Transfer One is already over?!?!

Здравствуйте!

Что такое (What)?!?!  Transfer one in field is officially over, and I'm having a hard time believing it! This week has been pretty good though! I'm not 100 percent sure what happened, but pretty much nobody would meet with us this week, we only ended up having 4 appointments! It's all good though, we had a ton of time on the streets and we ended up getting 25 numbers by the end of the week, and some advice from some of the other elders here on how to turn those numbers into lessons, so hopefully that'll work out for us! 

The meetings we did have were really great though! We met with one of our investigators named Дима this week, and he's now living in an attic in one of the poor-er areas here in Stavropopol, so that was a bit of an adventure, haha! I'll do my best to send some pictures today that I managed to take while he was grabbing something, but if not I'll do my best to describe it right now. It was just about tall enough in the middle to stand up straight, but other than that you had to bend over a little bit, and it pretty much felt like we were going to fall through the roof at any given second. He had all kinds of just random stuff up there, like a tomahawk, and a handsaw. If I didn't know him as well as I do, I probably would have been a little bit afraid, but he's a pretty harmless guy! Right now we're helping him quit smoking, and he told us today that divine help is real, and that the only reason he's doing as well as he is right now is because God is helping him. It's so awesome to see the change that this Gospel can have in the lives of other people. As missionaries we're privileged to see that change every day, and it's really just a humbling experience. We're working with another one of our investigators quit smoking right now as well, and it's really awesome to see the same change taking place in him. 

We also had the opportunity to meet with one of the recent converts in our word, named Vika. As we met with her she poured out her heart to us, about the struggles she's been having lately, and the toll it's taking on her testimony. The spirit was so strong as we talked with her, and testified to her of the reality of Christ and the help that He can be to her right now. We've started sending her scriptures to read every day, and will be meeting with her again soon to just see how she's doing. It's so hard to describe how incredible this work is, I really don't think it's possible for people to understand unless they've experienced it themselves. I'm pretty sure I say this a lot, but it really is humbling being out here. Every day, I'm just so thankful to be able to give up such a small part of my life to help my brothers and sisters here in Russia. And no matter how much work I put in, or how much I sacrifice, God just continues to bless me in such a way that I can never pay him back. It really is a great deal for us. That's pretty much been my week though, nothing else super interesting has happened! I'm sure there's plenty of just random weird stuff, but I'm starting to get used to that! 

I'll just leave you with a small spiritual thought, as usual! I was reading in 3 Nephi earlier this week, where Christ has first come and ministered unto the people on the American continent, and has just told them that he needs to leave but will return the next day. In Chapter 17, verse 3 it says, "And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them." I really sympathize with these people, and feel like I understand what they must have felt at that time. There have been so many times in my life when I've felt that Christ was with me, and I just never want that feeling to leave. My last week at the MTC we were sitting in the celestial room of the temple, and it sunk in that I was not going to be able to come back to one His temples for another two years. There was an overwhelming feeling of just being home, and as I walked out of those doors I think it was probably similar to the experience recorded in 3 Nephi. I'd just encourage you all to strive for that presence in your life, and value any time that you have to feel close to Christ. I love you all, and hope you're all doing well!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Just a couple pics he sent.  I'm not sure where the first one is taken, but it looks like maybe at a meeting???

 He was really happy to see they have peanut butter there!

Another week is gone

4/11/2016


Здравствуйте!

Hey everyone! Another week has flown by over here in Russia. I had my first zone conference this week, so that was a bit of an experience! We hopped on a bus on Tuesday at around 3:30, and got off in Rostov at around 8:30. It was a bit of long ride, but I've been on longer, haha! It was cool getting to see more of what Russia looks like. It's super flat over here, it's really weird that I can't see mountains all the time, it's just a bunch of trees and grass, but it's all super beautiful. I got stopped by the police for the first time this week! We were getting of the bus in Rostov and they pulled us aside and checked our passports. They were pretty friendly about everything and was actually a lot less stressful than I imagined it being. Zone conference was super awesome, they gave us all kinds of really helpful advice on contacting on the streets and while we're on the Marshrutkas(Sort of like busses but a lot smaller and a let less concern for personal space). We lost about three days this week because of all of traveling and zone conference, but we went to work pretty much the second we got back to Rostov. We only ended up teaching 4 lessons this week, but we met a lot of people that will be meeting with us throughout this coming week, or so they say, haha! 

I've had a couple of really just random experiences this week, which is pretty normal over here! We were walking home Saturday night, and we stopped to talk to this guy that was walking what looked like a little dog. It turned out that it was actually a ferret, so he taught us how to say it Russian! We talked a little bit and ended up meeting with him yesterday and talking with him a little bit more. Apparently ferrets are pretty common over here, at least from what I understood, haha! He also said that hedgehogs were all over the place in the forests here, which is super weird. Russia is honestly the last place that I would have expected to find wild hedgehogs and ferrets, but apparently they're everywhere in Eastern Europe. I've also heard rumors that there's a camel here. Apparently somebody just rides it around and lets people take pictures with it. I haven't seen it yet, but 5 different people have told me to keep my eye out for it! If I find him, I'll definitely take a picture and send it home to everyone so you can all see, haha! I also found out that there's a huge park right in the middle of Stavropol that I previously had no idea existed. You have to go through this small gate, and it doesn't look like there's much inside if you're just looking at it from the outside, but it's seriously huge. There's a huge ferris wheel, tons of trees and grass, and even some turtles. I'll try and take some pictures in the coming weeks so you can all take a look at how cool it is! It was so weird though, I was starting to feel like I knew that city pretty well, but it turns out I don't, haha! 

