was fantastic! i took heaps of notes and keep referring back to them. I think my favorites were, the very first talk in the first session, Devn Cornish, and President Monsons in the saturday morning sessioon. yesterday we went on a split with the aps elder breedlove and elder Lex. I went with elder breedlove and we had a meeting with the stake president and his sister in law and her husband and the husband prayed for the first time, way awesome. Prayer, i would say, is a really really good thing.
so lots of birthdays coming up and i would send you all some gobstoppers as a gift, but they dont have those here, so pick yourselves up some gobstoppers, on me.
the weather is cooling and its getting hard to find new investigators, but so far this week we have found one. Im about to freak out on people nobody wants to change! we talked to some people on the split yesterday and they litterally said that because everyne is a sinner, we cant do anything about it, so in that case, its OKI to sin a little bit. Its OK TO SIN!! what the heck are they thinking?! it is so NOT okay to sin! geez wake up people!
I got a small package from elder sterling the other day that i really liked. at christmas tim last year i sent him a package and within was a russian daily planner. the other day he sent it back to me all filled out, it was pretty awesome. he also sent me a blank planner of the spanish language that i am responsible to use next transfer and send to him. i thought that was a good idea, it will cause me to be more responsibe for filling out my planner because i have to account to Sterling Gregory Adams the Elder.
Tonite at english club we are gonna talk about family and stuff we do with our families, so im excited about that. One thing i will tell them about is when me and Dad went to the amazon, thatd be cool;.
well i love you guys, and mom you're really good at picking out ties.
Love Elder Paul

Watch out Mama!

Nice skirts! I got the first package with the shoes and candy (which i am bringing to english club tonight!) and i wish i would have told you but i forgot, i actually bought shoes two weeks ago, ones with fur inside and they are like half boots, they were not very expensive, but good quality and should last, but now i have a nice shoe collection to choose from, so its all good. Mike Watterson is the greatest guy ever, thanks for relaying that message that he wrote. Its crazy how similar our missions are, so we know what each of us are experiencing to some extent. what i would give to serve with him on the mission! tell his mom that winter is coming, and she knows what that means!
So really funny story i need to tell you first. We met our neighbor the other day and he is from armenia. we decided to go by his place one night with some fresh brownies and hopefully share a lesson with him. he is currently doing a remont and we knocked on his door and he invited us in, he seemed drunk. the land lady was there and she was quite nice and they asked us to sit down at the table (which was covered with vodka and cigarettes) they offered us to drink and we declined but of course they dont take no for an answer. water sufficed. out of another room comes another lady. sort of heavy middleage woman. we get talking and she is really drunk. she was nuts. we immediately got on the topic of religion as they asked why we were here and what may or may not be considered an argument arised on the topic as to why The Virgin Mary is called the (Богородица) meaning literally the birther of God, when she gave birth to Jesus Christ and not God. We explained it several times in many different ways, but they didnt catch. We found out that the second lady was an FSB agent and i showed her my family pictures. she freaked out when she saw dad! she thinks he is the most beautiful man in the world, and she went on about how incredible he is. It was hilarious. So watch out Mom for the Russian women.
so the most delicious thing that i ate this week must have been the bacon burger i made for lunch the other day, boy did that hit the spot. Also, we had a really good meeting with maxim who is progressing. we talked about the law of chastity and of course we joked around in parts of the lesson but in the end he understood the importance and although he did not commit to follow it, he agreed that if God does actually exist, then he would understand why it is so important. He is now attending institute regularly. We met with Roman and set a new baptisimal date and i really hope that works out. Hopefully we will get lots of people to church, as it is General conf. this weekend. I am feeling great, i havent been sick my whole mission, so i consider that a great blessing. I finished the Book in Russian and Im starting again, catching up with the mission. I love the scriptures, they give me strength. I can do 60 push-ups now non-stop, me and elder White are having a bit of a competition, so that helps to do morning exercise.
I love you guys. I love my mission. Every day is a spiritual experience. Every day i grow and further towards my potential. Maybe you could send me an updated family picture of you all together sometime when you get a chance, that would be nice to have in small size...the one at park city was great!
Thanks for everything you do! Love you,
Elder Oaul

Freezing Legs but Otherwise Good!

Hey, this week went by really fast. We recently met with maxim and he is doing awesome! he is planning for baptism. he said 4 months sounds reasonable to him. He agreed to pray as well. I got a little gift (a tie) to Armand. he has surgery on his eye and was in the hospital on his birthday, way bummer. He told me how excited he was when he got a facebook messaqge from you. thanks for doin that. he told me that he had a lot of people send him happy birthdays but he only responded to a few, and was excited to respond to you. Those were some small miracles this week.
My study has been really consumed with finishing the BOM in russian so that i can start again with the mission, i am already a little behind, but the mission is reading together. Reading in russian (or any other language i would assume) is like reading an entirely different book. There are things that i read that i would normally not pay attention to if reading in english. Also i am focusing on strengthening my scripture memorization skills, as that is a weak point of mine. It mentions memorizing scriptures in my patriarichal blessing and im kicking myself for not getting on that earlier.
As to what i admire about my companion, i recently discovered that he is a master computer programmer, and have long since noticed that he is a good learner. he has a very extensive vocabulary in the russian language and is a great studier. I can and will learn a lot from him and probably already have. Bless his soul.
So i am now going back to the english club that i was first in over a year ago. Its crazy i have been in my last group for exactly a year, so its a little sad to leave it. i may have set the record in the mission for the longest time in one english group...obviosly not the kind of mission records that i am looking to break. Today i really want to talk about hypnotism, we will see how hip and savvy elder white is about that idea.
So this week we went and did some service, First we helped a family move ant then we went up to dolga prudnie and chopped wood. this seemed to be my first time chopping wood, but luckily elder hamp, a master wood cutter apparently, was able to show me the ropes and i was a chopping maniac in no time at all.
On the way out of the apartment today we cot some contacts of a few armenian guys. man i love armenians and i cant wait to go to armenia. Apparently the work is goin well over there. Its getting harder to get new investigators now that the weather is colder, no more chalk drawing...we will have to start snow sculpting soon. not that cold yet.
we went through the area book yesterday and set up a whole bunch of meetings with investigators that we didnt know about, i wish we had done that a transfer ago!
Not much time do i have, but thanks for everything, thansk for sending those pictures and as of right now i dont think i need anything...except jeans cuz mine were stolen. i need them for service and right now i only have shorts, if you could send me a normal pair of jeans it would be appreciated, if not, i can probly get by.
love you all, ELder Paul

