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