Back to Square One

So this week was rather eventful. remember that appartment we were getting last monday? well to make a long story short, we got it, Elder started moving in, landlady pulled out, we pulled the luggage out, and last night we officially terminated the agreement. which means we have wasted more than half the week in podolsk and have gotten nothing from it. so the process begins again today as we make our way down to podolsk to look at 5 or 6 potential appartments followed by another hlf day agreeing on one. so these are most of whats we have been occupying time with this week. we also met the two most awesome new investigators at the american center! they are perfect-alex and dasha and they are all about the good ord. they are not married but live together, but they arent in a relationship, so its all good? they invited us to their place tomorrow! bingo bango!In regards to your question of which junk food to send, beef jerky is exquisite as well as 100 grand and butterfinger and a good idea of stuff to hand out to people is those fun size packs of hersheys chocolate, or hersheys kisses. and swedish fish are fantastic.Also BIG NEWS! Finally the new russian translation of the book of mormon D&C and POGP is completed and the first russian triple combination is now available. we will probably be supplied with a standard 3 dollar edition but i was wondering if it is at all possible for you to rder me a leatherbound gold page edition? Apparently it will be faster for you to order it and then send it to me. im not so sure about that but it would be quite the wonderful thing to have. its about 20 bones from what i can tell. If you dont want to gety it, no worries i can get it when i get home and it wont make a big difference really.so heres the deal, this transfer is almost over and then i only have 3 more transfers. thats the worst. But the work keeps going and i notice more and more miracles in this second half of my mission. I love you all and thank you for everything!mom congrats on running pretty good for an old lady.You
KnowLove,
Elder Paul

Last Birthday in the Field

Well, had a good little birthday. We went down to podolsk apartment
hunting. we had several meetings set up with relators and so we
hussled around the thriving town of podolsk looking at potential for
next transfer opening an area so we will soon have elders and sisters
in the old Dolsk. along with that, in a couple hours we will be
heading down to close the deal on the place and lay down a whole
briefcase full of money. thats an exageration, but not a huge one.
Other news this week, we met with Victor again and he loves it,
howevwer he couldnt make it to church on sunday because he was working
through the night. and Also this guy Vadim is incredible! he is all
about telling everyone he knows about the church and we are going to
meet with him with some of his friends who are interested this week if
we get any time! travel is a kick in the butt too it seems like have
the day we are just travelling, but theres really no other way i
suppose.
hats off to Scott Halvorsen he is the man! i miss that guy and cant
wait to see his beautiful self and family.
Katrina sent me all of the facebook notifications for my birthday so
that was nice to see that a few people still remembered me thanks to
the electronic reminder that facebook provides.
Im in the office right now cuz we had to get a whole bunch of money
for the appartment and so i would send pictures quite easily but as it
turns out i just changed my card in my camera and i have no photos. so
your out of luck.
well i love you guys and am grateful for your support and love.
Elder Paul

Family Lovin and a Golden Investigator

dear family and friends.

highlights of the week:

bought a new suit last p-day for less than 90 bones.

went and saw dead lenin for the first time in my history/

got 2 new investos. one of which is the most golden investo i have ever seen!

we had a training at zone conference


Well you guys. Im getting really excited about you coming,but its still a few months away. and im getting way homesick all of a sudden. it finally hit me i guess, but i way want to hang out with you guys and stuff. I thought about it and we outta just open up a family restaraunt on the east coast and give food to the world. mom can do all the cooking and interior design and deal with all the documents and all the technicalities and dad and I and all the girls can enjoy the food and good company and income. sounds good huh? yeah i thought so too.

the funny thing is im not even kidding.

also, along the lines of our new investo. His name is Victor and hes the coolest guy ever!

oh speaking of the coolest guy ever, vitaly donosov is in spain right now in the MTC and it was way awesome because i happened to be in the building when he got set apart and then the stake president came down looking for missionaries with oil cuz he couldnt find his and we went up and helped witht he blessings and vitaly asked that i give him the blessing, so that was a real honor. man i love that guy!

So Victor is 41 and he is so prepared. 4 examples

He knows that its importand to find his ancestors and there is a link between him and them but he cant figure out why.

when he read moroni 10 3-5 he said that he felt an incredible feeling when he read it.

he told us that he has been looking for something for a long time and he thinks he has found it.

He texted us at 1 in the morning telling us that he is reading the book and he loves it.

He says that when he gets into a book he doesnt stop reading so we are thinking he will be done in a couple days.

only downside is he doesnt live in our area, just like everybody else!

well i gotta go but i love you guys and cant wait to show you my life for the past two years. I have come to a greater knowledge on my mission of the question WHY.