Weather's cooling down but the work is moving forth!

We bumped into armand the other day! he is doing a lot better and his birthday is coming up friday, so i bought him a tie today. I can remeber his birthday a year ago in my first transfer! time is not enough.
So we have a couple new investigators. Its getting harder and harder to remember them. We are really going to town in this area and I sure hope we see someone get baptised soon, cuz our last baptismal date fell through, but will be later now. Its slow work, but we are doing our best. the worth of souls is pretty great.
Yesterday we went on a split for the whole day out the Zelenegrad. This is north of moscow about an hour, where elder Nielson served for a while before i came. It was incredible out there. If i were to ever live in moscow, i would live somewhere like that. Its just a small peaceful town and most people are willing to talk. Its inderesting though because even though more people are willing to talk, the work is just the same. They are doing great up there. I was with elder Ayers from arizona, and he is the nicest greatest guy ive ever met, i would serve with him in a heartbeat!
Me and Elder White are stoked about the work, and it gets colder. It might not snow yet until next transfer though.
I know that a whole lot of stuff happened this week that i could write about, but its so hard to remember. I am really bad about keeping a journal, and i recently realized that and convinced myself to buy a decent journal that i might like writing in, so im starting again.
Also i have a wart on my finger, weird huh, so i might try and freeze her off.
I love you all, and you might get more out of me if you ask some questions. also, i bet writing a journal will help with this small memory loss problem.
This is the perfect work, and i love it.
you know,
Elder PAul

What Comes Around Goes Around

We had a remont done and we changed around all the furniture so you can actually live in the place now. We now have a real bed room that is separate frome the main study room. This past week and this current week we have been working really hard at balancing our statistics, as we teach we are still contacting everyday, and making better use of the members too. getting members involved in the missionary work is really the best solution, it just requires a bit of effort. This is a really good area right now. We have quite a few progressing investigators and we are always getting contacts. I have a feeling it might be a little harder when it gets colder, we willl see.
So yesterday i did something stupid. we were contacting and i saw a beautiful young family. we were walking in the rain and they didnt have an umbrella. so i offered them my umbrella and they took it. and thats really all that happened. I thought about talking to him more but i just didnt. it was dumb. But at least right after that we talked to a guy named alexandr who looked like a normal guy who has a family (in spain) and is interested in meeting. But the story isnt over. Today we had service in the morning we helped some old man move a refrigerator out of his apartmernt. there was a whole bunch of stuff there that he offered to give a way, and one thing was a nice umbrella, so i took it. what goes around comes around i suppose. I cant give enough stuff away cuz stuff keeps coming back to me. It was really funny cuz when we were walking with this guy to his apartment, he stopped a street sweeper kid and asked him if he needed a televison. the kid was like what? he of course agreed and then helped us with the refrigerator. he ended up giving this kid a washing mashine too and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was like Christmas for the kid.
Oh! I got a package frome aunt jill! thank you so much for the cowl aunt Jill, its probably the most fashinable thing i have to wear, and it will keep me warm in the winter. the perfect gift. and now i know what a cowl is.
I only have a few minutes left,but in short, you guys are awesome. The mission is awesome. everything is just awesome. we need to get excited about life and stop sitting in front of our 3-d gadgets burning our eyes out. media is of the devil from my point of view. I look forward to someday isolating myself from technology in a beautiful part of nature in a house that i made with a family that i made. With that I end, Love, Always, Elder Paul

Taking Care of the Wart

So that picture of Me and elder White is located in our apartment. we are currently undergoing a remont due to a sever flood from two floors above us a couple months ago. Its like whatever, all i need is a place to sleep and im good to go. Last week we met with a guy named hamlet from armenia. He was pretty awesome and had tons of questions really sincere guy. We just passed him yesterday to the other elders cuz he doesnt live in our area. Another investigator who is a seventh day adventist we just passed on monday. Also we finally got to meet with a part member inactive family and they are the nicest people on earth. her name is olga and his vitaly and thaey have a little 7 year old daughter. We today are going to BDHX (those are the russian letters) metro station and riding bikes with the district.
The other day i realized that i needed to take care of a wart that has been on my arm for about a year now, so i bought some cheep poison at the drug store and applied it to my arm. it got the job done...and it still is. Theres just a huge black and red thing on my arm now, but apparently it will fall off in a couple days so that is waht i am looking forward to.
The weather is now chilling here and before you know it(in 2 months(or a transfer and a third)) we will have snow continually. I am ready for the winter, the only hard thing is contacting. i will have to brush up on my singing skills, cuz thats the best contacting in winter, is carolling. I am limited on time. but have a wonderful week, we will see ya soon.
Love and blessings,
Elder Paul

Pictures!!!



