Wednesday, April 27, 2011

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.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

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

Thursday, April 14, 2011

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

Better late than never : )

We got an e-mail from Mith this morning (thurdsay). Better late than never. Enjoy!

The work here is going well. we couldnt write home yasterday as you know because of a glitch in the system. las weeek went well and we just today only just had specialized training. A lot of good stuff going on. Right now a difficulty is our investigator pool that just boils down to raw contacting and just talking to people. People really fascinate me, they all have brains worth picking. the other day i sat down on the metro and the lady accross from me just started smiling at me so i went over and asked her if i knew her. she thought i was sasha from the polyclinic years ago, but i informed her that she was mistaken, and before i could say anything else she got off on the next stop.
big news, elder page and i will be working a lot with family history. we are going to start contacting with family history as the contact ed topic. way cool im excited to see its success. Also thais guy looks like jack black and he said i have scandinavian eyes and that i look russian, but i think its just the russian haircut that i got yesterday. this week is cruising right along, this area is full of potential and im stoked. Aleksey didnt get interviewed yet so we will have to move his baptisimal date back, darn! thats the worst, hes so close!
i went on a split this week because elder page had a visa trip. we had a meeting with a guy from kyrgistan, turns out he wasnt too interested in the church, but nice guy. i learned a lot about the muslim religion and that was awesome!
We got to see general conference last sunday and it was solid stuff! I forget what it was about right now, but i liked paul v johnson's talk, and loved elder Uchdorf's and all of them of course.
Upcoming events are scarce right now, just hardcore missionary work. your letters and communication from the outside world inspire and motivate me to work harder and accomplish more. I love you guys and i love the Gospel and that it means we need to act and do. I used to be a lazy person, but now i look upon laziness with the least degreee of allowance. May you all succeed in your endeavors as you lean on the arm of Christ.

you know
Elder Paul

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

No word from Elder Paul today, however we are sure that he is doing just fine. We thank you for your continued prayers and support of our brother and son! We know that he truly does feel your love and support and appreciates it!

We will keep ya posted!

Love,
The Paul Family

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A little bit about the new area!

In answer to your questions: I knew elder page before now, but not very well. Elder Ablett is still in Rechnoy. The apartment I am in now is, in my opinion nicer than the other ones ive been in, but its a good ways from the metro bout 13 minute walk. The sokolniki branch meets in the central building at 2 oclock. I will still be in the same english club group. And I enjoyed some sloppy joes the other day.
Please inform Kyle Barnett that i am severely in need of his words.
So, the new area i am in is the left side of the metro light blue and dark blue lines and the metro i live on now is kuntsevskaya, it is one of the few outdoor metro stations. also, this area has a lot of great potential and the members that i have met so far have been fantastic! we are working with a 23 year old kid named aleksey and he is pretty much all set for baptism already, so thats great!
The weaqther here is sudddenly of change and melt has come now and dirt mud filth with cigarette all over the grounds. The sun has been shining and i no longer need head protection.
Good things are about to happen here in the mission and i am in need to work harder than ever before. You have my word that i am working my hardest, but then when has my word ever been worth anything?
met some kid named ikon on the street he will be at english club today. probly gonna baptize him in a week or two. no big deal. just kidding, way cool kid though.
Thanks for all you do I will hope to send some pictures next week, my phones been dead...hmmm camera that is.

Love you all sincerely.
Elder pAUL