That's pretty much it for this week, I'm sure there's tons of stuff that I forgot to write about, but so much happens here that its difficult to remember it all when I sit down to write! I'll just leave you with a scripture that I read this morning during my personal study. In Helaman chapter 4, the Nephites are starting to fall away, and are getting caught up in their pride. In verse 13 it says something that really just rung true to me. "And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands." It just makes sense to me, that when we're focused on everything we can do on our own, that we'll be left to do it on our own. We can get a lot done on our own, but with the help of Christ, we can go do all things. I'm so grateful for this gospel, and especially for the opportunity I have to be here in Russia sharing it with as many people as I can. I know that it's only with the help of God and Jesus Christ, that I'm able to do any of the things I'm doing right now. It's all going so fast too, it's already been a month since I've been here in Russia, and in just around 2 weeks I'll have been out for 4 months. I really do have a small amount of time here, to make as big an impact as I can. Realizing this makes me realize how much more I need to rely on the Lord. He has a plan for me here, and it's only when my will is swallowed up in His that I can bring that plan to pass. I hope you all are doing well, and I hope you know that I love you all!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

It's almost been a month!!!!

4/4/2016

Здравствуйте!

I know I say this a lot, but it does not feel like it's been a week. I'll hit my month mark in Russia this week, which is absolutely insane to think about. There's no way that it's been that long, it feels like I just got here. It really puts things in perspective when you realize how short your time is here. We just entered week 5 of this transfer, and if I weren't in training there would be the possibility of me moving to a different area. It just really makes you want to not waste a single minute, and do everything you can to help as many people as you can. This week has been pretty awesome! We got 6 phone numbers on the streets one day after only being out there for just a couple of hours and they all seemed pretty interested! We get 3 or 4 usually, and that's when we're walking around pretty much all day, so that was pretty exciting! We had a lot of appointments scheduled, but pretty much everyone bailed on us, haha, it's just something I've got to get used to! We had seven all set up for yesterday, but only 3 of them actually happened! They were good though! 

One of the members of our English group seemed pretty interested in our message after coming a couple of times, and we taught him the first lesson (in English, which made it a little bit easier!) yesterday, and it was super awesome! We met with Дима(Dima) again yesterday, and he's making a lot of progress. He actually gave his copy of the Book of Mormon to his aunt, and she's going to come to church with us next week! He's such a cool guy, and just seems like he was ready to meet us and accept the gospel. 

I learned this week that they celebrate April Fool's Day in Russia too! We walked up to this couple on the street on April 1st and started talking to them, and they told us that we were really bad at imitating American accents and thought that we were just trying to pull a prank on them when we told them we were from America! We might be meeting with them later today, so it'll be fun to talk to them some more and laugh about how bad our accents are! It's still sort of difficult sometimes to understand people here, but I can pretty much hold my own in most of my conversations now, which is pretty nice! A lot of times though when we talk with older people they end up being drunk, and that makes it about 100 times more difficult to put together what they're talking about. Haha, earlier this week this man we started talking to out of nowhere went straight into the history of one of these buildings on the street next to us. He told us that it used to be a Mosque, and that at the same time every day they would all kneel down and start yelling. He then proceeded to give us a demonstration, and right there on the side walk knelt down and started making Rooster noises. It was really hard not to laugh, so we just ended the conversation as quickly as possible, gave him a pass along card and then walked away! It's so funny how often things like that happen here, almost every day when I go home I find myself laughing about how weird it is here, and how awesome it is that I get to experience it!

I'll just leave you all with a verse that I read a couple of days ago. I was studying in Alma, and was reading through the story of Aaron and the father of King Lamoni. After Alma finishes speaking, the king responds by saying, "What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy" If you look at that verse, it's really interesting to notice the number of times he says the word "I". He wasn't looking for God or Aaron to do all of the work for him, he was looking for what he needed to do to receive the blessings that Aaron had testified of. This gospel is a gospel of action. In order to receive the blessings that God has in store for us we need to do something first. We need to be asking, as the Father of King Lamoni, "What do I need to do Lord", or in the words of the young king from the New Testament, "What lack I yet?" As we humbly ask these questions, and listen patiently for a response from the spirit, it will be given us. I'd just like to testify of the reality of our Savior, and the fact that He lives. He is at the head of our church, guiding us through his chosen prophet and apostles. As we heed to their council and ponder on their words, we will recieve the answers, guidance, and blessings that we are looking for. I love you all and pray for you daily!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)  


Pictures below:

The first three pics are from his 1st apartment in Stavropol.  It was super tiny and as you can see from the 3rd pic, now a bunch of rubble! 

 2nd Apartment in Stavropol.  He said it is sooooo much nicer, as you can see in the pics and he was happy they have Snickers there that are bigger than in America and cheaper...haha

Statue of a Solder in Russia.  He said it is awesome and that he hopes to get his picture taken in front of it.  I will post it if he does

 Entrance to their church building (aka the hobbit hole)