It's good to see that he now has a t-shirt from Russia since all be bought in the MTC were shirtsfrom random states : )

Exactly a Year in Russia!

ok so basically the work is going great we have a baptisimal date with a guy that we still have to meet with again and its been a week. Also we bumped into Maxim outside of his work today and saw his office. Maxim is the coolest guy ever, i really hope the best for him. Also, yesterday we had culture night and it was psycho-we went to the national dance show, same as last time and this time i got photos cuz i dint lose my camera. It was incredible and all the dancers remembered us and we cheered real good for them. the guy next to me is watching transformers and its like whatever. Also met a wonderful couple the other night and we hope to meet with them tonight before english club and love the heck out of them. Man the work is slow, but it sure is happening. I got your package, thank you, and sorry i havent written hand letters lately, i probably wont til i leave this area cuz im so dang far from a pochta. The time is going far too fast. today i have been in russia for exactly a year. crazy huh? the mission is all new faces and Everything has changed...except im in the same district i started in. Man you guys are awesome! Family is the greatist thing in the world. speaking of family, my son just sat next to me to email home. Elder Foster is doing really well and he is getting very good at the language. hes a champ.
Lots of other crazy things are happening that i cant even remember. I contacted some kid the other day. he just turned 15 yesterday and he has been smoking for a year and he cant quit. he plays poker and hes messed up morally. he is atheist and his parents are both christian and divorced. he gets great grades in school and has been learning english for 7 years and he speaks really well. He listens to rap music and wants to go to america to learn english, he has a job as a courier and is in an advanced high school program directed towards a certain college. I love learning about people and I really want to help them. Its a good thi9ng I know how to help people. Also, Athiests are really really interesting to me. and at the national dance show i met a family from iran and they are perhaps the nicest people in the world. I gave them my last butterfinger that i got in my package and I love them so much. To escape their government they are moving to canada. Lately is seems as if everyone is moving to canada, its like the happiest place on earth.
I really enjoy npeople, there is so much to learn from other people. and from meeting and getting to know other people we find out who we really are and who we want to become, we find in others characteristics that we possess, that wewant to possess, and that we dont want to possess. The best person to compare ourselves to is Christ.
I lo0ve you all dearly,
E;lder Paul

New Companion

So heres the down low on Elder White, not to be confused with elder Wight, who is also here, and no they have never served together. He is from Salt Lake, The City and he fancies himself a good PB&J. He is very intelligent in every facet of the word. He can walk and not be weary, run and not faint, for he is enveloped in energy, but is as calm as a cucumber. he was just in kiev yesterday on his visa trip, so thats why there s no pics of him at the dacha.
We went to vladimirs dacha yesterday and it was perhaps the most pleasant and incredible day of my life. I experienced a real russian Banya! this means sauna basically, and it was truly amazing. After working real hard at the dacha we got to kick back and relax a little bit. I loved it so much.
We today went to the zoopark and experienced the nature of moscow at its finest. by the way, look up the song moscow never sleeps and fully enjoy it. The whole district was there, enjoy the picture.
I am loving every second of the work and have recently gotten some really good studys. That is vital to study if we wish to grow spiritually, and the ratio is 2:2.
I dont have much time, but i send my love
Elder Paul is forever

Chalk Drawing and a Temple Trip

The other day we went chalk drawing and it was going great, we got out a couple BOMs (by the way, im all about flooding the world with the book of Mormon) and right as we were finished this lady came up and started freaking out. I assured her that everything we were doing was legal, but she was not happy about that. she holds some seat on some obviously low government position and was very persistent on informing the church officials of what we were doing. She Informed us that Russia is a pravaslavnaya that is "russian orthodox" country and that we are not allowed here. she then got some cleaners to dump a bucket of water over our masterpiece, after which i told her that she was a very nice woman, and we left. (see picture)
Yesterday I had Visa Trip to Kiev. On the plane ride i read crime and punishment, which i quite enjoyed. we made it through a session and had lunch and thats about it cuz our plane was delayed in getting there. I love the temple everytime i am there.
We met with Maxim, who is this way awesome sharp young guy we have been meeting with. He invited us to go skydiving with him on Saturday for about 50 bucks. we explained that we couldnt, but i might change my mind...
Speaking of the book of mormon, it’s all about flooding the earth with her. I am convinced that if we get a book of mormon in every home, its game over. maybe people don’t read it, but someday they might, and maybe they will chuck it or give it to someone else..the thing is, its kinda hard to get rid of a full on hard cover, golden titled book.
Zone conference is tommorow and Elder White and I are giving a training on Teaching Repentance.
Our Zone is Phenomenal. We have had the chance to go on a couple splits and i love those guys so much!
I love you all, stay classy.
Love , Elder Paul

I will post the pictures soon - Katrina

The Latest Batch of Pictures : )

Patience

Every day seems to be busier than the last, and more rewarding. We have been meeting with a new investigator who is a great young cool guy who would be perfect for the church. He is interested in it at least, so who knows. Ty Nielson is on a cruise right now, that dirty dog, i got an email from him assuring me that he was safe and sound.
Time is really going by too fast and practically the whole mission is new. It has been and will be fun going on splits with a lot of the new missionaries. They are so much better at the language now than i was when i came out, its phenomenal.
Recently I have learned patience. Missionary work is not in any way a fast thing, and it can be frustrating when solid investigators just dont answer the phone anymore, but i am confident that there are prepared people out there who i will help in their path to baptism and eternal life.
I have small time right now, so i will get these photos on. I have a 12 min talk on sunday on eternal familiy, and its like whatever. im really excited for it///
we will be going to the zoopark today

