Monday, February 20, 2012

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

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Thank You to SH Ward!

So it turned out that nelson is actually getting baptized on the 28th, so we are really excited about that. as far as the housing thing, i dont know where the best place is. maybe katrina can do some research and figure it out, but if you can get ahold of some moms or something that would be real nice, i just dont wanna miss the chance and end up homeless.
so this week sasha and ed came to church. ed is the guy who lived in LA as a kid and he is the funniest guy ever. I would make a fantastic member. and sasha is excited about getting baptised, next meeting we are going to set a date with him. unfortunately he doesnt live in our area so a pass will be involving itself here soon.
In other news I found out transfer for next transfer. it will be on the 26th thursday and i will be AP with Elder Clawson from Spanish Fork i believe. he suffers from Chronic Sleep-walking and is known as the funniest elder in the mission. I am going to have a really good time serving with him. Its going to be really sad leaving Elder Palmer and our area as things are going so good. recently i have seen more success than ever before in my mission. also it will be sad to leave rechnoy finally.
By the way i got the package from you with the ties and vest and i also got the ward stocking, it was fantastic! tell everyone in the ward that i sorely miss them and cant wait to see them all, except for rondi, tell her i could wait a little longer to see her! and then give her a wink from me.
I also got a packie from sister watterson who hooked me up with just the right stuff! I am working on a package for her right now, hopefully i get it out soon. I will get one to you guys too asap, but i have a list of about 10 people to write letters to and only about an hour or two every pday of spare time. oh well, que sara sara.
Its been real good knowing you guys.

Tell Mark Taylor thanks for all his great ties, they are koshe! and tell a special thnk you to the morrisons for the cd and the Gublers for the Quaerters and the book. We sure have some nice people in our ward, dont we?

I love you guys and miss you. keep working hard!
Love Elder Paul
that last one is a picture of me and elder clawson at a dacha over the summer, he was my District leader when i went back to rechnoy




A Mild Winter and Nelson Entering the Waters of Baptism

Alright, so no i havent gotten any package from the ward, so that ill be soon i bet. You guys dont stand a chance learning the language cuz you procrastinated the day of your repentance...but try your best anyway! This week has been nuts and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us this year, some good goals to reach. I woke up today and cut my hair myself, im kinda partial to it, at least until i grow it out and braid it...but thats later. today we went ice skating on red square!! I am quite partial to the art of figure skating, and thats something im going to keep up when i get home. maybe go professional or something. so we have about 7 progressing investigators right now and success is nipping at our noses...unfortunately the ice cold wind isnt. this winter has been mega week we can still see grass in most places.

Also, I am growing very fond of rechnoy ward and ive been here a long long time. my whole mission. I only have four transfers left and in order to get in the swing of things when i get home i will need classes set up, if you cvould do that katrina, that would be prime. (Oh, my little brother, you are lucky I love you! – Kat)

also, tghis saturday NELSON is getting baptized!! in case i havent told you, Elder Palmer and i found him and taught him the first lesson and passed him to international. he is from cameroon, english speaker, came here to be a physics professor but it didnt work out he has the greatest smile ever and hes 30 years. so its gonna be way cool to see him get baptized, ill send you guys a pic next week. a few other that we are working with are close to baptism, but some of them are gonna take some time. workin hard, loving life, reppin the Lord. I miss you guys and am excited to see you...i was thinking of buying a new suit with the christmas money-about 90$ whatta ya think? mine are stanky.
love you guys and thanks for all that you do to me. My eyes have been opened by the atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Love Elder Paul