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