The Rescue of a Journal and a Bright Future

Last week end of the week was really great, we had 4 new investigators which was great. Some of them are really promising guys, one of them is leaving in a week for stockholm, sweden. One is buddist and we taught him the plan of salvation. He is a really nice sincere guy...time will tell what comes of him.
Elder Nielson is gone and he forgot his journal in the airport, but he called us on the plane from some girls phone. we returned to the airport to try and find it. We went to the information desk to ask someone to help us and as we looked through the glass of the info desk, his journal was sitting right there! we snagged it and high-tailed it out of there. I dont know how we will get it to him, either mail it or send it with someone else, but if you could just let his mom know that we got it, cuz he still doesnt know if we found it.
So Elder LEx is no longer my comp, he is AP with Elder Breedlove. I am currently in a threesome with them until transfers tomorrow when all the chaos is sorted out. Its been a crazy couple of days. Last night we had service helping the most fantastic family move, they are living in my area now. Oh they are Incredible!
I will be serving with Elder White now probably for the next two transfers. He was companions with Elder Lex in the MTC and is from utah. He is a really nice guy and im excited to serve with him.
It was really sad to see Pops leave today, actually going home seems so much more real now, its scary. I only have 8 transfers left and then i am in the same boat. I had better make it worth it and work my butt off. I sleep on every form of transpot and have trained my body to wake up every 4 minutes and then instantly shut off again.
Today we saw 8 new missionaries come in, 7 elders and 1 sister. They are really great and i am really excited for the future of this mission.
I dont have a whole lot of time today, but boy is the mission the greatest thing in the world! and it just keeps getting better!
I love you all, and I love the work. Thank you for all of your support and Love.
Love, Elder Paul

Greatest Austrian Packed Week of Missonary Work

Dear All,

This past week has been the greatest Austrian packed week of Missionary work in moscow. The past two days we got 7 really promising contacts. I think that finding people who are willing to meet is easier than i think...i think. basically you just have to make a person start talking with you and then you can just become best friends with them, joke around, LOVE them, and then they are going to trust you. just yesterday we were on a split with my boys Elders Woodruff and Foster and i went up to this guy with a liahona and apparently one of the other guys had already tried approaching him cuz he so said, but i talked to him anyways, found out that hes 33 years old has a car, a wife names masha, an 8 year old daughter, and he was born in smolensk which is like 300km north of moscow if i remember correctly. he has been smoking since he was 7 years old, one of his grandmothers is still living, and he hasnt set foot in the metro in 7 years cuz hes got a car. Nicest guy ever, and he seemed interested in the good news. Elder Lex and i have talked to a few other really nice potentials like this guy in just the past couple of days. Earlier this week we talked to a mother and her daughter who lived in america for 10 years, they gave me some caviar, cuz i said i loved it, which i do, and later that week we had caviar with butter on toast for breakfast when we were on a split with the APs. I ate a spoonful of caviar too. I rtecommend it.
however i do not recommend ostrich egg, because i am still paying the consequences for that one, and that was 2 weeks ago.
Pretty much transfers are coming up in a week and i still dont know who im going to be serving with, but boy am i loving serving with Elder Lex. Chances are pretty good that i will be serving with him again though, so im not too heart broken.
We had Zone Leader Conference with Elder Neuenschwander who is our current acting mission president due to President Sorenson's absence (he should return in a week) and at the conference we talked a lot about goal setting and why it is so important, especially daily goals. pretty interesting stuff, we will be talking about it a little more in our mission Conference on Friday, so Ill let you know more about thhat later.
We went to Bladimir's dacha-the same dacha I went to a year ago that i have pictures of with elder Nielson. I climed in the cherry tree and picked delicious cherrys. and we ate shashlik.
Love you all
Elder Paul

Back in Rechony Ward!

First few days i have been with elder lex and things are psycho, right when i came in, most of their progressing investigators disappeared or had to be passed. We have been speaking only in russian outside of the appartment(and a little german...just kidding)and I LOVE Austria and the Lex family. Austtria is litrally fairy tale land where everything is perfect. Im thinking of learning german sometime, cuz i guess everyone's all about it.
Also our apartment is kinda psycho. i am now living on voykovskaya and our apartment is really hot, but i love it!
We go running every morning to work out and i realize how out of shape you can get in a year. bust im dying!
Never before in my mission have i been able to speak the language with my comp 100% we are thinking, next week we are gonna go even in the flat. its like whatever.
working on memorizing scriptures. If i want to become a master teacher, which i do, then im gonna need to memorize a heap of scriptures. I challenge you all to do the same.
heres a couple pics.
THE ONE OF ME ELDEoopsR FOSTER and elder woodruff is us doing service helping with the old remont up in odintsova. I am back in Rechnoy ward now and its great Its cool cuz ialready know everyone and they know me.
If there is any advice that i have it is: "Work hard and things will happen"
also wendys is better here.
Love Elder Paul

Unexpected Transfer and Future Zone Leader!

Good Morning!