Love Elder Paul

Some Pictures

Faithful Members in Lovoshino

Holy smokes what a week, as you already know from presidents letter we had the opportunity to go out to Lovoshino yesterday, by far the smallest branch i have ever been in! 3 people. the branch president, his wife and their son! he has been fired twice for being a mormon and he is currently out of work. they are the most faithful and righteous members i have ever seen probably and it was an incredible and spiritual experience to be there. I had the opportunity to bless and pass the sacrament with elder clawson and we also bore our testimonies in the meeting. I wish that i could serve out there so bad! it was a dream! President Sorenson is fantastic, i swear his russian is better than half the missionaries in the mission and he is just the most spiritual man!

Also we got an area change that is effective about 11 days before i die. moscow west and moscow will be combined. I have little emotion devoted to the boundary change because i am not effected by it at all.

I got the packege with the stuff in it and i read Elder Victor Hemsley's blog, it sounds like he is doing awesome! Im way jealous that he gets to serve with natives! reading about his experiences and his miracles inspires me to work harder and be a better missionary.

We have a few progressing investigators right now, but the work is a little slow. Its gonna take some serious concentration and pure concentrated power of God to reap the blessings that the Lord has prepared for us.

I came to the realization this week more than ever before that there is an end. I remembered the time on my mission where i had 9 months remainin g and how determined i was for so much to happen before the end of my mission, and now it is 4 months from that time! 4 months!!! its gone! i blinked!! GONE!!!! and now your sending me pictures of where im goin g to live fall semester!!!! (by the way that place looks way nice! we neeeeeed to make sure sterling and Mike whittle and whoever else are there too...is that a possibility??)

gotta go but i love you guys ill send pics next week!!!

Love ELder Paul

Gather Israel

hey so for housing that all sounds real good, anywhere it doesnt matter as long as its relatively close to campus. how much is it per month on average for an apartment? i dont even have an estimate. as far as my weight, its a serious problem. i am always hungry and i always eat and i am losing weight. I need less healthy food i think. and more exercise, but thats not happening in the next 6 months. so basically its a lot colder, but me and elder Clawson are doin real good. just keepin up the work its hard to do so many things at once, but we are taking care of it for now. I have a visa trip tomorrow and it will be my second to last visa trip most likely. time is escaping me real fast. it seems the colder the temperature the lass people want to talk. all the more reason to work harder.

Its hard to believe that im almost 21 and in no time i will have a job and be paying for my own food and clothes and barely gettin by and then getting married and having a bunch of kids and stuff...i realize that my life really starts after the mission. I guess i will need to figure out what i am going to do, and in the meantime gather Israel...actually the other way round. Gather8ing israel is top priority. well i have minimal time, but i love the heck out of you guys!

Love Eder Paul

4 Transfers Left

All of the sudden it got cold. finally. its now about -18c but still a lack of fresh snow, but give it a couple days. So we have a baptismal date! with sasha! he is a way cool kid and the date is for the 17th of march. we put it off a little cuz he is going out of town for a couple weeks in feb. also nelsons baptism is this saturday, and on the 31st (mike watterson's bday) i have a visa trip to the old kieve. transfers are on thursday the 26th and im sure plenty of other things are going on..oh yeah a rechnoy ward party for the departing missionaries on the 28th, and vitaly donosov's birthday on the 5th of feb. also sashas birthday is on the tenth of feb, but he is leaving town on the 2nd. From the 16th of january to the eleventh of march we have a goal to get, in the mission, 175 new investigators preparing for the confrence by president Schwitzer on the 13th i beliveof march. also, President Lawrence was at our ward on sunday and i saw him earlier this week and he asked me to say hello to the poulsens from him, if you could pass that along. How time flies. It turns out that i have but 4 transfers remaining and its time to kick into gear. we are seeing success out our ears, so thats nice.

This past week elder Potter finally made it to russia a transfer late as he was stuck in england. The Aps were sick so me and Elder Palmer went with him to red square and contacted. He is a stellar missionary and will be great he is in Arbatski district so i will see him when i move districts. the arbatski ward meets in the central building, so so far my whole mission will have been in the central building.

Yesterday at church the relief society president had heard that i got a transfer and she gave me a small knit angel christmas ornament and told me thank you for serving and that that ornament was a relic that when i look at i will know that russia loves me. then she told me to say thank you to my mother who raised a good young man. I dont know if you remember but the last time i was in this district me and elder ablett went to her and gave her roses and she kissed us. thats the relif society president, she is the greatest!

Also two baptisms in our ward took place on saturday and they were confirmed on sunday. two girls that the sisters have been working with, so that was awesome and should be a good boost for the ward to get more excited about missionary work.

im runnin out of time, but well see ya later

Love Elder Paul