So heres the deal. A whole bunch of crazy stuff has just happened this past week. First we were english thinging and this lady came up to me and she asked me about english club and then she tells me that she got one of our books 8 years ago and before you know it we were helping her do her shopping and she invited us over to her house where we shared with her the first lesson and she was stoked out of her mind! she loved all of it and she is so excited about praying, especially for her son who is 19 and she wants him to stop smoking. her name is Karina and she is a 45 year old lady from armenia. wonderful, spiritually receptive lady. we are meeting with her today before english club. also, other news. We found out earlier this week that we would have a thi-panionship with elder woodruff, as he has been stuck with a mini missionary so far this transfer. his friend is serving where nana and papa live in new york, and they had his friend over to dinner a while ago. He is from the line of the 6th wife of President Wilford Woodruff. So thats been for the past few days. On sunday, however, i was informed that i needed to pack my bags. It turns out that elder lex's companion is going home mid transfer, so i will serve a half transfer with elder lex in rechnoy branch as zone leader before elder lex becomes AP next transfer in place of our beloved father, who is soon dying, even Elder Nielson. I will remain in rechnow and be zone leader with someone else next transfer, but i dont know whith whom, and that is the farthest into the future i am capable of viewing. Elder Woodruff whe is a transfer older than elder foster will be the district leader in my old area and they will tear up the place, im exciteds for them. I still need to pack my bags and i will be in my new area by friday afternoon. so thats the big news of this past week. we are preparing one of our investigators for baptism, and we are hoping that Karina will be good to go in a couple more...days. yesterday we had mission conference. I saw elder ablett for the first time in a while and hes doing awesome, training down in podolsk.
Its kinda crazy cuz the whole mission is now green. our baptisms have gone down and its a pretty slow time, but in a few weeks or so things should be exploding with all the greeness. Idont even know half the mission anymore, but i suppose i will get to know the north zone pretty well soon enough. in the north zone we have Zelenegrad, Rechnoy, and Arbatski. I will be in the packerds district again, so that should be fun.
I am really excited to serve with Elder Lex, he is a fantastic missionary. and we were both trained by pops so we have a lot of the same appartment and living habits that he passed on to us.
Tell everyone at the family reunion that its probably a good thing im not there cuz i would have showed everyone up on the timp hike. so all of your egos will be unharmed until next years retreat.
Im kinda bummed that I dont get to finish training elder foster, i was probably a lousy trainer anyway, but its like whatever. Im also bummed to leave my are, but its all good. I will probably be back in arbatsky soon enough.
yesterday i heard the juicy details of an LDS Russian Bachelors party. there is nothing better. just imagine Sauna+Male Massouse+shaved leg+50 bottles of Kvas+11 Priesthood holders=greatest thing in the world.

Love you all, Elder Paul

The Future is as Bright as your Faith

Sounds like alls well back at the old dom. this past week has been a lot of work and a whole lot of walking. we were with the AP's yesterday for a split. We stopped by a few old contacts and had a little success there, and then we bumped into this guy who lives on our station and was way nice and even sayd he would tell his friends about us, unfortunately we didnt get his number, but he got ours and i9f he doesnt call we will probably see us walking soon enough.
President is sick right now, so thats a way bummer.he will be better in a few weeks though
we dropped most of our investigators cuz they werent progressing at all and the rest for one reason or another disappeared, so we have a nice clean board to work with. the future is looking very bright, and it is really hot here, they say it isnt humid, but i'd say it probably is.
Today we got to do some good service. first we helped the bozhenovie move. he was the one who wrote the article in this past liahona(New Era??) about him on his mission in saint petersburg and the book of mormon that the kid found that they gave to some old man. yeah way great little couple, too bad they moved out of our area, but still in our ward in the AP's area. after that we grabbed some mak dak and went over to help our bishops wife with all their bags, they are on the train right now to the sea for a couple days.
I am really tired, but the work must go on.
by the way funny you mentioned romans 8, turns out thats now one of my favorite chapters. the last 5 verses are incredible to me.
happy forth of july huh? i celebrated by drinking a milkshake.
I have little time now, but basically the new testament is awesome. and be the bast member missionaries you can, cuz member missionary work can always get better.
Love you all,
Elder Paul

Pray for the work to move forward in Russia!

Dear all,
today was a nutso P-day we went rollerblading with the district. and went to the souvenir renik. in one of the pictures i am jumping a four step staircase.
So we had this one investigator katia who is 50 and works at a dome, helped her carry her groceries and gave her a book a couple weeks ago. we met with her and she is way interested. she called the other day saying the director of the place she works yelled at her for talking to foreigners and he swore at her and stuff. basixcallyy she sayes that she will call in two months when she leaves that work. promising? we a have a coulple other weak sauce investigators but the fact of the matter is we need to find a lot of new investigators this transfer for this area to get rolling. the mission is really focusing on new investigators right now and its way megga hard. it basically comes doun to raw contacting, cuz the refferal pool is not filling up any time soon. a lot of work here is planting seeds.
Ways we contact might be handing out liahonas (ensigns) around a fountain and sitting and talking with people, occasionally sharing lessons on the spot. proven to be somewhat effective. chalk drawing is apparently the bees knees and we are gonna be doing that friday with the district hopefully. getting rejected so many times a day cant be healthy, but who ever said the mission is healthy? not me. so heres the deal what the heck is a creative contacting idea that isnt way awkward and might be illegal/legal depending on where you are? i dont know, but we all know that the real way is the Spirit. I suppose i just answered my own question and called myself to repentance at the same time.
Im running low on time.
Love you guys,
Eldr Paul

Hope you all enjoy Elder Paul's grammar as much as we do! Thank you for all of your love and support for Elder Paul!

A Letter to the Boys at Scout Camp

This weeks e-mail is a message to the boys in our stake who will be attending scout camp. The stake president requested that the stake Young Men's president collect letters from missionaries currently serving to insire the younger boys in the stake to want to serve missions. Here is what Elder Paul had to say to them:

Dear scouts under the authority of President Ivie,

I am currently sitting in the middle of Moscow Russia in an internet club where a bunch of russian teenagers are playing computer games and cussing their heads off. How cool is that? I have made so many lifelong friends, both missionaries and russian people. I have grown spiritually in a way that I could never imagine. Right now more than any other time in my life I realize what is really most important to me, I have a clear idea of what I will do in my future, I am learning and speaking the coolest language in the world, but most of all, I know who Jesus Christ is and what he wants me to do. The blessings that come from serving a mission are more than you can ever imagine. My family is blessed, as well as my friends. Serving a mission is the greatest fun in the world. More fun than hanging out with friends back home, more fun than dumb girls, I would even go so far as to say that it is more fun than scout camp.
In the first are where I served in north Moscow in one of the biggest branches in Russia, I had the opportunity to get to know and to help activate a 23 year old kid named Vitaly. Coolest kid ever! We got him stoked about serving a mission and we got him back to church. Right now he has put in his papers and he is waiting for his mission call! The other week I saw his mom in the church building and she thanked me for helping her son come back to church and decide to serve a mission. That was one moment on my mission that I will never forget, a mother's thanks for helping her son do what the Lord called him to do-that is, save lives in the kingdom of our father. No greater joy will you receive than reuniting in heaven with those you helped towards Christ while you served on your mission.
Cherish the time you have now to prepare to go on your missions. If there is one thing I wish I could have done better, it would be to study more before my mission and prepare myself better through reading my scriptures daily, reading preach my gospel, and talking to my nonmember friends about the Doctrine of Christ.
It is my wish and my prayer that you will prepare yourselves, and be worthy to go on the greatest adventure of your life, and unite in the army of god for the salvation of souls. Have a nice camp.

Elder Paul

An Ode to the FIRST YEAR!

We had culture night last night and it was PHENOMENAL! it was the national dance show and boy was it good! nationalrussiashow.ru and you can get a glimpse. absolutely amazing you have no idea, and we met all of the cast afterwards up close and personal. super great show. also you might have to have dayne confirm this, but the new cool fraze for aussies to say if their parents ask them to do something or something, they say "too easy" obviosly the cool thing to say so maybe you can hook the US up with some dross lingo. who knows.
ALso this transfer i have come to a whole new realization of what missionary work is. I cant quite explain it, but i think because of this realization i will be a more effective missionary. we had speciallized training the other yesterday ands alls i was like is like "too easy" cuz it just clicked, ye know? i dunno, just way psycho stuff is comin up soon. tommory i will have been on my mission for a year so here is an ode to a year on my mission:

One year ago i WOULD be caught dead in an american baggy suit,
I WOULD be picky when i ate,
I would speak one language well,
I was all about driving cars,
i slept like a dog,
and my spiritual level was at a 5%

Today, I wouldnt e caught dead in a baggy american suit,
I WILL eat meat jello, kvas and cucumber/tomato salad-and LOVE it
I Speak two languages badly,
I can stand my ground on the metro,
i sleep like a BRICK,
and my spiritual level is between a 10and a 15%


As you can see, I have changed probably for the better, but other than those things, im the exact same ive decided. well not really. but whatever.

You guys are awesome, the importance of families is more than you can imagine. and not just families but eternal families.

I love you guys,

Elder Paul


It is crazy how fast time flies! Thank you to all of those who have supported Mitchell through the first HALF of his mission! One year of humor filled weekly e-mails down and one to go!

Perhaps the Largest Ward in Russia

(Notice the short sleeves and sunshine in these pictures! It's about time!)

so some of these pictures are from last weeks adventure to a contacts daughter's birthday party. Great fun it was and the cutest little 2 year old girl kept feeding me and elder nielson leaves. we had shashleek and it was fantastic, we met with them again and gave them a book of mormon and he said he would read, so we will see what happens with that! Also our golden investigator is awesome! he will be done with the book of mormon in a week (thats two weeks total) and he will then begin the doctrine and covenants. he is a great, normal person and we will be passing him on saturday because he actually lives in my old area.
we are still working on finding new investigators, that is our biggest challenge right now.
bust this is really the greatest work ever! i am so tired but i keep gettig pumped up. crazy stuff is happening right now in the mission now that we have a stake!
Conference and everything was fantastic. our branch is now a ward, perhaps the largest ward in russia, and our last branch president is now the second councellor in the stake presidency. We have a patriarch and so many elders are becoming high priests. the future of the church in moscow is going to be insane, but its crazy how right now the church is only just beginning here. a lot of our work involves planting seeds for the future of the church here.
today we got a vacuum for our appartment because it hasnt been vacuumed in years...well, at least months, but its clean now. just gettin stuff done.
Thank you for all your prayers.
hmm. well I guess thats it...if there is any advice i could give you its that stuff happens in the Lord's time.
Have a wonderful week!
Love, Elder Paul

Stoked about the work, and tie shopping!

So this past week has been really crazy, im working harder than i ever have before. the language is no longer a concern, but there is much to be improved.
We met a guy from english club who was interested in religion on saturday morning with a member who got off a mission 2 years ago. the investigators name is sergey and he is 34 years old has glasses, a mustache, and he is 6'3" he is a great guy. the meeting we had with him was the first lesson and it was probably the best meeting with an investigator that I have yet had. He didn’t argue with anything. He accepted a book of Mormon and agreed to come to an event that we had that night that was a Book of Mormon Fireside with the Moscow lds choir. PERFECT! He, after walking around the city and reading the book of mormon all day, came to the fireside and LOVED it. He has questions about the plan of salvation, which we agreed to discuss in detail in the next meeting. He will be at English club today, but he couldn’t make it to church Sunday cuz he has a business trip. But anyways, the guy is golden! And we just met another guy yesterday named Giorgie who has two young daughters and one of them has a birthday today and he asked us to come to his place. Way nice guy who is stoked about learning about religion. coincidence? I think not.

So yeah great stuff goin on right now, we went contacting yesterday and talked to three punk kids who hate America, so that was fun. We are all so stoked about the stake and we have a meeting for all missionaries on Monday with elder Nelson. so yeah everything is fantastic here, except I have never been more exhausted in my life! And there will be three baptisms from our branch on Friday and Saturday, so that’s awesome, none from us yet, but soon enough.

I have to get going, we are going tie shopping at the market with elder Nielson and Breedlove today, so we are stoked!

Love, Elder Paul

* The first stake in Russia will be formed this upcoming Sunday June 5th and Elder Paul is in Russia to be a part of it! What an incredible time to be a part of the work!

Working Hard

So This week has been crazy. I am working harder and harder every day it seems and I seriously sleep like a brick! This past week Elder Foster and I have been doing a little bit of contacting and we will hopefully be getting some good new investigators this week whom we are excited about and praying for. The mission is getting pretty charged right now with Elder Nelson coming and the stake coming and its getting hot outside which means people are actually willing to talk or even meet outside. So for some reason everyone here keeps talking about some guy in the US talking about the end of the light or something, so they all think that we are all about that for some reason. Also, Elder Foster is from California and he is younger than I despite how old he might look. Hes so stoked about the work-this is going to be a really good two transfers. I just hope we find someone who has been prepared and is ready to enter the waters of baptism. and boy oh boy would it be awesome to find a young family to teach, thats my DREAM.
Bust so I'm really really short on time today. I promise next week will be better and more informative but today has just been super hectic.
I love you guys so much. The more I serve the more i realize Christ's atoning sacrifice in all of our lives. And obedience is really the key to success and happiness.
Have a great week and if theres anything i can do for you just let me know.
Love,
Elder Paul

Some Pictures as of late : )

A Proud Father with his son (Mitchell's companion just got to Russia, so Mitchell is training him. In the mission they often refer the the trainer as the "father".)


Silly Mitch : )

Being a dad is the GREATEST!

All right guys, so heres the deal. Being a dad is the greatest thing in the world! Im so stoked about life and missionary work right now! I know i sound like a total goof ball to all of you, and i probably am, but seriously I havent been this stoked since i was being trained! Training puts a different perspective on everything. Every night we come home and we recognize the miracles that we have seen throughout the day. An so many miracles happen if you just look for them.
Elder Foster is the man! He is the most sincere and kind human being. He has a great sense of humer and best of all, he is stoked about the work! by the time we get done here, this area is gonna be on fire! Today we went to the Renik-Market and here is a picture of us in wigs. Elder Nielson and elder Breedlove are our APs in our district right now.
This week has been crazy-I cant even remember las week, but monday we went to a burnt down house and helped clean up, way sad story, but great service opportunity. that night we didnt have a meeting set up so we went contacting at park pobedy victory park that is and we met this guy who is a stellar man plays trombone and studies english and he reads the bible before bed every night. we will meet with him sometime this week. Zone conference was tuesday and it was phenomenal as always. after that we dropped by and had a meeting with an inactive melk. Priesthood holder. Great guy we invited him to district confrence where the stake will be formed.
Today we got some shopping done and went to the market and then to a museum. the biggest art museum in moscow i believe, tretykovskaya gallery. beautiful stuff and it was all FREE! yep today is free museum day here in Russia.
Oh i almost forgot, las week we dropped by some inactives and we saw the most beautiful baby in the world. this baby was literally an angel! sorry, no picture.
We have a meeting right before inglish in a couple hours with Ikon and we will hopefully share with him the first lesson. The kid is awesome. Friendships are super important in missionary work , especially here in moscow, because people trust their friends. I sure hope it works out with him and the others that we meet here very soon.
We have a lot of work to do as always- right now the mission is really focusing on new investigators. With faith all things are possible.
I love you guys a whole lot and boy is this work true. I see it every day how real the gospel is and how truly flawless it is. People can argue about it all day, but in the end of the day they arent going anywhere, and those who accept it are. Embrace the Gospel and embrace your families because those are what is most important and they all lie on Christ our Savior.
Love, Elder Paul

First Stake in Russia!

So here is the big news!
1. Moscow is going to have a STAKE!!! big news, first stake in russia, thats a huge step for the church here. means the mission is going to change a lot, probably boundary changes. High Priests and bishops and Patriarch will now be as well as stake president. Elder Nelson will be here to do the deed on the 5th and 6th of June. so thats way awesome.

2. I will be Training next transfer!! next transfer is actually tomorrow, so tomorrow. Im gonna be a DAD!! I am so stoked about this! Its probably gonna be a certain Elder Foster who sounds like the goofiest most awesome guy ever! im stoked to meet him, apperently he looks about 35 so thats awesome. Way good stuff is about to happen!

3. Im almost a year out! bust!

well we are, as in preparation for elder nelson we will be focusing our efforts even more on finding people. way stinking hard, but theyve gotta be everywhere!
so this past week we found two new investigators, one of which looks like he will progress. Ikon kid who speaks way good english we met with him and his dad at the carpenters and his dad made plov! so good! and i ate a whole pepper. also i forgot to tell you that the carpenters are our elderly couple in our district and i will be the district leader in this next district. Oh and the carpenters are the ones who know the Arbons. so thats whats goin on.
monday was victory day here in Russia victory over germany. We selebrated by a conference in the central building and then going home the rest of the night. way big party night, proply equivalent of the 4th of july.
here are some pictures that portray the victory russia has enacted
Heres the deal, you guys are awesome and the mission is the bees knees so get with the program and bite into this delicious pear. oh how sweet it is.
I love you all,
Elder Paul

Finally Walking Around Without Suit Jackets!

last night met with a metro contact and gave him the first lesson pretty much and he told us how he was driving a honda civic 200 km per hour and crashed, rolled 4 times demolished the car, sent a tanker off the road. he wasnt even injured and he said that he thinks god saved him because there is something he has to do in life...little does he know. i suppose thats why we are teaching him though huh. his name is anton and hes 23, sharp guy. last week i went on a split with elder lex on tuesday and elder Nielson on friday/saturday. Saturday we did service cleaning around a lake up in my beloved Lobnia! me and elder Nielson and elder lex got to go out in a little rowboat to reach a bunch of trach, we found an old rusted chair and a few tires! So psycho! i dont know how allowed it is, but we went in a boat. Elder Nielson is the greatest missionary in the mission right now. He just knows how to do missionary work in every instance. he taught me how to make sushi rolls too, so im diggin the sushi! yesterday we went to a huge water fountain to contacted. i contacted this one guy roma who just called 30 min ago and we are going to meet him tonight before english club. way good stuff going on. i will find out tomorrrow what happens with transfers, so i guess i will let you know over the phone!
we are finally walking around without suit jackets and the weather is beautiful! greens are everywhere!

you guys are awesome! thanks for all your letters and encouragement!
Love elder Paul

Continuing with Patience and Diligence

Holy cow! bryan that lucky DAWG!! Noth Carolina is the most beautiful state in the whole of the US of A! daggum it! time goes by way too fast! i still cant even speak russian and im more than have way done with my mission! whats goin on here?! Im working hard, the key is just diligence and patience with the blessings, they will come, even if its after my mission or in the world to come. SWo heres the deal. Our main investo aleksey decided to go on a commanderovka out of town for a month, so thats his deal. we met with dima the circus clown, but he bailed on us the other day and i was way bummed, still havent gotten a hold of him. It seems to me that simply scheduleing meetings and actually meeting with people for the first time is WAY hard and then it gets hader from then on out. the church here is still small, so its understandable that the amount of baptisms is not higher...its the whole in the Lords time deal.
Yesterday i was on a split with Elder Lex. He is the elder from austria who was also trained by elde Nielson. hes my brother and he is the greatest guy in the world. crazy split. Dima bailed on us. we scared the beans out of this family that we went ti drop by, they were investos years ago and they didnt know who we were and they started freaking out so we leaft as quick as possible. and i talked to this old war general on the metro and hes a millionair now and I says I like your tie, its soviet? yep. Its beatiful. so he just takes it off and puts it over my head and i walked out of the metro with two ties, but not without giving him some american candy. got his number and we might do lunch sometime and hopefully schedule a baptisimal date or something.

Dang Good Stuff is Goin On Over Here

So heres the deal, dang good stuff is goin on over here. we just met with this guy yesterday and gave him the first lesson and he was stoked!! his names dima and he is an assistant clown in a big circus here in town. young guy, he was actually a referral from a member, which is pretty rare. he is an answer to our prayres and im way stoked about him. the people give me the most joy here.

We are starting a new progrem here, specifically elder page and i are now working with family history in contacting and re activation, as well as with part member families. Family history is totally gnarly, and i was completely blinded before, because it is a HUGE part of our purpose on the earth, obviously seeing the 3/4 fold mission of the church...didnt they add one that being administering to the sick and afflicted or something like that?
So yeah, way good potential with that, it makes intoducing the church a whole different story, and i have heard in other missions that it is extremely effective, especially for preparing moscow for a temple!

Today for P-day we went to a park with a bunch of missionaries and played frisbee. i havent played in forever and it felt stankin good! except now my entire lower body is sore to the bone.

It is still kinda cold here, but there is no snow anymore, so thats prime stuff. the days are getting longer and the work just gets better and better. man i love missionary work. there is nothing better than talking to complete strangers and just loving their guts. I talked to a bab named nina the other day, i will probably never see her again, but she was incredible. completely sane and she had a beautiful smile. people are so fragile and precious.

My study of the book of mormon in russian is progressing, i am past second nephi and movin on. I hope to finish it in a couple months, at which point i hope to speak understandable russian, enough to please the masses with my assuaging words.
So thats whats up over here in the big town. if there is anything that i learned this week and am working on right now is patience. i have found myself to be a rather impatient person. perhaps when we recognize our weaknesses we are humbled and more apt to improve upon them. recognize your weaknesses, cuz you probably have a lot more than you think.

I love you all and the support to me which you give. I'd best be going now.

yours truly.
Elder Paul

фотографии (pictures)

Elder Paul with Elder Page (current companion)


Elder Paul with Elder Neilson on his birthday


Elder Paul with his Grandpa (aka trainer) the day before he came home